page 14
daily nebraskan
monday, february 5, 1979
Cagers leave Buffs in the dust
By Ed McClymont
A Sports Center record of 14,999 people watched the
Nebraska Cornhuskers rout Colorado 79-52 Saturday
night, keeping NU in the Big Eight title chase.
The bruising, physical contest worked to the advantage
of NU because the Buffs only suited up nine players, two
of which fouled out.
"It's bound to catch up with you sooner or later when
you only have nine bodies," Colorado coach Bill Blair
said.
The Huskers meanwhile controlled the boards 36-19
and were never seriously threatened.
The tone of the contest was set early when Mike
Naderer was pushed to the court by CU's Toney Ellis and
a shouting match followed.
"I've played against them (Colorado) six times, and
they've always tried to intimidate me," Naderer said.
Foul play
"Being aggressive is one thing, but you have to draw a
line between that and taking cheap shots. They're just a
dirty ball club."
Although no foul was called on the play, officials Ray
Clymer and Charlie Weema did find enough time to call
51 fouls for the game, 27 on NU and 24 on CU.
All five of UNL's starters had a hand in Nebraska's
first 1 1 tallies, but it was Curt Hedberg off the bench who
helped Nebraska spurt to a 27-1 1 lead with eight minutes
left in the first half. Hedberg hit for seven points in that
span and Colorado never got closer than 12 points the rest
of the game.
"They (Nebraska) really played well," Blair said. "It
was probably the worst game we have played all year, and
that's partially Nebraska's doing. They took us out of
our offense. That was smart on Joe's (Cipriano) part."
Success at the line
Part of NU's success throughout the game was free
throw shooting. Nebraska made 23 of 27 at the line,
and has now connected on 40 of 44 in their last two out
ings. A string of 19 was snapped in the first half when
Bob Moore's toss rimmed out.
"The players have always thought they were good free
throw shooters, but now they are getting more confi
dence at it," Cipriano said.
Any hopes Colorado had of getting back into the game
were dashed when CU's 6-foot-9 Brian Johnson picked up
his fourth foul a minute into the second half. Nebraska's
Carl McPipe then began doiminating the middle as he
picked up several of his game high 21 points and 12
rebounds.
"Brian didn't get to play hardly at all," Blair said. "The
officials wanted to make sure nobody got hurt."
Rally fell short
Colorado did muster a brief rally of six straight points
to cut the gap to 12, but NU's Gerard Myrthil put the
game out of reach by using two steals and a free throw to
build a 51-31 lead.
Also in that span, Emmett Lewis, Colorado's leading
scorer picked up a technical when he took out
his frustration by throwing the ball into the crowd.
Andre Smith also finished in double figures for
Nebraska with 15.
Senior guard Brian Banks had only four points but
combined with Bob Moore to hold down Emmet Lewis,
the Big Eight's leading scorer. Lewis scored 13 points, 8
under his Big Eight average of 21 .
Tied for second
Missouri and Nebraska are now tied for second in the
conference standirgs with 5-3 records, while Oklahoma
is alone at the top with a 6-2 record, the first time this
year one team has been the sole leader.
The Huskers travel to Manhattan to take on Kansas
State Wednesday night and return home to face Iowa
State Saturday night.
"It's going to be a tough game," Cipriano said of the K
State contest. "But we always seem to play good at
K-State. Part of it must be their basketball atmosphere."
Naderer is confident of the Husker's chances against
the Wildcats.
"If we play with intensity we can stay with anyone in
the Big Eight," Naderer said.
Photo by Mary Anne Golon
Nebraska's Bob Moore tries to get around Colo
rado's Brian Johnson in Nebraska's 79-52 victory
over Colorado Saturday.
Winning relay gives mens track team the edge in dual
Saturday's men's track dual between
Nebraska and Kansas went down to the
wire, but the outcome of the mile relay
cinched a win for the Huskers.
Going into the relay , the score was Ne
braska 65, Kansas 61 . Since five points are
awarded to the relay winner, the outcome
of the meet rested on that event.
