1996_03 The Daily Collegian March 1996

              Sports Editor: Brian R. Fisher
Telephone: (209) 278-5733
Sports
the.daily
collegian
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SCORES
Men's Basketball
FRESNO STATE 88
UTEP 87
SCHEDULE
(Home games listed first)
Today's Games
• Men's Tennis vs. St. Mary's @
Fresno State Tennis Courts. 3
p7m.
• Baseball at #3 Cal State
Northridge, 2 p.m.
• Women's Basketball @ San
Diego State University, 7 p.m.
Tomorrow's Games
• Track and Field @ Cal Poly
San Luis Obispo vs. Cal Poly
and Stanford, All day.
• #3 Softball @ UCLA Invita¬
tional vs. Oregon State, 9:30
a.m.
\    • Baseball @ f 3 Northridge, 1
p.m.
• Men's Basketball @ New
Mexico, 6:35 p.m.
Sunday. Mar. 3
• Baseball @ #3 Northridge, 1
Bettencourt fires a 69,
Bulldogs defeat
Keio University
The Fresno State Bulldogs,
led by senior Jon Bettencourt's
round of 69, defeated Keio
University yesterday at San
Joaquin Country Club in Fresno.
The 'Dogs shot an 18-hole
total of 425 to win the match.
Keio shot a 469 tcr finish 37
strokes over par.
One stroke behind
Bettencourt was senior John
Barrington and'sophomore Mike
McGuire, both with 70.
Softball players Henry and
Peck named co-WAC
players of the week
Fresno State center fielder *n
Jenifer Henry and pitcher Kim
Peck for their performances in a
doubleheader split with #1
UCLA last week.
Henry hit .667 and drove in
four runs in the two games. Peck
(1 -0) won the second game.
Young, 'Dogs do it again
■ After trailing the en¬
tire game, Fresno
State's Men's Basket¬
ball team beats UTEP
88-87, on Dominick
Young's three point
baseket
By Matt Croce
Sports Writer
Dominick Young left them shak¬
ing their heads in disbelief once
again. The senior guard has made
it a habit of taking the ball in the
waning seconds of the game, with
the game on the line, and knocking
the clutch shot to lift the Fresno
State basketball team to victory.
He did it again last night in EI
Paso.
Young hit his sixth three-pointer
of the second half with two seconds
remaining to give the Bulldogs an
88-87 win over UTEP. The win
keeps Fresno State's (19-8,13-4 in
WAC play) chances at an NCAA
Tournament bid alive, and gives the
team a realistic shot at the Bulldogs'
first Western Athletic Conference
men's basketball championship.
"Dominick's hit some big shots,
I'll tell you," Tarkanian said. 'That
wasn't an easy shot he hit."
"I knew I wouldget an opportu¬
nity to get a shot off," said Young,
who has now hit three game-win¬
ning three pointers this season.
He hit game-winning three-
pointers in wins over Oregon with
18 seconds left and at Utah with .8
seconds left].
Gumby [James Gray] saw me on
the wing and gave me the pass and
I knocked it down," Young said.
"It's a good feeling. I've never been
to the big dance [NCAA
Tournamenl) before, and that's
what my whole focus and concen¬
tration is, to put us in position for
an NCAA berth."
Sharif Fajardo's two free throws
with 45 seconds left put UTEP up
87-82. Young raced the ball up the
floor and knocked down his eighth
three-pointer of the game (which set
Stamps fouled Young
UTEP's Kimani Jones-Young on a
drive to the hoop, sending Jones-
Young, who was a perfect six of
six at the stripe, to the free throw
line with a chance to put the Min¬
ers ahead by four with 29 seconds
to go.
Jones-Young missed both free
Men's Basketball
throws and Darnell McCulToch
hauled in the rebound. Fresno State
called timeout, to set up a play to
give the Bulldogs their first lead of
the game. Even Head Coach Jerry
Tarkanian*s play didn't turn out as
planned.
"Our play was Gumby was sup¬
posed to penetrate and draw help
and kick it to one of our three great
shooters on the wing [Brandon
Bakke, Kendric Brooks, or
Young]," Tarkanian said. "And
Gumby's stalling. He's holding the
ball. He never did penetrate. I'm
screaming 'Gumby penetrate!' He"
didn't drive and draw two people
to him like he was supposed to do."
But, amazingly, it all worked
out.
Gray dished to Young with 10
seconds left and Young missed a
20-footer. But the rebound caromed
off of McCulloch and back into the
hands of Gray. He leaped, drawing
UTEP defenders, and kicked it to
Young once again at almost exactly
the same spot.
Young shot agian, and rattled it
home.
"They outplayed us in every as¬
pect of the game," Tarkanian said.
"They outplayed us. Their coach
outcoached us. Everything we did
was wrong and everything they did
was right. The only thing is, we hit
the bucket to win the game."
But, as has happened so many
times before, the Bulldogs never
quit.
"That's the best thing about it,"
Tarkanian said, "is that we didn't\J
quit. "We kept battling. It's a
miracle that we won."
Fresno State got off to a rocky
start, falling behind 18-4 before the
Bulldogs could bat an eyelash.
They were being outhustled and
outrebounded. The Miners grabbed
21 rebounds in the first half. The
Bulldogs could only manage eight,
a season low. The Bulldogs
scrapped and clawed their way back
into the game, and trailed 41-36 at
halftime.
