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Show 7 SPORTS www.dailyutahchronicie.com Monday, March 9,2009 Men's Basketball Women's Basketball Wednesday Softball Ski Track Utah vs. Memphis, Hawaii 5/1 OK Freestyle NCAA Championships 5:00 P.M., 7:00 P.M. HTHonolulu, Hawaii All Day Rumford, Maine TBA College Station, Texas Utes finish on top of MWC Paige Fieldsted STAFF WRITER The Runnin1 Utes have earned their piece of history. Utah claimed a portion of the Mountain West Conference championship with its 68-49 victory over TCU on Saturday afternoon in the Huntsman Center. "It's emotional for me, it's emotional for the team," said head coach Jim Boylen. "They're going to leave here winners and champions and they're going be in the book forever. We're going to have this team on a banner." The Utes' road to the championship wasn't an easy one, as there had been letdowns coupled with skeptics. As it did all season, Utah overcame adversity and went 12-4 in the MWC to earn its first conference championship since 2005. "I think about the season we had, the tough losses, the doubters, the nasty e-mails TYLZRCOBBrthrfk'fyUlshairtwtlt Jim Boylen and the Utes had some tough losses this season but were able to come out with a MWC regular-season championship after their 68-49 win over TCU on Saturday. TITLE continued from Page 1 For the seniors, the championship has been an uphill battle. "It's amazing," Nevill said. "I was lucky enough to be here my redshirt year when we won a championship, but to be playing and one of the reasons for our success and winning is a great feeling." Head coach Jim Boylen couldn't hold back the tears when talking about the growth of his seniors during the two years he's been at the U. The crew of graduating players have gone from players with individual egos in a broken program to becoming team leaders that are now NCAA tournament-bound. "I beat them up, broke them down and then they built us back up," Boylen said. The Utes started the game with a lot of energy and by halftime led by seven, 31-24, thanks to a lackluster last eight minutes of the first half by Utah. Utah progressively extended its lead over the Horned Frogs with precise ball movement and timely shots in the latter half. "The second half, we just did $g) 197.350 194.350 68TCU49 MEN'S BASKETBALL I get and how thankful I am that we worked through those tough times," Boylen said. "I'm thankful that Lawrence Borha, John Downie, Luke Nevill, Tyler Kepkay and Shaun Green, anytime they walk around in this town, they're champions. There's nothing like it." Two weeks ago, the Utes were on top of the MWC and had the No. 1 slot secured, sitting two games above the rest of the conference. After back-to-back road losses to BYU and New Mexico, Utah was in a must-win situation to earn part of the MWC regular season title. "We've worked too hard, and came too far to not go out a winner," said Green, who in his final home game knocked down six 3-pointers. "It just wasn't in question." On Senior Night, it was the Utah seniors who stole the show and took the game into their own hands as they scored 50 of the team's 68 points in their last game on the hill. "It feels real good to finally get something done here," Borha said. "The first two years were kind of a downfall. We picked it up our junior years, but we got it done our senior years and we're excited about it." Utah was the second of three teams to claim a piece of the title Saturday, as New Mexico beat Wyoming in Laramie, Wyo., ear- lier in the day and BYU's home victory against Air Force that night split the title between the three MWC powerhouses. Utah's share of the MWC title comes at the end of a 21-9 regular season, less than two years since Boylen took over what was then a struggling program. "I have a great group of seniors behind me to support the team and get a win on our last year and on our home court, it's amazing," Nevill said. The Utes secured their place in history in the presence of one of Utah's greatest basketball, players, as four-time Ail-American and former Ute Arnie Ferrin was honored at halftime for his induction into the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame in November. Utah will travel to Las Vegas next week to take part in the MWC tournament as a No. 2 seed. Because of the tiebreaker system, San Diego State—which has the next best record in the MWC—became the subject of the tiebreaker. BYU went 2-0 versus the Aztecs, while Utah and New Mexico each went 1-1. BYU will enter next week's conference tournament as the No. 1 seed. Ironically, opening matchups in the conference tournament will be an exact repeat of the regularseasonfinalealong the MWC. p.fieldsted@chronicle.utah.edu what we do, which is just play basketball," Green said. Green, a product of Olympus High, talked all season about how growing up, Utah was the place he wanted to play. To be able to leave his mark with 6-for-o shooting from the 3-point line was the way he wanted to go out. But he wouldn't take all of the credit. "I shot the ball pretty well tonight, but I credit it to my teammates," Green said. "The whole game those guys were talking about not leaving me, but they had to 'cause my teammates were making plays. Then they found me and I was open and I just made some shots." Riding an eight-game win streak 10 days ago, the outright title was one victory away from being wrapped and delivered for Utah. Although Utah will have to share, Boylen still described the regular season title as a "great natural high." "What this team did this year with the schedule we had was unbelievable," Boylen said. "What these guys have done, from where they came from, I think it's a great story." m.villano@ . chronicle.utah.edu Gymnastics Season built a base for a strong future efore Utah's final game Saturday, NICK head coach PAPPAS Jim Boylen's mother called him. He was nervous. She could tell. "What are you nervous about?" she asked. "I want these guys to leave winners," he said. There's nothing to be nervous about anymore. Boylen, in only his second year, turned boys into grown men. Utah defeated TCU 68-49 and earned a share of the Mountain West Conference title. Four leftover seniors and a senior walk-on said goodbye to the Huntsman Center by taking a piece of the nets with them. These were the same seniors who walked out of the arena as sophomores with a dismal record of 11-19. Things are different now. "Anytime they walk around in this town, they're champions," Boylen said. He was able to give