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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 15, 2001)
Index: Section B jkports 2B; Classified 6B; Opinion 7B Tliursday, February 15, 2001 ax )Ve< Rucker rehired as B coach Sports Page IB THE BATTALION 'instruction is frill said. “Soil 'Ur highway s)s| aders have nil iTAFF AND WIRE REPORTS cing burdencj no tax is a Co® i to increa J. ingtheuseof bonds, know ture incoming L_ rraditiondlvH ^ en R uc k er » w h° served as run- n it conies to® ^ ac ^ s coac h at Texas A&M pom 1994-1997, was hired again by ead coach R.C. Slocum Wednesday, ucker will return to his duties as the inning backs coach. Rucker served stints as the line- acker coach at the University of Al bania and the special teams coach at lie University of North Carolina, ” d • P unter set a school record - ^ Di'ICt'Bnd won All-America honors. ^Ilfpnant Rucker said one of the reasons he * lWl t| l ‘Bas returned to A&M is for his family. UiltV tO “I’m excited to be back in Ag- ^Bieland,” Rucker said. “I left A&M i in assail b ecause of family, and it’s because of (AP) — a iMimily that I have returned.” ast Texasfec-i Seven of Rucker’s teams have d Wednestj3® vancec I to * :)0W I games, including ) approving® 6 Aggi es ' appearances in the ;r up assault®95 Alamo Bowl and the 1998 ■Hotton Bowl. II 34 plea-' ' ^■ en Rucker is an outstanding to conspiracfi 036 ^ anc I we are ver y Phased to e before ® ave him back,” Slocum said. "He ge Wendall FflN a § reat J 0 * 3 tor us as a coac h, re- ic.m woodfc® u ‘ te ^ extrem ely well and was a r the U.S. Ati g real representative of Texas A&M. | , r|limon j 1 am delighted he has returned.” aid Small, al| vith the fedr ons, supervise Beaumont peife Ags sweat out 81-78 victory over UT-PA A&M junior guard Andy Leatherman goes up for a lay-up during the Aggies' BERNARDO GARZA/The Battalion 81 -78 defeat of UT-Pan American on Wednesday night at Reed Arena. By Doug Puentes The Battalion Texas A&M men’s basketball coach Melvin Watkins’ sigh of relief said it all after the Aggies defeated the University of Texas- Pan American Broncs, 81-78, Wednesday night at Reed Arena. The Aggies were coming off two straight victories in the Big 12 Conference, but were forced to step out of conference against the Broncs, a dangerous team that boasted the nation’s top 3-point shooter in Brian Merri- weather. A&M kept Merriweather under wraps, but could not account for Mire Chatman, who al most willed the Broncs to victory with his 31 points and nine rebounds. “I knew they would come in thinking they could beat us,” Watkins said. “Those guys were capable of having big nights. Matter of fact, we thought it would be Merriweather, because be fore the game we told the team he could get 40 points if they don’t guard him. “Instead it was Chapman who almost got 40. We guarded at him, not on him.” The Broncos had a chance to steal the game toward the end, thanks to the Aggies’ poor free- throw shooting. A&M only hit 5-of-12 free throws in the last 1:25 of the game, giving Chat man and Merriweather a chance to pull it out. Sophomore guard Bernard King hit l-of-2 free throws to make it a 79-75 game with 13 seconds left. Chatman rebounded the King miss and pushed it up the court, where he found Merrir weather, who drained a 3-pointer to make it a 79-78 game with nine seconds left. On the inbound play, UT-Pan American quickly fouled junior guard Andy Leatherman. Leatherman calmly stepped up the the freer throw line and drained both shots to make it an 81-78 game. The Broncs had one last chance, but the last.: second 3-point attempt by Matt Hall fell short, giving the Aggies the victory. “What happened to us tonight has happened all year,” said UT-Pan American coach BoS Hoffman. “We fought on the road, but jusjt couldn’t close it out in the end. We outfe*- bounded them, and I thought we outhustled those guys even though we didn’t get the win.” Despite the Aggies’ poor free-throw shoot ing, they managed to stay in the game thanks to a hot-shooting second half. After a poor shooting first half, in which A&M shot 37.9 percent, the Aggies shot a tor rid 56.7 percent in the second half to finish at 47.5 percent for the game. It was the fourth straight game that the Ag gies shot better than 45 percent from the floor. Leading the Aggies in the second half was sophomore forward Keith Bean. Bean played only five minutes in the first See Sweat on Page 3B. y Mike