-
Thursday, March 8, 1C34
Pago 16
Daily Ncbraskan
A ti
T! '
boosts KSJ jto vic'icery
r r
(5JJL
ill
By Siu Pospbil
Tom Alfaro helped Nebraska sing the Kansas City
blues Wednesday night as Kansas State upset the
Huskers, 41-39, in the first round of the Big Eight
tournament.
Alfaro's 18-foot jumper from the right side with
. two seconds left thrust the Wildcats into the confer
ence semi-finals' at Kansas City's Kemper Arena for
the seventh time in eiht years.
It was the Wildcats' first win over Nebraska this
year after two previous losses.
A desperation shot by Nebraska's Stan Cloudy
bounced away at the final buzzer.
Alfaro's heroics were set up by Tyrone Jackson's
interception of a David Ponce pass with 12 seconds
left. After a Wildcat timeout, guard Jim Roder
dribbled to the base line and threw the ball out to an
open Alfaro.
"It couldn't have been designed any better on the
board," said Kansas State Coach Jack Hartman.
During the timeout, "We were talking about late
game situations. We didn't want them to dictate it."
Nebraska Coach Moe Iba said, "We threw the ball
away. They got the chance, and we didn't."
Ponce's errant pass was made as Nebraska was
running down the clock for a potential winning
basket. He made no excuses after the game, saying,
"Well ... I just threw the ball away."
Outscoring Nebraska 25-15 in the second half,
Kansas State held the Huskers to their lowest point
production since a 45-39 loss to Kansas during the
1962-63 season. The 80 points scored also set a
sports center record for fewest points by both
teams.
Nebraska's scoring woes began after the Huskers
had taken a 10-point second-half lead. Kansas State
held Nebraska scoreless for three minutes as a
Roder three-point play with 14:10 left brought the
Wildcats to 27-25.
"We got too tentative," said Nebraska center Dave
Hoppen, who scored only one of his 11 points after
halftime. "We just stopped playing offensive basket
ball, and it definitely hurt us. Kansas State also got a
few breaks in the second half."
One of those was a charging foul on Hoppen,
negating a Husker basket with 1 4:25 left.
Baskets by Eric Williams, Brian Carr and Stan
Cloudy maintained Nebraska's two-point cushion
until the Huskers again went cold.
Two Roder free throws tied the game at 33, then
an Alfaro basket produced Kansas State's first lead
with 7:17 left.
Ponce's 21-footer with 6:37 left regained a tie for
the Huskers before Roder sank both ends at a
one-and-one.
After another long jumper by Ponce, Kansas State
turner over the ball as Ben Mitchell stepped out-of-bounds
following an offensive rebound.
Cloudy then gave Nebraska its final lead as he
tipped in a miss by Curtis Moore with 2:21 left.
Alfaro countered with an 18-footer 30 seconds later.
"Defensively, I felt we played better this game than
in the others (with Kansas State)," Iba said. "Our
UJ7
Vir
Crsij AndresenDsSiy Nebrsskan
Nebraska's Stan Cloudy drives to the basket
despite the effort cf K-St&te's Tyrone Jackson.
offense just had a tough night."
In the first half, Nebraska opened up a nine-point
lead after a slow start. Cloudy's layup midway
through the period broke a 6-6 tie as Nebraska out
scored the Wildcats 14-5 in a seven-minute span;
Cloudy and Hoppen each scoring four points in the
spurt.
That lead shrank as a layup by Roder and two
Mitchell free throws drew the Widlcats to 20-15.
After two free throws by Hoppen and one by Kansas
State's Eddie Elder, Nebraska held the ball for Pon
ce's 21 -foot pushshot at halfs end.
"We got a little passive in the first half," Hartman
said. Kansas State took only 11 shots, making six.
While Nebraska must wait for a possible invitation
from the National Invitation Tournament, Kansas
State meets in-state rival Kansas in Friday's 9:30
p.m. semi-final.
"It was a heckuva win for us," Hartman said.
Alfaro and Roder each scored 12 points for the
14-14 Wildcats. Cloudy led Nebraska scorers with 1 2
points and nine rebounds. Hoppen added seven
boards as Nebraska held a 22-17 advantage.
Nebraska finished the regular season 17-11.
a.
'ft
1 I
- 4
r
TT-
lie Hikers Devil Penes lisers Lis eye cnths bull wkils K-Ctrla'eJfca Ecdcrlsck3 fsrecneseto
12-3 to. Netrka's 41-C3 Izzi 7tZzzzZzy rikt crsli tkeir Llj E!kt tzztzizzzzrX - . ;.-
Will Huskers be
NIT-picked for
tourney berth?
By I Lirk Zebolsky
Nebraska may still be one of 32 teams chosen
by the National Invitational Tournament sel
ection committee Sunday night, despite its 41
39 loss to Kansas State, according to Big Eight
Service Bureau Director Tim Allen.
Allen cited Nebraska's season home attend
ance average of 10,336 as a positive factor in
the committee's selection.
"They want teams that are going to draw at
home," Allen said. "Nebraska will draw welL
There's that good possibility that they're going
to look at revenue also." Nebraska sold out two
of three NIT games last season.
Nebraska Coach Moe Iba said after Wednes
day night's loss to Kansas State that he had no
idea of his team's NIT outlook.
If Nebraska does make it to the NIT, it will be
its fifth appearance. Nebraska has a 4-4 record
in NIT games, advancing to the semi-finals last
year before losing to DePauL
The NITs first round games will be played
March 14-16 and will feature competition
between teams not chosen for the NCAA tour
nament. The NIT selection committee will
choose its teams after the NCAA has picked its
53 teams Sunday afternoon.
Out of the NCAA's 53 teams, 25 will be con
ference champions. The other 28 will receive
at-large bids, and Allen said he feels that Kan
sas, with a 19-9 record, has an excellent shot at
one of the NCAA's 53 slots, especially if they
beat Kansas State Friday.
That would leave Nebraska, Iowa State,
Kansas State and Colorado as the most proba
ble choices for the NIT. Of those four, Nebraska
has the best record, 17-11. Colorado and Iowa
State both had 15-12 records before their
game Wednesday night. Kansas State is 14-14
after beating Nebraska.
Allen said the Big Eight should be a good
looking conference to the NIT selection com
mittee because of its exciting style of play.
4
4 . ' " '
v; -1 : -J
'i
! f y
' - V i
y S "a
M I ; 1
Cnlj Ar.irz;:nC:: r:
Dsve Hoppen resl!y ij tks t!j
middle" 3 ha cct3 r; fjr iv;o.
