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Show 9 Thursday, January 31,2008 SPORTS www.dailyutahchronicle.com Utes stun Cowgirls Natalie Dicou STAFF W R I T E R The streak marches triumphantly on. The U women's basketball team icked up its I2th straight win in dramatic fashion Wednesday night when it toppled No. 15 Wyoming on the Cowgirls' home court. Down by two points with three seconds to go, Ute guard Morgan Warburton buried a 3-pointer from the left corner that silenced the largest crowd ever to witness a regularseason Wyoming women's basketball game, and the Utes escaped with a 60-59 win. "It was awesome," said Warburton, who finished with 18 points, 12 rebounds and three steals. "I think this is the biggest win we've had all year. Wyoming's such a solid team. It's just such a great win. It's good for us to know that we can hang and that we're a great team, too." With time ticking away, sophomore Halie Sawyer put up a jumper that rimmed out, but Kalee Whipple willed herself to the ball. With three seconds left, she tapped it to Warburton in the corner. Warburton knew it was good when she pulled the trigger. "My insides were going crazy," Warburton said. It had been 56 days since Wyoming had been defeated and 58 days since the Utes (17-3, 6-0) came out on the losing end. Wyoming was on a 12-game win streak and had 17 consecutive home victories. Both teams were undefeated in conference play. Something had to give. The game turned out just as it was billed— it was a back-and-forth battle between two talented MWC powers. The Utes jumped out to a 5-0 lead early in the game and stretched that lead to 23-13 later in the half. But the Cowgirls finished the opening half on a 10-2 run and went into the break with the momentum. Trailing 25-23 to open the second half, Wyoming continued to chip away at Utah's lead and pulled ahead 40-37. "There's a lot of ways to make plays," Utah head coach Elaine Elliott said. "You can hit a shot. Morgan hit a shot. You can pull a rebound. Kalee Whipple pulled a big-time rebound. (You can) get a loose ball. Wyoming duo too much for men's hoops to handle Tony Pizza SPORTS EDITOR TYLER COBB/fhe D#tfVtek (bror.xlt With a dramatic finish, Morgan Warburton drained a 3-point shot from the corner to lead the Utes to a win against Wyoming on Wednesday night. This win might guarantee the Utes a spot in theTop-25. We got the loose ball on that last shot. I'm just really proud of them." The Utes led for most of the second half and built up a 51-44 edge before Wyoming went on a 14-6 run to take a 58-57 lead with 1:29 to play. Down by one, Leilani Mitchell uncharacteristically missed a pair of free throws, but Warburton's heroics saved her teammate. Although the win pretty much guarantees that the Utes will crack the national rankings, Elliott doesn't want to get ahead of herself. "Right now, it's great," Elliott said. "It feels great, but you've got to understand that this thing isn't even half over. There's so much more basketball to play, so many more challenges ahead. I want (my players) to have a great time. This is all they have to think about for the next 24 hours, and they have to get back to work." n.dicou@ chronicle.utah.edu NCAA should grant more extensions W hile the New England Patriots and New York Giants prepare for the Super Bowl, the other 30 NFL teams are concentrating on how to get to next year's big game. The first step in doing that is making the right choices in the NFL Draft on April 26 and 27, and plenty of choices there will be. More than 50 underclassmen joined hundreds of seniors as eligible draftees. Each year, it is more and more apparent that the most important part of an underclassman's decision to jump ship and head to the NFL is simple—boost the bank account as soon as possible. Why wait a year when you can potentially deposit millions of dollars now? This year, a couple of players are fighting the status quo. In today's draft game, hoards of underdeveloped talents foolishly overestimate their abilities and prematurely try to hack it out in the pros. Tony Temple and Ben Mauk are resisting the trend. Temple capped off his career at Missouri with his second consecutive 1,000-yard rushing season as the Tigers' running back. Runnin' Utes fall at home However, Temple wanted more. He wanted to come back for one more year and improve his skills and try to take the Tigers further than they went this season. Temple requested an extra year of eligibility but was JON turned GILBERT down by the Big 12 Conference. After being rejected, he decided to withdraw his appeal from the NCAA and focus on getting ready for the NFL because his extended eligibility prospects were dun. What was holding Temple back? Thirteen yards on six carries. That was Temple's stat line in a freshman-year loss to Nebraska in which he tore his Achilles tendon. The NCAA sometimes allows players to enjoy an extra year of eligibility if injury hindered their careers. But not Temple. Temple finished up his senior year with a bonafide shredding of the Arkansas defense in the Cotton Bowl. NFL scouts usually weigh each player's final performance more heavily than any other game. Last season, Heisman-winner Troy Smith went from a first-round lock to a fifthround scrap after Florida overwhelmed him and his offensive line in the BCS National Championship game. This season, Illinois' junior running back Rashard Mendenhall capped off his season with a stellar performance against USC in the Rose Bowl. His 200-plus total yards and one rushing touchdown might have pushed him into the first round of the draft. But that kind of stuff doesn't matter to Temple. He wanted more of the college experience. He wanted to get better, and he appreciated his time on a college campus. Mauk might still have another year to enjoy that experience. The embattled quarterback played for Wake Forest from 2004 to 2006. As the starter in 2006, he threw 21 passes in the season-opener before dislocating his passing shoulder and breaking his passing arm all on the same play. The injuries ended his season, and backup Riley Skinner stepped in admirably. To avoid a quarterback controversy, Mauk