Published: November 28, 2007 03:23 am      

MEN'S BASKETBALL: Fedotov shines as Bulls beat Canisius

AMHERST — If only Reggie Witherspoon could bring Jochen Hecht on road trips.

Determined not to let down his countryman and favorite Buffalo Sabre, Vadim Fedotov scored 17 points Tuesday, setting a career high for the second straight game, to lead the Buffalo Bulls to a 68-59 win over Canisius in front of 2,652 at Alumni Arena.

Fedotov, a 6-foot-9 junior from Germany, also contributed a season-best nine rebounds, barely missing his first double-double and satisfying Hecht, who gave him a pregame pep talk.

“He does not want to let Jochen down,” UB coach Reggie Witherspoon said. “He doesn’t mind letting me down.”

Fedotov also didn’t want to let down his classmate, Greg Gamble.

On UB’s first possession, Fedotov got the ball in the post, drop-stepped away from the basket and drew a foul on Canisius’ Tomas Vazquez-Simmons, who came in averaging 6.5 blocks.

“That’s something we get on Vadim about every day in practice,” said Gamble, a Niagara Falls native. “I got up right on him and said, ‘when we give you the ball I want you to fall into the basket.’ He got up and he did just that. I’m proud of Vadim.”

Vazquez-Simmons drew a second foul going for a rebound 26 seconds into the game. He didn’t return until the second half and waited even longer to defend aggressively near the basket, which helped Fedotov.

“They looked to really pound the ball inside,” Canisius coach Tom Parrotta said. “And when you’ve got guys with that size and that strength two feet from the basket, you’re going to be effective.”

Witherspoon was also happy to see inspired play from Gamble, who scored eight points on 4-of-4 shooting.

“I think that (Monday) in practice Greg started to come around a little bit, his spirit and determination started to re-ignite,” Witherspoon said. “When he’s doing that, the pressure is on the opponent. The flame’s not out anymore. It was out there for a little while.”

“I let the losses get to me,” said Gamble, who clutched the game ball throughout post-game interviews. “I let myself get depressed and discouraged and it showed on the court and it translated to my teammates.”

After the Golden Griffins (0-5) went ahead 15-14 on a Greg Logins jump shot with 11:11 left in the first half, the Bulls went on a 21-8 run capped by Jawaan Alston’s tip-in at the halftime buzzer. Canisius never got closer than within seven points in the second half and UB built its lead to as many as 15.

Elton Frazier, a touted freshman from Syracuse, jolted the Canisius bench (as well as the 18-member traveling C-Block) with an astonishing rebound slam early in the second half. Minutes later, Frazier soared again to finish a fast-break alley-oop from Frank Turner that would’ve made it 44-39 with 12:40 to play, but Turner was called for charging on the pass.

Sean Smiley and Calvin Betts then hit consecutive 3-pointers to give UB a comfortable lead.

Logins, a freshman, scored eight points and had 12 rebounds, both career highs, for the Griffs, who out-rebounded the Bulls 47-38. Canisius gathered 24 of their own misses. Willie Hassell had 12 points, while Frank Turner contributed 10 points and eight rebounds.

“Our Achilles heel all year long has been turnovers, and we addressed the fact that we had 10 of them in the first half,” Parrotta said. “We did a better job of taking care of the ball and turned it over only four times in the second half. right now we are struggling to put 40 quality minutes together. We need to play from start to finish the way we came out and played in the second half.

Byron Mulkey (Niagara-Wheatfield) provided five points and five assists in 19 minutes off the bench for UB. Andy Robinson scored nine points, Calvin Betts had eight and Sean Smiley scored seven.

Witherspoon went 11 men into his bench and gave eight players between 17 and 22 minutes. Fedotov was on the floor for 34 minutes, the most playing time a UB player has seen all season.

“He’s starting to play a little bit more downhill, a little bit more aggressive,” Witherspoon said. “He’s starting to think, hopefully, about the things that can go well in a game and just play without thinking about anything that might happen badly.”

“The most important thing is that we won the game,” said Fedotov, who scored 13 points in 31 minutes in UB’s 47-point loss to Pittsburgh last week. “I could care less if I play well if the result for the whole team is not there. It makes it more enjoyable if we win and I have a productive game.”

Another loss would’ve been especially painful for Fedotov on Tuesday.

Said Witherspoon: “Jochen’s down in the locker room waiting.”

•••

Both teams gathered at midcourt during pregame warmups to pose for a photograph along with a signed banner for former Canisius guard Brian Dux, who sustained life-threatening head injuries Nov. 10 in an automobile crash in England, where he was a star player. A moment of silence was observed prior to tip-off, as was the case before last week’s Niagara-Buffalo game.

Contact reporter Jonah Bronstein at bronsteinj@gnnewspaper.com