1987_02 The Daily Collegian February 1987

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Monday, Feb. 2,1987
Sports
i
Page 6
'Dogs lose heartbreaker
By Jon Matsune Unfortunately for the "Dogs, and most of
Sports Writer the 850 fans packed into the South Gym,
FSU fell a point short of No. 5 Long Beach
It had to be one of the finest efforts ever State in what might have been the upset of the
given by a Fresno State women's basketball year in women's hoop. Using their pressure
team and   as exciting a contest as there has defense like a battering ram, the explosive
been in Bulldog sports this winter. 49ers rallied from an eight-poirtf second-half
deficit and edged a worn-out Bulldog team, 79-
78.
"We moved well defensively and executed
on offense," said FSU Coach Bob Spencer,
"We played as well as we could expect to
play."
Actually, the Bulldogs played much better
Fresno State's Laurie Henrichs blocks the shot of Long Beach State's Cindy Brown during FSU's 79-78 toss to the fifth
ranked 49ers.
Titans make FSU 0-for-road
Mike Butwell
Co-Sports Editor
The Fresno State Bulldogs, seeking
desperately for a way to win on the road, took
another step in the wrong direction by
dropping a 58-46 count to Fullerton State
Saturday night in Titan Gym.
The defeat was FSLTs 'fifth in a row, 10th
consecutive on the road this season, and 13th
straight including last year; The Bulldogs have
not recorded a road win since Feb. 8, 1986,
against • no other than - the Titans, 61-54.
Sure, early (very early) in the first half, the
'Dogs looked like they wanted to erase their
woes and misery away from home and get back
on track, grabbing a 5-1 lead and eventually
exchanging baskets to bind things at eleven
ill.
But that is where any hopes (or dreams) of
ousting Fullerton came to a screeching halt, as
the home-town Titans reeled off 14 unanswered
points before the closing of the half. Mike
Mitchell's bucket with less than a minute until
intermission nicked the advantage to 25-13.
In 20 minutes of roundball. Adams'
Bulldogs had only 13 points to show for their
efforts.
"If this team could shoot well," said Head
Coach Ron Adams, "I think we could get over
the rough spots. This just isn't a good
shooting team or a good passing team."
While the win moved Fullerton yp to 10:8
overall and 3-6 in Pacific Coast Athletic
Association competiton, the 'Dogs fell to 7-14
and 2-8 in league to place them all alone in the
PCAA basement.
Although the 'Dogs are just a game and a
half behind Fullerton and two games below
Utah State. New Mexico State and the
University of the Pacific, to get an invitation
to the PCAA tournament, the below-par
Bulldogs need a quick turnaround in the
remaining contests, not to mention a miracle
or two.
One of these miracles would be shooting
the ball into the hoop at a more consistent
rate. No 'Dog, tall or small, has filled the bill
of being the player that consistently pops the
jumper. Mitchell sank four of his eight field
goals, but the other guards, Leo Walker and
Keith Billingslea, were a horrid 3-for-15 from
the field.
FSU did shoot 43 percent, just over their
42 percent season average and 38 percent
average on the road, but in the game's first half
was only able to connect on six of 23 shots
for 26 percent.
Despite the fact FSU committed only two
more turnovers (15-13) then the Titans, The
Bulldogs contributed vastly to a 21-5 run with
a run of their own blunders that saw the lead
sky to 48-22 midway through the second half.
Of all the Dog starters. Derrick Barden was
responsible for keeping the lead to a
respectible margin instead of an embarrassing
Barden tallied a team-high 16 points, 13 of
which took place in the second half, to help
FSU outscore Fullerton 24-10 in the closing
nine minutes. Although the 'Dogs must also
thank Titan Coach George McQuarn for
clearing the bench-warmers as soon as the
score would permit.
"If we had kept the first half tighter, you
wouldn't have seen Fullerton's fluidity in the
Sec BULLDOGS, page 7
than expected. Long Beach State entered the
contest averaging 96 points per game, but
Fresno State's swarming zone defense held the
49crs below 80 and limited them to 31-for-78
shooting from the field. Cindy Brown, Long
Beach State's Ail-American forward, scored 25
points, but converted just eight of 22 field
goal attempts and made four turnovers. 49cr
guard Penny Toler, considered by some to be
one of the finest ballhandlers in the nation, had
six turnovers.
It didn't seem possible but the Bulldogs
were outshooting the 49ers, outrebounding
them, and beating them down both ends of the
court To top things off, ;fBrown, a 26-point
per game scorer, had just two points and the
game was already nine minutes old.
Brown ended the dry spell with a bank shot
that made it 22-21, but the Bulldogs weren't
quite finished with their assault Martell,
Heinrichs and Yvette Roberts all pumped in
four points in a 12-2 run that stretched the
Bulldog lead to 34-23 with 7:53 left in the
half. Long Beach State fought back, scoring
six of the next eight points and creeping
within seven, but Roberts and Martell hit
consecutive hoops to inflate the margin back
to eleven.
This was Fresno State's high-water mark.
The Bulldogs were up 40-29 with less than
five minutes left in the first half, and even
though it was way early, things couldn't be
going much bettei for them. Asking for further
improvement of the situation would have been
pushing things a bit.
Not surprisingly, things didn't get any
better for the 'Dogs. The 49ers outscored FSU
12-4 over the next three minutes and only a
basket by Shannon McGee and a timely buzzer
to signal intermission enabled the Bulldogs to .
go off to the locker room clinging to a 46-41
lead.
Almost incredibly, the Bulldogs came out
for the second half and quickly increased their
lead to nine points, but the Beach just as
quickly shrunk the FSU cushion back down to
five. From here, the game seemed to take a
different complexion. No longer was it a
contest of streaks and counter streaks. It was a
grueling * game of short exchanges; the
pendulum moving from one side to the other
with remarkable speed.
The Ttogs made what looked like the
decisive play of the game with just under nine
minutes remaining and FSU leading 62-58.
McGee, grabbing a fastbreak pass from Martell
(who had just sucked up a nice outlet from
Heinrichs), drove to the hoop and scored
despite being intentionally fouled by Long
    See WOMEN, page 7
Grapplers earn 3rd
Little tosses to No. 1 Pope to end win streak
By Stove Ruffonl
Sports Writer
With frv« members placing in their
I respective weight divisions, the Fresno
State .wrestling team earned a third-place
I finish    at    the    California    Collegiate
Championships, held last Saturday at San
Francisco State University.
AD-American Fred little was one of five
Bulldogs to place in the tourney. The No.5
ranked 177-pounder in the nation went 3-0
to reach the finals and set up a showdown
with CSU-Bakenfield's
Little, whose only
had cor
Pope to an 8-8 draw at the end of
regulation, before finally succumbing in
overtime 5-0. The hard-fought Joss ended
Lime's fifteen match win streak, and
dropped his record to 23-3. Pope, the
nation's No.l ranked 177-pounder, remains
unbeaten.
"Fred just wrestled a *(
He had Pope pinned, but the guy (;
didn't call k," said Head Coach ]
DeLtddo.
Also poso^sjs^corid-place finishes f
the TJogs were Durbin Lloren and I
Thomas.
	
See WRESTLlE,
t^SL