The relay looked bad for Nebraska until
Ray Mahoney took the baton in the event's
third leg. Bryan Ness led off for the Husker
team and was trailing slightly when he
handed the baton to Pat McKenzie.
McKenzie also was unable to overtake the
J ay hawks.
Then Mahoney was handed the baton.
It looked as though he had been fired from
a gun as he made up five yards and passed
the Kansas runner, giving anchor -man Scott
Poehling a lead .
Poehling then sealed the victory with
a strong leg in the final 100 yards and
Nebraska won the meet, 70-61 .
"It was one big team effort. I guess I
gave my little part. All we had to do was
get Scott close and we knew he'd do it,"
Mahoney said. "We had the third fastest
time in the nation. We weren't worried, we
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knew they couldn't touch us."
Poehling said the team title was what
was important.
"The mile relay is a big thing here in the
Big Eight. Teams take a lot of pride in their
mile relays. Ours' was real tough out there
today. I'm glad to see we weren't awed by
KU. That's a really big stepping stone as
far as the team is concerned."
The mile relay times were 3:13.02 for
UNL and 3:13.89 for the Jayhawks-both
NCAA qualifying times.
Also qualifying for the national NCAA
meet were Poehling and KU's Lester Mick
ens in the 600-yard run. Poehling won the
event in 1:09.60 and Mickens was second
with a 1:10.34 clocking.
"I felt great," Poehling said about the
win. "The actual time was unimportant,
the main objective here was to beat Kansas,
everything else was secondary."
"Mickens is a great athlete, but 1 owed
him one. I knew after the first 220 that he
was going to give it to me. Mickens
and I have two years of competition left
and I'm not going to give him anything,"
he said.
Other Nebraska winners were Dan Pen
sick in the shot put (51-9); Mark Fluitt in
the mile (4:06.36) and 1,000-yard run
(2:12.07); Brian Dunnigan in the two mile
(8:56.76); Paul Downes in the 880
(1:54.17); Randy Brooks in the 60-yard
low hurdles (6.75); and Doug Phelps in the
high jump (6-11).
Phelps, the defending Big Eight indoor
and outdoor champion, is in his first year
of physical therapy school in Omaha and
it wasn't sure if the Hastings product
would compete for the Huskers this year.
Even though Phelps has been participat
ing with the team in meets, he hasn't been
to practice much, according to field events
coach Dick Railsback.
"Doug has practiced one time and plays
basketball," Railsback said. "Considering
his workload, I am pleasantly surprised
with Doug's performance so far."
Phelps said he hopes to work out more
now. "7-1 is my personal best, and I'd like
to at least do that again so 1 can go to the
nationals. I just like to go to all the meets,
compete well and win," Phelps said.
The next action for NU is the Husker
Invitational on Feb. 10 when Minnesota,
Iowa State, Missouri. Iowa, and Air Force
are slated to visit the Bob Devaney Sports
Center.
'LT'
Photo by Bob Pearson
KU runner Lester Mickens and Nebraska Scott Poehling round the curve into the
final leg of what was the deciding race at the Nebraska-Kansas dual track meet Satur
day. Poehling won the race and Nebraska won the meet, 70-61 .
Nebraska men's swimming team fell to
Missouri Saturday, 6449. at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center despite three firsts
by Anders Rutqvist. Will Douglas had a
second place but did set a school record in
the 200-yard backstroke.
UNL divers Steve Elliot. Lance Green
and Todd Bendkowski swept the one-meter
diving competition and Green and Bend
kowski took the first two spots in three
meter diving.
Winning the final event in natioru!
qualifying time gave Missouri women's
swim team a victory in the dual against
Nebraska Saturday at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center.
Though UNL's 200-yard freestyle team
set a school record, their efforts were not
enough for a first place. Kristi Wells'
efforts, however, were enough as she
qualified for the national meet in diving.
Other firsts went to Cary BackhousI
who also set a school record in the 50-yard
freest) le. JoDean Lckstrom and Melanie
Jakob.
