Image provided by: Texas A&M University
About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 10, 1987)
Tuesday, March 10, 1987,'The Battalion/Page 9 I Sports nything’s possible for Ags tfter play in SWC tourney 1325 J By Homer Jacobs Sports Editor One second left on the clock. Texas A&M trails Duke by one point. ■ it’s a sea of blue and white at the Hoosier Dome, Id Duke stu- —————— Ints have got- Viewpoint tei a hold of ■ke Clifford’s free-throw statistics. ■“Airrrballl,” they chant as they Rnce at the 7.9 percentage. ■ Clifford steps to the line, the ■owd noise becomes deafening. ■The senior Aggie forward throws the hall toward the basket. It bangs fie back of the rim, slams off the Bmt of the rim, and it’s good. Boh my! (■The game is tied, and Clifford can gi\e the Aggies the upset with one IBre from the charity stripe. ■ He sets for the game-winning free throw. It’s up, it takes paint off the ]Bi and rolls around and around Id . . . oh, it’s time for my eight o'i Sock class. ■ Although the above scenario is a dream, anything can happen when it comes to college basketball during these precious weeks in March. Take for example this past week end, when the Texas Aggies romped to a Southwest Conference tourna ment championship. That’s the eighth-seeded Aggies, who lost nine out of their last 11 regular-season games. It was the first time the eighth- seeded team had ever won the post season classic, and it was the largest margin of victory (25 points) ever in the tournament. But now that the post-season, pre- NCAA games are over, it’s now prime time — time to play with the “big boys.” And undoubtedly, A&M drew a heavyweight as a first-round oppo nent in the Duke Blue Devils. But the Aggies could have done a lot worse. How does A&M against Indiana in Indianapolis grab you? In nailing down the No. 12 seed, the Aggies, if they play like they did at Reunion Arena, might be able to pull off an upset or two. Duke is a solid Atlantic Coast Con ference team, but it’s not in the league of a North Carolina or an In diana. The Blue Devils are more in the class of a Texas Christian, even though Duke is tournament-tough and used to the intense basketball played on Tobacco Road. A 20-point plus game from Winston Crite and solid perfor mance from Darryl McDonald, and A&M is looking at a possible meeting in the second round with either Xa vier of Ohio or Missouri. But regardless of how far the Ag gies travel down the road to New Or leans, they have nothing to lose and everything to gain in the tourna ment. If A&M loses, it’ll mean the Ag gies just pocketed a cool $200,000 for one game of basketball. If the Aggies somehow defeat Duke, it means more money, more televison exposure and more chances for Mike Clifford to go to the free-throw line for the game- winner. “Airrrballl, airrrballl,” they chant. Shot’s up .. . oh my! emo says boosters gave Yeoman funds gBHOUSTON (AP) — Boosters of the University of Houston football ^■Bjlogram raised money so former ^■Mlad football Coach Bill Yeoman could distribute as much as $500 to ----- players, according to a school mem- i or; ndum released I 2^: Monday. (The memorandum detailing in- f|imation from Baytown business- n Frank Terry conflicts with a re- t report from Yeoman in which I said he occasionally gave players mi ney for humanitarian reasons, bit never more than $35. ■The documents were compiled dlring an in-house investigation by tin Houston law firm of Lidell, Sapp aji l Zively into allegations that Yeo- in and his assistant coach paid tyersin violation of NCAA rules. lYeoman, who resigned last fall af ter heading the Cougars for 25 years, recently said he would have no further comment on the allega tions. Terry said the first time he gave Yeoman money was prior to the 1982 or 1983 season, when he turned over $3,000 from about eight boosters. On another occasion, Terry was asked to collect money and re sponded with about $4,000 from about six boosters. Another money-raising effort was attempted after the 1984 season af ter “Yeoman’s promise at the begin ning of the year that they (the play ers) would receive the traditional $250-$500 payment if they pro duced during the year.” Terry said that since the Houston area was having economic troubles because of the slide of oil prices, Yeoman could not raise the $16,000 to $18,000 necessary, so he bor rowed the money from a bank. “One friend of Yeoman’s purpor tedly gave Yeoman an oilwell, the royalties from which were used for payments,” he said. Terry also said Mike Burch, owner of a beer distributorship in Baytown frequently supplied sum mer jobs for players and was in on making under-the-table payments. Burch, however, told investigators he knew of no such payments. The investigation emerged after several former players said that while on the team they received cash and bought gasoline with school credit cards. 