University at Buffalo men’s basketball coach Reggie Witherspoon has started gaining national recognition for the job he’s done with the Bulls.

The latest example?

Witherspoon has been named a court coach for the 2006 USA Basketball under-18 national team trials, which will be held June 16-18 in San Antonio. In the role, Witherspoon will help give instructions to about 25 players who hope to make the final roster.

“It’s really an honor to be thought of and asked to contribute,” Witherspoon said in a press release issued by UB. “Any time you get athletes that play basketball at the national level together, it’s an opportunity to learn. The whole thing is really very exciting.”

UB athletic communications director Jon Fuller said Witherspoon’s selection is good for both the coach and the school.

“Any time you can get the university’s name out there, it’s a good thing,” Fuller said.

The USA Basketball Men’s Collegiate Committee, which is chaired by Syracuse University coach Jim Boeheim, is in charge of selecting the players who will make up the team.

Those players will then continue to train in San Antonio from June 19-27. The tournament, which will qualify four teams for the 2007 FIBA under-19 World Championships, will be held June 28-July 2 at the Bill Greehey Arena at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio.

Witherspoon will be joined by Illinois’ Bruce Weber, Yale’s James Jones, Houston Baptist’s Ron Cottrell, Scott Gernander of San Jacinto College and Mike Dunlap of Metropolitan State College of Denver as court coaches.

University of Washington coach Lorenzo Romar will lead the team. Assistant coaches will be Paul Hewitt of the Georgia Institute of Technology and Jerry Wainwright from DePaul.

While the committee is in charge of selecting the players on the roster, Fuller said it’s likely Witherspoon and the other court coaches may have input into the final roster.

The USA has had a great deal of success at the tournament, which used to be known as the FIBA Americas Junior World Championship Qualifier. The USA has posted a 25-1 record since the tournament started in 1990 and won gold in 1990, 1994 and 1998 while taking home the bronze most recently in 2002.

This year marks the first time the event has been hosted in the United States.

A host of NBA players — from Shareef Abdur-Rahim in 1994 to Carmelo Anthony in 2002 — have represented the United States in the past.

The University at Buffalo men’s basketball team fell to Kent State, 76-67, in the quarterfinal round of the First Energy Mid-American Conference Tournament at the Quicken Loans Arena on Thursday night.

Buffalo (19-13) took an 8-4 lead in the contest before Kent State rattled off 13 straight points to establish a 17-8 lead with 14:10 left in the first half. The Bulls battled back, and a three-pointer by Calvin Cage cut the Kent State lead to 24-21. However, the Golden Flashes rattled off nine in a row to take a 33-21 lead. Kent State led at the break, 35-27.

Kent State (23-8) scored the first seven points of the second stanza to go up by 18 points early in the half. The Golden Flashes built its lead to 19 points with 8:30 remaining. On the Bulls’ next possession, Eric Moore hit a three-pointer and on the same play, Yassin Idbihi was fouled away from the ball. After Idbihi knocked down a pair of free throws, the Bulls had quickly cut the lead to 14 points and sparked a furious comeback attempt.

The Bulls would go on to score eight more unanswered points and a pair of Idbihi free throws cut the Kent State advantage to six points with 6:09 remaining. Kevin Warzynski hit a three-pointer on Kent State’s ensuing possession for the Golden Flashes’ first basket in over four minutes. The Bulls whittled the lead down to four with 1:42 remaining. But a three-point attempt by Cage that would have cut the lead to one was off the mark. Kent State was able to convert its free throws down the stretch to hold on for the victory.

Idbihi led the Bulls with 16 points and eight rebounds. Cage and Middleton each notched 15 points. Cage’s scoring effort brought his season total to 592 points – breaking the school record for points in a season.

Kent State was led by Armon Gates who scored a game-high 19 points, including six three-pointers. Jay Youngblood added 12 for the Golden Flashes. The story of the game was rebounding. Kent State outrebouded the Bulls, 42-29. In addition, the Golden Flashes grabbed 16 offensive boards, resulting in 12 second-chance points.

“I think the game came down to what took place around the basket,” head coach Reggie Witherspoon said. “We weren’t sustaining our toughness enough to win the game. There were times when we were able to get stops down the stretch, but we couldn’t come up with the rebound. It left us in a hole.”

The Kent State University men’s basketball team opens the 2006 FirstEnergy Mid-American Conference Tournament, Thursday, March 9, at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland against the University at Buffalo at 7 p.m. in a quarterfinal game. The Golden Flashes are the tournament’s top seed, while the Bulls come in as the eighth seed.

QUICK FLASHES

• Kent State won its second MAC regular-season championship and first since 2002... It is the second time the Golden Flashes are the top seed in the MAC Tournament.

• The Golden Flashes claimed three postseason awards from the MAC as senior guard DeAndre Haynes was named MAC Player of the Year, fourth-year head coach Jim Christian took home MAC Coach of the Year honors and senior forward Kevin Warzynski was the MAC Sixth Man of the Year.

• Kent State is in search of its fourth MAC Tournament Championship... The Flashes have won the tournament title in 1999, 2001 and 20002.

SCOUTING The Bulls

• Buffalo won its MAC Tournament first round game 80-72 against Ball State, building a 20-point lead in the first half then withstanding a Cardinal comeback to advance to the MAC quarterfinals for the third straight year... Calvin Cage led the Bulls in the win with 30 points, while Mario Jordan had 17 points and seven rebounds... Cage went 5-of-6 from three-point range as Buffalo hit 50 percent from beyond the arc as a team... Parnell Smith, Yassin Idbihi and Roderick Middleton all had nine points in the win.

• On the year, Buffalo is 19-12 and earned the eighth seed in the MAC Tournament by finishing 8-10 in league play and fifth in the MAC East Division... The Bulls are led by Cage’s 18.6 points per game... He is third in the MAC in scoring and was an All-MAC Second Team performer... He shoots 42.3 percent from three-point range, good for 41st in the nation... Cage leads four Bulls in double figures, as Idbihi is second on the team at 13.9 points and he leads the squad with 6.8 rebounds per game... Middleton averages 11.9 points, while Jordan chips in with 10.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game... As a team, the Bulls lead the MAC in free-throw percentage (.749) and also are first in the basketball league in rebound margin, grabbing 2.7 more rebounds per game than their opponents... The Bulls have been susceptible to hot field-goal shooting by their opposition, surrendering over 47 percent from the floor.