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Monday • November 24, 1997
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Aggies off and running
Jones'career-high 27 points leads to 86- 73 win overSFA
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RONY ANGKRIWAN/The Battalion
Junior Shanne Jones scored a career high 27 points in A&M’s victory.
By Jeff Schmidt
Staff ivriter
There were to be no shot-clock vi
olations in this game. The newer,
quicker Texas A&M Men’s Basketball
Team held off a stubborn Stephen E
Austin squad for an 86-73 victory in
the Aggies season opener Saturday.
It was S.F.A.’s first loss of the
young season. The Aggies’ 86 points
ties last season’s high for points in a
single game. However, the Lumber
jacks did not roll over like a good
small school should.
Stephen F. Austin stayed close
throughout the entire game, but
A&M scoring runs would give the
Aggies the victory. Shanne Jones
had a career day, scoring 27 points
and grabbing eight rebounds,
both career highs. Jones struggled
with his shot in the first half, hit
ting only three of eleven shots.
However, he heated up in the sec
ond half, hitting eight of ten, in
cluding two dunks, and scoring
twenty points. Included in those
20 was a run of thirteen points in
a stretch of about eight minutes to
lead the Aggies to a nine-point
lead they would never relinquish.
Jones was not the only Aggie to
have a big day. Three Aggies, for
ward Calvin Davis and guards Jer
ald Brown and Michael Schmidt,
added thirteen points each. Point
guard Steve Houston dished out
ten assists.
The Aggies held a 13-point lead
in the first half, but the Lumber
jacks slowly chipped away at it dur
ing a four-minute A&M drought
right before halftime.
“I don’t think we reacted well to
the lead either time we jumped
out,” Coach Tony Barone said. “I
thought we became a little too
cocky with the lead, and that lends
itself to some shot selection that is
questionable. They came back and
exploded on us. We were just trying
to survive the first half.”
However, Barone was pleased
with his team’s effort.
“Overall, I was absolutely
thrilled with the way the kids
played today,” Barone said. “I have
absolutely no criticism of any
thing we did, other than not han
dling the lead very well. 1 liked our
toughness coming back. I liked
our attitude.”
During halftime the Aggies de
cided to isolate Jones and let him use
his superior strength in the post.
“We came in (at halftime) and
set up a few plays to go towards
me,” Jones said. “Luckily, my
shots were falling, and they just
kept passing me the ball, and they
just kept falling.”
Stephen F. Austin coach Derek
Allister said the pressure and hos
tile environment got to his team.
“I think it’s very difficult to han
dle forty minutes of noise and the
constant pressure they apply,” Al-
A&M stays hot with weekend
sweep of Kansas, KSU teams
By Travis V. Dabney
Staff writer
The Texas A&M Volleyball Team
came into this weekend’s matches
against the Kansas Jayhawks and
Kansas State Wildcats playing some of
their best volleyball of year. The team
nothing to end the run of quality
play this weekend by beating tlie Jay-
hawks in three straight games on Fri
day night as well as beating the
tougher Wildcats team in four games
on Saturday night.
The Aggies started Saturday night’s
match in less than stellar fashion as
they dropped game one to the Wildcats
by a score of 15-13.
The Aggies fell behind in game one
by a score of 14-11 and after fighting off
two game points, senior Kristie Smed-
srud had her kill attempt blocked and
the Wildcats took game one. That vic
tory in game one extended a streak of
consecutive game victories for the
Wildcats over the Aggies to four as they
beat the Aggies in three straight games
earlier in the season.
“We kind of waited to see what
would happen in game one,” coach
'Hail to the Victors
Laurie Corbelli said. “We did not set the
pace early on and we were hesitant.”
In game two a different Aggie squad
took the court as the team was fired up
and ready to play.
The Aggies would jump out to a
quick 6-0 lead and never look back.
Game two displayed a bit of every
thing for the Aggies as they performed
well in all areas.
The was some excellent defense by
junior Stacy Sykora, Amber Woolsey
added five kills and Senior Cindy
Lothspeich added a block as the Ag
gies cruised to a easy 15-0 victory in
game two.
“Once we saw that they were not
Olympic champions, we said oh yeah
we can beat these guys,” Corbelli said.
