Hattiesburg American from Hattiesburg, Mississippi • 13

In Sports editor: Van Arnold, 584-3119 E-mail: VArnoldHattiesb.gannett.com I College scores, 2B I USM basketball, 3B I Conner Jones column, 6B I College football, 7B Sunday, November 28, 2004 Online edition: www.hattiesburgamerican.com IB SOUTHERN MISS 26, UAB 21 Drama builds in Skins Game MD.DDUg MQO! l)Wg More coverage inside UAB quarterback Darrell Hackney said he tried to do too much in Saturday's loss, 5B Burris relishes role as a Golden Eagle cheerleader, 5B Nuggets of interest, Southern Miss player of the game, 5B Individual, team statistics, 5B By the numbers, 5B By Daimon Eklund American Sports Writer DEklund hattiesb.gannett.com The first half, Dustin Almond stood on the sidelines, his head covered by a white baseball cap instead of a black helmet. The junior University of Southern Mississippi quarterback hadn't been able to play at full speed all week in practice due to a sore back, and red- shirt freshman Jeremy Young started in his place Saturday against the University of Alabama-Binriingham. But at halftime, with the Eagles trailing 14-3, the Southern Miss coaches told Almond he would be taking over as quarterback at the start the second half, and Almond wasn't going to let the back problems slow him down. "It was sore this morning, but I got out there and the adrenaline was pumping, and it was Almond said after the game. Almond's return energized the USM offense, and the rest of the team as welL On Almond's first drive, he completed all four of his passes, including one for the Golden Eagles' first touchdown of the game.

Southern Miss rode the momentum all the way to a 26-21 win. "My defensive players and I were asking ourselves, "Why did Dustin Almond have to come into the UAB See ALMOND, 5B Gavin Avenll I Hattiesburg American Quarterback Dustin Almond pointed the way to victory Saturday for the Golden Eagles with two second-half touchdown passes. Eagles bowl over Blazers, enter postseason picture By Alan Hinton American Assistant Sports Editor ahintonhattiesb.gannett.com No bowl officials attended the Southern Mississippi-UAB football game Saturday afternoon at M.M. Roberts Stadium. They should have.

Southern Miss' Golden Eagles snapped a three-game losing streak with an inspired second half to win 26-21 and become bowl eligible and all but assure themselves of playing beyond this coming Saturday's regular-season finale against No. 4 California. "You live to go to a bowL" said USM place- kicker Darren McCaleb, who remained perfect on field goals this season with his 13th and 14th of the season. "That's what college football is about, that extra game." Conference USA, of which USM is a member. Conference USA bowls Dec.

1 4 New Orleans Bowl (Sun Belt champion North Texas vs. C-USA's No. 4 selec- tion) Dec. 22 GMAC Bowl (MAC or WAC team vs. C-USA's No.

2 selection) Dec. 23 Fort Worth Bowl (Big 1 2 No. 8 vs. C-USA team) Dec. 24 Hawaii Bowl (WAC team vs.

C-USA team) Dec. 31 Liberty Bowl (MWC champion or TBA vs. C-USA champion) But USM bounced back to beat the Blazers 26-21 and win its sixth game and TCU wound up losing 35-31 to Tulane in its final game, thus without the six wins necessary to be bowl-eligible. With the outcomes of Saturday's games, four Conference USA teams Southern Miss, UAB, Cincinnati and Memphis each stand 5-3 in the league standings. Tulane, at 3-5 in Conference USA and 5-5 overall, could become bowl eligible if it knocks off Louisville this week.

If it doesn't, five C-USA teams would be bowl eligible and there are five bowl tie-ins. This scenario could change if Louisville were to get in a BCS bowl, but that is unlikely, or if another, non tie-in bowl were to offer enough of a financial award for a C-USA team to jump to that bowl. That, too, is unlikely. And with the New Orleans Bowl kicking off the bowl season on Dec. 14, the picture must clear up soon.

