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Show r Clearfield Courier, OecemberS, 1979 Sun Times. December 5. 1979 vmwnw OtfUlUl Meber Sftatie vyoll tiesfl: Aggoes floe ft he secoirndl ftomroe ftoinnioiTOuy The Weber State Wildcats get a chance to pick up some revenge this Thursday night, hosting the Utah State Aggies beginning at 7.30p.m. 1ST in the Dee Events Center. Last Friday night, the Aggies 4 dealt Ueher a setback in overtime in the season opener for both teams. A crowd of 10,085 saw USU outscore the Wildcats 13-in the overtime period. It was the fourth overtime game in the 18 game series, with each team winning two. The series now stands tied at with Utah State looking to sweep the series this season. That particular feat has been done twice, once by both (earns. Utah State did it in 1974-7- 5 6 9-- 0 in Logan, lot) in the Weber while turned Ogden) in Logan, trick in 1976-7- 7 ( 6 in Ogden). The Aggies are one of only three teams to pin a loss on the Wildcats in the Dee Center since its opening in the 1977-7- 8 season. MonThey did it last year, tana and Boise State are the only (92-6- 72-7- 6 72-6- 7 89-7- 76-7- 0. other teams to win in the D.E.C. Weber's overall record in the Dee Center is .: In the game at Logan, Brian 28-3- Neil McCarthy is w inner and with an ' Jackson (27 'points and guard Rich McElrath icareer high 25 points) presented Head Coach Rod Tueller with his first collegiate win as a head coach. It was only the fourth opening game Weber S&arite coach McCarthy: a winner, plain and simple, he is a average of 21 wins per season over Collins paced Weber with ts. Richard Smith finished with 17, while David Johnson had 16. Collins, Johnson, Todd Harper and Gerald Mattinson al fouled out. Weber State bounced right back the next night in the home he's a winner- 27-- 3 1968-6- (81-7- 21-- multi-millio- 85-3- 20-ga- 99-8- began his fifth year of head coaching at Weber State this past week. With his team claiming wins over Utah and Midwestern, but losing to Utah. McCarthy now holds on to an mark in his years at Weber impressive State. That 00th win should come sometime this season. McCarthy s Weber State home record is now 40 wins and just five losses while the road record stands at What is really impressive is the record his teams have recorded while playing in the beautiful Dee Events Center. The NEIL MCCARTHY 87-3- 9 now 29-3- -- J ,- -j e State-Sacramen-to w record-shatterin- w playoffs is even more difficult since they are an independent and must win at least 20 games a season in order to be selected to the playoffs. One of the powers of East Coast basketball, Rhode Island makes it firsteverappearnace in Ogden. The Rams, under veteran coach Jack Kraft, were 20-- 9 last year, playing as an independent. They did lose their best player to the 7 NBA hardship draft, Sly Williams, and center Irv Chatman, but the Rams have some talent returning that could propel them into the NCAA Tournament. averaged Jimmy Wright (6-12.9 points and 8.0 rebounds last year and should be one starting ) forward. Roland Houston came to Rhodey as a promising freshman, but didn't play much, but is expected to control the center position. G ilson Dejesus maybe the surprise of the team. DeJesus was a member of the Brazilian National team, so even though he is a sophomore, he does have a great deal of experience. Another player expected to carry a heavy load is a freshman, Horace Owens, a much sought after prep star out of Philadelphia. Owens is a 3 guard who can shoot, pass, dribble and play defense. The Rams opened their seaspn with a drubbing of Scranton University. DeJesus came off the bench to score 21 points and gather in seven rebounds to lead the cause. Jimmy Wright had 15, Horace Owens 10 in his collegiate 6-- (6-8- 6-- 6-- 90-6- 6 debule. Rhode Island faces Brown Univeristy at home (Dec. 4) and Washington Slate on the road (Dec. 8) before playing the Wildcats. 