Show £2£JEmk5 aKas:- 'v S''s-v - JSIjSe KV r £ v ffiaU - - 'A Sports snapshot AP photo Lisbeth Johnson of Denver University skies to a first in the women's 5 kilometer freestyle race at the NCAA championships Utah leads the team competition followed by defending champion Colorado and Vermont USU softball in Vegas The Utah State women's softball team is off to Las Vegas to meet seventh-ranke- d e UNLV in a Big West series starting today are coming olT The Aggies ( ft their best conference start since joining the Big West in 1991 USU hxik three of four games last weekend at Sun Jose Slate The Rebels (12-- 5 0-are coming off a 2 performance at a tournament in Georgia “This should he a really gtxxi series" four-gam- 1 1 -- 1) 4-- Aggie coach Lloydcnc Scarlc said “From LRA’s to baiting averages wc match up well with UN1V If we can play like our stats say we've played wc should come away with some wins" Thursday's scores NBA Charlotte 119 Dallas 15 Atlanta 83 Cleveland 72 Chicago 102 Detroit 81 Denver 103 Phoenix 92 Golden State 95 Houston 86 LA Lakers 102 Sacramento 89 NHL Boston 4 NY Islanders 3 Pittsburgh 5 Ottawa 1 Tampa Bay 5 NY Rangers 2 Calgary 4 St Louis 2 Winnipeg 5 Florida 3 IHL Basketball Colorado State 100 Brigham Young 84 Utah 76 Hawaii 63 ESPN — NCAA Basketball Big East tournament Connecticut vs Syracuse 7 pm PRIME — NBA Basketball Houston at Utah ESPN — NCAA Basketball Big East tournament Georgetown vs Villanova 9:30 pm KJZZ — NCAA Basketball WAC tourna- ment Utah vs Colorado State PRIME — NCAA Basketball Big Sky tournament Idaho vs Montana State 11:30 pm - NCAA Basketball Big Sky tour- nament Weber State vs Bone State (taped) SATURDAY 9:30 am ESPN -- - NCAA Basketball Conference championship 11 am WGN — Preseason Major League Baseball Chicago White Sox vs Minnesota 11:30 am CBS — NCAA Basketball coverage Conference USA championship at Memphis or Southwest Conference championship at Dallas ESPN — NCAA Basketball Atlantic Coast Conference semifinal split-nation- 1 pm ABC — PBA Bowling 1:30 0) o Classic pm ESPN — NCAA Basketball Atlantic Coast Conference semifinal PRIME NCAA Basketball Stanford at Arizona State 2 pm CBS — NCAA Basketball Purdue at Iowa NBC — PGA Golf Honda Classic third round 3:30 pm - PRIME — NCAA Basketball State at UCLA Washington 4:30 pm ESPN — NCAA Basketball Atlantic 10 Conference championship 6:30 pm ESPN — NCAA Basketball Bg East Conference championship 9 JO p-ESPN — NCAA Basketball Western Athletic Conference championsh'p 10:30 pm ESPN — NCAA Basketball Bg Sky Conference championship (delayed tape) Today's quote “When you're in a rhythm like that you want to do everything you can to carry the load And when you're hot they keep coming to you and you keep knocking them down" — Mit’hacl Jordan after burning the Pistons for 53 points Thursday night 38-poi- 7) top-seed- 31-3- one-hand- 7-- tc live-minu- te PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Don Nelson was fired by the New York Knicks today failing to complete his first season with the team and replaced by assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy The Knicks who play the 76ers tonight in Philadelphia confirmed the change this morning and scheduled a news conference with Van Gundy This is the second straight season Nelson was forced out Last season he was ousted by the Golden State Warriors following ongoing conflicts with players particularly Chris Webber Relations with his new team weren’t much better With the team in break a 4-- 9 skid since the All-StNelson became embroiled in a feud with shooting guard John Starks who was benched in favor of Hubert Davis Other players — including Patrick Ewing Derek Harper Anthony Mason and Charles Oakley — have openly questioned Nelson’s coaching methods Nelson was hired after Pat Riley resigned at the end of last season At the time Nelson signed a three-yeguaranteed contract worth more than $5 million After Thursday’s practice Nelson acknowledged he was coming under fire “I've been kicked in the teeth roughed up and I’m still standing" he said “That's what’s it all about right? You've got to get tough Change has to happen to this team and I could very well be part of that change And that would acceptable on my part” ar ed ar USU gymnasts Rams flatten Cougs head to Denver and that's what wc have to concentrate on now To do The Aggie gymnastics team heads out on the road to wrap up the regular season travels to Utah State (6-Colorado to take on Denver University pm PRIME 5) 8) On television 5 ALBUQUERQUE (AP) — Hawaii got a postseason break in the opening round of the Western Athletic Conference tournament The Rainbows received no such relief from Utah forward Keith Van Horn Van Horn a two-tim- e WAC player of the year scored 26 points and had eight