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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 5, 1990)
e Battalion 2SPORTS 9 londay, February 5,1990 Sports Editor Richard Tijerina 845-2688 aper: UT player placed bets with teammates ^RUSTIN (AP) — University of ex.is president William Cunning- mi has ordered an investigation ito allegations that as many as 20 •jotball players regularly placed bets a teammate on college and pro Hrting events over the past two ears. ^S’he Austin-American Statesman ported Saturday that a Texas flaver placed bets with a teammate a former player witnessed the ets being placed. B'he teammate who took the bets ■•ft the school last fall, the newspa- said. ■ he alleged betting never in- ilved UT games, one player said. Kunningham said any players Hrid to have bet on college games S-la violation of NCAA rules — School president orders full-scale investigation into allegations would be declared ineligible and their names reported to the NCAA. Athletic Director DeLoss Dodds said he spoke with UT coach David McWilliams about the allegations over the weekend. Dodds said he is confident McWil- .liams and his staff were unaware of any possible gambling activities by Longhorns players. “I don’t think our coaches know anything about that,” Dodds said. “I’m comfortable that nobody on the staff knew about any of this.” In addition to the players who said they placed or witnessed the bets, three other players told the newspaper they knew of betting tak ing place in a dormitory. The players said that during the past two years, 10 to 20 Texas foot ball players placed bets with the tea mmate. The players, all of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that between $2 and $100 was bet on col lege football and basketball games and pro football, basketball, baseball and hockey games. The players said the betting has since stopped. “It is the university’s policy to in vestigate any allegations of violations of NCAA rules,” Cunningham said. “It also is our policy to report con firmed rules violations to the NCAA. We are currently looking into an al legation regarding gambling of stu dent athletes. “If any violation of NCAA rules is substantiated, it will be reported to the NCAA. Any student athlete found to be in violation of NCAA rules will be declared ineligible.” The school reported to the NCAA on Friday that football players were being questioned about alleged bet ting activities among team members, said Butch Worley, an assistant ath letic director. One player said the teammate who allegedly took the bets kept re cords of them in a black notebook. When asked if the Austin police had contacted the athletic depart ment about betting activities by foot ball players, Dodds said: “I won’t an swer that.” Worley said the investigation is in the planning stages. “Anything we investigate, we’ll do on a full-scale basis,” he said. “We’ll talk to athletes or anybody else who might have relevant information. It’s not that we don’t want to know. We’re going to try to talk to anybody we think will have information on any of the alleged violations that have been reported. “We want to know the truth,” he said. “We’ll give it our best shot.” The school itself is not subject to any NCAA sanctions unless it is de termined that a member of the ath letic department staff had knowl edge of or participated in any betting activities. One player who is still on the team said he placed bets with the team mate in Jester Center dormitory, where the player allegedly running the betting operation lived in 1988. Another player, who transferred after last season, told the newspaper he saw bets being placed, while a third player, who left the program a year ago, said betting was wide spread on the team during his four years at Texas. fiends' ir Clay Rasmussen Assistant Sports Editor ith Tarpley, ' Vavs bandwagon lack on track L he bandwagon is back on [That old, broken down, humbled lias Mavericks bandwagon is on a \page. You remember that ride — the elhathad “L.A.. or bust” painted all let the windows. Jlhe only problem is that the Mavs iways “busted” before they could get ■■ough Los Angeles. And at the onset of he sJ 15 basketball season, it appeared that lates the Mavericks wouldn’t even get to the imocr playoffs. ■But all that has changed with Dallas’ is inesfecent winning streak. Fans around paci fetunion Arena, despite the Mavs losing en a sitj| e ir last game, are experiencing deja ive. i fllhe Mavericks finished their home dm stretch winning 12-of-16. They seem ■rt, attentive but most importantly, l ovces Inspired. Dallas head coach Ritchie ivercorlVtlubato seems to have infused life into Tianasleonce comatose Mavericks, imething that former coaches John iacleod and Dick Motta never were innsf-ible to do. [ But before you start purchasing those (ickets to the Forum, check to see who’s' the driver’s seat. Center Roy Tarpley, whose license s once suspended for a driving-while- oxicated charge, has fueled the javericks to their current winning form. So, on one hand, players and fans ke are pleased to see the NBA all-star ck crashing boards and pulling down ounds. Unfortunately, they must rest easily and wonder if and when rpley