Show o srv-- Page 10 — The Herald Journal Logan Utah Saturday March 13 1999 Morrill’s A had downs i v Sadly early win over Utah turned out to be highlight By Jeff Hunter ended up leading the Big West in rebounding and finished second in field goal percentage Honorable mention — With the departure of last year's vaunted perimeter trio a lot was needed and expected from newcomer Troy Rolle this year and the junior small forward rarely disappointed Second on the team in scoring (134 ppg) and first in (58) Rolle also developed into the one of USUs top defenders and was regularly given the assignment of guarding the other team's top perimeter scorer Binest win — No one gave a young and inexperienced team still in the midst of adjusting to a new system much of a chance against a team just seven months removed from the National Championship game but the Aggies closed out the Utes with a 10-- 0 run that made them look like savvy veterans Although Utah State only shot 27 percent from the field in the first half they trailed rivals by only one at halftime their and ended up shooting 57 percent over the final 20 minutes Johnson led the way with 18 points but it sports writer Call it a moment of clarity After hearing for three or four days that anyone including Utah State could win the Big West Tournament this year I had actually started to consider the Aggies as a possibility myself Until that is I was on my way to Reno It was while driving along Highway 89 in Wellsville Canyon that I was provided with the undeniable assurance that the Aggies would lose to UC Santa Barbara in the first round Although I tried to shake off the feeling 1 couldn't Particularly after I recalled a theory 1 had devised over three months earlier The theory states: Utah State's overall success is inversely proportional to the Aggies' success or lack thereof against hated rival Utah The last time Utah State beat the Ules was during the 1992-9- 3 season That victory however would he the highlight of a woeful 10-1-7 campaign that was Kohn Smith's last at the Aggie helm Over the next five years Larry Eustachy would lead Utah Slate to five straight winning seasons three n seasons and a trip to the NCAA Tournament But none of Eustachy's 98 wins as the head coach of Utah State came at Utah's expense So while Utah State's 62-S- 4 victory over then ninth-ranke- d Utah on Nov 18 was an Aggie fan's delight it may have come at the sacrifice of the rest of the season Utah Slate's IS wins were the fewest since 1993-9- 4 and its 8 mark in Big West play conference record was it first since 1992-9- 3 Thai's not to say however that Stew Morrill's first season as head coach was a failure even though many Utah State funs expressed disappointment in the outcome Last year's team won a school record 25 games and went to The Big Dunce so the bar was already set pretty high The early victory over Utah and a 0 start then lifted expectations even higher much higher than they should have been for a team that lost Marcus Saxon Kevin Rice and Justin Jones While there were certainly some low points this season — most of them on the road — ultra-athlet- te te 20-wi- 8-- non-winni- 5-- there were also plenty of memorable ic HJ file photo in his first year at Utah State's helm guided the Aggies to a 3 finish Stew Morrill 15-1- moments plays and players during Utah State's 1998-9- 9 campaign: Most Valuable Player — How badly did the Aggies need Donnie Johnson to play and play well? Losses to Weber State and at Nevada tell the tale The senior center missed much of the Delta Center game against the Wildcats with a groin injury and the Aggies ended up getting throttled by double digits Midway through the conference season at Nevada Johnson was held out of the starting lineup after missing a team meeting on gameday and contributed just six points and five rebounds in a nine-poiloss But when Johnson played inspired basketball the Aggies could usually be found in the lead The Selma Ala native led the team in scoring (143 ppg) rebounding (83 rpg) and field goal percentage (581) scored 18 or more points in nine different games and racked up seven double-doublJohnson nt was Tyrone Allick who had the biggest impact down the stretch The senior guard scored seven straight points (including one of this season) to help the just two take their first lead of the second half Aggies and the sellout crowd took it from time Best win — While the defeat of the Utes will warm the hearts of Aggie fans for years to come it was me magical night in Boise that the Utah State coaching staff won't soon forget Coming into the Jan 22 game as 7 underdogs the Aggies knocked off 1 the eventual Eastern Division champion Broncos 2 on their home floor