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Show MONDAY, UNIVERSITY JOURNAL SPORTS FEBRUARY 25, 2002 » MEN’S BASKETBALL SU wins two of its final three BY MARK JONES SPORTS EDITOR The SUU men’s basketball team concluded its regular season over spring break by winning two of its final three games, including a 82-75 home win Saturday night over Oral Roberts. The 'Birds started spring break on the road at Chicago State on Feb. 16. SUU used one of its more impressive defensive showings of the season en route to a 57-35 win over the Cougars. The 35 points by CSU set the SUU record for fewest points scored by an opponent since the advent of the shot clock. Jay Collins led the 'Birds with a game-high 14 points, while Dan Beus and Brian Gardner each scored 10. SUU also has a season-high 17 steals as CSU committed an SUU-opponentseason-high 27 turnovers. “We had a nice team effort tonight,” coach Bill Evans said. “I thought we did a good job of defending them in the second half.” SUU returned home to take on UMKC Thursday night in the Centrum Arena and lost 72-71 in overtime. The 'Birds started off strong as they took a 34-22 lead into halftime, but the Kangaroos would get back into the game on the heels of Michael Watson, who scored a game-high 31 points. It appeared that the Kangaroos would win the game in regulation as they rallied to take a 66-63 lead with 30 seconds to play. However, Collins hit a three-point basket with 16 seconds left to tie the game. UMKC had a final chance to win the game in regulation, but Watson turned the ball over on a traveling violation. In overtime, neither team could get anything going offensively, but UMKC’s Randall Atchison hit a key threepoint basket to give the 'Roos a 72-68 lead. Another threepointer by Collins cut the lead to one with 10 seconds to play. Watson would give the 'Birds the break they would need by missing the front end of a one-and-one giving SUU a final chance to win the game, but a shot by Collins came up short. “I don’t want to sugar-coat this game,” Evans said. “We didn’t defend well enough and we didn’t rebound well enough to win and its just that simple.” Beus finished with a team-high 20 points, while Collins, Jason Baker and Russ Day each had 11 points. The loss could be explained as simple as the 'Birds didn’t i - rIan Gardner slams home wo of his gae—high 25 points in the SUU 82-75 win over Oral Roberts on Saturday night. The 'Birds will now prepare for the MidCon tournament, which starts next week in Fort Wayne, Ind. SUU will be the fourth seed and will play UMKC in the first round. Women 'BIRD WATCH M BASEBALL: The SUU baseball team picked up its first victory of the season with a 7-4 decision over the University of Utah Saturday in St. George. Aaron Lancaster, Ryan Duvall and Kurtis Yocum all homered to help end the 'Birds’ 14-game losing streak. James Anderson (1-1) allowed four runs on eight hits with six strike outs in seven innings. Steven Stoker pitched a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his first save and seal the victory for SUU. The ’Birds will now travel to San Diego for a weekend series against San Diego State starting on Friday. B TRACK AND FIELD: The SUU track and field team competed in the Mid-Con indoor championship this weekend in Manhattan, Kan. The "Birds finished second in both the men’s and women's events as Oral Roberts took home both championships. The men finished just one-point a head of Western Illinois for second place. The men were led by Zak James, who recorded two wins at the meet. James won the 5,000meters with a time of 14:46.51, while Curtis Moore came in second with a mark of 15:01.37. James also won the 3,000meters on Friday and finished second in the mile run with a time of 4:20.97. Majeed Abudu came from behind to win the men’s 800-meters with a mark of 1:57.80. Ransom Minyard finished second in the 60meter sprints with a time of 8.17, the fastest second mark in school history. Troy Ford won his thirdstraight shot put title with a throw of 54-6. In women’s competition, Kelly Richards was named coAthlete of the year after winning the women’s 800meters and the mile. She won the 800-meters in a time of 2:16.68 and the mile in a time of 5:04.47. Alisha Bezanson was named Newcomer of the Year after finishing second in the 800-meters (2:17.81), and the mile (5:05.08) Maegan Schmutz recorded the fourth fastest mark in school history in the 5,000-meters with a fourth place time of 18:15.76 Dawn Dvorak tied for second in the pole vault with a mark of 10-5.25. B SOFTBALL: The Lady Birds improved to 9-9 on the season with a sweep of a pair of games against Utah State Thursday. SUU star Lacee LePrey (4-3) hurled the 'Birds to a nine-inning marathon in the opener. She fanned 13 Aggies in the three-hit complete game 1-0 shutout. In the nightcap, SUU’s offense woke up with 10 runs off 12 hits in the 10-4 victory. Tracy Evans (3-2) picked up the win. In other action over the break, the Lady Birds were swept by UNLV and Lacee LaPry NAIA #5 Point Loma Nazarene. SUU will return to action on Friday and