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Thursday’s results from the
Men’s Big 12 Conference
Basketball Tournament at
Kemper Arena in Kansas City,
Mo.:
K-State 75, Colorado 61
Without its leading scorer,
Kansas State used an 8-0 run late
in the second half to hold off a
Colorado comeback and advance
to the second round today.
“I thought it was a really gutty
effort,” Kansas State Coach Tom
Asbury said. “In the second half,
we made an adjustment on our
press attack. I thought we did a
great job of handling the pres
sure.”
The Buffaloes (13-14) closed
the Wildcat’s lead to 54-41 with
6:50 remaining, but KSU respond
ed. Guard Aaron Swartzendruber
' hit a quick bucket, guard Ayome
May sank two free throws and for
ward Ty Sims blocked a shot and
nailed a short jumper to give the
Wildcats a 63-51 lead. Colorado
was never able to recover.
Manny Dies, Kansas State’s
leading scorer and rebounder,
missed his third consecutive game
Thursday. Dies, who did travel to
Kansas City with the team, was
arrested in Manhattan two weeks
ago, charged with transporting an
open container and obstruction of
the legal process, and released on
$1,500 bond.
“I would have liked to have
played,” Dies said. “But we won -
and that’s all that matters.”
KSU, which improved to 17-10
on the season, will play top-seeded
Kansas today at noon.
m \ V
> r
Texas 86, Texas Tech 83
In the day’s*most exciting fin
ish, Texas Tech guard Cory Carr
missed a 28-foot 3-pointer with
four seconds left as lO^-seeded
Texas held on to defeat the sev
enth-seeded Red Raiders.
The Longhorns watched a 47
30 halftime lead dwindle down to
one before freshman center Chris
Mihm hit two free throws with
eight seconds left to put UT up by
three. Mihm also grabbed the
rebound after Carr’s shot rattled in
and out.
“We knew Texas Tech would
make a run,” Mihm said. “They’re
too good of a team not to. We made
plays down the stretch that won us
the game.”
Texas was led by junior for
ward Chris Clack, who scored 28
points despite being hampered by
a sore right shoulder. Freshman
forward Luke Axtell added 20
Baylor 66, Texas A&M 63
With 26 seconds remaining in
the contest, Baylor guard Patrick
Hunter hit two free throws and the
Aggies followed by missing three
3-point attempts to seal the victory
for the Bears (14-13).
“Some people might say it was
an ugly win,” Baylor Coach Harry
Miller said. “To me, on a scale of
one to 10, this was a 10. A lot of
credit has to go to A&M for fight
ing tis hard as they did.”
^The game was A&M Coach
Tony Barone’s final game with the
Aggies (7-20). Barone had been
told he would be reassigned as
soon as the season ended.
The Bears, who were led by
center Brian Skinner’s 27 points,
move on to play Nebraska (19-10)
today at 2:20 p.m.
“I didn’t shoot the ball very
well today,” Skinner said. “I had to
find other things to do. Kish
(Lewis) had a lot to do with it He
did a good job of getting the ball
inside to me.”
■
points for the Longhorns.
Carr, who put the Red Raiders
within one with a long 3-pointer
with 9.7 seconds left on the clock,
led TTU with 20 points. Texas
Tech finished the season at 13-14.
UT improved to 13-16 and will
face second-seeded Oklahoma
State today in the quarterfinals at 6
p.m.
■
Missouri 74, Iowa State 55
Missouri used hot shooting
from the field in the first half to
open up a big lead and never
looked back.
The Tigers shot 67 percent
from the field and made 5 of 8
shots from behind the 3-point line
en route to a 41-19 halftime lead.
The Cyclones never got closer
than 13 in the final 20 minutes.
MU Coach Norm Stewart
pointed to Missouri’s defense as a
key along with its shooting as the
Tigers held ISU to 33 percent
shooting from the field and 13 per
cent from behind the 3-point line.
“Obviously, we shot the ball
well,” Stewart said. “But our
defense was there all night and just
as important.”
MU senior forward Kelly
Thames led all scorers with 22
points, while ISU senior forward
Paul Shirley led the Cyclones with
12 points.
