The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, January 20, 1993, Image 9
Sports 20,1993 Wednesday, January 20,1993 The Battalion Page 9 Barone's boys S threaten to turn PL SWC on its ear d Syria. n plo : ■Sharif in will pave ependent ; side by a summit er Arafat ak Rabin, >an. ed nearly f Israeli ors favor negotia- with the ncluding urds of ^makers Rabin's °arty. i b i n :hly op- the idea, :ts would nediately ds for es- it state in and Gaza have ac- ;ady indi- ie PLO. ed a 1986 inti-terror elis from of terror to three •al Israelis e offense, e activist itors also md other protected dr parlia- By MICHAEL PLUMER The Battalion The semester break was not that kind to A&M athletics. The football team lost not only the Cotton Bowl to Notre Dame but also a few players due to im proper payments in connection with summer jobs. But out of those disappointments a light was seen flickering amidst all the rubble. The one A&M athletic program that was not counted on to burn bright for a couple more seasons has become extremely competitive in a short period of time. Coach Tony Barone has made the A&M basketball team respectable once again. The aftershocks of Kermit Davis' misguidance of the program are still be ing felt in the form of scholarship limi tations. Barone, to his credit, has done every thing in his power to sweep out all of Davis's dirty laundry and start with a dean slate. That was not an easy chore because just last year the mere mention of the Aggie basketball team brought a chuckle and a shake of the head. But this season has been an entirely different story. While the team's record is not overly impressive at this juncture of the season, the effort of the team has been outstanding. Before long that effort will lead to the one thing that has kept fans away from G. Rollie White —victories. The crowds have started slowly fil tering into the Coliseum this season, and Barone understands that a winning team will fill seats. That is the reason for the schedule A&M has played so far. A&M has probably played the toughest non-conference schedule of any Southwest Conference school. Barone has stressed he wants to play the toughest competition, even if that means going on the road. See Plumer/Page 10 A&M falls to Rebels in OT, 98-96 Aggies drop to 5-9 after heart breaking loss THE ASSOCIATED PRESS LAS VEGAS — Thanks mainly to J.R. Rider, 15th-ranked UNLV rallied to force Texas A&M into overtime. Thanks mainly to Dexter Boney, the Runnin' Rebels beat the Aggies in the extra period. Rider scored a career-high 38 points Tuesday night as the Rebels beat the Aggies 98-96 to extend their winning streak at the Thomas & Mack Center to 56 games. Rider, who also had nine rebounds, didn't score in the overtime, but his teammates, mainly Boney, picked up the slack. Boney scored eight of his 18 points in the five-minute extra period as the Rebels kept their home-court winning streak, the longest in the country, alive. During the first half and part of the second half, it appeared the streak was going to end as the underdog Aggies dominated. Texas A&M (5-9) scored the game's first six points and led by as many as 14 points before settling for a 46-33 halftime advantage. The Aggies extended their lead to 15 points in the first minute of the second half before the Rebels began their comeback. "They did a tremendous job on us," UNLV coach Rollie Massimino said. "They spread us out, opened up the lanes and made some great, great moves. They were going backdoor the whole time. They did a great job of get ting us over-extended. 'J.R. bailed us out in the late going and Dexter really played hard in over time for us." UNLV (10-1) eventually took a 73-71 lead on a 3-point shot by Rider with 3:46 left in regulation, but the Aggies scored 10 of the game's next 12 points See Aggies/Page 10 DARREN HILL/The Battalion Tony McGinnis slams one home in a December game against South Alabama in College Station. McGinnis scored 14 points against the University of Nevada- Las Vegas Tuesday night as the Aggies fell short in overtime, 98-96. A&M women face reeling LSU at home tonight FROM STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS The Texas A&M women's basketball team looks to straighten out their up- and-down season tonight when they host a reeling 5-7 Louisiana State team at 7 p.m. at G. Rollie White Coliseum. The past two games have been an adventure for the Lady Ags, who enter tonight's contest at 7-5 overall, 1-1 in Southwest Conference play. After let ting a conference victory slip through their fingers on the road Jan. 16 against the University of Houston, A&M bounced back Jan. 18 in Huntsville, de feating Sam Houston State 63-49. LSU, on the other hand, has been more consistent throughout the past few games. The only problem is they have consistently played poorly. The Lady Tigers fell to the Universi ty of Alabama 74-69 Jan. 16, their fourth Southeastern Conference loss in a row, and only two away from tying their record for most SEC losses in a season. LSU's poor showing is surprising, considering just two years ago they ad vanced two rounds into the NCAA Tournament. But even though that kind of success seems to be ancient his tory now, A&M head coach Lynn Hick ey is taking nothing for granted. "I have a tremendous amount of re spect for LSU's program," Hickey said. "They have a great winning tradition. "This game will feature a battle of two very young and inexperienced squads. The game will be a challenge to see which team is ready to play." Hickey's youthful squad seems to be handling their thrust into the spotlight quite well. Freshmen Martha McClel land, Donyale Canada and Lisa Branch all start for the Lady Aggies, while fel low freshman Kelly Cerny sees sub stantial playing time off the bench. Branch leads A&M in scoring, aver aging 11.4 points per game. Center McClelland is second on the team in re- See Lady Ags/ Page 10 mm The Texas A&M University Interfraternity Council And Its 26 Member Fraternities Invite You to Participate in Spring Rush It All Begins With Fraternity Life Seminar... Thursday, January 21 7:00 p.m. 601 Rudder All 26 fraternities will be on hand to answer your questions about fraternity life at Texas A&M!