Sports
Nebraska goes cold in loss to Cowboys
By Adam Klinker
Senior staff writer
Danny Nee knew it was coining.
No, it wasn't the 60-48 loss his team suffered
Wednesday night to Oklahoma State.
Rather, the Cornhusker men’s basketball
coach knew what to expect when the Cowboys,
stretching their bus legs after a three-game losing
streak, rolled into the Bob Devaney Sports
Center.
“Oklahoma State played like our coaching
staff knew' they w'ere going to play,” Nee said.
“They were going to come in and play hard and
play smart and find a way to win.”
And OSU (17-8 overall and 8-5 in the Big 12)
found that route wide open and running right
along the 3-point arc.
In the second half, the Cowboys shot 5-11
(.455) from 3-point range, w'ith four 3s coming
from guard Adrian Peterson, who led all scorers
with 21 points.
Oklahoma State 60
Nebraska 48
But the kicker was a 23-foot fade-away in
traffic by guard Joe Adkins with just minutes
remaining in the game.
With the Huskers (17-9, 9-4) trailing 52-46,
and 2:40 left, NU guard Chad Johnson hit a
jumper from the elbow and called an immediate
20-second timeout. As the crowd of 13,146 col
lectively rose to its feet during the break, the
noise level in the Devaney Center hit its max for
the evening.
OSU in-bounded the ball and walked the ball
up the court, as was their pace all night in slowing
the Husker running game.
With three men on the perimeter, the
Cowboys swung the ball from man to man, look
ing for a good shot that the NU defense was not
likely to yield. With two seconds left on the shot
clock, the bail went to Adkins. He threw it up,
going away from the basket, over two derenders,
one of them NU center Venson Hamilton.
“After that went in, I just looked at Larry
(Florence) and told him right there, ‘It just wasn’t
meant for us to win,’” Hamilton said.
But Adkins’ proverbial nail in the coffin was
helped along with a little help from hard-luck
Husker shooting all-around the court.
For the game, NU was 1-16 (.063) from 3
point land, and 3-8 (.375) at the free-throw line,
and hit just 40 percent from the field, including a
32.1 percent (9-28) mark in the second half.
“We had an off night tonight,” Hamilton said.
“We played miserable.”
In addition, the slow-tempo offense with
which OSU came at the Huskers, and a stubborn
Cowboy defense fanned the flames that ended up
burning the usually running, gunning Huskers.
“Give Okie State credit,” Nee said. “They
came and played their game and played it well.
They’ve got great athletes, great coaching. Eddie
had them ready to play.”
Also a thorn in the Huskers’ side was 12 sec
ond-hali turnovers, eight charged to Hamilton,
who also led NU with his 14th double-double of
the season - 20 points and 15 rebounds.
But the numbers weren’t the story for
Hamilton, who faced reporters following the
game in his usual reserved manner. The Huskers’
Big 12 Championship hopes may be in serious
doubt.
Going into Wednesday’s game. NU was in
sole possession of third place in the conference
behind Oklahoma and Texas. They now fal 1 into a
three-way tie for third with Missouri and Kansas.
“This is going to hurt our chances bad,”
Hamilton said. “Everybody’s mad. Everybody
knows they could have played better ... much
better.”
Still, Nee said that the Huskers will only get
stronger. NU’s one-game-at-a-time formula will
provide the sustenance for the remaining three
games and the conference tournament.
“We’re still in a good position to control our
own destiny,” Nee said. “We just talk about win
ning the next game.”
Heather Glenboski/DN
NU SPRINTER VINCE BROWN is trying to get back into the starting blocks after a hamstring injury. He will be running for the Huskers in the Big 12
meet in Manhattan, Kan., this weekend. Brown is second in the conference in the 60-meter dash.
‘Mama s boy wants Big 12 title
By Brandon Schulte
Staff writer
Mamas boy.
It’s not exactly the first thought that comes to
mind when you meet Vince Brown.
But that’s exactly the way Brown, a senior
sprinter on the Nebraska track team, describes him
self and his affection for his mother, Lessie Cox.
“I’m a mama’s boy,” Brown said. “She knows I
can’t live without her, and she can’t live without me.
We can do anything together. She’s behind me 100
percent.”
