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Show Alve Closer f Sealf Ufes, Watts Cookin' By I. lXj2-- JOE WATTS i o I sV Tsfle ! o J Sprung of Chones Hurt College Basketball Jim Chones, the center for Marquette, a contract with the New signed professional York Nets of the American Basketball Association earlier this week. y The announcement stunned the basketball world since Marquette is second ranked in the nation with an undefeated record and was almost certainly headed to the NCAA Tournament 6-- i NV-- v "' a ',1 , Chones was the heart of the team. It's a touchy situation and immediately evokes emotions from thousands of fans. Some are critical of Chones, some are critical of the ABA. Anyone interested In basketball is concerned. It's easy to point a finger at Chones and say, "You had an obligation to finish out the season. You are letting your teammates and your school down." Maybe so, but on the other hand, what would you do if placed in the same circumstance? What would you advise if you were the boy's coach? Chones apparently signed for near $1 million, and some reports have it as high as $1.5 million. If you were the boy, would you turn it down? If you were the coach would you advise that he turn it down? I think not. PkolM hy Pal ( hn.liaa Some will say that he could still have gotten the money at the end of the year. That's true, unless an accident comes along. KRESIMIR COSIC shoots over the outstretched hands of Utah's Mark Soderberg. Cosic scored 21 points. By JOE WATTS Herald Sports Editor In a game that was dominated by the officials the BYU Cougars moved another step "closer 'to its second consecutive Western Athletic Conference basketball championship Saturday afternoon by pulling away from the University of Utah in the final minutes to snare a 6 triumph. The game was played before 22,452 fans in the Marriott Activities Center and was on regional television. The Cougars are now 1 in league play and are just one victory away from clinching a tie for the WAC title and need only two victories to sew up the crown. The Cougars are expected to achieve those victories next weekend in a home stand against Wyoming and Colorado State. Seldom has a game been so dominated and controlled by the officials as this one was. During the first half the refs called 31 personal fouls, 20 against Utah and 11 against BYU. It was a continuous parade to the foul line, especially for the Cougars, but it wasn't just fouls that were being whistled. Every hint of a violation was whistled. It took nearly 40 minutes to play the first ten minutes of the game as the clock stops with each whistle. The players couldn't even get warmed up and at halftime didn't even seem to be breathing hard, but the officials should have been out of breath. The coach Bill Foster felt the officiating was a key factor in the game. "Foul trouble really hurt us. We controlled things real well early in the game, but soon they were shooting one and one foul shots. At haiftime Blame the Nets and ABA It's hard to place the blame on the boy. It's easier to shift it to the New York Nets for making the offer in the first place. It was a very untimely offer, and was very damaging to college basketball. 79-6- 9-- The question is: Where will it stop? Will UCLA lose Bill Walton? Will BYU lose Kresimir Cosic? Will Long Beach State lose Ed Ratleff ? The list can go on and on From that point of view, for the sake of college basketball, something has got to be done to stop this wholesale theft of college players in the middle of the season. While some boys benefit, and you can't blame them individually, college basketball suffers, and in the long run, if college basketball suffers, so does professional basketball. WW ill Merger Wins BYU Chones reasoned this way, "I have to take care of my family. If I break a leg or something happens to me, who'll take care of them? I had to take the offer." Help? Some are hopeful that the proposed merger between the two leagues will help. The problem doesn't exist in college football, and one reason might be that the pro football leagues are. merged. BELMONT ANDERSON of BYU goes In the air to get ball while Utah's John Deannan offers