Section B·Page 6
The University Daily Kansan
Fridav.March 5,1999
Big 12 Tournament
Buffs beat Cyclones in first-round game
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jaquay Walls scored 20 points, leading Colorado to its fifth straight win and a 69-16 victory against Iowa State yesterday in the Big 12 tournament.
With three seconds left, Walls dropped to the floor in pain when he appeared to get poked in the eye. He left the court under his own power and appeared to be OK.
Eighth-seeded Colorado (17-13), which split with Iowa State in the regular season, will meet regular season champion Texas in the second round on Friday. Only twice since 1973 have the Buffs beaten five straight conference opponents.
After falling behind by three at halftime, Iowa State (15-15) managed to get the margin down to one several times early in the second half, with Marcus Fizer and Stevie Johnson providing most of the offence.
But every time Iowa State made a
run, the Buffers responded. Johnson's free throw cut the lead to 55-52, then Jamahl Mosley sank a pair of free throws for Colorado for a 57-52 advantage. After another Johnson bucket, Mosley worked inside for a layup, drew a foul and sank the free throw for a 60-54 lead.
Richard Bachman / KANSAN
Kenny Price, who had 12 points for Colorado, made it 62-54 with a 12-foot jumper with 3:05 to go, and Colorado then pulled into a 14-point lead.
Fizer scored 21 points and Johnson had 20, combining to score all but 20 of Iowa State's points.
Mosley had 12 for Colorado.
'Cats advance to second round against Missouri in tournament
Walls gave the Buffs their biggest lead of the first half, 30-23, with a jumper at the 3:57 mark. Then Fizer, who'd been held to just six points, scored three straight buckets to make it 30-29. Will Smith's last second shot sent the Buffs into halftime with a 32-29 lead.
Iowa State's bench drew a technical foul in the early going.
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Manny Dies muscled his way to 19 points and Ayone May scored 15 as Kansas State defeated Texas A&M 87-76 yesterday in the first round of the Big 12 tournament.
Shanne Jones had 17 points and Clifton Cook had 15 for A&M (12-15). Cook had to be carried off the floor with a minute to play after apparently suffering an ankle injury in a scramble under the Kansas State
Cortez Groves had 14 points and Shawn Rhodes had 12 while teaming up with Dies for several easy inside baskets for the Wildcats (19-11). Josh Reid also had 12 for Kansas State.
basket.
The Wildcats advance to the second round today against second-seeded Missouri, which had a first-round bve.
Texas A&M shot 42 percent for the game against a Kansas State team that led the Big 12 by holding opponents to 37 percent from the floor this season. The Aggies had shot 48 percent when they beat Kansas State 79-74 Feb. 10.
Kansas State led 57-44 with 14:03 to play on a dunk by Dies, who shed Aggies center Joe White as the Wildcats passed the ball around the perimeter and Rhodes found Dies open.
A minute later, the Wildcats were
up 59-44 when they beat A&M down the court and Rhodes again found Dies open for an easy basket.
The Wildcats had taken a 49-40 lead on a 3-pointer from May with 16:27 to play and then Rhodes went to work after Dies made a free throw and Cook and Jones each made one.
Rhodes converted a three-point play to make it 53-42 and the two teams traded baskets before Rhodes hooked up with Dies on the two scores.
The Wildcats had finished the first half with an 8-2 run to lead 41-35. Dies had a basket and two free throws in the run over the last 1:34, and Groves hit four free throws as Kansas State finished the half in the bonus.
Texas Tech loses because of turnovers
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Texas Tech turned the ball over more times than it could shoot it in the first half, and the results were predictable.
Nebraska clogged up the Tech passing lanes to force 18 turnovers, 15 of them steals, in the first half on the way to a 69-50 victory over the Red Raiders in first-round game of the Big 12 tournament. Tech got off only 17 shots in the first half.
Venson Hamilton had five of the first-half steals and scored 15 points for the Cornhuskers (19-11).
Nebraska finished with 23 steals, easily breaking the tournament record of 13 set by Texas against Missouri on March 7, 1997, and setting a new school season record. Nebraska had 319 steals to set the record last year and now has made 322 this year.
Texas Tech (13-17) ended up with 26 turnovers, breaking the tournament record of 23 set by Texas A&M in 1997. The Red Raiders made only 19 field goals in the game.
The 'Huskers converted the Tech gifts to go on a 16-3 run in the first half and advance to the second round today against third-seeded Kansas. Kansas
had a first-round bye.
Cookie Belcher, the Big 12's leading thief at 3.1 per game, had three in the first half to move past Erick Strickland on the Nebraska all-time list.
Belcher finished with four steals and has 91in his career.
Hamilton had six points in the run that turned a 9-9 tie with 13:57 to play in the first half into a 25-12 Cornhuskers lead with 4:04 remaining.
The run included a spectacular dunk by Andy Markowski on a three-on-one break after the 'Huskers trapped Stan Bonewitz along the sideline and took the ball away.
Bonewit hit a 3-pointer with 3:46 left in the half to finally end the Huskers' blitz.
Tech played a second game without injured forward Cliff Owens, but his presence would not have mattered as the Red Raiders turned the ball over during their first two possessions of the second half and trailed 42-17 with 16:02 to play on a basket by Belcher.
Louis Truscott had 12 points. Larry Florence had 11 and Belcher finished with 10 for the Huskers. Rayford Young scored 10 points to lead Texas Tech.
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