112-10- 47-3- is (6-2- ). State-Stanisla- 1 record and Tom Stevens Todd Burton (66) is the other starting forward. The loggers plight to reach the 13.9) 85-6- . ar 6 6-- 3 v post-seaso- ar ds, nine assists playing 39 minutes and 30 seconds. Weber now leads the Utah series, and the Utes still have not won a game in Ogden. Coming up this weekend, two new opponents travel to Ogden to face the Cats in the Dee Center, and both teams bring talented squads to Utah. Saturday night (Dec. 8) the University of Puget of out Sound Tacoma, Washington are the Wildcats guests with the University of Rhode Island (Kingston, RI) coming in on Monday night Dec. 10 Both games begin at 7:30p.m. (MST) The Loggers from Tacoma were the number one Division II team last season in the final regular season rankings. Puget Sound had a 5 record. They entered the Division II playoffs for the fifth straight season, winning the first two games, advanced to the quarterfinals where they were beaten by Wisconsin-Gree- n Bay which eventually ended up second nationally. Puget Sound won the Division II title in 1976. Head Coach Don Zech is in his 12th season and has an impressive 222-9- 4 record. Each of his last five teams have won 20 games or more. The Loggers generally have one of the tougher Division Ilschedules with usually six or seven tough Division I schools on it. UPS opened its 1979-8- 0 season 3 win at home over with a Eastern Washington University, as team Weber beat last year 3 in Ogden. Before their entrance into Ogden, the Loggers face Chapman College (Dec, 3) and Cal (Dec. 4) both games being at home. They also defeated a strong Athletes In Action-Canad- a team in a preseason exhibition game. In both of those games, Puget Sound shot 66 percent from the field, which indicates a strong offensive team. Center Joe Leonard ) was second team Division II last season with a 13.7 and 10.7 rebound and scoring ' Average. Thbee 'Tither starters return from last year's squad in, 14.3), cluding Eric Brewe and guards Roy Del Smiley Post-Seaso- -- 9 18 point leads mid-wa- y through the second half and coasted in for the win. Bruce Collins had 18 points, but guard Mark Mattos played his finest game as a Wildcat with 17 points, seven reboun- - 1975-7- ference title, defeating Northern Arizona (92-7and n in the Montana (98-7tourney to earn a second straight trip to the NCAA Tournament in as many years where they defeated New Mexico State in the first round, the only team in the state of Utah to win an NCAA Tournament game in 1979. season under lYobably the most incredible McCarthy was in 1977-7- 8 when he took the youngest starting lineup of any major college in the country and molded them into champions. Learning as they went, n the team initiated play in a dollar sports arena and faced one of their toughest schedules in history. After struggling their way into the playoffs, the young Wildcats won their first Big Sky Conference Championship sonce 1973, by beating the number one team in the conference on its home court in a pressure-packe- d overtime game. The youngsters advanced to the NCAA Tournament where they were defeated by Arkansas which eventually finished third in the nation. For his part in engineering this stellar performance, COACH McCarthy was named Big Sky Conference OF THE YEAR. In 1976-7McCarthys 20-- 8 ball club won the coveted BUCKET symbol of basketball OQlTKKIi supremacy hi basketball crazy Utah, by beating Utah, I tah Stale and Brigham Young in the same season. That same year, the Wildcats were runners-u- p in the prestigious Far West Classic, losing the championship game to a fine North Carolina team which went on to place second in the nation. All totaled, record is McCarthys four-yeimpressive. With an 8 mark (.691), McCarthy, is a year averaging 21 wins a season, but that average for McCarthy goes back further than just the last four seasons as a Wildcat. Neil, as a head coach for six years on the high school level in California, produced a 124-5- 0 record before joining the college' coaching fraternity. He still holds the records at two schools for single-seaso- n winning marks. In the history of St. Vincent High in Vallejo has 32-- 5 record stands alone. Opening a new school, St. Patricks, he put together a 26-- year another mark that has never been bettered. -a ..j During his high school tenure, he had more than just coaching duties to concern himself with. He also was involved in teaching and was Director of Athletics at both schools and Dean of Boys at St. Vincent. A Californian by birth, Neil was graduated from St. Vincents in 1957 where he later returned as a conch, teacher and administrator. After a stint in the Army where he played on a service basketball team and won tin Fort Bliss Heavy-weigBoxing Title, he enrolled at hometown Vallejo Junior College where he vas a busy man, to say the least. While at Vallejo, McCarthy was an honor student, editor of the campus newspaper, a member of