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Show ••!•- MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2007 Sports Sports.briefs Making headlines * : • • THE COLLEGE TIMES - • ? : ' , B ? • Flash fall in home opener WOMEN'S BASKETBALL "^ f For the second straight week and 10th time in her career, Utah Valley center Robyn Fairbanks has been-named the Division I Independent Player of the Week. The award comes a day after'the Wolverines received a vote in the Associated Press Top 25 poll for the first time ever. Fairbanks averaged 29.5 points and 6.0 rebounds and shot 70 percent (21-for-30) in two wins last week as Utah Valley improved to 6-0 for the first time in-school history. She has now won the player of the week award 10 times in her career. Her week included a 39-point performance in an overtime win over previously unbeaten Big East foe Seton Hall. She had 20 points in a win at Utah State on Saturday, Utah Valley's first win ever up in Logan. She's currently 6th nationally in scoring and first among all independent players with a 23.8 ppg average. She also leads independents in field goal percentage (.606). MEN'S BASKETBALL Utah Valley's Ryan Tool son and Chicago State's David Holston have been named independent Co-Players of the Week for their respective performances last week. Matt Beaudin NFL Assistant Sports editor Washington Redskins safety Sean Taylor was shot while in his Florida home and died in the hospital a day later. Taylor and his girlfriend were sleeping when someone broke into hjs home and into the bedroom where they were and fired two shots, one hitting Taylor in the leg, damaging Taylor's femoral artery. Taylor never regained consciousness after losing a significant amount of blood and now his teammates continue to battle in preparing to play games. The pre-game fireworks during introductions didn't necessarily translate into fireworks .on the court. Whether it was the cloud of smoke hazily hanging over the court thanks to the pyrotechnics, or just opening night jitters, neither team could buy a basket early on. After falling behind 2512 at the end of the first quarter, the Flash came charging back only to watch as Dakota Wizard center Kevin Lyde nailed a jump shot at the buzzer to hand the Flash their first home loss 99-97. In front of 4,584 skeptical fans, the Flash mounted a comeback behind the shooting of former UNLV standout Kevin Krueger, who finished with 25 points on the night. * The Flash also scored 24 from Michael Cuffee's hot hand, including a 3-pointer from the corner that tied the game with one second remaining in regulation. As the fans prepared for overtime, hardly anyone noticed Lyde as he caught the inbounds pass, pulled up and fired a 15-foot jumper that buried th& Flash all in one second. "I thought he took longer than a second," head coach Brad Jones said. "That's the way it is and there are no excuses." Although the Flash lost their home opener, it was still a memorable night. Prior to tip-off, the Jazz Bear rode out onto the court on a motorcycle with his new friend the Flash Fox. The two mascots rode around on their bikes as they tried to pump up the crowd before the game. Like the Orem Owlz of the Pioneer League, the Flash games appear to be a great place for families to enjoy quality entertainment at a cheap price. After three games, the DLeague affiliate of both the Utah Jazz and the Boston Celtics have a 1-2 record. The Flash, who play their home games at the Mckay Center on the Utah Valley, campus, will be playing to win - but also to prepare their players who hope to get a chance to play in the NBA with the Jazz or the Celtics. school will be participating fully at the D-I level after that, which level includes opportunities for postseason PlayPassing the NCAA evaluation also means Utah Valley is more viable to a conference, seen as the next hurdle for the department. "We're closer now than we were four years ago," Jacobsen said. But Utah Valley is still waiting for some shakeups in conferences before anything major happens. And the Western Athletic Conference lias shown the most interest as of late. It's also the conference men's basketball that coach Dick Hunsaker has talked about being the best option for the school to get into. With the cross country teams, the women's soccer team