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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 27, 1979)
THE BATTALION TUESDAY, MARCH 27, 1979 Page 9 Spartans defeat ^Indiana St. 75-64 ace wil| tatue t s statuej ss betv !-al >e sentll e, he Twel writteil jP a pro or Sim vis E.! n eai ancej stmasa aonsidi ire I ll be a el ocl . Tbeli y outii boardl federall pense | ids upij , D-Q it an i ivateird envoitl esentsp st com tors,s ions i ayerj United Preis International SALT LAKE CITY — Michi gan State coach Jud Heathcote Lys sophomore Earvin “Magic” [ohnson has many talents, but a ot of people don’t notice that nore often than not he connects vhen the outcome is on the line. It was the 6-Foot-8 Johnson dto connected time after time nth scoring and passing in the cond half of Michigan State’s ^.64 win over previously un beaten Indiana State Monday bight in the NCAA tournament final. The Spartans’ victory, in their Ir S t title-game appearance, ed the Sycamores’ dream of sming only the eighth team win the national collegiate Irown without a loss. ‘Our players rallied around ach other and saved the best for ’’ said Heathcote. And it was ohnson who led the way, scor- ig a game-high 24 points in his showdown with ISU’s Larry bird. MSU was coasting on a 48-32 Bad when Greg Kelser picked his fourth foul and was enched with 15:33 to go. Dur- w the next 10 minutes the Sy- amores — 33-0 coming into the I — ignited a scoring barrage bat carried them within 57-50 of be Spartans. But Johnson grabbed a re- Dound, cleared the ball to Reiser, and took a return pass for dunk over Bob Heaton, hnson was fouled after making the shot, and then sank two free brows for a four-point play to eep MSU ahead. In the closing five minutes ohnson added four more points nd fired passes to Kelser for two stuffs that kept ISU at a omfortable distance, j Kelser finished with 19 points, [team-high eight rebounds, and a season-high nine assists. Kelser and Johnson led the all- ournament team voting, each fitting 134 votes. And Johnson voted the outstanding player. DePaul took the consolation ti tle, defeating Penn 96-93 in overtime. The Blue Demons [ere led by Mark Aguirre’s 34 points and 22 from Gary Gar land. Aguirre and Garland were also named to the alltoumament team, along with Bird. Bird had a poor shooting night, hitting on just seven of 21 attempts from the field to lead ISU with 19 points. MSU used two first-half scor ing sprees — outscoring ISU 9-0 to lead 16-8, then hitting seven consecutive points late in the half to stop a Sycamore rally — to take a 37-28 lead at the break. In the second half MSU tossed in the first seven points and guard Terry Donnelly hit four long bombs to give the Spartans their 16-point bulge. Donnelly scored 15 points in the game, in cluding 13 in the second half. But Bird, reserve Heaton and guard Carl Nicks scored 22 of ISU’s first 26 points in the sec ond half to make a run at MSU. Nicks finished with 17 points, fouling out with 2:43 to go in the game, while Heaton added 10. Bird led all rebounders with 13, but he had only two assists. “We were hoping he would have a sub-par game and we didn’t want him to cut us apart with his passing,” Heathcote added. Indiana State coach Bill Hodges pulled Bird in the final minutes, and the 6-foot-9 senior sobbed on the bench as MSU scored 12 of its final 16 points at the foul line in running out the clock on the Sycamores. Bird then stayed in the locked dressing room until the Univer sity of Utah Special Events Cen ter emptied. Hodges said, “I asked him to come to the press conference. But he said he didn’t want to come.” Hodges said his team had had “a tremendous year. Anyone dis appointed with the success we have had this year has to be a lesser man than I am. We got the shots we have been getting all year but just didn’t hit.” ISU shot only 38 percent in the first half and 42.2 percent in the game, while MSU hit a blis tering 60.5 percent from the field in the game. And the Spartans stayed with the Sycamores on the boards, edged by just one — 37-36. Resignation Conflicting stories in Bender s departure By MARK PATTERSON Battalion Sports Staff After leading the Aggie Ladies basketball team to a 26-18 season record and a berth in the AIAW re gional tournament, Wanda Bender is no longer head coach of the team. Bender and the Texas A&M ath letic department have conflicting stories on the resignation, which The Battalion learned of last weekend from sources outside the athletic department. According to Kay Don, women’s athletic director at Texas A&M, Be nder submitted a written resigna tion to Don on March 12 and gave no reason for the resignation. “I received the written resigna tion two weeks ago,’’ Don said Monday. “In it there were no rea sons for the resignation.” But when contacted Monday, Bender said she was asked by the department to resign the coaching position. “When we returned from the re gional tournament (Friday, March 