Page 12AThe Battalion/Friday, January 24, 1986
Sports
—
/\
Ags aim to return to winning ways fr
By CHAREAN WILLIAMS
Assistant Sports Editor
The Texas A&M basketball team
got some good news and some bad
news Wednesday night.
The bad news came when the Ag
gies lost their first Southwest Con
ference game, 76-69, to the Univer
sity of Houston.
The good news came when A&M
received word that TCU and Texas
Tech also lost, leaving the Aggies
(11-7 overall, 5-1 in SWC) alone in
first-place in the conference.
“We lost,” A&M guard Don Mar-
bury said, “but, hey, we’re still on top
of the conference and control our
own destiny. We’ll get ready to play
Rice and keep on going hard.”
ing at 15.9 points a game, and ninth
in rebounding at 6.3.
Hines, Rice’s top performer last
year, is right behind Cashaw in scor
ing at 14.7 points a game, and is
pulling down 4.9 rebounds.
“Those two guys can kill you, if
you let them get going,” Metcalf
said.
opping A&M’s
the Ags will
With UH sto
streak at five, the Ags will get a
chance to start a new one when they
host Rice Saturday afternoon at 3
p.m. in G. Rollie White Coliseum.
The Owls (8-9, 1-5) are tied with
Arkansas and Baylor at the bottom
of the SWC standings.
Just who is the worst of the three
teams?
Well, Rice beat Houston for its
only win. But in UH’s defense, it was
struggling when the teams first met
Jan. 11.
Both Arkansas and Baylor got
their only conference win against the
Owls.
Rice’s latest loss was to a Baylor
team that has had players sus
pended, dismissed and its program
put on probation for recruiting vio
lations.
Did the 53-49 loss in Waco
Wednesday night earn the Owls the
cellar dweller title for the second
straight year?
Maybe. But don’t award them the
only ticket home for the SWC Tour
nament yet.
And don’t count on an easy A&M
win.
“It will be another tough game,”
A&M Coach Shelby Metcalf said.
“No doubt about it. Rice will be re
ady for us. They will come in and
give us a good game. I’m just glad it’s
at home.”
The Owls are led by 6-foot-7 cen
ter Terrence Cashaw and 6-3 for
ward Greg Hines.
Cashaw, a senior from Houston
Lamar, is eighth in the SWC in scor-
But the Rice unit grows thin from
there, and inexperience seems to be
the reason why.
Sophomore guard Mike Girardi is
averaging only 5.7 points and 3.2 re
bounds a game. Freshman guard
Mike Cooper’s numbers read 2.5
points and 2.2 rebounds. And soph
omore forward Jeff Crawford is get
ting only 7.3 points and 2.8 re
bounds.
The Ags should be able to take ad
vantage of both the Owls’ lack of ex
perience and lack of height.
While the Owls start a freshman,
two sophomores and a junior, the
Aggies start three juniors and two
seniors.
A&M guard Marbury is undoubt
edly the best player in the SWC. The
6-3 senior is leading the conference
in scoring at 22.7 points per game.
But Marbury does more with the
ball than just score. He is eighth in
the conference in assists, dishing off
4.0 a game.
Despite playing with a virus and
fouling out with more than five min
utes left in the UH game, Marbury
still managed 18 points.
“As Marbury goes, so goes A&M,”
Houston guard Renaldo Thomas
said. “Last year, Don scored a lot of
points against us and it really hurt.
He reminded me during lay-ups and
really got me fired up. But he is an
outstanding player.”
A&M forward Winston Crite also
has given opposing teams a head
ache.
Crite is second in both scoring and
rebounding for the Aggies. The 6-7
junior is fifth in the SWC in re
bounding at 7.5, and his 12.7 points
per game ranks him 15th in scoring.
However, the Aggies’ top player
of late has been center Jimmie Gil
bert.
Gilbert won the SWC Player of the
Week honor last week after leading
the Aggies to last-second wins over
Texas and Texas Tech.
fc
Whi
Photo by DEANSAITO
A&M forward Don Marbury (3)
ton’s Alvin Franklin with help
keeps the ball out of reach of Hous-
from teammate Winston Crite. The
Aggies, who lost to the Cougars Wednesday night, attempt to return
to theii
icir winning ways Saturday afternoon when they host Rice.
Texas A&M University
PHI SIGMA KAPPA
* ^7?
Rush Party Schedule
Fri. Jan. 24
Wed. Jan. 29
Sat, Feb. 1
200 Montclair, C.S., TX
(Behind Bothers, off Jersey)
Phone 764-6403
PROMOTE BROTHERHOOD»STIMULATE SCHOLARSHIP«DEVELOP CHARACTER
A
MSC • TOWN • FT AT ,TT
FEBRUARY 9th 8:00pm
G. ROLLIE WHITE COLLISEUM
TICKETS ON SALE JAN. 25
DILLARDS
MSC Box Office
$ 8.00 G eneral Admission
$9.50 Reserved Seating
For Information 845-1234
Semi-Annual
SALE
m ...up to 50% OFF all
“iall and Winter
erchandise.
1
y 4
Cljarli
10-6 Monday-Saturday
Open till 8:00
Thursday
707 TEXAS 696-9626
joying
vision;
holida)
teams
spring’
AH
his tear
termed
his swi
workoi
his sev<
Tho:
a-day
Satun
ming e
though
the bo
miles c
effort t
But
sumed,
outs hi
to nine
tense a<
The
Americ
which
SMU,
Southe
school
team d
to win,
the sw
somew,
“Oui
ted,” N
hold oi
Someo
just hoi
your advertising dollars do better in
the classifieds
Battalion Classified 845-2611