Show V ' ' ' BEST AVAILABLE COPY ' f“! y ' Vj u & is- l' section ' Friday March 14 2003 Pagel The Herald Journal liisido Utes survive scare By The Associated Press 19 Rafael Araujo scored a game-hig- h points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead No 2 seed BYU past No 7 New Mexico 6 in the first round of the Mountain West Tournament Thursday in Las Vegas Mark Bigelow scored 14 and Travis Hansen added 11 points for the Cougars 71-5- Bucs open season with dose B2 victory over Trtoe (23-7) Sports briefs senior guard New Mexico (10-1Ruben Douglas who was averaging 321 play points in conference regular-seaso- n was held to 18 points 11 rebounds and five assists Douglas the conference’s player of die from the field after being year was 5 f-19 8) Ace at Country Club oo Casey Bede hit it hoie-in-oMonday at the Logan Golf & Country Club His ace came on No 12 and was witnessed by Jeff Anderson Willie Beecher and Jeremy Qaflin This was Beck's thiid career hole-in-one HIMWClTournamentM swarmed all afternoon by die BYU defense Teammate Mark Walters added 11 for New Mexico The Cougars led 35-3- 0 at halftime The Lobos took a brief 32-3- 1 lead with 14:54 left but BYU ran off the game’s next 14 points and never trailed again New Mexico would not come closer than 47-3- 7 with 8:17 left-- ' The Cougars’ biggest lead was 68-5- 0 with 1:48 left BYU outscored New Mexico 15-- 3 in points off turnovers and had nine steals while die Lobos had none from the field The Cougars shot from the free-thro- w and were line 24-of-- 51 19-of-- 23 APphoto BYU center Rafael Araujo (55) looks to pass the ball while being pressured by New Mexico guard Ryan Ashcraft left and forward David Chiotti during Thursday afternoon’s game in Las Vegas See MWC on B2 Big West Conference Tournament ne State gymnastics meet l The Tytan Gymnastics did) is hosting die USA Utah State Optional meet today and Saturday in tbe Spectrum on the campus of Utah Stale This is for Level 7-compedtos and begins at noon today and 9 ain Saturday Local dubs include Ttan Gymnastics Gymnastics and High Print Gymnastics 10 UCI Air-Bou- nd Thursday's scores Big 5 basketball ANAHEIM Calif — The last thing the Aggies wanted to do night was have to play an extra five minutes against a State Fullerton team that was 0 in overtime games this sea- son But after letting a nine-poilead with 1:30 left in regulation NBA Jersey 90 Boston 75 Seattle 107 Dallas 100 Phoenix 109 Sacramento 84 New 5-- nt NHL get away Utah State closed the Titans out with a sterling for-1- 2 effort from the line in overtime and advanced to the semifinals of the Big West Tournament with an 3 victo- 1 1 free-thro- w AUTORACING pm FOXSN — NASCAR Winston Cup pole qualifying for Carolina Dodge Dealers 400 GOLF 7 am TGC — European PGA Tour Qatar Masters second round Noon TGC — LPGA Welch’sFiy’s Championship second round 2 pm USA — PGA Tour The Honda Classic second round 3 pm TGC — Champions Tour SBC sic first round Clas- MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 10 am ESPN — Big Ten Conference quarterfinal 1 Wisconsin vs Ohio State ESPN2 —Atlantic Coast Confer- ence quarterfinal 1 Wake Forest vs Florida State Noon ESPN — Big Ten Conference quarterfinal 2 Michigan State vs Purdue ESPN2 —Atlantic Coast Conference quarterfinal 2 NC State vs Georgia Tech 2:30 pm ESPN — Patriot League championship game American vs Holy Cross ESPN2 — Southland Conference championship game Stephen F Austin at Sam Houston State 5 pm ESPN — Big East Conference semifinal 1 Boston College vs Pittsburgh ESPN2— Atlantic Coast Conference quarterfinal 3 Maryland vs North Carolina 7 pm ESPN — Big East Conference semifinal 2 Syracuse vs Connecticut ESPN2 —Atlantic Coast Conference quarterfinal 4 Duke vs Virginia KJZZ— Mountain West Conference semifinal 1 Colorado State vs ' BYU FOXSN — Pac-1- 0 Conference semifinal 1 UCLA vs Oregon 9:30 pm UNLV vs Utah NBA 5 pm FSN — Utah at IncRana TENNIS 9:30 pjn ESPN2 — Tennis ters Series Pacific Life Open women's semifinal 2 ATP-WT- A -8 free-thro- w blessing" "I was blessed too that he could play because we needed him ry ‘"‘IFulleiton did a great out that" Morrill added ‘T'T UTAH STATE " We weren't sure he job they would just not BASKETBALL was going to be able to go away" USU head coach Stew Morrill said 8° at al tonight" Aggies 89 ' "That's just the way Junior forward Antho- Titans 83 ’ OT they've been all year ' ny Bolton led the Titans ' (10-1with a career-hig- h 25 long Overtime games have been their thing points and sophomore swingman "The thing I'm most proud of is Ralphy Holmes ended up with 24 when we got to overtime our guys points after having just 10 points ' with a few minutes left in regula- stayed mentally strong" Utah State (22-8- ) will face UC lion 4 Irvine (20-8- ) today at 9:30 pm Holmes had seven points during MST The Anteaters also had Fullerton's 1 3 spurt to close out their