Banner Graphic, Volume 21, Number 156, Greencastle, Putnam County, 7 March 1991 — Page 6

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THE BANNERGRAPHIC March 7,1991

Persistent Boilermakers upset Ohio St.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) Second-ranked Ohio State needs a victory Sunday at lowa to win the Big Ten title outright. Failing that, the Buckeyes could hope No. 4 Indiana helps them. Indiana meets Minnesota tonight in Bloomington, and a loss by the second-place Hoosiers could give the Buckeyes their first conference title outright since 1971. AFTER LOSING 72-67 to Purdue Wednesday night, however, the Buckeyes (26-2, 15-2) would rather win it themselves. “We have to start getting ourselves mentally ready to play in the (NCAA) tournament, and of course we have lowa before that,” Ohio State coach Randy Ayers said. “That’s not going to be an easy task because they are still trying to get into the tournament and Sunday is going to be like tonight a tough environment to play in.” In front of a sellout crowd of 14,123, Purdue avenged a 66-59 loss to Ohio State Feb. 3 and sent the Buckeyes to their sixth straight loss at Mackey Arena since 1985. “OUR PERSISTF:NCE kept us in it,” Purdue coach Gene Keady said. “We went from a speck of light at the end of the tunnel about six games ago and now it’s starting to grow into a floodlight.” Purdue (16-11, 8-9) improved its chances for a berth in the NCAA tournament. Northwestern visits Purdue Saturday to close the regular season. “All we can do is win another game, then sit there Sunday and sec,” Keady said. JIMMY OLIVER SCORED 27 points on 8 of 14 shots and 10 of 11 free throws as the Boilermakers won their third straight game and fifth of their last six. He helped shut down Jim Jackson, Ohio State’s leading scorer. He was held to 12 points on 4-of-14 shooting from the field. “Oliver’s shooting has really carried us,” Keady said. “Everyone talks about how good Jimmy Jackson is. 1 told Oliver before the game he could be as good.” OLIVER SAID THE Boilermakers were determined to contain Jackson and keep the other Buckeyes from picking up the slack. “He is the hardest person in the league to guard,” Oliver said. “I played as hard as I have ever in

Ismail big draw for NCAA meet

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) U.S. Olympic men’s track coach Mel Rosen is hoping Notre Dame’s Raghib “Rocket” Ismail can boost attendance at this weekend’s NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. “I’m delighted a guy like Rocket is in the meet,” said Rosen, Auburn’s track coach of 26 years. “People may come out to see him run. We had a kid that they used to have come out... His name was Bo Jackson, only trouble was when Bo came to the NCAA he had not won the Heisman. It was the year before and they didn’t really know who he was.” ISMAIL, WHO PASSED up his final year of college football eligibility to become eligible for next month’s NFL draft, comes to the NCAA with the fastest time among the qualifiers in the 55meters. The junior, who didn’t participate in track last year, covered the distance in a school-record 6.07 seconds last month and is undefeated at that distance. “He’d be a hot prospect. But, for some reason he’d rather play football than run track. So, we’ll lose a guy like that,” Rosen said about Ismail’s prospects of making the 1992 Olympic squad. A former Pennsylvania state champion at 100-meters, the football All American won the

GMS takes three firsts

The Greencastle Middle School combined girls and boys swim took only three firsts Tuesday night in a 101-68 loss at Southmont. It was a combined meet because Southmont does not have a complete boys team. Mandy Modi in took Greencastle’s only individual

