Show Section v ' Wednesday March 132002 Pagel The Herald Journal Inside NATIONAL National Invitational Tournament Bobcats eliminate Aggies fans unruly in defeat kttarod comes to a record- B2 setting finish Sports briefs By Gregg Handy staff writer Hawkins named top ' Aggie last week Freshman tennis player Haley Hawkins has been named Utah State’s Athlete of the Week ' Hawkins won the deckling match 6-4 against Weber State’s Chelsee Drews to give Utah State its win against the te rival Wikicats 4-- 3 Hawkins also won her doubles match teaming with fieshman Carolyn Larsen 5 Hawkins inqxoved her individual season singles record to 6-- 3 which is tied for die best record cm the team Other nominees included: Tony Brown men’s basketball Jessenia Abrcgo gymnastics Jason Trask men’s tennis first-ev-er ) A relatively successful season ended in rather ugly fashion for the Utah State Aggies Tuesday night at the Spectrum With the Montana State Bobcats throwing in 3 point bombs from all over the court and one Utah State fan throwing a pack of gum at a referee the Aggies were eliminated from the National Invitation Tournament with a 9 opening-roun- d loss When it was all over some more ' fans gave the ' UTAH STATE three refs a pop- BASKETBALL com shower as — — they made their he way up the visi- tore ramp The incident occurred with 27 seconds left in the game and the Aggies trailing by just three points The Bobcats were getting ready 9 to inbound the ball on the east rad of the court When the pack of gum came flying out of the crowd It hit one of the refs who called a technical on the ing-rou-nd home-and-ho- -- 6-- 4 in-sta- - 77-6- 8-- 23-2- With Conway’s help the Bobcats shot 36 percent from beyond die arc compared to an arctic 11 percent for the Aggies Point guard Ronnie Ross had in the game Utah State’s only Aggie senior center Jeremy Vague who finished with 18 points and eight rebounds was called for a hard foul on Conway after die technical way got up yelling at Vague and had 72-6- —A baseball player’s locker is a sacred place— TAMPA Fla (AP) the one private place in Ins very public world Ruben Rivera teamed that invading that sanctum can be a most serious offense Once one of the most promising prospects in baseball Rivera was placed on unconditional release waivers by the New York Yankees after being accused of taking a bat and glove from teammate Derek Jeter’s kicker “That type of thing isa shock” manager Joe Tbrre said Tuesday “It's sad It's unfortunate” transUnlikemany gressions that often can be overlooked Rivera was not given a second chance by the Yankees “We look at this as chit house and this is our family” reliever Mike Stanton said “We spend more time here than we do with our real fami-- " lies This was something that had to be dealt with quickly and as discretely as possible but that’s not possible in this age” ld Tuesday's scores Montana State’s Jason Erickson calmly hit die two free throws essra- tially putting the game away “The game was still in doubt with (27 seconds to go)” an unhappy Utah State head coach Stew Morrill said “They got to inbounds in a tough sit- uationAlot of things can happen in (27 sedonds) We had over'6000 great fans tonight and one person made a tremendous mistake “I would ‘T’him too if I were die ref Really poor judgment” Before the technical the Aggies rad their fans were upset with what they thought should have been a traveling call on Montana State’s Aaron Rich who had to run the length of the floor to chase down an errant inbounds pass When Rich recovered the ball in the right corner it appeared as though he may have taken a couple of steps before calling a timeout The referee however granted the Bobcats die timeout Utah Stale the Big West Confer- ence's 10 int gum-throwi- ng Yanks release Rivera ended its campaign with s 23--8 overall record Montana State (20-9the champs will Big Sky’s regular-seaso-n play the winner of today’s NIT open- game between Richmond and Wagner most likely on Friday The Aggies had swept the Bobcats in a series earlier this season including die season opener at Bozeman Junior guard Pete Conway led the Bobcats with 23 points on shooting including a deadly from range Many of his treys came from 3 feet away “He knows he’s our guy and I don’t think I’ve ever told him he’s been too for out” Montana State head coach Mick Durham said about Conway’s performance “I let him go tonight” Con-Aggi- es to be restrained by teammates After that die refs threatened to forfeit the game against Utah State if anything else was thrown onto the court threat Toay Utah State’s Brown again could not find his stroke as he was held to five points on f11 from 3-shooting including point land Brbwn who did finish with 10 assists and three steals in his final game as an Aggie has watched ' his percentage dropfrom a near 50 percent to 436 percent “They hit some very tough shots” sad Brown who admitted his legs have not bera under him lately “They hit a few at theendof the half and then at die rad of foie shot clock Conway kept moving back' further and further It seemed like we could- n’t find any of their