Albuquerque Journal from Albuquerque, New Mexico • Page 29

SPORTS Wednesday, December 7, 1983 Albuquerque Journal Pagg 1, Section Silvers To Open Season in Wyoming Without Jones ty of New Mexico. Laramie was a tough place to play a basketball game; Casper, apparently, is just as tough. We'll be playing a team that was 19-3 at home last year," Ellenberger noted. They have the same coach (Jack Schalow). and they have a good nucleus back." The Wyoming roster includes former Nevada-Las Vegas star Iirry Anderson, a superb outside shooter; former Its Angeles Laker guard Eddie Jordan; and Oregon State guard Mark Radford, an outstanding defensive player.

Three Wildcatters Boot Bond, Thad Garner and Anthony Roberts return from last year's club that compiled a 22-22 record and finished second in the Western By RICK WRIGHT Journal Sports Writer Even under optimum conditions, it promised to be a tough road trip for the Albuquerque Silvers. And now, conditions are far less than optimium; Tuesday, on the eve of tonight's opener at Casper, Silvers star forward Willie Jones was picked up by the NBA's San Diego Clippers. Undaunted, however (well, maybe just a little bit daunted). Silvers coach Norm Ellenberger will take his squad to Casper for its 1983 Continental Basketball Association debut against the Wyoming Wildcatters. Game time is 7:35 p.m.

The teams will meet again Friday and Saturday. The Silvers will then return to Albuquerque for Sunday night's home opener against the Ohio Mixers. Ellenberger said his disappointment at losing Jones is tempered by his happiness at seeing the former Vanderbilt star get a shot in the NBA. Jones will replace Bill Walton, out for two months with a broken finger, on the Clippers roster. "First, I'm tickled to death for the young man," he said.

"Secondly, it adds credibility to this league (the CBA) to have him called up. And thirdly, going to Wyoming without him is going to be a real bitch." Ellenberger said the Silvers won't be able to find a replacement for Jones before the club leaves early this morning, and will take their remaining nine players. CBA rules allow only nine players on the road, anyway. In the absence of Jones "kind of our "At th we've got to play somebody else to find out where we are," Ellenberger said. "Whatever our inadequacies may be, however deep our inadequacies may run, we've just got to go find out.

"We need to go do battle, go to the trenches and see who's who. We'll sure know a lot more when we get back Sunday than we do now." SILVER NOTES: Tonight's game will be broadcast on KRZY radio, 1450 AM. with Jim Lawwill doing play-by-play. I-awwill will do all Silvers games, home and away. Natt played his college basketball at Northeast Ixiuisiana.

The Journal had incorrectly listed him as being from East Carolina mainstay," said Ellenberger the Silvers are even more of an unknown quantity than before. Seven of the team's nine remaining players are new to the coach, as well as to each other. Either Carlos Terry, 6-foot-4, or Wally Rank, 6-6. will replace the 6-8 Jones in the starting lineup at a wing. The other starters will be Larry Taylor (6-9) at the pivot.

Albert Irving (6-7) at a wing, Kenny Natt (6-4) at shooting guard and Craig Tucker (6-foot) at point guard. Natt and Tucker are the returnees from last year's team. The remainder of the squad includes center Pete DeBisschop 16-11), wing Mike Terpstra (6-8) and guard Ken Lee (6-4). Ellenberger knows all about road trips to Wyoming from his days at the Universi Champion Valdez Hasn't Been Paid St. Pius Outruns Highland By PAUL L.

NOSKIN Journal Correspondent The St Pius Sartans utilized a full-court press that trapped Highland into a faster tempo than Hornet coach Glen Lucero wanted, the result was a 76-67 victory for the Sartans Tuesday night at HHS. "The key to the loss was our failure to execute," Lucero said "We got trapped into playing Pius' game, into playing at the pace they wanted to play at, and you can't do that with that team." The Hornets were strong in the first half, outrebounding and out- Prep Roundup: C-2 fie was taking over (at the athletic commission) from Lou DiMenno, and somehow he got the fight through without putting up the purse in advance." Valdez says Stevenson paid her $300 but owes her $1,200 more. He apparently hoped to pay her from the fight revenues, but the card was not a financial success. Quintana said Stevenson was originally given a 30-day extension (until Nov. 21) to come up with the money, but did not comply.

Stevenson's California partner, Frank Sainsberry, then sent a note promising to have the money by Dec. 19. Quintana said the athletic commission has sent a letter to the New Mexico attorney general's office, itemizing expenses. If the money is not forthcoming by the 19th, Quintana said, the athletic commission will take further action. The only other source of payment is out of the $5,000 bond which was posted by Murphy as the local promoter.