rebounds to lead No 10 Utah to a 76-6- 3 win over Hawaii on Thursday night in the WAC quarterfinals “He’s as good a player as has been around this conference for a long time maybe ever” said Hawaii coach Riley Wallace “He’s a lottery pick (in the NBA) when he wants to be I hope him and his family need the money and it’s next year” Michael Dolcac added 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Utcs (24-who enjoyed a 39-2- 3 edge in reboundMark ing Rydalch scored 13 points and Andre Miller added 10 for Utah which advanced to meet Colorado in the semifinals State (18-1nt Min Horn a junior was coming off a career-beUtcs last he led the when Saturday performance to a 96-8- 5 win at rival Brigham Young to clinch the title WAC’s regular-seaso- n Repeatedly in the second half against Hawaii (11-1Van Horn demonstrated how quickly he can Utes answer for the The No 8 seed Rainbows played gritty in the first 20 minutes trailing 0 at halftime With 18:20 left to play Justice Slicing broke free with a steal and threw down a think to pull Hawaii within 35-3- 2 flying But only nine seconds later Min Horn nailed a from 22 feet to spark a 0 Utah run and give the Utcs a 42-3- 2 lead During a 3 span Min rebounded a missed shot and Horn hit two scored then blocked Sueing at the other end a rebound a block “Anything they need — a — he’s got the arsenal for it” Wallace said of Van Horn Asked about Mm Horn’s sterling sequences in the second half Utah coach Rick Majcnis said: “He’s a better Xio&z A ji' player than I am a coach I can’t teach him all that” mark Alika Smith scored off the At the But Van break for Hawaii to trim Utah's lead to 58-5- 3 Horn responded only 10 seconds later deflating the Rainbows once again Hawaii made several bursts but never overtook the Utcs who also earned the win on the defensive end AP photo Utah held Anthony Harris the WAC scoring leader at Hawaii center Danny Furlong's attack from behind cant stop Utah forward win Keith Van Horn from scoring in the fast half in the Utes 76-6- 3 23 points per game this season to only nine points By Shawn Harrison sports writer Atlanta 5 Houston 4 Orlando 7 Cleveland 4 NCAA Van Horn torches Hawaii Nelson Utah thumps Rainbows axed by Knicks st Sports briefs Page 8 Friday March 8 1996 The Herald Journal Logan Utah m v (9-- Saturday 8) night Then after two weeks off the Aggies head northwest to face Boise State in the season finale March 23 "We’re dose to knowing our postseason lineup" USU coach Ray Com said “Wc'vc experimented enough We're running out improve our fying score injuries the of chances to regional quali- "It's pointless to think about them at this point" he said "It's unlikely that we'll improve on our national ranking much the rest of the I highly motivated Denver Barring any team" Corn said "They lineups we go with at Denver and Boise are the ones we'll use at the Big West (Conference championships) and Regional" In the latest rankings the Aggies dropped from 11th to 15th not improving on their 1930 RQS (Regional Qualifying Score) Com isn’t that concerned with the rankings though year that wc have to improve our level of performance and difficulty in the routines "Our focus will be on the last two jewels the Big West championships and rcgionals" But first the Aggies must face the Pioneers Saturday Denver is much improved this year with a 190706 ROS The Pioneers have scored a 191 or better in each of their last three meets including a school record 192125 in their last meet March 1 "We are going to face a still think this team has a good chance of sneaking into the national championships with a good performance at rcgionals in have a good Robin King We just need to get things going with a solid performance "This team seems to be able to do enough to get the job done When the lime comes this group of athletes is going to come through" Corn expects a good matchup with King and Aggie freshman Amber Jamison They are both from southern California and arc used to facing each other Jamison (38675) and fellow freshman Kim Richards (38775) will be in the for USU in what has become almost another home See USU on Page 10 ALBUOUERQUE NM (AP) — David Evans scored a Western Athletic Cdiircrcnct tournament 36 points Thursday as Colrecord and career-hig- h in orado Stale rolled past Brigham Young l(X)-8- 4 the WAC quarterfinals It was the second straight year that the Rams (18-Ifrom the WAC tournadismissed BYU (15-1ment In 1995 Dclnumte Madison hit a buzzer-beatlor a 3 win that sent the Cougars home Tire late heroics weren't needed this time as 28 points — 21 in Madison scored a career-bethe second half as BYU defenders concentrated on Evans who scored 2(1 points in directing Colorado State to a 45-3- 0 halftime lead BYU’s (roubles began late in the first