Purdue OHIO ST. (67) Jackson 4-14 2-2 12, Lee 3-6 2-2 8, Carter 4-10 1-3 9. Baker 3-9 5-611. Brown 5-10 3-3 14, Davis 1-3 0-0 2, Jenl 3-8 1-2 9, Robinson 1-1 0-1 2. Skelton 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 24-62 14-19 67. PURDUE (72) White 7-10 7-10 21, Oliver 8-14 10-11 27. Riley 4-7 0-0 8, Painter 2-4 1-2 6, Barrett 1-1 0-0 2, Darner 1-2 2-2 4, Stanback 2-2 0-3 4, Trice 0-1 0-0 0, McNary 0-0 0-0 0, Schoettelkotte OO 0-0 0. Totals 25-41 2028 72. Halftime Purdue 35, Ohio St. 33. 3-point goals Ohio St. 5-12 (Jackson 2-3, Jent 2-4, Brown 1-4, Davis Ol), Purdue 2-5 (Painter 1-1, Oliver 1-3,Trice Ol). Fouled out None. Rebounds Ohio St. 36 (Jackson, Carter 8), Purdue 25 (White 9). Assists Ohio St. 10 (Baker 4), Purdue 18 (Barrett 5). Total fouls Ohio St. 21, Purdue 20. Attendance— 14,120. practice trying to get it right.” After the loss, Jackson looked ahead to Sunday’s game at lowa. “We could have won the game at the end,” he said. “But the key is when we can look back at this game and look how our defense played and what mistakes we made. Maybe it can help us later on in ihe (NCAA) tournament.” THE buckeyf:s CLOSED to 68-67 when Perry Carter hit the first of two free throws and Jackson sank a jumper off Carter’s missed second shot with 1:14 left. But Oliver and Line Darner sank two free throws each in the final 1:03 to hold off the Buckeyes, “When we let our defense slip a little that’s when they got those easy baskets,” Jackson said. “We need to go back to practice and concentrate more on our shooting,” Ayers said. “We need to put ourselves in more pressure situations than Purdue showed us. OHIO STATE outrebounded Purdue 36-25, but shot just 39 percent (24 of 62). Purdue shot 61 percent (25 of 41) and sank 20 of 28 free throws. Ohio State trailed 53-45 with 6:38 remaining, then outscored Purdue 11-2 as the Boilermakers went nearly 4 minutes with just one basket on Chuckie White’s dunk. Mark Baker’s layup capped the surge and gave Ohio State its first lead of the second half, 56-55 with 6:38 remaining. The Boilermakers responded wjth a 17-10 spurt, including 9 points by Oliver, over the final 5:55 to win the game. White was the only other player in double figures for Purdue with 21, including 7 of 10 free throws. Jamaal Brown had 14 points for Ohio Suite.

IC4A indoor sprint tide in 6.16 seconds last week. ISMAIL, WHO FINISHED second in voting for the 1990 Heisman Trophy, is playing down his role as the favorite in his first NCAA championships. “They have been there before,” Ismail said of his competition. “They know what to expect. That’s going to be a big help.” Ismail begins his title bid in Friday afternoon prelims with the finals set for Saturday evening. His top challengers and their qualifying time include Ainsley Blackman of South Carolina State, 6.14; Brigham Young’s Frank Fredericks, 6.15; Kevin Braunskill of North Carolina State and John Drummond of Texas Christian, both at 6.17. IN MEN’S ACTION, Arkansas seeks an unprecedented eighth consecutive team title and six individual defending champions are back. The elite group includes Gabriel Luke of Rice, 400; Reuben Rcina of Arkansas, 3,000; Jonah Koech of lowa State, 5,000; Washington State’s Tony Li, 55meter hurdles; Istvan Bagyula of George Mason, pole vault; and Per Karlsson, Brigham Young, 35pound weight throw. In the women’s competition, Texas is seeking its fourth team title in six years.

first place. She won the 400freestyle 4:43.01. The 200-medley relay team of Jon Clark, Brian Lanie, Chris Hutchens and Modi in won took first place in 2:17.09 and the team of Hutchens, Clark, Modlin and Jim Ensley won the 200freestyle relay in 2:08.61.

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South Putnam coach Kieth Puckett (center) tells the Terre Haute Basketball Regional Luncheon the 17-5 Eagles can compete wherever they go to play basket-

Puckett not crying about draw

By STEVE FIELDS Banner-Graphic Sports Editor TERRE HAUTE Tradition dictates South Putnam coach Kieth Puckett to tell some jokes, talk about how skinny and small his players are and how big and good Terre Haute South is and how great a coach Pat Rady is and how the Braves’ schedule is so much better. After all, that’s the way small school coaches talk about big schools and South Putnam is the small school in the 11 a.m. first game of Saturday’s West Vigo-IHSAA Basketball Regional at Hulman Civic Center. PUCKETT, A BELIEVER in tradition when it comes to South Putnam basketball, broke tradition Wednesday at the annual Terre Haute Kiwanis Club Basketball Regional Luncheon. Terre Haute South may be five times larger than South Putnam in enrollment, but coach Puckett shed no tears on the crying towels given to the four coaches by the Kiwanis Club. Puckett made no bones about the Eagles’ ability to compete with a school as large as Terre Haute South. “We play six schools comparable in size to us. In the conference we play in, the West Central Conference, the top four teams won 15 or more games. We have won 23 of our last 25 games at home, including one stretch of 16 in a row,” Puckett said. “WE ARE TOURNAMENT tested. We won our sectional by a total of three points. We have four players who will play their fourth game on this floor (Hulman Center) Saturday. “We start a 6-6, 210 pound center (Jim Burdge) and our star forward is 6-4, 200-pounds (Damon Slaton) and averages 17 a game and has an outstanding bill from Northview High School. They want him to pay for the backboard he tore down before the game dunking the ball,” Puckett said, drawing woos and chuckles all at once from the crowd. “We just feel like we can compete wherever we go to play.” PLAYING BIGGER SCHOOLS, and especially Terre Haute South at the regional, has become a way of life at South Putnam, enrollment 370 students. Cloverdale (299), Riverton Parke (288), Rockville (259), Eminence (134), Clay City (233) and Turkey Run (209) are the only schools South plays with smaller enrollments. Playing Terre Haute South in the regional is a tradition for South Putnam. This will be the

