Show — The Utah Statesman : Monday March 9 1981 Page 9 J USU fails in PCAA tournament by Dale Bublitz A masterful piece of coaching by USU’s Rod Tuellcr and a strong defensive effort were not enough to overcome Fresno State University Friday night in the PCAA tournament in Anaheim The Aggies lost by a score ending their season deceptive For the second straight night Tueller’s defensive architecture was the right strucwin over ture In the it was the diamond-and-onOn Friday it was an assortment of zone defenses and a refusal to go to a man defense that left Fresno confused and "Even after we beat their man defense twice this year I didn’t expect to see a zone” said FSU Coach Boyd Grant “We tried to force them to play man but they wouldn't We waited for USU to make mistakes but that didn't occur” The Aggie defenders held together as if they were the Alamo’s last line of defense Only as time ran out and the Aggies were forced to foul did the Bulldogs inflate the 71-5- 7 93-9- UC-Irvin- 0 e e off-guar- d final score Against Fresno's slowdown game that required a total defensive rfTort the Aggies forced 17 turnovers ”Rcxl had them ready to play” said Grant ”but we lacked pa- tience too” The night's shortcomings came from the Aggies’ offense that scored well below its 82 I season average Credit might be given to Fresno one of the nation’s stingiest teams 10 score against The Bulldogs physically kept the ball out of Brian Jackson's hands and pounded him when he didn't touch the ball Although Jackson 25 points to pass Cornel scored a game-higt career scorer at Green as the USU his arm and upper body were reddened by Fresno's physical abuse “If Jackson had shot 20 more times he would have set a scoring record and beaten us” said Grant Tucller unimpressed with officials Tom Finkrn and Charlie Range saw it another h second-highes- tmreljy held Saturday in the Nelson Fieldhouse I '0-sho-vvs i'° give victory track team womens' way "We would have liked to have gone to him more down the stictch” he said But Tuellcr indicated that Jackson’s physical stature wouldn’t have been able to overcome the pounding he would have been forced to take When Tuellcr tried to plea bargain for assault charges Range hit him with a vengeful technical foul Jackson hit on all five of his field goal atI tempts in the first half tying Green's record at the 4:53 mark of the period Midway through the final period he moved ahead of Green and finished with a career 900 points The Aggies were outshot only 58 1 percent to 571 percent from the floor Only on a few occasions were their shot selections questionable Key turnovers 18 in all and a few good free throws proved a small but significant difference in the game with 1 slow-movi- Bulldogs "We played with a lot of effort but our execution was lacking at crucial times" said Tuellcr The game began as if the Aggies weren’t impressed with a league leader The Bulldogs had entered as if they were the legion of Rome but Keith Hood’s oepning brought the red-cla- d Bulldogs back to contemporary time It was a seesaw affair until Aggie turnovers allowed Fresno the luxury of fast-breer ak baskets uncommon of Fresno's image In the halfs final three minutes Fresno took advantage of two questionable calls to build a halftime lead Fresno quickly built momentum and a lead in the first five minutes at the second half Tueller’s technical Caul broke the emotional swing Tueller refused so switch from the zone defense causing Bulldog turnovers At the 1 1:50 juncture closed the gap Edgar Wicldiffe’s but the Ags never got closer to “We couldn’t believe they wouldn’t come out of the zone” said Grant The game’s final minutes showed a parade of Bulldogs going to the line The charity tosses awarded to them tarnished the Aggies’ defensive effort Hood Jackson and WicklifTe made their final appearances in Aggie uniforms 29-2- 1 37-2- 7 er 39-3- 7 IV f°r hc 1H1 hrrhivr Classic and Utah Tra k and Field fhr Championships but Iv" show up The Vd v1'1 meet was (hampionship ''Wav L'SU’- flson Fieldhouse and all four of ititiaK f I nriJr rrf mml‘d to compete m! C llc University of Utah's coach iJotm '! rr fmm the meet while com-Vqu- ji jjhBuig j tndoor l ihties left his team unable to W but it r'am ouni University also failed to ap- hot her o call jusi ahead and offer an excuse "“wn (tlbyiheXyVnutlvn a' understandably disap- hrhavior of the two absent universities Katidaoii iT' typical of relationships with BYU” 'jl l' '" jetted h e absenr Cougars’ unexplained and unprofessional and lcui though as the Aggies pro-wolftLr °ne conpetitors from Writer State tn"1 w'h 109 points as Weber took u t"er Kuusela was the Up only BYU competitor j 5 team ca'mcd points for the Cougars by fo u fvent- The U of U was not awarded any pk L'SU V Col-(h5- 2 se-V- xr 1 - l!uveh v'1 BYU Rteion 7 "ht J p n'ec” commented Knud-it- h £hance to really go head-Tn Cougars barely nosed out the Ag-1- 0 Championships and USU was looking '°uld hav jkHa ? qualiy °Ur lrt V (continued am i — Ags pepper Kings 21-- 2 in opener Utah State University’s baseball team its season with an explosion of hitting Saturday afternoon as it demolished the Ca he Valley Kings “It was a good way to start the season” said player-coacGreg Schaum “It was a 21-- 10) 2 h solid offensive showing” Offense was indeed the Aggies’ strong point as they came from the plate with 19 hits accounting for their 21 runs Cache Valley on the other hand was held to only three hits had been scheduled for the A double-headafternoon but the second game was later cancelled as the Aggies began their hit parade The Cache Valley Kings is a local team which plays in the Beehive League Bob Steele was the winning pitcher as he er held down the first three innings for the Aggies Bruce Quayle and Ron Cropper each pitched two innings to round out the USU pitching corps for the day- - All three topitchers and they combined earn 11 are trike outs The Aggies were only muck out twice in the contest Right fielder Terry Bybee went two for rs wlch i( loaded with freshman com-Pc- e in 12 of the 18 events which were e three from the plate as he slammed (wo triples and two RBI for the Aggies USU second baseman Darwin Black followed Bybee by hitting three for three and stealing three bases Ag Kevin Mackey brought home a triple and two RBI as he played a solid defensive game in center field "Everyone played and everyone hit the ball" noted Schaum "It was a good game heading into BYU" The Aggies’ next games will be a double-headagainst the junior varsity team at Brigham Young University on Wednesday afternoon in Provo By pitching the Acres' on Saturday Schaum has C3 able to save his four CYU contest against tougher "Our stronger pitchers aw said Schaum as he Cm J f' Steve Brown as the pischan the load against BYU a WedK±? FolfowingWednewfay will travel to Price Utah for a gMwt the CoSege of Eastrrn Uc!l ca Uadi er rs right-fcanda- ta tr tsa ti 14 I" - s |