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)<?.*«»*..
Louisville, I , ..3).«an»"..
I Kansas 55-49 I
Kentucky ■.114) New Orleans
. March .
14-18 Florida Stale 75-72 .
Indiana 82-601.11Q) Southern California
2) Indiana
I Indiana 79*9 | .
.l.1.5).Cpasta!.C«rpfihf
The Hurons (26-6) were first-round
losers in their only previous NCAA
appearance, in 1988. Penn Slate (21
11) hasn’t advanced beyond the sec
ond round since 1954.
Southeast
No. 19 Alabama 96, Wake Forest 88
At Atlanta, Melvin Chcatum.Gary
Waites and Latrcll Sprewcll each
scored 21 points for Alabama (23-9).
Chris King scored 29 points for
Wake Forest (19-11), which was
making its first NCAA appearance
since 1984.
No. 2 Arkansas 97, Arizona St. 98
Arkansas started quickly, then held
off Arizona State to set a school rec
ord for victories in a season.
Oliver Miller had 19 points and 10
rebounds for Arkansas (33-3), while
freshman Jamal Faulkner led Arizona
Slate (20-1) with 29 points.
Midwest
No. 5 Ohio St. 65, Georgia Tech 61
At Dayton, Ohio, Perry Carter had
19 points and 18 rebounds as Ohio
State held off a late charge by Geor
gia Tech.
Jim Jackson added 16 points for
the Buckeyes (27-3), including three
free throws in the final 17.4 seconds.
Kenny Anderson had 25 points
and six rebounds for Georgia Tech
(17-13).
No. 20 St. John’s 84, No. 23 Texas
76
St. John’s ended four years of
tournament frustration, using its pa
tient ollense and pinpoint shooting to
wear down Texas.
Texas (23-9) tried tight man-to
man coverage, half-court traps, even
an uncharacteristic full-court press.
®Ut n°lJ?'n8 workcd against the Red
men (22-8).
Billy Singleton led Sl John’s with
-1 points, and Joey Wright paced the
AP
Longhorns with 32.
West
No. 10 Utah 85, Michigan St. 84 (2
OT)
At Tucson, Ariz., Josh Grant stored
a season-high 29 points and the Utes
overcame frigid frec-throw shooting
to reach the final 16 for the first time
since 1983.
Walter Waits put Utah (30-3) ahead
to stay at 81-79 on a dunk with 1:34
left in the second overtime. A
throw by Watts v/ith 10 seconds left
gave Utah an 85-81 lead, giving the
Utes enough cushion to withstand Steve
Smith’s three-pointer with three sec
onds remaining. AI1X
Smith led Michigan State (19-1U
with 28 points.