will stay clean and contribute to Dallas' winning effort. Tarpley gives new look f The Mavericks, with Tarpley, are a iifferent team. He gives Dallas the inside game it so badly needs to be competitive with the rest of the NBA’s leaders. In his last game against the Houston pockets, Tarpley played 32 minutes, Kored 18 points, recorded 12 rebounds, |osteals and two blocked shots. | Tarpley, in his present shape, can be awesome to behold. The question is how |ng he can retain that shape. I Fans are easy to sell. Let Tarpley play, score loads of points and help Dallas win the Midwest. They’ll back lim all the way and Reunion Arena will )nce again experience the thrill of post- ieason play. And in a city that sports the l-p Cowboys, they need it. His team members, on the other hand, :ould prove to be a little more difficult. iVhen Tarpley was suspended last November, harsh words followed him on lis way out. | “He’s let us down too many times,” )allas center James Donaldson said last (ear. “We can’t be looking over our ihoulders wondering when he’s coming lack, letting him screw up the rest of the earn just because of what he’s done.” if it lAnd if sending the team reeling in lisarray wasn’t enough, how about laving the management slap the rest of he players in the face by giving Tarpley ihefty five year, $9 million contract? |Poor Sam Perkins. After five Inductive, obedient years with Dallas, See Rasmussen/Page 10 Turnovers turn Ags over in grave; Bears steal 85-77 win over A&M By CLAY RASMUSSEN Of The Battalion Staff What the Baylor men’s basketball team couldn’t take away Saturday night, Texas A&M gave away. The Bears were able to take advan tage of 19 Aggie turnovers and capitated on 15 steals to shut down A&M, 85-77 before a crowd of 3,616 at G. Rollie White Coliseum. “Everytime it looked like we were 0- Pkoto by F.Joe A&M forward Darren Rhea tips in an offensive rebound. He fin ished with 10 points. ei,” A&M interim coach John Thornton said. “The effort was there. “It just wasn’t bouncing the way we wanted it to.” In addition to getting the lucky breaks, Baylor, led by sophomore guanl Dermis Lindsey’s 25 points, kept the Ag gies at bay with the play of their bench. After losing sophomore center Joey Fatta to an ankle injury three minutes into the game, Baylor turned up the heat. Reserve Ivan Jones came off the bench to replace Fatta, and ended with 11 points for the Bears. Baylor head coach Gene Iba said be was pleased with the way his reserves performed. “You can go right down our rosier and name anybody,” Iba said. They all made the dutch baskets when we needed them. tba said the Bears received big contri butions from reserves Alex Holcombe, T im Schumacher and David Wesley. “They were a big plus for us early af ter Fatta went down,” Iba said. But the Aggies also had big perfor mances-* •/ Junior forward David Harris blocked nine shots against the Bears, breaking former Aggie forward Winston Cme’s (1983-87) single-game blocked shot re cord of six. Leading the A&M offense, senior guard Tony Milton chalked up 19 points and eight rebounds. But Milton and Harris’efforts weren’t enough to carry A&M. Overall, the Aggie guards shot well, scoring 48 of A&M’s 77 points, but the posts combined tor a mere 21 points. “Offensively we didn’t have It,” Thornton said. “We were sluggish from the word go, anti we never hit our stride. It was like pulling teeth —- just very hard. “You can’t play without a balanced at tack and we didn’t have it.” Baylor came out in the first half and quickly overwhelmed the Aggies. The Bears, with the help of six three pointers, extended their lead to 13 points. 25-12: However, the Aggies countered with 6:05 left in the First naif. Down 33-23, the Aggies outscored the Bears 17-9 the rest of the way to pull to within two, 42-40, at halftime. Milton and freshman guard Brooks Thompson led the A&M attack during the stretch. The Aggies opened the second half in the same fashion they dosed the First, going on an eight-to-five nm.' A&M and Baylor took turns leading the game until me Bears pressured the ■ ies’ offense by changing defenses, shut down the A&M’s inside game. It was then the Aggies started getting frustrated. Faced with the Bears’ new defensive look, the Aggies found them selves turning the ball over more and not getting the shots they wanted. The result was two technical fouls that H anded Baylor's lead. on was called for A&M’s first tech nical foul for interjecting his thoughts about referee Bob Vetkoetier’s officiat ing, Thornton was called for A&M’s sec See Game/Page 10 KC’s Jackson accepts Royals’ $ 1 million offer KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Bo Jackson, No. 1 for Kansas City last season in home runs and RBIs, will be only 10th this year when the Royals cash their paychecks. Arbitrator Stephen Goldberg, faced with the largest gap in the history of baseball sal ary arbitration, opted Sunday for the Roy als’ offer of $1 million instead of the $1,900,001 Jackson requested. Goldberg heard the case in Los Angeles on Friday. “Based on historical signings and based on current salary comparisons that we made, it was our belief that our number was a fair number, and one that was responsive to