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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 30, 2000)
x: Section B rts 2B, 3B; Classified 4B; Opinion SB ]rsda\ November 30, 2000 Sports SB Page IB THE BATTALION Redeeming performance Texas A&M men rebound from humbling loss with rout CODY WAGES/Tm: Battalion rd Aaron Jack pulls down a rebound in the Aggies' 79-46 win over Mor- wn Wednesday. Jack finished with eight points, nine rebounds. By Blaine Dionne The Battalion When the Texas A&M men’s basketball team lost to Birmingham-Southern by 20 points Sunday night, coach Melvin Watkins was livid. His team had just lost to a program that had nev er won on the Division I-A level. He called a 5:30 a.m. practice the next day after questioning his team’s character. He de clared it a turning point in the season and said his team could either spiral into a losing streak or begin putting the pieces together against the Morris Brown Wolverines. The Aggies chose the latter as they trounced the Wolverines Wednesday night in front of 2,833 fans at Reed Arena, 79-46. Watkins said after the game he was pleased with the way his team responded to the chal lenge, but it still has a long way to go. “Was tonight the turning point? No — but it’s in the right direction,” Watkins said. “Tonight was a by product of the practices that we’ve had. We came out and did some things that, had we done them against Birmingham- Southern, I think the outcome would have been different.” “Was tonight the turn ing point? No — but it's in the right direction. Tonight was a by prod uct of the practices that we've had” — Melvin Watkins Texas A&M men's basketball coach The outcome was looking a little shaky after the first half as the Aggies went back and forth with the Wolverines, with A&M leading 29-19 at the break. But when the Aggies came out for the sec ond half, they seemed to gain new life. They went on scoring runs of 10, nine and 12 to ex tend their lead to 68-37. Watkins said his players needed the point breakout in the second half to make a statement for themselves. “What we wanted to do was forget about the scoreboard,” Watkins said. “Let’s come Out and see if we can continue to play with intensi ty as a team and execute. Let’s see if we ^an pick it up another notch. I thought we did a pret ty good job of that tonight.” The Aggies’ defensive play seemed to kick- start them in the second half. They collected seven points off turnovers and 11 steals on the night. A steal got the crowd into the game after two minutes of play in the second period. After stealing the ball for an easy two points on a layup, forward Carlton Brown decided to mix things up a little. Stealing the ball in transition, Brown had a clear view to the hole and slammed the ball home. In the process, he kept the Aggies’ first scoring run alive. Guard Andy Leatherman led the Aggies in scoring with 15 points, followed by guard Bernard King, who chipped in 14. A&M also upped its efforts on the boards, pulling down 39 rebounds, more than doubling its dismal 17 against Birmingham-Southern. The Aggies’ performance at the charity stripe See Redeemed on Page 3B. D- ie 3f y- /e th ?e le rd a it v- :h 12 st ht le 13 st VI i- i- *n s- ildcats hope to rain on Sooners’ parade fice, utlets 414 m nts Hall ■Dine Dionne 'attalion For those of you who might have jssed the first game, the No. 8 ansns State Wildcats and the No. 1 kl|ioma Sooners will face off Sat- da\ in the Big 12 championship ime, a rematch of their October ime that helped propel the Sooners the top spot in the polls. This time the stakes are a bit high- , though. A Big 12 championship id a possible Orange Bowl trip for enational title is in the works for the Sooners if they can pull out a win, but the Wildcats would like nothing more than to min that for OU. KSU was knocked out of the na tional picture by the Sooners in that October loss, and coach Bill Snyder said his ’Cats will be ready to play Saturday. “We’re pleased to have the oppor tunity to play in the Big 12 Champi onship,” Snyder said. “It’s a tremen dous opportunity to play the No. 1 team in the country.” Oklahoma pinned 385 total yards of offense and 41 points on Kansas State in October. Snyder said he will do his best to prevent such a loss from happening again. “We won’t make wholesale changes,” Snyder said. “But whatev er we do, we’re going to have to do it better than we did.” Oklahoma has been slumping since its October charge, when it beat three consecutive opponents ranked in the Top 10. The Sooners hit bottom last week against their cross-state ri val, Oklahoma State. OSU, with only one win in the Big 12 this year — against Baylor—held the usually high-powered Sooners to 12 points' a miserable performance against any foe. Oklahoma’s coach Bob Stoops vowed his team would be ready to take on the Wildcats. “We don’t need to make any ex cuses (about OSU),” Stoops said. “We found a way to win that football game. “We’re excited about it (Big 12 Championship Game). It’s another game, so let’s go have fun with it.” FILE PHOTO/Thk. Battalion Kansas State c, erback Jonathan Beasley, shown here against the Aggies, will try ead his Wildcats past No. I Oklahoma on Saturday. going home to the DALLAS/ FORT WORTH METR0PLEX FOR THE HOLIDAYS??? UPS HH5 IMMHWl OPENINGS TO DRIVER HELPERS MOST PE 18* YEARS OF AGE WILLING TO MEET OPS PRlVER APPEAR ANCE GOlPELlNES ARE TO WORK IN All WEATHER CONDITIONS MOST PE APLE TO LIFT 70 IPS. LOST BE AVAILABLE FOR WORK 12-11 THROUGH 12- 15 AND 12-18 THROUGH 12-22. lOPER SATURDAY ORIENTATION DECEMBER 1. IH0RRY AND RESERVE YOUR SPOT NOW/// * OPS PAYS $8.50/ H00R PL0S A H00 P0N0S * MESQUITE I-OTS-W0RK-0PS PFW AIRPORT T72-456-4T32 WWW.J0PSATUPS.COM • FT. WORTH SI7-347-3I5? 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