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Show DAILY C4 Saturday. Mjrcfi 1$, 2008 HERALD Bench gives Miles of help to Cougars Darnell Dickson Jason Franchuk and with him, saying 'MVP, my butt.'" There are a bunch of players around the MWC that Tavernari keeps in touch with. DAItY HfRAlO LAS VEGAS BYUs Chris Miles played just nine minutes in Friday's 63-5- 4 Mountain West Conference semifinal win over San Diego State but made his presence felt. 1 1 The sophomore was from the field during a crucial stretch with starter Trent Plaisted on the bench. BYU led 0 near the mark of the second half when Miles hit a short jumper, then followed that up with a layup off a feed from Sam Burgess. Later, he scored again inside on a pass from Jonathan .A 32-3- Oy i. "V 3 Tavernari wasn't nearly as impressed by his own accolades. Last year's top freshman (as voted on by media and coaches) was a third-teachoice this year. He recalls his senior year of high school, when he felt like his production didn't match the designati- ....... UA w Tavernari. "The main thing that I wanted to do was change our momentum a little bit," Miles said. "There was a couple of times when it was tough to push the ball, so I Wanted to help get some stops but also help at the other end." He said Giddens immediately called back, saying, "Man, you've got no love for me." Tavernari wants to stay on the good side of his competition, who will be bound for the NBA or some type of pro career: "I told him that, 'When you come back into town, you're going to come and buy me a steak; I love you, man.' " II t t v on.-.- LAURA RAUCHAssociated Press State's Ryan Amoroso tries to shoot through BYU's Chris Miles, left, and Lee Cummard during the Mountain San Diego West men's semifinal Friday. By . the numbers Fouls picked up by SDSU forward Lorrenzo Wade in the first 2 'A minutes against BYU. After that play, it was also the Cougars' lead How many MWC titles the New Mexico women have won in the last five years, and they have yet to lose a championship game as they prepare to face TCU. " UNLV women's Regina Miller, I I Icoach, went 5 in this many seasons. The JL Rebels were 2 this year and lost as the No. 8 seed to No. 9 Colorado State in Tuesday's play-igame. The school called it a personnel matter and would not do more than provide a press release Friday evening. 2 4 (2-0- ). f t Give them the finger: SDSU and BYU each had an important player wince at finger pains caused in the first half, Cummard tried to fight through traffic and hurt a finger. Aztec Richie Williams miscalculated a pass and came out of the game briefly at 6:35 in the first half a minute after Cummard's boo-bo-o when he appeared to jam a digit. Cummard never left, and soon after drained a I Plead your case: These tourna- ment post game media conferences usually entail two types of questions: Should a coach be there next year? Should a team tourbe entitled to an nament bid? The second one, in particular, has hit two teams; The TCU women and the New Mexico men. Each will have to wait until to improve on this summer." front of him on that play. LuckSelection Day (Sunday for the There are actually three ily, the ref took care of me." men and Monday for the womWade finished with 10 postseason tournaments in en), and neither team's head points, but that's about 14 shy college basketball this month: of his average in two games NCAA field, the The coach used the pulpit to take a NIT field and a new hard stance on the situation. against BYU. His unique skills were rarely a tournament, the The College "Boy, yeah, I don't know," shots. TCU coach Jeff Mittie said FriBasketball Invitational, which factor, as he made "He loves to post up, but he's day after losing to San Diego will invite 16 teams. State. "We've got some good not your typical post player," I Getting the call: Lee Cummard Rose said. "He has so many things on our resume. You had the smile of a cat who'd wanted a better quote than guard skills. He can he can get space. He's that? They're not going to put just swallowed a bird when exa great passer. (The game plan) me on the committee, so ..." plaining one of the game's bigSame type of response from was to change things up." gest moments. Not even three minutes into the semifinal, he the Lobos' Steve Alford, whose I Making friends: Jonathan Tav- team lost late Thursday in changed its tone by taking a ernari had to be a little disapovertime to Utah. charge from SDSlPs biggest "I don't know, we're 24-pointed that J.R. Giddens isn't Cougar killer. we won 