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Show MONDAY • MARCH 12 • 2007 Sports briefs Men's basketball Finishing the 2006-07 season with a 22-7 record and 12-1 mark against fellow Division I Independents has earned UVSC Coach Dick Hunsaker and sophomore guard Ryan Toolson post-season recognition. Toolson was named Collegeinsider.com Independent MVP, and Hunsaker was named Collegeinsider.com Independent Coach of the Year. Toolson led UVSC in scoring at 15.5 points a game. He led the nation in free throw shooting at 97 percent, hitting on 96 of 99 attempts. His 97 percent is also the second best in mark in NCAA history. He had streaks where he hit 43 and 44 consecutive free throws. The Wolverines' guard had nine games where he scored 20 points or more, and he scored in double figures in 23 of 29 games. Toolson shot 49 percent from the field arid 44 percent from the 3-point line. He scored a career-high 28 points in a home win over New Jersey Institute of Technology. In that game, he was 8 of 10 from the field and 6 of 7 from the 3-point line. Hunsaker boasts a 10443 record in five seasons at UVSC. This year he helped guide the Wolverines to the best finish by an Independent school since Notre Dame finished 23-6 in 1985-86. Hunsaker picked up win 100 when his team beat North Dakota State 66-64 on Feb. 15. Women's basketball UVSC sophomore Robyn Fairbanks was named the Division I Independent Women's Basketball Player of the Week-this being the second week in a row and sixth time this season she has earned the award. The Canadian center and All-America candidate capped an impressive season with 29 points and 12 rebounds for her 1 lth "double-double" of the season in UVSC's only game of the week, a win at Texas-Pan American. She hit 11 -for16 from the floor and also had one block and one steal. She also reached double figures in scoring for the 25th straight game. Fairbanks is currently ranked fourth nationally in scoring with 23.7 points per game average. She finished the season ranked first among independent players in scoring and field goal percentage and second in rebounding. Fairbanks led the UVSC women's basketball program to a 15-13 record, its best finish in the school's NCAA history. Baseball UVSC's bats broke out on Sunday as the Wolverines pounded out 21 hits in a 17-2 blowout win over in-state foe Southern Utah at the Banana Belt Tournament in Lewiston, Idaho. UVSC finished 2-2 in tournament with the win and improved to 4-8 on the season. Eli Slesk led the way by going 4-for-4 with two RBI and three runs scored while Tyler Garretson, Derrick Thomas, Jace Brinkerhoff and Austin Heaps all had three hits each. Scott Croshaw also had a big day, driving in four runs for the Wolverines. Kyle Kasper moved to 2-0 on the year after allowing one run on five hits in six innings on the mound for Utah Valley. The Wolverines scored single runs in the first four innings of the game to carry a 4-0 lead into the fifth. The Wolverine hitters were efficient in putting those runs on the board, driving in three of the four runs on two sacrifice flies and one groundout. Southern Utah got on the board in the sixth with a single run, scoring on a wild pitch from Kasper. From there two big innings propelled Utah Valley to the lopsided win; a seven-run sixth and six-run seventh pushed the score to 17-1 before the T-Birds added a run in the ninth. In the sixth, the Wolverines plated seven runs on eight hits with two hits each from Heaps and Slesk. three SUU errors in the sixth aided in the big inning. UVSC moved to 3-1 on the season against Southern Utah with a three-game series scheduled April 10-11 in Orem. Sports on TV College basketball March 15-18 NCAA tournament first round CBS NBA March 14 Phoenix at Dallas, 7:00 p.m. on ESPN Preseason baseball March 21 Boston at Pittsburgh, 11:05 on ESPN /port> A9 Lacrosse blasts Western State Jason Adkins Sports Writer The men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association No. 4-ranked Wolverines crushed an out-manned Western State (Colo.) squad 19-5 on Mar. 3, at home. Attackman Rich Morrey lead the scoring for UVSC with a hat trick and three assists, while attackman Greg Newman and midfielder Ryan Cantwell added hat tricks of their own in the offensive feast. Cantwell said that the offense opened up the game and that gave the Wolverines their many opportunities, but credited UVSC's defensive effort as well. "We had a good game defensively," Cantwell said. "We had a few defenders step up big for us and our goalie stepped up big time for us." The game was out-ofreach early for the Mountaineers when midfielder Newel Cusick scored the first goal of the match early in the first quarter, and the Wolverines added three more goals to take a 4-1 lead at the end of the quarter. Western State let two goals into the net to start out the second quarter, but their defense held UVSC scoreless for several min- Albert MUchell/NetXNews The Wolverines' defense helped UVSC remain undefeated after a big win over Western Stafe. the quarter, including three goals with less than two minutes remaining in the match. Western Colorado only traveled with 13 men, which left only three players on their bench. Wolverines' defenseman Nick Cole showed his brute strength when he walloped a Western Colorado player near UVSC's goal—the player had the ball and did not see what was coming. UVSC played strong throughout the match and the players didn't relax until the final whistle sounded. UVSC Head Coach Kevin Perkins was happy with the Wolverines improving their shooting over last week's performance against Northern Colorado, as they converted 35 percent of their shots into goals. "We worked on shooting all week and we have talked about it a lot," Perkins said. "We talked about when the right time to shoot is and we taught them how to shoot better. college basketball what it is. Imagine a BCS system. Yeah, there's a lot of talk about how bad it is (beshe would be picked up in cause it IS horrible), but From WISDOM-A8 a limo. there would have been no So fill out your bracket, George Mason last year, thought you were going pick your final four and no Weber State over North to take from all the guys