Game three was more of the same
from the Aggies as they jumped to 5-
0 lead behind a pair of kills from
Smedsrud and Sykora. The Wildcats
would finally break a string of 20 con
secutive unanswered points to get on
the board at 5-1 but at that point it
was much too late as the Aggies con
tinued their stellar play. Senior Farah
Mensik got her second service ace of
the match to extend the Aggie lead to
8-1. The teams exchanged an incred
ible rally full of hitting and defense
with the score at 12-1. After the Aggies
gained a side out from that rally it
seemed to be the last straw for KSU as
the Aggies went on to win 15-2.
Game four would prove to be along
with game one the most tightly con
tested of the match. The Aggies
jumped out to an 8-2 lead behind
Woolsey as she added some excellent
blocking and hitting. After the Aggies
committed a pair of errors the Wild
cats got the score back to 9-5. The
game would be tight for the remain
der, but the Aggies finally pulled it out
in the end with a 15-10 victory in
game four and a 3-1 victory in the
match.
“It is always good to beat someone
who has beaten you before,” Sykora
said. “We are kind of on a high right
now and this helped us stay there.”
The Aggies were paced in Saturday
night’s match by Smedsrud and Syko
ra as they added 21 and 19 kills, re
spectively.
The Aggies will face Oral Roberts
University on Tuesday night at 7:00
p.m. in G. Rollie White Coliseum.
■
n
x.:.
DEREK DEMERE/The Battalion
Senior Cindy Lothspeich sends a shot over two KSU blockers.
Michigan grabs top spot in both polls
Michigan, completing its first perfect season
since 1971, was a near unanimous choice as the
No. 1 team in The Associated Press’ Top 25 col
lege football poll.
The Wolverines (11-0), who beat Ohio State
20-14 on Saturday, received 69 of a possible 70
first-place votes and 1,749 points Sunday from
the panel of sports writers and broadcasters.
Nebraska (10-0), idle Saturday, replaced
Florida State at No. 2 with one first-place vote
and 1,649 points. The Seminoles (10-1), 32-29
losers to Florida, tumbled to No. 5, leaving the
Wolverines and Cornhuskers the only major
unbeaten teams.
Nebraska still has games remaining against
Colorado on Friday and Texas A&M in the Big
12 title game Dec. 6.
Tennessee (9-1), which clobbered Ken
tucky 59-31, moved up two places to No. 3
with 1,570 points, while Penn State, a 35-10
winner over Wisconsin, also advanced two
places, to No. 4, with 1,497 points. The Vols
play Vanderbilt, while the Nittany Lions are at
Michigan State on Saturday.
UCLA (9-2) moved up a notch to No. 6 after
its 31-24 win over Southern California, fol
lowed by No. 7 Florida, No. 8 North Carolina,
No. 9 Ohio State and No. 10 Washington State.
The
Buckeyes
(10-2) fell
five spots
after their
1 o c
\ Michigan.
In the
USA To
day/ESPN
coaches’
poll,
Michigan
replaced Florida State at No. 1, followed by Ne
braska, Tennessee, Penn State and the Semi
noles at No. 5.
The Big Ten champion Wolverines play
Washington State (10-1) in the Rose Bowl on
Jan. 1, knowing a victory would virtually secure
their first national title since 1948.
Since the AP poll began choosing national
champs after bowl games in the mid 1960s, a
No. 1 team winning in the postseason has al
ways emerged with the national title.
Kansas State (10-1), which beat Iowa State,
fell two spots to No. 11, followed by Arizona
State, Auburn, Georgia, Texas A&M, Syracuse,
LSU, Purdue, Missouri, Colorado State, Wash
ington, Mississippi State, Southern Mississip
pi, Air Force and Oklahoma State.
Purdue (8-3), which completed its first win
ning season in 13 years, jumped five spots to
No. 18 with a 56-7 rout of Indiana. Colorado
State (9-2), a 38-17 winner over San Diego State,
also moved up five places, to No. 20.
Mississippi State (7-3), upset 17-7 by Arkansas,
fell seven spots to No. 22, while Washington (7-4)
dropped four places to No. 21.
