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Show NBA 83 Detroit 95, Washington 92 | NHL Bs Butfalo 5, N.Y. islanders 0 Denver 104, New York 93 Minnesota 3, St Louis 0 Dallas 122, Toronto 103 Seattie 82, Charlotte 89 (OT) Los Angeles 3, Nashville 2 a eee Memphis 122, indiana 111 San Antonio 98, Houston 97 USC Sends Stanford Packing ETO Calgary 4, Phiiadelphia 2 Carolina 3, Pittsburgh 1 ROUNDUP PAGE B4 ; FRIDAY San Jose 5, Ottawa 2 1 PREP BASKETBALL: WATERFORD OUSTS DEFENDING CHAMPS IN 1-A B-2 MOBITUARIES B-6 : @ WEATHER B-8 MARCH8, 2008 MOUNTAIN WEST MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT Other Johnsen Takes U. Reins OfLeadership ‘Theotherhalfof the Johnsen and Johnsen brothers stepped up to save the University of Utah's Mountain West Conference tournamentbasketball hopes Thursday night. ‘That would be seniorJeff Johns: en,theeldestof the two Murray Highproducts, but the less herald: ed. Afterall, junior Britton Johnsen, the league's regular-season MVP, was on the benchat the end with five fouls, disqualification that his older brother said resulted from the frustration of missing free throws. Butasis characteristic of older brothers, Jeff put this mist proneUtah team onhis shoulders, rescuing the Utesfrom not only elimination at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, butalso quite possibly from the NCAA's Big Dance. Jeff's statistical linetold the story; a career-high 23 points on 7-for- 10 field-goal shooting anda rock- solid, 8-for-11 showing at the free-throwline. For a Utah team thatgot outmuscled on the boards (37-25) by the young Ramsand was absolutely sophomoricat the free-throw line, Johnsen contributed 34 minutesof floor leadership that extended the Utes’ MWCseasonbyatleast 24 hours. Maybe the best gameofhis collegiate life shouldn't be all that surprising, sincehis previous career BY PATRICK KINAHAN BYPHIL MILLER ‘THE SALT LAKE 'RIBUNE LAS VEGAS If any casino were as charitable as the Univer: THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, whohavebeen on the postseason stage andcalled their own numbers down the stretch. andtal e {the ball] to the basket.”"And hedid. and the Cougars finally wore out BYU had little fight left against San Diego State on Thursday, exit ing the Mountain West tournament before the Utah tried to give away another game Thursday, but Colorado State was not good enough to accept the gift UTAH 69 ‘The result was the Minn Utes escaped with CSU «66 4 69-66 win at the championship §DSU game forthe first. ment semifinals against UNLV. The Rebels beat New Mexico 120117 in double overtime in Thurs: over the Utes improve mark edly in several areas, a place in the championship is unlikely. Picking a spotto start explaining misses andgets frustrated.” Which was obvious onhisfifth foul, which cameafter two missedfoul pitches that could have put Utah up64-54 with four minutes left. The“rock” wasJeffJohnsen, just as he was a week ago with 14 second-halfpoints, including a Utah's struggles is like dini oneofSin City's famousbuffets: so lead, And thoughthey crept back many appetizing choices. within three late in the first -elf Onceagain, the Utes failed to finish off a team. After taking an andwithin four with 90 seconds.to in great shape to close out the for victory possessed go, they never showed the thirst eight-point lead with 3:58 left in the game, No. 2-seeded Utah was familiar? three keyfree throws in the second Nick Jacobson was just 2-for-7 from. thefield and committed a late-game turnoverthat Ute coach Rick Majerus noted in the postgame interview as part of“not playing very smart,” So, the Utes were luckyin winning another close game (they're9-2 in games decided by less than seven points), Majerus said the Rams “are young, they've had guys suspended and they've had injuries.” But they were within one point with 1:18 to play, Were you lucky,Jeff Johnsen? “I'd say with all our dumbfouls we made andthe free throws we missed I'd say a little bit. But I didn't want to go home yet. | think we have some better playing to come,” Maybe in tonight's tournament semifinals he will receivea little more help from his kid brother and fram a cast of other unproductive Utes who were manhandled by the allowed CSU to get rh don’t think we played very have that kind of toughness today.” rus. ‘ credit Colorado State with anexcellenteffort.” overs and bad shots. In its most No, what they had were turn- Majerusalso lauded his team's important game of the seasen, BYU turned inits worst offensive effort, but he has numerous mis- LauraRauch/‘The Associated Press performance,scoring 18 points’ in Colorado State's Matt Brown, center, is blocked by Utah's Cameron Koford as the See UTES,Page B-5 Utes’ Jeff Johnsenfalls away duringthefirst half of Thursday's game. See BYU,Page B-4 takes to clean up during today's BIG WEST TOURNAMENT Ags Take Care of Business city that never sleeps,it was fortu: nate for Utah that Jeff Johnsen had controlof his emotions, You can just count on older brothers for that. * ! IOR COPY MoreState College Basketball Vandals no match in Big West opener teamthat played themfairly close twice this season. But the Vandals(9-19) areas badonoffenseas the Aggies are good on defense, and the combination produced Weber State men: Wildcals advance past Portland Statein Big Sky tourney BY MICHAEL LEWIS RIBUNE, B4 BYU women: Cougars prepare for MWC ‘semifinal matchup vs. New Mexico ANAHEIM, Calif. The Utah State Aggies had never played Idaho in the Big West Conference tournament before ‘Thursday, so they didn’t waste any time giving the Vandals a postseason lesson (Big Sky women: Easter Washington wins, setting up today’s meeting vs. Weber State B-4 CalState Fullerton already hadlearned, first-round victory that landed themin the semifinals