The Seguin Gazette-Enterprise from Seguin, Texas • Page 4

Page 4A Wednesday. February 20.1985 The Sequin Gazette-Enterprise Sports TLC-St. Mary's rivalries hit the Doghouse Bulldogs eye 'Showdown IT Thursday By JOHN R. CORBETT Sports Editor It seems every big show these days gives birth to a sequel and the series between the St. Mary's and Texas Lutheran basketball teams is following suit.

Call it "Showdown II" While the first "showdown" was more of a "letdown" for TLC as the Rattlers cruised to an 82-68 victory in San Antonio, there is a little more on the line this time around when the two Big State Conference leaders meet in the Doghouse Thursday. With just two games left on the schedule, Thursday's winner can take the first big step in wrapping up the BSC championship and thereby clinch the home court advantage for the NAIA district playoffs set to open March 4. While the two teams still must play Saturday with the Bulldogs traveling to East Texas Baptist and the Rattlers entertaining St. Edward's, the Thursday game undoubtedly is the key to future success and coaches Buddy Meyers of St. Mary's and Newton Grimes of TLC realize the need for more games in their home court.

"I think the home court advantage would benefit us or Texas Lutheran," said Meyers. "We both know the number-two team in our conference can go on the road and win, therefore the championship game in the playoffs would be on the court of the Big State Conference champion. I'm sure Newton would like to have that." Grimes echoed Meyers' thoughts. "The only pressure on this game is the home court advantage," said Grimes as both TLC and St. Mary's have clinched playoff berths.

"St. Mary's has dominated the conference and we have a chance to change that. The home court is the bottom line of the game." St. Mary's and TLC both stand at 7-1 in the BSC with Rattlers letting the 'Dogs back into the first place slot when they slipped up recently in a loss at St. Edward's.

Despite owning the only victory over the Bulldogs in conference play, Meyers doesn't believe his team will enjoy a psychological advantage when they enter the Doghouse Thursday. "When we play, you can throw the psychological things out the window," Meyers said. "Newton's kids didn't shoot well last time and when it doesn't go in the hole, it's pretty hard to win. We expect it to be tougher this time around." Grimes feels that the pressure just might be on the Rattlers due to the fact that the game is being KEVIN HAMILTON (left) leads the seniors of Texas Lutheran into Thursday's showdown with St. Mary's.

(Staff photo) played at the Doghouse. "This year the pressure is reversed," Grimes noted. "We've kept our nose clean except for St. Mary's. We've proven that we're winners this year and our last two games are prime examples.

We created situations where we could win and some have been with offense and some with defense." Both the Rattlers and Bulldogs bring impressive credentials into their second shoolout. St. Mary's is currently ranked 10th in this week's NAIA national poll and stand at 19-5 on the season. The 21-7 Bulldogs are ranked among the top ten teams in the nation in scoring with an average of 87.8 points per game. Individually, TLC's Lenny Draper leads the BSC in scoring with a 19.9 per game average while teammate Darryl Gowens tops the conference rebounding charts hauling in over 10 caroms a contest.

St. Mary's counters with center Ken Cook who is leading the BSC in field goal percentage with a lofty 64.6 percentage good for a 14.9 per game scoring mark just behind team leader Quan Roseboro who is hitting at a 15.3 clip. But then statistics never won a game and, as Meyers indicated, they might as well be thrown out the same window with the psychological charts. While "Showdown didn't live up to its expectations, Thursday's sequel has all the original cast back hoping the script calls for a little more excitement. Going by all indications, it appears this may be one of the few times that the sequel is better than the original.

"Showdown II" opens at your nearest Doghouse Thursday at 7:30 p.m. for one showing only. BIG STATECONFERENCE (Men's Standings) Lutheran 7-1 Mary's 7-1 St. Edward's Huston-TilJotson 2-5 Mary Hardin-Baylor 2-6 East Texas Baptist 1-6 playoff berth Thursday's games: St. Mary's at Texas Lutheran; Huston-Tillotson at East Texas Baptist; Mary Hardin-Baylor at St.

