10
Daily Nebraskan
Fiiday, March 11, 1983
Sports
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NU svmnasts defeat UCLA
By Jeff Goodwin and Patty Pryor
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Staff photo by JohnZoz
For the last time at home, senior Scott Johnson performs on the parallel bars in
Thursday night's dual with UCLA. Johnson won the all-around honors and helped
Nebraska to win 285.45 to 281 .25.
In their last home meet at Nebraska,
Scott Johnson and Phil Cahoy went out
the same way they came in - as winners.
The Husker gymnastics team avenged
an earlier defeat by UCLA and handed
the Bruins a 285.45 to 281.25 defeat
Thursday night at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center.
"It was a little bit too much to beat the
second-place team by," Head Coach
Francis Allen said. "I would just as soon
not have done this well and saved it for
later."
Despite the defeat, UCLA Coach Art
Shurlock was pleased with his team's
score.
"A 281 score is not anything to be
displeased about," Shurlock said. "This
was our second- or third-best total ever.
We just had some broken routines.
Nebraska was just a lot cleaner in their
routines."
As usual, Johnson and Cahoy led the
Huskers.
Cahoy placed third in the all-around
with a score of 57.9. Johnson won the all
around, edging out UCLA's Peter Vidmar
by a score of 58.35 to 58.1 5.
En route to his all-around title, Johnson
won three individual events, scoring a
9.7 in the floor exercise, 9.8 in the rings,
and a 9.75 with the parallel bars. Cahoy
won two individual titles. He won the
pommel horse with a 9.8, and his score
of 9.9 in the high bar barely edged Vid
mar's 9.85.
However, Allen was not without disap
pointment, despite the Huskers' impres
sive showing.
"We had four major breaks we
shouldn't have had." Allen called two of
these breaks coaching mistakes.
"We had (Wes) Suter on the wrong
rings routine, and we changed (Chris)
Riegel's horse routine."
Riegcl suffered two other major breaks
on high bar and pommel horse. On high
bar, he missed his grip going into a hand
stand. "He slid out the back way (on his
handstand) and all you can do then is
get off and save your life," Allen said.
Riegel suffered a slight shoulder ir
ritation in the fall.
"He'll take tomorrow off and be fine.
He's pretty tough," Allen said.
"It's a little sore, but it scared me more
than anything," Riegel said. "I dislocated
it in the handstand and then landed on it
when I fell.
"When I fell off the pommel horse
earlier, I decided to put everything on
the line. That dislocation in the hand
stand was something I've never done
before."
Riegel came back and finished the
event with a 9.45. He also used a new
dismount.
(Vluzzoyi's Caveone
By Kevin VVarneke
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His credentials speak for themselves.
He held North Carolina's Sam Perkins to 16 points,
Virginia's Ralph Sampson to 21 points, Oklahoma's
Wayman Tisdale to 19 points, Oklahoma State's Leroy
Combs to 1 1 points (twice) and finally Nebraska's Dave
Hoppen to less than 1 2 points twice.
Yet nobody knows his face (or name, for that mat
ter.) Greg Cavener needs an American Express card.
"The reason why we have him guard the big men of
opposing teams is that he is a good defensive player,"
Missouri assistant coach Gary Filbert said. "Keeping
(Missouri center) Steve Stipanovich out of foul trouble
is another factor."
Having Cavener guard the opposing team's center
. allows Stipanovich to guard someone like Claude Renfro,
Filbert said, and enables him to help Cavener guard his
man.
"We actually have two centers and one forward the
way our offense works," Cavener said. "Stipo and 1 are
always inside."
Missouri, Cavener said, will be ready for Nebraska
when the two teams meet in semifinal action ot the Big
Eight Tournament tonight in Kansas City.
"It will be a tough challenge, though," he said, " lhey
think they can beat us."
One of the keys to defeating Nebraska, Cavener said,
will be his shutting down center Dave Hoppen.
"If he has a big night, the team has a big night," he
said. "But their other players are good, too, and we just
can't key by shifting down on Hoppen."
Although he said his role on the team is for defensive
purposes, he still manages his share of rebounds and
points.
Cavener currently averages 10.7 points a game while
retrieving 8.5 rebounds per game.
"I just take what comes to me," he said. "When I get
points, it's a bonus for our team. Most ot my points
come off of layups and crib shots."
But according to Filbert,Cavener has many strengths
outside the realm of scoring and rebounding.
Cavener's quick feet, determination and hands are
other strong points of his game, Filbert said.
"He also takes the ball to the hole really well with his
left hand," Filbert said.
Of all the talented players whom he has guarded this
season, Cavener said, he ranks Tisdale at the top, even
over Sampson.
