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Show 9 ATESMAN U FRIDAY, MARCH 11,2005 Lunch SpecWs Utah a step closer with win over Rams BYU loses Bogut scores 21, grabs 17 rebounds against Colorado State inMWC first round BY EDDIE PELLS AP Sports Writer DENVER - Andrew Bogut scored 11 of his 21 points over the first 4 1/2 minutes and the Utah guards took over from there, leading the 15thranked Utes to a 62-49 win over Colorado State in the opening round of the Mountain West Conference tournament Thursday. Bogut, widely regarded as the best player in the country, also grabbed 17 rebounds, although he was held in check for long stretches of this game against the eighth-seeded Rams. With the conference's freshman of the year, 7footer Jason Smith, shutting down the big Australian - even rejecting his shot three times - it was Marc Jackson and Bryant Markson who helped top-seeded Utah (26-4) pull away. Jackson (14 points, five assists) made two free throws, a 3-pointer and converted a three-point play during a 19-4- run in the second half that turned a one-point halftime deficit into a 55-39 lead. Markson (12 points) also scored four points and helped Utah with a threequarter-court trap that the Rams had trouble handling in the second half. Led by Smith, 7-1 center Matt Nelson and scrappy guard Micheal Morris, the Rams (11-17) looked like a team with too much talent to struggle the way they did this season. Smith roamed around the middle, hitting a couple shots directly over Bogut in the first half. Just as impressive was the way Smith shut down the 7-foot center. After Bogut, a sophomore who is expected to declare for the NBA draft after the season, scored the first 11 points for Utah, he had trouble finding anything open in the middle. Once, he had an easy layup swatted off the backboard by Smith. Another time, Bogut turned for what looked like an easy shot, only to see Smith come from the back side to reject him again. But he couldn't be stopped forever. After CSU cut its 16-point deficit to seven, Bogut took a sweet pass from Jackson for a slam. Moments later, Jackson made an alley-oop layup from Tim Drisdom to push the lead to 11. Nelson had 14 points, Smith had 12 and eight rebounds and Matt Williams had 12 points for Colorado State, which upset Air Force last year as the eighth seed and looked like it might pull a similar upset for a good portion of this game. Instead, the Rams went home and Utah moved on in its quest to improve seeing for the NCAA tournament. MASCOT CHALLENGE From Page 7 Monday - Friday 11:00am - 3:00pm Normal Price: $8-9 Lunch Price: $ 5 . 1 0 BY EDDIE PELLS USU sfudenfs <jef 10% off wiffc ID AP Sports Writer DENVER-They were ready for prime time, and next, the New Mexico Lobos hope to prove they're ready for the NCAA tournament, too. Led by 23 points from Danny Granger and a careerhigh 12 assists from Mark Walters, the Lobos beefed up their postseason resume Thursday night with an 85-71 victory over BYU in the first round of the Mountain West Conference tournament. Conference officials scheduled second-seeded New Mexico (24-6) for a 9 p.m. EST start so more members of the NCAA selection committee - many of whom live back East - would be awake to watch. With their 24 wins being offset by a weak RPI rating of 85 and an abysmal schedule rated 298th toughest in the country, the Lobos find themselves squarely on the bubble to make the tournament for the first time since 1999. They need to impress at every opportunity and they did just that against overmatched BYU (9-21). Jared Jensen scored 19 points and Mike Hall had 13 for the seventh-seeded Cougars, who finished the season on a fivegame losing streak and with the same record they had in 1997-98 - coach Steve Cleveland's first season with the program. New Mexico improved to 24-3 with Granger in the lineup - another factor the Lobos hope the NCAA will consider - and coach Ritchie McKay got his first career victory in a postseason conference tournament in five tries. MonThurs 11am - 9:00pm Fri 11am - 10pm Sat 11:30am -10:00 pm 432 N. Main Street Logan 753-5789 Greyhound Helps You And A Friend Unleash This Spring Break. Visit Greyboundpromos.com for 50% off Companion Fares and free ways to unleash this Spring Break. * Rc*ta«ytj j p p , Ujj not t>o W&K&I retn sr^ 5LT*< OH« O 2006 & e ^ w f 0 Ltnei hv Brake Special for Spring Break., John Zsiray/'jzsiray@cc.usu.edu BIG BLUE, CENTER, holds the winning trophy of the Big West conference Mascot Challenge, while surrounded by other Big West mascots. Last year, Big Blue came in second to Pacific's Powercat. both went to complain to the judges. No change was made as the Mascot Challenge moved to the next event. To finish off* the challenge the mascots were put into brackets for the arm wrestling competition. Big Blue breezed through the first two rounds slamming both the Matador and Joe Vandal effortlessly. Powercat awaited Big Blue in the final round and once again Big Blue disposed of his competition and celebrated with the Aggie cheerleaders and the crowd. The events where Big Blue didn't fair as well were the horse race, video game and the tug of war. The opposing tug of war team had tied their rope . around the waist of Powercat and won easily. None of the mascots couldfigureout how to master the video game, but Joe Vandal beat the other mascot competitors, but not the computer controlled ones. After the final event Powercat, the defending champion presented Big Blue with the mascot challenge trophy and Utah State's celebration continued. ~krn@cc.tcsu.edu Nelson selected for another award ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS Utah State University Utah State basketball forward Spencer Nelson added another award to his collection this season as he was tabbed an alldistrict 8 selection by the United States Basketball Writer's Association this week. District 8 includes schools from the states of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. In all 11 players were named to the team, with five of the selections coming from the state of Utah, in USU's Nelson, Lance Allred of Weber State, Andrew Bogut and Marc Jackson of Utah and Ronnie Price of Utah Valley State. Nelson's other honors so far this season include: Mid-Major All-America by First time home buyers' specialist 3696 N. 1600 E. 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Collegelnsider.com, First-team all-Big West, Big West-Hustle Player of the Year, three-time Big West Player of the Week, USU's Big West Scholar-Athlete, and USU All-Century Team selection. The 6-foot-8-inch senior forward from Pocatello, Idaho, is averaging 16.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 5.0 assists heading into the Big West Tournament. He ranks third in the league in scoring, second in field goal percentage, fifth in free throw percentage, second in rebounds, third in • assists and first in assists to turnovers ratio. Nationally he is 11th in field goal percentage and 49th in assists. On USU's career charts he is 18th in scoring, seventh in rebounding, ninth in assists, fifth in blocks and second in field goal percentage. Benjamin Brown Open M-Th 10am - 9pm Fri 10am - 10pm • Sat 10am - 9pm WE DO IT ALL! 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