Thursday, January 21, 1988/The Battalion/Page 11
Sports
ggies continue to roll in SWC
cDonald, Ricks lead team to win over Rice
By Anthony Wilson
Sports Writer
Ia rendition of the Wabash Can
nonball by the Aggie Band before
A&M’s game with Rice Wednesday
night at G. Rollie White Coliseum
was perfect foreshadowing of things
to come.
The Aggie Cannonball continued
to roll with a 75-70 win over the
Owls, raising A&M’s conference re
cord to 4-0. However, the win was
not an easy one.
A&M shot 33.3 percent from the
field in the first half, while Rice hit
47.6 percent of its shots. Rice center
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Photo by Mike C. Mulvey
Aggie center Donald Thompson goes up for a layup against Rice as
Owl forward Richard Holmes defends. The Aggies won 75-70.
Andy Gilchrist was a perfect 6 of 6
from the field and scored 17 first
half points, equalling his career high.
Gilchrist finished with 29 points to
lead all scorers. It was the second
game in a row an Aggie opponent
tied his career high in the first half
and went on to break it in the sec
ond. Mario Credit of Arkansas did it
Saturday.
But the Aggies improved their
shooting to a 65.6 percent clip in the
second half with guards Freddie
Ricks and Darryl McDonald leading
the way. Ricks scored 17 second-half
points, including three three point
ers, and Darryl McDonald added 1 1
points after being held scoreless in
the first half.
“Rice is a much better team than
we gave them credit for,” Ricfcs said.
“I think in the end we wanted it
more than they did. That’s why we
won it.”
The two teams played evenly the
first half with A&M’s biggest lead be
ing four points, which it achieved
twice in the half. The score was tied
seven times with Rice pulling ahead
by six at halftime, 31-25, when A&M
failed to score in the final 3:36 of the
half.
The Aggies missed 1 1 shots within
10 feet — seven in the paint — in the
first half and had five shots rejected
by the only team in the Southwest
Conference smaller than A&M.
However, the second half was a
different story. Ricks and McDonald
put on an offensive display, dishing
out assists and hitting an assortment
of long-range jumpers.
Ricks hit a three pointer from the
right side, assisted Paul Crawford
for two layups on consecutive trips
down the floor, and hit another
three pointer from the right side to
even the score at 35 at 17:28.
The Owls regained a three-point
lead and held it until 11:13 when
McDonald made a spectacular play
that turned the momentum in
A&M’s favor.
McDonald scooped up a loose ball
on a missed free throw by David Wil
lie and with his back to the basket
heaved a blind, overhead, down-
court .pass * to Ricks who converted
the layup.
“I think that was a turning point,”
McDonald said. “I knew Freddie was
breaking, so I just grabbed it and
threw it back. 1 think that really got
us going.”
McDonald then made a backcourt
steal and threw down a monster
dunk to give A&M a 53-52 lead.
Rice never led again and was be
hind by 10 at 3:36 when McDonald
and Ricks canned consecutive three
pointers.
Rice came storming back and had
an opportunity to tie the game with a
three-point shot with five seconds
left. But Ricks knocked the ball loose
to McDonald who passed it back to
Ricks for an easy layup and the final
points.
“In the Southwest Conference, ev
ery game is a neighborhood brawl,”
A&M Head Coach Shelby Metcalf
said. “They’re all big for us. It’s good
to learn a lesson and pick up a W in
stead of an L.
“The lesson was we’ve got to bust
our tails. The first half we played at
three-quarter speed. The second
half we played the way we did in the
first three games.”
Ricks finished the game with 20
points, eight assists and three steals.
“I felt much better than I have the
whole year tonight,” Ricks said about
his shooting. “I felt like someone
had to get the team going, and I just
took it upon myself and did it.”
Metcalf said, “Freddie, before it’s
all over, is going to be a good basket
ball player.”
Donald Thompson contributed
14 points and nine rebounds. Mc
Donald and Keron Graves each fin
ished with 11 points. McDonald also
added 10 assists and five steals.
