Birmingham Post-Herald from Birmingham, Alabama • 15

AWirmingham Ptt-HroM Mtwfav Pacamber 30 1991 5' Basketball Sun shines on Rogers despite rain After two WVU free throws made the score 82-81 UAB was having trouble getting the ball across the halfcourt lineui the required 10 But with time By Cary Eates tat-Hcrald Report SANTA CLARA Calif The rainstorm that drought-plagued California haa been waiting on for years materialized this weekend Low-hanging gray clouds high winds and occasional heavy run accompanied the UAB Blazers for the three days they were in Santa Clara for the Cable Car Classic But nobody seemed to mind because the performance of Elbert Rogers that UAB coach Gene Bartow has been waiting on for years also finally has materialized Rogers the only senior scored 51 points (including 17-of-19 from the free-throw line) grabbed IS rebounds in helping 1 UAB (12-1 to two victories in the tournament UAB defeated Santa Clara 73-62 in the first round Friday then held -on to beat West Virginia (6-4) 88-84 in the championship game Saturday night Bonbon College (8-1) eased to a 62-45 victory over Santa Clara (2-8) in consolation game SSaSaS critical of nstUAB especially Impressive wu the job Jackson and George Wllkerson aid on Wat Virginia guild Chris Leonard Friday night Leonard sank five three-pointers and scored 32 points in West victory over Boston College But against the Blazers Leonard wu hounded everywhere he went on the court The result wu siz-of-15 shooting and 18 points He made only twwrf-eeven three-pointers and one of thou came with only thru seconds left in the game secret? stay in his said Jackson who made the all-tournament team despite playing with a sore neck that required him to wear a brace at night just never let him get Easier said than done But aggressive man-to-man detenu always hu been a UAB trademark even more this year since the Blazers do not 1 have the instant three-point offenu of Andy Kennedy a better defensive team for a lot of Bartow said mainly becauu our assistant coachu get after them hard in practice to play good defense coach) Murry (Bartow) hu worked -with them and really helped mold and shape our detenu in a different matter George Wllkerson is the best example of that rally the spirit of our detenu on the So with the detenu playing tough and Bogus' ruling Ms neighborhood the Blazers are beginning to sense this could be a special season They will be able to tell a lot more next week when they take a Great Midwest Conference foes Memphis State and DePaul in a four-day span But until then the Blazers are going to enjoy their weekend in the sun to rainy California going to have a good New Year's now "Jackson yelled the players left the area Saturday night New Year" The players might be looking forward to a happy New Year But Bartow is just happy to have the new Rogers percent of their shots But esp the 6-foot-7 Rogers took dribbled out of trouble like a point Jackson who Jackson made both free throws Finally with UAB leading 84-81 and less than 20 seconds remaining Rogers partially blocked a close-in West Virginia shot allowing the Blazers to escape with their 12tn consecutive victory In years past Bartow has been laid-back and his lapses ggamesEven before the beginning of this Bartow wondered aloud Rogers was the player to lead the Blazers He has no questions now just about gotten comfortable with Bartow said with a smile had a really great month of December no question practicing better working harder Hrs playing really well for us right now And we need it" Rogers admitted he feels extra responsibility this season being the only senior That might be one of the reasons for his improved play know my teammates are looking for me more down the dence in me to make the play and I have confidence in them to get me where I can make the But Rogers is for from the only reason the Blazers are one victory away from the longest winning streak in school history Again WVU free-throw shooting also was a key as UAB made 10 consecutive free throws in the final 3:22 the way supposed to shoot them down the Bartow said a real good team got to hit those But mainly UAB can rely on a suffocating defense that consistently has held opponents to less than 50 percent shooting this season The Mountaineers made only 476 College wrapup WHEN: 7 pm WHERE: NOTES Miaiiailppl TbaBuldoga are Ml CMTMQnQ VaTKMilM MMesIppi State former NBA star par gams MSU point guard to go along wMi his Mississippi State occurred In 1976 victory was In 1969 Rogers was named the Most Valuable Player But in the final four minutes of victory over West Virginia his performance went beyond such a modest description Consider what happened after 10-point lead with 5:11 left in the game disintegrated to only three points (76-73) in less than two minutes With West Virginia on an 8-1 run Rogers steppea to the line for two free-throw attempts But the game was being televised and play remained halted for a TV timeout So Rogers had to stand at the line for more than 30 seconds before he could shoot He made both shots