Southern Miss Director of Athletics Richard Giannini said it would. "WeVe got a conference call (today) with our commissioner (Britton Banowsky) and hopefully something may be worked out this See B0WL.5B has five bowl tie-ins. The C- McCaleb USA champion goes to the Dec. 31 AutoZone Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Term. That would be Louisville, which is 7-0 in C-USA heading into next Saturday's game at Tulane.

The Dec. 22 GMAC Bowl in MobUe, gets the second selection of the conference's bowl-eligible teams, but is not mandated to pick the second-place team. Other C-USA tie-ins are to the Dec. 14 New Orleans BowL the Dec. 23 PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl and the Dec.

24 Sheraton Hawaii Bowl in Honolulu. The league's bowl scenario changed three times Saturday. For a while, it looked like USM would lose and possibly not become bowl eligible. And it looked like TCU would defeat Tulane to become bowl eligible. 1 f' 1 Tiger Woods, left, hugs Annika Sorenstam, from Sweden, after the first round of annual Skins Game Saturday at the Trilogy Golf Club in La Quinta, Calif.

Sorenstam made a 4-foot par putt on the ninth hole Saturday that will make the first hole of today's final nine holes worth $300,000. Story, 4B. College football Rebels win l-gg Bowl OXFORD Backup quarterback Robert Lane had 205 total yards with a touchdown pass and a touchdown run in Mississippi's 20-3 win over Mississippi State on Saturday. Lane was 10-of-17 passing for 108 yards and rushed for 97 yards for the Rebels (4-7, 3-5 Southeastern Conference), who won the Battle for the Golden Egg for the third straight year and snapped a four-game losing streak. In the process, the redshirt freshman may have staked a claim to the starting job next year.

Lane never started, but was one of three players to rotate at quarterback late in the season for coach David Cutcliffe. Ole Miss entered with one of the worst defenses in the league, but the Rebels forced three turnovers, held Mississippi State (3-8, 2-6) to 88 total yards through three quarters. Story, 2B. College basketball Golden Eagles net 100 in win The Southern Miss men's basketball team improved to 3-1 with a 100-77 victory over the McNeese State Cowboys Saturday night at Reed Green Coliseum. It marked the first time the Golden Eagles had reached the century mark since December of 1995.

Story, 3B. Pro basketball Hill-led Orlando upends 76ers ORLANDO, Fla. Grant Hill scored 29 points and Steve Francis added 26, leading the Orlando Magic to their fourth win in five games, 105-99 over the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday night. Francis had 15 in the fourth quarter, with six in the final 48 seconds. His jumper with 48 seconds left put the Magic up 101-97, but Allen Iverson followed with a driving Iayup.

Francis answered with a jumper, and hit a pair of free throws with 12 seconds remaining to seal the win. NBA standings, 2B. On TV Today Bowling Noon PBA, Pepsi Open, at Wichita, ESPN. Golf 1 1 :30 a.m. PGA Tour, Korea Golf Championship, final round, at Seogwipo City, South Korea (same-day tape), NBC.

2:30 p.m. PGA Tour, Skins Game, final round, at La Quinta, ABC. Men's college basketball 6:30 p.m. Southern California at North Carolina, FSN. NBA 8 p.m.

Minnesota at Sacramento, NBA TV. NFL Noon Jacksonville at Minnesota, WHLT-CBS 22. 3 p.m. New Orleans at Atlanta, WXXV-F0X 25. 3 p.m.

Baltimore at New England, WHLT-CBS 22. 7:30 p.m. -Oakland at Denver, ESPN. Women's basketball 2 p.m. Texas Tech at Stanford, FSN.

Page designed by: Van Arnold, Sports Editor Holy comeback! Was that the same Southern Miss team? Van Arnold in five tries. Never mind that the Blazers entered the game with a 7-3 overall record and 5-2 C-USA mark. Southern Miss owns them, plain and simple. You want simple? If Almond doesn't come off the bench in the second half, the Eagles don't rally to win this one. Plagued with back spasms since last week's loss to TCU, Almond did not start Saturday's game against UAB.

But his precision passing in me final two periods proved decisive. Almond, a junior out of Orange Park, completed 10 of 14 passes for 129 yards and two touchdowns. He engineered four scoring drives in his one half of play. How good is this Southern Miss team? Hard to say. Certainly not on the same level as last year's conference champions.

