The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, March 04, 1983, Image 7
Battaliod/J March 41 Texas A&M The Battalion March 4, 1983/Pa.ge 7 Sports at the I etsdre $$[ t |Coogs race past Hogs to clinch SWC crown LIKE BFf( K I S. I repair , r a.ni.i n ,lM United Press International ^■AYETTEVILLK. Ark. — l licre were only a few Arkan- faithful left in Barnhill ' ^rfnaThursday iiighi, 15 mi- ' auti s alter their Ra/orbac ks SHlPiDvl dac been whipped at home 'hrist ii k.| or the lirst time in more than A&M < >iW0 years. 'V streeri^HLosing was had enougli, suddenly right in I ront ol I I uandi j| u . , Larry Micheaux — ,H “'^Houston's (i-9 senior forward M,n • —had the allront to start ( ut- ting down the nets. That's something that pisi isn t done in Kavettev die. him.'' memheis ol tin crowd veiled to a poliee- who was standing neat- bv. “Don’t let him dot hat. I le >e formal.i tari 1 do that." he Agihrbflh 111 the nets i ame (low n at le, $8 a B i nhill and the Houston Coagars — already the No. 1 tea it in the country — moved Hannther notch in the world of basketball respec tahlitv. ■ "Houston deserves to i ut week -loiir nets down," said At kansas schedtiK (i) Eddie Sutton. "II we evi r win a i hampionshij) at lb uston. I’d hope the\ would let us do the same.” Hln a high-pressure duel be tween the two highest ranked teams in the history of the ow Southwest Conference, the Houston Cougars downed the smug: Tlri N< . 4 Arkansas Razorbacks, lizopod 71 (iO, surviving foul prob- count ofilems and two enemv rallies in the second hall. S Ihe win clinched the league championship for $ Houston, its fit st sinee joining the SWC eight years ago, i.iimiI the Cougars winning speak to 19 games and i Sfyle ■osted their overall record to yOllF ll' "as the lirst time llous- . tan had ever won in Fayette- it OfSli v ie. ■ Arkansas, meanwhile, had , al 28-game home winning lasis freak snapped and lost on .A.,Ml Soph Benny Anders came off bench to lead Coogs their own court for only the seventh time in nine years. The Razorbacks have lost twice this season against 24 wins and both setbacks have been at the hands of Houston. “Houston has a great bas ketball team,” Sutton said. “Neither team played as well as we're capable of playing, but that happens sometimes in a big game like this. With Benny Anders scor ing 12 of his team-high 18 points in the first half, Hous ton jumped to a lead of 34-27 at the break. Both teams had players in foul trouble (three for Houston and two for Arkansas would eventually foul out), but the Cougars had dominated. Now it was just a question of whether they could hang on. They did, thanks to rally killing streaks ignited by Clyde Drexler, Michael Young and Akeem Olajuwon. Arkansas first closed its de ficit to two points at 47-45 with 11:36 to play on two ol center Joe kleine's 20 points. But Drexler and Olajuwon both hit three-point plays to vault the Cougars back in front by eight. Then, with 5:47 to go, out side shooter John Snively con nected to bring the Razor- backs to within one at 57-56. With enough noise rever berating in the arena to cause pain, Young cooly dribbled to the baseline, lofted a 13- footer and scored for Hous ton. Olajuwon then slammed home two dunk shots and Drexler hit a bucket to in crease the lead to nine points and deal the final blow to the Hogs. “Our fans were super,” said Sutton. “II we had played as well as our fans performed, we would have won. But you aren’t going to win many championship games shoot ing 43 percent (to 57 percent for Houston). Young scored 14 for Hous ton. Olajuwon 15 and Drexler 13 while Arkansas' Darrell Walker, playing his final game at home, managed 18 and kept the Razorbacks in the game in the first half. “I don’t know about our na tional ranking,” said Houston coach Guy Lewis. “But I do know we’re No. 1 in the Southwest Conference now. I’m appreciate about being voted No. 1 in the nation, but we won’t know who’s No. 1 until April 4 (at the NCAA championship game). “Winning here tonight won the Southwest Conference championship for us and that's a big thrill. Arkansas has a fine basketball team. I hope we meet in Albuquerque in April.” But the two teams figure to meet well before (lien. If Houston and Arkansas win their semifinals games in the SWC tournament, they will tangle again in Dallas on March 12. i checks ash Onl) SPRING TENNIS SALE Tri-State has made a special purchase on one of the finest tennis rackets available, SNAUWERT. Belgium-made, .sold mostly in pro-shops. Just in time for your spring purchase. ^ ie Fibre I Composite; frame with cover, good balance between control & speed, retail 92 95 Sale 30 00 Fibre Composite I I; frame with cover, highly flexible for power with good con trol. retail 92 50 Sale 30 00 Boronite; frame & cover, very Boronite I I; frame with cov- Graphite Composite; frame powerful with high control. er, firm head, medium firm with cover, very firm overall, retail I02 50 shaft. retail I47 00 retail I02 50 Sale 35 00 Sale 35 00 Sale 45 00 iciationif f Principle Special Rack 60% off Sweats* legging Suits* etc. 4 ♦ ? UM&on Wilson Tennis Balls Can of 3 1 99 Limit 2 Cans Socks by Nelson Over-the-calf tube sock with stripes. Size 6-10, 9-15. P) r;T; SALE y 1 25 _ | 50 I 1 1. :za TRI-STATE A&M ' SPORTING GOODS