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Show T-birds hangon to RMAC lead by teeth after one Win, one Loss half the Mustangs had moved to a 11 point advantage against the cold shooting T-Birds and they played a controlled game to take an eight point advantage to the locker room at 33-25. The Mustangs put a freeze on the ball for the final four minutes of the first half. Early in the second half the Mustangs widened the gap and moved out to a 16 point advantage ad-vantage at 48-32 before the T-Birds T-Birds began to move. With a full court press the T-Birds T-Birds came up with some critical steals and scored eight unanswered unan-swered points to move to a 48-40 score with 9:18 on the clock. Kerry Rupp lead the attack with Amos James helping out on the front end of a pair of fastr breaks. Quentin Davis came up with five points to match two by Gallardo to move with six and it was Rupp with 4:43 left who brought the T-Birds to within five at 56-51 with a driving layup. James Badwell and Gallardo hit a pair to move the advantage out to 11 but Rupp, Davis, Eric Daniels and James each scored against a pair of foul pitches by Western to put the T-Birds only two points behind at 60-62 with one minute remaining. At the 48 second mark Johnny Portillo hit a pair of foul shots to give the Mustangs a four point advantage, but Rupp came back with one from the field to bring the T-Birds with two again. Portillo was fouled and missed with eight seconds on the clock. Daniels pulled down the rebounds and the T-Birds moved quickly into the front court where Amos James fired a 10 footer that missed and each of the Daniel brothers got a tip, but it wouldn't fall as the clock ran out. Only four players were in double figures in the low scoring affair. Gallardo was the leading scorer with 26 but SUSC's Kerry Rupp was close behind with 25. Rupp had eight from the field and 9 of 13 from the foul line. Jay Johnson of Western had 11 while Quentin Davis of the T-Birds T-Birds had 10. For the T-Birds James finished with 8, Steve Hodson and Eric Daniels each had six, Scott Appleby had 3 and Mike Daniels and David Meyer each had 2. Monte Widdison and Pete Rencher both saw action but neither got into the scoring column. A win and a loss on the road Saturday and Monday, respectively, keep the Southern Utah State College T-Birds atop the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference standings -- but, by a slim one-half game. The T-Birds, in a see-saw battle took a lead late in the game and held on for a 77-76 victory over New Mexico Highlands in Saturdays action for their fourth straight road victory in the RMAC. Monday, however, the T-Birds fell behind early in the game, trailed as much as 16 points in the second half but came back to nearly catch the Mustangs of Western New Mexico before losing a heartbreaker 64-62. With just two games remaining in the conference play the T-Birds T-Birds have assured themselves of a spot in the Region playoff of the National Intercollegiate Athletic Assocation tournament, but will go down to the wire in a battle against Westminster and Mesa College for the RMAC title. SUSC holds an 14-4 conference record while Mesa is a slim one-half one-half game behind with a 13-4 record. SUSC has two games on the road, Westminster and Mesa. Mesa has three games this week, all on their home court. Action against Mustangs Monday night was a near come-from-behind effort on the part of Coach Stan Jack and his crew, but they were not quite able to make up the deficit of 16 points and the fine offensive and defensive play of the Mustangs talented freshman center, Julio Gallardo. Gallardo pumped in 26 points including 11 fieldgoals and was a vital instrument on the boards for the Mustangs. Gallardo hit three straight buckets in the contest to help the Mustangs break away from a 6-6 deadlock and the lead was never relinquished. Midway in the first |