and the women's volleyball teams all winning their respective championships, Utah Valley athletics is already competing at a high level. The NCAA committee in charge of examining Utah Valley looked at the athletics department but also wanted to find out about the support athletics has from administrators and faculty. All went well on those fronts also. Athletics continues to grow as well with the plan for" tennis to become a sanctioned sport — and football is still on the plate, but with uncertainty. COLLEGE FOOTBALL Coaches beware: your jobs are at stake. A number of coaches were released from their coaching duties after their teams disappointed fans and administrators this season. Among the coaches let go was Sonny Lubick from Colorado State afler 15 years, Dennis Franchione from Texas A&M, Bill Callahan from Nebraska. Ed Orgeron from Mississippi, Joe Novak from Northern Illinois, Ted Roof from Duke, Chan Gailey from Georgia Tech, Bill Doba from Washington State and Jeff Bower from Southern Mississippi. ATHLETICS from B6 passed without having to worry about exceptions. "One athletic director I talked to making the transition said their school had seven exceptions to do before overcoming the provisional status," Director of Athletics Michael Jacobsen said. "We thought there would be some things for us, but they were very impressed." Utah Valley's provisional status officially ends after the 2008-09 seasons. The MEN'S BASKETBALL from B6 Toolson averaged 19.5 points,six rebounds and five assists last week for the Wolverines in UV's 2-0 week. Against Troy, Toolson scored 17 points while hitting on 5,-of-Il three-point shots. Hefinishedwith seven rebounds and nine assists, coming up just three rebounds and one assist shy of a triple-double. cisco was the aggressive team and made more plays than us tonight." Quezada scored five of the Dons's first eight points in leading USF to an early 8-4 lead with 16:30 remaining. The Wolverines countered with a 9-0 run sparked by Jinna's entrance to the game. Jinna nailed his first three of the game and had a driving layup to put UV ahead 13-8. After the Wolverines built an eight-point advantage at 20-12 with 7:40 in the half, USF finished the period on a 20-9 run. USF scored the final nine points of the half including six straight foul shots. Jinna led the Wolverines with 10 points in the first half while USF was led by Quezada, who scored 12 first-half points. The Dons kept the pressure on early in the second half, extending their run to In the Great Falls game, Toolson scored a team-high 22 points and grabbed five rebounds in 29 minutes. On the season, Toolson leads the team in scoring, averaging 21.6 points per game while hitting on 45 percent of his threepoint shots and 91 percent of his foul shots. r_ WRESTLING In its top tournaqient inf program history, six Utah Valley wrestlers placed at the Old Chicago Northern Colorado Open. Impressively, the team had a strong tournament wrestling in tournaments on back-to-back days. Ben Kjar (125), Flint Ray (133), Sam Allen (149), Gehrhart Vuksinick (165), Marc Fenwick (174) and Casen Eldredge (184) all placed in their respective weight classes. After going 4-0 at the Jack Hancock Duals on Saturday, Kjar finished second in his weight division, going 3-1 at the Northern Colorado Open. Kjar recorded one fall on his way to his second place finish. Ray went 7-1 at Sunday's open, upping his record to 10-2 on the weekend. After Ray lost his opening round match by a slim 12-11 margin, he rebounded with seven consecutive victories. In the third-place match, Ray beat the wrestler who edged him in the opening round. Allen finished sixth in the 149-pound weight division after pulling out with an injury. Before suffering the injury, Allen posted a 5-1 record on the day and a 9-1 record for the weekend, after a perfect 4-0 showing at the Jack Hancock Duals. Vuksinick made it to the semi finals and finished in sixth place. He posted a 3-3 record at the tournament. Fenwick finished third with a 4-1 record and his loss was to the eventual champion in the 174-pound weight division. Eldredge finished second with a 3-1 day, pushing his two-day record to 6-2 wrestling at both the 184 and 197-poundweight classes. an 18-3 spurt building a 4132 lead on a Quezada three with 16:15 left in the game. Down 54-44, UV went on a 9-4 run and cut the deficit to 58-53 on a Jordan Swarbrick put back with 6:25 left. The Wolverines cut the lead to three at 58-55 with 4:43 left in the game only to see the Dons respond with a 7-0 run to put them ahead 65-55 with 2:00 remaining. UV came back with a frantic run, scoring seven straight. But Quezada's foul shots down the stretch put the game away. Wolverine guard Ryan Toolson struggled offensively shooting 3-for-13 and making l-of-8 behind the arc. Utah Valley faces Cal State Northridge -and UC Santa Barbara this week, both games on the road. Utah Valley is 1-3 this season. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL from B6 Mark Johnston/The College Times Utah Valley forward Mike Daugulis (23) and the rest of the Wolverines will be playing for more than wins this season. They will be playing for coach Dolezsar. DOLEZSAR from B6 Dolezsar always told his team to play with discipline. And that's exactly what they did against the University of Utah that night. The Wolverines blew out their in-state opponent 17-1. The players's emotions translated into smooth passing, sharp shooting and discipline. As if that wasn't enough, the Wolverines had to turn around and suit up the very next night to play Walla Walla. Wearing a patch on their jersey's to pay respect to their coach, and after a moment of silence prior to the face off, Utah Valley handed out another solid pounding to their opponent in a 14-1 win. Jeff Jiron led the charge for the Wolverines with a hat trick while'Seth Armitage added two goals of his own. "This was a tough weekend, and just for the kids to come out and compete," said Beaudry, "I'm proud of them." While an empty spot on the bench will loom large in the hearts and minds of all associated with Utah Valley hockey, the best way to show respect to their fallen coach and friend is to carry on. Carry on in finishing the season strong. Carry on to the regional tournament in California, and carry on to nationals. And do it with passion and discipline, just as Dolezsar told them before each game. "It means that we're ac- thrilled with the win." complishing some of our The celebration for the goals," coach Cathy Nixon big win was short lived, as said. "It's a real compliment the team had to prepare for to the - girls and the hard a tough trip to Logan to take work they have put in over on Utah State. the years." However, paced by In the win over Seton their two stars, the WolverHall, the Wolverines trailed ines took care of business, by 12 points at the half and recording an 89-74 win. it took them the entire sec- Marvin led all scorers with ond half to even things up. 21 points, while Fairbanks Led by the superior low-post wasn't far behind with 20. play of Robyn Fairbanks, The win gave Utah Valley who led Utah Valley with 39 their first ever 6-0 start in points, the home team was school history. able to force overtime, and The Wolverines will travpulled away in the extra pe- el to Montana where they riod for the 78-73 victory. will take on Montana State on Dec. 5. The Bobcats have Utah Valley also scored a record of 4-2 with games 11 second-half points from yet to be played before takguard Sandy Marvin. ing on Utah Valley. The "I felt like when we came Wolverines then take the out after halftime [and] we short trip down University began to assert ourselves/' Nixon said. "Our program Parkway to take on BYU. is advancing in the direction we want it to, and I'm UV Sports schedule Sports on Campus Dec. 8 Women's basketball l : Best sports on TV At BYU, 4:30 p.m. • Men's college basketball i -^]l^ ^^"ti '---- ----^*to^7i£^mm^ Dec 15 Women's basketball Dec IS"" Men* basketball ..> ; - ;At Southern Utah, 7 p m ^ Dec. 20 Men's basketball Dec 21 ^ o m e n ' s b a s k e t ^ ; / : ^ " Dec. 28 Men's basketball " Dec. 29 Women's basketball ' Dec. 31 Women's basketball tD^N0;24USCatN0.3MemphiS Against Portland, 3:05 p.m. At Utah State, 8:05 p.m. n ^ ^ g ^ ^ D Kl 1 D e c 8 ™ j" 7p.n,onESPN ". • " „ " " . *---••---•-• .i •"•--. No.23BYUatNo.13M,ch.ganState check listings uri .„ . ' t Q e c 9 : , Pittsburgh at New England...•_.- „ . . . ,2:1_5 p m on CBS _ ; i _ _ , . _ _ _ Against Cal State Northridge, 7:05 p.m. " " " Against Portland State, 3:05 p.m. ':W$$ Against Gonzaga, 3:05 p.m. -'NBA- .- «- • |