shooters” Tuesday’s game was the fourth for Utah State in six days The Aggies reached the championship game of int ' 2-o- -5 ' Eli See NIT on B4 regular-seaso-n LuceraHerald Journal Utah State center Jeremy Vague pulls up for a shot' over Montana State's Keriny Plummer (32) and Aaron Rich during their NIT game Tuesday night Big 5 basketball - Montana State 77 Utah State 69 NBA kxflana 115 Golden State 101 Philadelphia 104 New York 96 Mtami 90 Phoenix 78 Milwaukee 110 Chicago 81 New Jersey 86 Toronto 84 San Antonio 96 Memphis 84 Houston 101 SeatUe 98 LA Lakers 107 Charlotte 66 By Dfvid Cordaro staff writer Aggie-friend- ly If theAggies had the energy of the fan who launched ! pack of gum at an official toward the end of Ihesday night's NIT matchup maybe their season wouldn’t have ended Then again Montana State may have outclassed even die most energized of Utah State NHL Toronto 1 tie Ottawa Minnesota 3 OT Vancouver 6 NashvttaO Phoenix 3 Chicago 1 PNtedeQphia Ontolovlslon ' Montana State's Kanny Pfommer (32) and Pete Conway (30) celebrate after beating Utah State 9 77-6- MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL Sdppjn ESPN2 — NIT South Caroftw 'V 7iJ0 DJli ESPtC-- at V Virginia visit T-- LSUat Iowa NIT lOpjn KPN— MTTemple at Beano Stale NBA (ML — f' : TNT 840 PJH By Shawp Harrison v sports editor ' : : Sacramento at Phladeiphia J'L : f iry TNT—VVashiigtonatLAClippeis v KPN v V ' bit” Now that they Cedar City is anything like last ' have provim they Friday at die Spectrum it !will be a f r: real barnburner1 canputaeomplete meet together it is tune to show it Southern Utah (3-- boats Utah as both schools look - wasn’t a flukd Before last Friday ’Stafo ' die Aggies had counted to score big and qualify for the ' ' niit fell in die first nine meets regional meet in early April The “It’s coming down to the wire” ThunderiMidsandAnfes are both Corn said “We hayedne events season-higoff h last scotes coming left each is critical to our and USU pusedfoeir Friday guests i Od numerous's onthe final rotatkm notcUng 1 occasibns $ 193425 kcore to SUU’sl95275V wfve hem on our way “There is no doubt about it We ' 'fora 195 dr a 196 but the wheels need to score big and now”Aggie:' ' ’ 4 : See VISIT on B4 head coadi Ray Coro ssid “We r at NV Rangere TENNIS- - V: : - KPN2— Tennis Mlasters Series Pacific Life Open early round cover-- j v age at Indtan WeBs C& t pjn ‘1 11' If tonight's gymnastics meet at r J ESPN — TenriiS Masters Series y 4 Pacific Life Open early round cbver- age at Indtan Wefa CM Midnight f ' ESPN2— Hands Maetero Series ' Padfic Ufa Open eeriy round coverage ’ i at Indtan WMs Calf (delayed tape) f 9) s' on i ? i s--- - ': “There wasn’t one of these kids thinking they didn’t want to play” said Morrill who acknowledged getting blank stares from his charges throughout the evening “But we had See FATIGUE on B4 the jail on Tuesday Strawberry said he was confused by his arrest the vicesinTur:Srvi-- ‘ v i Strawbeny was being held without bond in tbe Marion County Jail and1 ws4 kicked out of the dnig4reatment ptogram at Phodnix House a'residen- dal facility about 80 miles north of 'Ihmpa: He was scheduled to appear Wednesday mprning at die Muif v A County Judicial Centatv t As deputies were escortfag him to - I' !!' “ l !' Ocala reported “They just said l was discharged from die program” Strawberry said outside die jail S Strawbeuy said he had pat been accused of fighting or odier infractions at dta craterHewas'sentencedinMayto two yean of bouse anest at die cetaer folknring tfbur-da- y aosstafo dhig lin8CSqawbetiyfooesuptol8mondis m prison for viotating his probation which he has already violated five times Strawbdriy’s lawyerJosq)hFicar- rotta was surprised by tbe anest and did not immediately have details Just before die aneitFicanotta was arranging to get Strawbeny into thie dext phase of the program then back home to Thmpa v Star-Bann- er All-St- ar ' (5-1- 1) post-seas- ve After the contest one that was closer than the 77-6- 9 Bobcat win it was USU coach Stew Morrill was diplomatic: in his postgame address He didn’t make excuses for the loss nor did he dismiss fatigue beipg a factor OCALA Fla (AP) — Danyl Straw- beny was jailed Ibesday his 40di birdiday for breaking a role at the drag treatment center whoe he had been serving two yean of bouse uresL Florida Department of Corrections officials did not provide details of the violation The eiit-tun- e majdr did not leave the pro-league gram or test positive for drugVsaid Joe Papy supervisarof proltipn ser- ' can’t be concerned about winning or losing just sooting - ' squads Who knows really? But you can’t ignore the notion that playing four games in six days can fatigue a team If it wasn’t so the season would be over much sooner or include twice as many games level Basketball at a involving college students just isn’t meant to be performed fmir times a week When it is die results can be skewed somewhat highly-competiti- El LucaroHarakt Journal Spec- trum pea-brain- ed DaJtas5Vashinrton2 NY Wanders 3 Buffalo 0 Tampa Bay 4 Atlanta 4 tie : Even when the final game is played in the : MU I |