against rival Pacific MW State junior colleges; Snow men outlast SLCC in 207; Eastern Utah edges UVSC B-4 thatthelikes of Pacific, Boise State and Scoring on the Aggies is hard. And beating them? Forget aboutit. Never mind that the Vandals nearly madeup a 20-point deficit on the Aggies thelast time they played, the Aggies are tonight (7 p.m, MST) at the Anaheim Convention Center. “You could tellas the start we were ew Morrill said. in the tournament now, They don't blow aqe to Morrill and leads, They just smother opponents, And they didit for the seventh straight i vad losses fle k made the Aggies (2 6) appear at least slightly vulnerable time in the tournament, with a 61-41 predictableresults, ‘The Aggies held the Vandals to 32 percent shooting not the last seven Aggie tournament victims has shot better than 38 percent and kept them from making any baskets fora 6% minutestretch ofthe secondhalf Of course, the Vandals madeit e on the Ags. They missed layups short open jumpers, had three-poin go in andout, and blew half of their free throws while coach Leonard Perry seemed to manage an aerobic workout jumping and shouting onthe sideline. ‘The Vandals put upso little resis: after halftime that the drama soon shifted to wi the Aggie sats. squad would drop another che onthe court during a timeout, Two rent downhard, on back-to-back stunts, Sce AGGIES,Page B-5 Reed Saxon/The Associated Pres Utah State’s Jeremy Vague shoots between Idaho defenders Matt Gérschefske,left, and Rodney Hilaire. — Anderson,Eisley Not Forgotten by Utah The ex-Jazzmen see limited action with the Knicks the lockout-shortened 1999 season, Bisley, signed as a free agent out of the Continental Basketball Asso: BY STEVE LUHM THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE enjoyed in Utah, Each ended up in Majerus sald his players have to On this one special nightin the Aztees was. They played physical with ley misfired on his attemptto tie the gameat the buzzer. Rams. “control their emotions”after illadvised fouls and unforced turn. overs against the Rams. He no doubt had Britton in mind. the us, and we didn't respond until there were 11 minutes left,” sald Cougar forward Travis Hansen; whose 3for-15 outing was his third consecutive terrible shoot ing game. “We won the tournse ment last year because Mekeli [Wesley] was tough, but we didn’t sound within two points with five secondsleft. After Jeff Johnsen made one of two free throws, Andy Bir- Rams at bayin a 72-62 Ute win, half. Even reliable shooting guard that don't know what our problem Utah's stupid fouls and pathetic clutch three-pointer that held the There just wasn't anybody else. Britton had 10 points andfive rebounds, but heplayed only 26 minutes. Phil Cullen had probably his worst game asa collegian going 0-for-7 from thefield and missing at 17-11, they arehe for a phone call fromthe NIPSunday night at least now thay can take a nice, long nap. Appear: ing road-weary from the start; BYU allowed SDSU to take aT: timea nine-poinglead with five min- prits.“I’ve seen him [miss free throws] eversince high school. But he has madea lotofbig ones, too. He 51 years, The Aztecs, who played far from a perfect game themselves, humanely put down the Cougars with a 62-51 quarterfinal victory at the Thomas & Mack Center. If the Cougars’ season is hot p.m. MST Mountain West tourna: More importantly, heiin utes left. “We made some dumbfouls,”said Jeff Johnsen. And he wasbluntin fingeringhis brother amongthecul- 62 ———— time in three BYU Thomas & Mack Center. They advanced to tonight’s 10 free-throw shooting Keith Van Horn or AndreMiller, Instead, the season wore on, always havea chanceto win. However, whenit was apparent that no other Ute waswilling to two formerUte crunch-time players LAS VEGAS If basketball teams came with expiration dates, Brigham Young would have spoiled two weeks ago, sity of Utah’s basketball team, it wouldhave gonebelly uplongago. Come play the Utes; you will seventh-seeded Rams, Yeah, right. essentially said, “Give metheball.” It was right out of the moldof a Weary Cougs fall without muchof fight Utestry but can’t give win away to Rams offensive high was21 points against the Rams in Fort Collins one week ago. stick his chest out to swat down the seventh-seeded Rams,Jeff Johnsen : Shandon Anderson and Howard Eisley are long gone. Butforgotten? Hardly, ‘The Jazz reached the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1990, It is doubtful they could have done it without Ander: son and Kisley, who played critical offthebench roles for teams ‘ ciation, spent five seasons with Utah beforeforcing a sign-and-trade deal twoyears ago. Anderson landed in Houston, Eis: went to Dallas. Neither hadany: where close to the success he New York last summerafter athree: way trade involving the Knicks, Rockets and Mavericks, anchored by John Stockton, Karl Malone and Jeff Hornacek. former second-round pick, Anderson spent his first three professional seasons with the Jazz before leaving via free agency after Unfortunately for Anderson and Eisley, the change of scenery has not helped, Andersonaverages 4.4 points and 3.4 rebounds in 16.4 minutes forthe Knicks, whoface the Jazz tonight (7 p.m., PSN) at the Delta Center, He plays behind New York's top scor. ers Allan Houston and Latrell Sprewell and gets only 4.3field. goal attempts per game Bisley contributesfar less, ° After being the odd m preseasonbattle with ve guards Mark Jackson and Charlie Ward, he has played in only 20of New York's 69 games, In thosescat tered appearances, he has averaged 3.6 points and 2.7 assists in 14.9 minutes. “Tl Just say, in hindsight, 1 foel this situation could have beena lot better for them,” said Malone, “I'll also say, for the first time, that I still See JAZZ, Page B-3 KFNZ-AM 1920 |