"I'd certainly hate for that to happen," said Murphy, "because if it does I'm through with promoting." Valdez says she feels caught in the middle. "It seems they're passing the buck," she said. "Vern told me Joe was going to pay me, then Joe said Vern has to pay me. I don't have anything against either one of them, but it seems only fair that I should get paid." By RICK WRIGHT Journal Sports Writer Santa Fe's Darlina Valdez, who won a so-called world women's professional boxing title in Albuquerque in October, still has not received full payment for that bout. Neither has her opponent.

Holly McDaniel of Muncie, or anybody else connected with the bout. The reason, says local boxing promoter Joe Louis Murphy, is his out-of-state co-promoter on that Ort. 21 card, Vern Stevenson of Fresno, Calif. Stevenson is founder of the International Women's Box- ing Association. The Valdez-McDaniel bout was for the IWBA bantamweight title, which Valdez now holds.

Murphy is the promoter of record for the card because Stevenson does not have a New Mexico's promoter's license; but Murphy said he has a contractual agreement signed by Stevenson that says Stevenson has full responsibility for paying Valdez, McDaniel and everyone else connected with the card. Neffie Quin-tana, executive secretary of the New Mexico Athletic Commission, confirmed this Tuesday. Stevenson was not available for comment; a spokesman at his office in Fresno said he was in Las Vegas, Nev. Ordinarily, Murphy said, "the promoter has to put up the money before the fight even takes place. But Stevenson came in when Nef playing the Sartans, but St Puis managed a spurt at the end of the second period to lead 41-38 at half time.

Much of the damage was done by Sartan Joe Ackerman, who led both teams with 20 points. "They were sagging in on the big guys inside," said Ackerman, who openly admitted his fondness of shooting. "I knew I had to hit a few shots to pull the defense out. Then, when they pressure me outside, can dump off to the big guys and they'll make me look good." Highland held a six-point lead at the end of the first quarter because of good shooting and numerous Sartan turnovers 14 for the first half. The Hornets also outre-bounded Pius bv eight in the first half.

But that was all turned around in the final 16 minutes The Sartans had only five turnovers in the second half and held a 36-34 rebounding advantage by the end of the game. "We talked about rebounding and turnovers in the locker room at half time," said St. Pius coach Bill Duffey. "That's pretty giod, when you tell the team what they have to improve on to win the game and they go out and do it Only one other Sartan, Joe Harge, a 6-foot -6 junior, hit double figures with 14 Harge led the team with nine rebounds; reserve Tony Kusso pulled down six. Phil Maloof was high for the Hornets with 16 Jim Hargrove, a 6-6 transfer from the Phillipines, added 13 and Jay Omdahl chipped in 10, six from the free-throw line.

The loss was the first for the Hornets, 2-1. while St Pius improved to 2-0 Tenacious AHS Defense Throttles Los Alamos M1 U'trM Hammered Under the Hoop implanted into the brains of these Bulldogs. Hulsman called timeout with AHS leading 55-43 late in the game. "No fouls," he told his kids. "You've got four, you've got four and you've got three," he added, pointing his finger.

"And," Michael Scales piped up assertively, "I've got 21." He certainly did. Scales held Los Alamos' No. 21. Ross O'Dell. to six points.

Anthony Aikin had No. 23, Paul Maley. Aikin held the sharp-shooting Maley to three field goals and nine points in the first 29 Continued on C-2 By ED JOHNSON Journal Sports Writer There was defense in Dog Town Tuesday night. Albuquerque High School clawed and growled andvdug its way to a 55-46 victory over highly-regarded Los Alamos. And the word was defense.

"Defense was the key," said Bulldog Kriss Thompson. "If we break down and play defense, we'll get there." "That was Dog Defense," AHS coach and Poppa Dog Jim Hulsman said. The notion of defense has been points from Graham and 15 from star center Patrick Ewing en route to an 82-50 victory in Indover, Md. In other Top 20 games. No.

6 Houston defeated No. 9 LSU, 100-91; No. 11 Maryland beat Perm State, 67-58; and No. 13 DePaul downed Western Michigan, 84-60. College Roundup: C-2.

