1997_02 The Daily Collegian February 1997

              THE DAILY
COLLEGIAN
Monday, February 3, 1997
Sports
Sports Editor: Luis Hernandez
Telephone: (209) 278-5733
'Dogs edge Hawai'i to stay unbeaten at home
By David Childers
The Daily Collegian
(
Terrance Roberson was unavail¬
able. Hawai'i guard Anthony Carter
was unstoppable, and Daymond
Forney was unidentifiable, but
Fresno State (14-8. 6-2) remained
unbeaten at home on the season
w ith an 80-74 win against the Rain¬
bow s on Saturday.
By virtue of the w in. the Bull¬
dogs forced a three-way tie for first
w ith Hawai'i (14-4.6-2) and Colo¬
rado State in the WAC's unpredict¬
able Pacific Division.
"We knew this was a big game,
we were really ready mentally for
[Saturday's] game." said guard
Chris Herren. who matched
Carter's 28 points and equaled his
own career-high.
Hawai'i converted the opening
tip into a Greg Ambrozich lay-up
for a 2-0 lead, bui once Herren
touched the ball the Bulldogs
would only trail once-more and not
until the second half.
Herren answered the opening
bucket with a three-pointer, then
followed that up by draw ing a foul
and hitting two of three free-
throws, and Fresno State led 5-2.
After the Herren free-throws.
Rahsaajn Smith ripped the ball away
at half court and coasted in for a
lay-up. Following a Rainbow turn¬
over. Herren hil another three to
make it 10-2.
"We came out right from the be¬
ginning and really got after it," said
Herren. "I was really feeling it."
Carter was "feeling it" as well.
When he wasn't hitting the outside
shot, he was running the floor and
Inside game takes small step forward,
recovers from lackluster opening.
ByTomSepulveda "I've been playing against
The Daily Collegian [Sundberg] since junior college, so
that's like a whole rivalry." Smith
said. "He has gotten a lot better. I
Paul Martinez — T7ie Daily Collegian
Out ol my way: Chris Herren dunks in Micah Kroeger's face
scoring in transition. His lay-up
early in the second half gave the
'Rainbows a one-point lead, but
Fresno State answered as they had
all evening.
"Anthony Carter is something."
said coach Jerry Tarkanian. 'That's
a great player. His reputation out of
junior college was that he couldn't
shoot the three, and he hit three of
six tonight."
Even when Hawaii cut the lead
to five with under a minute remain¬
ing, Darnell McCulloch came off
of the bench and dominated the de¬
fensive boards.
"Thai's what coach has been
waiting for from me all season."
said McCulloch. "I just haven't pro¬
duced. We really iced the game late
w ith some clutch rebounds and our
Please see B-BALL page 7
In the first three minutes of the
game, the Bulldogs went on a 15-4
run that had Chris Herren and
Rashaan Smith at the helm.
Yes, Rashaan Smith looked like
a man possessed. There was a be-
hind-the-back coast-to-coast
dribble that he finished with a driv¬
ing layup. and 'hen a dunk with au¬
thority off a pass from Kendric
Brooks.
Unfortunately, lhat was the last
we'd see from Smith in the first 20
minutes, mostly because the Bull¬
dogs seemed to lock into the perim¬
eter game. Hawai'i climbed back
into the game on the outside shoot¬
ing of Anthony Carter, and the in¬
side presence of Seth Sundberg.
Sundberg has averaged 7.3 ppg
and 7.8 rpg this season. By the end
of the first half, his line was six
points, four rebounds, two assists
and a blocked shot. At one point,
he rebounded his own miss twice
and made a layup on the third
chance. Hawai'i owned a 6-0 lead
in second chance points after
twenty minutes, and out-rebounded
Fresno Slate 20-16.
"That ball was bouncing off and
getting some nasty bounces on the
rim and tips, you know, it just
wasn't bouncing our way." Smith
said of the first half rebounding
trouble. "We just had to go out and
make a better effort next time"
Smith, after a great start, fin¬
ished the half with only four points,
two boards and a block.
J
remember he was at the big man
camp too. so he knew the same
things 1 knew."
Still, Smith had taken only two
shots, partially because Chris
Herren had 17 first-half points, but
also because the Bulldogs were set¬
tling for the jumper instead of bang-
,ing the ball inside. At halftime, head
coach Jerry Tarkanian made some
adjustments.