Edward's. Lady 'Dogs seek first place Wednesday By JOHN R. CORBETT Sports Editor In the race for the Big State Conference women's basketball championship, there are no Cin- derellas trying to slip their font into the glass slipper and gain entry into the throne room. The remaining contenders, St. Mary's and Texas Lutheran, are the blue bloods of the conference and Wednesday night's 7:30 p.m.

date in the Doghouse should give a good reading on which of these two princesses becomes the rightful queen. The Lady Rattlers and the Lady Bulldogs have dominated the conference all season with the former boasting a perfect 8-0 mark while the latter stands close at 7-1. The only meeting between the two powerhouses came Feb. 2 and it took a shot by St. Mary's Milyse Lamkin to edge TLC, 71-69.

Now that her team has put itself in the situation to control their own destiny by winning all of their games since the Feb. 2 disapoint- ment, Lady Bulldog coach Lana Urbanek feels the time has come for her squad. "Last week was long and energy- consuming," said Urbanek of two tough victories over Huston- Tillotson and St. Edward's that set up Wednesday's showdown. "This week we know what to expect.

Now it's fun and I'm real excited where we're at." Although TLC still must take on East Texas Baptist on Saturday while the Lady Rattlers host St. Ed's, Wednesday's game is the first step in deciding the home court advantage in the upcoming NAIA playoffs. The BSC champ will own the home rights while the BSC runnerup must hit the road for a game against the top independent which at this time appears to be either Southwestern or Schreiner. Urbanek hopes her team can take the importance of the contest in the same manner in which they've disposed of their last four conference opponents. "The home court is important, but we're not looking at this game as any different than we have the last four games," Urbanek noted.

"What I liked about the St. Edward's game (Saturday's 70-61 TLC victory) was that we got behind, called a time out, discussed what we had to do and then went out and played with poise. We played the final three minutes very well and that's what we have to do." The strength of the two clubs is in direct proportion to one another. DEN1SE DORNAK (right) lofts a jumper during a recent game. The senior forward playing her first year of basketball after a brilliant volleyball career leads the TLC women in scoring and rebounding as they prepare for Wednesday's key 'clash against the Lady Rattlers of St.

Mary's. (Staff photo) St. Mary's is an excellent group of outside shooters led by guard Kirn Watson and center Susan Carter. TLC's main ingredient is rebounding buoyed by senior Denise Dornak at forward and All- America center Sarah Busboom who are averaging 11.2 and 9.3 rebounds per game respectively. Thus the formula is simple for TLC St.

Mary's needs to miss and TLC will do the rebounding. "We can't let them start hitting from the outside," admitted Urbanek. "We haven't been quite as aggressive as we were earlier and we need to go out and start doing that." Now that St. Mary's and Texas Lutheran have eliminated all of the conference Cinderellas, it's time to find out which of these princesses becomes queen and which one continues to be a lady-in-waiting. BIG STATE CONFERENCE (Women's Mary's 8-C Lutheran 7- East Texas Baptist 4-: Huston-Tillotson 3-4 St.

Edward's 1- Mary Hardin-Baylor 0-1 playoff berth Wednesday's games: St. Mary's at Texas I.uth cran; Mary Hardin-Baylor at St. Edward's. Thursday's game: Huston-Tillotson at Eas Texas Baptist. NBA roundup Mavericks' Perkins enjoying forward role Big catch JEANNE VOGEL of Seguin holds up a 20-pound striped bass her husband Steve brought home last week after fishing at Canyon Lake.

The big fish put up a 10 minute fight as Voyel was using ultra light tackle with a 10-pound test line. (Courtesy photo) NBA Standings I ASH UN 1'ahlic Diiisinn Alliiiilir Division I.A l.ikri-, H. 1- IM. I'hnrmx I'" 44 mm I'liiiiand VVH I 1 Sraltlr In- Hi 1 II, I.A :i.l -HKI IV -), Hi 1 Slatr IV I-' By WILLIAM R. BARNARD AP Sports Writer Rookie Sam Perkins is finding life as a forward much more rewarding than life as a center.

