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Show Page Ten SPORTS tiro ft Road, Rams don't stop U Stroman paces Utah to 59-5- 4 Special to the Chronicle FORT COLLINS, Colo. Using a 1 -2 zone defense and a tenacious proficiency at the free throw line down the stretch, the Runnin Utes finally foiled what has been foiling them all season. And won a game on the road. The win away from home was only the second of the season for Utah, which had been 1 --4 on the road so far (the only victory coming against Utah State in Logan Dec. 28). But more importantly, Utah's 59-5- 4 victory over CSU here Thursday night gave the Utes their first WAC road win on the season, increasing their conference record in the early going to 3--2. "Our players played with great rhythm and intensity, and we stayed within the limits of our offense," Ute Coach Lynn Archibald said. Utah jumped out to a quick lead when Albert Springs jammed one down early to make it 0. But CSU fought back, tying the game at 6--6. After that, however, it was all Utah, as the Utes rumbled along to a lead as great as 13 (28-1in the first half. Only a late 7-- 2 run by the Rams made the halftimc score close; 30-2- 2 at the end of the stanza. Utah came out sluggishly to begin the second half, -2- 2-- 5) f victory however, allowing the Rams back into the contest on another run; this time a 10-- 2 CSU streak tied it up at 32 with 15 minutes left in the game. But Utah tightened things up down the final ten minutes, holding the Rams at arm's length with leads as great as seven points. And in the end, it came down to the if free throw line, where Utah's Jerry Stroman, Kelvin Upshaw and Bobby Adair all hit pressure free throws and the Rams committed two key turnovers to give Utah its final margin. zone. "It all comes down to the way we played the It put pressure on some individuals, and it forced some things. We also hit all of our free throws (down the stretch), which is great," Archibald said. The Utes Stroman, who was named WAC Player of the Week earlier this week, led the Utes again, scoring 26 points. Upshaw scored 14 points to rank second in the Ute scoring column. The Rams were led by junior center Rich Strong, who scored 19. Utah closes out its road trip against the Cowboys Saturday afternoon. Wyoming, 2-- 1 in the WAC after a 58-5- 3 win over Air Force Thursday night, will tip-owith the Utes at 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast locally by KUTV (Channel 2) and KALL Radio (910 AM). 1-- 2-2 ff As m Chronicle ptuxo by Sieve Griffin Utah's Albert Springs swivels in for two in Ute action.' Utah picked up its first WAC road win of the season Thursday with a 4 victory over CSU. 59-5- Jazz need to pick up pace for season's second half It's midterm examination time for the Utah Jazz, which season reached the "midway point of its in Oakland. Wednesday night If the grading was conducted purely on the basis of that performance or the lack of it against Golden State, Frank Laydcn and his entourage would receive an E- -. You're not going to pass many classes, or even come close to graduating on to bigger and better things (read: team in the playoffs), when you lose to the fourth-wor- st 82-ga- mc ' league by 46 points. JAZZ NOTES Mike Prater But since it wouldn't be fair to grade on one performance, we'll examine the entire first half of the season, which the Jazz ended at 2. Offense: It's obvious the team misses the offensive wizardry of Darrell Griffith, who is still in Louisville nursing a broken foot. Don't be fooled into thinking the is not an effective and vital weapon. The team is averaging less than 108 points a game and it has lost six outings by margins of seven or less. If the Jazz had won those games by scoring a few more baskets, they and only two games behind division-- , would be 25-1- 6 Houston. leading Both John Stockton and Mark Eaton are averaging less than 10 points a game; as starters, they should be more 19-2- productive. The same goes for Bobby Hansen, who has started all 41 games, but is averaging only 10.7 a game. Bring it up, Bobby. Grade: C plus. Defense: This area has been an inconsistent problem for Layden (case in point: Wednesday night). Utah is allowing more than 1 10 points per game. That's far too many for a NBA team hoping to move into the league's higher society. One of the main problems has been rebounding, traditionally a weak part of Utah's game. Eaton needs to improve on his 8.5 per game production. Adrian Dantley and Hiurl Bailey could also do a better job on the boards. Grade: C minus. Utah