The Tigers moved to 17-13 and
can keep their hopes alive for an
NCAA Tournament bid when they
play third-seeded Oklahoma in an
8:20 p.m. game. Iowa State ended
its season at 12-18.
■
Thursday’s results from the
Women’s Big 12 Conference
Basketball Tournament at
Municipal Coliseum in Kansas
City, Mo.:
Texas Tech 53, OSU 49
Top-seeded Texas Tech (24-4)
slipped past No. 5 seed Oklahoma
State (19-10) to advance to the
championship game of the tourna
ment Saturday at 7 p.m.
The Red Raiders led 23-20 at
halftime and though they only
made 33 percent of their shots in
the second half, the Red Raiders
outscored the Cowgirls by one in
the final 20 minutes.
OSU led 41-36 with 8:01 left in
the game, but Texas Tech tied the
match with 5:30 left and continued
on a 17-8 run to douse the
Cowgirls’ fire. Tech junior Angie
Braziel grabbed seven second-half
rebounds helping the Red Raiders
prevent the upset.
■
Kansas 70, Iowa State 65
The third-seeded Jayhawks
turned a three-point halftime
deficit into a five-point win over
the Cyclones.
Kansas guard Jennifer Jackson
scored 20 points as the Jayhawks
improved to 21-7. .Second-seeded
Iowa State fell to 24-7.
KU sophomore Lynn Pride
rebounded from an 0 for 5 shoot
ing performance in the first half to
score 15 points in the second.
Iowa State was led by Stacy
Frese, who made five 3-point shots
and scored 20 points for the
Cyclones.
• With the win, Kansas advances
to the championship game to face
Texas Tech Saturday at 7 p.m.
Big 12 Conference Basketball
Tournament Notebook compiled
by. Senior Reporter Sam
McKewon.
•T {ibrnc Zi nm onl no aqoiq hi
Bears on deck for Huskers
Solid pitching part of recent NU success
' * a
By Andrew Strnad
Staff Reporter
While University of Nebraska
Lincoln students are taking midterm
exams, the
Cornhusker base
ball team will be
given its first
conference test of
the season when
it travels to Waco,
Texas, to take on
Baylor.
The Huskers,
(7-5 overall and
0-0 in the Big 12
Conference)
fresh off a successful weekend in
Louisville, Ky., will test their luck in
a three-game series against the Bears
at Ferrell Field.
Baylor is 10-5-1 overall and 1-2
in the conference and returns home
after dropping two out of three to
fourth-ranked Oklahoma.
NU opens conference play after
winning seven of its last nine games
thanks - in part - to its pitching staff.
Husker pitchers have kept oppos
ing hitters off-balance with a mixture
of pitches.
Collectively, Nebraska has an
eamed-run average of 3.59 and has
allowed just six runs in the last 36
innings.
“We’ve worked really hard to get
ahead of batters early in the count,”
NU senior left-hander Kenny
Dubelbeis said. “That has really kept
hitters guessing and allows us to con
trol the pace of the game.”
The Husker staff has kept control
by keeping batters from reaching
base. NU has a better than two-to-one
strikeout-to-walk ratio, striking out
84, while issuing just 34 free passes.
While Husker pitchers haven’t
given up much, NU batters have been
able to tag opponents for an average
of more than six runs a game.
During Nebraska’s recent trip to
Kentucky, the Huskers won three of
four games by scoring at least 11 runs
per contest.
In the lone contest in which NU
didn’t score 11 runs or more, the
Huskers relied on a nine inning 1-0
shutout by sophomore right-hander
Chad Wiles to defeat Louisville.
“Of course hitting and scoring
runs is all about good timing,” sopho
more first baseman Ken Harvey said.
“When we have good timing, we’ve
shown what we can do.”
Harvey has shown what he can do
all season.
The Los Angeles native leads the
Huskers in nine offensive categories,
including a .477 batting average and
a .824 slugging percentage with 38
total bases in just 44 at bats.
The Huskers are expected to
receive a challenge from a Baylor
pitching staff that includes preseason
All-American Kip Wells.
But so far, Wells owns a 8.10
ERA and a 3-2 record in five starts.
The Bear staff overall has struggled
with a 6.65 ERA.
Despite BU’s recent struggles on
the mound, Harvey said, the Bears
will be the biggest test for the
Huskers so far this season.