11 league games," the still in the tournament. Wade drove to the rim, and first-yea- r 18 seconds later he was on the New Mexico lost to Utah coach said, reeling late Thursday despite 28 points off some more raw numbers with 17 H minutes bench when he tried too and 17 rebounds from Giddens, of his team. "This is my first remaining time in the Mountain West. aggressively to block a shot In who missed a tough runner at 24-- 8 is a heck of a year. So a battle of which star would get the buzzer which could have forced there's a lot of basketball to into foul trouble, the Cougars be played yet this weekend. won by knockout. Tavernari sent a text mes"Lorrenzo is a great player, ... So I guess we just have to sage to Giddens on Monday, awards wait and see exactly what a tough guard," Cummard said after the of the fellow 6 junior that were announced. happens." he spent a lot of time guardTavernari playfully defended his teammate, Cummard, who ing. "We had a lot of different Women wound up sharing things we were going to try honors with Giddens. and throw at them. They do I No longer the Hunter It "J.R. is a great player. I'm such a good job of countering happens each March, a player whatever you do. happy for him; I texted. I gave who's quite good drifts into the "But I just tried to slide in sunset as a career ends. Put him a hard time, just messing d 175-12- J I Fear the speed: The pace of the BYU-Sa- n Diego State game was glacial at times. San Diego State coach Steve Fisher said it was out of necessity. "BYU is the best running team in our league," Fisher said. "We wanted to try and run if we created a turnover or look to see if we could run after a miss. If we couldnt, we wanted to make sure we got through a set. "We did not want to get into an game. They've got greater depth. You know, we've had some injuries and some illness. So our thought was, can we score in the first seven seconds or maybe in the last seven seconds?" n . back-dribbl- e, I The waiting game: The loss puts the 2 Aztecs in a precarious spot when it comes to 20-1- the postseason. "It's a tough one to swallow," said San Diego State junior Lorenzo Wade, who scored 10 from the field points on and sat out most of the first half with two fouls. "You come into a game like this, I mean, you have Lee Cummard on the other side. Regardless of what anyone says, I look forward to matchups like that. To be on tht L '..ch, to see my team out there without me playing, it's definitely tough. "Hopefully, we can get an NTT bid. If not, I've got a lot of things double-overtim- t player-of-the-ye- White (12 points) didn't even make shootaround before the e sympgame because of toms. Foul issues killed, too. Lorrenzo Wade, a junior forward who averaged 24.5 points in the regular season against the Cougars, had just 10. He picked up his second foul 2 'A minutes in, as he hacked Sam Burgess. The free throws made BYU Continued from CI flu-lik- Trent Plaisted steered BYU with 19 points and Lee Cummard added 20, including some late free throws. It was a tight game, as expected because of the season meetings, until faded with about SDSU (20-1six minutes left. Coach Steve Fisher mentioned the previous win day, after a against Air Force, that it had faced some health issues. Stamina was clearly not a strong point last night. Standout freshman Billy two-regul- it 2-- With those issues, SDSU deliberately made it a slower-pace- d game, unlike the one that helped produce a four-poiwin at home against BYU on Feb. 23. The Cougars, which have won their last six games hard-foug- since then, had won the first meeting in January by three points. "I think that shows that people are worried about our transition game and how we play on the break. (SDSU) did a good job of that," Burgess said. "We knew they were trying to slow it down and take it possession by possession, because that's how they thought they could beat us. But we knew it was a matter of time before we our run." Two spurts hurt SDSU, both vintage BYU. BYU put the game away on a quick streak, ignited by Plaisted. Leading 4641, the hit 4-- 8, 33-1- "To me the most important thing personally is that I had more participation on this championship than last year's," 6 power forward the said. "I've had a lot more responsibilities, and as a player you want that." BYU head coach Dave Rose said Miles' effort is typical of his bench throughout the seasoa "I think if you look back at all of our games, you'll find this team gets a lot of help from someone off the bench," Rose said. "I thought that