Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 3

FiWAL CHASER CHASER The Arizona Republic Thursday, December 31, 1987 Life Leisure College football NBA College basketball Fiesta Bowl, Update Golf, tennis Scoreboard Critics for The Arizona Republic choose their favorite and least favorite performances of the year in movies, television, popular music, classical music, theater and dining out. C7. lx I fairaw AS Rnh wTv Hurt Vf" Republic i i Columnist I Freedom victory leaves Sun Devils with 7-4-1 record By BOB EGER The Arizona Republic ANAHEIM, Calif. It might not have been John Cooper's biggest moment, but it certainly was one of his most emotional. Cooper who will be introduced as the new head football coach at Ohio State today said goodbye to Arizona State after three years Wednesday night and his Sun Devils presented him with a 33-28 victory over Air Force as a going-away present.

A Freedom Bowl crowd of 33,261 watched I Devils discuss Cooper exit C2 I Iowa edges Wyoming C2 I The Fiesta Bowl C4 I i I If it Ml Ego big reason for job change A NAHEIM, Calif. Is there football life at Arizona State after John Cooper? Sure. But it might not be a happy one if ASU does not move swiftly and sensibly to replace Cooper, who will be officially anointed as the Ohio State coach today. ASU had poor recruiting seasons before and after Darryl Rogers' last season, 1984. It can ill afford another bad recruiting year.

Suggestion: Elevate an assistant. Cooper endorses defensive coordinator Larry Marmie. Offensive coordinator Jim Colletto wants the job, too. Bet on Marmie. He is not a personality boy, but he is a solid coach and citizen and is said to be favored by top administrators because he is less likely than Cooper to air his gripes publicly.

Elevated assistants who were something less than disasters: ASU's Frank Kush, UCLA's Terry Donahue, Nebraska's Tom Osborne and Oklahoma's Barry Switzer. Don't like that idea? How about John Mackovic, former Kansas City Chiefs coach, or Ohio State's Earle Bruce? Both are unemployed and instantly available. Mackovic has more media appeal. Presumably, ASU could move quickly to lure the likes of Iowa State's Jim Walden or Oklahoma State's Pat Jones. The ASU administration is said to like Oregon's Rich Brooks.

Meanwhile, Cooper's bizarre departure caps a bizarre season and Hurt, C2 the Sun Devils (7-4-1) overpower the Falcons (9-4) with a balanced offense and a defense that was better than its 426 yards yielded would indicate. Quarterback Daniel Ford enjoyed his most productive game as a Sun Devil, completing 16 of 30 passes for 272 yards and one touchdown. The touchdown pass, a 61-yarder to split end Aaron Cox with 21 seconds left in the first half, turned around the game. Air Force had just scored to cut ASU's lead to 17-14, when Ford and Cox teamed to produce a 24-14 halftime lead. The Falcons were not a serious threat in the second half.

Their final touchdown came with 10 seconds left in the game. "I'm proud of our football team," Cooper said. "We did a lot of good things tonight, though we had some stupid penalties. "I'm extremely proud of Daniel Ford. He hasn't had a great season, but he had a great night.

That play before the half was the biggest play of the game and he called it." Ford said, "That was the perfect situation for a play like that, and Aaron made a great move. "I could hear -their coaches telling their corner to back up, but Aaron still got past him." Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry said there was no excuse for junior cornerback Gary Kilmer to get beat on the play. "We weren't in the wrong coverage, we just got beat," DeBerry said. "You can't let a guy get past you in a prevent situation." Ford said the players "have had a pretty good idea," that Cooper was going to resign for the past few days. "We've been adjusting to it for the past couple of Freedom, C2 David PetkiewiczThe Arizona Republic Arizona State's David Winsley apparently scores a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but it was nullified by a penalty.

MVP Elliott scores 31 as Arizona rolls past Duke for 12th straight ASU wins to reach title game i 'f A 1L fl V- By BOB YOUNG The Arizona Republic TUCSON Forward Sean Elliott dissected Duke's man-to-man defense Wednesday night, scoring a tournament record 31 points as No. 1 Arizona beat the ninth-ranked Blue Devils, 91-85, in the Valley Bank Fiesta Bowl Classic championship game at McKale Center. Elliott, who was named the tournament's most valuable player for the second straight year, punctuated the performance with a dunk aa the buzzer sounded. The 6-foot-8 junior scored 55 points in the tournament, also a record. His 31 on Wednesday broke the single-game mark set by Rick Olson of Wisconsin in 1986.

"Sean Elliott was tremendous in every phase of the game," said Arizona coach Lute Olson. The Wildcats (12-0) led from the start but had to hold off several rallies by Duke (6-1) while a crowd of 13,270 watched. Duke cut a seven-point Arizona lead to two with about 15 minutes to play, but the Wildcats put together an 11-1 run keyed by three-point baskets from Craig McMillan, Elliott and Steve Kerr. Led by forward Danny Ferry, who scored 25 points, the Blue Devils put on a three-point shooting display in the late minutes. But Arizona made 13 of 14 free throws down the stretch to hold off the challenge.

