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Show orts UVU sluggers hope to make impact uvu P^ffl^.ffiWi7f^5 Asst. Sports editor Spring is just around the corner and that means many great things are in store for Utah Valley University -sunshine, warm weather and the start of the UVU baseball season. March 1-7 UVU baseball players gear up for the beginning of the 2009 season. CA Madsen is set to start his first season Wolverines head coach. Madsen takes over for Steve Gardner, who retired after the end of the 2008 season, "I'm definitely excited and certainly hopeful for things to go well," Madsen a s the After five years as an assistant, Eric §ee BASEBALL • B6 Wolverines Beat Rival Chicago State Monday, Mar 2 Track Great West Conference Indoor Championships Vermillion, SD Wednesday, Mar 4 Men's Basketball Houston Baptist University Orem, Utah 7:00 PM Thursday, Mar 5 Women's Basketball Independent Tournament All Day Orem, Utah Baseball vs Northern Colorado Orem, Utah 6:00 PM Friday, Mar 6 Women's Basketball Independent Tournament All Day Orem, Utah Baseball vs Northern Colorado Orem, Utah 3:00 PM Dave Iba/UVU Review UVU's Josh Olsen aggressively attacks the basket in a recent loss to Cat State Bakersfield. KYLE JELL1NGS Baseball vs Northern Colorado Orem, Utah 6:00 PM Saturday, Mar 7 Women's Basketball Independent Tournament • All Day Asst. Sports editor It is certainly fitting that on Super Hero night at UVU it would be an epic battle between two formidable foes. And just like is seen in most super hero sagas, the good guys came out on top. A back-and-forth battle between two future Great West Conference teams, Utah Valley and Chicago State battled it out at the McKay Center and it came down to the wire with UVU winning 77-72.- "This truly was a fortyminute basketball game," coach Dick Hunsaker said after the victory. "This game really wasn't decided until there was 1.2 seconds left. This really was a great game for the fans." As soon as the game was underway the crowd knew the game was going to be exciting. The Wolverines opened up an 11-7 lead and then the. Chicago State Cougars went on an 11-0 run to put them up 1811. UVU would then come roaring back and took a 3531 lead into the break. The second half was not much different, with both teams battling it out. The Cougars eventually starting rolling, jumping out to a 57-50 lead with 9:59 to go in the game. But the Wolverines were relentless, and with clutch shooting by sophomore Justin Baker, senior Josh Olson and Ryan Toolson's near perfection from the line UVU would close it out giving them a 74-70 lead and they would not. look back. . In totaJ there were 10 ties in the game and 14 lead changes. The Wolverines had three players in double Jazz, Boozer looking for redemption figures, Ryan Toolson led the way with 23, Jourdain Scoubes had 14, and Justin Baker put up 13 off the bench. For the game Utah Valley shot 49 percent from the floor and 35 percent from long range. The win gives the Wolverines a 1511 record on the season and as of Feb. 24 UVU only has two games left in the season. The next and final game for the Wolverines will be March 4 at the McKay Center and this game will mark the end of the Ryan Toolson era. Sports editor Having been ravaged by injuries this season, the Utah Jazz finally appear to make a run with a clean bill of health. While it will take Jazz forward Carlos Boozer a few games to get his legs under him Just having him in the lineup has been refreshing to Jazz players and fans alike. In Boozer's absence Utah has found itself struggling to stay in- the playoff picture in a tough Western Conference, but have also been able to give young talent extended minutes, which could benefit the Jazz come the postseason. Paul Millsap has stepped up in the twotime all-star's absence and has filled the void nicely. Millsap has been a doubledouble machine and has averaged over nine boards and 14 points a game, both career highs. The benefit will show itself when a newly improved Millsap runs with the second team along with former starter Andrei Kirilenko, thus giving Utah one of the most potent benches in the.entire league. With the Western Conference so tightly contested, Utah will look to string together a host of victories that could propel them into a playoff spot and might even result in home-court advantage come April. After Utah's runaway-win over the Atlanta Hawks last week, the Jazz sat just two games behind Portland for the fourth seed in the conference. The hype around the Jazz has been heightened with the recent wins over the Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA Champion Boston Celtics, but. Utah's fate will be sealed in games played on the road and in games that come on the second night of a back-to-back, both situations in which the Jazz have struggled this season. As the Utah Jazz attempt to make a run in the latter half of the NBA season, they will be doing so without long-time owner and Utah business mogul Larry H. Miller, who passed away last month due to complications from diabetes. Miller never asked his team to win one for him, but there's never been a better time for the Jazz to honor their beloved owner than by making some noise in the Western Conference playoff picture. Coach Hunsaker... I Dick Hunsaker is the head coach of the UVU men's basketball team. In his seven seasons as the Wolverines' head coach, Hunsaker has posted an impressive 134-68 record. A telling example of Hunsaker's success was the 2001 University of Utah basketball team. After only one game, the Utes' head coach Rick Majerus took a leave of absence from coaching. Utah administrators turned to Hunsaker to take over the team. He led the team to an 18-12 record, winning the Mountain West Conference and garnering local and national attention. Hunsaker was named Mountain West Coach of the Year and Los Angeles Times National Coach of the Year. |