despite 58-5- getting just three points (but five fouls) from Rolle and losing forward Spencer Nelson to an ankle injury Honorable mention — Although it didn't end up being the springboard to bigger and better things that the Aggies had hoped USUs 4 defeat of New Mexico State on Jan 30 still got the Aggies to 500 in conference play for the first time all season and gave them some confidence The Big West Tournament champion New Mags were 7-- 0 in league play at the time Worst lorn — This one unfortunately is a tough call 61-5- Ap on Page 12 es HJ fils photo ' Senior center Donnie Johnson had team-hig- h averages in scoring (143 ppg) and rebounding (83 rpg) and provided plenty of his specialty light— follow dunks— during his final season in Aggie blue fMarcKTMadness Sooners Continued from Page 81-7- 9 the game bul Terry missed a fall-aw- ay with about three cr seconds left Then complete chaos set in Freshman Richard Jefferson missed a tip-igot the rebound and one-hand- n missed another shot as he fell in the lane at the buzzer But the official statistics said it was AJ Bramlctt who grabbed a rebound and missed a tip-i- n “I thought he was going to make it" Bramlelt said of Terry's shot "I thought Richard's were going to go in 1 never think we're going to lose because we always make those shots to win the game" But the shots didn't fall and as the buzzer sounded the Sixmers — the last team to get a bid — stormed the court hugging each other and jumping around Terry the Pac-1- 0 player of the year watched in disbelief Najera led the Sooners with 17 points and 13 rebounds while 13lh-secd-- Humphrey added 15 Michael freshman of Wright the Pac-1- 0 the year led the Wildcats with 16 points Oklahoma will play North in the second round The defeated I2th-sccd- fifth-seede- 49ers d RImkIc 0 Duke strangles hapless Rattlers in overtime earlier Friday “It was definitely disbelief” Island said Terry who finished with 15 points despite being held without1 a field goal in the first half "The A? i'iiii -NIPw M seconds 1 wiMcminiscing about all the good days Today wasn't one of them" Despite winning a national title in 1997 there haven't been many good days in the first round for the Wildcats They lost their first game as the No 3 seed in 1992 No 2 seed in 1993 and No 5 seed in 1995 Purdue wins thriller against Texas defeats RI in OT can't do anything about what AP photo Oklahoma's Victor Avila right and Arizona's Ruben Douglas scramble for a free ball Friday in Milwaukee The Sooners upset the Wildcats 0 61-6- son's layup with 1:43 to play But Najera came up big hitfrom deep in the ting a left comer to cut Arizona's lead 9 with 48 seconds left And then sfter an Oklahoma timeout the Wildcats gave the to 60-5- ball away NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Kentucky's experience finally became too much for New Mexico State Heshimu Evans scored nine points durrun as defending ing a 21-- 0 second-hal- f national champion Kentucky (26-8- ) shook off inexperienced New Mexico State and won 82-6- 0 Friday night in the Midwest Regional New Mexico State (23-1which had no players with previous postseason experience was only down 44-4- 3 after Eric with 15:43 left Channing's Scott Padgett who along with Evans is among four Wildcats who have played in at least two national championship games responded with a 3 pointer on the other end to start the decisive Kentucky run By time Evans scored on an inside basket with 8:52 left Kentucky had a 65-4- 3 lead Evans also had a two free throws and another inside spurt in the seven-minuoutburst The Wildcats who shot 61 percent advance to a second-roun- d game Sunday against Kansas the only team to win more games than Kentucky in the 0) te (30-of-4- 9) 1990s Mew Mexico's Brad Bestor (12) grabs a loose bat while Kentucky's Tayshaun Prince (21) closes in during the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional New Mexico Slate which had won seven straight games built an early five int lead but had to settle for a 34-3- 4 ftime tie was third field Channing's goal of the second half for New Mexico Slate — all But the Aggies then missed 1 1 straight shots as Kentucky put the game away Evans finished with IS points and Wayne Turner had 14 points in his 148th first-roun- d NCAA tournament game against Florida A&M like a practice The prohibitive favorite to win the national title worked on a zone defense and a big lineup giving opponents down the road something to think about The Rattlers on the other hand worked on getting their pride back Friday night following a 99-5- 8 loss to the and Blue Devils in the East Regional “At some point I'll be all right with this” said Florida A&M coach Mickey Clayton “It's like the pretty girl