3 piffli sesei -ns < avail' id v* e Cae- Diner. gfas 0* BACKPACKING PEDERNALES FALLS STATE PARK MARCH 27 - 29 ENJOY A WEEKEND IN IHE TEXAS HILL COUOTRYII I The $35 fee includes camping equipment, backpacks, food, permits, transportation costs, and experienced guides. Limited to 14. ROCK CLIMBING & RAPPELLING CLINIC SATURDAY, MARCH 28 9 AM- 4 PM AT SUGAR LOAF We're offering this one day clinic to intro duce beginners to the exciting sport of rock climbing/rappellingI The $8 fee includes equipment and experienced instruction. Limited to 12. Sign up for both of these adventures in the Intramural-Recreational Sports Office in 159 Read until March 23. For more information please call Patsy at 845-7826. Aggies win on umpire's call at plate By Hal L. Hammons Sports Writer Did Andy Duke score the win ning run for Texas A&M Mon day or not? According to the um pire he did, so the Aggies came away from Olsen Field with a 4-3 victory over Washington State. “The umpire said I was safe, so I guess I was safe,” Duke said. Washington State Head Coach Bobo Brayton, who broke a bat ting helmet on the ground argu ing with the home plate umpire about the call, thought otherwise. Duke scored from second on Ever Magallanes’ two-out single to right field off shortstop- turned-pitcher Rob Nichols. Nichols was called to pitch to Magallanes, relieving Kip Fagg. The Magallanes RBI was his third of the day and nineteenth of the year. The win boosted the Aggies’ record to 21-2-1 for the season. The controversy marred a fine outing by Aggie pitcher Darryl Fry, who raised his record to 3-1. The senior recorded seven strike outs with only seven hits and three walks in the complete game victory. The disputed call never would have been made if Cougar first baseman James Connor had not homered in the top half of the in ning. Connor, who Fry had struck out in Connor’s first two at-bats, atoned for himself with a towering shot over the left-center field wall. Fry made a habit of getting into trouble and then getting out. In both the second and fourth in nings, he struck out a batter with one out and a runner on third to avoid trouble. In the sixth, Fry was faced with runners on the corners with one out and picked off the man on first. Cougar second baseman Lo ren Hoppes then was thrown out at home in a double steal attempt as Fry escaped once again. quickly followed with an identical shot that scored Byington for the freshman’s 19th RBI of the sea- Photo by Shannon Boysen A&M first baseman Daron Dacus slides into second base unsuccess fully as WSU shortstop Larry Cratsenberg gets the out. The Cougars finally broke through with two runs in the sev enth. Right fielder Terrell Han sen, who was at bat during the unsuccessful steal attempt, sin gled. Left fielder Mike Meyers then blasted a Fry fastball over the right-field wall to put the Cougars in the lead. The Aggies answered quickly in the bottom half of the inning. Duke reached base on a fielder’s choice, and catcher Eric Albright and center fielder Chuck Knob lauch both walked with two outs, loading the bases. Ever Magallanes then blooped a single into short center field off starting and losing pitcher David Wainhouse (0-1), scoring Duke and Albright. In the fourth inning with one out and no score, designated hit ter John Byington blasted a dou ble into the left-center field gap. Second baseman Terry Taylor Aggie Head Coach Mark John son said he regrets the way his team got the win, but said they would take it anyway. “I feel bad ... I’d rather go out and beat them (than win on a questionable call),” Johnson said. He said the win was especially significant since five freshmen and a sophomore started for A&M. The abundance of youth in the lineup was greater Monday be cause of injuries. Scott Liv ingstone strained his shoulder in Saturday’s game and will proba bly miss today’s game with West ern Kentucky. Don Wren had a bad stone bruise and only played as a defensive substitution in the ninth inning. <0* MSC Wiley Lecture Series Pre-Program Lecture "Interpreting the Constitution" • Speaker: Professor Paul Warr (Texas A&M Political Science Department) Date: March 12 Time: 7:30 p.m. Place: Rm 302 Rudder Pre-program lecture presented in conjunction with: "Constitution and Foreign Policy: A Question of Control" Date: April 1 Time: 8:00 p.m. Place: Rudder Auditorium /r \ a: K / Officially recognized by the Commission on the Bicentennial of the United States Constitution