Bradley McDonald, No. 54, of St. Leo College, was on his way up for a layup when Georgetown freshman Michael Graham, left, blasted him. McDonald was awarded two free throws and made them both for two of his game-high 23 points. McDonald's efforts weren't nearly enough, however; the third-ranked Hoyas got 16 Loss to Mesa Doesn't Dim Excellent ENMU Season Itob Lark in Associate Sports Editor Inside Sports Afries Meet Tech LAS CRUCES New Mexico State, coming off two straight losses to Texas-El Paso, gets another tough opponent tonight in the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Page C-4. New Rule Debated The mandatory two foul shots in the last two minutes of the game for each common foul is raising the ire of the nation's college basketball coaches. Page C-7. "Billy's Fate Awaited The Boston Red Sox and the Pittsburgh Pirates made a major deal at baseball's winter meetings, but the big news the fate of Billy Martin with the New York Yankees was still to come. Page C-5.

top player returning, Kelly now will go out and look for the final puzzle pieces. In particular, he'll beat the bushes for triple-threat running backs (those who can block, catch passes and run) and offensive linemen. "We expect to be right back here (in the playoffs) next year," said Kelly, a 36-year-old former lawyer. "A few changes here and there, and we will (be back)." And then there was me. five other media types from Por-tales and Amarillo who drove in a van to cover the game.

Outside of Durango, on the way up and near Monticello, Utah, coming back, we found ourselves pushing the cursed vehicle up slick, icy hills, with snow blowing in our faces. Gee, we had fun. Thirteen hours in a van going to Grand Junction, arriving there at 4 in the morning Friday. Then 12 hours driving back, finally plopping into my own bed at 7 a.m. Sunday.

Some people know how to live. But I'm not one of them. Next time I'll fly. way of Tahiti. ing game," Kelly said "But I also told them I loved them and was very proud of them.

We went from one of the worst NAIA teams in the country to one of the top 10 (ENMU finished sixth in the final poll)." Indeed, the Greyhound season was one of the most remarkable success stories in college football this year on any level. The hard-nosed but enthusiastic and energetic Kelly pumped his intelligence and emotion into a program that had struggled since the mid-70s. He brought in the players to operate a sophisticated passing attack and complemented them with a swarming defense that assistant coach Paul Arslanian tuned to near-perfection. Quarterback Kevin Kott (3,374 passing yards, 28 TDs) and receiver Steve Jackson (1,252 yards, 13 TDs) are shoo-in Ail-Americans. Nose guard Jorge Fernandez and cornerback demon Carter also have a shot at A-A honors.

Kelly has. said privately he's committed to seeing through Eastern's rebuilding task for at least another season. With almost every racking up 336 yards on the ground to the Greyhounds' 274 through the air. Mesa scored three rushing TDs to Eastern's one via the air. The New Mexicans entered the game with the country's No.

1 passing offense (352-yard average). The Coloradans were No. 7 in rushing (268 yards a game). Kelly thought the real turning point, however, came early in the third quarter with Mesa facing third-and 10 deep in its own territory and leading 25-9. "They ran for a first down (as offensive MVP Jerry Larghe scampered 16 yards) and picked up enough momentum to eventually go all the way down and score," said Kelly.

"That made it 32-9, and we were gone. If we could have stopped them on that play, the outcome of the game might have been different or at least closer." Now third-ranked Mesa, instead of Eastern, will face No. 1 Central Arkansas (11-0) in a semifinal game Saturday. "I told the kids (afterward in the locker room) that I was embarrassed at our performance offensively, defensively and in the kick Eastern New Mexico might not have won its last football game of 1983, but Saturday's setback didn't tarnish the luster of an otherwise outstanding year. On the other hand, I'd rather put last weekend behind me.

behind. Oh, I enjoyed the ENMU-Mesa game. But getting to and from Grand Junction, was a story in itself. First things first, though. The Greyhounds, who finished the year 8-2-1 under a new coach and with almost entirely new personnel, were playing in their very first NAIA post-season game.

They were facing an exceptional team in Mesa a loser by only three points in last year's national championship game, a two-time winner of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and owner of a 9-0-1 record before taking on ENMU. The keys to winning were twofold: (1) the Greyhounds' passing vs. the Mavericks' running and (2) whichever team won the battle of turnovers. Mesa came out on top in each category. Eastern coach Bill Kelly said before the game, "Both teams are very good at capitalizing on others' mistakes.

We can't turn the ball over to Mesa any more than they can afford to do it to us." In the Mavs' 35-9 win, two first-quarter touchdowns were direct results of ENMU miscues. They came within a minute of each other and turned a 9-8 'Hound lead into a 22-9 Mesa advantage. That, in essence, was the game right there. The first turnover was an interception that gave the Mavs the ball at the Eastern 11. A Greyhound fumble on the next series of plays gave Mesa possession at the ENMU 5.

The game's other aspect running vs. passing had the Mavs.