giving UAB a 78-73 lead With the Mountaineers in possession of the ball and trailing 80-79 with less than two minutes left Rogers came up with a crucial rebound off a mimed shot On following possession with the 45-second shot clock down to only eight seconds Rogers sank a 12-foot baseline jumper with a West Virginia player in his face giving the Blazers an 82-79 lead with 45 seconds remaining SamM Stephen Gates Post-Herald The Hermit Holmes (25) Is squeezed by the Bandits1 Jim Farmer (22) and Richard HoKs- Surge in fourth quarter 5 lifts Bandits over Horizon Bandits'summary today StarkvUaMiae WYDE(850-AM) Stata haa a fra game winning atraak 1-0 In the SouriaaatamConfaranoa after VI NBSnVMP is led by guard Tony Watts the son of Watts who Is averaging 184 points Chuck Evans is averaging 78 assists 1 13 points par gams leads the series 24-6 The last mssOng vWwn Stata won 77-67 Samkxd'i last MWiSamford winning 6860 kit throw line The Bandits made only four field gals in the foul-plagued quarter but Henry added nine fra throws and the Bandits trailed 7067 The Bandits then outscored the Horizon 106 to start the fourth quarter Hollis scored the first six to go up 77-70 They never trailed again always want to get off to a good start but the game is woo in tee second half and the fourth (juiuterVHollis said we got told us what we were Ole Miss falls to James Madison By Chet Fnssman taMfarald Report Every quarter counts for points in the Continental Basketball Association but only one quarter counts for victories game is woo in the fourth quarter Birmingham Bandits forward Richard Hollis said Minuta before he and his team-mata ably demonstrated that print The Bandits never led the Columbus Horizon until the first minute of the fourth quarter From that print they never trailed rallying for a 102-94 victory yesterday before a small crowd of 543 at State Fair Area The Bandits behind Hollis and Skeeter Henry outscored the Horizon 35-24 in the fourth quarter They lost only the first quarter giv-them six of a possible seven its and moving them back into ilace in the Eastern Division of Grand Rapids Henry finished with 29 prints wMIe Hollis added 22 The two combined for half of points and more than offset a strong 34-print performance from Columbus guard Byron Irvin The Bandits (11-12) who came out flat in their Christmas Day victory over Grand Rapids did more of the same yesterday During one three-minute stretch in the first quarter Columbus beyond Irvin's hot shooting went on a 14-0 run and grabbed a 25-11 lead The Bandits slowly chipped away but never pulled closer than six until a Henry free throw gave the Horizon a 48-43 halftime lad came out too Henry UAB 86 Drake 63 SAN JOSE Calif Tournament MVP Jacque Nero scored 22 points and Valeria Buckner added 13 COLUMBUS Ohio Jim Jackson had a perfect first half on the wav to a 29-point effort for Not 7 Ohio State Ugoga Holiday Classic at San Jose Auburn 71 Fordham 52 HILTON HEAD ISLAND SC -Angie Ketman and Suzette Sargeant scored 14 points ach to lad the No 20 Auburn Lady Tigers (7-3) over 29-point effort for No (7-1) He made all eight field-goal attempts including four three-printers Ohio State took a 52-28 halftime lead Georgetown 98 SCORE: Bandts 102 Criumbus Horizon 94 ATTENDANCE: 543 QUARTERS WON: Bandits 3 i a 4 i Horizon 1 STAR: Birmingham's Skeeter Henry had 29 points and 10 rebounds KEY STAT: The Bandits scored more than one-third of their points in the fourth quarter NOTE: Birmingham placed forward Marvin Alexander on the injured 1st with an Achles tendon problem and re-signed WKam DeVaughn QUOTE: "Even when we were down by nine or 10 1 never did think we were going to lose the game" Bandits coach Mo McHone said NEXT: 7:05 pm Thursday vs Bakersfield at Stata Fair Arena Chet Fussman said got a big lead early but new: if' we knew I before we' and Bandits each Mo McHone knew it too when we got down by nine did th: was just a matter of time would pick up the defense or 10 I never did think we were to lose the McHone Irvin however delayed the inevitable with a 14-point third quarter Including 10 points from the tree- Jess Lanier (9-4) Robert Chapman added 13 points and one three-point shot and Edward Rodgers had 11 points and sank three three-pointers Bibb County bat Anniston Hil-lcrest and Midfield to advance to the final Jess Lanier defated Warrior Tarrant and Holt In the consolation final yesterday Daryl Worthy stole the ball twice in the final 30 seconds to lead Shades Valley to a 55-54 victory ova Anniston steal and Micheal Cbz put Shada Vi ahead 5362 with 25 seconds Anniston (7-4) ailed a timeout with 17 seconds left but Worthy stole the inbounds psu and scored to put Shada Valley ahead 5561 and we adjusted It ling wrong and we ndjiu a panic type of Columbus (7-15) fell to 2-10 a the road and gave ample reason why during a fourth quarter in which they were dominated in doing every we just broke down in the fourth Horizon each Vince Chickerella said bat us down the floor every time Offensively we had too many turnover! Their team was much stronger down