The Kokomo Tribune from Kokomo, Indiana • Page 11

Call us Inside Dave Kitchell Sports editor, ext. 280 SPORTS Pacers turn-around B3 NIT Semifinals tonight B2 need or (800) 382-0696 Sports scoreboard B3 Monday-Friday between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Kokomo Tribune Tuesday March 26, 1996 B1 Sports UPDATE 3 Wildkats, Mawbey honored by NCC Kokomo, which won the North Central Conference with an undefeated record, dominated the selections for the 1995-96 All-NCC boys basketball team. Lee Coomler, who was named Indiana Basketball Coaches Association first team all-state on Monday, Brian McCauley and Matt Brady were named to the all-NCC team.

Coach Basil Mawbey was named coach of the year. For the entire NCC team, please turn to the scoreboard on B3. Taylor names winter award winners Several Taylor High School athletes were honored recently at the school's winter awards banquet. Among those honored were Troy Frisch, the most valuable player in boys basketball, girls basketball MVP Myndie Vaughn and most valuable gymnast Julie Lemke. For the entire list of award winners, turn to the scoreboard on B3.

USI's Gouard Division I1 MVP EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) University of Southern Indiana's Stan Gouard has been named the Division II player of the year by the National Association of Basketball Coaches for the second straight season. The 6-6 guard-forward averaged 18.4 points and 6.1 rebounds this season. He finished his career as Southern Indiana's third leading career scorer with 1,619 points. Gouard led the Eagles to the NCAA Division II championship in 1995.

Southern Indiana finished second in 1994 and lost in the Great Lakes regional title game this year. Bartow hanging up whistle at UAB BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) Alabama-Birmingham's only basketball coach resigned after 17 years, leaving his son and assistant coach to take over the team. Gene Bartow, 64, will stay on as UAB's athletic director. His son, 34-year-old UAB assistant Murry Bartow, will take over, said assistant sports information director Grant Shingleton.

Bartow compiled a 365-204 record in 17 seasons at UAB. Bartow, who has had just three losing seasons in his 34 years as a head coach, is the 15th winningest coach in Division I basketball. Bartow began his career as head coach at Central Missouri State in 1961. He moved to Valparaiso in 1964, Memphis State in 1970 and was at Illinois (1974-75) before succeeding John Wooden at UCLA. He came.

to UAB in 1978 to build the school's Division I program. Murry Bartow will take over after seven years as an assistant. He played at UAB from 1981 to 1985 and began his coaching career at Indiana in 1985. Runner dies after crossing finish line SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) A man died of an apparent heart attack after crossing the finish line in a 10-kilometer race Sunday.

Gilbert Wiens, 44, was the first fatality in the 19-year history of the race sponsored by the San Jose Mercury News. Paramedics spent 20 minutes trying to revive Wiens, an electronics engineer, who slumped to the ground after finishing the race in 1 hour, 26 seconds. "By all reports, he trained for the race," Santa Clara County coroner's investigator Joseph Davis said. "He liked to run." Sabatini, Graf advance at Lipton KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) Fourth-seeded Gabriela Sabatini beat Jennifer Capriati 6-1, 6-4 in the fourth round of the Lipton Championships.

Top-seeded Steffi Graf also advanced, routing ninth-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez 6-1, 6-0. Third-seeded Andre Agassi and seventh-seeded Jim Courier advanced to the men's fourth round. Chapman places second in Columbus COLUMBUS, Ohio Richard Chapman of the Kokomo YWCA's Oriental Martial Arts College finished second in the 14-15-year-old beginners sparring division at the 21st annual Battle of Columbus here over the weekend. Shades of '83 in Final Four NCAA champ may be decided Saturday By The Associated Press i Mr. Muahi, Kurd Musk A a raise 1 UConn women celebrate final moments of victory over Vanderbilt.

(AP photo) Women's Final Four set Louisiana Tech upset; UConn, Tennessee will meet once again By The Associated I Press Stanford's two coaches are two wins away 1 from the national championship. Stanford, which won the title in 1990 and 1992 under coach Tara VanDerveer, advanced Monday night to the women's Final Four by beating Auburn 71-57 for the NCAA West Regional title. VanDerveer has taken a year off to guide the U.S. Olympic team. Amy Tucker: and Marianne Stanley are running the Cardinal in her absence.

