V'T SDOrtS Nebraskan ^ A ^ ^ ^ Monday, March 18,1991 Career’s last match leaves Kelber smiling By Chuck Green Senior Reporter IOWA CITY, Iowa—No, il wasn’t heaven. It was Iowa. But last Saturday night, Jason Kelber didn’t know the difference. As television cameras recorded and report ers asked question after question, Kelber, Nebraska’s starting wrestler in the 126-pound weight class, stood against an NCAA Wres tling Championship Tournament backdrop and smiled. He answered questions and shook hands, but he couldn’t quit smiling. He had no reason to stop. Kelber, a senior, had just beaten Iowa’s Terry Brands for the individual title at the NCAA championships before 13,223 fans at Carver-Hawkeyc .Arena, and the eyes of the collegiate wrestling world, at least for the lime being, were focused on him. Throughout the last year, Kelber had been focused on Brands. Last year at the NCAA tournament, Brands beat Kelber 3-2 to win the championship. Right after the match, Kelber said, he knew what he wanted to do one year later. “I’ve never wanted to wrestle anyone more than I wanted to wrestle Brands again,” Kelbcr said. “I lost it last year, and I had to redeem myself.” Brands and Kelbcr, who have been ranked first and second in the country all season, were the tournaments top seeds at 126, and both sailed through their first four matches to make it to the final. Once in the final, Kelbcr wasted no time in his long-awaited redemption. In the first period, Kelbcr avoided two shots by Brands, thwarting takedowns and avoiding points. Kelbcr then caught Brands for a take down and two points 40 seconds into the pe riod. Brands escaped for a point and grabbled Kelbcr’s leg. But Kelbcr again refused to go down. Kclfcicr scored a second two-point take down with 50 seconds left in the period, from which Brands escaped 37 seconds later. At the end of the first period, Kelbcr led 4 See KELBER on 11 Husker wrestlers 1 Oth in NCAAs despite ending season injury-free By Chuck Green Senior Reporter IOWA CITY, Iowa — After the injury riddled season Nebraska’s wrestling team has had, Comhuskcr coach Tim Neumann was hoping for a few good breaks. Figuratively speaking, of course. The Huskers, ranked ninth in the final Amateur Wrestling News regular-season coaches’ poll, finally were injury-free en tering the NCAA championships this week end. That didn’t help as much as Neumann would have liked. Nebraska scored 38 points in the tourna ment and finished 10th. Jason Kclbcr won the individual champi onship in the 126-pound weight class, but Nebraska’s only other All-American was 177-pounder Scott Chenoweth, who fin ished seventh by default. Neumann said the draws — the brackets in which the wrestlers arc selected — that Nebraska received had a lot to do with the Huskcrs’ lOth-placc finish. “With the draws we got, our finish was exactly what I expected,” he said. “Last year, we got the most perfect draws pos sible, and it showed (Nebraska finished fifth). This year, our draws were terrible. “And it showed.” Of the nine Husker qualifiers, only Kclber and Chenoweth remained in competition at the beginning of Friday night’s quarterfi See WRESTLERS on7l UNLV takes first-ever win over Rebels A B A A A I III I—MM— ■ —W I I ■ M ■ 1BIII ■ IMMIB MII ■ ! 