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Show /port/ MONDAY*MARCH 13 -2006 All Blaze can't fend off San Jose Peterson sharp shoots back east Junior Matt Peterson scored a career high 28, and UVSC snapped Long wood's sixgame home winning streak in their final game of the year, winning 73-63 in Farmville, VA. Peterson started out red" hot by nailing five 3-pointers, and finished 9-13 from the field. As a team, Utah Valley shot 51 percent, and only gave up six turnovers. "It was a terrific effort tonight," said UV coach Dick Hunsaker. "Matt Peterson was sensational, and Pierre (Thomas) read the charge defensively and set the tone for us that we were going to compete on the defensive end." UVSC led the Lancers throughout. On top 15-10 early, Peterson's long range scoring barrage began with three straight bombs, and UV went up nine at the half. In the second half, the Wolverines scored thefirstsix points to bump the lead up to 15. Longwood managed to get within five a couple different times, but couldn't eat anymore into that lead. After starting the year 6-11, UVSC won 10 of their final 12 contests to finish the season three games above (.500). Against Longwood, David Heck scored 13, while senior center Ben Devoe added 10 points and eight rebounds. Softball loses four in New Mexico In the final game of a weekend series with New Mexico, UVSC led the Lobos 4-3 going into the bottom half of the 7th, before several mistakes cost the Wolverines a heartbreaking 6-5 defeat in 10 innings. The loss capped a four game sweep for New Mexico, who won the other three contests by scores of 5-4, 7-2 and 12-1. In the series capper, the Wolverines broke a 4-4 tie with a. run in the 10th, but the Lobos benefited from two Wolverines errors, scoring a pair of 10th inning runs to keep the Wolverines winless in Albuquerque. UVSC led 4-3 going into the final inning, but New Mexico managed to tie the game with a run in the 7th, which sent the game into extra innings. In the early Sunday game, the Lobos scored nine runs in the 3rd inning and led 11-0 before the Wolverines finally scored a run of their own. UV had a chance to win the first match-up of the series by scoring three runs in the 5th. Once leftfielder Chris Jimenez singled, shortstop Rachel Hartgrove brought in a couple by blasting a homerun to left. Emily Zupan later followed the inning up with an RBI single to put the Wolverines up 4-3. However, New Mexico countered with a score in the bottom of the same inning, and later followed up with the game winner in the 7th. UVSC falls to 5-10 on the year. Sour finish on the road for Women's b-ball UVSC women's basketball hoped to finish the season off strong, but couldn't win their final two contests against fellow D-I Independents. The Wolverines shot a mere 26 percent in a 24-point loss at IPFW, and struggled again offensively at Texas PanAmerican, losing 65-49. Foul trouble to center Robyn Fairbanks cost the Wolverines dearly against the Mastodons. Fairbanks, who entered the game averaging 18 points a game, picked up her fourth early in the second half with UV only down four. Without the 6' 1 freshman clogging up the middle, IPFW then went on a 16-6 run to put the game well out of reach. In the first half, the Mastodons used an unanswered 17-point run to turn an early 5-2 deficit into a 19-5 lead. UVSC followed up on a 15-2 run of their own keeping the game close at the half, but the Mastodon tandem of Johnna Lewis-Carlisle and Ashley Johnson were too much for Utah Valley, recording the 84-60 win. Lewis-Carlisle led all scorers with 26 on 818 from the field, while Johnson chipped in 20 with eight rebounds. Against UTPA, UVSC scored the game's first bucket, but the Broncs still managed to record its first ever victory against the Wolverines by spurning off a 10-2 run and never relinquishing the lead after that. Devin Reed led the way for UTPA with 24 points. ' Fairbanks continued her consistent play in spite of the loss. The freshman led the Wolverines with 15 points and eight rebounds, and wrapped up her first collegiate year by averaging an astounding 17.6 points and 8.5 rebounds a game. Utah Valley finishes the year with their best record since becoming D-I at 11-16. Whitney Woodward Sports Writer In what was billed a showdown in the western division, the Utah Blaze lost to the San Jose SaberCats Saturday night at the Delta Center 65-50. The loss evens the season series between the two teams, and it was payback for San Jose after the Blaze handed them a season-opening defeat back on January 28th. Five total Blaze turnovers, including three fumbles and two interceptions really hurt Utah who fell to 2-4 in the organization's initial season. "It's back to the drawing board," said head coach Danny White when asked about the impact these turnovers had on the game. "We're not protecting the quarterback and we're not getting pressure on their quarterback." The Blaze were down 14 points at the half and down 27 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter, but managed to cut the lead down to eight with less than a minute remaining. Utah's Thai Woods helped spark the second half comeback by recovering two onside kicks, and quarterback Joe Germaine connected with Siaha Burley for a score with 56 seconds left to bring the Blaze within only eight at 58-50. But their comeback attempt fell a bit short after the Blaze failed to recover their next on-side attempt. That's when San Jose struck with the game-clinching touchdown from Mark Grieb to James Roe with only 45 ticks on the clock. Grieb completed 25 of 34 pass attempts