Btadf(to Y Ama() ggies fall in extra innings to SWT, 3-1 be Battalion y federal < ig a seriesoffl hat took placel F° 0 * me once > shame on you. Fool me rectional lnst:| vice ’ shame on me.” nit over sevet F° r i* 16 Texas A&M softball team, the Biird time is what did it in. to say howntc 1 Three Aggie errors combined with an ssaulted orb<fpP ortun istic opponent spelled defeat for He said nonelf 1 ® Aggies on Wednesday night, as the > (jfe-threatenfqouthwest Texas State Bobcats defeated 3-1, in eight innings at the Aggie joftball Complex. _J The loss ended the Aggies five-game L vanning streak. The Bobcats first struck in the third in- ing when junior outfielder Perri Yarbor- ugh reached base on an infield error. Yarborough scored later in the inning fter the Aggies’ second throwing error of me inning. I It did not take long for the Aggies to E counter punch. In the bottom of the fourth frame, junior first basemerf Kelly Fergu son started a rally with a single. Freshman pitcher Lindsay Wilhelmson drove in Ferguson later in the inning with a single to right field. Wilhelmson surrendered only four hits in her first seven innings on the motjnd. Lightning struck for the third time in the eighth inning, when another Aggie er ror sparked a Bobcat rally. The error, coupled with three Bobcat hits, accounted for two runs. With the win, the Bobcats improve to 10-2, and the Aggies fall to 7-2. “I would be surprised if [Southwest Texas State] is not ranked in the top 25 this week,” said A&M softball coach Jo Evans. “We walk away thinking that we should have won 1-0 in seven innings.” The Bobcats used junior pitcher Jessi ca Chase and freshman reliever Nicole Neuerburg to hold the Aggies to a season- low one run on nine hits. Freshman outfielder Kristen Zaleski reached base three times after going 3-4 from the plate. For the Aggies, senior Hollee Hayden and sophomore Crystal Martin chipped in with two base hits each. The Aggies return to action Friday, in the Verizon Aggie Invitational. The Aggies will play host to the likes of No. 5 Alabama, Penn State University and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at the Ag gie Softball Complex. “We’re going to pick up right where we left off before tonight,” Wilhelmson said. “It is the little things that are going to get us where we want to go. We’re a compet itive team and we will always come ready to play.” The Aggies will open tournament play against Alabama at 3:30 p.m. CODYWAGES/Thh Battalion A&M sophomore catcher Selena Collins attempts to tag Southwest Texas State outfielder Sarah Youngdale at home during the Aggies' 3-1 loss to the Bobcats. Open Forum February, 15 MSC 292A 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. ITSSTAFFFMMIW Dr Southerland, VP Student Affairs, student leaders, and representatives from each of the 6 Task Forces will be present to describe how Bonfire 2002 is being planned and to answer your questions. Come share your thoughts and express your opinions concerning Bonfire 2002! Check Updates and Submit Feedback at http://stud0ntaffairs.tamu.0du/bonfir0O2 Sv/e Sv/ant flou to Makfc iPespoiiSibie. Odoices 4112 East 29th, Bryan XV< Ufa offer Bvrth trot Annual exams Con 846-1744 or caii 1 -800-230-PLAN and be connected to the nearest clinic O Planned Parenthood® of Houston and Southeast Texas, Inc. www.pphouston.org affordable confidential convenient 911 Of i g Hi . Friends of Sterling C. Evans Library 8th Annual Fun Run Saturday, February 24,8001- 9 a.m. 8K Run/IMUe Fitness Walk The SK Run and 1 Mile Fitness Walk will begin in the parking lot behind the Wehner Business Administration Building on the west campus of Texas A&M, College Station, Texas. EARLY REGISTRANTS WILL RECEIVE T-SHIRTS AND OTHER GIFTS!! lee gnrtfi GREATPRIZES!! Entries after February 14,2001 *12.00 for youths & college students and *15.00 for adults Packet pick-up and late registration will be held at the MSC on February 23,2001 from 9:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. / U, Any questions, please call Adeile at 862-4574. Return entries and/or registration fee to: Sterling C. Evans library, Adminstration Office, 2nd Floor - Adeile Hedleston or register online at www.evansnm.com Sponsored by. H.EB. Pantry Foods JAMU Athletic Department, The 12th Man Foundation, Optima Systems, Inc., AcWam Construction Co., Inc. David Gardner’s Jewelers, AG. Edwards & Sons, Inc., AerofH, First National Bank, KTSR • WTAW am
