The Opelika-Auburn News from Opelika, Alabama • 9

Sports THURSDAY JANUARY 27 2005 4 Way too much: Timberwolves blow out Hawks 4B wwwoonowcom I OPELIKA AUBURN NEWS Notable "LgjHEZJ I tg 't 1 Tv At a press conference Wednes day US Senator George Allen Va) presented Sen Richard Shelby (R Ala) with a Virginia Ham in recognition of Auburn's Sugar Bowl victory over Virginia Teen In late December Senators Allen and Shelby placed a friendly wager on the game in which Auburn beat Virginia Tech 1 6 1 3 The wager included a Virginia Ham from Senator Allen and a Bates' Smoked Turkey from Sena tor Shelby "I want to thank my good friend Senator Allen for delivering this delicious Virginia ham" Shelby said "I look forward to enjoying it in honor of Auburn's hard fought victory in the Sugar Bowl This was Virginia Tech's third trip to the Sugar Bowl since 1 995 That year then Governor Allen won Texas ribs and red grapefruit from then Governor George Bush following Virginia Tech's de feat of the Texas Longhorns Quotable understand point of view just that our risk reward is different than his risk Rick Burkholder Eagles' head trainer on Terrell Owens possibly returning for the Super Bowl faiiw Up Ranked battle: Lee Scott Glenwood Te Off for 1 Li? RIDAY Sports Chemi Moral wins Alabama holds Mike VftSHfc HUNT OPELIKA AUBURN NEWS SEE AUBURN PAGE 5B Auburn's 60 55 loss to Alabama on Wednesday COLLIN MICKLE STA WRITER A View rom The Lazy Boy offstubbom Auburn squad ookmg down the South eastern Conference standings you'll notice the Auburn University men's basketball team is last The column that shows wins is blank The number to the right of that however isn't ive That's how many SEC losses the Tigers have That's how many games they've lost in a row That's just one less than the number of wins Ken tucky (the SEC East front run ner) has Now keep looking to the right of that stand ing's box Keep look ingkeep looking There off the page out of the box score you'll find the stat that head coach Jeff Lebo is hanging his hat on Moral victories Auburn 2 0 Even though the Tigers lost a 60 55 heartbreaker to Alabama on Wednesday will have to do for now i Before game against Alabama Auburn University head basketball coach Jeff Lebo called the Crimson Tide the most talented team in the Southeastern Conference Wednesday night Alabama showed how earned that label overcoming a late AU rally and hang ing on for a 60 55 victory much to the delight of the few hundred Tide fans among the season high Beard Eaves Memorial Coliseum crowd of 10127 The game was much closer than it could have been for No 14 Alabama (16 3 4 1 SEC) which entered the contest as a double digit favorite But foul trouble for freshman point guard Ronald Steele who missed long stretches in the second half be fore fouling out with 38 seconds to play helped Auburn make its run was killing me not being able to be on the floor and help my team said Steele who finished with six points and five assists was a lot of fun though I wish I could have played a little bit AU (9 9 0 5) took advantage of a dis ordered Alabama offense in the sec ond half holding the Tide to a single field goal in the final 9:30 That stretch included a 17 6 AU run that saw the Tigers force Alabama into four turnovers and six missed shots During the run AU was able to expose heel: a serious lack of depth at point guards With Steele on the bench senior snooting guaru earnest dnenon anu Auburnzslan Young (3) has his shot blocked by a soaring Kennedy Annstonp3) crfcwiT wre ch JLLJfeULIUfc IMVLJU HHhI Wi KiKiiii iKm 4 iJK Wn e' 41 A 3 it jjsw i Wk ML 7 I i tai It vW fla AS IW1 aBEAi: I MA I AU football team awarded Championship MIKESZVETITZ STA WRITER With the crowd chanting "USC USC USC" Auburn University coach Tommy Tuberville and the rest of the Tiger football team ac cepted two awards Wednes day night One was the James oy Sportsmanship Trophy foj Auburn's 21 13 win against Alabama on Nov 20 The Sportsmanship tro phy goes each year to the winner of the Iron Bowl That win gave Auburn its third consecutive victory over Alabama and its fourth in five years Along with the trophy pre sentation Hal Moody Uni versity of Alabama SGA president had to sing "War