Show Page 6 March 10 1994 CEU basketball: the little engine that could by Randall Harrington sports editor Due lo the nature of the Region 18 tournament game in first-roun- d George between the seeded Dixie Rebels number-on(28-3- ) liw f’ 'i A- ' Sl e and the seeded College of Eastern Utah Golden Eagles (10-2it is recommended that those who are with child have high blood pressure or frail of hcai I not proceed past this number-eigh- I - said "The tournament is wide open I can honestly say that seven teams can win it" "The way I figured it and the way t 1) a v VWv V point In the most exciting game of the year CEU pulled a fast one on the Rebels by scoring a 79-7- 7 victory in "CEU the Dixie Spectrum played and loose our guys felt a very very link bit of the pressure" Dixie head coach Dave Rose said CEU swingman Cory Jones passed out a copy of "The Race" an inspirational poem by Dee Grobcrg to every teammate on the bus to Sl d 7 The Rebels had a chance to take the lead when Faron Hand was fouled with nine seconds left Hand missed both free throws but was able to get part of the rebound along with Williams The possession arrow was in EU's favor as was the chance for the upset "Cory Jones wanted the ball in his hands for the free throws" Stubbs said "So we ran a play to get him the ball" Jones was fouled with four seconds range "The play that sticks out in my mind is the five or six players cheering their butt off for the five on the court" Stubbs said Trailing 52-4- 9 with 13 minutes remaining in the second half the Eagles were poised for the upset Dixie had other plans as they went on a 2 run stretching the lead to eight three-poi- nt 7-- (See Eagles on page 7) Upset-minde- d a Its WAC Tourney time baby! The WAC regulv season is over and as predicted right here two weeks ago the Univasity of New Mexico Lobos are the WAC champions B YU was in a position to at least lie fa first when they hosted both New Mexico and UTEP at home this past week But instead of cmaging with a part of the conference title not even the Heimlich maneuver would have saved BYU they choked and ended up falling to third place in the WAC afta suffering home losses to both New Mexico and UTEP New Mexico ended the season with a 22-- overall record while going 144 in the conference They wae followed by Fresno State 18-- and 13-- in conference play and BYU 19-- 8 12-- 6 in the WAC The Eagle went to press Wednesday afternoon and was not able to cover the frrst two games of the WAC Tournament which were held last night Those two games featured 7 UTEP against 10 Air Force and 8 Wyoming vs 9 San Diego State The rest of the WAC Tournament schedule is as follows: 6 5 9 Thursday 12:30 3 6:30pm pm 3 BYU vs 6 UTAH (winna of UTEP vs AFA) New Mexico vs (winna of Wyoming vs San Diego) 2 Fresno State vs pm 1 9 pm 4 Hawaii vs 5 Colorado Sl Friday 6:30 pm semi-fin9 pm semi-fin- al al 7:30 Smudgy pm Championship Game Who will win you ask? That's a tough question But here's how I see iL New Mexico and d Fresno will both win their games Fresno will face the winna of the Hawaii vs Colorado Slate game I really couldn't tell you who that will be but give a slight edge to Hawaii Regardless Fresno State will triumph and advance lo the championship game lo fust-roun- face7 Well second-ranke- 78-7- George "Whenever I have had bad days and I feel like quitting I read that peom and it always makes me feel like going out there and giving it all I've got" Jones said "1 just wanted to give it to the guys because they are my good friends and we wanted to beat Dixie" Further motivation prior to the game was provided by Salt Lake After a stunning upset of the No 2 nationally ranked Dixie Rebels 7977 head coach Community College Rosell Ellis tries to rise above the Ricks College Vikings Norm Parrish In an article published photo by Aaron Brockbank in The Sab Lake Tribune Parrish f our players figured it was that we weren't a team that could win it That's what motivated us" CEU head coach Ronnie Stubbs said The last lime the Eagles made the trip South they lost by 45 points This time was different as the Eagles stayed close to the team in the nation the CEU faithful Trailing 77-7- 6 held their breath as Eagle reserve Shalayo Williams drove left and was fouled with 27 seconds remaining After playing in the shadow of Leon Carta fa the season Williams stepped up to play the best game of his career Williams hit both foul shots and put the Eagles up to stay at left in the game As Jones' first free throw fell through so did Dixie's plans for the national playoffs in Hutchinson Kan Jones missed the second foul shot and time ran out before Dixie guard Rasul Salahuddin could get a shot off "That's the best thing that he probably did was miss the second one Because they (have) got to get the rebound get focused get it (the ball) up the court and that took a little lime off" Stubbs said The last time Jones faced the 27 Rebels he scored a career-hig- h 1 1 points points Jones was held to this time but scored eight points and forced two steals in the final six minutes Toby Bush provided consistancy for CEU throughout the game by leading the Eagles with 22 points grabbing six rebounds and dishing out four assists Bush shot 8 for IS overall including six for 10 from what do we have here pahaps the biggest matchup of the entire tournament at least home sweep fa Utahns Today's game pits Utah against BYU Utah comes in riding a e of New Mexico and UTEP while BYU has the memory of two tough defeats fresh on their minds The game is being held in Salt Lake at the Delta Center at 12:30 pm which will conflict with college-clas- s schedules My bet is that this will give the home court advantage to Utah The reason being that I don't think loo many BYU students will be willing to skip their precious class time to attend such a barbaric event! I'm giving the nod to Utah New Mexico will then dispose of Utah and move on to the finals to face Fresno State By this lime New Mexico will be on a roll and this game should be decided by a fairly large mvgin New two-gam- Mexico by IS NCAA selections from the WAC? New Mexico and Fresno State So there you have it folks you won't find a mae precise prediction of the WAC Tournament anywhere I'm really putting my neck on the line with this one but hey that's why I get paid the big bucks right? After it's all said and done if ya'all have any comments at complaints you can reach me at my home inNew Mexico! during spring-brea- k Duke Reid the head coach of Utah Valley State College's mens basketball team retired this past week He retires with two state championshps at Brighton High and a 174-8- 2 record ova the last eight seasons at Utah Valley State College Reid had a heart attack 1 1 months ago will soon undergo a hip transplant and has had diabetes fa nine years Yet through it all he has been a pillar of strength and a source of inspiration to his players and all those associated with him He has amassed 324 high school victories and six seasons with at least 20 wins while coaching on the junior college level He has coached at a number Utah high schools including South Summit High in Kamas Juab High in Nephi and Brighton High in Salt Lake County UVSC athletic directa Mike Jacobsen commenting on Reids retirement was quoted in the Salt Lake Tribune as saying "He was everything a school could wish fa - a good recruita a good teacher a good coach and a good citizen" Lori Woodland head coach of Ricks College Lady Vikings will retire afta this season In ha nine years at Ricks she has amassed a 168-8- 2 (472) record She won her second consecutive Region 18 tide last weekend defeating Salt Lake Community College 7 This is the first time that Ricks k The Lady Vikings lost to Central Arizona 0 has won Regionals Tuesday fa the Woodland Texas in become the will nationals information to directa at tylcr right go lo sports Ricks College 72-6- back-to-bac- 69-6- — y -- |