actually is in a decent position to make the playoffs for the third straight year. It is one game ahead of last year's pace and it has 24 home games remaining, compared to 17 on the road. Layden needs his team to produce an 'A' effort in the upcoming weeks, however, which would make the year's effort a B' performance. And, of course, a 'B' effort would be enough to make the "welcome everyone NBA playoffs." So Utah's midterm grade? C. MALONE'S THE MAN: Utah rookie Karl Malone was named Thursday as the Shreveport Journal's 1985 College Athlete of the Year. The Louisiana newspaper covered the during his prep playing days in La. The Journal also covered "The Summerfield, 256-pound- er Mailman" during his delivery days at Louisiana Tech. Malone was picked 13th in last spring's NBA draft, but his stats show he's one of the NBA's elite rookies. Malone is among rookie leaders in games played (tied for first with 38), minutes (third, 1,121), rebounds (second, 8.4), assists (second, 2.4), steals (second, 1.08) and points (third, 14.1). The newspaper also announced that Boston Celtic Robert Parish was its Pro Athlete of the Year. SUPER SATURDAY: Jan. 26 may be Super Bowl Sunday nationwide, but the day before, Saturday the 25th, will be Super Sports Day in Salt Lake City. Both the Jazz and the Golden Eagles of the International Hockey League will host league foes in the Salt Palace, the first time the facility has faced same-dadouble duties. The Golden Eagles will meet Milwaukee at noon, then after a quick change of attire, Accord Arena will be the site for a game at 8 p.m. ATTENDANCE UP: The Jazz are not enjoying their best season on the floor, but at the gate, the club is experiencing its best campaign ever. Utah is averaging a franchise-recor- d 11,371 fans in its y, Jazz-Clippe- rs games at the Salt Palace (capacity: 12,178), which is league. Dallas, surprisingly, eighth in the leads the overall race with 16,898 fans per game. The Salt Palace has been 93.4 percent full this year, seventh in the league. Only Portland and Sacramento have played in front of successvie sellouts this year. However, the newly located Kings play in the Arco Arena, which seats just over 10,000 fans. 17 23-mem- ber Slamdunk Selections for Sundaes at Steve's Behle Games Utah at Wyoming (9-- 5) Youngren Prater Griffin (8-- 6) (8-- 6) (9-- 5) Jorgensen (7-- 7) Wyoming Utah Wyoming Wyoming Utah Air Force Air Force Air Force Air Force BYU Weber at Montana St. Weber Weber Montana Montana Weber New Mexico at Hawaii Hawaii Hawaii Hawaii UNM UNM UTEP at San Diego St. UTEP UTEP UTEP UTEP UTEP . BYU at Air Force Your Pick Brent Johnson had the contest figured out before even we did. He took the 14 NBA and College basketball games we offered in our first edition ofour "Slamdunk Selections for Sundaes at Steve's" last week and correctly guessed the winners of 1 1 of them. But that wasn't all. He then tie with his guess of 141 points (there broke a three-wa- y actually were 156 points scored in last Saturday's Ute-Haw- San Jose at Utah St. USU USU San Jose San Jose UNC UNC Duke UNC UNC Jazz at Clips Clips Jazz Clips Clips Jazz Nuggets at Nets Nets Nuggets Nets Nets Nets Celtics at Hawks Hawks Celtics Hawks Celtics Celtics Cavs Cavs Cavs Pacers Cavs Rockets Rockets Rockets Rockets Rockets Sonics at Kings Kings Kings Kings Kings Sonics Suns at Blazers Blazers Blazers Blazers Blazers Blazers Pacers at Cavs Knicks at Rockets Name: ' game). aii Brent's off to get his four large sundaes at Steve's Ice Cream, 221 So., 1300 East, this week. . As far as our "experts" go, Editor in Chief Peter Behle and Assistant Sports Editor Mike Prater had the best early season marks, each going 9-- 5 to tie for in-ho- use San Jose N. Carolina at Duke i Phone No: , Points: first place. Sports Editor John Youngren and Photography Editor Steve Griffin are both in second place with 6 marks, while Sportswriter Loren "Jorg" Jorgensen went 7 to bring up the rear. Nearly 100 people joined in our new contest in its inaugural week and now it's your turn. Fill out your winners for this Saturday's slate of NBA and college hoop contests in the column at the right. Then at the bottom of the form, mark your name and phone number as well as your guess at the total points scored in Saturday afternoon's game. We'll use the Ute game to break any ties. Finally, turn in your entries to the Chronicle offices, 240 Union, by 5 p.m. Friday. Our winner (only one entry per person, please) will be notified by phone and announcea m tnesports pages next; week. u i 8-- 7-- - Utah-Wyomi- ng , . |