"Just playing more and taking responsiblity has gotten me more involved in the game," Perkins said after scoring a season-high 28 points to lead the Dallas Mavericks to a 124115 National Basketball Association victory over the Houston Rockets Tuesday night. "I just try to get something started." Ironically, if the G-foot-9 Perkins had played center against the Rockets, he would have guarded 7- foot Akeern Olajuwon, while at forward his main assignment was 7-4 Ralph Sampson. Sampson scored 20 points, but he was only 7-for-20 from the field and had only wo points in the first half as Dallas raced to a 67-54 lead. lOlsewliiTi' in the NBA, it was Milwaukee 129, New York 118; Atlanta 107, Golden State 104; Los Bowling Standings MONDAY AM'KKNOON I.ADIKS I.KA(ii;K Nrw -rv Nrw Ymk (i-nlral Division M.lwank,, -iv-i Mllwailkiv Nrll 111) l.olilrii Illl I. A l.akrl 1'V I'lin-ai'ii Halki-- 110 Wl Sll ((IM'KKKNI I Mnlursl Divisimi 1 Ill, 1 W' -s lu.hll-ll M.I!I .,1 I at In I'm-ll I VV.isiinii't,,n i -tln Vallr liranlv I'rarl Urn llnlliiiann SurrlitinuMiilui C.i Disi-iiiinl Statr Hank (iKM Mali-rial Cut iiCiirl liuirk IliRhTrainSrrirs IVailllrrr ('III I'ill I lilvM Mali-rial Tram (iunlr I'ral I ('nl Curl Kir, In, Intl.

Srrirs Until l.lmla 1 li'lllnann Ann hid (ianir Irlk.i lintli I.I/ Knurlkr 011.0-27.0 44.0-IHI.5 411.0-1(1.0 0 4(1-14 :iv.0-411.0 i vr.i Angeles Lakers 127, Chicago 117; and Kansas City 116, Portland 96. Houston, which had a four-game winning streak snapped, played Tuesday night's game with assistant coach Carroll Dawson running the team. Head Coach Bill Fitch was sitting out the first game of a two- game suspension he received for yanking a referee's whistle during last Saturday's game against Cleveland. Fitch also was fined $3,000. Lakers 127, Bulls 117 Ixis Angele.s hit 65 percent of its shots and extended its Pacific Division lead to 12 games as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored 27 points, Byron Scott 22 and Earvin "Magic" 20 at Chicago.

The Bulls, losers of seven games in their last eight outings, lied the score at 112-112 with 5:52 on a basket by Caldwull Jones. But Abdul-Jabbar hit seven points down the- stretch as the Lakers tallied 15 of UK- game's final 20 points. Orlando Woolridge led Chicago with 30 points, while Quintin Dailey added 26. Bucks 129, Knicks 118 Sidney Moncrief scored 30 points and Terry Cuininings 25 as Milwaukee improved its Central College Scoreboard Tursilii) 's Cullrnr Haskt'tlnill Scmrs By Tin 1 Assiiriiilril 1'ri'ss KAST i(Ki. l.a.Salli' lliO.liUl Viil, II SOUTH Al.i Smith Mm ula til (ii-m'i-'ia Smillirni-IN.

Haillm'il lirui-nia'lcili III, land Mr.Nrr.srSt l.ainai (IH.O'I MIDWKST Ohm lllmm.s soi TIIWKST Oklahoma i I C.ilS.in llnr lull Division lead to 5 1 games by handing New York its fifth straight loss. The Knicks led in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. But a 25-11 run by the Bucks, with Alton Lister scoring seven points and Kicky Pierce six, gave Milwaukee a 117-104 lead with 4:44 left. Dan-ell Walker led the Knicks with a career-high 31 points, while NBA scoring leader Bernard King added 30. Kings 116, Trail 96 Kansas City, which lost 115-96 at Portland on Sunday night, turned that result around by 39 points with an easy home triumph.

Hawks 107, Warriors 104 Randy Wittman scored a career- high 28 points and Dominique Wilkins hit one of two free throws with 15 seconds left to break a 104-104 tie with Golden State, which had rallied from an Ill-point deficit midway through the third quarter. Jack Nash Chevrolet Your one stop service center for all of your vehicle's needs Service-Parts Body shop SPECIAL OF THE MONTH Lube, oil and filter change off with this ad nut uvdt (M reeunc WIIH cenune CM pants." Offer t-xirts i.