Saturday at the Red Desert Classic in Salt Lake City. The 'Birds will play Eastern Kentucky, Utah State, #2 Stanford and Oregon. B GYMNASTICS: stop Watson when they needed to. “Watson is a tough kid. Every time they needed it, he was tough enough to make a big shot,” Evans said. “Big-time players make big time shots and he was one tonight.” The "Birds erased the disappointing loss to UMKC by defeating Oral Roberts 8275 Saturday night in the Centrum on senjors’ night. The Lady Birds lost their home opener on Feb. 15 to BYU 196.625-191.900. The Birds had to count three falls on the beam and one on the bars. SUU was led by Talayna Fortunato, who finished third with a all-around mark of 39.025. Fortunato was named as the Western Gymnastics Conference Athlete of the Week for her performance against BYU. SUU will be in action again on Thursday night with a home meet against Eastern Michigan at 7 p.m. SUU struggled in the first half as it shot just 31 percent from the field and trailed 35-25 at intermission. However, the second half was a different story as the 'Birds exploded for 57 points on 61 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes. The ’Birds were led by Brian Gardner, who scored a season- high 25 points on 7-of-14 shooting. Beus scored 14 points and pulled down seven rebounds before fouling out with six minutes remaining. Collins had 11 points as he played the game in foul trouble. Kevin Henry and Donnie Jackson each contributed 10 points in the victory. The game-deciding run came in the opening minutes of the second half as the 'Birds scored the first 11 points of the half to take a 36-35 lead. “The difference for us was that we just couldn’t make baskets in the first half, but in the second half we were able to shoot 60 percent,” Evans said. “We wanted to throw it in the post, attack them down there and be tough enough to make some shots and we came out at the beginning of the half and did that.” The Golden Eagles had only six players score and were led by Reggie Borges with 22 points. The SUU defense held Markius Barnes, ORU’s leading scorer, to just seven points and Luke Spencer-Gardner, who scored 29 points earlier this season against SUU, scored only six points. Tyrone Tiggs hit 5-0f-10 three-point shots for 19 points. “Oral Roberts is a very good basketball team,” Evans said. “They have a lot of players who can step up and hit shots. We did a good job of defending Spencer-Gardner and Barnes, but Tiggs hit some big shots.” Gardner knew once Beus fouled out he needed to pick it up. “I knew I needed to step it up and I took it he said. “Coming out of half we picked it up The game was marred by 53 personal fouls technicals, with two on each team. With the victory, SUU concludes its regular upon myself,” a bit.” and four season with a Mid-Con record of 8-6 and 11-15 overall. The 'Birds will now enter the Mid-Con tournament next week as the fourth seed and will play UMKC in the first round. Oral Roberts falls to 10-4 in Mid-Con play and 16-13 overall and will enter the tournament as the second seed. The ’Birds won the tournament a season ago with a dramatic win over Valparaiso. Though it has been a down year compared to last year, the players are confident that the 'Birds can repeat as champs, but are quick to point that the road won't be easy. “I feel we can go in and win it,” Gardner said. “But if we don’t come out and play hard we won't win.” “All we want to do is keep winning to stay alive,” Evans said. All tournament games can be heard on 590 AM with Art Challis doing the play-by-play. cagers go 1-1 over break The Southern Utah University women’s basketball team split a pair of games over spring break and will conclude the regular season tonight with a game against UMKC. The 'Birds concluded a three-game road trip on Feb. 16 with a 63-58 loss to Chicago State. The game was close the emntire way as neither team enjoyed a lead more than five points. The 'Birds enjoyed a five-point lead on two different occasions, but couldn’t put the Cougars away as they battled back to tie the game at 58-58. CSU'’s Michelle Allen would give the the Cougars’ the lead for good as she converted a three-point play with 31 seconds remaining to seal the game. SUU shot 40.4 percent from the field and outrebounded the Cougars 31-29, but was hurt by 25 turnovers in the game, including 13 in the second half. The 'Birds were led by Megan Woolston with 11 points. Caroline Heaton had eight points and four rebounds. . However, the 'Birds were able to rebound with a 86-79 win over Oral Roberts Saturday night in the Centrum Arena. SUU avenged a double-overtime loss to the Golden Eagles carlier this season as it closed the game with a 10-2 run to seal the victory. The 'Birds got key contributions from Sarah Hutton and Beverly Thomason off the bench to hold off an stubborn “We got good bench play from everyone,” said coach Joe Hillock. “The last four games we hadn’t got a good performance from the bench and we needed this.” Hutton and Thomason each scored 16 points to give the "Birds a much needed shot in the arm. For