BEACON SPORTS
Behrend men get set for their first ever televised game this week
By Matt Burneisen
staff writer
mrhSINI I 0 pmtedu
The Behrend men's basketball team is playing
their first televised game of the season this
week. On Friday Jan. 27, they will take on rival
Frostburg State at the Junker Center. Image
sports will be broadcasting the game live at 5:45
p.m., with coverage beginning with the women's
coaches' commentary. The Men's game will
begin at 8 p.m. on channel 12 for Adelphia sub-
scribers and on channel 20 for Time
Warner Cable.
Hot off a 75-44 win over Hilbert at
home on Tuesday night, the Blue and
White should be ready to take on the
Bobcats. Kevin Buczynski led the
team with 22 points and 8 rebounds.
while Senior Justin Jennings had a
season high 4 steals in the match up;
he is a 5-10 Guard in his senior year.
Freshman Tom Newman and
Sophomore Ben Gasbbarre, averaging
4.0 and 3.9 points per game respec
tively, will also start. J.J. Ferguson
added 15.6 points per game averaging
65% and is a 6-4 senior from Clarion Limestone
After the weekend of play, Penn State Erie
remains in second place behind Lake Erie
Before Kobe Bryant's 81 point performance, Wilt Chamberlain
owned or had a share of the top four individual points per game
record. His performances of 100, 78, 73 and 73 were the top four
until Kobe. Before Sunday, what player shared the fourth spot on
the list of most points in a game with 73?
Last Week's answer: Rick Nash (answered by Dan Thiessen)
The answer will be posted in next week's Beacon issue. Email
your answers to cslsoos@psu.edu. The first person to answer
correctly will have their name printed next week.
Good Luck!
HOUSING AND FOOD SERVICES
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
NAME:
SPORT:
CLASS:
DATE:
Staci Banaszek (Erie/Harborcreek) has been named the Housing
and Food Service Athlete of the Week.
The senior led the Blue and White with a strong showing at the
Slippery Rock Invitational. Banaszek set a new Behrend record
in the women's high jump with a jump of 5'2". She also placed
third in both the long jump and triple jump with jumps of 16'8"
and 35' 10.5" respectively.
The Behrend Lions next meet is Saturday, January 28 at Case
Western Reserve at 12:00 p.m.
Housing and Food Services Athlete of the Week is selected by
the Sports Information Staff.
After only half of the
season there is still a
lot of basketball to be
played, but the Penn
State Erie team cur
rently ranked 2nd is in
good position.
Sports Trivia 101
Staci Banaszek
Women's Track and Field
Senior
January 23, 2006
College. However, they are only one game
behind Lake Erie. With a two game winning
streak, they should continue winning into the
weekend. Frostburg State Senior Dan Ryley was
a Division 111 leader in his last game with 9.3
rebounds and helped lead his tear to a 107-83
win in their last game. A strong teammate
Marcus Mclntyre matched Ryley also recording
a double-double in that game.
Following the Frostburg game on Friday,
Penn State Erie will take on the Pitt-Greensburg
Bobcats at 6 p.m. in the Junker Center. The last
Waajid led the game
with I I rebounds and contributed greatly to the
Bobcat victory.
Next Tuesday night, Behrend
time they met in
Greensburg, Penn
State Erie lost in a
close 68-65 game.
Daniel Waajid
recorded 12
rebounds in that
game, leading his
team. More recent
ly, Duke Cooper led
the Bobcats with 22
points and six
assists in their last
Daniel
victory
will host
LaFuria's power playoff picks
By ChristopherLaFuria
Favorite Sports Editor Underdog
cslsoos@psu.edu
Points
4 bars .4.
This Week's Hits and Misses
Hits:
- Kobe Bryant (Guard Los Angeles Lakers): What else can
be said about Bryant's 81-point performance this week? It
seems as if Los Angeles has found its new scoring savior.
Move over Wilt. The only question that remains is whether
or not Bryant can lead the seventh-placed Lakers to the
playoffs.
- Marcos Baghdatis (tennis): The unseeded Baghdatis has
extended his unpredictable run at this year's Australian
Open. After defeating number four-seeded David
Nalbandian 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, Baghdatis, who is ranked
54 in the world, will play either Nicolas Keifer or number
one ranked Roger Federer in the finals.
- Top 25 Killers (NCAA men's basketball): South Carolina
over number 4 Florida, Michigan over number 12 Michigan
State, Marshall over number 13 West Virginia, and Seton
Hall over number 14 N.C. State. Weird Wednesday!
- Shaun Alexander (RB Seattle Seahawks): Alexander car
ried the ball 34 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns
against the Carolina Panthers en route to victory and a spot
in Super Bowl XL.
- Ben Roethlisberger (QB Pittsburgh Steelers): Cl Capitan
led the Steelers by completing 72 percent of his passes. Big
Ben went 21-29 with 275 yards, two touchdowns and no
interceptions to lead his Steelers to face the aforementioned
Alexander in Super Bowl XL.
