1991_12 The Daily Collegian December 1991

              -
\
Daily Collegian Sports
FSU captures Coors Light Classic
By David Donnelly
DC Sports writer
It was the Wil Hooker show
Saturday night in the finals of the
Coors Light Classic at Selland
Arena.    .
Hooker, a senior, scored a game
high 29 points, including a leaning
10-foot bank shot with one second
to go in overtime, to lift the Fresno
State Bulldogs to a dramatic come
-from-behind 77-76
victory    over    the
Gonzaga   Bulldogs
before a raucous FSU
crowd, of 9,701.
Hooker, who was
named the tournament
MVP, also hit a three-
point basket with three
seconds left in regula¬
tion to send the game
into overtime tied at 69.
With FSU trailing,
Hooker was given the
opportunity to tie the I
game when with 16 seconds left,
Tod Bernard fouled Gonzaga'sJeff
Brown.
Brown set the stage for Hooker
by making one of two free throws.
That made the score 69-66.
Hooker then fired from about
22 feet out to send the crowd into
a wild frenzy.
"I'm on the rules committee; I'm
one of those guys that pushed that
three-point play in," FSU head
coach Gary Colson said. "I mean
how exciting ca n it get at the end of
the ball game."
In the consolation game, the
Baylor Bears (3-1) used a powerful
inside game to send the North¬
eastern Huskies (0-3) to their third
consecutive defeat, 80-68.
For the Gonzaga Bulldogs,
guard Jarrold Davis had 23 points
while center Jeff Brown added 22
points before fouling out with 26
seconds to go in overtime. For¬
ward Matt Stanford led Gonzaga
with seven assists.
It was the first time since 1985
the FSU Bulldogs (4-0) have won
the Coors Light Classic.
"It's been a long road; the team
itself hasn't won it since '85 and
we haven't won since we've been
here; we've come in third, we've
come in second and it just feels
good to come in first for a change,"
Hooker, who had 21 points in that
all-important second half, said.
"It feels great; after four years...
we said that we'd go out and do
"It's been a long road; ourbesttotryto
the team itself hasnl 2^r^
won It since '85 and forward Pat
we haven't won since Riddlesprigger
we've been here; "g the first
we've come in third, half, it looked
we've come in second jj" *|JjJJJJ
and it just feels good to L°^he^stj
come in first for a 'Dogs.
Chanfle" The Bulldogs
UTI llLik froa?, Gonzaga
Wil HOOKCr jumped out fO
Down the court
■an early 9-2 advantage, increased
the lead to 40-24 with 158 to go in
the first half and led 40-29 at
halftime.
However, in the locker room
Colson told his players he blamed
himself for the deficit.
"I told them at halftime I'm the
reason we got behind; we were
messing with defenses and what¬
ever," Colson said.
"I became impatient and went
to our blue matchup and it worked
for a while but it stayed in for too
long and it got us in trouble. So I
told them I got you 11 points down,
see if you can catch up." -.
In the second halfrit;was a
completely different story;
The FSU Bulldogs came out with
fire in their eyes.
Helped by a 20-4 run that started
in the last two minutes of the first
half, the Dogs wiped out the defi¬
cit in the first 4*07 of the -second
See CLASSIC, page 7
'        Hector Amezcua/ DC Photographer
Fresno State basketball player Pat Riddlesprigger steals the ball from Gonzaga's
•Jeff Brown. The 'Dogs won the Coo.s Light Classic Saturday night In Selland Arena.
Bulldogs realize top goal of NCAA berth
By David Donnelly
DC Sports writer
Before the season started the
Fresno State women's volleyball
team (21-12) established three
goals.
After reaching two of the three
goals during the regular season,
the Mndogs realized the top goal
yesterday afternoon. <
The Bulldogs will meet the UC
Santa Barbara Gauchos<21-9) in the
first round of the 1991 women's
NCAA volleyball tournament
Northwest regional Saturday iiight
at UCSB, it was announced at a
press conference yesterday.