Big boys start tourney play now

By JOHN KREISER AP Sports Writer The little guys have had their fun. Now, it’s the big guys’ turn. While schools like St. Francis of Pennsylvania, Northeast Louisiana and Coastal Carolina assured themselves of NCAA berths Wednesday, several major conferences were preparing for their tournaments. THE BIG EAST, Metro, Southeastern and Southwest are among the conferences which begin their tournaments today, while the Atlantic Coast, Big Eight and Big West get underway on Friday. Three more teams earned NCAA berths in Wednesday night’s play-in games. St. Francis, the Northeast Conference winner, downed Fordham, the Patriot Conference champion, 70-64 for its first-ever trip to the tournament. Northeast Louisiana of the Southland Conference ripped MEAC champ Florida A&M 87-63 and Coastal Carolina, the Big South titlist, won at Jackson State, the SWAC winner, 78-59, also earning its first NCAA berth. IN THE SEMIFINALS of the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, Middle Tennessee beat Eastern Kentucky 83-66 and Murray State downed Morehead State 89-61. San Diego State beat Air Force 58-51 in the opening round of the Western Athletic Conference tournament.

ball, as Terre Haute South coach Pat Rady (far right) listens. Puckett’s Eagles play Rady's Braves in the 11 a.m. first game of the West Vigo-IHSAA Regional at 11 a.m.

fourth time in the Eagles’ seven trips to the regional they have faced Terre Haute South’s Braves. The Eagles faced the Bob Heaton-led Clay City Eels in 1974. In 1977, South played Terre Haute South in the regional championship game after defeating Worthington in the afternoon. In 1984, led by now-JV coach Mike McHugh and then-freshman Troy Greenlee, the Eagles defeated Rosedale on Friday night and faced Terre Haute South’s Braves again in the championship. In 1986, the Eagles played a Bloomfield team that went to the semistate. And in 1989, South Putnam played Terre Haute South in the first round. “IT’S OUR CHANCE to fullfill a dream,” Puckett said earlier in the week. “And starting with Dan Bain in 1977 and all the way through Mitch and Mike Trusty (in 1989), we’ve been going over there and trying to beat these guys and we’re just going to keep at it,” Puckett said. “There is nobody who has grown up playing basketball who hasn’t stood out in that driveway shooting free throws to win the game with no time left on the clock. You don’t do it in your mind against some little biddy school. You don’t dream of playing Dugger. You go to play Terre Haute South,” Puckett said. The Eagles won’t catch Terre Haute South off guard as long as Pat Rady is the coach. “We would feel a lot better this week if Pat was not coaching because Pat’s from Putnam County and he understands basketball,” coach Puckett said. IT WAS 25 YEARS ago Rady coached Bainbridge into the Lafayette semistate and Puckett’s oldest brother, Frank, was the sports editor for

Georgia State beat Texas-San Antonio 94-84 and Arkansas-Little Rock took Centenary 80-63 in the Trans America tournament semifinals. Idaho beat Weber State 6054 and Idaho State beat Boise State 73-69 in the opening round of the Big Sky tournament. In the only lop 25 action, Purdue upset second-ranked Ohio State 7267 and No. 25 DePaul defeated Miami of Florida 75-58. It was only the second loss of the season for Ohio State, which needs a victory over lowa or a loss by secondplace Indiana to win the Big Ten championship outright. THREE MORE NCAA berths will be decided tonight. Duquense visits Penn State for the Atlantic 10 title, Middle Tennessee faces Murray State for the Ohio Valley crown and Georgia State meets ArkansasLittle Rock for the Trans America championship. The Big East tournament begins with Villanova, the eighth-place team, facing last-place Boston College at Madison Square Garden. The winner faces top-seeded and fourth-ranked Syracuse in Friday’s quarterfinals. Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun, whose team faces Georgetown on Friday, believes Syracuse is the favorite but that several other teams could win. “Early in the season Syracuse was getting by by the hair of their

