SportsThursday
ON He Photo
The Nebraska basebal team practices a nmdowadmfcg a practice eaifier this year.
The Hashers saH they awatjmtaimrap far the (ahepeWwhl Series btaHg 12 reg
ular-season title as weH.
By MATTHEW HANSEN
While Comhusker faithful pining for that
College World Series berth may overlook it,
winning the Big 12 regular season title is of
great importance to Coach Dave Nfon Horn and
his squad
Make no mistake - the CWS remains NU’s
ultimate goaL Right behind it doser than you
may think, is the conference hardware that the
Comhuskers begin pursuit of this weekend
againstTexas Tech.
“Wfe’ve talked about it since the very begin
ning,” said Van Horn of winning the Big 12
crown. “Last year, the goals were 40 wins and
getting to (NCAA) regkmals. This year, it’s more
than 40 wins, the CWS and the Big 12 regular
season championship.’'
The Huskers, two-time defending Big 12
tournament champions, have never won the
regular-season title and haven’t won a regular
season conference crown since 1980, when
they triumphed in the Big 8.
While it’s dear the title drought is in danger
thisyear—NU was the coaches’ preseason pick
for champion - it won’t be easy to wrestle the
title from the death grip of the conference's
southern schools, who have owned it since the
Big 12’s inception in 1997.
Heading up the pack of southern con
tendere e Baykn; the delimding regular-season
champion. The Bears were a dose second to
NU in preseason polls, and have ripped
through their eariy-season schedule with a 12
4 mark.
This is for from a two-horse race, though,
Van Horn and senior outfielder Adam Stem
said
Surprisingly, Oklahoma State is 10-2 (3-0 in
the Big 12) and ranked 15th, perennial power
Texas (9-8,3-0 Big 12) is always a factor and
Oklahoma (5-8,0-3), who has struggled early,
may even makeanm at the title, Van Horn said
“It’s a real mistake to look at this as us and
Baylor and no one eke,” Van Horn said “There
are four or five conference teams that are going
Please see SEASON on 10
J ' ; i Scott McOura/DN
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Seniors throttle A&M in Devaney finale
BY JOSHUA CAMENZND
Now that's more like it
At least that was the sentiment among
the Nebraska basketball players after the
Huskm walloped Tfezas A&M 97-69 on sen
ior night, loddng tq> the Na 7 seed for the
Big 12 Tournament
In a night where emotions ran high.
Nebraska Coach Barry Collier started his
five seniors and they all produced to finish
"You’ve gpt to be excited for all our sen
iors,” Collier said. “All five of them played
really wefl."
Kmani Ffriend, who kissed center court
and bowed twice to fans on both sides erf the
arena when he came out of the game, led
NU with a career-high 28 points and added
Nebraska 97
feasMM ft
” 8347 at the Bob Devaney
out their home careers on
a high note in front of
Sports Center
12 rebounds for his 10th double-double of
the season.
Cookie Belcher got hot for the second
game in a row from three-point land, nailing
four treys to propel him to 16 points.
Belcher, who had nine assists, and
Steffon Bradford, who added 22 points on 11
erf 15 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds,
both fell just short of double-doubles.
Craig Wortmann, who made the Big 12
All-Academic second team earlier in die
day, had six points, while Rodney Fields
added two to round out the seniors’total of
74 points for the game.
NU sparred with A&M for much of the
first half to go into the locker room witha37
29 lead. But unlike previous games with the
bottom feeders of the: Big 12, Nebraska
turned it up in the second half and played
above its competition.
“Today is the first time ever that we
played above the level of die team that is
below us," Ffriend said. “When you let a
team tike that hang around, that is when you
get beat”
The Huskers left nothing to question,
outscoring the Aggies 60-40 in the second
stanza to provide the final margin of victory.
A&M was led by Nick Anderson’s 19 points
and last year's Big 12 co-rookie of the year,
Bernard King, poured in 17 points.
But Nebraska proved too much for
A&M's press and trap defense, which NU
continually beat for open jumpers and
dunks while only turning it over just 10
times. The Aggies, who dropped to 10-18
and 3-12 in the Big 12 on the year, had 15
turnovers in the game.
Leading in the charge in the first half for
the Huskers was junior Cary Cochran.
Cochran helped NU maintain its lead by
scoring 10 of his 13 points in the first halt
Cochran, who came off the bench so
Collier could start Wortmann, said the win
1Today is the first time ever
that we played above the
level of the team that is
below us. When you let a
team like that hang around,
that is when you get beat.”