packed his bags-and transferred to Cincinnati. This season, Mauk was brilliant in leading Cincinnati to a program-best 10-3 record and a bowl win. Now he is lobbying to gain a year of eligibility to replace his 2006 debacle. The NCAA should warrant his request, as the Big 12 should have warranted Temple's. College football is catching up quickly to college basketball as a tune-up center for athletes whose heads are bigger than their talents. The NCAA should approve almost every extra year of eligibility it can. The players applying for a bonus season are the people who really appreciate why they are on the campus in the first place. Otherwise, the NCAA will just be a shameless talent cartel for the NFL. There was no secret to what Wyoming guards' Brandon Ewing and Brad Jones were capable of. The only question was if the Utah men's basketball, team could survive them. In the end, not even Luke Nevill's season-high 25 points were enough to overcome the combined 38-point effort from the guard combo, and Wyoming held off a late Ute comeback effort to win 69-64. : Ewing, who finished with 21 points on 7-for-i5 shooting, sparked a key Wyoming run with 3:03 remaining in the first half. The Cowboy guard hit two of his five first-half 3-pointers as part of a 9-r Wyoming run. Jones capped off the run with three straight free throws after he was fouled on a 3-point attempt. His last one put the icing on the run that turned a 27-25 deficit into a 34-28 lead for the Cowboys at the break. "The foul at the end of the first half to give them three free throws.-.that's a big play," Boylen said. Jones finished the game with 17 points, but perhaps even more impressive was the 13 rebounds the guard had. "It's a huge factor," Boylen said. "We got beat oh the boards 40-32." Every time Utah tried to make a run in the second half, Wyoming had an answer. The Utes, on the other hand, had no answer for Wyoming's transition game. "That was our main thing—getting out in transition and trying to outrutn (Utah) a little bit," Ewing said. "But if we didn't outrun them, pound it down low and try to get Big Luke in foul trouble." Wyoming held at least a four-point lead throughout much of the second half and boosted it to eight and nine points several times. After a dunk by Wyoming's Tyson Johnson, the Cowboys held a 65-58 lead with 1:07 left to play, prompting many fans to head for the doors. It also signaled the point when the Utes managed to make things interesting. Lawrence Bohra swished home three of his nine points with 51 second left in the game, cutting Wyoming's lead to four. Wyoming then appeared to be content running the clock down before Jones took advantage of a clear path to the basket with 25 second left. Nevill swooped in for one of his three blocks, giving Utah the ball and a chance to cut into the Wyoming lead further. Instead of going for a 3-pointer, Tyler Kepkay drove to the hoop for a quick layup and was fouled in the process. Just like that, Utah managed to draw within one after Kepkay converted See UTES Page 12 j.gilbert@chronicle.utah.edu Jazz win 10th straight home game Jason Peterson STAFF WRITER The Utah Jazz celebrated their mascot's 15th birthday in style with a 100-89 w m over the New York Knicks on Wednesday night at EnergySolutions Arena. "Bear," the furry performer that has entertained Jazz fans since 1993, invited several mascot buddies from other NBA clubs for the occasion. During halftime and timeouts, the costumed squad kept the crowd laughing with its antics and even pumped people up for the Jazz. Not that Utah really needed the extra support. The Jazz jumped out to a commanding 12-2 lead and essentially coasted the rest of the way over the struggling Knicks, who had just nine players available for the majority of the night. . Backup forward Renaldo Balkman didn't suit up for the Knicks after the league suspended him one game for a flagrant foul against the Lakers on Tuesday. Star point guard Stephon Marbury stayed home in U New York to nurture a surgically repaired foot. In a stranger turn of events, starters Eddy Curry and Quentin Richardson left the game because of flu-like symptoms after playing just four and six minutes, respectively. Although the short-handed Knicks never led once during the game, they still managed to give the Jazz a scare early in the third period when forward Zach Randolph sank a pair of free-throws to bring his team within three at 57-54. Roughly one minute and seven unanswered points later, Utah was enjoying a 10-point lead. Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said his team had a tendency to relax once they pulled ahead by a few points. "Looked to me like we got comfortable, and...we didn't run back down the floor defensively," Sloan said. "Those are the types of games that you're glad to win, but that's how you can let games get away from you, ' and we've let that happen." Jazz point guard Deron Williams saved the team from sinking under with timely shots and uncanny1 passes for easy baskets. Williams led the Jazz with a double-double of 22 points and 12 assists. "(Deron) is as special a player as we have in our league, and he's just going to keep getting better and better," Knicks coach Isiah Thomas said. "He's a joy to watch, but he's hell to play against and coach against." Count Knicks guard Jamal Crawford, who tallied 26 points and nine assists of his own, as a "D-Will" fan after Crawford spent much of the night trying to guard him. "He's real cool on the court," Crawford said. "You know, he runs the show well. He can score, he can shoot, pass, defend. I like his game a lot." Williams received help from five other Jazz players who scored in double figures. Carlos Boozer added 17 points,and nine rebounds while backup forward Paul Millsap dropped 15 and pulled down five boards. Mehmet Okur also contributed a doubledouble of 12 points and 11 rebounds. Randolph aided Crawford's performance See JAZZ Page 10 Luke Nevill finished out the game with a season high of 25 points and nine rebounds. Despite the team's valiant effort, Utah walked away with a toss to Wyoming on Wednesday night at the Huntsman Center. |
