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Show The Thursday Tip -off SUSC vs. Western N.M., N.M. Highlands There's nothing like a good basketball race to keep the fans' interest and tickle the ulcers of a caring coach. Southern Utah State College's squad will probably go right down to the final game of the regular season before , knowing whether or not it will be one of eight teams selected to compete in the NAIA District Seven Playoffs. Winner of the district competition advances to the NAIA National Tournament. The Thunderbirds finish the season in a final flurry of four games in seven days. Two of the contests will be on the road, and two will be played in War Memorial Fieldhouse. SUSC starts the countdown at Western New Mexico University, which currently leads the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference with a 13-2 record. That game comes Thursday. Saturday will find the T-Birds T-Birds at Las Vegas, N.M., against cellar-dwelling New Mexico Highlands University. Early the following the week, the 'Birds polish off the regular season by hosting Western State Tuesday and University of Southern Colorado Wednesday. Both home games start at 7:30 p.m. A schedule change moves the Western State game from Thursday (Feb. 26) as originally scheduled to Tuesday (Feb. 24). The change was made to allow the game to count in the vital District Seven Rating System which will be used to determine the teams earning playoff berths. "There's not an easy game in the bunch," McCracken says. "A lot of people are assuming some things that may not happen. Many are saying that we are a cinch to win at Highlands (1-14 in RMAC and 1-22 in all games) and almost a cinch to lose at Western New Mexico. I think we'll have to play well to win at Highlands and that if we put together a good game, we could win at Western. "Actually," McCracken Mc-Cracken says, "if we get only a split in the road games, we'd rather win at Western New Mexico. That would help us more in the rating system." Each of the T-Bird ' opponents will be seeing a ! 'new look" SUSC team. 1 Since the loss of Dave i Knudsen. the team's leading scorer, guards Hal Welch-especially-und Steve Hoagland have picked up some of the scoring load. t 'enter-forward Norm Adams and center-lorward center-lorward Brett Bell have also performed well in recent games to keep the Thunderbirds in the chase lor the playoff. CHS vs. Dixie, Springville CHS' Friday night loss to Payson-in Cedar City-ended City-ended all hopes of a Redmen contingent at' this year's state playoffs, right? Wrong! After locating a computer large enough to handle the piles of in- PHSvs.Kanab formation, we asked it if there was still a way for Cedar High's basketball team to climb from fifth to third and grab a state playoff spot outright. After mulling over it a few moments, the machine spat out. its answer. "Cedar will go to state, if, and only if," it said, "it wins their final two games at home, Friday against Dixie and on the road Wednesday at Springville." "Is that all?" we rejoiced. "Not quite," came the answer. "The results of the other four Region Six games this coming week must turn out exactly right. If even one goes awry, there goes the playoffs.!' "What must those results be?" we retorted. "One, Dixie must beat Carbon in St. George next Wednesday." "No sweat," we answered. an-swered. "Second, Payson needs to beat Spanish Fork at home," the machine went on. "Hmmm," is all we could come up with. "Then on Friday," the computer interrupted, "Springville needs to win their big rivalry with Spanish Fork, at Spanish Fork." "Not highly likely," we lamented. "That's not all," the bad news continued. "Payson needs to go up and beat Carbon at Price." 1 "And what will happen if all four games turn out this way?" we asked. "Dixie and Springville will get the two top spots and Cedar will tie Carbon for the third. Since Cedar has beaten Carbon twice this year, the Redmen will go to state." No, it's not likely this will all happen, but Cedar fans still have something to look forward to--what promises to be another good Cedar-Dixie game Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the Cedar Gym. I PAROWAN - You can sure see a shifty gleam in the eyes of the Parowan basketball team this week. f Two weeks ago Beaver High School invaded Iron County rated as the '. state's top 1-A school in The Deseret News' Captain's Poll. Parowan came out with an exciting 58-54 victory. The Beavers haven't been the same team since. This week, the Kanab Cowboys are coming to town, and yep, that's right, they are the number-one rated small school team in Utah, this time by The Salt Lake Tribune. They will also enter Parowan tied for the Region 12 lead with Gunnison. Get the connection? "The kids will really be up for this one like they were against Beaver," said coach Ralph Riggs. "Wouldn't it be something to knock off two number one teams in two weeks?" It sure would Ralph. And he can expect a big, emotional Parowan crowd to back up his team in that quest. One thing may be a little different this time from the Beaver triumph. "I'm kind of shaking up my starting lineup this week, and I'm not sure how the team will react or play," Riggs said. But, as he also pointed out, "we typically play well against Kanab. 1 We split with them last year, winning our game here in Parowan." The Rams did play relatively well earlier this year in Kanab, holding it close for three quarters before finally losing by eight points. That, and the emotional nature of the Ram challenge, could make way for a very interesting game. |