| OCR Text |
Show re Ghe Salt Lake Tribune SPORTS BASEBALL NOTES/D-2 ME NHL HOCKEY/D.3 Mi GRIZZLIES/D.3 PREP HOOPS/D4 @ OBITUARIES/D6 THURSDAY, DECEMBER3,1998 * Section D Sabres Panthers Hurricanes 1 Canadiens 4 Maple Leafs 1 Kings 3 Rangers | Islanders Avalanche Red Wings 4 Oilers Coyotes 4 Stars 3. Sharks 3 Xavier (m) Miami, 0 St. John’s (m) Notre Dame (w) 82 Hofstra Toledo 3 2 64 56 Texas Tech (w) 96 Duke(w) 64 Texas S.A. 91 39 Florida St. 72 Downright Uptight, Utes Fall to Rams Majerusis searching for answersafter Utah’s‘tentative’ performanceagainst R.I. in Great Eight BY PATRICK KI THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE CHICAGO — Somewhere high above the clouds, during today’s flight to California, the Utah Utes need to adopt a morerelaxed attitude made famous in the GoldenState. Obviously, dudes are too uptight Aside from Andre Miller, the Utes were tentative in their 70-63 loss Wednesday to RhodeIsland in the Great Eight gameat the United Center. Beth A. Keiser/The Associated Press R.L’s LutherClay,right, goes up for two against Utah's Nate Althoff. The Utes faced anotherzone defense, and again they faltered. Clearly, it is hard to shoot with one eye on the basket and the other peering at the bench. “We need to work on zone offense, said Utah Coach Rick Majerus. “We're Utah plays Saturday at Long Beach probably a little too tentative, that’s my State. fense.’ controlled freeway rage, also made famous in California. At 3-3, the Utes need to fault. We'renot lookingto be aggressive againstit. I've got them uptight on of- The student-athletes are putting too much emphasis on thefirst part of the phrase by thinking instead of playing Stiff and mechanical won't cut it against teams the quality of RhodeIsland “Guys are worrying about screwing up,” said Alex Jensen Majerus calls it “bench-eye,” a syn- drome he wentlate into the night trying to rectify. As soon as his postgame press conference ended, he turned his atten- tion to securing gamefilm to locate and correctthe problem, presumablybefore Theyalso needto adopt someofthat string together momentum with WAC play less than one month away andtheir Top 25 rankinglikely to disappear. As it stands now, the Utes seem content to let Miller and Hanno Mottola do the scoring. The two combined for 41 points Wednesday, with nobody else reaching doublefigures. RhodeIsland, conversely, posted four players with at least 10 points. We have to be more aggressive. Miller said. other indication that few others are scor- ing Again, Jensen was saddled with foul trouble. He fouled out for the fourth time in six games — the other two he finished one below the limit. With Jensen sitting morethan playing Utah had to employ triangle-and-two defense. The result was Rhode Island (43) shot 52 percent from the field. With superstar Lamar Odom facing a double-team often, Antonio Reynolds- “Guys are thinking too much See UTES, Page D-6 Bengals No. 1? Didn’t Look That Way for Long Listening to Hawaii Offer But football coachstill says he is happy being with Utes BY JOE BAIRD Top-ranked Brighton is pushedtolimit before holding off the pesky Vikings BY JAY DREW THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE THESALT L Without much fanfare, Ron McBride periodically has received job inquires from other schools during his nine years as football coach at TRIBUNE This is not the way the Brighton High basketball dy nasty was supposed to begin. The No. 1-ranked Bengals andtheir array ofjunior superstar almostlost their opener Wednesdaynightto the University of Utah. And eachtime, a Viewmont team that was picked to finish deadlast in Region 1. Only when 6-foot-9 Jesse Pinegar hit a sixfoot bank shot in the final seconds did Brighton beat he politely turned them down. This time, McBride appears to be listen- the pesky Vikings 58-56 in a non-region gameat Brighton. It was a win said Brighton coach Jim Jimas, but it was apparent by his demeanor and postgame tongue- ing. He will talk further with University of Hawaii officials about their coaching posi- Ron McBride Miller again was awesome, tying his out there. They're worried about coach McBride Is erie taking them out if they take a bad shot. career high in points (28) and steals (eight). But he only had four assists, an- lashing that he was not happywith it. Viewmont made six morefield goals than Brighton andhit nine threepointers, but couldn't overcome Brighton’s 27-7 advan. tage at the free-throw line. “No matter who you pla you never want to feel goodaboutlosing,” said ne iewmont coach Jeff Emery, the only newcoachin 5-A this season But I hope tion, which came open wonday when Fred vonAppen was fired. McBrideis content at Utah and hasno reasonto seek anoth- er job. At the sametime, he is just intrigued enough to hear Hawaii officials we gained some confidence from this.” The obvious question after the game wasthis: Which preseason prediction was worse the one that had “I’m perfectly happyhere. I don’t plan Brighton ranked No. 1 or the one that had Viewmont out. last? Answer: probably somewherein the middle They could haveeasily won the game,” said Jimas After blowing a seven-point lead with four minutes to go anywhere,” McBride said Wednesday, after reports linking him to the UH post surfaced in Honolulu. “But if somebody calls and soundsinterested in you, left, the Bengals called timeout with the score tied at 56-56 and eight seconds remaining. The ball eventually went into Pinegar and he drilled the turnaround