Southern Mississippi, Air Force and Oklahoma
State rejoined the Top 25, while Virginia Tech, West
Virginia and Wisconsin fell out after losses.
AP Top 25
Record
Pts
1.Michigan (69)
11-0
1,749
2.Nebraska (1)
10-0
1,679
S.Tennessee
9-1
1,570
4.Penn St.
9-1
1,497
5.Florida St.
10-1
1,470
6.UCLA
9-2
1,311
7.Florida
9-2
1,285
8.N.Carolina
10-1
1,236
9.0hio St.
10-2
1,206
10. Wash. St.
10-1
1,178
11. Kansas St.
10-1
1,163
12. Arizona St.
8-2
978
13. Auburn
9-2
907
14. Georgia
8-2
865
IS.Texas A&M
8-2
727
16. Syracuse
8-3
648
17. LSU
7-3
589
18. Purdue
8-3
473
19. Missouri
7-4
433
20. Colorado St.
9-2
359
21. Washington
7-4
270
22. Miss. St.
7-3
257
23. S. Mississippi
8-3
192
24. AirForce
10-2
148
25. Oklahoma St.
8-3
118
lister said. “After a certain time it
just wears you out. Jones tore us up
and had a heck of a game.”
Allister was quick to praise the
A&M program.
“I like what they’re (A&M) do
ing here,” he said. “The crowd got
into it, and I can imagine if that
place is packed. That could be a
great environment. They have a
good basketball team; they’re
very athletic.”
SEA was led by the strong play of
true freshman point guard Aaron
Radi and forward David Henry,
who scored 12 and 17 points re
spectively. Radi has his own opin
ion of why his team lost.
“I don’t think we wanted it as
much as they did,” Radi said.
The Aggies return to the court
Monday night to take on the Univer
sity of Missouri-Kansas City. The Ag
gies squeaked out a one-point over
time victory against the Kangaroos
in Kansas City last season.
Swimmers claim
top spot at Nike
Staff and wire
The 24th-ranked men’s swim
ming and diving team used three
first-place performances to hold off
a last-minute surge by North Carolb
na to win the Nike Cup at Koury
Natatorium in Chapel Hill Saturday.
The Aggies finished with a three-day
total of 649, 19 points ahead of
North Carolina, who finished second
in the 11-team field.
Junior Jarrod Kappler finished
first in the 100-yard freestyle with
a time of 45:29, while sophomore
Devin Howard won the 200-meter
butterfly. The Aggie 400-meter
freestyle team added to the Ag
gies’ first-place finish list with a
time of 3:01.44.
The Aggie swim teams will return
to action Jan. 3, when the men host
LSU and the women host LSU and
SMU at the Student Rec Center Nata
torium at 1 p.m.
Women set to
tangle with SWT
The A&M Women’s Basketball team
will face the Southwest Texas Bobcats in
their season opener as the Aggies start
a ninegame road trip. A&M looks to re
bound from a season-opening home loss
to lOth-ranked Vanderbilt, 59-78.
Sophomore Prissy Sharpe will look to
continue her three-game streak of dou-
bledoubles as the Aggies try to add an
other win to the series with the Bobcats,
which they lead 8-2, including the last
four meetings.
Green Bay routs
Cowboys at home
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Dorsey Lev-
ens, Brett Eavre and the Green Bay Pack
ers finally showed the Dallas Cowboys
on Sunday what it is like playing at Lam-
beau Field and its wind-chill of minus-4.
fevre threw four touchdown passes,
and Levens rushed fora Packers-record
190 yards, breaking Jim Taylor’s 36-
year-old team record. He had 145 yards
in the dominating second half, during
which Green Bay outscored the Cow
boys 35-7.
A Packers defense burned for
467 yards last week held Dallas to
211 yards as Green Bay broke a 10-
10 halftime tie with touchdowns on
all four of their second-half posses
sions, plus a 34-yard fumble return
by Darren Sharper.
Foreman calls it quits again after losing majority decision
ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) —
George Foreman walked away from
boxing, and left them laughing.
Foreman, who will turn 49 on
Ian. 10, announced his retirement
following his majority decision loss
to 25-year-old Shannon Briggs that
Was greeted with jeers and catcalls.