Chris gave us a real good lift in the first half. I thought the second half Chris Miles, his energy and physical presence, gave us a lift. Our players really got him the ball in a couple positions where he could really take advantage of that." Miles said he was excited to get to the M WC title game. "I haven't been in a title game since my junior year of high school, when we won the state tournament," Miles said. Miles was a key member of a Timpview High squad that won the 2003 4A state title. Colorado State's Sara Hunter in that class. She had 15 points on shooting in a toss to New Mexico in the semifinals. Hunter, at 54, has been a sturdy and selfless teammate despite not have much supthis port. The Rams went year, and failed to win a game against a conference opponent until this tournament. But they beat UNLV and No. Utah, setting up a chance to play for a finals berth. No surprise, CSU lost. No surprise, either, Hunter helped her team put up a fight. "She is a great shooter," UNM coach Don Flanagan said. "They have a couple of other young players that I know are going to be difficult to defend" Give Hunter a lot of credit for that. At she still had her team playing hard. A 2 halftime deficit ended the jourdeficit ney, though. A was cut to 10, thanks in part to a couple of her treys. "Wish it could've ended differently, but we fought hard," Hunter said. "My career has been anything and everything that I wanted it to be. You know, like I said (Thursday), I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to finish it with. Glad we got a couple of wins.". That's when, as it does for many seniors, the interview room started getting dusty. Cougars received a play and two other inside baskets from their junior in a 2 stretch. Cummard added a layup during that run that made it 5544 with three minutes left. An individual show by backup center Chris Miles helped, as he scored six points on shooting as BYU tried to separate itself during a game with 16 minutes left. It was Miles who wanted to get a term used by to a 'ship redshirt guard Lamont Morgan for the first time since high school. "We're a team that's very balanced," Plaisted said. "And 30-a- lI I Resourceful: Quenese Davis had 10 assists in San Diego State's upset of TCU in the second women's semifinal on Friday, but the most impressive give was the one to herself. In the game's final 20 seconds, San Diego State trailed by one with only two seconds snowing on the shot clock. Davis was to inbound the ball 69-6- underneath the Aztec basket. Seeing all of her options covered, Davis tossed the ball off the backside of TClFs Adrienne Ross, stepped in and made the basket. "The play was drawn up for Jene' (Morris)," Davis said. "We were supposed to run one of our sets, one of our plays. I just saw everyone attracting their attention to Jene', especially Ross. I just do what I always do when I see that. I threw the ball of her butt and finished the play." It turns out it wasn't the first time she'd pulled that playground play this year. "Just so you know, this the fourth time she's done this," San Diego State coach Beth Burns said. "She's I've always had a reporter say, 'Does it bother you when she does that? Nothing bothers me when it works. ; "In March, players make plays, and 'Q' couldn't have made a bigger one." ' d I What really counts: Never underestimate what matters to college kids. The SDSU band, minutes after its women's team advanced to the first title game in nine years (and extending their stay in Las Vegas another day), stopped playing and started chanting: "More per diem." we've got guys that can step up in any situation." Cummard, who called last e loss to UNLV year's on its home floor "a bad taste in my mouth," laughed when asked what coach Dave Rose said at halftime of a title-gam- one-poi- nt lead: "Play the right way," the or something to junior said that effect. The Cougars only led 26-2- despite-Wad- e playing just three minutes. "I thought we did a good job of hanging in there," Fisher said. But the second half worked to BYUs advantage, as it con Dickson Continued from CI Air Force, which has never won a MWC tournament game, fighting back and coming within an eyelash of topping San Diego State. TCU playing out of their heads, hitting 17 and getting jobbed at the end by an official's call against UNLV. And finally, there was the Utah-NeMexico game, which ended well after midnight in y the Beehive State. An dunk by the Lobos' J.R. Giddens, followed by two by Utah for an overtime win. other-world- ls d