the marketplace that exists for players in Bo Jackson’s service group,” Royals general manager John Schuerholz said. “We recog nize Bo’s talents and abilities as well as his contributions to the Royals and we believe, like the arbitrator, that this salary reflects that.” Jackson’s agent, Richard Woods, was not immediately available. He said before the hearing that one thrust of his argument would be the marquee value of the 27-year- old, two-sport star. Jackson was named MVP in last year’s All-Star Game and rushed for almost 1,990 yards this past sea son for the Los Angeles Raiders. Jackson will be the 19th highest-paid member of a team that spent $19 million during the offseason for free agent pitchers Mark and Storm Davis. Mark Davis’ con tract included a $ 1.5 million signing bonus. Jackson made $619,099 last year in his third full season and led the major leagues with 172 strikeouts. But he also ted in RBI ratio with one every 4.9 at-bats. Despite a thigh injury that slowed him much of the second half, his 32 home runs and 105 RBIs were tops on the team. He batted .256. His was the First arbitration case decided this year and could have an impact on re maining cases, espcially that of Texas out- Fielder Ruben Sierra, who is asking for $1.9 million. By Decree, Lady Ags pummel Baylor 94-55 Junior sets shot block record By VINCE SNYDER Of The Battalion Staff The Lady Aggies’ basketball team showed vigor and determination in its 94- 55 romp over Baylor Saturday in front of a crowd of 523 at G. Rollie White Coliseum. Heads-up playing, along with A&M ju nior post Diane DeCree’s rebounding, vir tually put the game away for the Aggies in the First half. Thirteen out of the 14 Lady Aggies scored in the game, shooting 43.1 percent from the Field. Lisa Herner, who scored a career-high TCU at Texas A&M • Site: G. Rollie White Coliseum (7,599 cap.) • Tipoff: Tuesday, 7:30 p,m. • Records: A&M (13-7. 5-4 in SWC), TCU <9-10,6-3) • Saturday’s Results: TCU de feated Southern Methodist, 71 -53. 28 points in last week’sHouston game, was the only player who didn’t score. “Baylor is very young and we’ve got a lot more depth than they do,” A&M Head Coach Lynn Hickey said. “But for us to come back (after the loss to Texas Tech) and score as well as we did, and not get real wild and crazy, I thought the kids did a real nice job.” The Lady Aggies were coming off a tough road loss last Tuesday night in Lub bock. Hickey said they were intent on trying to regain their winning edge going into Sat urday’s game with Baylor. “We had hopes, because of the way we played in Houston, that maybe we really had things going, that we could pull one off,” Hickey said. “Today we came back well, and these are hard games to play because in the back of your mind you know you should win these games.” The closest Baylor came to taking the win was during the first 69 seconds, when the score was tied at 2-2. But the Lady Aggies then took control of the game and never looked back. Baylor used a half-court press plus a double-team on A&M, but the Lady Aggies showed patience in working the ball while getting it down inside. “We were just trying to get the ball to the high-post area, and we did a good job with out skipping the ball across court,” Hickey said. The Lady Aggies led 38-15 with five min utes left in the first half before taking a 59- 25 advantage into the locker room at the half. A&M gaurd Yvonne Hill was hitting from both sides of the lane pouring, in 11 K oints during the First 29 minutes of play to :ad the team. In the second-half, Hickey gave the other players on the bench a chance to improve their playing time. “I thought Yolanda Brown had a good game,” Hickey said. “Karey Janak played well, especially in the first half. Those are some young kids that we got to really rely on down the stretch.” Around the 15-minute mark in the sec ond half, A&M applied full court pressure, causing Baylor to turn the ball over. As a result of the turnovers, the Lady Ag gies were able to get the ball to junior for ward Wendy Jennings, who hit three straight three-pointers to give A&M a 75-49 lead. “When she (Wendy) is on, she hits,” Hickey said. “It was a mistake that I didn’t get her in in the first half.” Baylor hustled back late in the second half, as they outscored the Lady Aggies 9-6 to Finish the game. “We’ve got to start taking our frustra tions out on every game,” Hickey said. “We’ve got seven games left, and we have to win Five to get the seed in the tournament that we want.” A&M’s leading scorers were Hill and De cree, who both had 16 points. DeCree’s 16 points were her career-high, Photo byJay j aimer A&M guard Lisa Herner, last week’s Southwest Conference Player of the Week, goes up for a shot in Saturday’s 94-55 win over Baylor. along with 12 rebounds and Five blocked shots, which tied the school record. “Everybody talked about me not being able to hit the side of a barn,” DeCree said. “So I just tried to get in front of the de fensive players, and get the rebound and put it back up.” The win moves the Lady Aggies to 13-7 for the year and 5-4 in the Southwest Con ference. A&M will host the TCU Lady Frogs Tuesday night at G. Rollie White Coliseum, with tipof f set for 7:39.