Rematch with Arkansas this Saturday
THE BATTALION Page 11
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1975
By PAUL McGRATH
Staff Sports Writer
The Baptists never had a prayer
last night as the Aggies of Texas
A&M came out smokin’ and never
cooled off until the final buzzer,
beating Baylor 96-66.
The Maroon and White made the
night a happy one for Head Coach
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Metcalf gets 100th win as Ags defeat Bears
Shelby Metcalf who became the
fourth Southwest Conference coach
to win 100 or more league games.
"We did mention the fact before the
game and how important it was to
him (Metcalf), said John Thornton,
who fouled out with nine minutes
left.
Metcalf placed a lot of emphasis
on rebounding against the Bears
and it showed on the court as well as
in the statistics. The Ags out-
bounded the hapless Bears 51-26.
The rebounding and tenacious
defense by A&M shut down the
Bears offense almost completely in
the first half. For the first 12 mi
nutes Baylor managed only four
Athtef/c oatmeal)
Aggie sports doing well
in national top 20 polls
By TONY GALLUCCI
Staff Sports Writer
There used to be a ton of Aggie
jokes floating around about the Ag
gies always finishing second. Prob
lem was a lot of that was truth.
When I first came to school here,
sports was probably at the low point
of the pit. But the hiring of a new
athletic director and football coach
promised a turn for the better.
The last 365 days have produced
a lot of second place finishes; foot
ball, baseball and track and a few
even worse- But
let’s look at some
thing more im
portant, the qual
ity of sports at
A&M.
While its
merits are some
times ques
tioned, in my
opinion the most
steady, accurate
way to deter
mine the strength of a given sport in
any one year as opposed to another
school is the top 20 polls.
Pro drafts may determine who
has the best graduating class and
opponents may differ on who is
number one, but the top 20 is actu
ally a pretty reliable source for de
termining the top teams in the
country.
To make the top 20 in any sport
is an honor, for then the school is
representing the top 10 per cent in
that sport. A pretty elite group.
Let’s look back over the past year
and one might realize the recent im
pact of Aggie sports.
The football team, after a disap
pointing finish in the SWC race,
was still given the best rating of any
SWC team in the AP rankings. The
Ags finished 16th higher than both
Texas who beat the Ags to knock
them out of the conference lead and
Baylor who won the SWC title.
At the end of last season the
Aggie baseball team also lost the
title on the final day of play. Yet the
team was so highly regarded that it
was voted a top 10 spot in the final
poll.
The tennis team did well in last
summer’s NCAA tourney and re
turned with a 16th national ranking.
Although there are no official rank
ings, the rugby team certainly was
one of the top teams in the nation.
An invitation to the national col
legiate tournament at LSU provid
ed the chance for the team to prove
it and they returned with the na
tional championship.
Water polo is not an NCAA sanc
tioned sport at A&M but again the
team had to be one of the top 20
teams in the nation.
And now the rarity. For the past
two weeks prior to the Arkansas
game the basketball team has re
ceived top 20 votes. The top 20 in
basketball is truly an elite group.
More teams compete in NCAA bas
ketball than any other sport. The
teams that make the top group are
usually well established, perennial
powerhouses.
It would truly be a tribute to
A&M sports if the Ags were to fin
ish the rest of the season strong and
break into the top twenty.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★■A
With the Aggies 96-66 win over
Baylor last night, coach Shelby
Metcalf became only the fourth
coach in SWC history to win more
than 100 games. With the win he
moved past Baylor’s Bill Hender
son who had 99 career SWC wins.
He is behind, in order, Glen Rose
(176) of Arkansas, SMU’s Doc
Hayes with 163, and Buster Bran
non (Rice, TCU) with 143.
Metcalfs 6-1 SWC mark so far
this year also moves him up three
places in the career SWC percent
age rankings. Metcalf s .621 average
moves him into seventh place.
He is the only active coach in the
top ten in either category.
Our congratulations to Coach
Metcalf for a super job.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★■A-
Although it has happened twice
before this year (UNLV, UH) home
court fans got their first glimpse of
a new era in A&M basketball. For
the first time in TAMU’s 62-year
basketball history, four black play
ers were on the floor at once for
A&M at G. Rollie White.
★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Ever wonder who the young man
is who takes up the slack down on
the end of the Aggie bench at bas
ketball games. It’s Tracy Tate, 9,
son of Assistant Athletic Director
Marvin Tate. I’m told he keeps
things from getting out of hand.
Country Stampede Night
Ionite, Feb. 12
at the new
Fiesta Ballroom
Groesbeck Rd. & Palasota
COUNTRY & WESTERN
DANCE
Music by
The Road Kings
8 p.m.—12 a.m.
LADIES FREE
Beer Available
ALL MAGGIES & AGGIES
WELCOMED
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field goals and it wasn’t until almost
ten minutes were gone that the
Bears got into double figures.
On the other end of the court the
Aggies were just as good, hitting 69
percent of their shots for the first 20
minutes. The Ags finished with a
field goal percentage of 63 percent.
The Aggies jumped to a quick 2-0
lead on two free throws by Thorn
ton. Baylor came back with a freebie
by Billy Carlisle and a bucket by
Tony Rufus to grab the lead 3-2.
Barry Davis sank a 13 foot jumper to
give A&M a lead they would never
again relinquish. Davis went on to
score 19 in the first half and ended
the team’s top scorer for the night.
After Davis put the Ags back out
in front, A&M began to romp, out-
scoring the Bears by a 20-8 margin.
The Aggie lead stretched to 19 and
at the half A&M was 22 points to the
good side, 51-29.
The second half began with
Thornton again scoring the first two
with a ten foot jumper. A&M and
Baylor traded baskets but the Bears
could never get any closer than the
margin they were trailing with at
the half. At one point A&M held a
31 point bulge and finished the
night with four straight buckets to
give the 30 point victory.
Behind Davis in the scoring de
partment were Ray Roberts with 14,
Sonny Parker with 12 and Thornton
with ten. Davis also led the Ags in
rebounds with nine caroms while
Parker followed with eight.
For Baylor, Rufus and Arthur
Edwards were the only Bears to
score in double figures with 11 and
ten points respectively. Sherman
Patton was BU’s top rebounder,
grabbing five.
Metcalf said that Baylor has a
“young ball club and has a “bright
future.” The Aggie coach said look
ing back on the contest that t teel
we didn’t play an exceptional ball
game. I think we played a normal
game for us.”
Thornton said the crowd had a lot
to do with how the team played. “All
that hollering right before the game
was unreal. You can tell they
wanted us to win. They didn’t treat
us any differently (after the loss to
Arkansas). We didn’t have as many
as you d expect, but it really helped
us.”
The Aggies are now 6-1 in the
SWC and 14-5 overall. Arkansas,
who handed A&M its first confer
ence loss, visits G. Rollie White this
Saturday in a game that will decide
the SWC leader. The Razorbacks
also won last night, defeating TCU
70-61. As Thornton says about the
upcoming game, “It’s gonna be
something baby, it’s gonna be some
thing. ”
BAYLOR
Weaver
Miller
Rufus
Carlisle
Corley
Hutchison
McGuire
McDaniel
Patton
Wilkins
Edwards
Downs
Colwick
Callis
Bishop
TOTALS
TEXAS A&M
Davis
Thornton
Mercer
Parker
Floyd
Williams, W.
Roberts
Erwin
Jp.seilh
Tone
Williams, M.
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TOT/
TALS
Barry Davis arches the ball over Baylor’s Sherman Patton. (Photo by jack Holm)
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