"We're not counting wins," Stanford's Kate Starbird said. "We're looking toward the last game." Stanford (29-2) will play Georgia (27-4) in Friday night's semifinals in Charlotte, N.C. Georgia defeated top-seeded and top-ranked Louisiana Tech 90-76 in the Midwest. The other semifinal will feature a rematch of last year's title game defending champion Connecticut vs. Tennessee, West Stanford 71, Auburn 57 Vanessa Nygaard scored 23 points and Stanford won its school- Not one of the teams in this weekend's Final Four has reached the New York metropolitan area yet and the clever lines and comparisons are already about played out.

"What time is the junior varsity game?" more than one quipster has asked of Saturday's opening national semifinal between Syracuse and Mississippi State, the ugly stepsisters of the weekend. "When's last time the title game was played on Saturday?" has become one of the cute comments about the nightcap between Massachusetts and Kentucky, who just happened to be ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively. Then there are the comparisons to Final Fours past, such as 1983, the last time there was a 1-2 matchup in the NCAA tournament, or any recent NFL season when the NFC title game has decided the team that will win the Super Bowl to come. For those who believe we learn from history, a look back at 1983 is in order.

Top-ranked Houston put on a dunking spectacle in beating No. 2 Louisville 94-81 in the semifinals. Two nights later, North Carolina State, coached by the late Jim Valvano, pulled off one of college basketball's greatest upsets, a point Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim and Mississippi State coach Richard Williams will surely find some comfort in. What makes the KentuckyUMass matchup even more delicious is that it's a rematch of the November game that saw Massachusetts handle the Wildcats in an impressive 92-82 victory. Syracuse comes in with eight losses and Mississippi State has one less, 15 reasons why the "other" semifinal has been dwarfed in the attention arena.

Mississippi State and Massachusetts are making their first Final Four appearances, while Syracuse is there for the third time and the first since 1987. Kentucky, which was last in a Final Four in 1993, has won five national championships, second only to UCLA's 11. Mississippi State beat Kentucky in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game two weeks ago and they provide the Final Four with two teams from the same league for the fifth time in the 1990s. As the games approach and the trivia becomes more trivial and the Meadowlands becomes the focus of the sports world, the strategy discussions will begin. Can Mississippi State break Syracuse's 2-3 zone? Can the Orangemen handle the physical play of the Bulldogs? Will the early season win mean confidence for the Minutemen or revenge for the Wildcats? Has Kentucky learned how to better handle center Marcus Camby? The biggest question, however, may be: Did we learn anything from the 1983 Final Four? NCAA MEN'S FINAL FOUR Semifinals Championship Championship Semifinals East Rutherford, East Rutherford, East Rutherford, East Rutherford, N.J.

N.J. N.J. N.J. Saturday Monday Monday Saturday SOUTHEAST EASE EN (5) Mississippi St. (1) Massachusetts WEST MIDWESTE (4) Syracuse (1) Kentucky () seed record 23rd straight game.

The Cardinal, in the Final Four for the fourth time in six years, almost blew an 18-point lead. Starbird scored 17 points and Olympia Scott 15 for Stanford. Samantha Williams led Auburn (23-9) with 15 points. Mideast Connecticut 67, Vanderbilt 57 All-American Kara Wolters, Jamelle Elliott and Nykesha Sales helped Connecticut again reach the Final Four. The Huskies (34-3) are hoping to become just the second team in 15 years of the NCAA women's tournament to win consecutive national titles.

Southern California did it in 1983 and 1984. Wolters scored 17 to lead UConn while Elliott and Sales each had 16. Sheri Sam, who had shot 75 percent and averaged 32 points in her first three tournament games, was held to 16 for Vanderbilt (23-8). Midwest Georgia 90, Louisiana Tech 76 Saudia Roundtree scored a career-high 37 points as the Lady Bulldogs beat the team that coach Andy Landers had called the best in the nation. Georgia (27-4) stopped a 15-game winning streak by Louisiana Tech (31-2).

Georgia, down by 11 points in the second half, outscored the Lady 30-10 during an 11- minute span in the second half, taking its first lead with 7:51 remaining. Roundtree led the run with 13 points. She made 12 of 13 free throws, including seven in a row in the final minutes. East Tennessee 52, Virginia 46 The Lady Vols rallied from a 31- 14 halftime deficit. Latina Davis, 0- for-6 in the first half, hit a 12-foot jumper that started an early 13-2 spurt that made it close.

The Lady Vols (30-4) took their first lead with 2:27 left during a late 16-2 run that won the game. Davis scored all 12 of her points and Michelle Marciniak had 10 of her 12 after the break. Abby Conklin also scored 12 for Tennessee, which made 15 of 28 shots after the intermission and held Virginia to 7- for-33 shooting. Virginia (26-7) had won 16 straight home games in the tournament play. Small arena means huge ticket prices EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.

