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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 9, 1978)
page 10 daily nebraskan thursday, february 9, 1978 McPipe powers Huskers to pivotal 63-50 victory By Rob Barney Carl McPipe ignited the Huskers to a second-half explosion, as a record-breaking crowd of 14,912 watched UNL's 63-50 win over Kansas State University at the Sports Complex last night. Hie 68" junior center from Hammond, Ind. scored 21 points and grabbed 11 re bounds to lead the Huskers to its seventh straight Big Eight Conference win. "Carl played one of his better games this year," head coach Joe Cipriano said. $ i Photo by Tad Kirk Junior guard Brian Banks drives around a Kansas State defender during last night's game against the Wildcats. Nebraska came away the winners and the victory virtually assures them of a home-court advantage in the opening round of the Big Eight post-season tournament. "He played as well defensively as he ever has, and he played smart Inside and went to the boards." McPipe said the victory was not easy. "They didn't give us anything," he said. "We had to work hard for everything we got. Nobody felt fired up before the game but I guess it was all in our heads. We know we can beat K-State. It was just a point if we were ready." Junior guard Brian Banks, the other Hammond natiye, scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half to help fuel the Husker win. "Who said we were going to go 2-5 the second half of the season," Banks said. "Whoever it was is wrong. We may go 7-0. "I think Kansas State can beat Kansas, but this was a big game for them (KSU). I think we broke their hearts." For KSU, Evans scored 15 points hitting five of 19 shots while Rolando Blackman hit 50 percent from the field with 14 points. The Huskers hit 51 percent of their field goals while the Wildcats cooled off in the second half ending up hitting 38 per cent of their field goals. The victory moved the Huskers' record to 19-3 overall; the best start ever for a Joe Cipriano coached club. The 19-3 mark tops the 18-3 mark set by the 1965-66 Husker team, who went on to compile a 20-5 season record. "It was one of our better games defen sively," Cipriano said. "It wasn't one of our better overall games, we made 10 errors in the first half. But we. did play better as a team in the second half." "I think Brian Banks is the best guard in the conference. He plays both ends of the court and gives us leadership." In the first half, the Huskers were unable to pull away from the Wildcats mainly because of turnovers. KSU had only five turnovers and were led Jay Blackman 's eight first -half points. The lead changed hands six times with the Huskers holding a 22-17 lead at one point. But two twenty-foot field goals one by Blackman and one by Scott Lang-ton-pulled the Wildcats to within one point. Despite its ten turnovers, the Huskers held a 31-29 halftime lead thanks to Mc Rpe's seven rebounds. The Huskers out rebounded KSU in the first half, 17-7. KSU's scoring duo of Evans and Redding were held to seven and six points apiece, respectively in the first half. Redding, who averaged 20.5 points, hit two of five shots while Evans, who aver ages 20.1 points, only hit three of eight shots. Mike Naderer's hot hand from the outside helped UNL maintain its narrow first-half lead. Naderer hit all three of his shots which were from 15 to 20 feet. i.i 11 j . . . The Huskers committed only four team fouls in the first half while KSU had eight team fouls. McPipe, who usually gets into early foul trouble, had one foul against the smaller Wildcat squad. hi other Big Eight action last night, Oklahoma beat Oklahoma State, 77-70. Oklahoma is now tied with KSU for fourth place, each with a 5-5 conference mark, Kansas maintained first place with a 72-52 victory over Missouri. Iowa State played at Colorado last night. Saturday afternoon, the Wildcats host league-leading and rival Kansas in a re gionally televised game. Third-place Iowa State hosts Oklahoma State while Oklaho ma hosts Colorado in other Big Eight action Saturday. Trie Huskers play Missouri at Columbia Saturday. Cipriand said it will not be an easy game for the Huskers. "Columbia is a tough place for us to play. They (Missouri) are a good team at home. They are physical inside like Iowa State and Gay Johnson is a good quick guard." Women snap seven-game losing skid By Rob Barney A 20-6 scoring spurt in the first 9 minutes and 30 seconds of the second half propelled the UNL women's basketball team to a 60-54 victory over Tarkio College of Missouri last night at the Sports Complex. The Huskers held a narrow 32-30 lead at the half, but quickly ran the Owls out of the game in the second half and coasted to their eighth win of the season against 1 6 losses. The victory was the first for UNL temporary head coach George Styker in seven tries and broke a Husker seven-game losing streak. "We had a height advantage and we tried to run on them t might," a happy Stryker said following the game. 'We've been trying to run before this but this is the first game weVe really been able to." -iff ;iVV J3 counted. Prenden) Jimmy Carta aignaO up Si timet The Huskers' all-time leading scorer, Jan Crouch, paced UNL with 16 points. Jeanne Boiler chipped in with 12 points. Linda Janssen added 10 points. "I was pleased with the play of all five starters," Stry ker said. "Jan (Crouch) started to look at the basket. She had been looking to pass too much. '"Boiler also did a super job on defense tonight. The guards played well and Shelley Scott and Sue Roubal played well off the bench." UNL opened up a ten-point lead in the first half 28-20, but Tarkio outscored the Huskers 104 in the last 4:30 to close the gap to two at halftime. Part of the reason Tarkio closed to within two, Stryker said, was he cleared the bench in the first half. "I don't think it was a mistake," he said. "We did make some errors but it gave a chance for the other girls to play and keeps the starters fresh. "It's good to get a victory. The kids played basketball and that's all you can ask for," Stryker added. Tarkio, who only suited up seven women, fell to 1 2-7. The Owls were led in scoring by Donna Schroer with 20 points and Laura Smith added 13. UNL will try to continue its winning ways this Satur day with a game at Fremont against Midland College. "Midland has four tall girls and one good ball handler," Stryker said. "It should be a good game." The Huskers will have to play well next Wednesday in their next home game against the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO). UNO has beaten UNL once this season. If they do it again, the Maverettes will represent Nebraska in the A1AW (Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women) regional playoffs. If the Huskers win, a playoff game will be held at Omaha Feb. 25. 3k- I Photo by Bob Vtnon A Tarkio College player prepares fo go up for t shot against Husker defender Linda Janssen. Hie women Huskers defeated the Tarkio squad 60-S4 to snap t seven-game losing streak . f
