The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current, December 01, 1998, Image 7

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    Battalion
Sports
Page 7 • Tuesday, December 1, 1998
vercoming the heartbreak
den’s basketball team returns home after loss to Oral Roberts
3YSANT0SH VENKATARAMAN
The Battalion
The Texas A&M Men’s Basket-
ill [Team returns to action tonight
T% 7p tn. in Reed Arena against the
ai\!ersity of Alabama.
Tpe Aggies, 3-1, dropped
ieir first game of the year in a
;ajt-breaking overtime thriller,
1-36, at Oral Roberts Universi-
last Saturday.
B fOral Roberts connected on the
mje-winning three-pointer with
— retecond left in overtime to break
186-86 tie.
fTlie Aggies lost despite some
lelgame heroics by junior guard
lifton Cook. Cook hit a 25-foot
true-tying three-pointer with 5.2
;conds left in regulation to knot
tecontest at 78.
I; In overtime, Cook hit another
ante-tying three-pointer with 19
kinds left to tie the score at 86
eflre Oral Roberts prevailed with
more managemr b st - secon d shot. Cook finished
ijor, sprints across pt 25 points,
on Monday. Culif|i en * or forward Shanne Jones
walk-on tryouts fl ec l i n another solid effort with
and seven rebounds.
ERIC NEWNAM1
Junior forward Paul Jacobs had
a 10-point, 10-rebound effort while
junior forward Jerald Brown added
14 points.
The game was a bittersweet
homecoming for sophomore for
ward Aaron Jack, a Tulsa native and
former Oklahoma high-school first-
team all-state performer.
Jack had six points and five re
bounds and fouled on a critical
three-point play in overtime with
1:57 left.
A&M shot 54 percent from the
field including eight for 13 from
three-point range, but they al
lowed the home team to hit 11-of-
25 three-pointers which ultimate
ly led to the defeat.
Turnovers were once again a
problem for the Aggies as they com
mitted 19 in the game, with 12 com
ing in the first half.
Alabama, from the powerful
Southeastern Conference, is a team
in transition much like A&M.
The Crimson Tide have a new
coach in Mark Gottfried who is
coming off a successful three-year
stint at Murray State University,
where he led the Racers to the
f citizei* rown: Winning bowl game remains Longhorns’ top goal
"age and dedicalic:
Jinan said peopli
dilations as Wit
ielp to police oia
t does happenwi
special,” he sail.
;aid this is onlytl
's Commendatioi
y the police depi
t it [William’sassS
and beyond the
tizen,” Fleegers#
; said he simpl?
Right was right I
award for his effoi
t happened,”
Fleeger] sh
land. That was
i for me.”
EARS
NCAA Tournament the past two
seasons. Alabama is led by the in
side-outside attack of junior center
Jeremy Hayes and senior guard
Brian Wiliams.
Hayes is the Tide’s leading shot
blocker, and he averaged 14 points
and 12 rebounds in the final six
games of last season.
Williams is a big-time scorer
who averaged 16.1 points per
game last year, including a 28-
point night against the University
of Kentucky.
The point guard spot is held by
senior Chauncey Jones, who aver
aged 9.9 points per game and tallied
109 assists last season.
The Crimson Tide have won
four games in a row at home after
dropping their season opener at
Ohio State University and are now
4-1 on the young season.
Cook said if the Aggies are going
to win they need to relax.
“We need to focus more. When
we go out, sometimes we try too
hard.” Cook said. “We need to set
tle down and get better execution.”
Alabama won last year’s meeting
in TUscaloosa, 81-64.
A&M Rec Center
hosts World Cup
BY JASON LINCOLN
The Battalion
With more than a dozen Olympic medalists highlighting
the beginning of one of the biggest weeks in swimming to en
ter the United States, the World Cup competition at the Texas
A&M Recreation Center Natatorium today is sure to be the
fastest, and most competitive in the world.
The American team competing in the World Cup dur
ing the next two days will consist of the finest swimmers
in the world, including world record-holder, Olympic gold-
medalist and two-time world champion of the 400-meter
individual medley, Tom Dolan.
Dolan said he is impressed with College Station’s facilities
and said the pool is “phenomenal” from a swimmers standpoint.
“It is a great pool, and every swimmer can appreciate
it,” he said. “Beyond that, this is, if not the best pool, one
of the best that all these guys will swim in during the whole
World Cup season.”
Most of the American team and swimming base consists
of collegiate athletes that do
not have the training leisure
of foreign professionals who
dedicate their lives to the
sport.
“When it comes down to
WORLD CUP
USA S W 1 S/V M 1 M c;
ROBERT MCKAY/The Battalion
Junior guard Jerald Brown floats a shot over
a member of the Australian All-Star team.
BRANDON BOLLOM/The Battalion
&M senior linebacker Dat Nguyen wrestles down Longhorns
nning back Ricky Williams in the annual rivalry Nov. 27.
AUSTIN (AP) — Eight wins and Ricky
Williams’ career rushing title are not enough to
make the University of Texas Longhorns’ sea
son complete, coach Mack Brown said Monday.
A bowl victory, however, would do the job.
“We don’t want our guys to be satisfied with
the year,” Brown said. “A bowl win is very im
portant to us. It would be very easy for this team
to go from 4-7 to 8-3 and say we’ve had enough,
the year’s over, we can relax and enjoy the bowl.
