Birmingham Post-Herald from Birmingham, Alabama • 17

Birmingham I'ost-Hnald Wednesday December 18 1991 Sports update C3 Basketball C4 Stock tables C6-7 Business C8 Sports Bumbling Blazers stumble to victory Dent spurns Tigers SCORE: UAB 90 Tulsa 75 RECORDS: UAB 8-1 Tulsa 1-3 STAR: UAB guard Stanley Jackson had 29 points six steals five rebounds and five assists KEY STAT: Tulsa sank only 342 of its shots NOTE: UAB shot 30 more free throws than Tulsa (46 to 16) and sank 22 more (35 to 13) QUOTE: "For some reason we seem 6haky whenever we see a real hard press" UAB coach Gene Bartow said "We fall down on the floor and stumble around And we still get out with a win" NEXT: Southwest Texas State at 7:05 pm Friday in the first game of the UAB Invitational Cary Estes By Cary Estes Post-Herald Reporter UAB and Tulsa established themselves as the new Not-Ready-For-Prime-Time Players last night In a game nationally televised by ESPN the Blazers and the Golden Hurricane both got into the Christmas spirit and tried to give the game away They tossed the ball around like spare change and tumbled around on the floor more times than a gymnastics team UAB emerged from the muck with a 90-75 victory before a crowd of 6008 at UAB Arena But it certainly was not pretty Tulsa's press-like-an-iron defense rattled UAB (8-1) into committing 19 turnovers including five in one laughable two-minute stretch And even when the Blazers managed to hang on to the ball they still looked flustered andconfused "For some reason we seem shaky whenever we see a real hard press" UAB coach Gene Bartow said "We fall down on the floor and stumble around And we still get out with a win" How bad did it get for UAB? Well the Blazers had no offensive rebounds in the first half Even worse they failed to scored one time on a four-on-one fastbreak But Tulsa (1-3) was no slouch when it came to poor play matching UAB mistake for mistake The Golden Hurricane also committed 19 turnovers and sank only 342 percent of its shots "It wasn't artistic" Bartow said Artistic? This game could not even qualify as finger painting It took junior guard Stanley Jackson to give the game some style with 29 points and two highlight-film slam dunks Jackson also had six steals five rebounds and five assists to help UAB rally from a first-half deficit and win going away But afterward you could not find too many players celebrating the victory "This game set us back" said freshman point guard Corey Jackson who had six turnovers after committing only 11 turnovers in the first eight games "It was a horrible game I wasn't pleased with it at all" However it was a victory the eighth in a row for the Blazers And that is hard to argue with "We played an awfully good second half" Bartow said grasping for something positive to say about the game "You don't win by 15 if you haven't played pretty good" With the game tied 32-32 UAB opened the By Richard Scott Post-Herald Reporter Rodney Dent pulled a reserve slam dunk on the Auburn basketball program yesterday and announced his intentions to play for Kentucky instead Dent a 6-foot-10 center from Edison Ga announced yesterday through an attorney in Odessa Texas that he has decided to attend Kentucky College basketball wrapup page C4 Dent who played his junior college basketball at Odessa College has signed two national letters of intent to play for Auburn However after signing for the first time in the fall of 1990 Dent failed to complete his degree at Odessa and was not eligible to play at Auburn That made him a recruit again While attending classes at Howard College in Big Springs Texas this fall to complete his degree Dent re-signed with Auburn on Nov 14 "I'll be there ready to play" Dent said at that time Dent apparently did sign a national letter of intent to attend Auburn but according to rules concerning the national letter of intent program a mid-year junior college prospect is not bound by a national letter of intent Until Dent enrolls and is accepted at Kentucky he is free to visit and enroll at any school he chooses Until that point neither Auburn nor Kentucky officials are allowed to comment on Dent's status because he remains a recruited prospect What is known is that Dent had second thoughts about his decision and had an attorney Warren Heagy contact Auburn coach Tommy Joe Eagles about a release permitting Dent to take officials recruiting visits to other schools Heagy said Eagles granted that request and Dent arranged visits to Kentucky Arkansas Arizona State and Oklahoma State Dent visited Kentucky last weekend and attended its game against Arizona State Please turn to DENT page C4 'mi iii second half with a 19-7 run in slightly more than five minutes The bulk of the work occurred inside where Elbert Rogers and Willie Chapman scored eight points George Wilkerson also added a two-handed slam following a steal at halfcourt that led to a Tulsa timeout The break helped the Golden Hurricane for a few minutes as UAB's offense returned to its uncoordinated self and Tulsa pulled to within 54-49 The Blazers scored six consecutive points after that but Tulsa answered with five straight and the game still was very much in doubt at 60-54 with eight minutes left That is when UAB kicked its offense into overdrive Over the next five minutes the Blazers outscored Tulsa 17-6 to put the game away "We did exactly what we had to in the first half" Tulsa coach Tubby Smith said "Then UAB comes out in the