Whew. The common theme throughout the day was this: Extend the season. Air Force, Utah, San Diego State and TCU knew the only truly, the chance they had to ONLY get to the NCAA tournament was to win out. And New Mexico and UNLV, both securely on that NCAA bubble, know- rig a loss could knock them of a bid. w that's drama. TheVrowd got into it, too, and that's another advantage to having the tournament in Las Vegas. Yes, we all know it's a destination location, easy to get to, lots of hotel rooms, blah, blah, blah ... but what happens is that more fans from New Mexico, Wyoming and BYU can get there easily, and they stay. They stay to cheer on or against the other teams (New Mexico and Wyoming cheering for whoever is playing UNLV or BYU, of course). Here's an example of how NOT to do the tournament: Back in 2005, Danny Granger was terrific in leading the Lobos to a 6 victory over in Utah in the MWC final 60-5- Denver. Records show about 10,628 at the game, with more than 8,000 empty seats at the Pepsi Center. The title game sounded like a TV comedy with no laugh track, and felt worse. The tournament was in Den- ver for three years, and there were never more than 11,000 fans at the league's championship game. Now, move to 2007, and a crowd of 16,204 at the Thomas and Mack, which has a capacity of BYU-UNL- 19,155. , That place was rocking, and it was an amazing atmosphere for a college basketball game. You really can't just play this game anywhere. I'm generally against conference tournaments. It seems almost criminal to put so much emphasis on the final three games of season over the first 30. And of course, playing on UNLV's home court seems horrendous-I- y unfair. But it doesn't get much MWC better than a door-diTournament game in March at the Thomas and Mack. Thanks, MWC. You did something right. Don't let it go to your head. e I Daily Herald Sports Editor Darnell Dickson can be reached at by 344-255- 5 or at ddickson heraldextra.com trolled the rebounding battle a major key to the Cougars. They won by nine, improving to 20-- 2 when owning that category. The first two meetings were draws. Jonathan Tavernari had nine points and 10 rebounds. A rough shooting night for him and for his team and from long range, he thinks he knows where the 'ship is sailing. "It doesn't matter, whoever we play tomorrow, after we beat them it will be a sweet taste," Tavernari said. "If we don't have confidence in ourselves, who's going to have confidence in us?" SKIING A siding sweep for the United States Andrew Dampf THE ASSOCIATED ' PRESS ica," Vonn said Friday. Ted Ligety added to the moment by winning the season's final giant slalom. He is the first American to capture the discipline title since Miller in BORMIO, Italy Lindsey Vonn raised her arms and hugged teammate Stacey Cook after completing the first 2004. Vonn had the fastest run in American sweep of the overall World Cup titles in 25 years. the second leg of the slalom Bode Miller did his part a to finish 11th. She eliminated Maria Riesch, the only skier in day earlier by winning his second overall crown. He and contention for the overall, beVonn are the first Americans fore the German had a chance to win the overall in the same to ski her second leg. "It was special for me to year since Phil Mahre and McKinney in 1983. wrap up the overall in slalom "It's just a big day for Amer- - because I started as a slalom Ta-ma- ra skier in Buck Hill, Minnesota," said Vonn, who also won the downhill title this season. Mar lies Schild of Austria won the race to take the season's slalom crown Vonn defeated Nicole Hosp of Austria by 208 points for the overall title. "I just gave it everything I had, took a lot of risks, and it paid off," she said. "It's like winning an Olympic gold medal. I remember reading about the legends of skiing as a kid and now I'm one of them. I can't believe it." McKinney praised the U.S. skiers and suggested that more challenges await. "Just winning the overall is " she said durnot an ing a conference call. "There's always someone who's a little better at something. As soon end-all,- as you admire the turn behind you there's one in front of you that will catch you off guard." Miller's father, Woody, said his son was less distracted this season. "A lot of his success has to do with his training before the season started," the elder Miller said Friday. iv ;M..hft5-- i: ARMANDO TROVATIAssociated l Press the U.S, left, celebrates with her teammate Ted Ligety at World Cup finals, in Bormio, Italy, on Friday. Lindsey Vonn of |