each senior his due. At 1 minute 57 seconds left in the game, Lawrence Borha was taken out in front of the standing crowd. The senior improved his scoring average by four points a game this year, and his free throws were at 84 percent. "LB" waved to the crowd, gave Boylen a hug and had his armed raised by his coach. At 1:48 left, Shaun Green found his way to the bench. Boylen spoke about how he was hardest on Green, how he "wasn't sure (Green) was going to make it." Green went from not having a spot on the roster to having a rung on the ladder up to the nets. After a dismal junior year, Green was able to contribute six 3-pointers Saturday and led the team in scoring. At 1:29 left, Tyler Kepkay swaggered off the court. He was the player who went from leading the nation in scoring at junior college, to a poor-shooting, turnover-plagued guard, and finally back to a meaningful contributor. "A big-time player," said Boylen of Kepkay. Finally, with 51 seconds left on the clock, Luke Nevill lumbered off the court to grand applause. Nevill, twice the size of any man, yet always with his head low and his hands in his pockets. Nevill, the player who has as good a chance as anyone to win the MWC Player of the Year award, finally has a reason to hold his head high. This will be the last time we ever see these players on this hardwood. There will no longer be scenes of Nevill surrounded by double and triple teams. There will be no more jump hooks going to his right. This was the last time we'll see Green and Borha spotting up behind the arc, waiting for See SENIORS Page 8 WOMEN'S BASKETBALL GYMNASTICS Utah earns share of title despite loss to TCU Frogs Rocks strong on Senior Night Quinn Wilcox STAFF WRITER Another school record set by senior Morgan Warburton could n't stop TCU in the last game of the regular season. The Utah women's basketball team was plagued by cold shooting Saturday afternoon and converted just 28.6 percent of its field goal attempts en route to a 53-47 loss. Utah (20-9, 13-3 MWC) will share the regular season title with San Diego State, which beat UNLV Saturday to earn a piece of the Mountain West Conference hardware. Warburton broke Shona Thorburn's record for made free throws. The senior from Helper went 4-for-4 from the charity stripe to up her free throws made to 413. Offensively, no Ute player shot better than 50 percent. Leading performers for the game were Helena Sverrisdottir for TCU with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Halie Sawyer led Utah with 12 points and 10 boards. The game couldn't have gotten off to a better start for the Utes. After a couple of slow starts this past week, Utah came out storming in Fort Worth, Texas. Warburton and Kalee Whipple both hit two 3-pointers as they helped propel their team to an early 25-12 lead. TCU responded to close out the half with a 13-3 run, to get the score at halftime to 28-25. The second half was a seesaw battle, with neither team able to get much of a run going until the eight-minute mark in the second. After Whipple broke a 38-38 tie with a lay-up, TCU went on a 11-3 run to give them a 49-43 lead with 3 minutes 58 seconds left in regulation—it was a lead they would never relinquish. Utah had a couple of chances late in the game to tic things up or take the lead, but shots weren't falling. Whipple and Warburton went a combined 6-for-24 from the field. Warburton's last made field goal came with about 17 minutes left in the first half, resulting in just 10 points for the game. TCU shot i7~for-2O from the .S>e TCU Page 8 Morgan Warburton broke the school record for made free throws Saturday. Despite Warburton's record, the Utes lost to TCU, 53-47, to close out the season. Bryan Chouinard STAFF WRITER It had been a full two weeks since the Red Rocks last performed, but you couldn't tell from the way the U gymnastics team performed Friday night. The Red Rocks picked up right where they left off two weeks ago against Michigan, scoring their second-highest team score of the season and defeating the Arizona State Sun Devils 197.350 to 194.350. This is Utah's second consecutive meet in which the team broke the 197 mark. "Our favorite thing is to compete in front of our fans and we had such a big crowd tonight," said senior Kristina Baskett. "It was just really fun." Baskett won her fifth all-around title of the season Friday night, finishing with an all-around score of 39.575, despite stepping out of bounds during her floor routine. Baskett helped the Red Rocks set season records on the vault and beam Friday, scoring 49.525 and 49.450, respectively. "(The meet) was good but not great," said head coach Greg Marsden. "I thought we had two great events, vault and beam was probably the best we can do at those two events." But while the team excelled in the first and third events of the night, the Red Rocks struggled on the bars and floor. Utah posted its fourth-lowest total of the year on the floor exercise (49.250) and tied its second-lowest score of the year on the bars (49.125). "Bars wasn't bad," Marsden said. "But we missed a lot of handstands tonight, which is uncharacteristic of this team. On the floor, we tried some upgrades and, for the most part, they were successful. Floor was good, but not great." After Utah finished up at the beam, it was announced that senior Nina Kim was being pulled out of the lineup on floor in exchange for freshman Stephanie McAllister, who was warming up an Vtaf>(hrc>»(tt Kristina Baskett won her fifth all-around title of the year Friday night. The Red Rocks posted their second score above 197 of the season despite having two weeks off. exhibition routine. "Nina has been a little off this week," Marsden said. "After beam, she just didn't feel like she had her legs tonight. I always encourage the girls to make good decisions every night based on how they are feeling and I think for the good of the team and herself, she took herself out." McAllister delivered in a huge way, tying her career high with a 9.850, the second-highest score on the floor on the night for Utah, behind Baskett's 9.90. "They told me right before I did my exhibition on beam," McAllister said of when she caught word she'd be competing on floor. "I have been doing some exhibition on floor, so I thought I was ready...I was glad I got the chance to compete." "Steph stepped in and did a great job," Marsden said. "And that's what they're there for; they train for that opportunity and that's why we need them." b.chouinard(a)chronicle.utah.edu |