Hattiesburg American from Hattiesburg, Mississippi • 14

Begins Thursday Eagles now leave Green for important road trip a Swats it away USM'i senior center Ronald Jackson (33) rajtcti a layup ot- tempt by Louisiana Tech's Kenneth Roberson (44) during first half oc- tion of their game Monday night In Reed Green Coliseum. Watching the action are USM's Donald Still. chcomb and Tech's Emerson Wafer (10). The Eagles held off a stub-born Tech squad for a 62-57 win. (Photo by Gary Partus) defense and he took the good shots.

He played like a true senior guard." The win Monday night marked the halfway point in USM's season. No doubt, Turk and his players would like to produce the same results achieved so far. "Coach Turk told us after the game that from here on out all of our games will be tough," Stinchcomb said. "We have to go out there each night with the same attitude we had tonight. "Every one did his job tonight.

That's what we got to have. We realize we still have a long way to go." EAGLES NEST-The next time USM plays at home will be Jan. 29 against Pan American. The Eagles trail 3-5 In that Monday night's win was USM's 17th straight at home, including 7-0 this Junior forward Joe Dawson put together two of his better games as an Eagle the last two outings. He scored 43 points on 19-of-25 field goals and 5-of-6 free throws.

He also pulled down 26 USL lost 85-71 to Stetson Monday night on the road.The Ragin' Cajuns are 5-5 on the which whipped them a year ago at Ruston. The Bulldogs jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead, but USM bounced back to knot the score at 10-all. "The crucial part of the game for us was when they were up 8-0 and we came buck and tied it at 10-10," Turk pointed out. "It was so crucial because an 8-polnt lead for a team like La. Tech is like a 16 or 18-point lead for a transition team.

Tech is not going to run up and down the floor and allow you to get back Into the game." But that's what the Eagles did. USM senior guard Donald Stin-chcomb, who finished with 14 points in one of his better games this season, played a major role in keeping the Eagles from paniclng early. "I was a little worried there at the start, I knew we had to stay calm and not try to get it all back in one lump," said Stinchcomb. "Coach Turk told us to keep our heads and play our game and it would come. Actually, I thought it was one of our better games at home.

"We were patient with our zone offense, looking for the good shot. I think the crowd had a lot to do with our play. They were really into the game." Turk also was pleased with Stin-chcomb's play. "Yes, it was one of his better games. He was aggressive on By CIIUCK ABADIE American Sports Editor USM, now 10-3 after Monday night's 62-57 hard-fought win over scrappy Louisiana Tech, leaves the friendly, ever so friendly, confines of Green Coliseum for a crucial and very Important road swing.

It starts Thursday night at Southwestern Louisiana. It's the first of three straight games away from Hattiesburg. In fact, five of the next six games are out of town. "It's a crucial time in our schedule," Turk said of the road ahead. "We need to have some degree of success.

If we can't win all of them, we at least need to get some W's on our side of the ledger. "I think we are capable of beating all of them, but it's going to take a yeoman's effort" Indeed, it will. USL and Eastern Kentucky, two previous Golden Eagle victims, will be out for revenge. The poorest of the lot is Northwestern Louisiana. The Eagles have won their last two meetings at Natchitoches, but Turk's former boss at Memphis State, Wayne Yates, now has the reigns there.

"You can bet they will be ready for us," Turk said of the Demons. The Eagles needed a "yeoman's" effort to defeat Louisiana Tech, a team 1 1 Huskies must maintain Oregon St, beats out Virginia for top spot strong grip on reality Kim 0 By TOM CANAVAN Associated Press Writer Oregon State edged Virginia for the No.l position in The Associated Press college basketball poll Tuesday as DePaul, which held the top slot for the past six weeks, fell to No.4 following a stunning loss to Old Dominion last weekend. Oregon State, 12-0 and ranked second last week, collected 39 of 61 first-place votes and 1,197 points out of a possible 1,220 in the balloting by a nationwide panel of sports writers and broadcasters. The top-ranking marks the first time in Ralph Miller's 30-year coaching career that one of his team's has reached to the nation's top position. Virginia, which was in the No.3 position last week, was tabbed No.l on 20 ballots and garnered 1,169 points.

The Cavaliers, 11-0, posted triumphs over Delaware, North Carolina State and North Carolina last week. Preseason favorite Kentucky jumped from fourth to No.3 with 1,041 points. The Wildcats, 10-1, defeated Auburn and edged Tennessee 48-47 in action last week. DePaul, which still managed to collect the final two firstplace votes despite the 63-62 loss to Old Dominion, received 1,002 points 12 more than undefeated Wake Forest The Deacons, 12-0, whipped Appalachian State and nipped thenNo.20 Clemson 73-71 last week. Louisiana State, 12-1, climbed from No.9 to sixth in this week's poll while Notre Dame, UCLA, Michigan and Maryland which were almost upset last week, rounded out the Top 10.

