Show rt w mm mum v"wmww 9 The Herald Journal Logan Utah Saturday March 6 1999 Insido Hot-starti- Aggies target Thirds tonight ng By Shawn Harrison sports writer Porter back decade and having completed a regular season sweep of BYU earlier this week don’t expect the Aggie gymnastics team Friday's scoros will be” Cora said “But we know one thing Jess (Porter) is going to do the form after again (in the rankings)” One Aggie will be resting tonight Junior Christy Denson who is ranked is taksixth nationally in the ing the night off She has a stress fracture to her fibula in her left leg Denson leads the team on the uneven bars balance beam and floor exercise Senior Amber Jamison may also rest on several events tonight She is nursing a sore knee Jamison scored a career-hig- h last Tuesday 3900 in the against BYU when the Aggies scored a 195475 “We still don’t know what the lineup to rest on their accomplishments The march to madness quickens as conference tourneys near denouement P8g6 10 in lengthy layoff— Page 10 Off to their best start in at least a m1' Page 13 nd tonight No 16 Utah State hosts Southern Utah at 7 pm in the Spectrum The Aggies (10-1- ) will be looking for another big score to improve their Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) “Wins and losses are great but it is your RQS that gets you there (to region-als)- " USU head coach Ray Com said “If we can break 195 again that would improve our RQS by a half a point I guarantee you that would move us up Porter competed in the for the first time against the Cougars and scored a 39025 The junior may be the lone Aggie but Cora hinted Jamison could feel like trying all four events also “I really believe no matter what lineup we put out there every meet the key is going to be vault and bars" Cora said “If we can negotiate those two events we will always eclipse the 195 mark Even though Amber and Christy may not be in the the rest of the team has the responsibility to continue the path we have embarked on That is improving every time we walk out on the floor of competition” The plan all along has been lo give his some rest “We have to be careful and listen to the young ladies" Corn said ‘The price we pay when you physically train all this high difficulty is getting them rest “It's a team effort this season Whoever replaces Amber and Christy has lo step in and step it up so they cun help accomplish our goals" Sophomore Jessenia Ahrcgo leads the team on vault and has been steadily improving on floor and bars Krissy Richards has also been hitting on three events the burs beam and fltxir Freshman Kirra Degener and senior laurie Cannon have been solid on two events for USU See AGGIES on Page 10 NCAA basketball Utah 64 Tulsa 61OT Weber State 93 Montana State 73 Prayers answered prayers denied NBA Golden State 102 Indiana 83 Miami 89 Philadelphia 78 Washington 86 Charlotte 85 Boston 102 Denver 94 Orlando 89 Toronto 84 Milwaukee 88 New York 87 Utah 106 Dallas 95 Portland 97 Minnesota 85 LA Lakers 103 Seattle 100 NHL Boston 4 New Jersey 1 Buffalo 2 Dallas 1 Edmonton 2 Pittsburgh 2 Detroit 7 Phoenix 2 Calgary 5 Vancouver 1 Anaheim 3 Nashville 2 Lucky Rolle gives Aggies hope unlucky roll brings them pain On television 7 am By Jeff Hunter sports writer TGC — European Tour Golf Portuguese Algarve Open third round at Fenina Portugal 9 am RENO Nev — In need of a prayer the Aggies couldn't have turned to a better man than Troy Rolle Never bashful about his faith in Jesus Christ the junior small preacher is always quick to give KUTN PAX 12 — NCAA Women's Gymnastics BYU at Utah State (tape delayed) 9:30 am ESPN — NCAA Basketball America East Championship Drexel at Delaware 10:30 am CBS — NCAA Basketball Conference o USA Championship North vs Louisville at Birmingham Ala The Lord credit for his Carolina-Char-lott- 11 am success on the NBC — Gymnastics American Cup at St Petersburg Fla 11:30 am ESPN — NCAA Basketball Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Duke vs NC State at Greensboro NC Noon ESPN2 — NCAA Basketball Southwestern Athletic Conference Championship Alcorn St vs Southern FSR — ATP Tennis Franklin Templeton Classic at Scottsdale Ariz 12:30 pm CBS — NCAA Baskelbal Big Ten Conference semifinals Wisconsin vs Michigan St 1 pm NBC — PGA Golf Doral Open round at Miami 2pjn 1:30 pm ABC NCAA Baskelbal UCLA third at Arizona ESPN — NCAA Basketball Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament Maryland vs North Carolina at Greensboro NC ESPN2 — NASCAR Auto Racing Busch Grand National Series Las Vegas 300 at Las Vegas 3:30 pm NCAA Women's Basketball WAC Tournament SMU vs Colorado St 4 pm ESPN — NCAA Basketball Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament championship Temple vs Rhode Island FSR — NCAA Basketball California at Oregon 5 pm ESPN2 — NCAA Baskelbal Mideastem Athletic Conference Championship South Carolina St vs Florida A&M 6 pm ESPN — NCAA Basketball Big East Conference Tournament championship Connecticut vs St John's at New York FSR — NCAA Women's Basketball Big 12 Tournament championship Texas Tech vs Iowa State 7 pm ESPN2 — NASCAR Auto Racing Happy Hour Series final practice for Winston Cup Las Vegas 400 at Las Vegas Bpm ESPN — NCAA Basketball Western Athletic Conference Tournament championship Utah vs New Mexico 9:15 pm HBO — Boxing champion Laurent vs David Reid Boudouanl for WBA super welterweight championship vs heavyweights Lou Savarese (38-2-Mount Whitaker (1840) at Atlantic City NJ (11-0-- 0) (38-2-- 1) 0) 8:30 pm ESPN2 — NCAA Basketball Big Sky Conference Championship Northern Arizona vs Weber St 10:30 basketball court But with a Hail Mary from about 65 feet away AP photo Tulsa's Michael Ruffin left loses control of the ball in the shadow of Utah defender Nate Altoff during Friday night's WAC Tournament semifinal game in Las Vegas The No 8 Utes held off the Golden Hurricanes 64-6- 1 in overtime Utes