Show -- w 'V'" l" !! I i' T- - v I 't - ' ' ' I ' ' ' f - ' ' Tuesday March 7 2000 - " i it f ‘ t ( sa - t Sports snapshot this week's rankings bui-- solid road score would also help ' That scare on Friday will really help TheUtah State gymnastics teaih is us" Corn said It will take us over the v 194 mark in the RQS We have three on a mission tonight at Boise State The 22nd ranked Aggies are out to very important meets now starting replace a 19275 score and improve 't with Boise which will be a tough on their Regional Qualifying Score meet"-The Broncos dropped out of the (RQS) New rankings will come Put head USU and rankings last week but have posted Wednesday morning coach Ray Com is hoping to break the best score this season of all the into the top 207 Big West Confereoce scbools with a Last Friday the Aggies recorded 195775 Boise! State has a 193290 mark of the year RQS while USU has a 194285 RQS their second-beStill when the Broncos and Aggies with a 195325 score in the Spectrum That should move them up in get together it's usually a tight meet By Shawn Harrison sports writer a : ' - st AP photo V A woman shields herself from the USU does lead the series and won an earlier meet this year in the Spectrum Both teams struggled on the balance beam at that ®eet-- "We need to block out everything hit routines and do a similar type job like we did Friday" Corn said Utah State has the top two all- arounders in the Big West in Christy Denson (3940) and Kristen Bloom (39175) Denson was sick last Friday and may be limited tonighL Bloom is caning off her best outing Stephanie Huff continues to be USlTs most consistent vaulter with a ! 9703 average while Megan Woolsten-hulm- e has the best score (9825) I Bloom has die top uneven bah average a all-ti- 38-- 4 O'nealfs birthday basli rarn with an umbrella as she exchanges tickets at the ticket window at Tucson Electric Park in Tucson Arlz Monday after an exhibition baseball was cancelled because of the rain S : f '" y The Herald Journal Logant Utah " 7 ": '" V ' ' t ' f4 ' ? 1 - "V V' ' " r1 J"7 ' '& ' - i ' (9778X while Denson has the top score (9925) Denson has die top average (9720) and scare (975) on beam as wdl as on floor (9769 and 995) The Broncos are led by Tiffany Weston (39125) and Breanne Holmes (3905) Weston has scored a 995 on beam and floor exercise 7: i j 1 ' Debbie Thompson is tied with Weston and Denson for the best score on' floor this season with a 995 Jessica Berry has recorded 9925 scores on beam and floor : Sports briefs Southern Utah one win away from title Jeff FORT WAYNE Ind (AP) Monaco scored 35 points aid grabbed seven’ rebounds to lead Southern Utah to a 72-5- 4 win over Missouri-Kansas City in Monday's semifinals of the Conference tournaMid-Contine- nt ment at Memorial Coliseum The Thunderbirds (15-1will face Valparaiso in Tuesday’s final Valparaiso advanced earlier Monday 6 by beating Oral Roberts Monaco hit shots includand was ing line from the 2) 71-5- lI-of-- 15 -6 f-8 free-thro-w Thurman in Miami MIAMI (AP) — Former Bills - running back Thurman Thomas $36 million agreed to a three-year deal with die Dolphins Thomas had some of his best days against Miami rushing for 1620 games yards in 20 regular-seaso- n and 371 yards in three winning City 54 NBA 60-poi- realize that he had 26 at halftime That's when I kind of knew that it was about to 6e a big night” " rts nt level as die Los Ange- basket or a free throw in fbe fourth quarter They chained “MVP MVP’ when he completed a three-poi(day with 4:12 remaining to reach 59 points and put the Lakers 4 ahead les Lakers upped their winning streak to 16 games 3 with a drubbing of the Clippers “A couple of my teammates said they wanted me to get 50 so 1 just tried to get n the bMl id a dpen ppjtion 123-10- nt 111-9- a dunk off a feed from Kobe Bryant before leaving with three ' pointsv capped by t minutes left " It was die highest scoring game in die NBA this season surpassing Vince Carter's 51 Toronto against Phoenix on Feb 27 O’Neal’s previous career high was 53 points on April 20 1994 for Orlando against Minnesota winThe Lakers’ fa Miami 100-9- 2 San Antonio edged New Jersey 106-10-4 Sacramento downed Dallas 9 Milwaukee crushed 8 and Orlando Atlanta 5 nipped Washington O'Neal who alsograbbed 23 rebounds shot from the field and from the line in 45 minutes on his 28th birthday It was the 52nd time in NBA history that a player scored 60 or more points O’Neal was the first to do it since San Antonio’s David Robinson scored 71 against the Clippers on April 24 111-7- 87-8- Ottawa 5 Boston 1 Montreal 3 Atlanta 2 Toronto 6 Vancouver 5 OT San Jose 2 NY Rangers 1 16-ga- ning streak matches their longest of the season They 24-for-- 35 will go for 17 straight Ihurs-da- y night at Golden State Against the Clippers on Jan 4 O’Neal had 38 points and 15 rebounds In his next 22 On television MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL pm ESPN — Midwestern Collegiate Conference Tournament championship Butler vs Detroit at Chicago 7 pm ESPN — Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship Louisiana-Lafayetvs South Alabama at Little Rock Ark 7:30 pm ConferESPN2 — ence Tournament championship Valparaiso vs Southern Utah State atR Wayne Ind te nt NBA BASKETBALL pm TNT — Phoenix at Houston WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 5:30 pjn ESPN2 — Big East Conference Tournament championship Connecticut vs Rutgers at Stars Conn Wednesday : The sellout crowd went wild cheering and waving white giveaway every time O’Neal made a 130-10- NHL 6 six years to reach the said "“The first 40 points" came kind of fast I didn’t - Toronto downed Portland 1 09-9- 0 Phoenix defeated Orlando 87 Washington 85 Phoenix 100 Miami 92 Milwaukee 1 1 1 Atlanta 78 San Antonio 106 New Jersey 104 LA Lakers 123 LA Clippers 103 Sacramento 130 Dallas 109 Toronto 109 Portland 90 3 Reverse the digits in 16 as in 16 straight wins to reveal die astonishing point total of Shaquille O’Neal V O’Neal scored 61 points Monday night becoming the first NBA player in almost — have to thank my teammates and coach (Phil) Jackson for giving me an opportunity to do that” O’Neal said In other NBA games Big 5 basketball as did’ guard Derek Fisher Press 'land they looked for meT Monday's scores SUtah 72 By The Associated game the following night O’Neal had 40 points and 19 ’ rebounds against the Clippers “It takes a lot of team play for someone to have a night 1994 like Last week O’Neal remind- ed his teammates that his birthday was on Monday that’ “He’s ' “He said "Man can a brother get 60 on his birthday?’ and sure enough he Jackson said oa MVP” Raptors Cuter scored 35 pants and Doug Christie added 26 as 13 Toronto hit a season-hig- h 109T-Blazers- ’ 90 AP photo Los Angeles Lakers' Shaquile O’Neal dunks past Los Angeles Ctlppers1 Anthony Avent during 61 points on the touith quarter In Los Angslss on Monday night O’Neal scored a career-hig- h his 28th birthday as the Lakers extended their winning streak to 16 games by beating the Clippers 123-10- 3 The Raptors won their sixth in a row and fourth straight on die road a franchise record Toronto e ahead moved a of Philadelphia for the No 4 spot in the Eastern half-gam- ESPN2 — Big East Conference Tournament first round game 1 West Virginia vs Georgetown at New York 11am ESPN — Big East Conference Tournament first round Connecticut vs Boston College at New York 1 ' pm ESPN — Big East Conference Tournament first round Seton Hall vs Providence at New York SOCCER 12:30 pm ESPN2 — UEFA Champions phase 2 matchday 10 dridCFat Bayern Munich vs Real Utah State softball in it to win it Munich Germany Today's quote "Whether it was going to be retire- ment or a situation like this it was going to be sad" — Boston Bruins general manager Harry Sinden after announcing Raymond Bourque's 21 year career with the Bruins ended with a trade to Colorado -- speed bumps Included in those tumps this past weekend were two losses to previously winless Southern Utah University "We haven't played to our potential this team has the capa- Carter was playing his : straight Portland weathered a 15-- See SHAQ on Page 9 '7 is ' rs V'n To put Utah State's amazing 164) conference record into perspective consider this: During its four seasons as a member of the Big West Conference North Ifcxas won a total ofl 8 league games Not to mention the 10270-plu- s fans that showed up at the Spectrum Saturday to witness the end of the Aggiesr conference ran would probably match die Mean Green’s combined attendance for die last fimryears - 7 I was impressed when I walked in the north door of the Spec- - : tram at 6:15 pm and found the ticket booth dait and vacant And when I saw that the student side of the building was practi-- y 'i cally filled to capacity I was even more astonished As die game began however I couldn't help but wonder if it was overwhelming die Aggies as 'wed By the time senior Troy t Rolle was honored at halfcourt along with his mother and a ’ devoid of power iust a few hours earlier due brother the place to the outage — was absolutely full of electricity by tipoff time But you could tell that the Aggies were a little too high as many of their shots and passes ended up just off the mark and soon for the first time in months frustration set in The first half we were too uptight and guard Bernard Rock admitted “and that's not our 7 77 ‘ bility of getting ahead and See SOFTBALL on Page 8 but folded after Toronto reeled off 13 straight points in the third of their last three home first game ever at the Rose games after winning 16 Garden and he treated die By Jeff Hunter sports writer ' Through 12 games the Utah State softball team has hit a few 6 0 run in the second quarter’ to focused on fun By Katrina L Morrison sports writer ' putting people away They have the capability to do that which we haven't had on previous teams” USU head coach Pam McCreesh remarked in the con- fines of the Harris Athletic Center after a soggy but intense practice on Monday "We've jumped on teams eatly but we've let them get back in it and we haven't closed it out" McCreesh continued The Aggies were 4-- heading h yry- MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL Sam 7: Rasheed Wallace scored 27 and Arvy-da- s a season-higSabonis had 16 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Blazers who have lost two MHch MaacaraHwaM Journal Aggie fans celebrate along with Big Bkia Saturday night following the teams victory against Boise State The Aggies are riding the nation’s longest winning streak into the Big West Conference Tournament I See AGS ea Page 9 7-- f Ok A |