Kimani Ffriend
NU center
was all about giving the seniors a good final
impression.
1 kind of put it in cruise control a little
bit and just tried to get the seniors the ball,"
said Cochran, who told Collier, Til sit,"
Please see FINALE on 11
Rivalry highlights
Vering's four years
■ The Nebraska wrestler and
Oklahoma State's Mark Munoz
have had many tight battles.
BYPHflPHBrL
The collegiate wrestling
career of Nebraska's Brad Vering
is winding down. That means his
rivalry with Oklahoma State's
Mark Munoz is coming to a dose
as well.
Vering, the top-ranked 197
pounder from Howells, has had a
four-year career highlighted pri
marily by last year's national
championship and an intense
rivalry with Munoz, ranked No. 3.
Entering the Big 12 champi
onships, starting Friday, and
eventually the NCAA champi
onships, the rivalry between the
* wt *
two seniors is down to its last two
possible meetings. Through 10
matches, Munoz holds a 6-4
advantage, including four in a
row at one point
“It’s been tough," Vering said
about his career against Munoz.
“I definitely haven’t gotten the
better end of the stick because
he's beaten me more than I have
hint”
That’s what really bothers
Vering. In last year's champi
onship run, the three losses on
his 38-3 record all came at the
hands of Munoz. The only thing
preventing a Vering-Munoz
national championship match
was Iowa State’s Zach
Thompson’s semifinal upset over
Munoz.
Please see VBUMm 10
Courtesy Photo
Nebraska's Brad Vering locks up with Oklahoma State* Mat Munoz, arguably Vering^ biggest rival at 197 poundsJhe pair may
meet iq> this weekend at the Big 12 championships.
» -i
«A
OSU loss
lowers
NUseed
■ Eleven-point loss drops NU
women from an eight toaten
seed for the Big 12toumament
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Nebraska’s loss at
Oklahoma State on
Wednesday served as a sort of
double whammy.
Because Nebraska (12-17,
4-12) fell 77-66 at Oklahoma
State (14-13, 6-10) in
Stillwater, Okla., it dropped
down two seeds in the
Women’s Big 12 tournament,
beginning
March 6.
N U ’ s
women
entered the
night a game back of OSU and
tied with Kansas for the ninth
seed. A victory would have
tied the Comhuskers with the
Cowgirls recordwise, but the
head-to-head win would give
NU the eighth seed.
That scenario didn’t play
out as NU’s loss, coupled with
Kansas’ win over Texas A&M,
dropped the Huskers to the
10tfi seed in the conference
tournament.
Oklahoma St 77
66
Nebraska will be paired up
with seventh-seeded Texas,
which NU lost to 62-48 on Jan.
20, in the Big 12 tournament
in Kansas City, Mo. No. 2-seed
Texas Tech awaits the winner
of the NU-UT matchup.
In the loss, NU couldn’t
hold on to its 35-34 halftime
lead as Oklahoma State
outscored the Comhuskers by
12 points in the last 20 min
utes, en route to handing NU
its second loss in a row to end
the regular season.
Nebraska struggled in the
second half, making just nine
held goals and shooting just
33 percent from the floor, a
stark difference from its 52
percent shooting perform
ance in the first half.
OSU dominated the free
throw line shooting 28 more
shots and making 25 more
from the charity stripe. The
Huskers committed 30 fouls
to send Oklahoma State to the
line 45 times. Forward
Greichaly Cepero, center
Casey Leonhardt and guards
Shannon Howell and
Shahidrah Roberts all fouled
out for NU. Sophomore Steph
Jones almost joined those
Huskers, but she ended the
game with four fouls.
turnovers, as well as fouls
plagued NU as it was quite
generous giving the ball up 27
times compared to OSU’s 18.
The Cowgirls’ bench gave
OSU a big boost as they
outscored NU’s 52-30. Three
bench players scored in dou
ble digits for Oklahoma State,
compared to just one - Jones
with 14 points - for the
Comhuskers..
Freshman guard Shannon
Howell scored a game-high 16
points. Roberts was the third
Husker in double digits with
10 points, while sophomore
guard Margaret Richards
almost had a double-double
with nine points and nine
rebounds.
The Cowgirls had four
players in double figures.
Chantoya Hawkins led OSU
with 16 points.