The Roswell Daily Record from Roswell, New Mexico • Page 15

Daily, IRecorft 15 Thursday, January 25,1979 sports GHS set for Hobbs Coach Ralph Tasker sat and watched his high-flying Hobbs Eagles overcome a battling Roswell Coyotes basketball team last week and the Warbirds fly into town again for what they hope will be a repeat of last week. Hobbs will try for the second successive week, to clobber a Roswell team, but this time it's the Goddard Rockets that the Eagles have to contend with. And coach Bry Wilkinson has been busy trying to lay some sort of trap that will get the Eaglles tangled up enough to make things even. ard has an ed 8 that Roswell didn't have last week, in the rebounding department. With Mark Walker at 6-5.

6-4 Scott Marsau and 6-4 Pat Michaels, to name a few. Walker, an early-season workhorse on the boards, has been getting good help Marsau. And the Rockets just need to play it cool and get some good shooting from guards like Jack Hedgecock. Mike Lacer and Jessie Barraza. just to name a few.

who could turn things around with a strong outside scoring game. Rick Stephens' rebounding and defense will be important, also. Hobbs is an impatient club that loves to run. so it figures that the best way to control the Eagles is to control the This is something Wilkinson has considered, but his real game plan is staying hidden until the 8 p.m. tipoff Friday night at Rocket gym.

"They're tough. We can't keep their tempo. I've seen them and I don't see any way we can run with them. We have worked against the press though and we looked good doing that," Wilkinson said. Alamogordo pressed the Rockets to an extent last Saturday, but there's no press like a Hobbs press.

The Eagles start and finish with the press. It never is taken off against any team. And Tasker has enough players to attack a slow down game by fouling to get the ball back. too. "What we've got to do is-settle down and run our offense," Wilkinson said.

That's been Goddard's problem all season, injuries aside. The Rockets haven't been able to rebound consistently, or score consistently, or run their offehse consistently. When they have run their offense, they've been able to score. But often, the Rockets become impatient, rush their passes, get them picked off and end up on the wrong end of the score. That's a big reason for the club's 2-10 record to date, a record that might be misleading.

"I hope we can get the consfstency we've got to have on the boards. We've got to keep our poise against Hobbs." said Wilkinson. Most teams lose their poise against the Eagles, mainly working against the full court press that is a Tasker trademark. But Wilkinson has had some success at home in the past against Hobbs. barely losing last season by five points, he recalls.

"We had them playing our game, they a shot didn't go down and they scored and tooke it away from us." he said. That's the key to beating getting them to play a game other than their own. And it's a hard task to accomplish, but the only one the Rockets have to work on. Joy Haas determined ByBOBGREEN AP Golf Writer SAN DIEGO (AP) -The victory in the Andy Williams-San Diego Open as a rookie last season may have been too much too soon for Jay Haas. "It was what I wanted to do.

of course," Haas said before teeing off today in the first round of his title defense. "But. in some ways, it might not have been good for me. "I think maybe I got a little Harry Readel complacent. I really didn't do much the rest of the year." The record confirms it.

Haas won $40.000 in the San Diego event. He didn't win that much in the rest of the season put together. After his victory, the former NCAA champion from Wake Forest went four months before gaining another finish in the top 10. "I'm determined that won't happen again." he said. "I think the experience I have had over the last year will help me to avoid that kind of letdown.

Rockets do have rebound power Last week the Hobbs Eagles came to town hoping to find easy pickings at Roswell High School. And while they did make off with the booty, they had a hard time doing so. because the Coyotes wouldn't give up. They can expect the same thing at Goddard Friday night, plus one thing Roswell didn't have. Goddard has some big dudes who can get on the boards.

Goddard fans have backed the Rockets pretty well and they're a noisy bunch, which should help the Rockets all the more. And the more blue in the stands the better, because Coach Bry Wilkinson's team will need that "Sixth man" that good home town fans always are. We're told there are no plans to block the highway in an effort to keep Hobbs out of town and no plans are in the works to blow up the bridges east of here and force a delay in Friday night's activities. Sooner or later, the Eagles and Rockets must meet and it might as well be sooner, before another Rocket gets hurt. Coach Bry Wilkinson may start personally tucking his troops into bed each night to make sure they stay healthy, although it appears he's going to have to shepherd them day and night at school and away.

Another Rocket. Tracy Harris, banged his head up in an accidental fall at school Tuesday and probably won't play against Hobbs. And it's just as well Tracy stay home, since the speed with which one has to turn his head to watch the Eagles play at their speed-of-sound pace, makes even the stoutest head dizzy, let alone one that's been bonked hard. Wilkinson doesn't like watching Hobbs up and down the floor, either. It seems that no matter what a team does though, it eventually gets caught in falling into the Hobbs of playing their running game.

And few are the teams anywhere able to match legs with the Hobbs Eagles. There are tricks, of course. One is to let the air out of the ball before they get their hands on it. Another is to put glue on the towel they use to wipe their shoes on before stepping on court. The basket could be tilted at their end of the floor.

