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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 4, 1996)
The Battalion Monday March 4, 1 996 Sports Page 7 ! sports GLANCE Gretzky elbowed in head during game EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Wayne Gretzky, playing in just his second game with the St. Louis Blues, was elbowed in the head Sunday and left the ice clinging to the shoulders of his new teammates. St. Louis trainers said hockey's scoring king had a severe headache and would not return to the game. Doctors were trying to determine the seriousness of the injury. Kelly Buchberger, Gretzky's for mer teammate and current captain of the Edmonton Oilers, appeared to collide with the 35-year-old super- star at the Edmonton blueline at 6:33 of the second period. He caught Gretzky on the right side of the face with an elbow. Gretzky's head snapped side ways. He then crumpled to the ice, where he lay motionless for several minutes, silencing the sellout crowd at the Edmonton Coliseum. Gretzky left the ice on his feet after being hoisted by two teammates. Referee Mick McGeough did not penalize Buchberger, but St. Louis defenseman Murray Baron immedi ately goaded the grinding forward into a fight. Gretzky had played just one game with the Blues since being traded from the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday for three young players and two draft choices. Magic says he won't play on Dream Team INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Magic Johnson said Sunday he does not want a spot on basketball's Dream Team III in the Atlanta Olympics. "I don't want to do it," Johnson told NBC-TV in an interview at the Forum, where the Los Angeles Lak ers were preparing for their game against the Houston Rockets. "I've been wrestling with it, you know?" Johnson said. "I really wanted to do it, and then when I saw that schedule and I saw, damn, when is my time going to be with the family, for myself to recuperate I lobe ready for next season?" Johnson said the Olympic train- mgschedule, coupled with his busi- 'ness and Lakers commitments, would prevent him from spending time with his family and taking them on trips to Hawaii and Europe. "I want to step back," Johnson said. "It would be too much be cause of my family commitments." Barkley, Finley carve up Mavericks, 121-114 DALLAS (AP) — Charles Barkley scored 26 points in 27 minutes and rookie Michael Finley added 20 Sunday as the Phoenix Suns es caped with a 121-114 victory over the Dallas Mavericks. Barkley was unstoppable in the third quarter as he scored 13 points against the depleted Dallas front line. Barkley even took time to toy with fans who waved "brick" cards as he shot free throws. Smil ing and waving at his tormentors, Barkley hit all five free throws he had in the quarter as Phoenix took a 17-point lead. Dallas pulled to 95-84 at the end of the period, and cut the deficit to 106-103 with 5:45 left in the game on a basket by Lu- cious Harris. But Finley hit a basket and two free throws and Phoenix pulled away, with Barkley sitting out the final five minutes with foul trouble. Dallas, which set an NBA record for 3-point attempts on Fri day night at Vancouver, hit only 10 of 42 against the more physi cal Suns, who were 1-for-5 from long range. SCORES ROUNDUP Phoenix 121, Dallas 114 Toronto 100, Cleveland 89 Indiana 103, Charlotte 100 Minnesota 89, Miami 87 Houston 111, L.A. Lakers 107 New York 109, Golden State 94 Washington at Sacramento, (n) UPCOMING EVENTS Men's Basketball The Aggies face off against Texas Tech in the first round of the South west Conference Tournament Thurs day at 6 p.m. at Reunion Arena in Dallas. Women's Basketball The Lady Aggies will play Rice University in the first round of the Southwest Conference Tournament Wednesday at noon at Moody Coli seum in Dallas. If the Lady Aggies advance, they will play in the semi finals on Thursday. ! Big Aggie bats sweep Bears under rug Dave House The Battauon Texas A&M right fielder Johnny Hunter connects on one of his two home runs during Saturday's double- header action at Olsen Field. The Aggies swept the Maine Black Bears in three games. □ The A&M Baseball Team improved to 13-4 on the year with a sweep of Maine. By Nick Georgandis The Battalion Welcome to Murderers’ Row, Texas. Continuing on a record-set- ting pace at the plate, the Texas A&M Baseball Team cruised to a sweep of the Maine Black Bears this week end behind the big bats of its starting nine. With a 15-6 win Sunday at Olsen Field, the Aggies im proved to 13-4 on the year. A&M outscore Maine 40-13 in the three-game set. The runs gave A&M a total of 172 on the year for an aver age of 10.1 runs per game. Maybe the only thing more impressive than the hitting at tack on Sunday was the perfor mance of A&M starting pitcher Shane King. King, a sophomore, improved his record on the year to 3-0 by i going six innings, allowing just six hits and no runs while striking out three Black Bears. “Sometimes everything just goes right ou there for you,” King said. “All of our pitchers did a real good job of control ling the ball this weekend. We only had two walks in three games.” The three losses dropped Maine to 0-7 on the 1996 sea son. Texas A&M Head Coach Mark Johnson said the Aggies were fortunate to catch the | Black Bears when they did. “We got some hits early and that kept them off balance,” Johnson said. “ They helped us a bunch today by making some ; mental mistakes. Sunday’s game was never in | doubt for the Aggies. They) scored four runs in the first in ning when Maine’s starting ‘ pitcher Andy Estabrook walked ! four batters and allowed a two- run single by first baseman Ja son Stephens that plated Jason Tyner and Johnny Hunter to ji stake A&M to an early lead. Stephens was one of five Ag- See Baseball, Page 8 He’s A Soul Man □ Great bloodlines and a strong work ethic have Jason