“After losing to Oklahoma last
weekend, they’ve got to be pretty
pissed, so I’d say were going to see a
very determined team this weekend.”
Harvey said.
The Huskers will play two games
Saturday against Baylor. Dubelbeis
(1-1,3.66) will pitch the first game at
2 p.m.
The two teams will play the final
game on Sunday afternoon, before
NU returns to Buck Beltzer Field
next Tuesday night to face Northern
Iowa.
M
After losing to Oklahoma last weekend,
they’ve got to be pretty pissed....”
Ken Harvey
NU first baseman
Coach: Confidence
needed against KU
- > *
By Darren Ivy
Assignment Reporter
Coach Kerry McDermott is
taking a line from Aretha
Franklin to get his tennis play
ers motivated for their meet
today with the No. 24 Kansas
men’s tennis team.
McDermott wants a little
respect. r
“We need to give respect to
ourselves,” McDermott said.
“Sometimes guys on our own
team don’t give themselves
enough credit. We don’t need
to be cocky, but we need to be
confident in our abilities.”
Coming into today’s home
dual at the Woods Tennis
Center, the Cornhuskers (8-2)
have won five straight matches
led by Dinko Verzi and Markus
Bergerheim.
But traditionally the
Huskers have struggled
against Kansas (3-6).
However, McDermott thinks
this year will be different.
“I know our guys are play
ing with a lot of confidence,”
McDermott said. “In the past
we were in awe of schools,
such as Kansas.
“Now, we have played a
higher caliber of opponent,
and the guys know what it
takes to be successful. We
expect a good battle, but we
feel we can pull the upset.”
Bergerheim, a senior co
captain from Kallaink,
Sweden, agreed with
McDermott’s assessment.
He said Kansas is supposed
to be a good team on paper,
but its ranking doesn’t mean
anything to him.
“I think the teams between
M
We need to give
respect to
ourselves.”
Kerry McDermott
NU tennis coach
25 and 70 are equal and any
one can win on a given day,”
Bergerheim said. “The way we
are playing right now, we
should win.”
Bergerheim and Verzi are
NU’s two hottest players, each
posting 17-3 records.
Verzi, a junior from Hamm,
Germany, is 9-1 in singles and
has teamed with Bergerheim
to post an 8-2 record at No. 1
doubles.
McDermott noticed a
change in the duo after they
defeated Texas’ No. 1 doubles
team that made the NCAA
quarterfinals last year.
“Their confidence shot up
after beating Texas,”
McDermott said.
Bergerheim said that confi
dence is why NU is off to its
best start in eight years.
“The people who succeed
are the ones who have confi
dence and know how to win,”
Bergerheim said.
NU has shown it knows
how to win, but McDermott
said a win over Kansas would
be major.
“It is time to make a state
ment,” McDermott said. “This
is a perfect match to let the
other teams (in the confer
ence) know we are here to
play.”
NU hopes to
prove itself
at NCAAs
NCAA from page 7
said. “I hope we get in, but when you
lose in the first round, you don’t feel
good about it”
NU senior Anna DeForge said the
Huskers hope to lessen the sting of
their frustrating loss in the confer
ence tournament by making some
noise in the NCAA Tournament.
“You never want your season to
end - especially when it’s your senior
year,” DeForge said. “It’s disappoint
ing to come out here and play the way
we did. If we get the opportunity to
have another chance, we want to
prove to people that we have a differ
ent basketball team than what we
showed here.”
Nee, Lue:
NU focused
i
for tourney j
BIG 12 from page 7
cent shooting from the field for the
game.
Nee said good perimeter defense
along with the containment of Bears’
center Brian Skinner, who garnered
second-team All-Big 12 honors
Monday, would help the Huskers.
Skinner scored 27 points against Texas
A&M Thursday.
“Skinner’s a good player,” Nee said.
“He and (BU guard) Patrick Hunter
made a good combination.”
If the Huskers can beat Baylor, they
would likely face top-seeded and third
ranked Kansas on Saturday, who beat
the Huskers twice during the season.
GuardTyronn Lue, who was named
to the first-team All-Big 12 Monday,
said NU won’t be looking ahead to the
Jayhawks and forget to play die Bears.
“This is not like that,” Lue said.
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