But good enough to rally for a victory when all hope appeared lost. Save those last rites for another day. Van Arnold can be reached by phone at 584-31 19 or e-mail at varnoldhattiesb.gannett.com The eulogy was all but finished at halftime of Saturday's Conference USA football game between the Southern Miss Golden Eagles and Alabama-Birmingham Blazers. UAB had bolted to a 14-3 lead and the atmosphere at MM Roberts Stadium felt funeral-like. One could almost envision the Southern Miss band playing "Taps" for its halftime show.

The Eagles were this close (put your thumb and forefinger about an inch apart) to a fourth consecutive loss and first losing season in 10 years. And then it happened. A revival broke out at the Divine Golden Eagle Soul-Searching House of The Rock. And the only folks laid to rest on this late November afternoon were the snuff ed-out Blazers. The score doesn't necessarily sound right.

But when the congregation had finally drifted out of The Rock around sunset Saturday, the Eagles had 26 points and the Blazers showed 21. Just like that, Southern Miss improves to 64 overall and becomes bowl eligible. I have no idea what occurred in the Southern Miss locker room at halftime, but the Golden Eagles either: Made some critical adjustments. Ate a truckload of spinach. Consulted Dr.

Phfl. Or watched the last 10 minutes of "Rudy." Because the team that staggered into the Athletic Center after two quarters of play was not the same one we watched perform in the second halt With the Golden Eagles' defense spewing fire and quarterback Dustin Almond supplying the brimstone, Southern Miss continued its domination over UAB. The Blazers have failed to beat the Golden Eagles now GAVIN AVERILL I Hattiesburg American Southern Miss wide receiver Antwon Courington gets a lift from teammate George Batiste after scoring a touchdown in the second half of Saturday's win over UAB. Pearl River plays for national championship today laxed and ready to play. "This is really their personality, the way they've played all year," PRCC coach Tim Hatten said.

"They're loose, free-spirited kids. They feed off a little bit of freedom, but they know what we're trying to get done here." Indeed, Wildcat players spent much of the two-hour drill taking in the sur-roundings, and they rjroclaimed themselves, "ready to play ball," Wildcat quarterback Jimmy Oliver said. "This is why we came up here, to play for a national championship," sophomore receiver Larry Brackins said. "It was all right winning the state championship (in 2003), but we really want to win a national championship." Butler (11-0) offers a stern challenge for the Wildcats. The Grizzlies are big and physical, but their passing game has numbers that almost rival those of the Wildcats.

"They're more of a play-action team," Hatten said. "They get you to toad up the box on defense, then pull it up and hit you with the pass." Grizzlies quarterback Zac Taylor is See PEARL RIVER, 3B By Stan Caldwell American Sports Writer scaldwell hattiesb.gannett.com COFFEYVILLE, Kan, After a two-day bus ride, the football team from Pearl River Community College spent two hours Saturday afternoon becoming familiar with the unfamiliar. The Wildcats practiced for two hours on the turf at Veterans Memorial Stadium here, where they will battle today in the third annual Dalton Defenders Bowl for the NJCAA championship against defend ing national champ Butler "Words can't explain it," PRCC sophomore wide receiver James Hollingsworth said. Tve never played for a championship like this. It's a big game for all of us.

We worked hard in practice, and we're trying to take it like it's another game. But it's bigger than just another game." Second-ranked PRCC brings an 11-0 record into today's 2 pjn. contest against the top-ranked Grizzlies, who made the two-hour trip from the Butler campus in El Dorado, Kan. on Saturday. DiQ 3m6 in Ksnsss WHAT: 3rd annual Dalton Defenders Bowl in Coffeyville, Kan.

AT STAKE: National junior college football championship WHO: Pearl River (11-0, No. 2) vs. Butler, Kan. (11-0, No.1) WHEN: 2 p.m. today RADIO: WKNZ-FM (107.1).

Despite the discrepancy in bus rides, 12 hours over two days for Peart River, as opposed to two hours for Butler, Wildcat players say they're re.