Hutton, the 16 points sets a career-high. SUU led by as many as eight points in the first half before the Golden Eagles rallied to take a 38-36 lead into halftime. ORU was led by Krista Ragan with a game-high 33 points on 12-0f-22 shooting. “We were running a lot of players at (Ragan),” Hillock said. “We did a good job of containing her down the stretch, which was something we needed to do.” The game was close in the second half as neither team enjoyed a lead larger than five points, until the 'Birds’ game deciding 10-2 run in the last three minutes of the game. SUU shot 40 percent for the game making 25-0f-63 shots. However, the Golden Eagles had a slight 34-33 rebounding advantage. ‘Woolston led SUU with 20 points on 4-of:8 shooting, Heaton was held to six points and nine rebounds. SUU improves to 5-8 in the Mid-Con and 9-16 overall. The regular season will come to an end tonight with a home game against UMKC. ORU squad. The ’Birds were also able to take care of the The 'Roos defeated SUU earlier this season, 69-54. UMKC is 3-10 on the season in the Mid-Con and 7-19 overall. ball better against ORU as they turned the ball over just 11 times to ORU’s 18 turnovers. Tonight’s game in the Centrum will tip-off at 7:05 p.m. Afterward, SUU will prepare for the Mid-Con tournament. COaching changes SUU football coach C. Ray Gregory announced over spring break the hiring of Steve Fex as defensive coordinator for the SUU football team. Fex replaces Chris Howard, who resigned following the team’s disappointing 2-9 season and has recently been hired as offensive coordinator at Elmhurst College in Chicago. Fex comes to SUU from the University of Washington where he served as a graduate assistant working with the Husky linebackers. Prior to his time at UW, Fex spent seven seasons coaching at the high school level in Texas, four years as a assistant at Western Oregon and two years as a head coach at the high school level in Oregon. At Washington, Fex worked primarily with linebackers, “I'm excited to be here, excited to get going,” he said. “We have a great bunch of kids here and a great group of coaches and I think this is a great opportunity.” on foothbhall staff “We're really happy to have coach Fex on the staff,” Gregory said. “He brings us a lot of energy and some fresh ideas. He comes to us from a winning program, too, which is always a big plus.” The hiring of Fex is likely the first of two hirings on the staff. During the Christmas break, coach Gary Coston resigned to take a position at the University of Idaho as special teams coach. Coston’s replacement isn’t likely to be announced until March 10. As for his new job at SUU, Fex will get his first chance as defensive coordinator when spring ball opens on April 1. His new job officially begins when SUU opens its 2002 season Sept. 7 at home against Mesa State. Mesa State handed SUU a disappointing 13-10 loss during the 2001 season. Soccer signs four players to NLI During spring break, the SUU soccer team signed four players to National Letters of Intent to play for the 'Birds this fall. SUU signed Annie Payne, a midfielder from Sandy, Annalisa Banks, a midfielder/defender from St. George, Erin Pictum, a forward/midfielder from Las Vegas and Amber Tubbs, a midfielder from Palmer, Alaska. “Iam very pleased with the talent level and experience of this year’s recruiting class,” said coach Brian Stock. “We are adding players who have excelled on the field, but are also solid students.” Payne lettered all four years at Alta High School, helping experience,” Stock said. “Her ability to read the game allows her to play anywhere on the field and be successful.” Pictum lettered all four years at Silverado High School in Las Vegas. She was also a two-year captain and helped the team to three Northeast Division titles. Last season, she led he team in scoring with 32 goals and nine assists. “Erin has a great nose for the goal, she is very solid on the ball and has proven that she can finish her chances,” Stock said. “Erin is a good lead the Hawks to the 1999 Utah 5A championship, in which athlete and she will also give us an added presence in the air.” Tubbs was a two-year starter at she scored the title-winning goal. She also helped Alta to a Mesa CC and helped lead the team state runner-up finish in 2000. to a 22-2:0 record last season. She is also a two-time all-state and allregion selection at Colony High School in Palmer. She led her team Brian Stock to three Alaska state cup titles. “Amber is also a player with great technical ability and vision,” Stock said. “She has shown that she can be a leader in defense, but is also able to contribute on attack.” “I am excited to add a player like Annie to our said. “She is a technically sound player who also vision.” Banks earned all-tournament team honots after State College to the 2000 National Junior College championship and a national runner-up finish in squad,” Stock has great leading Dixie national 2001. The Rebels also won two Region 19 titles in those two years. “Annalisa is an all-around solid player with great |