Buchanan’s shot doesn’t fall, but crowds’ faces do
NEE from Page 8
at the right time and place.
“I thought it was a good shot and
the time was about appropriate, too,
because it still came off and there was
time for a tap,” he said. Nebraska
center Pete Manning tipped
Buchanan’s shot, but it missed and
Grayer grabbed the rebound to secure
the win for the Cyclones.
Van Poelgeest said he thought
Manning was fouled on his follow
shot.
‘‘I was waiting for the whistle,”
van Poelgeest said.
Buchanan said he is not pleased
with the amount of fouls being called
on the Huskers in the Big Eight sea
son. Nebraska was charged with 29
fouls compared to Iowa State’s 21.
“I don’t think it’s fair, to be hon
est,” he said.
Iowa State coach Johnny Orr, who
was ejected after a arguing a foul
during Iowa State’s 83-66 loss to
Kansas State Wednesday, said he
was content with the officiating Sat
urday.
“I thought the officiating was
certainly better than it was at our
place the other day,” Orr said. “There
were some strange calls, but they
were minor to what we’ve been get
ling” u • t,
Buchanan said he was happy with
the way Nebraska played. He said
Nebraska’s effort against Iowa State
wastheHuskcrs’ bestpcrformanceof
the conference season.
“We played for 40 minutes in
stead of playing in spurts,” Buchanan
said.
Buchanan scored six points
against the Cyclones, including a 30
foot, three-point basket with no time
left in the first half to give Nebraska
a 38-36 lead. The Huskers led by as
much as 10 points in the first half, but
Nee said early leads don’t mean
much.
“It’s a game of spurts, and early
leads like that are not a significant
part of the game because of the way
the games go back and forth,’ he said.
Iowa State opened the second half
by applying full-court pressure on
Nebraska and built an eight-point
lead. Nebraska battled back and built
leads as big as four points before
Iowa Stale outscored the Huskers H>
4 in the last 3:35 to post the win.
Lafester Rhodes scored 24 points
and pulled down 12 rebounds to lead
the Cyclones, while Terry Woods
scored 11 and Robinson added 10.
“It feels good to get a win on the
road,” Orr said. The Cyclones had
lost their first five Big Eight road
games. The loss dropped Nebraska
to 13-15 overall and 4-8 in thcconfer
enec, while Iowa State improved its
record to 18-10 and 4-8.
Nee said both teams played well.
“It certainly didn’t look like two
teams that had lost a lot of basketball
games,” Nee said. “I thought it was a
pretty good game.”
In addition to van Poclgecst’s 19
points, Johnson added 12, Jeff Re
keweg scored 11 and Reid and Der
rick Vick added 10 for the Huskcrs.
Nebraska’s next game is Wednes
day, when the Huskcrs make their
final home appearance of the season
by facing Kansas State. The game
begins at 7:35 p.m. at the sports
center.
Gymnast pummels pain, comeback pressure
By Richard Cooper
Staff Reporter
His teammates call him “Iron
Mike,” but not because he looks like
World Heavyweight Champion
Mike Tyson.
Instead, Nebraska gymnast Mike
Epperson has earned the nickname
because of the comeback he’s made
following reconstructive wrist sur
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gery, which caused him to miss last
season.
“I don’t think anybody else would
have come back from that kind of
injury,” teammate Tom Schlcsinger
said. “Mike is really a tough guy and
he’s back.”
Epperson, a junior from
Bartlesville, Okla., said he learned
two things during 1987: how to deal
with pain and how to comeback from
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a serious injury. For 15 months, he
wore a cast after surgery in May
1986.
When he finally returned to the
gym in September 1987, Epperson
said he was confronted with the pain
of working out.
“Since September, more than
once I’ve thought to myself, ‘Is going
through all the pain really worth it?’”
Epperson said. “There have been
mornings when I would wake up and
my wrist would hurt so bad that I
dreaded coming to the gym.
“The only thing that has kept me
going is knowing that someday, I’m
going to wake up and my wrist isn’t
going to hurt anymore,” he said.
Nebraska men’s gymnastics
coach Francis Allen said he knows a
broken wrist is painful.
“I had a gymnast here in 1979 that
I thought was going to be the next
NCAA all-around champion,” Allen
said. “He broke his wrist and after he
had the surgery, he couldn’t compete
anymore because of the pain.”
Allen said the wrist is one of the
most important parts on a gymnast’s
body. If die gymnast injures it, he
said, his career is over — unless he
has a high tolerance for pain.
When Epperson told him about his
wrist injury in December 1986, Allen
said, he thought Epperson’s career
was over.
But after surgery, he said, Epper
son told him he wanted to come back.
“Mike is a very dedicated gym
nast,” Allen said. “When he told me
he was going to try and come back, I
told him it was going to be a long and
painful process.
“Mike was at an all-time low, but
1 knew he was a tough kid and that he
would stick with it as long as he
could,” Allen said. “Now, he’s fi
nally in shape and is definitely going
to help us this year at the NCAA
Championships.”
Epperson’s freshman year at
Nebraska was his most successful,
Allen said. At the 1985 Big Eight
Championships, he earned all-Big
Eight in five of six events. That same
season, he finished fifth on the paral
lel bars at the NCAA Championships
with a 9.6, which earned him All
America status.
Allen said that before Epperson
hurl his wrist he was belter than team -
males Schlesinger and Kevin Davis,
who finished first and second in the
all-around at the 1987 NCAA Cham
pionships.
The team would have won if
Epperson had competed, Allen said.
Nebraska finished second to UCLA
at the 1987 NCAA Championships
by half a point.
Epperson said that when he found
out about his wrist, he was told he
would have to wear a cast for just
three months.
But what doctors thought was a
bone spur turned out to be a lot worse.
Dr. Pat Clare, the Nebraska gym
nastics orthopedic surgeon, said
Epperson’s injury resulted from an
old fracture of a small wrist bone that
went unnoticed for some time until
the pain increased. He said the bone
Epperson injured is “notorious” for
not healing well because it receives a
poor blood supply. About one-third
of such injuries do not heal, he said.
Clare performed a bone graft on
the wrist by using a small amount of
See EPPERSON on 11
Dropped baton wins relay for Huskers
CONTROVERSY from Page 9
of the 1,600-mcter relay.
The drop caused Oklahoma to
I—: ___
finish last in the 1,6()0-mclcr compe
tition. Nebraska’s team of Dale Bur
rage, Kenny Dixon, Bob Jelks and
Anthony Small helped the Husker
men capture the Big Eight Champi
I
onship by finishing second to Iowa
State.
Lambeth said he was upset with
Small because the Husker junior
bumped him as the two runners jock
eyed for the inside position. He said
the bump caused him to drop his
baton.
“He just knocked it out of my hand
— just right out,” Lambeth said. ‘‘I
don’t even want to talk about it. It’s
just loo bad they had to cheat to w in.”
But Nebraska track coach Gary
Pepin said he doubts Small forced
Lambeth to drop his baton.
“I didn’t see any infraction,”
Pepin said. “The OU runner was
holding the baton in his left hand, the
hand away from Small. I doubt that
Small even made contact with the
baton.”
Small said Lambeth dropped his
baton because he was pushing.
“I wanted to get to the inside, but
he wouldn’t let me,” Small said. “He
was kind of pushing me out.”
Jclks said he couldn’t understand
why there was so much controversy
surrounding the incident.
“I really don’t know what all the
fuss was about,” he said. “We didn’t
even need to finish the race to win it
all andOU wouldn’t havecaughtlSU
if they would have won anyway.”
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