"Scoring-wise, Tisdale would have to be the best,"
Cavener said. "When he gets the ball, he can score in so
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many different ways. He was a lot more active than
Ralph.
"Sampson's a great player, but he didn't move around
as much. But when he does get the ball, he can do any
thing." As for Missouri's chances of capturing the NCAA
crown, Cavener said he is optimistic, yet reserved.
"It's hard to say," he said. "There are so many teams
that can win it all. There's not one clear favorite.
"We must be prepared every game or we could get
beat.
"But 1 do feel that we have a good chance of getting to
the finals."
Looking down the road to next year, Cavener said he
probably will play center unless Missouri can recruit a
1 big man who can step in and play.
What Cavener is worried about is losing Stipanovich
and guard Jon Sundvold to graduation.
"It's going to be rough going to practice and not having
them to kick us around," he said. "It'll be a tremendous
loss to our team."
But Cavener said he won't be alone next year.
"We've got other players on our team," he said. "Ron
Jones and Prince Bridges have done a super job this year
and they'll be back."
The biggest news of the first round of
the Big Eight Conference post-season
tournament came as little surprise to
coaches of the remaining four teams in
the tourney.
Kansas' 87-77 upset victory over Okla
homa in Norman, Okla., may have been
unexpected by officials of CBS - which
is televising the Big Eight final on Sunday
nationally, and no doubt was hoping for
an OU-Missouri matchup - but was "wait
ing to happen," Kansas Assistant Coach
Bob Hill said Wednesday.
"It was a really emotional situation,"
Hill said from Lawrence, Kan. "Oklahoma
had four seniors playing their final home
game, and Wayman (Tisdale) had just been
named conference player of the year.
"They came out strong early, and we
had to take an early time out," Hill said.
Oklahoma jumped out to a 10-2 lead, he
said.
"But we came back out and concentrat
ed on defense," Hill said. "David Little
and Tisdale are too good of scorers to be
shut down, so you have to make them
work for their shots instead."
Kelly Knight did a "great job" defen
sively on Tisdale, Hill said, holding the
freshman sensation to just six field goals
in 18 attempts.
Freshman Calvin Thompson, mean
while, held Little to just six of 14 from
the field, while making 15 of 20 attempts
himself.
"Calvin just did a tremendous job on
Little," Hill said. "For a young player to
take a veteran like Little out of his offense
is just tremendous."
Hill said the absence of Oklahoma
Coach Billy Tubbs, who is still recovering
from injuries suffered in a jogger-auto
mobile accident nearly three weeks ago,
affected the Sooners.
"In a game of this importance, it's
really difficult for an assistant coach to
act as head coach," Hill said. Sooner
assistant Mike Newell has been acting head
coach since Tubbs' accident.
"We tried to get into situations where
Mike would have to react like Billy
would," Hill said. "Oklahoma seemed a
bit frazzled when things started to go
wrong, maybe because ot Mike's being
put into Billy's shoes."
Kansas thus advanced to tonight's
second semifinal game against Oklahoma
State in Kansas City, Mo. Oklahoma
State Coach Paul Hansen said from Kansas
City that he doesn't expect much of a
letdown by his players since they will
not be facing their intra-state rivals.
"I think our players really wanted to
play Oklahoma again," Hansen said, "but
we're a veteran club. We know that if we
take Kansas for granted, especially in
Kansas City (which is Jayhawk territory),
it will certainly be a long night for us."
Somewhat pushed into the background
by the Kansas victory was Nebraska's
semifinal contest against Missouri, which
precedes the Kansas-Oklahoma State game.
The Cornhuskers have an opportunity
to avenge a 54-51 loss to Mizzou in Lincoln
Feb. 26, which eliminated the Huskers
from the Big Eight regular-season title race.
"It's tough to beat any team three times
in one season," Nebraska Assistant Coach
Randy Cipriano said. "Our players think
they can beat Missouri, and that's half
the battle."
Cipriano said Missouri comes into the
contest as a better team than the one
which defeated the Huskers in Lincoln
last month.
"Earlier, they had just two players (All
Big Eight performers Steve Stipanovich
and Jon Sundvold) who were looking to
shoot," Cipriano said. "But recently,
they've had more people getting involved
in the offense, which is just going to free
Stipo and Jon all the more."
The Huskers, however, will have little
trouble getting psyched up for Missouri,
Cipriano said.
"It's never difficult to get up for playing
a team as good as they are," he said.
Missouri Assistant Coach Gary Filbert
said, meanwhile, that the Tigers are well
aware of the problems Nebraska presents.
"We were fortunate to beat them in
Lincoln," Filbert said. "They play the
tough, deliberate type of game which
makes it hard for us to get our offense
moving."
Tipoff for the Mizzou-Nebraska contest
isat 7:10 pjn.