Rice Head Coach Scott Thomp
son said a crucial five minutes in the
second half turned the tide in
A&M’s favor, creating an Aggie lead
that would never be relenquished.
“That five-minute stretch waas
the difference,” Thompson said.
“They scored on us about eight
straight times. Other than that I
thought it was one of our best out
ings.
“That’s the difference between
where we are and the the top of the
conference. It comes down to those
stretches.”
A&M raised its record to 12-6 on
the year and 4-0 in conference. Rice
fell to 5-10 and 2-3.
A&M’s next game will be Sunday
at 1 p.m. against the University of
Houston, 2-2 in conference play, at
Hofheinz Pavilion in Houston.
Rockets not yet ready
to conquer the world
Viewpoint
By Loyd Brumfield
Sports Editor
Supposedly, the entire Na
tional Basketball Association has
lived in fear of them since some
time in 1985.
Even Pat
Riley, coach
of perhaps
the ultimate
NBA team,
the Los Angeles Lakers, has spent
a few nights worrying about
them.
Yep, soon teams would be beg
ging to face the soon-to-be-senile
Boston Celtics in the humid, rat-
infested Boston Garden. Just as
long as they didn’t have to face
them.
The Houston Rockets were
going to make patsies out of the
Lakers, the Celtics, the Hawks,
the Pistons, the Mavericks and
any other team that would dare
challenge them.
Drug problems, injuries and
squawking between players and
coaches held the Rockets down
last year, and they died an igno
ble death in the second round of
the playoffs at the hands of the
Seattle Supersonics.
So then everyone said it was
this year the Rockets were to
c^tch fire. Ralph Sampson was
supposed to be in the best shape
in nis life, and the Rockets had ac
quired a few new faces in the
guises of Golden State veterans
Purvis Short and World B. Free.
But the squabbling between
Sampson and Coach Bill Fitch
continued, and once again the
Rockets found themselves mired
in mediocrity. Teams like New
Jersey and the Los Angeles Clip
pers, not to be confused with veal
basketball teams, were beating
them and making it look easy.
The Rockets tried to convince
Golden State to take Sampson,
who let boys smaller than him
push him around night after
night, and Steve Harris, a third-
year guard who always excelled in
the exhibition season but was
lame once the wins and losses
started counting.
As you know by now, the poor
Wa/flors bought it and stupidly
sent Eric “Sleepy” Floyd and Joe
Barry Carroll to Houston,
strengthening the Texas team im
measurably.
Oh, no, Riley and the rest of
the league must have said, are we
ever in trouble now!
But things started slowly for
the new Rockets. They were
blown away on the road against
Denver, and then lost to the mea
sly Clippers in the last seconds of
that game.
A home loss to Denver was
next, but then, just when the
NBA was about to forgive itself
for ever thinking such ominous
thoughts about the Rockets,
Houston won a game.
They didn’t just win, they de
stroyed Atlanta, the team most
people were picking to dethrone
Houston as “the team of the futu
re.” The Rockets’ backcourt, pre
viously non-existent, scored more
than 65 points in the win.
The big test would come a
week later on the road against al-
ways-tough Detroit and Milwau
kee.
Surprise, surprise, the Rockets
beat both of them by 10 and nine
E oints, respectively. A tough road
>ss to Dallas followed, but then
Houston returned home and
toyed with the Mavericks before
letting them get close at the end.
The Rockets were back, all
right. Akeem Olajuwon was aver
aging 19 points a game and the
duo of Allen Leavell and Floyd
were third in the NBA in com
bined assists.
But then those old foagies, the
Lakers, came along to bring the
Rockets back down to Earth with
a 121-110 demolition on the
strength of an incredible first
quarter in which the Lakers made
18 straight shots.
It’s okay, Olajuwon said, this
loss will make us hungrier. Woe
unto the lowly Kings, the Rockets
next opponent.
Surprise, surprise, the Rockets
weren’t hungry enough. Sacra
mento beat them. The Kings are
just one of the worst teams in the
league, along with the Clippers
and New Jersey, who have also
beaten Houston.
In short, the NBA will have to
wait for the Rockets to emerge as
its conquerer.
4
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