second half and has 10 offensive rebounds and we had chances for easy baskets and didn't get it done That's the ball game right there" UAB's defense dominated the opening moments of the game holding Tulsa to only three baskets in the first nine minutes The Blazers' offense meanwhile was pushing the ball upcourt at a rapid pace Twice Wilkerson got loose on a fastbreak and hit an easy layup as UAB sprinted to a 14-7 lead with 11 minutes left in the half Bill Ingram Post-Herald Blazers' Stanley Jackson (4) drives past Golden Hurricane's Jodie Huffman That's when the Blazers suddenly forgot how to handle the ball UAB committed five turnovers in less than two minutes leading to eight Tulsa points and a 15-14 lead by the Golden Hurricane But UAB came right back with a quick streak of its own scoring 10 unanswered points in less than two minutes Stanley Jackson led the way with seven points including a soaring one-handed jam on yet another fastbreak as the Blazers went ahead 24-15 UAB stretched its advantage to 29-18 with only five minutes remaining in the half when the Golden Hurricane suddenly blew back into the lead Tulsa hit back-to-back three-pointers and rolled off 14 consecutive points in only four minutes to take a 32-29 lead before the Blazers clawed back to tie the game at half time Bandits will turn to baseball for new GM jjjj Robinson is back on target for Tide Bandits fall 103-96 page C4 By Ray Melick Post-Herald Reporter TUSCALOOSA It was just like old times for James Robinson The Alabama sophomore guard lit up the scoreboard for 33 points Saturday in the Tide's 105-67 victory over Old Dominion "It felt great" Robinson said "I went out and the shots were fallings It was the old James Robinson like high school again" The 6-foot-2 guard from Jackson Miss is expecting that feeling to continue at 7:30 pm today when Alabama (6-1) plays host to The Citadel (4-5) in Coleman Coliseum It isn't just the fact that Alabama is playing The Citadel that makes Robinson feel like his hot streak will continue Robinson would feel that way if the Tide were lining up to play Duke or the Chicago Bulls or the NBA All-Star team While some people have been saying Robinson has been in a slump Robinson is not one of them "I'm not in a slump" he said "It's just that the ball was not going in the hole "I'd never call it a slump That's what a player says when he's down on himself I've never been in a slump and I never will be Sometimes the ball doesn't go in the hole That's all" The ball went in the hole 10 times out of 19 shots Saturday including three-of-six three-pointers But before that game the ball was not finding the hole the way it used to for ByChet Fussman Post-Herald Reporter The Birmingham Bandits seeking an experienced general manager who will bolster sagging attendance are expected to name minor league baseball executive Tom Maloney to the position today The Bandits have scheduled a news conference for 2 pm today to announce their new general manager Though team officials yesterday would not confirm Maloney is their choice sources said it's already a done deal Maloney spent the past year as general manager of the Denver Zephyrs the class Triple-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers The Zephyrs play one more year in Denver before a major league expansion franchise begins play in that city Team owner Tom McMillan confirmed Maloney was a candidate for the GM post but refused to go further "I'd rather not say anything until Wednesday" McMillan said from his Brewton office last night McMillan met with Maloney last weekend to discuss the Bandits job The CBA team owner said he also talked with two other candidates Maloney will replace Jim Goodman who resigned as Bandits GM on Dec 10 Goodman stepped down as a result of the team's lack of fan support saying the franchise needs new direction from somebody else The Bandits who moved to Birmingham from Pensacola Fla this year rank last Before Saturday's game Robinson was shooting 418 percent He had gone through one stretch of a game and a half when he had hit only three-of-21 shots Over one three-game stretch Virginia UT-Chatta-nooga and NC State he hit only 13 of 41 317 percent For the season Robinson is shooting 438 percent well below last year's 470 percentage and far below his high school percentage of 566 Robinson has had problems with his back but he says that is not an excuse "No one wants to hear excuses" Robinson said "It's not my back My shot selection it's not bad but it hasn't been good either "I don't think I'm playing that bad I feel like I've been playing pretty good I've been averaging 15 16 points a game Maybe it hasn't been like last year where I just exploded for points But it's been there "Aganst Old Dominion it was explosive I hope it continues" Indeed in spite of the poor shooting Robinson has still scored in double figures in all but one game this season And with the 33 points Saturday he is now averaging 19 points per game tied for the team lead "Whatever it takes to win" Robinson said "Coach (Wimp Sanderson) says don't let your opponent outdo you "No player is going to say he want to score a lot of points But I want to make everyone happy here including myself" That means play defense and distribute the ball to his high-scoring teammates Robert Horry also is averaging 19 points a among the 17 CBA teams in attendance Despite heading into last night's game at Quad City in first place in