SportsMonday
Huskers finish third in Big 12 meet
Texas reigns again as champion, Nil’s Johnson gets time for NCAA meet
^ Winning a Big
12 title is always
great. But it’s
always better to
go for your best
time, and I still
have NCAAs to
do that.”
Shandra Johnson
NU swimmer
From staff reports
Nebraska went into the Big 12
Women’s Swimming and Diving
" Championships at College Station,
Texas, with a planned script that had
Nebraska taking back its throne as
queen of the conference.
The Longhorns gave Nebraska a
very unsatisfactory welcome, ripping
up the script and stomping on it for
good measure. The Longhorns became
conference champs for the second
straight year on Saturday.
UT cruised to first place, setting
five conference records while accumu
lating 914.50 points, tying Nebraska’s
two conference titles since the forma
tion of die Big 12.
“The Big 12 has gotten consider
ably better,” Nebraska Coach Cal Bentz
said. “There are a lot of people turning
it up a notch, and we’re happy to see
that.”
Texas A&M is one team that turned
it up a notch, knocking Nebraska down
to third place in die final standings, fin
ishing with 735.50 points to NU’s 634.
The third-place finish is the
Huskers’ lowest since joining the Big
12, and lowest since a fifth-place finish
at the 1981 Big Eight Conference
Championship.
Even though Texas won 16 of 21
events, NU junior Shandra Johnson did
cap a successful weekend, taking home
her eighth individual gold medal with a
1:59.05 time in the 200-yard back
stroke.
The time was perhaps the most
important factor to Johnson, who made
the required cut for an NCAA provi
sional qualifying time.
“Winning a Big 12 title is always
great,” Johnson said. “But it’s always
better to go for your best time, and I still
have NCAAs to do that.”
Nebraska freshman Elvira Fischer
also did well, winning two gold medals
in the 100- and 200-yard breaststroke
events.
After a come-from-behind victory
in the 100-yard breaststroke on Friday
night, Fischer dominated the field in the
200-yard breaststroke with an NCAA
automatic qualifying time of 2:13.71 on
Saturday, winning by more than three
seconds.
“Winning the 100 was a surprise,
but I had the fastest speed time in the
200, so I expected it of myself,” Fischer
said. “I wanted to go under the NCAAs
automatic qualifying mark, and I was
able to do that”
Nebraska senior Helene Muller was
not able to bring borne an individual
gold medal. She finished fifth in the
100-yard freestyle after earning second
place in the SO-and 200-yard freestyles.
Texas’ Colleen Lanne earned out
standing swimmer of the meet, winning
the 50-, 100- and 200-yard freestyle
events. She put the icing on the cake
with a Big 12 meet record time of
49.03.
Longhorn domination was apparent
in the awards following the meet. All
five outstanding awards given to play
ers and coaches were taken home by the
athletes in the burnt orange.
“Texas and Texas A&M have done a
great job, but we’re certainly pleased
with the way our team competed,”
Bentz said.
Huskers absorb pounding from Cowboys
By Matthew Hansen
Staff Writer
STILLWATER, Okla. - Matt Davison
showered and dressed quickly in the minutes
following Oklahoma State’s 94-55 rout of the
Comhuskers.
The NU guard surveyed a locker room-full
of teammates still sitting somberly in full uni
form.
“Let’s get out of here, guys,” he said.
Davison’s desire to escape Stillwater
shouldn’t surprise many. The 39-point loss
handed to NU (10-15 overall, 3-9 in the Big 12
Conference) by the Cowboys was its worst
defeat since the 1994-95 season and the 10th
worst in school history.
Coach Danny Nee gave credit to No. 8 OSU
(21-3, 10-2), which secured a first-place tie in
the Big 12 with Iowa State and Texas.
COWBOYS 94
HUSKERS55
“They’re good, they are really good,” he
said. “1 don’t see any weaknesses in their game.
We got beat by a very good basketball team.
They played like the eighth-place team in the
country.”
