The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, February 25, 1981, Image 13

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Ags beat back TCU, 59-57
THE BATTALION Page 13
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1981
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By RICHARD OLIVER
Sports Editor
True to the form of the up and
down SWC basketball season this
Staff photo by Greg Gammon
Texas A&M’s Roy Jones drib
bles down the court last Satur
day against Texas in a 108-79
rout of the Longhorns. Tues
day, Jones and the Aggies slip
ped past scrappy TCU, 59-57,
setting up a crucial battle
against Houston Saturday in
G. Rollie White at 2:10 p.m.
Arkansas
Houston
take
wins
Here’s a wrapup of other SWC
action Tuesday night:
RICE (55) at HOUSTON (63)
— Guard Rob Williams scored 19
points and worked the ball to his
three big men in the second half to
help the Houston Cougars beat
cr&sstown rival Rice 63-55 Tues
day and help its battle for second
place in the Southwest Confer-
TEXAS TECH (54) at TEXAS
(65) — Center LaSalle Thompson
scored 18 points and Ray Harper
dropped in five free throws in the
last two minutes to lift Texas to a
65-54 win over Texas Tech.
The win improved Texas’ con
ference record to 6-9 and 11-14 on
the year, and the Longhorns need
only a win over Rice in Houston
Saturday to gain a home court
berth in the first round of the con
ference post-season tournament.
The Longhorns opened the
second period with a 16-8 spurt to
get up 45-33 with 11:48 left. But
the Red Raiders, behind the
shooting of guard Jeff Taylor,
closed the gap to 49-46 with 5:33
left.
Tech fell to 8-7 in the SWC and
14-11 on the year.
SMU (33) at ARKANSAS (47)
— Arkansas foiled Southern
Methodist’s slowdown game in
the second half on the shooting of
Scott Hastings and Mike Young to
down the Mustangs, 47-33, and
capture the undisputed South
west Conference championship.
The 16th-ranked Razorbacks
won their 10th straight game and
annexed their fourth SWC title
(two shared) in the last five years,
running their league mark to 12-3
and season record to 21-6.
Arkansas will be the top seeded
team in the tournament and will
not enter the tourney until the
semifinals at San Antonio March
year, Texas A&M University play
ed an up and down ballgame Tues
day night against TCU.
Fortunately for the surging
Aggies, the ups won out as they
pulled out a 59-57 squeaker over
the Homed Frogs in Fort Worth
in front of 5,051.
The victory was a crucial one as
Texas A&M raised its record to 7-8
and took over sole possession of
sixth place. A victory over Hous
ton Saturday in College Station
would clinch a home berth for the
Ags in the first round of the post
season SWC tournament next
Monday.
The Frogs fell to a 6-9 record
and a seventh place tie with Texas.
It took a Rynn Wright block of a
TCU shot with seven seconds left
and a miss of a desperation 18-
footer by the Frogs’ Cuney Luke
with time running out to give the
Ags the win.
The Aggies came out of the
blocks strong with a 7-0 lead be
fore TCU, which missed its first
four shots, could score. Using a
man-on-man defense with an
occasional frill-court press, Texas
A&M stymied the Homed Frogs
for the most part during the first
half and went into the locker
room up by seven at the half, 34-
27.
Claude Riley, who has been ill
for the past week and a half, scored
10 points to pace the scoring in the
first half for Texas A&M.
In the meantime, the man-on-
man defense was effective, cutting
down the scoring of the Frogs
high-scoring duo of Darrell Brow
der, 6-2, and Deckery Johnson,
6-5.
In the second half, however,
the fireworks began, as Wright,
Riley and Woodley scored quick
buckets to put the Ags up by nine
with 15 minutes left, 41-32.
In a six minute span, the Frogs
outscored the Aggies 14-5 to tie
the ballgame at 46-46 with 9:20
left. A minute and a half later, 6-8
freshman Gilbert Collier came off
the bench to score his eighth point
and put TCU up by one, 50-49, the
first lead it had held all night. But
the physical Aggie rebounding
duo of Rynn Wright and Vernon
Smith began to work and control
the boards once again as Texas
A&M resumed the lead on a Smith
bucket with 5:21 left.
With 1:10 remaining, the
Aggies had increased the lead to
five on a key bucket by Roy Jones
and a jumper by Roberts, but a
TCU surge cut the lead to 59-5710
seconds later. Texas A&M wasted
two chances to ice the game as
freshman guard Roberts, who en
dured a pitiful shooting night (six
points), failed to capitalize on two
separate one-on-one bonus foul
shooting situations, the last com
ing with seven seconds remaining.
Wright blocked a jump shot by
Browder and Roberts picked up
the loose ball and was fouled. He
missed the free throw however,
and TCU attempted a fast break.
An 18-foot heave by Luke missed
its mark as time expired.
Head Aggie Coach Shelby Met
calf was pleased with the perform
ance, regardless of the erratic
play.
“Nothing’s been easy all season
long,” he said. “It’s been rough,
rough.
“I’m just really proud of our
guys. Considering the circumst
ances, this may end up as being
one of our all-time favorite
teams.”
The conference race has not
been kind to anyone this season, as
every team at one time or another
has been in the thick of the race
and has been beaten back. Arkan
sas, Houston, Texas A&M and
Texas all won crucial contests
Tuesday night, with three of those
wins leaving the race as muddled
as ever going into the final games
Saturday.
“We’re just getting better,” said
Metcalf. “I think if they’d (Aggies)
just finish up strong, it’d be sort of
a just reward. I think some people
sort of wrote us off.
“It’s really crucial that we win
Saturday. If we can win, we will
have completely reversed the first
half. I think I would really be
proud of this ballclub. I doubt se
riously if that has ever been done. ”
The Aggies finished the first
SWC half with a 1-7 slate, and a
victory over Houston Saturday
would give them a 7-1 second half
finish.
Riley was high-point man for
the night with 16 points, followed
by Rynn Wright and TCU’s Dar
rell Browder with 14 each.
ALVAREZ
Join The Crowd
KsyboARd
Center
MANOR EAST MALL
LAYAWAY
VISA
MASTERCARD
7 13/779-7080 BRYAN. TX 77a01
mAR
CLAW
Sam Reeves
is a
winner!
Sam, an Aggie sophomore from
Alice, won the free spring break
vacation to Winter Park, Col
orado, compliments of Shear
Class. We hope he has a terrific
time.
jftilEAL ClLAJfjf
209 E. University
846-4771
Have a sub this week at
Cone & Candy Tree N92
in University Square, next to Cinema
Half a sub. Tom’s
ty/ chips & a sm. drink
on
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