opposition. Anderson Kefs Dommcafe Game 79-6- 6; we were four field goals ahead of them, but trailed by three Doints." In that first half &e Utes jumped to an eight point lead at 12-- but the Cougars came back to take a 4 lead. The lead changed hands five times in the next few baskets and the score was tied at 29, 31, 33, and 35 before the with 23 seconds 5 Cougars went ahead remaining in the half. BYU held a 6 intermission lead. Early in the second half BYU led by seven at 5245., but the Utes tied the score at 5 with 7.0:36 remaining in the game. BYU never did relinquish the lead, 2 lead with 4:27 however, and held a remaining in the game. It was at this point that the Cougars pulled away to win the contest by a substantial margin. The Utes went scoreless for three minutes while the Cougars scored 12 straight points to jump to their biggest lead of the with 1:27 remaining, and wound game, up winning by 13, Losing coach Foster pinpointed the turning point. 4, 15-1- 37-3- 39-3- 55-5- 65-6- 77-6- 2, 79-6- 6. "BYU came up with four straight offensive boards and we followed with three straight progression violations, and that was the ball game," he said. BYU took control of the game in a sudden 2 the Cougars flurry of points. Ahead jumped ahead by seven points on a tremendous tipin by Belmont Anderson, and moments later Anderson scored a cripple layin after Utah hobbled a rebound under the BYU basket. That put BYU ahead nine at and (he game was immediately iced away when Berme Fryer came up with a steal at 67-6- 71-6- 2, midcourt and drove for a layup basket to put BYU ahead 7342. Utah hit six of its first seven shots to jump to the lead, and the Cougars were too busy shooting foul shots to pitch field goals. At halftime the Cougars had pitched 28 foul shots and had attempted only 26 field goals. Victorious roach Stan Watts said, "We didn't like to get behind like that, but then our team has always fought back. It's a courageous team with a lot of character." Watts added, "They chocked off the middle with their zone, and we weren't hitting from the corners or the wings, but Bernie got hot for us, and that really helped." The officials let the play loosen up a little in the second half. They called only seven personal fouls against Utah in that second half and four against BYU. The total fouls wound up 27 against Utah and 15 against BYU. Foster had plenty of praise for BYU. "We let Fryer alone too much, but, of course, we were trying to cover some other people too," he said. Fryer hit 9 of 15 field goal attempts. "That's one thing Cosic does for BYU. He forces you to double cover him, and that puts four of them against three of us much of the time," he added. The high scorers for the game, other than the officials, were Bernie Fryer and Kresimir Cosic for the Cougars with 22 and 21, and John Dearman and Mark Soderberg for Utah with 22 and 16. Cosic hauled down 18 rebounds to lead the Cougars to a 4 edge over the Utes in that 56-4- department. Maybe Congress should be susceptible this type of intimidation. Maybe Congress should arrive at a decision and announce that there will be no merger. It seems from this vantage point ihat many of the foolish decisions being made by the pros have only one aim, to force a merger. - 3-- Bunker 5 01 02 11 13 267 FG M UTAH Jones Dearman Soderberg 35 35 24 38 24 6 16 6 5 3 2 Trail Medley Whiting Cockett Norman Sorenson Vaoghan Cowan 5 7 4 22 36 2 11 2 16 79 5 Totals 23 8 FT 0 56 RAP 3 9 5 4 2 8 21 1 55 2 9 2 22 0 16 2 2 i 01 12 1 Totals Halftime score: BYU 39, Utah 36 Field goal pet: BYU 39, Utah 40 Foul shooting pet: BYU 71, Utah 64 Turnover BYU 7, Utah 11 Personal Fouls: Utah 27, BYU 15 Attendance: 22,452 26-6- 6 2 44 14 66 10 or more points throughout the second half to post the victory and isolate themselves atop the Big Sky standings. Weber's overall mark is now 7 and 3 in conference play, while Montana dropped to 9 overall and 5 in the league. The 'Cats were led by Bob Davis with 24 points, Jonnie Knobie tallied 17 and Riley Wimberly added 11. For Montana, it was Robin Selvig with 18, Ray Howard tanked 14 and Mike Murray and Scott Hollen-bec- k added 10 apiece. Box: T G F An allotment of 1,200 hundred Montana (60) 2 5 Bascus d tickets to the playoffs Murray 10 5 of the NCAA Far West basket18 9 00 Selvig 5 4 5 14 Howard e ball tournament at the 0 0 0 0 Tye in Pocatello, Ida., will go Hollenbeck 10 4 0 on sale Monday morning at Lyman 0 00 0 0 0 0 Rocheleau Brigham Young University. 