for 295 yards and eight touchdowns for San Jose, including four of those to his favorite wide-out Roe. Despite the disappointing loss, which kept the Blaze winless at home, the Delta Center crowd was behind their team the entire game making as much noise as, any sellout crowd of 16,395 could. Germaine, who threw for 367 yards and five touchdowns, summed it up afterwards. "We want to win at home for these guys. We want to feel that we have the best home field in the league." Grieb connected with Roe'on the first of four touchdowns with an 11-yard strike on San Jose's'first possession, and the Cat's never trailed. Germaine and company mounted a mighty comeback to later tie it at 21 after the Ohio State alum found Burley for one of his four scores in the second quarter, but that's when the SaberCats started taking advantage of Blaze turnovers to reel off 27 unanswered. One of Germaine's two picks was returned for a touchdown by San Jose lineman Joe Jacobs The SaberCat's win snapped a two-game losing streak, and moved them into'a first place tie in the western division; and they finally return to the confines of the HP Pavilion after its long five-game road trip. With the game out of reach. White elected to try for a seemingly pointless field goal in the game's waning seconds. Kicker Steve Videtich missed the kick, but While explained after the game why he tried it. "The reason we went for the field goal, was the tiebreaker, the points," he said. Meaning, that should Utah and San Jose end the season tied for a post-season playoff spot, AFL rules states that the team with the most points would break the tiebreaker; and White was simply thinking ahead. SaberCat Pauley Charles added three more touchdown catches for San Jose, while Blaze wide receiver Orshawa Bryant matched Roe's 115 receiving yards on nine catches. Wolverines find their way to 16 wins From RANTS • A12 Junior's Matt Peterson and David Heck led the way offensively a total of seven times apiece. Senior center Ben Devoe scored high in five games, followed by JC transfer Chris Bailey with four. Rounding out, Sylvester Allison managed it three times, while Tika Wesley did it twice, and Pierre Thomas and Richard Troyer both managed to top off once during the course of the season. Though there was something uniquely exciting about watching the standout from Friendswood, Texas make a run at the nation's scoring title, there seemed to me to be more of a curious sense of intrigue in watching this year's club. Gone, was a huge chunk of the highlight reel that Priceless almost entirely made up by himself; but instead, what we got to ask ourselves, was who was gonna rise up and become Price for a day. In the season finale against Longwood, it happened to be Peterson who went crazy from the backwoods, knocking down 7 of his 11 three-point attempts. Back in January, it was local product Tika Wesley who came off the bench to tip in the game winner as time expired and unexpectedly lead the way with 16. A year ago, Price poured in 30 or more points a total of eight different times, includ- ing doing it in four straight games through an early December home stretch. This season, that was only done once, after Heck found a way to score 30 during a December 28th contest at Weber State. Nonetheless, balancing out the team's offensive output (which was almost equal from last season) with a myriad of game day heroes, was the trick to earning yet another 16-win season. I can't help but reminisce back to an article in the Arizona Republic following the Arizona State upset last December. The title: "Devils fail to stop former juco team." The article's opening line written by Norm Frauenheim, reads, "It says Utah Valley on Arizona State's schedule, but it looks a lot more like Death Valley today." It's rather remarkable .what UVSC has accomplished in just three seasons since making the D-I plunge. The numbers look like these: a combined record of 57-30, a 22-4 record against D-I Independents, and they've even outscored their opponents by an average of nearly six points a game. Of course, some of those statistics are skued by an extremely weak schedule in their transitional year, but don't let their 8520 win over Warren Wilson College fool you too much. They've beaten who they were supposed to beat, and pulled off a few worthy upsets along the way. No doubt Hunsaker and company have received their share of criticism for a consistently empty McKay Center and weak road showings; but honestly, what do you expect from a program that just four years ago was playing the likes of Eastern Utah and Southern Nevada? Personally, I blame a tittle of everyone for the poor attendance, but I didn't give this team ten wins back in October. The way I see it. Price paved the road for an entire slew of Wolverines to lake his place. I asked Hunsaker at the beginning of the season who he thought might take hold of the reigns this year. His response, "Impossible to tell." Now I reali7e,a question like that could on!\ be answered on a game-bygame basis. He closed my post-season interview. "This was a-sensational season for our kids to adjust. Everyone on this team played a crucial part in our success." •^iJIff 'Utah Valley State HABITATDOSE:" 1 to 517 S. 1230 W. Orem, Utah 84058 8DI-22I-IGDD G ou rtsido Condominiums SHARED ROOMS $190 —- Bring this ad in and we will waive the $25 application fee Check us out at www.CDurtsidBapts.com Married housing available •• - *• J ->• B Habitat fdr Humanity KICK Off Event March n . NOON. Valley ViewRpotn Mini Home Building O W c s Prizes. "Refreshments anting |