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.
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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