Arizona Daily Sun from Flagstaff, Arizona • 13

ARIZONA Best Available Rick Charles American Press (AP) NAU FRESHMAN QUARTERBACK Jason Murrietta continued his breakout rookie campaign Saturday night in the first round of the Division I-AA playoffs, throwing for 285 yards and five touchdowns at McNeese State. A first NAU hammers No. 1 McNeese State for its first ever I-AA playoff victory BY ED ODEVEN Sun Sports Staff LAKE CHARLES, La. on the campus of McNeese to locals as "The Hole." Perhaps today's the day Where Cowboys Leave State and their fans did Saturday 'To play a program steeped in playoff tradition and to dominate them is something JEROME SOUERS NAU football coach Cowboy Stadium, located State University, is known to rename it The Place Crying. That's what McNeese night following an atyp- ical, pathetic effort.

Meanwhile, Northern Arizona freshman quarterback Jason Murrietta completed 24 of 34 passes for 285 yards and five touchdowns as the Lumberjacks upset No. 1 McNeese State 35-3 Saturday before 14,300 for their first ever Division I-AA playoff victory. Murrietta established a NCAA Division I-AA record for freshman quarterbacks with 27 TD passes, a mark previously held by Marcus Brady of Cal State-Northridge (26) in 1998. NAU (9-3) advances to play Florida Atlantic in the second round of the Division I-AA playoffs next Saturday at the Skydome. The Owls, who are coached by former Miami and Oklahoma mentor Howard Schnellenberger, defeated Bethune-Cookman 32-24 Saturday.

"This is a big accomplishment for our players and our coaches," NAU coach Jerome Souers said. "I'm proud of them. To play a program steeped in playoff tradition and to dominate them is something special." The Cowboys (11-2) had been ranked No. 1 in the country for 12 straight weeks, but they did not play like the nation's best team. Mental miscues were a problem all evening.

"They came in here and did the things you need to do to win a playoff game on the road," McNeese State coach Tommy Tate said. "It's a disappointing end to our season. But I'm very proud of our team. "We didn't make the plays we needed to make against See FIRST, B7 Copy SUNDAY November 30, 2003 CONTACT US: Chris Lang, sports editor phone: 556-2259 e-mail: National Hockey League Los Angeles 3, Chicago 1 Florida 1, Montreal 1 Toronto 2, Ottawa 1 Carolina 4, Pittsburgh 3 Atlanta 2, Tampa Bay 1 Washington 5, Columbus 3 Philadelphia 5, N.Y. Islanders 1 Detroit 2, St.

Louis 1 Nashville 4, Buffalo 1 Vancouver 4, Calgary 4 National Basketball Assoc. New York 79, New Orleans 74 Detroit 80, Washington 69 Philadelphia 98, Atlanta 86 Miami 78, Toronto 66 Memphis 122, Cleveland 115 (20T) Dallas 92, Minnesota 88 Milwaukee 100, Boston 94 Seattle 95, Houston 88 Denver 98, LA. Clippers 86 Golden State 91, San Antonio 89 College Football DIVISION I-AA PLAYOFFS NAU 35, McNeese State 3 Colgate 19, Massachusetts 7 Delaware 48, Southern Illinois 7 Wofford 31, North Carolina 10 Florida Atlantic 32, Bethune-Cookman 24 Western Illinois 43, Montana 40 (20T) Western Kentucky 45, Jacksonville State 7 Northem lowa 35, Montana State 14 AP TOP 25 (5) Georgia 34, Georgia Tech 17 (7) Tennessee 20, Kentucky 7 (9) Florida State 38, (11) Florida 34 (10) Miami 28, (20) Pittsburgh 14 (18) Boise State 56, Nevada 3 (19) TCU 20, SMU 13 Virginia 35, (21) Virginia Tech 21 (22) Bowling Green 31, Toledo 23 (24) West Virginia 45, Temple 28 College Football SKY MEN Wichita State 68, NAU 51 ARIZONA STATE 77, UC Riverside 68 Washington 104, Eastern Washington 91 Montana State 71, Idaho 65 UTEP 70, Portland State 57 Sacramento St. 78, CS Fullerton 71 (OT) Montana 61, SE Missouri State 50 AP TOP 25 MEN (2) Duke vs. Purdue (late) (3) Michigan State 77, Pennsylvania 52 (5) Missouri 90, Oakland 85 (9) North Carolina 82, Cleveland State 76 (11) Texas 94, Centenary 59 (12) Illinois 75, Temple 60 (13) Saint Joseph's 75, Old Dominion 72 (15) Wisconsin 55, Rutgers 43 (16) Gonzaga 82, Georgia 76 (OT) lowa 70, (17) Louisville 69 (OT) (18) Wake Forest 86, Yale 61 (19) Cincinnati 76, Coppin State 56 (21) Notre Dame 78, Mount St.

