Show Hoopsters maul foes 0 start 9-- by Shanz M Leonelll staff writer An FBI investigation is underway for the murder of four recent CEU basketball opponents The most recent victim Park City were maimed in a high scor6 affair ing 9 It all got underway with an victory over the scrappy Alaska AAU Flyers and the suspects in the case seem to have begun a pattern with these brutal crimes Hill Air Force Base was the next kill in a 100-3drubbing followed by a 114-6- 3 thrashing of Mountain Home Air Force Base Harold Arccncaux is the ring leader for the sav"VVc age attacks All-Sta- rs 143-10- 83-7- 4 with im- pressive offensive figures lie lit up the opposition for 93 points in (he four tests con- You Leader returns at third base by Shanz M Leonelll staff writer Crack! Crack! of The baseballs contact with a bat in the BDAC batting cage rings out A young man wearing a CEU baseball hat and sweats with batting gloves strapped tightly to his hands caressing the lumber stands by the plastic home plate working on his swing Andy Dent sophomore third baseman for the Eagles baseball and a the game of baseball like squad wears the glove he plays with It's evident that he has a special bond with the game as his work ethic and leadership resembles the poster of his role model hanging above his bed Cal in Ripkin Jr Last season Dent stalled as a dttig- -' nated hiltcrfirst baseman and hit at a 340 clip his freshman year lie came to CEU from Skyline High School where he was part of the Automotive State Champion team his sophomore year This season he will be back at the hot comer where he thrives on the intense action of the position “It's a hot spot on the field" Dent says of the position "it gives you an opportunity to make big plays" I Ic never hesitates to layout and make spectacular plays but the remarkable plays arc the routine ones in which he makes so easily Being at third base the ball comes off the bat at a frightening pace even on the routine plays but Dent steps up to the challenge “I want to put up solid offensive numbers have a steady glove in the field and be a leader on and off the field" Dent started playing baseball when he first learned to walk in Salt Lake City and has been mesmerized by the game ever since lie moved to Las Vegas when he was seven that's when baseball became his life “Growing up in Las Vegas I played ten months a year that's when I started to play strictly baseball" Being a captain Dent's sole focus is on the team “I think we have talented players If we play as a (cam it will make or break us Everything we do we need to think about the team" Third base will be a bright spot for CEU as performance out of Dent won't be a problem "I have a love for the game I can't even explain It's a great game that's why I'm here” leadership" So many scorers and so little ball yet the team seems to distribute it well as everybody has points in the scoring column this season Guard have a high powered offense” Mitchell states Assistant Coach Junsic Cotten Johnson "The experience factor is key four game set and his this year over last year" can't stop him you can only luipe to Last weekend Kelby Miller saw some quality minutes and took advantage as he added points to the Eagles' annihilation of the opposing teams at the home tournament Photo by Allen DeFriez peaking too soon comes about but Cotten assures the team still hasn’t reached full potential “We haven't played our best ball yet We've had a lot of breakdowns We need to play defense hit the boards and limit our turnovers We're still ironing out some kinks” Conference foes arc praying that the kinks don't get ironed CEU is projected to win the conference and at this rate should do it in convincing fashion Cottcn states 'The experience factor is key this year over last year We're much more experienced and have more contain him thus far in the season nobody seems to do either Imc Udoka was a triple threat against Park City popping in 23 points dishing out 14 assists and pulling down 10 rebounds for the Golden Eagles In fact the whole offense has been unstoppable It has put up more fire works than a fourth of July show with acrobatic dunks and shots “We have a high powered offense” states Assistant Coach Junsic Cottcn "the basis of the team is defense and rebounding if we do (hat we’ll keep ourselves in a position to win ball long-distan- ce had points 29 in the backcourt partner Noel Jackson poured in 42 Brother tandem Ben and Jeremy Curtis have also contributed Ben netted 37 points including a 17 point barrage in the Ml I AFB game Jeremy hooked up with 3 points and 8 rebounds helping the bruising Eagles underneath Brian Barton chipped in a combined 10 points to help out the scoring CEU opponents don't have much of a chance to get their offense rolling as the Eagles have brought down 80 rebounds off the offensive glass in these contests Second opportunities have converted into points and wins for Eastern Utah Unselfishness has also been a big fac1 1 games" tor Defense hasn't been much of a problem holding the four teams to 304 points combined and a little over 30 percent from the field Everybody seems to be getting in the act six players scored double digits in the Park City game K'Zcll Wesson had 23 points while being a Windcx man on the boards throughout the season He cleaned the boards for SI rebounds in the four game stint including 17 and 19 rebound games against Alaska andMHAFB Eddie Gill Alu Williams and llelby Miller were the other double digit scorers versus Park City with 17 14 and Christmas is about and the Eagles have been in a giving mood with 112 assists in the four match-up- s Are there any weaknesses to this squad? So far very few signs have been given of any weak spots or maybe they just haven't been exploited yet? “If we pul 40 minutes together we'll be deadly We play real well for about 0 minutes whether it be a slow start or something else but we need to play 40 minutes" comments Cottcn League play begins Friday and Saturday against two quality teams Dixie and Snow Colleges If all the elements are pieced together CEU will continue its string of brutallity n into play where peaking for them shouldn't be a problem 13 respectively With the Eagles manhandling opponents and playing well the question of 23-3- post-seaso- |