Brown has said he runs for glory and run he
does. Heading into the Big 12 IndoorTrack
Championships this weekend in Manhattan, Kan.,
Brown has the second-fastest conference time and
seventh nationally (6.66 seconds) in the 60-meter
dash. He also has the fourth fastest conference time
in the 55-meter dash with a time of 6.28 seconds.
Last indoor season, he was leading the nation
before a senes of injuries slowed him, but he was
able to persevere and earn a ring at the outdoor Big
12 Championships.
“It was horrible,” Brown said. “I was emotion
al, I didn't know what to think. But my mama
always told me that everything happens for a rea
son. And I came back and did all right the rest of the
season.”
He has a slightly strained hamstring going into
the Big 12 Championships.
If he can stay healthy, his coach, Billy Maxwell,
says there is no telling what he can accomplish.
“He’s got to get in there and compete real hard,”
Maxwell said. “Even though he’s had some nag
ging injuries, he’s got to toss them aside.”
Brown, originally from Chattahoochee, Fla.,
came to Nebraska from Bakersfield College in
California. In Bakersfield, he clocked the second
fastest 100-meter time m school history.
He credits his coach there, Bob Covey, for
showing him he had a future in track. Brown always
thought his small compact frame and speed were
better suited for football rather than track.
Don’t be surprised if Brown is seen on the foot
ball field next fall. He has talked to Coach Frank
Solich about coming out and returning punts for the
Comhusker football team, something he hasn’t
done since his days in California.
Brown first became comfortable with the idea
of coming to NU by speaking to Maxwell, whose
hometown of Cairo, Ga., is a mere 30 miles from
Brown’s. They are as close to each other as their
hometowns are.
“Coach Maxwell is like my daddy away from
home,” Brown said. “At a meet, even with all of the
people there during a race, his voice is the only one
I hear in the crowd.”
Before a race, one might see Brown “talking
trash” to opponents, but once he is in the blocks, he
becomes all business. Once there, he doesn’t worry
about anything but getting a fast start. The start is
everything.
Then there are the races when the two most
influential women in his life, his mother and his 6
year-old daughter, Charrdonnae, who lives in
Florida, are present.
“It gets me higher when I run in front of my
mother and daughter,” Brown said. “They are my
biggest fans. If it wasn’t for them, I wouldn’t be
here today.”
Nebraska
notches
road win
By Jay Saunders
Staff writer
Finally.
The Nebraska women’s basketball
team got rid of a huge monkey that has
been on the team's back since Dec. 28.
- the last time the Cornhuskers won a
game on the road
Nine road games later, the losing
streak ended Wednesday night as the
Buskers knocked ofTTexas A&M 62
54
Nebraska 62
Texas A&M 54
“Hopefully this answers some
questions of can we win on the road,”
NU Coach Paul Sanderford said.
Point guard Nicole Rubik led
Nebraska (17-9 overall and 6-7 in the
Big 12 Conference) with 20 points. The
junior was one of three I lusker players
who scored in double figures.
Junior Brooke Schwartz had 13
points, and fellow |unior Charlie
Rogers added 10 points and eight
rebounds.
“Charlie Rogers was huge,”
Sanderford said. “This was her best
game in a month.”
The Huskers led 33-19 with 18
minutes and 58 seconds left in the
game. A&M started to chip into the lead
and cut the NU advantage to 49-46
when Aggie junior Prissy Sharpe hit a
pair of free throws with 4:35 to play.
Three points would be as close as
A&M (7-16 and 2-11) would get as
Rogers, who has been struggling offen
sively, scored four straight points.
“That was a nice conf dence boost
er for me,” Rogers said. “I am really
thankful my team hung with me. It felt
really good to break out.”
Rogers had the answer down the
stretch, but Sanderford had the solution
to the Huskers’ problem of slow starts.
Her name was Candice Blackbird.
The freshman from South Sioux
City started her first game, and had four
assists and three rebounds in the first
four minutes of the game.
NU made 16 of 24 free throws,
including four shots from the charity
strip in the last minute.
The Huskers were outrebounded
for the third consecutive game, but
Nebraska scored 10 second-chance
points off of 11 offensive rebounds.