Cornelius aiming high. By Lisa Nance The Battalion Freshman guard/forward Jason Cornelius says he has been playing basketball for so long that it is difficult to sepa rate him from the game. One might even say it is in his soul. “I love basketball,” Cor nelius said. “I love the excite ment. I’ve been playing for so long that it’s almost a part of me.” However, Jason isn’t the only Cornelius with soul. His second cousin is Soul Train’s Don Cornelius. While Don Cor nelius made a name for him self on stage, Jason is hoping to make a name for himself on the court. Cornelius, a 6-foot-5-inch walk-on, is at home playing basketball at A&M. He is a 1995 honors graduate of A&M Consolidated High School, where he was a four-year let- terman and averaged 17.5 points and 8.2 rebounds as a senior. He connected on 63.0 percent from the field and 71.1 percent from the free-throw line. Cornelius said that his first season for the Aggies has been exciting, but has had its share of disappointments as well. “There has been a lot of ex citement,” Cornelius said. “Go ing to Arizona and Milwaukee and playing there, that was ex citing. Our last few games have been disappointing though, where we’ve lost in the final minutes.” Cornelius feels that he brings definite plusses to the Tim Moog, The Battalion Texas A&M guard/forward Jason Cornelius walked on to the A&M Bas ketball Team this season after a stellar career at A&M Consolidated. Aggie team. “I have the hustle, deter mination and desire to win,” Cornelius said. “Even though we haven’t been doing that much lately.” The Aggies’ last loss, an other last-minute horror, came this past Saturday against Southern Methodist University, where they were defeated 75-72. When A&M guard Derrick Hart’s three- point attempt hit hard off the rim as the last seconds ticked away, the Aggies suffered the seventh loss in their last 10 games in the last minute. Cornelius was a third- team all-state pick by the Texas Association of Basket ball Coaches and was a fifth- team all-state pick by Texas Basketball Magazine. He was a three-time all-district and All-Brazos Valley selection. Cornelius’ ultimate goal in basketball is to help his team win, and he has his own little superstitious ways to go about doing that. He eats a Subway sandwich before every game, wears the same undershirt until a loss and puts his clothes on the same way before every game. While the Aggie basketball season seems to be overshad owed by the communication problems between A&M Head Coach Tony Barone and his players that brought about the Communications Council, Cornelius said he has not seen a real problem. “The Communications Council was formed to bridge the gap between coach and the team,” Cornelius said. “I haven’t seen a real problem, but it is for better communi cation with the coaches.” The Aggies’ loss to SMU gives them an 11-15 overall, 3-11 SWC record and dropped them to last place in the last year of the SWC as the regular season came to a close. They will face the No.l seed, Texas Tech, Thursday in Dallas as the SWC post season tournament gets un derway. A&M Archery Team makes straight line toward success □ The A&M Team cleaned up at the U.S. South Region In door Nationals this weekend. By Tom Day The Battalion Most A&M students may not realize it, but hidden in a comer on the second floor of the Student Recreational Sports Center lies a whole other world. It is in a small gym, neatly tucked away among the facility’s more visible at tractions, that the A&M Archery Team spends many hours practicing its trade. This past weekend, however, the Ag gies’ indoor shooting range took to the spotlight as A&M hosted the U.S. South Region Indoor Nationals. Seeking to win their second consecutive national # title, the Aggies moved into contention by dom inating all four divisions of the archery tournament. Depending on the results of the re maining three regionals and the upcom ing outdoor nationals in May, the Aggies remain the favorite. “We didn’t hurt ourselves,” A&M co coach Frank Thomas said. “Over three- fourths of our shooters hit personal records, and when you do that, you can’t complain.” Leading the charge for A&M in the male recurve category was Staten Holmes. The junior led a three-man Aggie attack with a four-round total of 1152. Holmes was followed by senior Neely Johnson and freshman Greg Krueger. A player’s score is based on four 300- point rounds. Each shooter gets 30 shots a round with each shot worth a maximum of 10 points. “Barring a few errors, I think I came out all right,” Holmes said. “The whole team did well, and it’s rewarding to see hard work pay off in a big tournament.” On the female‘side of the draw, A&M sophomore Bethany Thomas led another three-man A&M sweep with a four-round total of 1101. Suzy Barrera and Trade May finished second and third respectively. Thomas credited the Aggies’ long hours of practicing four days a week for her success. “(My score) was a personal record, so I am extremely pleased,” Thomas said. “I had never practiced this much before, so it has really paid off.” John Blaschke led the Aggies to victory in the men’s compound division with a score of 1166 while Brad Gohlke finished second with 1144. The compound archery set slightly varies from the recurve bow in that shooters have magnification scopes and a trigger device to release the arrow. On the women’s side, Alice Buchanan led the Aggies with a four-round total of 1083, while Jennifer Comedy finished a close second at 1071. While the Aggies’ strong weekend puts them in a good position to reclaim their national title, the issue will not be decid ed until the other half of the champi onship is played at the Outdoor Nationals at Michigan State University May 16-18. “We did great here, but it’s back to the drawing board,” Thomas said. “We’re try ing to get ready for outdoor nationals now. In . . See Archery, Page 8