*\l raised hell at halftime,"
Tarkanian said. "The first ten min¬
utes of the game was an embarrass¬
ment to us. We didn't come to play.
We weren't into the game men¬
tally."
The Bulldogs' win spoiled a ca¬
reer night from UTEP's Jeff Spillar.
The UTEP guard, getting a start
for Carl Davis, was five of five from
the field for the game, all of the bas¬
kets three pointers. He came into
the contest averaging only two
points per game on the season. He
finished with 16 and three assists.
Dominick Young led the Bull¬
dogs with a career-high 31 points
on 11 of 16 shooting, including nine
of 14 from behind the arc.
Kendric Brooks had 25 points on
7 of 15 from the floor, including
five of 13 from three point land.
The Bulldogs' 16 three-point¬
ers made tied a school record.
Young's nine set a new individual J
school mark.
Fresno State's win keeps them
one game back of Utah, and tied
with New Mexico for second place
in the WAC. If Fresno State beats
New Mexico Saturday and Utah
loses to BYU, the Bulldogs will
share the WAC regular season title
with the Utes.
Saturday's game will be at 7:35
p.m. MST at "The Pit" in Albuquer-^
que, N,M.
Troubles piling on for women's basketball team
By Ruthie Longley
Sports Writer
Already plagued with difficul¬
ties, the Fresno State women's bas¬
ketball team took one more hit
when center Tanisha Huddleston
and forward Lori Brown were sus¬
pended for the remainder of the sea¬
son last week.
Head Coach Linda Wunder
would only say that the two play¬
ers, "broke team rules" according,
to a report in The Fresno Bee.
Neither player was available for
comment.
The suspension was quite ajblow
for Huddleston. The senior ended
her basketball playing career 'at
Fresno State without playing in the
team's final three game's. Her final
Bulldog game was played against
San Diego State on Feb. 17.
This is not the first time this year
that Huddleston had been sus¬
pended.
In December, Huddleston's at¬
titude at practice caused her to be
suspended for two games.
Another problem arose when
Huddleston and three teammates
were at a New Year'sv Eve party
with members of the Men's Basket¬
ball team which ended with a secu¬
rity guard assault, hotel room dam¬
age and items within the room sto¬
len.
While Brown's career is blem¬
ished, it is not over.
According to the information
released from the Fresno State
Sports Information Office, Brown
will be allowed to come back next
year to play for the Bulldogs.
In fact. Brown will be reinstated
next season so she can participate
in the spring drills.      	
"[Heading into the Western Ath¬
letic Conference Tournament,] It's
put other people in positions they're
not familiar with," Wunder sajd.
'They' re doing their best to step up
and deal with it."
Fresno State didn't seem to be
effected by the suspensions initially
as the Bulldogs beat BYU for the
team's first road win of the season.
However, the Bulldogs were un¬
able to keep up the momentum in
last Saturday's game against the
Utah Utes.
Fresno State's record is currently
11-14,4-9 in WAC play. The team
will finish out the regular season on
the road against San Diego State on
Friday night.
"It makes our road tougher,"
Wunder said. "[But] there's a point
where you have to have integrity in
the program and do the right thing."
'Dogs try to
halt Matadors'
winning streak
By David Johnson
Sports Writer
In all of collegiate baseball no
squad has faced a more difficult
schedule in the month of February,
than the Fresno State Bulldogs.
Ranked opponents have filed
through Beiden Field and received
Baseball Preview
the Bulldogs with open arms to
their house.
This weekend will be no differ- *
ent. The Bulldogs (6-10) begin
their Western Athletic Conference
season with a three game series
against the third-ranked Cal State
Northridge Majadors (15-1).
The Mata- \
dors are on a
current     12-
game winning
streak   going
into this week¬
end.      They I
opened their
conference
schedule with a I
three-game      Powell
sweep at Cal-Poly San Luis Obispo.
-The Bulldogs have struggled as
of late, losing their last two to the
California Golden Bears.
The games, weather permitting,
are scheduled for Friday at 2 p.m.,
and then Saturday and Sunday at 1
p.m.
The pitching matchups will be
key to the upcoming series.
Friday will see Fresno State/
Jeff Weaver (3-1) against Erasmo
Ramirez (4-0), who has thrown two
complete games in a row. Satur¬
day Mike Powell (0-3) looks to
improve his record against Robby
Crabtree (6-0), and Sunday's pro¬
spective starters are Scott Navarro
(1 -0) and Jason Cole (2-0).
The Matadors are undefeated at
home this season. The Bulldogs
however, won five of the six games
played between the two last season,
and the 'Dogs lead the Series 44-
21.
Players to watch for the Mata¬
dors include:
Sophomore shortstop Adam
Kennedy. The pre-season All-
American is batting .380 with 28
RBI, he had eight last week.
Catcher Hobert Fick is batting
.424, with a .712 slugging percent¬
age.
Pitcher Robby Crabtree, a se¬
nior, has 45 strikeouts in 45 innings
and has an ERA of 1.60.
For the Bulldogs, both Derek
Feramisco and Ben Reynoso have
hitting streaks of 16 and 15 games
respectively. Feramisco is batting
.409 and has had two or more hits
in eight games this season.
First baseman Pete Hennecke
will not make the trip to Northridge
this weekend due to a concussion.
Hennecke was hit in the head by a
pitch Saturday and did not play on
Sunday.
O