The Irish, 54-52 losers to Marquette last week, slipped from No.5 to seventh with 690 points 15 more than UCLA, which was stunned by Southern Cal 68-66 and dropped one notch to No.8. Michigan, knocked from the undefeated ranks by Purdue early last week, edged Maryland for the No.9 slot The Wolverines got 597 points, while the Terps, who were defeated by Athletic Coast Conference rival North Carolina 7M6, received 583 points. Tennessee jumped three positions in the poll, despite the loss to Kentucky, and headed the Second 10. Arizona State was 12th followed by South Alabama, Iowa, Brigham Young, Utah, North Carolina, Illinois, Clemson and Minnesota. Last week the Second 10 was Iowa, Illinois, Tennessee, Arizona State, South Alabama, North Carolina, Brigham Young, Utah, Minnesota and Clemson.

There are no newcomers to this week's Top 20. By JOHN NELSON AP Sports Writer They have captured the imagination "of a state, but the Connecticut Huskies might lose it all if they don't wake up, says basketball Coach Dom Perno. Unranked and undefeated, the Huskies blew a 17-point lead and had to scramble to beat lowly New Hampshire Monday night, 61-58, at Durham, N.H. "Maybe we felt we had the game," Perno said. "I was pleased with the-first 30 minutes, but instead of taking control like we should have, we fell asleep.

"We seem to have enough to come out on top, but if we don't play better, I can see this catching up on us," the coach said. Fans were hoping for a national ranking after their Huskies won their 11th straight game this season, including a 78-59 romp over Syracuse last week, and many Connecticut newspapers, and radio and television stations expected it. "Huskies Focus in on National Picture" Monday's lead story in The Herald of New Britain, read. A Hartford, television station promised viewers to announce The Associated Press' poll as soon as it was released at 6:30 Monday evening-until the station learned the poll would not be out until 6:30 this morning. Oh, well the station told Huskies fans if they could stay up long enough, it might be able to get the poll by 2 or 2:30 a.m.

As it turned out, the Huskies missed getting into the AP rankings by 11 points, finishing 21st "We hardly played like a top 20 team," Perno said. Connecticut led New Hampshire 56-39 with 10 minutes to play. The Wildcats, however, outscored the Huskies 17-4 and trailed by just two, 60-58 on a basket by Robin Dixon with 1:24 left Mike Keeler's attempt to tie it for New Hampshire was blocked by 6-foot-11 Connecticut center Chuck Aleksinas. Corney Thompson brought the ball downcourt for Connecticut, was fouled and put the game away with a free throw. None of The Associated Press' Top 20 teams saw action Monday night.

Elsewhere, Fred Carson hit a pair of free throws and freshman Mike Walker added another foul shot in the final 30 seconds to boost Texas over Arkansas, 62-60, in the Southwest Conference. Walker's free throws snapped a 59-59 tie. Jeff Schneider hit 10 consecutive free throws in over-time to lead Virginia Tech to an 80-70 victory over Florida State in the Metro Conference. Schneider finished with 20 points. Dale Solomon had 18.

i ti! VAa. -J USM defenders Joe Dawson (SO) and Ronald Jackson (33) sandwich Louisiana Tech's Aroid Neal (40) on a field goal attempt during their game Monday night at Green Coliseum. Waiting for a possible rebound are USM's Eddie Jiles and Tech's Kenneth Roberson (44). (Photo by Gary Pettus) Tl ft "J333c Joe Gibbs leaves Chargers to take post with Redskins ATI 1 penis' I DTP ri iTm rnnnri 1 1 fYf ia A leading offense, made it clear that he expects the Redskins he coaches to be a high-scoring, exciting team. "Of primary importance with me, our style of play is going to be aggressive.

We're going to try to dictate to the defense, offensively. We want to attack the defense. We're going to go into games with the idea of winning, and not to avoid losing," Gibbs said. "Basically, we're going to do what our personnel dictates that we do best," he said. "It goes without saying that I'm very much impressed with the defensive players here," he said.

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Details of the contract were not released. He succeeds Jack Pardee, who was fired after the Redskins' 6-10 finish this season and clashes with Redskins General Manager Bobby Beathard. Last season, Washington's record was 10-6 and Pardee was coach of the year in the National Football League's National Conference. Gibbs flew with Beathard to New York from San Diego after the Chargers, who gave the Redskins permission to talk to him, lost to the Oakland Raiders in Sunday's American Conference championship game. The Star said the meeting had a sense of urgency because Gibbs also had been linked to the head coaching vacancy with the New Orleans Saints.

"I'm, of course, elated," Gibbs told the newspaper after getting his new job. "I'm just very thankful to be put in this situation where you can actually accomplish your life's dream." "Joe is going to bring a cohesion to our team," Cooke said. "I think the young fellow has blazed a new trail, taking advantage of the changes that are occurring in the National Football League. He's at the forefront of those changes, and I believe he's going to introduce the new path into the Redskins' offense." Gibbs, who called the plays for the Chargers and guided the team's league- OPACOTE House Paint MOPACOTE GLOSS HOUSE PAINT Use for home and trim. Dries fast to a perfect sheen.

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