I 3000 Old College Road 846-4743 846-4743 Aggies, Tech to square off Tech’s Bubba Jennings a Raider to look up to staf f photo bv David F isher Roger Bock, shown here against Texas, and the Aggies will face Bubba Jennings and the Texas Tech Red Raiders Saturday at 12:10. The Aggies can clinch third place in the SWC with a win. by Frank L. Christlieb Battalion Staff During his high school career, people made a habit of looking up to Bubba Jennings. No, people didn’t look up at Jennings, who at 5-feet-10- inches seems a bit of a midget on a basketball court. Instead, opponet *" of his team at Clovis (N.M.) High School overlooked small size and slight build to look up to Jennings. And now, basketball players at Texas Tech University look up to Bubba Jennings, who in three years at the school has established himself as the team leader. After playing a full freshman season and being red- shirted last year because of a broken foot sustained in the third game, Jennings has be come Coach Gerald Myers’ on- court commanding officer. “My role is more of a leader ship role, because I’m one of the older players on the team,” Jen nings said in a long-distance in terview Thursday. “I try to get us into our offense and to get things set up. I try to show the players what to do in different situations. I guess the team looks up to me and (junior forward) David Reynolds because we’ve been here the longest and we’re used to Coach Myers’ system.” During his senior year at Clo vis High, Jennings averaged 33.8 points a game, hit 61 per cent from the field and 87 per cent from the free throw line. The Clovis Wildcats had a 77-9 record and won the state cham pionship once with Jennings, who was named to the Basket ball Weekly all-America squad as a senior. At Texas lech, the .success ratio hasn’t been quite the same. The Red Raiders have a 27-32 record with Jennings. But coaches around the conference say the sophomore may be one of the better all-around point guards in the league. With a 10-18 overall record and only Saturday’s home date with Texas A&M remaining, the Red Raiders will complete their first losing season since 1968-69. Since the arrival of Gerald Myers as the new coach in 1970, the team has won 217 games and lost 133. I lie Red Raiders have sur vived player dismissals, injuries and a dwindled roster that in cludes just eight players to enter Saturday’s 12:10 p.m. game in Lubbock Municipal Coliseum with a not-so-embarrassing 7-8 Southwest Conference record. Jennings, the team’s leading scorer at 14.9 points a game, says it’s been an up-and-down season for him and his teammates. “When we started the season, we thought we’d have a pretty good team and that we’d win quite a few games,” he said. “But then we started losing some games, we had the player dismis sals, some people got injured and then we continued to lose. People were getting down on us and it didn’t look like things were going to get better. “But we came around and started playing better during the conference season. Everyone began to pull together and real ize their roles on the team, so we started winning some games.” A few days before the start of the. league race in January, Myers sent starters Joe Washington, Charles Johnson and Dwight Phillips to the show ers, kicking them off the team for disciplinary reasons that in volved after-hours visitation by some female students. F.ven with those three players, Texas Tech had a horrible 2-10 record in pre-conference games. The Red Raiders lost their first two conference games to SMU and I CLI, but since that time, they’ve gone 6-6 in the conference. A surprising statistic reveals that Texas l ech had a 2-10 re cord with Johnson, Washington and Phillips and so far, the Raid ers have an 8-8 without those three players. Granted, the Red Raiders-lost to teams like North Carolina, Alabama, Pepperdine and Arizona State (twice) during pre-conference games, but they’ve had to play opponents just as tough in the SWC. The Aggies, in third place in the SWC, have a 16-13 overall record and a 9-6 league record. ECU, which lost to SMU Wednesday night, has com pleted its season at 9-7. For the Aggies to finish the season with sole possession of third place and a bye to the SWC tournament quarterfinals in Dallas, they must defeat Texas Tech. If the Aggies lose and SMU, 8-7 in the SWC, defeats See JENNINGS page 10 Marine Aviators Make it with us and the sky’s the limit. The Marine Corps has SUMMER COMMISSIONING PROGRAM OPENINGS available for undergraduates to participate in a program leading to a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps. There are: **No obligations until graduation **$100.00 per month financial assistance **No committments, haircuts, uniforms or required courses during the school year **Free flying lessons during your senior year (for aviators) **A guarantee of Flight School if qualified (regardless of year in school) For an interview, sign up at the Student Placement Office. Interviews will be conducted March 7th thru 10th. A representative will be located in the Student Center. (NOTE: You must be a U.S. citizen, under the age of 27, holding a grade point average of 2.0 or better “in any major”, and in good physical condition). Marines Maybe you can be one of us.The few.The proud.The Marines.