just watch the games withCarolina and no underdogs in your little group of out hoping that the 12 seed celebrating mid-court. friends. After all, you and you picked will beat the We love underdogs, your friends just let her in so you could make fun of five seed on a final sec- and we love to think we her picks behind her back. ond bucket. Someone who know what we are talking But it will be you who will knows nothing about how about. But in reality, the be crushed after just day one 12-5 match always people who don't know one of the tournament. becomes one of the up- end up doing better than No doubt, when you men- sets will pick the 15 over the people who think they tioned the big dance she the two and see it actually do come bracket time". thought you were talking happen. Just sit back and cheer The tournament makes for the underdogs whether about some event where you picked them or not. Get caught up in the moment when CBS jumps from one close game to another, hoping to show the entire nation as many great endings as possible. In the sports world, one good thing ends and another begins; tournament time is up there in greatness with the NFL playoffs and the hunt for October. Enjoy it, but remember: your picks may end up being the worst out of your buddies, but no one really loses when you're dancing in March. utes. But the Wolverines were on top 7-1 at the halftime whistle. Cantwell scored his three goals in the third quarter and just missed a natural hat-trick when the Mountaineers were able to put some offense together and score a goal. UVSC scored six goals in the quarter, including attackman Gavin Madsen's goal in front that stretched the lead to 13-4. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Mountaineer's lack of depth hurt them as UVSC scored six more in Dancing time IceCats get revenge Matt Beaudin Not only did the Wolverines get on the scoreSports Writer board first, they also esThe highly anticipated tablished themselves as battle for "valley suprema- the more physical team in cy" in Utah Valley quickly the first period. Corey Adlost its luster for Wolver- kin, UVSC's goalie, made ines fans as UVSC was a tremendous save, which blown off the ice in their was followed by a bonecrushing hit that sent an final game of the season. After beating the Ice- Icecat head first into the Cats of BYU earlier in the boards. year 7-5, the Wolverines Everything seemed to were looking to sweep the be going UVSC's way, series against their inter- when BYU stole a face valley foe. off in front of the WolverHowever, BYU had ines goal and slipped it by plans of their own and Adkin for the game-tying came ready to exact re- goal. venge on the Wolverines. Not to be out done, UVSC came out of the UVSC's Dalin Gollan gates on fire as they found scored a goal of his own, the net first on a fast break giving his team the lead goal scored by Jason Gracel. back at 2-1. To close out the period, BYU would find the net twice, sending UVSC to the locker room down three goals to two. Early in the second period, UVSC's Dalin Gollan received a five-minute major penalty that put his team in a tough spot. Playing a man down, the Wolverines found themselves over-matched, suffering five goals during the penalty. UVSC never recovered, giving up seven goals total in the second period. In the third period, BYU would add two more goals while UVSC could only muster one, giving BYU the 12-5 victory. "We were able to stay with them blow for blow,1' said UVSC Head Coach Matt Beaudry. "They' re a strong team, obviously. But they capitalized on our weaknesses. That five-minute major really hurt us." Despite the loss, the Wolverines have nothing to hang their heads about, finishing their second season with a record of 18-12 (a vast improvement over last years 8-28 season). The future looks bright as the Wolverines begin preparations for next season. Between the players coming back and the others planning on joining the team, next season hockey fans have something to look forward to in UVSC. Lady Wolverines best record yet Wolverines win United Basketball League Wolverines and their talent on the court. If you are a ity and the strength to go in fan, keep it up. It's your efforts that help keep them and win. With time and practice, winning. Nixon said, "If a fan can they can only get better. enjoy a team that works Luckily, time is on their hard, has fun and plays toside. With seven sophomores and four freshmen gether, I think they could leading the way, the Wol- enjoy UVSC women's verines' future is looking basketball. Those kids, they do a pretty good job brighter all the time. out there." If you're not currently a fan you should really consider checking out the lady From WOMEN-A8 cluding one where he literally planted the ball into the backboard, humiliating Toolson was red hot, the poor Broncs. Each of converting 9-15 of his his blocks burst the crowd shots. He also hit all four into a frenzied rush, creatof his free throws, raising ing an atmosphere to boost his accuracy to 97 percent, the Wolverines' momentops in the nation. He fin- tum in the game. UTPA had three playished with 26 points, and ers score in double figwas key down the stretch ures, with Brian Burrell, for UVSC. Joe Walker had a strong Dexter Shankle and Colin defensive presence, swat- Lien scoring 11, 10 and 18 ting away three shots, in- points respectively. Lien also pulled down eight reFrom CHAMPIONS-A8 bounds. Throughout the lowscoring first half, UVSC was outplayed by the Broncs. Dexter Shankle hit a shot in the key to tie it up at 23 with only seconds left in the half. UVSC then played for the last shot, missing their attempt, only to see Joe Walker grab an offensive board and sink a short fade away as the time expired. The Wolverines took that two-point edge into the locker room, 25- 23. A short surge by the Broncs had UVSC behind 27-30 early in the second half, but David Heck netted a three from corner to tie it up, which was followed by a steal by Richard Troyer. Troyer was then set up by Heck to drain a triple of his own. These six points began an insurmountable 257 run over the next seven minutes to put the Wolverines up comfortably at 5237. The lights-out shooting |