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Show 'BIRD SPORTS Cagers unable to stay Close down the stretch The game belonged to SU early on, and it looked as if the 'Birds were ready to stand up to the challenge and prove they are ready to be contenders in the MidBy CHAD LAMB Con. Picked to finish seventh and eighth by the media and coaches, SU is JOURNAL SPORTS EDITOR expected to finish no better than the middle of the pack. Who can blame the ,polls, though. After all, only one returner is back for SU from last season, and Just when looked as if the 'Birds would walk away with their first win of the the other returners combined for only 11.9 point season over a league foe, som ething had to go per game last year. wrong. Jason Essex was called for a foul, then a Those returners gave Buffalo a run for their technical foul in the closing minutes of the game money early on, jumping out to a nine-point after getting tangled up with Buffalo's Rasaun lead in the first three minutes of the game. Young. and that allowed the Bulls to change the Chad Bey showed his potential early on, whole outlook of the game. starting at center, as he scored with a leaning The 'Bird offense broke down after the sixjumper in the paint for the first points of the point turnaround tied to Essex' fouls, helping game. Tarvish Felton also added to the scoring Buffalo beat Southern Utah 85-75 Saturday night on a strong move to the basket that drew a foul. in a see-saw battle that saw 10 different lead Newcomer Tyrone Ellis engineered the team changes during the game. well in his first start at point guard for the The game was a lot closer than the final score picking up four quick points from two 'Birds, indicated. Both teams were tied at 68-68 with steals that led to break away baskets. From 4:51 remaining, when Buffalo's Scott McMillan there the Bulls had to play catch up, managing nailed a three-pointer to give the Bulls a lead. only free throws along the way. Buffalo then went on an 11-point run at that Kenyatta Clyde also contributed big off the point, with big help from the Essex technical. bench, coming in to score four points of his own Both shooting guards had b~n at each other all to help SU to an early 13-5 lea .i night, and in fue end Young won. The technical Buffalo eventually found a way back, taking gave the Bulls a six-point play which included the lead in the first half after a Young basket four free throws and an easy bucket by Nikola1 that put the Bulls up by one Alexeev. ... From the field, SU had a modest night The 'Birds never found a way to get the ball ~ shooting 44.6 percent from the field. The 'Birds moving in their direction again, findmg ~were led by Clyde with 15 points. Felton scored themselves m a hole that was impossible to get ~ 10 points before leaving the game with an injury out of. ~ toward the end of the game. SU won the battle Buffalo brought in a team that had finished ffi of the boards, grabbing two more rebounds than second last year m the Mid-Continent 8 the Bulls. Conference, and boasted two pre-season all~ It was the first time in nine years that SU has conference candidates in Young and Mike .___ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ ___..Q lost its home opener. The 'Birds now prepare for Martinho. Both guards made big contributions Tyrone Ellis scored two quick buckets in the first half to help the a non-conference game against Idaho State at down the stretch to keep the game out of reach men open with a 9-0 lead. Ellis finished with 13 points. the Centrum Wednesday night. and were the nucleus of the Bull offense. Season ends for harriers The SUU men's cross country team turned in its h ighest finish ever with a sixth-place team finish at the 1997 NCAA Mountain Region Cross Country Meet Saturday in Ogden. The men turned in a score of 192, fueled by an 18th-place finish by Jody Benson, and a 27th-place finish by Phil Woolston, with the ladies squad finishing 14th in the women's SK event. Benson, who was the Mid-Con athlete of the year with his fist place finish on Nov. 1, turned in a time of 31:49 in what was his first lOK race this season, after racing on an 8K course in all previous meets this year. Woolston finished with a time of 32:05, followed by teammates Ted Hansen (32:19) and Chris Merkley (32:36) finishing 36th and 46th, respectively. Colorado swept all teams at the division meet with a convincing first place finish, with five of its six runners taking the top-five spots. Adam Goucher took fist place with a time of 30:04. That time was 55 seconds better than his teammate Matt Napier, who turned in a time of 30:59. Weber State, a team the 'Birds upset at the BYU Invitational back in October, finished in second just ahead of Northern Arizona and BYU. The Wildcats were led by Matt Harmer who finished with a time of 31:09, with help from Jed Johansen (10th) and Aaron Taylor (12th). Both Colorado and Weber State will head to the NCAA finals, while BYU and NAU have an outside chance at being invited. Although the sixth-place finish was the best finish the men have ever had at the division meet, it wasn't high enough for the 'Birds to advance to next week's championships. SU did have an outside chance at sending individual runners to the NCAA finals, however, none of the 'Birds times were good enough to qualify. The women's squad had a tough time in Saturday's meet, finishing 14th out of 17 teams. As a team. the Lady ' Birds finished with a total score of 381, which included a 59th-place finish by Teresa Rice, and a ?3rd-place finish by freshman Wendy Allen. Esther Woolston, one of the ladies top runners all season, sat out the meet with a leg injury. BYU was tops for the ladies finishing well ahead of second-place Colorado taking five of the top-nine spots belonging to the Cougars. While this season has come to an end, both squads are looking forward to next season. The men will lose Ted Hansen to graduation next year, but the rest of the team remains intact. The ladies will be looking to rebound from a second-place Mid-Con finish this season to winning the championship next year. For now, most of the runners are preparing for the upcomig indoor track season. Mother Nature started production on our diamonds 2 and a 1/2 billion years ago. FortunateZ-Y., you won 't have to wait that long. cc~ gt° cc°'. Jewelers• Gemologists -..: 75 North Main Cedar City, Ut 84720 (801) 586-2422 ..-..........., ... ,, .-.......... .......... .. . - |