the Eastern Division (with an 8-10 record) the Bandits according to CBA figures are averaging L-515 fans per home game The team has failed to draw crowds of more than 750 in each of its last three home games at State Fair Arena In the search to replace Goodman McMillan said he was "looking for someone with a proven track record and experience in a major sports market We want someone who has had good attendance nd good promotion who will stir up interest in the team" Maloney 33 has worked with the Zephyrs for five years He spent three years as manager of the team's business operations before serving as the team's general manager this year Before joining the Zephyrs Maloney operated his own consulting firm During the past week Bandits coach Mo McHone has served as the team's interim general manager handling all basketball-related matters Other executive staff members have helped run the team's day-to-day operations Maloney is expected to begin his new job immediately The Bandits concluded a four-game road trip last night and return home to face the Albany Patroons tomorrow night at State Fair Arena Staff file photo James Robinson hit 10-of-19 shots and scored 33 points Saturday game Latrell Sprewell is up to 184 points a game and Andre Perry is close to double figures with eight points a game "With Robert and Latrell we're all better" Robinson said "When one player gets it going it helps us all And it's a lot of fun Please turn to TIDE page C4 There's no doubt about who leads Buffs' attack By Richard Scott Post-Herald Reporter Even as Darian Hagan lay on the Orange Bowl grass the night of Jan 1 1991 knowing the pain in his knee meant he was done for the game he would not allow himself to doubt that he would be back for his senior year "I wasn't mad I was just frustrated because I couldn't finish the game" Hagan says "I never ever thought I wouldn't play again I never doubted I would be back Never" With Hagan there is no room for doubt He streets of LA and came to a better environment" Family and sports became Hagan's way out His mother Wanda was 18 when her son was born and his father drifted out of his life when he was a child So by the time Hagan reached the third grade he was living with his cousins Derrick and Eric Wick-ffe and his Aunt Brenda She made certain that the boys followed the rules of the house: do your chores come home on time and keep up your grades After that there was time for sports "I just always liked sports" Hagan says "and then when I got to high school that's when I started thinking about doing something" That something became college football for Hagan Hagan says he always wondered how Colorado found him but even though most outsiders had no interest in venturing into Watts Colorado coach Bill McCartney found his way to Locke High School so he could see Hagan for himself It didn't take long for McCartney to realize Hagan was the type of quick tough option quarterback he sought for Colorado's wishbone offense If Hagan doubted himself he wouldn't be headed for pro football or baseball even though he is a 5-foot-10 185-pound option quarterback If he doubted himself he might not be alive "Problems happen" Hagan says "A strong person can endure all that People with big hearts and big minds can handle it That comes from your upbringing" That is reality for a kid who grows up on the streets of Watts in Los Angeles where the Mainsteet Crips the East Coast Crips and the T-Zone Mafia rule One day on his way home from football practice in the ninth grade Hagan and a teammate were chased by some Crips who mistook their red football uniforms to be a sign of gang membership "I've seen it all" he says That means Hagan has seen people beaten shot and killed Some of those people were his friends "Where I come from is pretty rough but I had a good family a good upbringing and a strong desire strong aspirations to survive the streets" Hagan says "It makes you feel good to know you escaped thetiard mean When McCartney found Hagan he was be-ing recruited as a defensive back by Washington and Oklahoma Nebraska wanted him as a quarterback but the Cornhuskers already had a commitment from highly-touted quarterback Mickey Joseph The match was perfect for both parties Colorado needed a quarterback with Hagan's qualities and Hagan needed a place where he could escape the problems of Watts and find a measure of peace His freshman season in 1988 was anything but peaceful By his own admission Hagan was homesiclgand immature He had also become a fatner to Darian Jr born to a girlfriend in LA Hagan spent the season as a disenchanted backup to Sal Aunese until he was thrown into the true heat of battle late in the Freedom Bowl againt BYU When Hagan threw an ill-advised pass into triple coverage BYU intercepted the pass and drove for the winning field goal At that point Hagan decided he no longer wanted to play quarterback though he still knew he wanted to play football So he told the coaches he was ready to start over at tailback or wingback in spring practice Please turn to HAGAN page C5 BLOCKBUSTER BOWL Colorado vs Alabama cannot afford it There is too much to do too many obstacles to overcome too many goals to accomplish If Hagan doubted himself he wouldn't be 28-4-2 as a starter and a three-time all-Big Eight quarterback for Colorado which plays Alabama in the Blockbuster Bowl on Dec 28 AP file photo Buffs' QB Darian Hagan has never doubted his ability to succeed.