“I’m walking away,” said the
puncher with a paunch, who defied
time for a decade and made an in
delible mark in a young man’s sport.
This could go on for the rest of my
life, chasing young guys. Young guys
should be chasing young guys
In 1994, at age 45, Foreman be
came the oldest heavyweight
champion in history by knocking
°ut Michael Moorer in the 10th
found for the WBA and IBF titles.
| Asked if he thought anybody
I Would break that record, Foreman
paid, “If some guy breaks it, I’m
coming back.”
Then, in his best carnival bark
er’s voice, he added, “I’m the last of
the bearded ladies. Step right up.”
Almost everybody but two
judges thought Foreman won the
12-round fight Saturday night.
“They said Shannon Briggs won,”
Foreman said. “Good luck to him.”
Said Briggs: “He had the crowd
behind him, and that’s why they re
acted like they did.”
The reactions of most of 5,220
fans at the Trump Taj Mahal were
those of dismay and anger. Ringside
reporters were virtually unanimous
in thinking Foreman won.
Foreman, all 260 pounds of him,
pressed Briggs throughout. Briggs’
movement and jab might have giv
en him an edge, or at least had him
even, after eight rounds. But Fore
man appeared to control the last
four rounds with punishing jabs
and hard rights to the head. He hurt
his 227-pound opponent in the
10th round and rocked him a few
times in the last round.
Judge Steve Weisfeld, who called
the fight even at 114-114, gave Fore
man three of the last four rounds.
Calvin Claxton, who favored Briggs
116-114, gave Briggs three of the last
four rounds. Larry Layton, who
scored it 117-113 for Briggs, gave
Briggs the seventh and eighth
rounds and called each of the last
two rounds even.
The AP scored it 116-112 for
Foreman, favoring Foreman in each
of the last four rounds.
“I’m not bitter about anything,”
Foreman said.
“This has been one of the great
achievements in history, in life or in
sports,” Roy Foreman said of his
brother’s career.
That might have been laying it
on a bit thick, but Foreman’s career
unquestionably is one of the most
remarkable in sports history.
A street tough in Houston, Fore
man won the heavyweight gold
medal at the 1968 Olympics at Mex
ico City. He turned pro in 1969, be
came undisputed world champion
by stopping Joe Frazier in the sec
ond round on Jan. 22, 1973, at
Kingston, Jamaica, and lost the title
to Muhammad Ali when he was
stopped in the eighth round Oct. 30,
1974, in Kinshasa, the capital of
what then was Zaire.
After being outpointed by Jimmy
Young on March 17, 1977, at San
Juan, Puerto Rico, Foreman said he
had a vision and he retired to be
come an evangelist in Houston.
He sounded like the Rev. Foreman
early Sunday when he said, “I hope
that nice young man (Briggs) doesn’t
smoke and doesn’t drink. He should
go forth and lead a good life.”
In 1987, Foreman began a
comeback, he said, to raise
$100,000 for his youth center. He
has earned more than $100 million
in purses and endorsements. His
purse Saturday night was $5 mil
lion. Briggs got $400,000.
The Foreman who retired in
1977 often was a scowling, men
acing man. The one who came
back in 1987 did so with a smile
and quip, especially about his
waistline and love for cheeseburg
ers. He became a middle-aged folk
hero, especially after he went the
distance in losing to Evander
Holyfield in a bid for the undis
puted championship in 1991 at
Atlantic City.
Foreman fought his way back for
a title shot and cashed in by knock
ing out Moorer. He won a contro
versial decision over Axel Schulz in
1995 at Las Vegas before he was
stripped of the titles for not fighting
opponents designated by the WBA
and IBF.
In the Moorer fight, Foreman’s age
started to show. He was far behind
when he scored the knockout. After
the Schulz match, he needed 12
rounds to beat Crawford Grimsley
and then eked out a split decision
against Lou Savarese. He looked old
against Briggs, too. An old winner.
“I’m happy, I’m not hurt,” Fore
man said.
And a lot people in boxing are
happy as well, happy that Foreman
has finally retired.
“I’ve had a wonderful career,"
he said.
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