Fields’ Findings

chinny-chin-chins, but they’re not doing that any longer. They’ve put some pretty good whippings on some good teams,” Calhoun said. “I think they’re the best team in the league.” THE OPENING GAME of the Southeastern Conference tournament pits Mississippi (9-18) against Tennessee (9-21). Ole Miss has already beaten the Vols twice this season. “It’s very difficult to beat a team three times in one year in this league,” Mississippi coach Ed Murphy said. “Both games we had with them were close games. We’ve got to be ready to play and not be overconfident.” The Mississippi-Tennessee winner plays Mississippi State (20-7) on Friday. The Bulldogs tied Louisiana State for the second-best record in the SEC, but the top finisher, Kentucky, is on NCAA probation and is ineligible for the tournament. NO. 16 LSU will be without star center Shaquille O’Neal, the SEC player of the year, who’s sidelined with a leg injury. The Southwest Conference tourney begins in Dallas with Texas Tech and Texas A&M meeting tonight for the right to play No. 1 seed Arkansas on Friday. The Metro and Mid-Continent conferences also begin today with four quarterfinal games.

Saturday at Hulman Civic Center in Terre Haute. (Banner-Graphic photo by Steve Fields)

the Graphic. The 1966 season, the same year Cloverdale traveled the southern route to the Final Four, was the first of seven semistate appearances for Rady. He led two Bainbridge teams to the Lafayette semistate, two Shelbyville teams into the Indianapolis semistate at Hinkle Fieldhouse and three at Terre Haute South into the Evansville-Terre Haute semistate. But 1966 was a special time in Putnam County high school basketball. “Jim Miller (the ’66 Cloverdale coach), Jerry Lewis (’66 Reelsville coach) and I, when we get together, we still talk about Putnam County,” said Rady, a Roachdale native. “WE REALLY FELT the basketball that year was as good as any place. The talk about Anderson and those teams, (basketball) certain areas, but that year, I’ll put that up against... Those were good teams that could play with anybody, any year, any time.” “We really only lost to each other,” Rady recalled. “We had a breather when we got outside Putnam County. It was just a great time.” Rady says the Eagles should spot the Braves eight points on Saturday. “I believe you have 12 points back from that game two years ago,” Rady said, looking down the dais to where Puckett was sitting. “We’ve got four (back). You ought to give u$ an eight-point lead.” Puckett just didn’t see it that way. ****** » Eagle connection South Putnam graduate Chris Stitzle is the junior varsity coach for the 13-9 Sullivan Golden Arrows, winners of the Clay City sectional. The Arrows, making only their third regional appearance in the last 26 years, will play the first-year consolidation of White River Valley, 23-1 on the year... Like South’s Damon Slaton, Sullivan’s 6-2 Vi Shane Allison, the younger brother of DePauw’s 6-7 forward Scott Allison, shattered a backboard in one game this year as we 11... Terre Haute South’s 6-9 star Brian Evans, who signed with IU in the fall, is the nephew of DePauw baseball coach Ed Meyer and his wife, Mary Ann... Jim Coon, a starting guard on the 1966 Cloverdale Final Four team, guided Tri-West High School to its first sectional championship ever at Lebanon. The Bruins will now play 16-6 McCutcheon in the Frankfort Regional.

NCAA PLAY-IN GAMES St. Francis, Pa. 70, Fordham 64 St Francis of Pennsylvania raised its home record to 17-1 and made the NCAA tournament for the first time as Joe Anderson had 32 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Red Flash (24-7) past Fordham (24-7). Northeast Louisiana 87, Florida A&M 63 Anthony Jones scored 21 points and had five key steals as Northeast Louisiana (24-7) routed visiting Florida A&M (17-13). Coastal Carolina 78, Jackson St. 59 DuWayne Cheatam and Robert Dowdell each scored 19 points as visiting Coastal Carolina (24-7) led all the way to earned its first NCAA tournament berth by ending Jackson State’s 10-game winning streak. TOP 25 Purdue 72, No. 2 Ohio State 67 Purdue improved its chances for an NCAA tournament berth by beating the Buckeyes for the sixth straight time at Mackey Arena. Jimmy Oliver scored 27 points, including nine of Purdue’s final 15 as the Boilermakers (16-11, 8-9) won their third straight game and filth of their last six. No. 25 DePaul 75, Miami, Fla. 58 Melvon Foster scored all 10 of his points during a 20-2 secondhalf run as DePaul beat Miami of Florida.