struggles in their first regulation including the Titans final five points on ii round game before edging out and in Cal State Northridge 70-6- 4 a pull-u- p jumper with 16 seconds left overtime In Thursday's early games Cal On their final possession the and UC Poly beat Idaho 54-5- 0 Aggies had a great chance to win Santa Barbara downed Pacific 53- - the game when Penigar posted up 44 The Mustangs ( 1 3 ) and strong on the right side of the bas- Gauchos (18-1ket His attempt skipped across the play today at 7 ' ' rim however and Holmes ended pm "I thought all four games today up with the rebound were well contested and we’re The Titans scored first in over- time but Utah State quickly counjust tickled that wc could find a tercd with an alley-oo- p dunk by way to get this one done" Morrill said Butler — his third such slam of the game — and a pair of free Shooting guard Cardeil Butler led the Aggies with a career-hig- h throws by Nelson to take the lead 19 points while junior point guard for good Brown ended up going Mark Brown notched his first with an 18- from the career double-doubline during effort overtime to secure the victory point Senior forward Desmond Peni- "I've been in that situation" Utah State's Carded Butler dunks the ball over Cal State Fullerton's Bron Groomes gar finished with 17 points and See ESCAPE on B4 sophomore center Spencer Nelson during the Big West Conference Tournament Thursday night in Anahejm Calif 9) 2-- 1 5-- 2) Mas- free-thro- le w ist One fast time to see Ag gymnasts in action " By Shawn Harrison sports editor Tonight is your last chance At least it is your final opportunity to watch the Utah State gymnastics team in the Spectrum this season The Aggies (8-- wrap-u- p their home schedule by hosting North Carolina State (15-4- ) at 7 pm USU has been putting on quite a show at home this year The Aggies have scored above the in every single outing in the Spectrum That is good So good in fact that it has never been done before in Aggie history USU has scored better than 195 in seven meets including five home ones The previous best was four scores of 195 or better in both the 1997 and 1999 seasons Last year the Aggies accomplished it just twice USU also recorded its best score ever at home with a 24th-rank- ed 9) 195-ma- FOXSN — Pac-- 1 0 Conference semifinal 2 Southern Cal vs California ' 10 pjn ESPN — Mountain West Confe- rence semifinal 2 scored 16 points and pulled down ai game-hig- h eight rebounds Nelson was held out of the start- ing lineup Thursday after missing two days of practice with a cussion he suffered during practice on Monday but he ended up play-C- al ing 31 minutes and going from the field and from the line "I felt really blessed tonight" Nelson said "Honestly I felt good when I stepped on the floor for warmups and the rest of the game I didn't feel anything at alk so I think that was a definite 89-8- On television 12:30 up next for Utah State By Jeff Hunter staff writer Utah State 89 CS Fullerton 83 OT BYU 71 New Mexico 56 Utah 42 Air Force 38 Boston 4 New Jersey 3 Ottawa 3 NY Rangers 2 OT Colorado 5 Columbus 1 Philadelphia 5 Carolina 3 Montreal 4 Atlanta 2 Calgary 4 Toronto 3 OT NY Islanders 5 Edmonton 2 St Louis 4 Vancouver 4 tie Anaheim 3 San Jose 2 OT I 19615 "This is the best team I've ever seen here" rk USU senior Nicole Kilpatrick said And Kilpatrick is a big part of the reason Her example of hard work in the coupled with some very talented freshmen has proved to be a nice mix for head coach Ray Corn : This team is different because it truly believes and has been' able to shake off mistakes I've watched a lot of Aggie gymnastics over the years and this team is by far the most composed under pressure that I've seen in some time All of the home meets have been close and usually come down to the final event — the floor exercise USU has finished strong on floor to the delight of the partisan crowd with some regular fans showing their appreciation by ringing cowbells "The crowd helps us on flow" Kilpatrick said "It's really exciting heading to floor knowing the fans are going to get into it It's always fun to end on floor" Tonight's meet should be another thriller The Wolfpack are coining off their best outing posting a 19620 in a home meet Earlier this season NC State beat the Aggies in Raleigh NC 195575- - off-seas- 194350 ' "It'S always nice to have a rematch with a school that is a good opponent and good competition" Corn said In other words it is nice to have the Wolfpack here in Logan with the home fans behind the Aggies for this rematch Not only will tonight's meet be exciting it will be an opportunity to witness Aggie gymnastics' history Freshman Meagan Nelson needs can set the season record for meets with a score of 39 or higher She is currently tied with Christy Denson at nine Speaking of Denson the best Aggie gymnast i See LAST on B2 a E BEST AVAILABLE COPY |