Both teams started slow offensively, and the
Cowboys led by only five, 12-7, after seven
minutes of play.
But the rest of the game amounted to one
big OSU run, as the Huskers could do little to
stop the momentum of the home team and
6,289 fans at Gallagher-Iba arena.
After stretching its lead to 22 in the first
half, Oklahoma State took a 47-29 lead into the
locker room.
Then, OSU came out and widened it even
more. After a free throw by Kimani Ffriend in
the opening moments of the second half, OSU
scored 17 unanswered points, which increased
the margin to 30. The Huskers failed to score
for eight minutes, 30 seconds during the run.
The Cowboy players and Coach Eddie
Sutton left the court more than satisfied with
their performance. Six OSU players reached
double figures as the team shot 57 percent from
the floor.
“I wish all our games were that easy,”
Sutton said. “That is easily one of the best
games we’ve played this season. We might have
played a little over our heads tonight.”
The Cowboys were led by Brian Montonati,
who scored a career-high 22 points and added
12 rebounds. Glendon Alexander scored all 18
of his points behind the 3-point line.
Louis Truscott scored 14 points to pace the
Huskers, while Cary Cochran poured in four
second-half treys for 12 points.
The lopsided loss was the Huskers’ fifth
straight, the team’s longest losing streak since
die 1995-96 season. NU also fell to 0-7 on the
road this year.
Nee said the 39-point loss indicated just
how good the Cowboys were, and how much
work the Huskers have left to do.
“Where we are and where they are is this
score,” he said. “It’s very obvious.”
Williams: Win
a bittersweet
NU reunion
By Joshua Camenzind
Staff writer
STILLWATER, Okla. - Inside the
games that men play are hidden battles.
Saturday night’s match between
Nebraska and Oklahoma State proved to
hold many of those battles.
Former Comhusker and current Cowboy
Assistant Coach Jimmy Williams faced his
former team for the first time and ended up
on the winning side.
The game, which OSU won handily, 94
55, was a moment when Williams felt tom
between past and current feelings.
“It was kind of a mixed feeling,”
Williams said. “You feel an attachment to
players that you have recruited and coached.
“It was tough. I wanted to win the game,
but I didn’t want to beat them the way we
did. I just told those guys to hang in there
and keep their heads up.”
uau senior Brian Montonati, wno lea
the Cowboys with 22 points and 12
rebounds, said Williams was “fired up.”
“Coach Williams had about an hour
scouting report,” Montonati said. “We were
sitting there at the pregame meal, and we
were thinking 20 to 25 minutes, and Coach
just kept going on and on and on.
“He recruited all their players, and he is
familiar with their offense. He knew exactly
what plays they were doing and what gum
their coaches were chewing.”
Williams’ coaching had a direct effect on
the game as the Cowboys implemented the
defense “Red 11” in the second half. The 1
1-3 zone defense helped spark a 17-0 run
shortly after the second half began to put die
game away.
“We went to our Red 11 zone defense,
and that held them down a little bit because
we were worried about the board’s defensive
play,” OSU guard Glendon Alexander said.
While Williams helped OSU get the win
on the court, his mind off the court was on
past allies and friends.
“I feel sorry for everyone involved,
including the fans and the whole thing,”
Williams said. “You hate to see things turn
this way, but it happens in this business.”
NU Coach Danny Nee has come under
fire lately because he blamed some of the
Huskers’ troubles on bad recruiting.
Williams, who was ifi charge of the
majority of recruiting while at NU, doesn’t
agree with Nee.
Please see WILLIAMS on 14
Photo Courtesy of Paul Rutherford/The Daily O’Collegian
STEFFON BRADFORD tries to defend against No. 8 Oklahoma State’s Brian Montonati on
Saturday night in Stillwater, Okla. Montonati finished with 22 points and 12 rebounds, whRe
five other Cowboys scored in double figures, defeating the Huskers 94-55, their worst defeat
since the ’94-’95 season.