Sports
Thursday, March 28,1996 Page 9
Trevor Parks
Huskers hustle
to tide game
at the Garden
NEW YORK —Time for redemp
tion.
When everyone gave the Nebraska
basketball team up for dead, the
Cornhuskers got a reprieve. That was
an invite to the National Invitation
Tournament.
Now Nebraska has advanced to the
NIT championship game against St.
Joseph’s tonight. And all the New York
media can ask is how a team that boy
cotted a practice and lost 10 of its last
11 games is in this position, l
Before the NIT began, Coach
Danny Nee said his team was a long
shot to win a game in the tournament,
let alone the whole thing.
With all that said, Nebraska typi
fies the NIT.
Outside of Madison Square Garden
there has been little fanfare about this
tournament—although there arc a lot
of car horns honking and cabs trying
to run down pedestrians.
In Manhattan, banners welcoming
the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four
teams to town hang in the city’s streets.
There’s one problem. The NCAA
Final Four is being played in East
Rutherford, N.J., eight miles west of
Madison Square Garden.
At the Marriott Marquis, the hotel
at which the Cornhuskers are staying,
a huge black banner hangs with white
writing that says, “Welcome 1996
NCAA Final Four teams.”
That’s kind of fitting for the Ne
braska basketball team. Were it not for
a 70-66 win over Kansas State on
March 3 at the Bob Devaney Sports
Center, Nebraska wouldn’t have even
been chosen for the NIT.
In all reality, this is still the NIT,
not the NCAA Tournament. So the
Huskers’ recent revival does not war
rant national attention.
Bernard Gamer, who lost just 11
games in his junior college career at
Western Nebraska Community Col
lege, said this season had been a learn
ing experience.
“We did not give up on ourselves,”
Gamer said. “We just had a roller
coaster ride, and we got the monkey
off our back with four wins in a row.”
Winning has cured the team’s prob
lems.
“I don’t think they can say that we
didn’t try hard because we’ve always
played hard and tried our best,” Erick
Strickland said.
Since the end of February, a month
in which Nebraska finished 0-8, it fi
nally is becoming clear that Nebraska
is again having fun on the court.
On Wednesday afternoon, five Ne
braska players stood on a New York
street comer and bargained with three
men selling watches. Nee, a New York
native, could only stand back and
laugh.
The Huskers may have been taken
then, but in the last two weeks, they
are the ones who have been doing the
hustling.
Parks Is a scalin' aews-cdltorlal major
a ad a Ddly Nebraska! sealor reporter.
NU aims for ‘national tide’ in NIT
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
NEW YORK — There arc three
certainties when Nebraska and St.
I josepn s square on
in the champion
ship game of the
National Invitation
Tournament to
| night at Madison
^ Square Garden.
| One: Either the
I Comhuskcrs or the
II Hawks will win
uicu msi-evci
postseason national tournament.
Two: The game will mark the end
of Big Eight Conference basketball.
And three: A season that will be
remembered as one of the most up and
down years in Husker history finally
will end.
Nebraska, 20-14, plays the 19-12
Hawks 30 minutes after the end of the
Tulane-Alabama consolation game.
Tipoff for the championship contest,
nationally televised by ESPN, is
scheduled for about 8 p.m.
Tonight’s game is Nebraska’s 35th
this year, establishing a new record for
games played in a season. The old
record of 34 was set in 1990-91, when
the Huskers finished 26-8. Erick
Strickland, one of five seniors play
ing the final game of his career Thurs
day, said it would be a memorable
night.
“It’s the opportunity to win a na
tional championship,” Strickland said.
“It’s not NCAA, but it’s still something
prominent. Not many people are here,
and it’s very special to me.”
The game will close a season in
See NIT on 11
Basketball Starters JT2SB
Nebraska (20-14) Ht WL Class PPG RPG
G Jaron Boone 6-6 195 Sr. 13.9 2.7
F Bernard Gamer 6-7 225 Jr. 10.9 6.4
SL Joseph's (19-12)
G RashidBey 6-0 160 So. 7.9 32
F Dmitri Domani 6-7 210 Jr. 8.1 5.1
- • m - m -
_ _ — *4
Strong
defense
returns
By Gregg Madsen
Staff Reporter
After only two days of practice this
spring, the Nebraska football team’s
defense already looks as if it will be a
....— ... r_1__
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with next fall.
Although the
Cornhuskers have
looked a little
ragged in two prac
tices so far this
spring, secondary
coach George
Darlington said, the
Minter poicnuai oi new
season s Blackshirts
is unlimited.
After allowing more than 20 points
in three of Nebraska’s first five games
last season, the Huskers became a
dominant unit toward the end of the
year, surrendering only three points in
its final two regular season games and
holding Florida to minus-28 yards
rushing in a 62-24 Fiesta Bowl win.
The Huskers will lose only four
starters from the top unit that ranked
second in the nation against the rush
last year and was 13th in total defense.