jumper, but the clock only started when the shot was made. you're going to listen. I don’t want to make a big deal out of it. I just think sometimesit’s good to take a look and see what they haveto say.” After some discussion, the official agreed to put McBride's interest in the Hawaii job is sure to come as a surprise to many. Unlike Utah men’s basketball Coach Rick Majerus, who has been linked to numerous high-profile jobs over the years, McBride has been a coaching homebody He called Utah his dream job when he took overin 1990, and has given noindication anything has changed. With a ca- three seconds on the clock. However, Pinegar batted away Viewmont's inbounds pass and the Bengals escaped with the win “We didn't play that well,” said Pinegar, who had 12 points and seven rebounds. “We seemed nervous. Fellow junior Garner Meads led Brighton with 18 points and seven rebounds, whilebattling leg crampsin the fourth quarter that took him offthe floor in stretch- es. Meads madejustthree field goals, including a toma- reer mark of 62-43, McBrideis the sec- hawk jam on a fastbreak, but hit 12-of-14 free-throws ond-winningest coach in school history behind Ike Armstrong (141-55-17), and has a contract that runs through 2001. Utah Athletie Director Chris Hili, as Viewmonthad two guys foul out. Brighton’s two other starting juniors, Lawrence Cowan and Luke Hendrix, had 10 and 11 points, re- spectively, while senior C.T. Bellhadfive assists WhenRegion 1 coaches picked Viewmontlast, they probablydidn’t know howwell the Vikings could shoot granted Hawaii permission to talk to McBride. “I would do that for any coach,” said Hili. “Beyond that, these types of things are between Ron and us and whoever heis talking to.” McBride has spurned past overtures it or that they had a move-in, 6-foot-8 senior Jackson Vroman, son of former Provo High and NBAplayer Brett Vroman. Jackson Vroman picked up two quick fouls at the start of both halves, and spent most of his time on the bench. but he showed some talent when he was in against the more highly touted Meadsand Pine- from Louisville, Minnesota, Kansas and San Jose State, though he did go interview with Minnesota. What makes this different is McBride's affinity for Islands — “I havea lot of ties in Hawaii,” he said. — and what could be a handsome financial package. UH officials are re- See McBRIDE, Page D-3 gar. Emeryalso showed he can coach. His team’s aggresSee BRIGHTON, Page D-4 Al Hartmann/The Salt Lake Tribune Brighton’s Luke Hendrix sails to the basket against Viewmont's Chris Walton. Brighton won 58-56. 1 Mountain View Drills Provo D4 me WAC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME Be. Unranked Cougar Football Team Is DICK ROSETTA Unwanted Novelty for Diehard Fans Brigham Young University football fans have had their problems lately in coming to grips with wallowing in the land of the unranked. They are not the least bit placated with living in “others receiving votes” digs. They will tell you that as recently as two years ago, their team was No. in the country. The veterans, reminded by the banner in Cougar Stadium, still boast of No. 1 in 1984. But diehards, some who have the audacity to bleat, “We would rather pass and lose than run and win,” simply cannotbelieve their beloveds will play for the WAC championship Saturday in Las Vegas as the unranked half of the mat- chup with Air Force. Or, that the Cougars will close out 1998 as an underdogin the Liberty Bowl against undefeated Top 10 tenant Tulane. Imagine, gaining a smidgen of national respectability against little ol’ Air Force. Of the WAC,noless. And then having to contend with a Tulane team whose home base remains as much of a mystery to the nation’s pollsters as does BYU's. Yet, as polls go, BYUfollowers — not to mention the coaching staff and play- ers — couldn't ask for a better Decem- berscenario. Meeting 18th-ranked Air Force and the ninth-ranked Green Wave within 27 daysis cause for intriguing hot stove banter. A Ellison’s Naughty-But-Funny Antics Keep His Cougar Teammates ‘Up’ BY MICHAELC. LEWIS THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE PROVO — Whenheis finally gone from the BYUCougars, safety Chris Ellison probably will be remembered most The march to the Top 20 was supposed to have cometo pass for the Cougars way back in September against Alabama, Arizona State and Washington. BYU botchedthat chanceby losing two out of three — to very ordinary Alabama and Washington teams. But voila! Here it is — a December reprieve, when a league championship See ROSETTA Page D-3 for his profane promiseto beattherival Utes. Andthat is fine with him. The Cougars did come through, after all, beating the Utes 26-24 to win the WAC Pacific Division title and earn a spot in the WAC championship gamein Las Vegas on Saturday against 17th- ranked Air Force. What’s more,it was fun. Ellison enjoyed the uproar that sprouted oncehe spouted. He had a blast withall the attention. Wearing that Utah cap to practice? Typical Ellison. ‘That's just Chris,” said teammate He- shimu Robertson. “He's a joker.” Fun wasthe whole reason Ellison returned to BYU this season after missing all of last year — his senior season — with a kneeinjury he suffered in thefirst quarterofthe first game. He didn’t have to come back; he already had earned his undergraduate degree in sociology. But while most players talk about leaving earlyinstead of staying late, Ellison de- See ELLISON, Page D-3 Cougs Mixed Bowden Leaving D-3 |