"We wanted lo go inside more,"
he said. "And we were going to
work our offense in gear until we
were going to go inside more and
not have Dominck [Young] shoot
it nearly as much."
In the first three minutes of the
second half. Smith picked up six
points on a tip-in. a lay-up, and
a dunk. For the game, he had 13
points, and every one of them came
from the paint. But maybe more
importantly, he shut down
Sundberg. who finished with nine
points and five rebounds, picking
up only three points and a single
board in the second half.
Meanwhile, Smith scored nine
of his 13 points in the second half,
with four boards and a block. His
final line: 13 points, six rebounds,
two blocks, and a steal.
"Every game our plan is to go
inside," Young said. "They went to
a zone; we hit some shots and they
went to back a man. so we just went
inside to them."
Please see GAME page 7
Bulldogs rally from behind to win game, take weekend series
By Erik Pfeifle
The Daily Collegian
This past weekend ihe Fresno
State baseball team began its sea¬
son with three games against 11th-
ranked Long Beach State, and if it
is any indication of what is to come
the rest of the season. Bulldogs
baseball fans will not want to miss
w atching them play. *
Fresno Slate used a combination
of great pitching, hitting and de¬
fense to take two of three from their
foes, including Sunday's thrilling 7-
6 comc-from-behind victory in the
rubber match of the series.
Sunday was highlighted by the
first start of highly praised fresh¬
man pitcher Tom Graham from
Beyer High in Modesto. Unfortu¬
nately for Graham and the Bull¬
dogs, he was not able to make it past
the third inning as he surrendered
five runs on two home runs to Long
Beach's number three and four hit¬
ters. Izzy Gonzalez drilled a two-
run shot in the first inning, and
Keith Gowley look Graham deep
for another two run home run in the
fifth inning. After an out and an¬
other single. Coach Bob Bennett
took the.long walk to the mound
and brought in sophomore Randy
Goodrich to hopefully close the
door.
"For Graham, it seemed like ev¬
ery time he left one over the plate
they hit it out," Bennett said.
After a stolen base, passed ball,
and a walk to the first batter he
faced. Goodrich was able to calm
down and get center fielder J.J.
New kirk to ground out to first to end
the inning.
The Bulldogs came back quickly
after being down 5-0, scoring in the
bottom of the third inning.
After lead-off hitter Kevin Hook
began the inning with a single, cen¬
ter fielder Josh Hannah tdok a 1 -0
count and drove it deep into left-
center field high off of the top of
the scoreboard.
The score remained the same
until the bottom of the fifth inning,
when Hannah walked to start the
inning and Derek Feramisco fol¬
lowed with a sharp single to center.
Clean-up hitter Giuseppe
Chiaramonle then took the second
pitch he saw and planted it well over
the left field fence to tie the game
at five.
The score remained tied until the
top of the ninth when Long BeacJh
catcher Casey Martin hit what
looked like the possible winning
home run off Goodrich. After get¬
ting the next two batters to pop-up,
Bennet opted to call in Casey Rowe
to get the final out.
The Bulldogs had their work cut
out for them in the bottom of the
ninth as the 49ers brought in the"ir
closer, hard throwing Iran Barrera.
Feramisco began the inning with a
sharp single over the second
basemen's head. This capped a
three for three day for Feramisco,
who also had two walks.
Chiaramonto followed Ferramisco,
and after taking a strike attempting
to bunt, taking a ball and fouling
off two pitches. Chiaramonte
smacked a sharp single to the left
of a diving shortstop.
DH Jason DeCanio came up
next and sacrificed on a 1-1 count
back to the mound. Barrera hobbled
the ball and his throw to first was
late and left the bases loaded with
no outs for Derrik Levingston.
Levingston hit a pop up to shallow
left that was just out of reach of the
diving left fielder to drive in
Feramisco with the tying run.
Darren Dyte, who pinch hit iir the
seventh, drove in the winning run
with a drive over the drawn in in¬
field to give the Bulldogs a 7-6 vic¬
tory and the series.
'This improves your self worth
Please see BASEBALL page 7
Paul Martinez — The Daily Collegian
Guisseppe Chiriamonte sends one deep against the 49ers