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Show But may still fail playo ffs SU gains New Mexico split fifth in the 10-team conference, and making home wins, Tuesday against Western State and Wednesday against Southern Colorado, mandatory to sustain their ever-dimming playoff hopes. The front line of Nor-.. Nor-.. man .Adams, Dean O'Driscoll and Brett Bell combined for 30 rebounds. The win lifted SU's RMAC mark to 8-8 (overall, 12-11) still leaving them all alone in half enroute to a 48-41 ..halftimeJead But whereas Highlands found the T-Bird defense easy pickings in the first half, it was not so in the second 20 minutes. The Cowboys were only able to halve their first stanza output. The T-Birds quickly had the seven-point lead to five, then three, then put together a spurt that gave them their own moderate lead, which they were able to maintain in the final minutes. Playmaker Steve Hoagland led all scorers with 26 points, including 8-for-8 from tfie free throw line. The 5-11 guard also dished out eight LAS VEGAS, N.M. -Southern Utah coach Tom McCracken figured before coming to New Mexico that a split of the two games would still leave his team in pretty good playoff shape. But, after doing some informal figuring with the Region's intricate rating system, and after his team did get just the split, McCracken is now faced with the fact that victories in both the T-Bird's T-Bird's final games may not even be enough to vault the 'Birds into the eight-team field. Rather, likely to go will be a team that will probably finish behind the T-Birds in the RMAC and an independent with a worse overall seasonal record. As expected, the T-Birds T-Birds handled New Mexico Highlands, pulling ahead in the second half to win 84-72. And, as realistically . anticipated, the 'Birds fell to nationally-ranked Western New Mexico 56-46 56-46 in Silver City. Western did not get the win without its moments of concern from the T-Birds. T-Birds. SU raced out of the gate to a quick 10-2 lead, but, as earlier this year in Cedar City, the Mustangs slowly and steadily wore the 'Birds down with its spread offense. McCracken could take it as a complement that Western feels it can't run with his T-Birds, as they do with other teams. The 'Stangs, rather, have elected to put probably their greatest asset to use-quickness, best expressed in ' a highly-successful highly-successful motion, spread game. The T-Birds led in enough categories to win the game. They outshot Western from the field 49 to 45 percent. .... They., committed two fewer turnovers. They outrebounded the home squad by eight. They gathered twice as many assists. But Western played its game, which meant relatively few shots from the field, lots of layups and plenty of free throws. The Mustang's Harold Ware tied SU's Norman Adams for top scoring honors with 16. But Western was able to place two others-Darryl Ransom Ran-som and Virgil Jenkins-in Jenkins-in double figures, while the next leading scorer for the T-Birds could only get eight. It was the Thun- derbirds who received an early-game scare against Highlands. The 1-15 Cowboys shot well and were surprisingly strong on the boards in the first assists. Guard mate Hal Welch continued his torrid pace of late (though he netted just two points against Western) popping in 21 points. Adams added 10. |