withstand IWsa OT win earns Utah a WAC finals date with Lobos LAS VEGAS (AP) — Tulsa nearly gave Rick Majerus another reason to hate the Western Athletic Conference postseason tournament Playing for the second night in a row No 8 Utah narrowly avoided being upset Friday getting taken to overtime before finally beating Tulsa 64-6- 1 to advance to the WAC tournament final It was the 21st straight win for Utah but it didn't come easy as the Utes hud to come from three points down in overtime st to keep alive the nation's winning streak alive "Our effort and energy were not there tonight” said Majerus who has been critical of both the postseason tourna third-longe- Today's quota “I’m doing all right It’s just my hands and arms don't work right" — Former New York Yankees pitcher Catfish Hunter who attended the Yankees’ exhibition opener Thursday in Tampa Fla It was Hunter b first public appearance since he learned in November that he has Lou Gehrig disease i ment and its location in Las Vegas "These things just spend you because tomorrow you have to play again" Hanno Mottola scored five straight points to bring Utah from behind in overtime against a physical Tulsa team that did what no other team has done to Utah during its winning streak — outrchound the Utes Still it wasn't quite enough os Utah held TUlsa to only one point the lust 3:10 of overtime to secure a spot in the Saturday final against either No 25 New Mexico or Southern Methodist "Our rebounding was horrible but if I address that we just have to play someone else tomorrow" said Majerus whose team was outrebounded 39-3- 2 Hanno Mottola scored five straight points to bring Utah back from behind in overtime and Tulsa went cold from the field just when it needed a basket most “A game like this is really good for us” said Alex Jensen who led Utah with 20 points “It will take us back to basics and fundamentals — the things that have been the key to our success" The game may have also been good for Tulsa (22-9- ) which made its bid for a in NCAA the tournament by playing spot the Utes tough “I hope the selection committee will See UTES on Page 12 Jazz thwart Mavs Recuperating Sloan watches on TV who has Johnson been been Sloan’s assistant for 11 seasons and was head SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — As Utah coach Jerry Sloan watched from home recovering from knee eight seasons surgery his team gave him some nervous moments in the fourth quarter of a 106-9- 5 win over Dallas on Friday night Though the Jazz nearly blew a lead in the final quarter they for the third time against the Gcvailed this season and the 24th straight time in the last five seasons Karl Malone scored 30 points and Jeff Homacek added 18 as the Jazz put a halt to Dallas's fourth-quartsurge Sloan who had surgery on his nght knee Wednesday night was not on the bench for just the second time in 1153 games as a coach with the Jazz "I imagine he's (Sloan) a lot better now than when we were losing that lead” said assistant coach Phil er wall" Michael Finley led the Mavericks with 29 points and Shawn Bradley and Dirk Nowitzki each scored 10 Utah built a comfortable lead 84-6- 3 after a by Howard Eisley with 1:37 left in the third period But Dallas charged back in the fourth outscoring Utah 0 in the first nine with 2:50 to minutes to pull to 94-8- 7 play on Hubert Davis' 21-1- "We kind of slacked off in the fourth quarter and allowed them to get back in the game" said Hor-nacc- k whose jumper and layup in the See JAZZ on Tage 12 shot” That shot also helped get the Aggies back on target Down by 16 points just moments before intermission a score by fresh- man forward Spencer Nelson and Rollc’s astonishingly accurate missile trimmed UCSB’s advantage down to 44-3- 3 at halftime Playing with increased vigor after the break the Aggies ended up overtaking the Gauchos in the second half "I wasn't even worried about it going in" Allick said of Rollc's buzzer-beat"But it dropped so it helped us because that cut the lead to 1 1 “We had momentum going into the second half so we took that and came out strung" With the clock winding down on the opening half Nelson was all over UCSB forward Josh Merrill just beyond the arc Despite Nelson's close proximity Merrill tried to force up a shot and Nelson promptly denied it Rolle ended up with the loose ball near the free throw line turned back towards Utah State's distant basket and let it fly on the run “When I got the ball we had like three seconds left on the clock and I was going to try and dribble it up the court” Rolle explained "But then I saw a man in front of me so 1 just launched it up and hoped it would go er Although it wasn't exactly "nothing but net" it still appeared to be nothing short of a miracle except to the Aggies Asked about the shot in the postgame press conference USU head coach Stew Morrill replied “We actually work on that” Thinking that Morrill was just being facetious most of the media on hand laughed Morrill chuckled a little to himself then continued “We do You think I’m joking” At the end of most pregame "I imagine he probably threw the TV against the just before halftime of Thursday's game against UC Santa Barbara even Rolle couldn't believe what his unceasingly steadfast eyes saw "When it left my hands it was like it was off target” he said after USU’s 75-7- 4 loss “But then it got on target That’s what tripped me out about that in" coach of the Kings for nt pm ESPN — NCAA Basketball Big West Conference Championship New Mexico State vs Boise State or Long Beach St after letting loose shootarounds AP pinto Karl Malone (32) gets fouled by former BYU stand- out and current Dallas Mavericks center Shawn Bradley during Utah's 106-9- 5 wto Friday night Sum Morrill does try to loosen the team up with a half-cou- rt shooting contest and the coaches compete right along with the players See PRAYERS on Page 12 r- ’- - - Tift |