the Irvin sank 12-of-15 shots and grabbed six rebounds for the Horizon we help him Chickerella aid Jim Farmer added 18 for the Bandits though he made only eigfat-of-19 shots and missed four-ofiix fra throws McHone aid recent shooting slump could be the reason why the team hu started so slowly lately like our McHone aid the first half of lot of games been so good early been off a little lately He needs to battle his way out of it Regardless the Bandits are compensating with strong second-half play Whitt Wilson scored a last-second bucket to make the final 5564 key wu to handle their pressure and Lament Bean our print guard did a tremendous job for most of the Shada Valley coach Owen mitts said Worthy and Carlton Kennedy each cored 10 prints for Shada Valley Jan Burton scored 19 points for Anniston and Kivuussama Mays added 10 Anniston lost to Bibb County and bat Huffman and Tuscaloosa County to reach the consolation final Shades Valley lost to Tarrant and bat Warrior and Hueytown to mt in that rnmnlatinn nnu Raw NEW ORLEANS Jama Madison used dz players and 27 points by Bryan Edwards to bat Mississippi 75-67 last night to win third place in Sugar Bowl Tournament Jama Madison (5-5) took the lead early and never trailed The Duka used 605 percent shooting and tough rebounding to hold off thru Ole Min rallies Jama Madison had 39 rebounds to 24 for Ole Miss (4-4) 1 Jama Madison stretched its to 10 an run to outscore Ole Min II by outscoring Ole Min by 18-6 through the final 8:37 Joe Harvell who scored 34 points against Pitt in the -first round of the tournament wu held to 14 Sunday night 38-28 at the half using sl8-6 Auburn From page B1 I Unfortunately as Eagla said think we did anything very well but play I not enough for team this young and this small especially on the rad Reedy or not the Tigers (6-4) will opa their Southeastern Conference schedule Saturday at Arkansas i UTC (8-4) left the Tigers dazed 'and confused by exploiting weaknesses which appear to be growing more and more obvious The three tarns that had beaten Auburn UAB UNLV and South Alabama did it by shredding the perimeter defense and penetrating to the basket The latest perimeter player to destroy defense wu UTC print guard Tim Brooks a 8-foot junior who drove inside hit from the outside end dished off for 30 prints kndi Women Fordham (4-3) in the opening round of the Hilton Auburn will face undefeated and sixth-ranked Maryland today in the championship game After spending seven years at Au burn under Sonny Smith McCarthy admitted he took some extra personal pleasure in winning the game but he seemed to he more pleased by the way his turn played in the final four minutes As son Auburn tied the game at 72-72 Brooks took over for UTC With Auburn point Wrencher all ova him Brooks an 18-foot jump shot from the left coma drew the foul end sank the free throw for a 75-72 lead at 3:58 Brooks also wu in command wha the Tigers trimmed the lead to 77-74 taking Wrencher inside for a driving basket and a five-point lead with 137 left As the Tigers struggled to find open shooters for three-point attempts in the final two minutes the Moca sank eight-of-12 free-throw attempts thought we reacted well to their McCarthy said thought we took the primary shot-takers away or at least made them take a little Mt longer shot and I thought we did a great job on the defensive boards limiting to them to just one Bethune-Cookmen 54 ST PETERSBURG Fla -Alonso Mourning scored 20 prints in just 16 minuta a Georgetown (7-1) 1 Bethune-Cookmnn (0-8) print said UTC coach Black McCarthy a former Auburn assistant certainly earned the MVP taking over the club like we wanted Mm to all Not only did the Tigers lack such a leader they also continued to be a one-dimensional team depending on the outside shooting of Battle and Wesley Person Battle had to fight for most of his points while Person wu limited to four-of-14 shooting and 14 prints With the Moccasin getting back on defense and preventing easy fast-break baskets and putting the pinch a Person and Battle the Tigers struggled to find scoring help Sophomore forward Aaron win-son nit the floor bard and left the game with 13:25 remaining because of an aggravated back injury statu is uncertain for the near future but his absence yesterday left the Tigers without their best inside scorer As a tarn the Tigers sank only 22-of-65 shots from the field (338 percent) necessarily stop them from doing what they wanted to McCarthy said we certainly disrupted what they wanted to Rutledge leads Bibb County to title With tournament MVP Donny held off a pesky Jess Lanier team to win the 37th Shada Valley Invitational Tournament 6760 yesterday a great tournament to Bibb County each Charles McCaleb said got a solid group nice to be able to reach the finals of this tournament the last three years Barnard Stacy had 18 prints and two three-point shots for Bibb County (116) Benji Black scored 18 points and made one three-pointer and Moses Dobyne had 11 points and two three-printers Chris Windsor scored 18 prints for hu everything you want in a.