9), I was called in to meet with Kay Don and Marvin Tate (interim ath letic director),” Bender said. “I was then asked to relinquish all my coaching responsibilities. I had heard that I would not be offered a contract for next year. And I was given no reason for the move.” Bender, who came to Texas A&M after coaching at the high school level, compiled a 45-36 record in her two years at Texas A&M. When asked if Bender would have been offered a contract for next season, Don refused to comment. “All I can say is that we received a resignation from her,” Don said. “I don’t have any comment on any thing else about her contract. “It didn’t come as that much of a surprise to me. I anticipated that it was coming a couple of weeks before it happened. Coach Bender didn’t come out and say anything directly, but I could sense it in the conversa tions that we had.” “As far as I knew she was happy here. I don’t know what she plans on doing, whether she plans on stay ing in coaching or not.” Bender says she is leaving the coaching profession and going into a branch of athletics that deals with the motivational side of sports. “I’m going into creative perform ing, involved with building the self- image of athletes,” Bender said. “A man came to A&M last Christmas and worked with our athletes. Only Brown goes to UCLA United Press International LOS ANGELES — Former Denver Nuggets coach Larry Brown has accepted the head basketball coaching job at UCLA, the Los Angeles Times reported Monday. Brown would replace Gary Cun ningham who resigned last Thurs day after two years as head of the Bruins basketball team. A formal announcement was expected either Wednesday or Thursday. The newspaper said it learned Brown was offered the position Sunday and accepted the same day. UCLA athletic director J.D. Morgan contacted Brown Friday, interviewed him Saturday and of fered him the job the following day. Brown, who was reportedly of fered $40,000, less than half of his Denver salary, said UCLA was just what he was looking for. “I like them,” he said of the ath letic administration. “I hope they like me. UCLA has a great tradition. You have a chance there to recruit good students and good athletes. It’s^ hired, Bender feels that the basket- almost a perfect situation.” ball program will continue to im- one of the girls took the course, but I became very interested in the sub ject. I was planning on getting in volved with the program this sum mer at camp, but after talking to the man, I am getting into it full time. “I loved my job at A&M and never would have quit. I had to be forced out to leave. And maybe it was time to discontinue the job. But I’m OK. I can roll with anything.” Since the resignation, the athletic department has been accepting ap plications to fill the coaching posi tion. After receiving approximately 15 applications, the department interviewed four candidates in tensely. “We looked at four people strongly,” Don said. “We made our decision last week. We submitted our choice to the athletic council for its approval today and all that’s left is for Dr. Miller to approve the choice.” Don refused to identify the per son suggested, saying that the name would be made public Saturday or Sunday. The new coach will take over the position April 1. “We won’t really lose that much time in recruiting,” Don said. “I have contacted the prospects that we are after and contracts have been sent out. I don’t see that much of a problem when the new coach comes in.” Bender recommended a candi date for the head coaching position before she left. She refused to iden tify her recommendation. If he is prove. “If they get him and the players that I was recruiting, the team will be able to compete with anyone next year. “I don’t know if I’ll come back to watch the girls next year. I did be come awfully attached to the girls. But if they hire a good coach. I’ll just walk away and leave it at that. I just want to do what’s best for the girls.” IL pe Texas A&M baseball team ept a double-header with St. uy s University Monday in San tonio. n fhe first game, Rodney Hodde itout the Rattlers 3-0. The Aggies Ted their first two runs in the pnd inning off of RBI singles by idy Woodruff and Mark War- er. n the third, Buster Turner •eked in Shelton Me Math with a rifice fly. ! lodde is now 2-1 for the season, at Mary’s Lance Carrington (3-4) was credited with the loss. Jn the nightcap, Steve Davis was ■ wo 6 w * n as ^be Aggies won 6-3. Trhke Hurdle went three-for- in e at the plate for the Aggies as exas A&M boosted its season rec ord to 17-7. J J R 1 rtSC 55®| BUILT TO BE THE BEST; DESyTI presents Tuesday Night “TEXAS PRIDE $2 per person $1.75 pitchers of beer — SATURDAY NIGHT — Mundo Earwood $3.50 per person A free trip to New York and o Mademoiselle moke-over. A Panasonic Stereo System. A chance to appear in RAVE- advertising. Schick1200 Drying Sticks and RAVE., T-shirts. 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