half as six turnovers in the final eight minutes put the Cougars in a hole The Rams led 23-2- 1 with 7:57 before halftime and then — fueled by BYU's inability to lake care of the ball — Colorado Stale assembled a 15-- 2 run over the next 5 12 minutes Justin Wcidaucr responded with a basket for the Cougars but Colorado Slate used a 9--2 burst over at the the next 2:05 Nathan Cooper's halftime buzzer gave BYU some momentum going into the locker room but not enough in the second Colorado State led by up to 72-5- 3 half before BYU mounted a final challenge After a 12-- 2 run ended with 5:24 to play the Cougars cut the deficit to 74-6- 5 but could get no closer Bobby Sellers and Joe Vogel each scored 13 points for Colorado Slate w hilc Sellers had eight 100-8- 4 er 75-7- st AP photo Colorado State guard Bobby Sellers right blows by Brigham Young guard Todd Christensen assists and Mrgcl eight rebounds Kenneth Roberts had 22 points and 1 1 rebounds for BYU while Cooper and Bryon Ruffncr each scored 15 Wcidaucr added 13 for the Cougars The WAC tournament single-gam- e scoring record of 33 points was established in 1989 by BYU's Michael Smith against Hawaii It had been tied earlier Thursday by Wyoming's LaDrcll Whitehead in a losing effort against Fresno State Today’s a new day for Grizz By Mike Ingraham sports editor The Mood on the floor had barely been wiped away Wednesday when credit was assigned for Provo’s 53-3- 9 lambasting of Logan in the slate girls basketball tournament Indirectly Mountain Crest beat Logan at Sah Lake Community College This was startling news since the Mustangs aren't even in the tournament and were unlovely against Logan in the Region 5 season But the Provo players were pointing towards the Slang volleyball team This seems even more of a stretch until it's noted that four Bulldogs were volleyball players Their last state tournament was in volleyball and it was a trauma ending in semifinal defeat to Mountain Crest 15-- 9 7-- 18-1- 6 See GRIZZ The Dogs oa Page 10 Aggies hope to break tradition tonight in Reno By Jeff Hunter sports writer RENO Nev — We joked about it last year but never really believed it would happen Whenever sports writers gathered prior to the beginning of last year's Big West Tournament we talked about how the Aggies the regular season champs were just stopping by on their way to The Big Dance We discussed possible venues for the NCAA Tournament and how we'd get there Where the food wuuld be best or the weather the wannest With 21 wins already and possibly three more games in the conference tournament to help stretch that impressive total Utah State seemed like a shoo-i- n for it's first NCAA berth since 1988 But every once in a while just to ' Ip - it mi— § - p Ha uni -- sound clever one of us w'ould stop and point couldn't happen Well it could but it won't Wc apparently underestimated the power of tradition or whatever it is It ouL "But first of that's had a hold on Utah State the past seven years Ever since last year's 76-7- 2 loss to UC all they need to win a game in the tournament" We’d all nod in a agreement which quickly changed the Aggies thoughts of the NCAA Tournament to the "It's better than nothing" Irvine remembering that it hadn't been since ‘83 that the Aggies had even won a single game in the tournament "That’s true GcxvJ point Now tell me again how to get to the restaurant in Memphis" In other words even in the world of " the "on any given night Aggies surely w eren't going to be again Not after winning the whole conference Not against a No 8 seed that they had swept in the regular season ’ in ' i pp attitude of the NTT Larry Eustachy and his team been awaiting another chance to put an end to the frustration they'll finally get that shot tonight against Nevada (7 pm) and for senior forward Jon Wickizcr it's his final chance to get (hat last monkey oft his hark "We've beaten UNLV" he points out “We've swept the roadtrip at New Mexico State and UNLV We had that great BYU game We won the conference Wc'vc done a lot of great things but this - is one thing we haven't done "Now is the time We've got to do it Wc'vc got to get it done" But can they? Is it within the Aggies’ power to win a Big West Tournament game or are there cosmic forces at work that won't allow it? The new guys don't think so "There are so many basketball games played that history really doesn't mat- ter!" says sophomore guard Duane Rogers who was in junior high the last time USU won a tournament game "The players are gone There's different players! This is a different time" Apparently despite the rumor new Aggie recruits aren't taken up to Old Main Hill in the middle of the night and d forced to pledge themselves as a first-roun- sacrifice See AGGIES on Page 10 L k L n is a o Se Bn Tm |