Match time will be announced.
It will only be the *Dogs' second
tournament appearance.
FSU Was invited to the tourna¬
ment in 1984 and reached ihe
quarterfinals. FSU finished the
season 26-13.
The Bulldogs will be seed ed fifth
and the Gauchos, fourth.
. If the Bulldogs get past the
Gauchos, the Dogs will meet the
winner of the Long Beach Stated 2-
1) versus Northern Iowa(23-7)
match-up Friday night. The Beach
is the top seed in the regional.
According to head coach Lindy
Vivas, the "Dogs got the match-up
they wanted.
"I think we got the best match¬
up, right now, in the region be¬
cause 1 feel the team we're closest
to is Santa Barbara, so it's a good
match-up for us,"LVivas said.
. '^e'repretty similar teams and
like 1 said, I think we match-up
better against Santa Barbara than
the rest of the teams above us that
we could have been paired
agamst."
Vivas was also pleased with the
Bulldogs reachingthe tournament.
"Our number one goal was to
make the NCAA play-offs; that
was number one and at the time I
didn't know if we'd get here; it
was just a matter of how well we
played and how hard we worked
throughout the season," Vivas
said.
"But we did work very hard
and we did everything we had to
position ourselves to get an at
large berth."
During the regular season the
Bulldogs met the Gauchos twice.
In the first match at FSU's North
Gym, the Gauchos took about an
hour and a half and three games to
defeat the Bulldogs.
In the second match, the
Gauchos needed four games to
dispose of the T>ogs. »
This announcement was espe¬
cially welcomed by juniors An¬
drea Radmilovich, Suzie Regul and
Leslie Jackson.
"In the past, I guess, it's always
every team's goal to go to the
NCAAs and its- always been our
goal but it has never really been
put in perspective the way Lindy
and Joey put it to us and at the be¬
ginning of the season when we all
sat down and talked about it, it got
. really exciting; we could really do
this," Radmilovich said.
"When we started winning and
doing well our hopes were getting
higher and higher. I was telling
Joey; I don't think I'll believe it
until we're playing Saturday
night."
Other teams in the regional in¬
clude Hawaii, Pacific, Southwest
Texas State,Montana.
'Dogs fill heavyweight position
By Richard James
DC Sports writer
Going into the wrestling meet
Saturday, Fresno State coach
Dennis DeLiddo had a question
mark at the heavyweight position,
especially against Clemson.
But DeLiddo got the answer he
was hoping for when Lorenzo
Neal, also the starting fullback on
the football team, stepped in and
pinned Clemson's Robbie Derrick
in the heavyweight match in 1:49
to seal the Bulldogs' 20-16 victory
over the Tigers at the FSU North
Gym.
The Bulldogs (3-0) also beat San
Francisco State (0-2) by a score of
40-7 and UC Davis (0-2), 35-9.
"I knew I wouldn't need him
against San Francisco or Davis,"
DeLiddo said. "But I thought the
match against Clemson might
come down to the heavyweight
match and it did. I guess I was
right."
Neal found out he could see
some action against Clemson (3-1)
when DeLiddo called him Thanks¬
giving Day.
"I called him on Thanksgiving
Day and told him I talked to (head
football coach Jim) Sweeney,"
DeLiddo said. "I told (Neal) that
coach Sweeney said if I needed to
usehim,togoaheadandusehim."
. Neal, who wrestled for the Bull¬
dogs last season, was scheduled to
join the team after the Dec. 14
California Raisin Bowl against
Bowling Green.
"Lorenzo got the job done. I
knew as long as he didn't get tired
were was no way (Derrick) would
beat him," DeLiddo said.
Neal was in control from the
beginning of the match.
"He had him pinned once, let
him go, and then got him in a bear
hug and put (Derrick) on his back
for the pin," DeLiddo said.
In one of the closer matches of
the day, r$U> Jerry Abas, a 142-
pound redshirt freshman, turned
SeeWRESTUNG, page 7
.
j