that you always liked and you wanted to ask her out for a date it doesn’t matter that she goes on later to be Miss America she told you 'No'" Like most of the regular season the Blue Devils (33-1- ) left little drama for the second half Duke sank II of its first 14 shuts en route to shooting 66 percent in the first half and went on to extend its school-recor- d winning streak to 28 Purdue 58 Texas 54 Cameron Stephens top-seed- ed Kentucky disposes pesky New Mags AP photo NC (AP) — CHARLOTTE Duke treated its year since 1985 they've failed to get out of the first round seven times during that period "I want to make one thing dear: This group of seniors is 11-- 3 in the NCAA tournament” coach Lute Olson said “They 'aT t UNC-Charlot- te Although the Wildcats have been in the tournament every happened eight years ago or four years ago "These seniors have given us 1 1 wins and three losses” he added “Most programs across the country would he happy with that” The Wildcats can only blame themselves for this loss Oklahoma didn't lake its first lead until Najera's made it 49-4- 6 with 8:01 remaining Arizona got the lead back and extended it to 60-5- 6 on Jeffcr- - v top-rank- ed Low-scori- hit a jumper with 48 seconds remaining as Purdue overcame a Chris Mihm strong game b ot Stephens averaging just 33 points took a pass from Tony MiamLOhio 59 Washington 58 Mayfield and with Mihm jumping out at him in the right comer made Wally Szczerbiak scored a career-hig- h 43 points grabbed 12 rebounds and just his second basket of the game blocked Washington's shot d IVrdue (20-12- ) had called a timeout lost five of its previous six games Washington (17-1with 232 seconds left with a chance to set while seventh-seede- d Texas (19-1g shot The was 16--4 in its previous 20 up for a potential Huskies couldn't get the ball to Donald MissMppI 72 VUIanova 70 Watts who finished with 28 points and Jason Harrison the tiniest on the team made two clutch Greg Clark's shot was blocked by Szczerbiak free throws and Mississippi was Szczerbiak a second-teaable to run around long enough to took 33 of Miami’s 55 shots and hold off Villanova made 18 of them He sank all five It was the first NCAA tournafor the Red Hawks (23-7- ) ment victory for ninth-seede- d Kansas 95 Evansville 74 which had Mississippi (20-1Kansas used a simple game plan to beat lost in the first round four times Evansville in the first round rtf the NCAA TUu 62 Charleston 53 Midwest Regional — big men and big The College of Charleston's defense string of 25 consecutive victories The Jayhawks owned the area inside the came to an end with Tulsa build- lane and ruled the boards toppling Evansville 95-7- 4 Friday night-- ’ Iden Hurricane (23-9- ) “Kansas did a great job of throwing it turned it over on six consecutive inside and ramming it down our throats" possessions helping fuel a 25-- 1 Evansville coach Jim Crews said run by Charleston that cut the last-seco- Tenth-seede- 2) 3) game-winnin- m an 3) with Cougars’ deficit to 53-5- 1 3:20 left before Tulsa steadied-itself UNC-Charlot- ) 81 te Rhode Island 70 OT Marlon Thomas scored five of his 13 points in overtime as North' Carolina-Charlotrallied to beat Rhode Island Galen Young scored 17 points te for the 49ers (23-1who claimed the Conference USA 0) postseason title by winning fourj£ games in four nights Rhode Island (20-1which won the Atlantic 10 tournament on Lamar Odom's buzzer-beatin- g t blew an eight-poifirst-ha- lf lead and were outscored 16-- 5 in the extra period Odom had 16 and 12 rebounds 3) nt Clints Miami Ohio 59 Washington 58 Wally Szczerbiak scored ai 43 points grabbed 12° rebounds and blocked Washing-ton's shot called a Washington (17-1timeout with 232 seconds left j with a chance to set up for a shot The potential Huskies couldn't get the ball to Donald Watts who finished with 28 points and Greg Clark's shot was blocked by Szczerbiak Tennessee 62 Delaware 52 Tennessee overcame a miser able offensive start to win its first04 NCAA tournament game in 16 years and snap Delaware's 13iJ game winning streak career-hig- h m last-seco- 2) game-winni- The game was an offensive4 nightmare for both clubs Neither' 3 team shot better than 33 percent and they combined for 31 turnovers SW Missouri St 43 Wisconsin 32 Southwest Missouri State held Wisconsin to the lowest point' total in an NCCA tournament game since the introduction of: the shot clock in 1986 Danny Moore had 12 points and 13 rebounds for the Bears (21-10) who got their first victo- ry ever against a Big Ten team and their first NCAA tournament victory since 1987 Clndnaati 72 George Maaen 48 Pete Mickeai scored IS points and Cincinnati held George Mason to its worst shooting game of the season ! i i |