0 0 00 Walker 12 3 Dave Dredge, BYU ticket Anderson 0 0 0 0 Hubbard the will tickets said 60 26 go Totals n?nager, T F G on sale at 9 ajn. Monday in the Weber St. (71) 0 Dyke ticket office of the Smith Van 17 6 Knobie 12 Fieldhouse. The tickets, which Wimberly 3 7 3 are $4 and f5, will be sold on a Small 9 61124 Davis e 16-- 9-- 14-- 7-- Playoff Tickets On Sale Monday P 26 23 23 0- - 0 -2 2- -3 9 15 22 8 6 17 4 0 15 9 4 0 100 Mini-dom- iS i'vof i F 68-6- inter-missio- n, Richards Fryer Anaerson 0 6 4 10 5 first-roun- F Wyoming Tips Sun Devils Cosic 2 2 RAP FT FG 15 40 35 35 40 30 19-1- BYU "Kittetw" (100) Warner, T. Jones S. Smith Hardy Eaglestaff W. Jones Lake Atkinson Jackson LARAMIE, Wyo. (UPI) -TWyoming's Steve xtea was Watts wo free throws in the last two high scorer with IS points, fol- D.Smith Totals seconds of play put the game lowed by teammate Franklin UTAH "Papooses" (9i) on ice for Wyoming in defeat- Irvin with 14.losG Leading the Bradford 5 ing Arizona State SaturBill was effort Arizona State ing Jensen day in Western Athletic Confer- Kennedy with 14 and Rhea Tay- Lord ence basketball. Madsen lor with 11. Ausick It was a close game all the Nakagama a The Wyoming gives with victory way Wyoming enjoying its Pinegar VAC in and record 9 play Porter biggest lead of seven points with for the season. Arizona State Leatherby 3:31 in the first half. At Tomlin it was Arizona State is fV5 in the WAC and 154 Totals 35 and Wyoming 34. Halftime Score: BYU 48, M BYU Ambrozich Tollestrup 71-6- 6-- economic policies. BYU's Belmont Anderson came off the bench to score 11 points,' several scoring moves rf the brilliant variety, and he did a good job defensively against Utah's Scott Jones, holding him scoreless in the second half. OGDEN, Utah (UPI) -Weber State assured itself of at least a tie for the Big Sky title here by downing Montana, Saturday night. The game was tied four times in the early moments, but Weber finally gained the upper with 11:42 gone in hand, the first half. Weber continued to lead by 74-6- 9. If Congress would say,' "There will be no merger," it might put all of the pro basketball franchises back to sound cent. Both teams scored 26 field goals, but BYU shot 16 more personal fouls and hit 13 more. Dearman played a fine game for Utah, hitting 10 of 16 field goal attempts, and getting nine rebounds. Tie in Big Sky The BYU Kittens gained their second win of the season over the University of Utah Papooses with a 100-9-6 triumph Saturday afternoon in the Marriott Activities Center. BYU also won the first meeting of the two teams earlier this year in Salt Lake The Kittens now have a 6 record on the season. Utah was led by Bernard Tomlin with a sensational 51 points, more than half of his team's total output. High man for the Kittens was Troy Jones with 22 points. ' Scott Atkinson and Mark .Warner each scored 15 for the winners. merger. BYU's field goal percentage was only 39 percent for the game, far below it's 49 percent average. Utah's shooting mark was 40 per- Weber Clinches Kittens Gain 100-9- 6 Win Then again, one reason the New York Nets probably made the offer to Chones was to put additional pressure on Congress to hurry up the sparked the Cougars with several timely buckets, and Dearman was Utah's outstanding player with 22 points. 56 1 1 first-com- e, first-serv- basis. 33 11-- 51 96 UU 39. 12 1 9 yWwtt " 45 30-4- 4 1 Cuoper BERNIE FRYER hit nine of IS field goal attempts and scored 22 joints in playing a key rule In BYU's triumph over Utah Saturday afternoon.' 3 3 5 5 e The playoff series in the Soder 2 0 Gubler will be a doublsheader J2 7) Totals pitting the WAC winner against Halftime: Weber State 35 the winner of the Pacific Coast Montana 31 Fouled out: Selvig, Hollenbeck. Athletic Association winner; and Total fouls: Montana 25 Weber the Big Sky champion against an State 13 Mini-dom- 17 member. A 4,588. |