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Show i 1 SUSC hoopsters face pair of 'toughies' in Regis and CS of M Golden opportunities don't pop up every day, but the Thun- derbirds from Southern Utah State College get a big chance this weekend. In two games, the Thun-derbirds Thun-derbirds can make big strides toward wrapping up a berth in the District Seven NAIA playoffs -and toward the even more elusive Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference basketball cham- pionship. The great opportunity for the T-Birds is in the form of two road games, the first Friday in Denver against Regis, the second Saturday at Golden against Colorado School of Mines. Like most "big chances," SUSC's opportunity could backfire back-fire and turn into a nightmare. That sort of thing happens almost weekly around the balanced RMAC. A victory Friday at Regis would provide the 'Birds a double bonus. In addition to boosting their own chances, a win over the Rangers would also help eliminate a prime competitor. Mines, while not generally considered as tough as Regis, has a history of dumping the v Thunderbirds and killing SUSC title hopes. "We will be working doubly hard this year to prevent that very thing," Stan Jack, SUSC coach, said. In earlier meetings at Cedar City, Southern Utah State clipped Regis, 90-71, and bombed Mines, 112-82. "But things are drastically different on the road," Jack says (over and over again, he says it). Regis is currently ranked sixth in the conference, but the Ranger record isn't an accurate measure of ability, according to Jack. He quickly points to the six road games Regis has played. The Rangers have five home games left, they are in good position to make a late run at the RMAC title. The Rangers Boast an impressive im-pressive front line that includes Tony DuCros (averaging 20.5 points and heading for his fourth consecutive conference rebound title with 14.8 takedowns per game), Welmon Sampson and Dave Frederickson. Fredrickson and Alonzo Goggins, a super-quick 5-7 guard; became eligible after the first SUSC-Regis battle. Both are probable starters Friday. Colorado Mines was a principal prin-cipal villain for Thunderbird fans last year. The Orediggers won a hotly contested 101-95 decision at Golden to scuttle SUSC title hopes. Many of those same Miner players are back. Rob Coleman, a 6-4 outside gunner, is causing concern to Jack, as are Scott Rutherford, a 6-7 center, and Mark Lunsford, a chunky 6-5 forward. "We are in a position where we must split to hold our position in the standings, but we need badly to win twice. Two wins would leave us in a good position," Jack said. "A split will keep us in the thick of things, but time is starting to run out; we need to make our move." Southern Utah boasts a four-pronged four-pronged scoring machine that averages 92.1 points per game and over 50 percent shooting accuracy from the field. Robert Lee leads scoring and rebounding reboun-ding with 20.1 points and 9.7 rebounds per game. Kerry Rupp has raised his scoring average to 16.6 points. Steve Hodson is hitting 14.1 and Bernie Leavitt 12.8 points per game. RMAC STANDINGS RMAC All Games W L Mesa 8 1 Westminster 6 3 Southern Utah 6 3 Western N.M. 7 4 Adams State 6 5 Regis 5 5 Fort Lewis 5 5 N.M.Highlands 3 7 Colorado Mines 2 8 Western State 1 8 |