MONDAY, MARCH 24, 2003
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5B
Cowboy wrestlers claim NCAA title; Sooners earn third
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Johnny Thompson ended his college wrestling career with a meager 2-2 career record against Minnesota's Ryan Lewis.
In NCAA title matches, however, Thompson owns the rivalry, and his latest victory helped Oklahoma State win its 31st national team championship Saturday.
Thompson beat Lewis in the 133-pound final for the second straight year, and teammate Jake Rosholt won the 184-pound title as the Cowboys won their first championship since 1994 and extended their NCAA record for overall titles. Iowa is a distant second with 20.
Minnesota, the two-time defending champion, finished second, 39 points behind the Cowboys. Oklahoma was third and Lehigh finished fourth.
"This is great for our program." Cowboys coach John Smith said. "The kids really needed this."
"You're disappointed. You don't come here to place second," Minnesota coach J Robinson said. "You start accepting second, there's something wrong. At one time, I would look at second as great. After you've won a couple of times, it's different."
Thompson, a junior who had been 0-2 against Lewis in regular-season matches, scored a third-period takedown against his senior rival and held on for a 5-3 decision.
"I feel like I had a little more to prove, because he beat me last," Thompson said. "I wanted a little bit of revenge, and what better place than the national championship match?"
Rosholt scored five takedowns in a 13-5 decision over Missouri's Scott Barker to win the 184-pound title.
Oklahoma State clinched its championship even before the finals began, padding its lead over the Gophers to 331/2 points with a strong showing in Saturday morning's consolation rounds.
"You win 10 out of 12 matches on Saturday, you win national titles," Smith said. "That's the day to make it count."
The Cowboys got third-place finishes from 197-pound Muhammed Lawal and 174-pound Chris Pendelton.
"It was a big relief knowing we had already captured the team title," Thompson said. "It wasn't resting on my shoulders. That took the pressure off."
Of the six 2002 champions at this year's meet, Thompson was the only one to repeat.
Minnesota's Jared Lawrence, the defending champ at 149 pounds, lost 10-8 in his championship rematch with Arizona State's Eric Larkin. The other four returning champions were eliminated earlier.
Damion Hahn was the only one of Minnesota's three finalists to win, scoring a 2-point take-down with 3 seconds left for a 5-4 decision over top-seeded Jon Trenge of Lehigh.
"When there's time on the board, there's still time to wrestle," said Hahn, who went down 4-3 when he gave up an uncontested escape midway through the third period. "I guess I wanted to make it dramatic."
Two wrestlers won titles for Oklahoma: Top-seeded freshman Teyon Ware and Robbie Waller.
Kansas nearly exits NCAA Tournament in Utah State match
By Doyle Murphy
dmurphy@kansan.com
Kansan senior sportswriter
Tight victory shakes up Jayhawks
OKLAHOMA CITY — Kansas junior forward Jeff Graves sports a mass of black hair right now, but a few more close calls — like Thursday's 64-61 victory against Utah State
— could leave him looking more like his silver-haired coach, Roy Williams.
"I was starting to get gray hair right there," Graves said after the game. "We can't do that anymore. We gotta keep teams down."
The West Regional, which contains names like Arizona, Duke and Illinois, was bound to cause a few sleepless nights for any team playing in it, but the 15th-seeded Aggies (24-9, 12-6 Big West Conference) proved the No. 2 Jayhawks (26-7 overall, 14-2 Big 12 Conference) aren't likely to get any easy victories.
In the first half, Utah State executed a two-three match-up zone defense to perfection, holding Kansas to just five offensive rebounds and 9 second-chance points. The Utah State defense, paired with the inside presence of senior forward Desmond Penigar, led the Aggies on a 13-4 run, slicing a one-time 13-point lead to 4 by halftime.
It was more of the same from Utah State after the intermission, and the results were equally impressive.
After burning the Jayhawks for 10 points in the first 10 min.
"Somebody's got to shoot. I'm not going to just sit there and watch the game slip out of our hands."
Keith Langford sophomore guard
utes, Penigar continued to mystify Kansas in the second half. Deceptively nimble for a 6-foot-7 245-pounder, Penigar hurt the Jayhawks inside and out. He grabbed nine rebounds and scored 25 points, including two of five three-pointers.
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
"He didn't surprise me," Kansas senior forward Nick Collison told reporters. "I knew he was good from watching the tape. He's as good as anybody in our league."
Collison wasn't too bad, either. He scored his 2,000th career point and passed Texas Tech's Bernard King for the all-time leading scorer in the Big 12 on his way to 18 points and seven rebounds.
Kansas needed almost every one of them. Collison was part of a collective effort that saved Kansas from a first-round exit from the NCAA Tournament.
Keith Langford, sophomore guard, negotiates his way to the basket against the defense of Ronnie Ross, Utah State senior guard. The Jayhawks beat the Utah State Aggies 64-61 Thursday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Lanford led the team's scoring with 22 points.
Sophomore guard Keith Langford made sure the Jayhawks never lost the lead, scoring a team-high 22 points, 12 in the second half. His layup and ensuing free throw with 3:28 to play stretched a two-point Kansas lead to 58-53, ending a 7-4 Utah State run.
Despite Langford's efforts, the Aggies weren't through yet. With less than a minute to play.
"Somebody's got to shoot," Langford said. "I'm not going to just sit there and watch the game slip out of our hands."
Penigar drilled a three-pointer, pulling Utah State to within 3 points. When Aggie junior forward Cardell Butler picked off a pass from Kansas sophomore guard Aaron Miles and raced the length of the floor, it seemed Utah State would cut the lead to one point.
Miles, however, followed Butler and poked the ball out of bounds at the 12-second mark. An Aggie timeout, two missed
three-pointers and 12 long seconds later, the Jayhawks finally could relax.
"If anything else," Graves said, "it was a long couple of seconds."
Kansas moved on to play No. 10 Arizona State, an 84-71 winner against 7th-seeded Memphis, in the second round at 7:10 Saturday night.
— Edited by Lindsay Hanson
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