Eagle" A fan favorite "We had a tremendous football team" Tuberville said to a Beard Eaves Memorial crowd of 10127 "It's always good to be the best team in the state for the third year in a row" The other award the Tigers received during half time of the AU vs Alabama men's basketball game was one of national prominence the People's Choice Na tional Championship tro phy Opelika High School se nior George Brown along with former Georgia coach and current ESPN analyst Jim Donnan presented Tu berville with the award stating the Auburn was the true "champion" as voted by fans "In decades past the na tional champions has been voted by a select group of people" Brown said "This year we left it up to the fans" Auburn beat out Southern Cal the BCS national cham pion in the final voting "It's a honor pleasure when you go 13 0" Tu berville said "We knew when we won the Sugar Bowl we were the best team in the country" The Tigers set a school SEE AWARDS PAGE 5B VASHA HUNT OPELIKA AUBURN NEWS AU head football coach Tommy Tuberville cheers for the Iron Bowl trophy presentation at halftime during Auburn's 60:55 loss to Al abama on Wednesday Thursday High School Basketball Enterprise at Opelika 5 pm Loachapoka at Beulah 6 pm West Georgia Christian at Ballard Christian 4:30 pm Beauregard at Lafayette 5:30 pm riday High School Basketball Auburn at Loachapoka 6 pm Lee Scott at Glenwood 5 pm Beulah at Lanett 5 pm Notasulga at Woodland 6 pm St Jude at Reeltown 6 pm Mt Zion at Ballard boys 5:30 pm Handley at Lafayette 6 pm Smiths Station at Enterprise 5:30 pm BTW at Manchester 6 pm High School Wrestling State tournament in Pelham IN THIS SECTION SCANDEL 2B NCAA HOOPS 4B PRO GOL 28 PRO HOOPS 48 SCOREBOARD 38 SEC HOOPS SB VASHA HUNT OPEUU AUBURN NEWS 24 'r ill' I 4 1 tVV rf ai Cornell Williams reacts after gaining yardage against Arkansas during the 2004 season Williams has been impressive in practices leading up to Saturday's Senior Bowl in Mobile A In stock: Sleek 200 5 ROY CUMMINGS BRITT A NO GO: Borno's Britt to miss Senior Bowl after injury PAGE 2B MEDIA GENERAL NEWS SERVICE MOBILE There are worse things a team can do on draft day than pick a running back out of Auburn Even the Bucs who couldn't sign Bo Jackson after draft ing him out of Auburn in 1986 will tell you that James Brooks the former Bengal came out of Auburn So did one time Chargers great Lionel James William Andrews Rudi Johnson and Stephen Davis got their test runs as Tigers This year the Auburn as sembly line has churned out two new models One is 6 foot 230 pound Ronnie Brown an SUV of a back who runs like he hasaHemiin him The other is a sleek run ning "Cadillac" named Car nell Williams a player some draft experts project will be taken by the Bucs when they choose fifth overall "Hey they don't call that kid 'Cadillac' because he's not one" Bucs coach Jon Gruden said of Williams "He's a flashy back and a very talent ed charismatic kid And I'm not the only one who likes' him I can promise you that" What NL coaches and tal ent evaluators seem to like about Williams is his aggres sive playing style Though he's slightly built at 5 foot ll 212 pounds he's a powerful runner who hits the hole with authority He also has a knack for making tacklers miss as he's slashing through the line of scrimmage and he has a cre ative side that allows him to turn small gains into sizable ones got a little Warrick Dunn in said Chicago Bears general manager Jerry Angelo the former Bucs exec utive who helped oversee the drafting of Dunn by the Bucs in 1997 "He's a special player He's a really good creator and he has a tremendous runner's heart And when you look at the history of Auburn backs well they've got a pretty good track record" So does Williams He finished his four year career at Auburn with 3851 rushing yards second only to Jackson in school history and a school record 45 rush ing touchdowns With 276 points Williams is also career leading scorer His eight career 150 yard rushing games are a school record and his 16 games of 100 yards rushing or better rank second among Auburn backs Williams is more than a runner however In helping lead the Tigers to a 13 0 record this season he also returned SEE WILLIAMS PAGE2B.