Mary's 64 (24) Oklahoma State 84, Pepperdine 82 AP TOP 25 WOMEN (2) Texas 74, Virginia 54 (4) Duke 119, Stephen F. Austin 53 (5) Texas Tech 77, SMU 37 (7) Penn State 69, (9) Kansas State 56 (8) Purdue 76, Wake Forest 57 (11) Minnesota 84, Southern Cal 61 (13) N. Carolina 76, Co. 37 (18) LSU 73, Rice 51 (19) Oklahoma 95, Pepperdine 77 (20) Colorado 74, California 63 (21) ARIZONA 67, Navy 61 (22) Utah 66, Fresno State 53 (23) TCU 79, BYU 74 (24) Oregon vs. North Carolina State (late) (25) Auburn 79, Creighton 72 SPORTSInside Scoreboard NAU women's The Lumberjacks beat Nevada to give new coach Laurie Kelly her first NAU victory.

Cardinals Dave McGinnis was once so close to being the Chicago Bears' head coach that the voice mail in what would have been his new office was already operational. College Basketball College Russ Michna passed for 375 yards and two touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass, and Justin Langan's fifth field goal lifted Western Illinois to a 43- 40 double-overtime victory over Montana in the first round of the Division I-AA playoffs. NHL SECTION NAI worth Rick Charles American Press (AP) MCNEESE STATE CORNERBACK Keith Smith (24) and NAU receiver Clarence Moore jump for a pass during the first quarter of Saturday's game at Cowboy Stadium. NCAA Division 1-AA Playoffs, First Round NAU 35, McNeese State.3 Next up: Division 1-AA playoff quarterfinals NAU (9-3) vs. Florida Atlantic (10-2) Next Saturday at Skydome, Time TBA For ticket information, call 523-5661 NAU loses shooting stroke After hitting seven 3-pointers in the first half, the Lumberjacks go cold in the second half and fall to Wichita State.

BY RANDY GRIFFITTS Special to the Sun WICHITA, Kan. When Chris Ferguson hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the first half, he. started to have flashbacks. "I thought it was going to be a repeat," Ferguson said. Ferguson was Wichita State 68 referring NAU 51 to the 20 Next up: at Oral Roberts triples Monday, 6 p.m.

(96.7 FM) Northern Arizona made in its last game against San Jose Christian. His 3-pointer before the half gave the Lumberjacks seven triples for. the half and a 33-31 lead. It didn't last very long. Wichita State opened the second half on a 12-0 run and never looked back, defeating the Lumberjacks 68-51 at Charles Koch Arena.

It was Wichita State's opener. NAU (2-2) stumbled out of the locker room at the start of the second half. During the Shockers' run, the Lumberjacks' first 10 possessions resulted in five turnovers and 0-for-5 shooting. "The problem was we weren't able to shift gears and play at a higher level in the second half," NAU coach Mike Adras said. "Wichita State did that.

We lacked the intensity to come back and win." After a Rob Kampman bucket with 17:10 remaining, Adras called a timeout hoping to stop the run. It didn't work. The Shockers went on to score seven of the next nine points. "You would hope you could stop the bleeding from that point," Adras said. Ferguson, for one, figured the Lumberjacks had the momentum after his 3-pointer before halftime.

"We came into the locker room pumped up," Ferguson "I was shocked by the way we came out in the second half. The momentum we had didn't carry over. I wish we didn't have to go to the locker room so we could keep playing another 20 minutes." Unlike the first half, in which it took NAU 16 seconds to score, it took the Lumberjacks nearly eight minutes to get their first points of the half. "They came out real intense and got into the passing lanes and picked up their defense a lot," said Ferguson, who finished with a team-high 12 points, all coming in the first half. "They were determined not to let us get open." Kampman was the thorn in NAU's side the entire game.

The junior got career highs in points (26) and rebounds (13). He kept Wichita State close in the first half, scoring 13. "I told our guys before the game that he has the ability to knock down perimeter shots," Adras said. "He's very aggressive on the offensive glass. We did not block him out.

He was very good tonight, there's no question about that." See NAU, B8 NBA Schilling trade pushes D-backs' youth movement up a year Random thoughts as the last of the to re-sign Schilling after the 2004 season. immediately. turkey goes away He would demand too much money, and You can't just look at next year with Curt Schilling: Start of a fire sale or the Diamondbacks aren't interested in this trade. Sure, not having Schilling will simply a smart trade? I'd say smart trade. investing $15 million per year in a 38- weaken Arizona's rotation.

But Webb is Look, there really isn't much for the year-old pitcher. And Schilling wasn't ready to be a No. 2 starter behind Diamondbacks to use as kindling to start exactly showing signs that he was hyped Johnson, and Mike Gosling is lurking in a true fire sale. There's a 40-year-old to stay in the desert, either. the minor leagues.

Much like Webb, Randy Johnson, Schilling, Luis Gonzalez, So instead of just letting Schilling walk, expect Gosling a second-round draft Brandon Webb, Shea Hillenbrand and you trade him and get something in pick from Stanford a couple of years ago that's about it. This trade was about return. And the Diamondbacks aren't just who would have been a first-rounder had CHRIS foresight, something the Diamondbacks getting a bag of baseballs for their co-ace. teams not been scared off by hard-line haven't always utilized in the past in Brandon Lyon and Jorge De La Rosa are agent Scott Boras to make a quick LANG terms of personnel moves. both highly regarded youngsters and Bird's Eye View There wasn't much interest for Arizona Casey Fossum can contribute See LANG, B8 CHRIS LANG.