1—1 Ml AIMIII—■MMI—TM^—MMl—lWWIITir——I———Ml INCAA t0p-2U teams advance Th« Associated Press UNLV passed its toughest test of the season Sunday, surviving a brutal battle against Georgetown to advance to the final 16 of the NCAA tourna ment. The Runnin’ Rebels beat the Hoyas 62-54, ex tending their winning streak to 43 and reaching the West Regional semifinals for the fifth time in six years. UNLV (32-0) played most of Sunday’s game without starting cen ter George Ackles, who sprained his foot in the opening round. But the Rebels used their speed and ferocious defense to overcome Georgetown’s giants, 7-foot-2 Dikcmbc Mutombo and 6-10 Alonzo Mourning. Larry Johnson led UNLV with 20 points, while Greg Anthony had 15 and Anderson Hunt 14. Mutombo led the Hoyas with 16 points. Georgetown (19-13) never folded, fighting back from UNLV surges that would have put away most teams. It was UNLV’s first victory ever against Georgetown. The Rebels advanced to the re gional semifinals at Seattle, where they play Utah on Thursday. Utah made it to the final 16 by beating Michigan Stale 85-84 in double over time. In the East, North Carolina beat Villanova 84-69 and Eastern Michi gan edged Penn State 71-68 in over time. Arkansas downed Arizona Stale 97-90 and Alabama defeated Wake Forest 96-88 in the Southeast, while Ohio State beat Georgia Tech 65-61 and St. John’s lopped Texas 84-76 in the Midwest. On Thursday, UNLV will play Utah and Arizona will face Seton Hall at Seattle. At Charlotte, N.C., Arkansas will play Alabama and Indiana will meet Kansas. On Friday, North Carolina will play Eastern Michigan and Temple will meet Oklahoma State at East Rutherford, N.J. At Pontiac, Mich., Ohio State plays St. John’s and Duke faces Connecticut. East No. 4 N. Carolina 84, Villanova 69 At Syracuse, N. Y., North Carolina (27-5) reached the final 16 for a rec ord 11th straight year. George Lynch had 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Tar Heels. Lance Miller scored 17 points for Villanova (17-15). E. Michigan 71, Penn St. 68, OT Lorenzo Neely scored five points for the Hurons in overtime as Eastern Michigan advanced to the regional semifinals for the first time. NCAA MEN’S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP 1991 1st Round: 2nd Round: Ragioncis Indianapolis Monday. April 1 Indianapolis Ragionala 2nd Round: 1st Round: March 14-15 March 1ft-17 March 30 March 30 March 1 ft-17 March 14-15 west 11.WNUY... UNlV 99^5 16) Montana „ . J.I I UNLV 62-54 8) Georgetown.. _ .J.-■ F^Q?*?"" 70:60| TucMn ^Vanderbilt.I Arizona 5i.MteWO*n.St,.- Mi^an s,. 60-58 ££ . 12IWIV .Green. Bay. 1.1 lutah85-84 .l.WM)..| Utah 82-72 I idbi. overtime 131S. Alabama.I. 6)N M. State _ . _ Seattle, Washington . .March 21 & 23 11).Gre*ghton J I Seton Hall 81 -69 3) Seton Hall _ _ I. '■.| Seton Hall 71-51 | Salt Lake 1.4l.P*PPenJ)r*.|. City, Utah TJ. YW'*. Brig Young 61-48 . I.Pl.BfHlj Young.J I | Artz. 76-61 2) Arizona . , _ I. '■.a Arizona 93 80 | !5).St..Franda.(Pa.}|. MIDWEST 1) Ohio St. I Ohio St. 97-86 .lohio St. 65-61 8) Georgia Tech I I Ga Tech 87-70 I .Z Dayton, Ohio . 5) Texas. March 15-17 .| Texas 73-85 .?2).St, Peter's.I.I St,John's 4) St. John's I 84 76 .ISt John's 75-68 I .I.* Pontiac, Michigan 6) LSU March 22 4 24 .| Connecticut 79-62 XU CWPKm.I .I Conn. 66-50 3) Nebraska (Xavier 89-64 |Mtru*«poil« .1 Minnesota . 7) Iowa Mar .14-16 ..I Iowa 76-73 .10) E.Tenn.St..|.lDuke85 70 2) Duke I Duke 102-73 . _1 N. Carolina N. Carolina 101-66 g-'-. |.16)..NprBTeastem .. . 8) Princeton Y"lr>0'*50:**...r'u;,. M.M l«l.Y»*rwa.. E. Michigan 76-56 |9..“»**W>'». 112) Eastern Michigan ,M^£68 4) UCLA overtime [ penn St. 74-69 | *. .113). Penn State East Rutherford, N.J. „ March 22 & 24 N. C. St. 114-85 ^ - : *. .111) Southern Miss . 3) Oklahoma St Okla. St. 67-54 I7. Park, Md. .11.4).N«w.Mexico. M“a”*-,6T.mpi. 60-63 ,.5.^!*-.. 110) Temple 'ample 77-641 " . . .| Richmond 73<9 . .1.15)_ . SOUTHEAST 1) Arkansas Arkansas 117-76 |"7,. Arkansas 97-90 I 1.16). Georgia St.. Atlanta I •) Arizona St... I Arizona St. 79-76 |. Oaorgla ■.19) Rutgers . March 1«^.17 ... . - 5) Wake Forest '9-ir Wake Forest 71-65 | 7. Ala. 96-86 1.112) Louisiana Tech,. j 4) Alabama I Alabama 89-79 I" . Charlotte, N.C. 1.|13) Murray St.... March 21 & 23 „ . 6) Pittsburgh Pittsburgh 76-68 OT | . . Kansas 77-66 I.I.1.1)