the Honor Society and a fixture on the Dean's list. Somehow during that period he also found time to play some basketball and played it well enough to be named both years at school. Following graduation, Neil went to Cal where he again earned honors; on the basketball court and in the classroom. He oh. la in ed a bachelor's degree in 1965 and subsequently ol Gained a master's from the same institution. His Master's Thesis, incidentally, was concerned with the art of free-throshooting. Any connection g between that study and the performances of the Wildcats from the charil.y strip is certainly no coincidence. In his four seasons , his teams have consistently led the Big Sky Conferen.ee in free-thropercentage and have been over 70 pc;r cent as a team the last four seasons. McCarthy left the ranks of high school coaches in 1971 to come to Weber State as chief assis tant to then- - 91-7- 20 poin- the last four years, not too many people seem likely to he took over a team that argue that point. In recorded the first losing season in the schools history the previous year and turned them into conference n runners-up- . Since the inception of the Big Sky Tournament, McCarthys teams have played in all four of them the only school to boast such a record. Last season, his team recorded the second best record ever at Weber, posting a mark, only a 9 record under Phil Johnson in was better. The Wildcats successfully defended their Big Sky Con25-- 9 opener, turning back the Univerbefore sity of Utah Utes, 11,315 spectators in the Dee Center. The Wildcats opened up two that the Wildcats lost a season opener. Bruce in 18 seasons (6-7- coach Gene Visscher. When Visscher resigned midway through the 1975 season, McCarthy was handed the reins of the program. He became the first coach at contract when he .Weber to ever be given a multi-yea- r signed a three year pact following his second year with the team. McCarthy is a respected member of the coaching' brotherhood, and a serious student and teacher of the game. He has had several published articles in national coaching magazines, has been a frequent participant at clinics and workshops, and has made two trips abroad as a coach. One was to Bolivia to conduct a number of clinics; the most recent was with the Wildcats in the summer of 1978 to the Republic of China where they played several teams. He has been appointed to be the District VII representative on the International Basketball Committee of the National Association of Basketball season. It is the second NABC Coaches for the 1979-8committee he has served on. McCarthy is also on the Fro Keds Coaches Advisory Board. A McCarthy coaching trademark are teams that play with intelligence, intensity and a scrambling defense and it is a sure guarantee that his teams will be in better physical condition than their opponents. The formula has been a good one for McCarthy and his teams they have set winning marks every year and created excitement for their fans as well. McCarthy-coache- d teams at Weber State have set new attendance records each of the last four years and with all the excitement of the upcoming year, it will mad likely he broken again. His coaching formula has been proven for the past 15 years and there is little chance it will change now or in the future. A widower, McCarthy has three children: Lisa Ann, Aaron Patrick and Neil Christopher. (6-6- 6-- 3, 0 COACH MCCARTHY con get emotional at times as shown here and above. He loves the game of basketball and knows the game inside out. This week his Wildcats take on Utah State, Pudget Sound and Rhode Island, all at home. Weber State scoring and rebournd leaders all-ti- me REBOUNDING (400 plus Career Boards) 1.- WSlie 1143 Sojourner 949 2. Jimmie Watts 722 3. Al DeWitt 708 4. BRUCE COLLINS 5. Dan Sparks 654 640 6. Gene Visscher 7. Richard Cooper 630 8. Paul Marigney 592 577 9. Bob Davis 10. RICHARD SMITH 571 11. Jerry Trice 524 1 2. Jonnie Knoble 515 1 3. 475 Larry Bergh 14. Jim Lyon 15. Ted Bryant 1 6. John Silbernagel I 17. Nolan Archibald 18. Eddie Tillman 19. DAVID JOHNSON 420 419 417 410 403 402 D D D NOTE: i Mark Mottos has 565 career points going into the Midwestern Gome end needs 35 points to brook Into the 600 club. ifi Oiiitlf D D 0 D a Qcntmo dnr o w oauu wito raos m i MUSCAT CENTER. Richard Smith, grabs rebound in Utah game. Tha 71 big man is on big reason why Webtor Stote is favored to win the conference roce this seoson. |