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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 28, 1985)
Monday, January 28, 1985AThe Battalion/Page 9 SPORTS Poor free throw shooting gives Coogs headaches By CHAREAN WILLIAMS and TRAVIS TINGLE Sports Editors Free throws are so named be cause they supposedly provide a team with a chance to score with out being guarded. Thus, the ob ject of a foul shot is to score points— freely. Maybe someone should tell that to the Houston Cougars. Missed free throws have plagued the Coogs for years. To the Phi Slama Jama boys, every trip to the foul line is like trying to swallow a gold fish — they’re hard to get down without choking. In the 71-()9 loss to Texas A&M Sunday, the Cougars hit only 9 of 19 f ree throws. Using a calculator, that’s 47.4 percent from the line — pathetic. Houston is hitting only ()9.4 percent of their free throws in SWC play this season — it shows. The Cougars inability to shoot foul shots has cost them plenty of games, including their latest loss to the Aggies. Houston's poor performance at the foul line was the difference in Sunday's game, said Cougar head coach Guy Lewis. “Those free throws helped them and hurl us, it's as simple as that," Lewis said. “ That’s the way it looked to me. “A&M is a good ball team. I thought we played real well, but the missed free throws killed us. When you’re on the road, you’ve got to hit those f ree throws.” Houston guard Alvin Franklin, who had 31 points, was the most consistent Cougar at the line, hit ting five of six attempts. Franklin agreed with Lewis’ assessment. “We didn’t really hit our free throws like we should have,” Franklin said. “That hurt us a lot clown the stretch.” Franklin was able to penetrate inside A&M defense. Time and time again, Franklin kept the Ag gies from taking complete charge of the game with his perimeter shooting. “They started out playing man- to-man," Franklin said. “I figured if they came out in a man-to-man See COUGARS, page 10 Photo by PETER ROCHA Houston’s Reid Gettys (holding white towel) reflects the somber mood of the Cougar bench during their loss to the Aggies Sunday. “Those free throws helped them and hurt us, it’s as simple as that, ” said Houston Coach Guy Lewis. teach ta School S^aeciali 195 95 • Peugeot P6 Reg. $184 95 Special $169 • Peugeot P8 Reg. $224 95 Special $214 95 • Peugeot PH10-L Reg. $269 95 Special $254 CRUISER SALE 10% off Diamond Back Sand Streak 10% off Diamond Back Fleetstreak ^ c rr , 809 S. Texas Ave. WE SERVICE ALL MAKES ALL TERRAIN BIKES AGGIELAND SCHWINN' COLLEGE STATION 696-9490 Announcing The Texas A&M Writing Contest Undergraduates and Graduate Students Poetry and Short Stories Entries should be sent to the English Dept. Mail Room from Feb. 4-15 Sponsored by Sigma Tau Delta, Publisher of Nine Poems Questions: Contact Melissa Romine 693-1904 Dan Bitting 589-3145 Metcalf’s Ags haze Phi Slama pledges Photo by PETER ROCHA A&M guard Gary Lewis (10) and Houston forward Rickie Winslow (41) scramble for the ball during the Aggies 71-69 win over the Coogs. A&M (13-5, 5-2) and Houston (13-5, 5-2) are now tied with Texas Tech for second place in the SWC. By BRANDON BERRY Sports Writer Phi Slama Jama turned into Phi Jumpa Shotta before 6,098 in G. Rolhe White Coliseum Sunday. The “world’s tallest fraternity” took the “world’s longest shots” as they be came the Aggies' latest victim, 71-69. With the victory, the Aggies, now 13-5 on the season, moved into a three-way tie for second place in the Southwest Conference with Texas Tech and Houston at 5-2. Missing from this year’s Houston roster, however, are the names and numbers of those faces familiar to conference championships, NCAA tournament bids and three consec utive Final Four appearances. Missing from tnis year’s playbook are those plays that frequently used to end with a dunk. And missing from this year’s standings are quite a few ‘Ws’ in the win column the Cougars used to trfke for granted. About the only things still the same for Houston are Coach Guy Lewis’ red and white checkered towel, center Greg Anderson’s black and blue shaved scalp and junior guard Alvin Franklin’s good as gold jump shot. And they never could shoot free throws well. “I’d have to say that was the big difference in the game,” Lewis said about his team making just nine of 19 free throws. “A&M is just a good basketball team. We played well but we just didn’t hit our free throws. I knew it would be a very tough and close ball game. We played well.” But, unlike the games in recent years, Houston didn’t intimidate the Aggies with their inside game. Anderson was held scoreless in the Final 8:56 of the game and fin ished with 17 points. Highly touted Rickie Winslow scored only seven points oh three-of-eight shooting and no other inside player had more than four points. Phi Slama Jama was held dunkless until the final second. “I was just as pleased as I could be with Jimmie Gilbert's defense in the second half,” said Aggie Head Bas ketball Coach Shelby Metcalf. “At halftime he didn’t feel he had done a good job on Anderson, but he really shut him down toward the end there. For awhile, (Anderson) and Franklin looked like a two-man show out there. “Franklin never called it off. He’s just a great player.” Throughout most of the game, Franklin was singlehandedly greater than most entire teams. “We couldn’t stop Franklin,” Met calf said. “Whatever we did, we couldn’t stop him. We just tried not to let anyone else go wild against us.” Franklin and Anderson were the only Cougars who scored in double figures. The Aggies were led by a pair of 20-point outings from Kenny Brown and Don Marbury. A1 Pulliam con tributed 11 points and Winston Crite added 10. “At this point in the season, you just have to work hard to keep them a family, which a good basketball team is,” Metcalf said. Maybe even more than they are a fraternity. It’s No Mystery! The best Icoking heads in town are styled at Bill’s. ___ Barber <? B^ll’StyleShop 215 University Dr. 846-2228 Appointments / Available C Monday — Saturday ( a 1 V M •: ^^ \jj [/ BE ^r ERK B ■ 1 Monday Ntalti Specials 7-11 p.m. Open Bar $ 1.00 cover for Ladies All Night | 7-10 p.m. Margarita Night: 33 oz. $ 1.50 50< Beer Sexy Legs Contest: $200 cash prizes No cover for Ladies 696-5310 815 Harvey Rd. (Formerly ANX)