Elliott made five of the free throws and center Tom Tolbert, who had 19 points, made 8 of 8 in the final minutes. If there was any doubt about Arizona's lofty ranking, the Wildcats laid it to rest. Duke is the fourth team ranked in the top 10 the Wildcats have beaten this season. "They were far and away the best team we've faced this year," Olson said. Duke, which also got 25 points from guard Kevin Strickland, could find no way to stop Elliott, who had nine rebounds and five assists.

Three players took turns trying to guard him, and none was successful. Billy King, Duke's 6-foot-6 defensive specialist, took the first turn. Kevin Strickland and Robert Brickey also gave it a try. "I didn't know what kind of scoring opportunities I would get," Elliott said. "I knew I would have Billy King on me, and he's one of the best, if not the best, defensive players in the ACC.

"They cut off the passing angles, Wildcats, C3 Special for The Arizona Republic HONOLULU Arizona State held on to defeat Mississippi State, 70-69, Tuesday night to advance to the championship of the Rainbow Classic basketball tournament. The Sun Devils (8-2) played North Carolina State on Wednesday night for the title. NC State defeated Louisville, 80-75. Eric Holloway scored 18 points, all but one in the first half, as ASU won its fifth straight. The Bulldogs lost for the first time after eight straight victories.

ASU broke a 57-57 tie with eight straight points to take a 65-57 lead with 3:45 to go. But after ASU guard Arthur Thomas fouled out, the Bulldogs rallied as the Sun Devils went the rest of the game without a field goal. Doug Hartsfield put back a missed shot with 21 seconds left to cut the ASU lead to 68-65. Joey Johnson, who made 8' of 9 free throws and scored 16 points coming off the bench, made both ends of a one-and-one to put the. Sun Devils ahead by five.

Hartsfield I came back with a jump shot with 10 seconds remaining to make the' score 70-67. The Sun Devils then threw away the inbounds pass. But instead of the Bulldogs going for a Greg Lockhart drove for a two-point basket with three seconds remaining. The clock ran out and ASU never had to inbound the ball. "That was our goal, to get in the game, by hook or by crook," said ASU coach Steve Patterson.

"There's something about this basketball team that's, finding a way to win, and I appreciate that. "Once again we had people off the bench, a team effort. Arthur Thomas fouls out and we're playing reserve guards in pressure situations." The Sun Devils had eight fewer field goals than the Bulldogs but made 18 more free throws. Chucky Brown scored 25 points to lead North Carolina State over Louisville. The Associated Press Duke's Billy King muscles past Arizona's.

Tom Tolbert in the Fiesta Classic final. Arizona won, 91-85. Johnson scores career-high 43 as Suns defeat Clippers at home, the Kings and Seattle at home last week. Those are games we should have had. We have to play against these teams as hard as we play, against the Bostons and the Phillys." Johnson made 18 of 27 shots including two three-pointers and all five at the line.

Johnson, who had been in a shooting slump since returning from a torn calf muscle, scored 14 points in the third period and 19 more in the fourth capping his shooting spree with two three-pointers that put the Suns up, 114-100 and 117-100. His second-half point total equaled the club record set by Charlie Scott 14 years ago during the first half of a game against Seattle. "I still feel you have to play 10 consistent Memorial Sports Arena sat stunned as the Suns (10-15) outscored the Clippers, 43-15, in the fourth quarter. The Suns scored repeatedly on second-chance baskets and harassed the Clippers (8-16), who held a 46-21 lead early in the second period en route to a 62-point first half, their largest of the season. "When the shooting fell apart, it was a rout," said Clippers coach Gene Shue.

"Quite honestly, I don't think there was anything we could have done to stop Phoenix." Said Clippers forward Michael Cage: "Right now, we're asking ourselves, 'What We worked so hard. It is so frustrating to work so hard and end up like this." Those were the same questions the Suns By LEE SHAPPELL The Arizona Republic LOS ANGELES A 39-point turnaround in less than 21 minutes? No problem when Eddie Johnson is in the groove. And Johnson definitely was back in the groove Wednesday night, equaling a club record with 33 second-half points and finishing with a career-high 43 as the Suns rallied from a 20-point deficit with 8:35 left in the third quarter to a 121-102 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. "If you're around long enough, you see a lot of crazy things happen, but I don't recall ever seeing a turnaround of that significance in such a short time," said Suns coach John Wetzel. A crowd of 7,420 at the Los Angeles were asking themselves at halftime, but in slightly louder tones.

The Suns had won only two of their previous nine games, but seemed to have built a strong foundation Monday with Walter Davis approaching his old form in a 117-101 rout of Philadelphia in Phoenix. "But in the first half, we were not aggressive defensively, we did not contest the Clippers' shots," Wetzel said. "We went nine minutes into the second quarter before we had our first team foul. We were so passive it was pitiful." Johnson, whose previous career high was 40 points twice, said Wetzel and assistant coach Herb Brown launched into a tirade. "The coaches really let us know," Johnson said.

"But we knew. We'd lost to the Clippers I.