One player Darlington said he ex
pected to play a critical role in the sec
ondary was rover Mike Minter, a se
nior next fait.
The Lawton, Okla., native tore an
anterior cruciate knee ligament in the
second game of the year against Texas
Tech as a sophomore in 1994. He sat
out die rest of the season.
But after reconstructive surgery, he
returned in 1995 to earn second-team
All-Big Eight honors and help the
Huskers to their second consecutive
national championship.
Before injuring his knee. Minter
was timed at 4.41 seconds in the 40
yard dash, the sixth-best time in school
history.
“I feel like I’m back to 100 percent
now,” Minter said. “I have all the speed
I want and all the lateral movement I
want.”
Darlington said Minter and senior
Eric Stokes were responsible for read
ing offenses and calling the plays for
the defense.
After starting the year at left
comerback, Stokes, a Lincoln East
graduate, saw considerable playing
time at free safety in 1995, alternating
with Tony Veland. Darlington said
Stokes was “just like a returning
starter.”
“I can’t overstate the importance of
having experience back there,”
Darlington said.
World beater
■m&gm .wp1.
Matt Miller/DN
Swimmer Penny Heyns set a U.S. Open record, a world
record and won a national title all in the last month and
a half of her career as a Husker.
Swimmer pleased
with record streak
By Vince D’Adamo
Staff Reporter
March Madness is not just lim
ited to the hardwood.
Nebraska swimmer Penny
Heyns has created a gold rush that
would make most Californians
proud.
The senior from Amanzimtoti,
South Africa, began a record-break
ing streak at the Big Eight Cham
pionships last month in Oklahoma
City, Okla. Heyns’ time of 2 min
utes, 8.9 seconds in the 200-yard
breaststroke shattered the U.S.
Open and NCAA record.
Heyns began the season as a
highly touted Olympic Trials com
petitor. At the South Africa Olym
pic Trials on March 4, Heyns did
not disappoint. She broke the world
record with a time of 1:07.49 in the
100-meter event.
Heyns, like any seasoned vet
cran, knows what it takes to be suc
cessful. Cornhusker coach Cal
Bentz said Heyns was no exception
to that rule.
“She knew before the season that
she had these various meets com
ing” Bentz said.
At the NCAA Championships
last week in Ann Arbor, Mich.,
Heyns became the first Husker ever
to win a gold medal by setting a
pool-record time of 1:00.18 in the
100-yard competition. The follow
ing day, she won a silver medal with
a time of 2:09.71 in the 200-yard
breaststroke.
“More than the medals,” Heyns
said, “I’m pleased with setting the
world record, the U.S. Open, and
also being the first to do it at the
NCAAs.”
Heyns has risen steadily to the
top. As a freshman, she placed 20th
See PENNY on 10
Nebraska
takes two
from Peru
By David Wilson
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska baseball team im
proved to 10-16-1 after sweeping Peru
State in a doubleheader 11 -7 and 13-1
Wednesday at Buck Beltzer Field.
Shortstop Larry Hartzell capped a
four-run sixth inning with a two-run
home run to left as the Comhuskers
cruised to victory in the first game.
“The first game, we didn’t do very
- well,” Nebraska coach John Sanders
said. “The concentration wasn’t good,
and the intensity wasn’t what it needed
to be.”
Freshman Jarod Bearinger, who
was the first of nine Nebraska pitchers
used in the first game, was credited
with the win after allowing one earned
run in three innings.
Eight pitchers combined to throw a
four-hitter in the second game, includ
ing freshman second baseman Corey
Miller, who made his collegiate pitch
ing debut. Miller had started as an in
fielder in each of Nebraska’s first 26
games.
nc eameu me win, nuiumg z-u
Peru State scoreless in 3 2/3 innings.
Freshman infielder Jason Fry made
his first pitching performance in the
first game, allowing four runs in just
1/3 of an inning.
“Corey Miller did a fine job,” Sand
ers said. “It was good to see (Jason)
Fry and Miller get some work in. Now
we know they have been out there and
they have that experience.”
But Fry’s performance on the
mound was soon forgotten after he
provided the majority of the Huskers’
offense in the second game.
Fry increased his average to .279
going 3 for 4, including his first two
home runs of the season. He scored
four runs and had six RBI.
“I felt a lot better at the plate than I
have the past couple of weeks,” Fry
said. “I was more comfortable.”
Nebraska used 17 pitchers in the
two games. Steve Fish, who pitched
in relief last Sunday against Missouri,
was the only pitcher not to throw.
Sanders said the team gained expe
rience Wednesday, especially on the
mound.
“It was good to see everyone get
action,” Sanders said. “That was the
goal. Everybody got work and that was
good.”
Senior right fielder Mel Motley fin
ished the day 5 for 8 with two RBI,
raising his average to .339. Motley’s
two doubles in the second game tied
him for the team lead with eight.
“I thought we competed well to
See SWEEP on 10