But most coaches end up locking their team in the gym so it won't sneak away before facing the mighty Eagles. It doesn't figure that the Rockets are the sneaking kind. They may be sneaky, though. They are a better team than their 2-10 record indicates and even they think so. When there have been players to get hurt, they've been Goddard players.

When there has been luck to spread around, it's been bad. And they've gotten it. This team hasn't come close to its potential yet. Maybe it never will. But if it doesn't what better time to do it than Friday night against Hobbs! Last time the Rockets got into a running match with the Eagles, they lost at Hobbs by 20 points.

But then, everybody loses at Hobbs. except the Eagles. Here last year. Goddard lost by five points, with a two-point bucket that was missed, possibly being the difference in the game. Wilkinson recalls.

Maybe the only way to beat Hobbs is by giving the basketball to two guys, surround them, let them pass it around and hold it for as long as possible. Holding the ball frustrates Hobbs. At any rate, depending on how well the guards can contain them. Hobbs should have its hands full Friday, with those big dudes under the basket, with nice big hands that can latch onto the ball. Maybe they can stuff a few more in the hole than Hobbs can.

Don't be surprised if they do. "I came out this year determined that I wouldn't do that again. I wanted to win again early, and then try to keep it going a little better. "I feel good about my game." he said. "I'm coming in here off two pretty good tournaments.

I had one bad round at the Hope, but played pretty well the rest of the time. Then last week I could have won. "I feel good about this tournament. I like the golf course and I like the way I'm playing." Haas was a 1-shot loser to Ben Crenshaw in the Phoenix Open earlier this week and came into this event as the No. 5 man on the season's money-winning list at more than $21,000.

His solid performance in Phoenix gave him a position high on the list of likely winners in this $250.000 event that offers a $45.000 first prize. His chief challenger, of course, is Tom Watson. AHS falls fo Goddard Goddard's "Miracle Misses" keep pulling them out. It was another heart-stopper for Goddard High's girls basketball team, but one that ended on another good note. too.

Goddard zoomed out to a 8-3 record with a 42-41 victory over Artesia Tuesday and faces another toughie Friday at Alamogordo. In the latest epsiode. the who were expected to hold up District 4AAAA from the bottom, not lead into a two-point lead with 50 seconds to go and got a one-and-one free throw attempt. The foul shot was missed but Georgia Solt scored with the rebound to put Goddard ahead by four points. Artesia scored quickly to cut the lead to two.

and Goddard held the ball with 40 seconds to play. Following an intentional foul by Artesia on Carol Core in an attempt to get the ball back. Core made one free throw to put Goddard ahead by three. 42-39. "We let Artesia score that final basket and made sure we didn't foul anyone." Coach Earnie Core said.

The Rockets held the'ball for the remaining time left in the game, to cinch the one -point win. Cynthia Leadingham's 16 points, 12 each by Solt and Core, plus the ball handling of Beth Parsons, who helped set up plays and the defense and ball handling of Debbie Green and Margaret Mitcham. contributed to another team win. "We passed off and handled the ball well and we played together again." Core said. If anything, the togetherness of Goddard's girls is showing that what the word "team" means in team sports.

Lynn Swann's eary donee class mode fops in NFL LOS ANGELES (AP) Lynn Swann, whose seven receptions for 124 yards and a touchdown helped Pittsburgh defeat Dallas in Super Bowl XIII last Sunday, isn't graceful by accident. He's had years of practice. Swann. acknowledged as one of the National Football League's finest wide receivers, has developed more moves than John Travolta in a Fred Astaire-like fashion. "I studied dance for 14 years, from the fourth grade through my years at Southern California." said Swann.

"That training helps me a great deal in catching passes. I learned the total (body) extension I use." Swann hopes to use some of that extension to help the American Football Conference defeat the National Conference in next Monday night's Pro Bowl at the Coliseum. "I studied tap dance, ballet," he said. "All the strength and balance needed to execute a pirouette comes into play on a football field. Dancing increases your timing and coordination.

"I got my jumping ability from track and gymnastic training, but also from dance lessons." Obviously, it takes more than pretty moves to become one of the NFL's top wide receivers. "The key is the homework I do High reach Houston Rocket Rudy Tomjanovich (45) outreaches Denver's John Kuester (10) to recover the rebounding basketball during the first period of their Wednesday night game at Houston. Moses Malone (24) of the Rockets watches the play. Houston got enough rebounds and shots to beat Denver, 117 116 in the NBA contest. Houston is in second place in the NBA Centra Division, while Denver is second in the Western Conference.

little Red Machine' hosts Clovis Roswell High's "Little Red Machine" takes on the much taller Clovis Wildcats girls basketball team tonight at Coyote gym in a game that is a big one for both teams. Roswell, 1-2 in district play, needs a win to stay in the race, while Clovis will be looking to avoid what happened on its last trip here, when an upstart Goddard team beat the Wildcats in a thriller. Last time out. Fehcia Sanders scored 33 points, but Roswell lost to Hobbs. SNAPW WITH FOUR ON THE.

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