“It’s really important that we win the bowl
game. That will carry some momentum into
spring practice and into our start next fall.”
Exactly which bowl No. 20 Texas (8-3,6-2 Big
12) will play in will not be determined until after
Saturday’s Big 12 championship game between
No. 2 Kansas State and No.' 10 Texas A&M. Bowl
matchups will be announced Sunday.
The Longhorns are the favorites to play in the
Cotton Bowl, probably against former Southwest
Conference rival University of Arkansas. Other
possibilities are the Holiday or Alamo Bowls.
Longhorns fans would surely flock to the
Cotton Bowl in Dallas or the Alamo Bowl in San
Antonio. And Williams, who is considered the
favorite for the Heisman Tfophy after breaking
the Division I-A career rushing record, is from
San Diego, home of the Holiday Bowl.
Brown said he has no preference where to play.
“You used to be able to sit around and call
some people and get some involvement,” he said.
“Now you’re even encouraged by the conference
office not to call; in fact, you’re told not to call.
“I’ve already been reprimanded once in the
last couple of weeks. I don’t think I’m going to
be calling anybody,” he said, referring to a Big
12 punishment for questioning the officiating
in a 42-35 loss at Texas Tech.
Texas has not won a bowl since beating
North Carolina, which was coached by Brown,
in the 1994 Sun Bowl. The Longhorns are 4-12
in bowls since 1977.
“I haven’t won a bowl game since I’ve been
here,” senior linebacker Dusty Renfro said. “To
win one of those would mean a lot.”
Also Monday, Williams was named player
of the year by the Walter Camp Football Foun
dation. Camp winners have taken the Heisman
trophy 26 of the previous 31 times, including
the last seven.
Williams is the first Texas player to.win
the Walter Camp award. Earl Campbell,
Texas’ only Heisman winner, was beaten out
for the Walter Camp award by Notre Dame’s
Ken McAfee in 1977.
The Walter Camp award is voted on by Divi
sion I coaches and sports information directors.
Voting was completed before Williams ran for
259 yards in Friday’s 26-24 victory over A&M.
That effort allowed him to set the NCAA Di
vision I-A career rushing mark of 6,279 yards.
He also holds major-college career records for
all-purpose yards (7,206), rushing touchdowns
(72), points (452) and yards per carry (6.2).
the race,” Dolan said, “Amer
icans race harder, are more w<<
competitive and are stronger
than anyone in the world.”
Because the American team is comprised mainly of stu
dents, Dolan said their attitude is more down-to-earth, and
the swimmers view these races as “humili-busters” in
preparation for the Sydney Olympics.
A&M is the third stop of 12 sites on the 1999 Series Sched
ule. This will conclude the Cup’s Americas tour before head
ing to Asia and Australia for the second zone. Stops on the
series include Rio de Janeiro, Beijing, Sydney and Paris.
The U.S. Team will participate in all the events, but each
athlete will only participate in a few. There will be clusters
travelling to different regions gaining standing for the United
States in its first cup appearance.
With the United States competing for the first time dur
ing 1999 and also preparing for the 1999 Pan Pacific meet,
this is proving to be a big year in the U.S. Team’s prepara
tion for the 2000 Olympics.
SPORTS IN BRIEF
Aggies earn NCAA tournament bid
against Temple University Friday
The Texas A&M Volleyball team wrapped up the regular sea
son with an 8-game win streak, earning a bid in the NCAA
Championship tournament.
With'wins over teams such as No.3 University of Nebras
ka and No.15 University of Colorado, the Aggies concluded
the season with a record of 20-8.
The Aggies will travel to the University of Southern Califor
nia to face the Temple Owls (22-9) Friday, Dec. 4.
“We have been playing great lately, and we are on a roll,”
A&M coach Laurie Corbelli said.
“We are playing with a lot of determination, and it is a real
confidence booster to look back and see how far we have
come over the last few weeks.”
This marks the Aggies’ sixth consecutive appearance in
the NCAA tournament.
QoCderx National Honor Society
General Meeting
Tuesday, December 1st
8:30 p.m. MSC292B
Winter in Aggieland
Presents the 15th Annual
STf if
u an
strove
>_yone
_ For
com
December 3rd & 4m
10:00am to 5:00pm
in the MSC
Come find unique, handmade
crafts from over 80 vendors
and Mother’s Clubs.
Hosted By
MSC HOSPITALITY
For more information
cal! 845-1515
f Persons ■with disabilities piease cail 845-1515 to inform os of your
/EL special needs. We nequest ncstifkatjon three (3)-wcrking days prior
Vyv to the erect to enable as to assist yon to the best of our abuitses.
JJL
Tr
i 4 I £ 4
IMPORTANT MEETING^
ON
170 HOUR RULE
YOU ARE INVITED TO JOIN TAMU OFFICIALS AND
STUDENT LEADERS AT A STUDENT FORUM TO DISCUSS
THE NEW 170 HOUR RULE WHICH WILL BECOME
EFFECTIVE IN THE FALL OF 1999. LEARN HOW THIS
NEW LEGISLATION MAY AFFECT YOUR TUITION BILL
NEXT YEAR.
THURS., DECEMBER 3, 6:00 P.M.
707 RUDDER
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