Show Sports thoughts Basketball teams at the university level in Utah have lately been bringing hoop tournament championships back home to Salt Lake City Provo Ogden and Cedar City One of the first tournaments of the year was the Utah Classic held on December 12 and 13 Inthe in inthe inthe the Special Events Center UTAH LED by Buster Matheny Jeff Jonas Jeff Junkins Chas and Doug Terry br breezed by Denver University for a first round victory San Diego State scored a first round victory over Nevada Nevada- Reno Rena to advance to the finals against the University of Utah The University of Utah dashed by San Di Diego go State for the Utah Classic Championship WHILE TIlE THE Utah Classic was going on Brigham Young University was hosting its own basketball tournament in the Marriott Center St. St Johns John's University defeated Tulsa and Brigham Young University upset Long Beach State in first round action BYUs BYU's hopes of winning the Cougar Classic carrie came skidding t to a halt as St. St Johns John's' gained the first place honors by defeating the Cougars by 15 points Brigham Young University with players Jay Cheesman Mark Handy Steve Craig Vern Thompson Mischo Veryl Law Vance i Law ILaw Chris Williams Troy Jones Craig Christensen and Terry Terry- surprised many people by the victory over Long Beach State ALTHOUGH THE BYU Cougars did not win their own Cougar Classic they satisfied their hopes of winning a tournament tour tour- tournament by taking the Old Dominion Classic on December 29 and 30 in Norfolk Virginia The first day Brigham Young faced the University of Texas t BYU lost last season to Texas and the Longhorns had an experienced crew coming back However Brigham Young the Longhorns for Fora a 91 86 GL victory and advanced the finals finals' agal against st Old Dominion the host team which had beaten Cornell University in the first round BYU nyu WON its first tournament tournament tournament tour tour- s since ince 1971 as they nipped Old Dominion for a 80 to TJ 77 win Jay Cheesman had 20 points in the contest and Vern Thompson total totaled d 18 The last seven points scored for BYU in inthe inthe inthe the wire the game were put in by reserves Steve Craig and Troy Jones v f While Brigham Young Y was winning the Old Dominion Classic the University of Utah was battling opponents in inthe I the Kodak Classic The Utes' Utes first I game of the December 30 29 Kodak Kodak Classic was against Harvard University Utah sent the Harvard players back to their law books with a first day i victory ry J I I CANISIUS UNIVERSITY 1 defeated the host team the University of Rochester to gain its spot in the finals against the thet t University of Utah I In the finals the University oft of t r Utah led by Jeff Junkins' Junkins 25 V t points and Chas 19 edged Canisius 91 89 in over over- time Utah had many players in foul trouble and lost Buster Matheney for the rest of the second half halt when h he got into a fight with with C Canisius' Canisius Bill Dr D Dressell sell The Utes also lost Earl Williams who decided to leave the bench to help Matheney r TilE THE UTES had Michael ael t Grey Grey Greg Deane and Tony Hodges come off the bench to help Utah overcome the foul problems of Jeff Jonas and and the banishment of Matheney and Williams Junkins and Doug Terry had the hot hand in the overtime period to help the Utes to the Kodak Classic win Another tournament was added to the state of Utah's victory bag as Weber State College won the Evansville f Holiday Tournament with a awin awin awin win over Mercer on December 27 lI Weber State defeated Austin Pray 75 to 72 the day fay before Some of the key players in the tourney f for oT Weber were ere Jimmie Watts and Al DeWitt SOUTHERN UTAH State College Ollege in Cedar City garnered its own Color Country Classic which was held on December 29 and 30 with a II 94 to 83 win over Redlands On December 29 the Thunderbirds defeated Claremont College West Westminister Westminister minister College olle e of Sal alt I Lake City placed third with a 89 to 48 stomping of Claremont College |