(AP) nental Airlines Arena. The lowest Steve Matejka makes a hobby of attending big sporting events without paying top-dollar, and he says he's not about to see that change in his own backyard for the NCAA Final Four. "I've never seen a ticket any hotter than this ticket," said the 42- year-old Trenton businessman. "I'm still optimistic. I've never been shut out, but this is a challenge." For more than a week Matejka has been running newspaper ads seeking two tickets to Saturday's semifinal games and Monday's championship contest at the Conti- Comer honored; hoopsters close seasons Grant Comer earned All-American honors while competing at the NCAA Division III National Swimming and Diving Championships over the weekend at Emory University in Atlanta.

The Wabash College junior scored in both events in which he qualified. His best finish was sixth in the 200-yard butterfly with a season-best time of 1 minute, 53.33 seconds. That time was more than one second better than his qualifying time of 1:54.48. The top eight finishers in each event earn All-American status while ninth through 16 are honorable mention. He earned honorable mention honors in the 400 individual medley.

He set a Little Giant record with his 15th-place time of 4:07.57. The Kokomo High School graduate was Wabash's MVP and co-captain this season. He became Wabash's first All-American since 1993 and is the 37th swimmer from the school to earn those honors. Donnie Bowling started 17 of the 26 games at Chaminade Uni- quote has been $2,500. "It's ridiculous, but it's where it's at," he said Monday.

"Being in the metropolitan area and the small arena has really added to the perceived value of the tickets." With just 18,500 seats available, national ticket broker prices range from $950 in the upper levels to $8,000 for courtside. "It's steep compared to other NCAAs, but you've got limited capacity, an East Coast location and East Coast teams," said a Chicago-based broker who sold a pair of lower-level seats for $10,000 Monday. JOHN DEMPSEY TRIBUNE SPORTSWRITER CAMPUS CLIPS versity, The Silverswords struggled this season, finishing 4-22, and finished the year with eight players as injuries, suspensions and transfers took their toll. "Donnie had an OK year. But, it's been very difficult for anyone to have a good year because we had a poor season as a team," assistant coach Dan Marcus said.

"Since December, we were playing with seven active players we recruited and it's been a struggle." Bowling, a junior from Kokomo, averaged 4 ppg to go with three rebounds. He averaged 22.4 minutes a game and was third on the team in assists. "Donnie does the intangibles very well. He moves well without the ball and he is a dependable defender," Marcus said. "We know he's going to give 100 percent from start to finish, not only in the games, but in practices, too.

"Donnie does the things that aren't measured on a stat sheet. We're very pleased with his play. He's got another year left and we're counting on big things from him next year." Injuries left Grady Brumbaugh, a senior from Tri-Central, with a disappointing season for the Columbia University wrestling team. The team's co-captain sprained a knee in practice early on and was out until the last two weeks of the season. He wrestled in four matches before spraining his knee a second time in a match against New York University and missing the rest of the season.

Dan Quigley had a strong season as one of the top inside substitutes for Furman University. A graduate of Tipton High School, Furman averaged 5.8 ppg and 3.9 rebounds in 27 games at power forward. He earned a start in a game with Clemson. The freshman averaged 14.2 minutes a game and hit 43 percent from the field (61-141), 32 percent from 3-point range (19-59) and 83 percent at the free-throw line. His best performance came in an 83-82 overtime victory over East Tennessee State Feb.

15. In 25 minutes, he scored 15 points and had 10 rebounds. In a 72-50 win over Coastal Carolina, Quigley scored 14 points and had 11 boards. Furman finished 10-17 and 6-8 in the Southern Conference. Furman was the youngest team in the conference, starting four freshmen and a sophomore.

Brian Witherow, a freshman from Tri-Central, played in 10 games for the Moorhead State University men's basketball team. The Dragons lost to MinnesotaDuluth 82-79 in their final game and ended the season 19-8. They tied for second in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. Moorhead State ranked sixth in the NCAA Division II Great Lakes Region and just missed making the tournament. The 6-8 Witherow was one of three freshmen who traveled with the Dragons.

A backup at center, he averaged 1.0 points and 1.2 rebounds while playing 3.3 minutes. "Brian has a lot of talent for a young player," college coach Dave Schellhase said. "He has played a limited role as a freshman, however, he has improved a great deal. Brian has practiced very hard and has given us the impression that he will make a valuable contribution in the future." (Campus Clips is a feature on former area athletes competing at the collegiate level. Anyone with information on a local athlete may contact Dempsey in the sports department.).