Have a Hit or Miss for the week? Email your
ideas to cslsoos@psu.edu to have them posted
NFL involved in referee controversy
By Danielle Brown
staff writer
NFL playoffs are the most exciting
time of the year for many sports fans all
over the United States. Millions of
people are tuned in, watching in antici
pation as their teams move closer and
closer toward their ultimate goal: the
Super Bowl. This year it was not just
the other team that most of the players
had to worry about. They also had to
be concerned about the referees and
whether or not they would make the
right calls. This playoff season was by
far one of the worst when it came to
referees making game changing deci-
One of the most memorable of the
horrible calls made by the referees took
place during the game in Indianapolis
when the number one seed, the Colts,
played the sixth seed, the Pittsburgh
Steelers. When the Steelers were on
defense, Colts quarterback Peyton
Manning threw an interception to safe
ty Troy Palomalu. Palomalu clearly
had possession of the football, and both
of his knees hit the ground. When he
got up off the turf and began running,
he accidentally kicked the ball out of
his own hands. Palomalu quickly fell
on the ball to recover his own fumble.
Medaille for their final regular season game of
the season. In the most recent game between
Penn State Erie and Medaille, Penn State posted
a 69-29 victory. J.J. Ferguson scored 19 points,
and Kevin Buczynski scored 10 points. The 6-7
sophomore also led the team with nine
rebounds, eight of them on defense, and two
blocked shots. Medaille is a strong team, and
like all teams in the Allegheny Mountain
Collegiate Conference is respected by head
Coach Dave Niland.
After only half of the season, there is still a lot
of basketball to be played, but the Penn State
Erie team, currently ranked 2nd, is in good posi
tion. Last year's AMCC champions, the Lions
have a good chance again this year. Medaille
College's athlete of the week, Bill Gersits, will
try to stop that. Averaging 8.3 points and 5.3
rebounds, he hopes to lead the Mavericks to a
win. Medaille College is only 2-7 in the confer
ence so far this season, but they look like they
have the talent to turn it around.
Erie local and Collegiate Academy graduate
James McNiel is a 6-4 sophomore forward who
is his team's high scorer. He led his team in scor
ing in 11 of the games this season. He also
scored 30 or more points in a game on three
occasions. Medaille has the potential to be a
strong team and a tough opponent for the Lions.
dnbsoo3@psu.edu
Freshman guard Tom Newman shoots over a defender in last
game. Newman helps the Lions with four points per game
Misses:
- Isiah Thomas (President New York Knicks): Thomas was
accused of "demeaning and repulsive behavior" towards
former senior vice president of marketing and business
operations Anucha Browne Sanders. Thomas not only
denies the allegation but also reacted in fury by saying, "I
will not allow her or anybody, man or woman, to use me as
a pawn for their financial gain."
- Rob Babcock (GM Toronto Raptors): After the Raptors'
14-29 start, president and CEO Richard Peddie uses
Babcock as a scapegoat. Peddie said, "We recognize Rob's
efforts to clear cap space and bring in young talent, but it's
time to bring in someone with proven experience as an NBA
general manager to take us to the next level," Peddie said.
- Greg Ostertag (Center Utah Jazz): After failing to attend
Thursday morning, the Jazz suspended Ostertag indefinite
ly. Sources claim that Ostertag was irritated by playing less
than ten minutes in the Jazz's 133-94 loss to the Seattle
Super Sonics.
- Sherrie Miller Daly: The 30 year-old wife of profession
al golfer John Daly received five months house arrest for her
involvement in a drug ring and illegal gambling. In
November of 2004, Daly was charged with conspiracy to
structure a transaction to evade the reporting requirement.
- Denny Neagle (former Pitcher Colorado Rockies): Neagle
was sentenced to 40 hours of community service after elud
ing a six-month sentence for patronizing a prostitute.
According to the woman, Neagle paid $4O to engage in sex
ual acts.
The call by the referees immediately
following the play stated that Palomalu
intercepted the ball, fumbled it and
then recovered the fumble, which gave
possession of the football to the
Steelers. The coach
oflndianapolis, Tony Dungy, chal
lenged the play, and with total disbelief
by millions of people, the call was
reversed, and the Colts got the ball
back. Since this call made by the refer
ees was so observably wrong, the
National Football League made a for
mal apology and admitted their mis
take.
There was also a controversial call
made by the referees in the game
played by the Denver Broncos and the
New England Patriots. Tom Brady, the
quarterback for the Patriots, threw an
interception to Champ Bailey late in
the third quarter of the football game.
Bailey ran it back 100 yards and was
knocked out of bounds by Ben Watson
just inside the one-yard line. Bill
Belichick, New England's head coach,
challenged this play because he thought
that the ball was knocked out of bounds
in the end zone, which would result in
a touchback, giving the Patriots posses
sion of the football. The call on the
field was not reversed, so the Broncos
got the ball back inside the one yard
line, which allowed them to score
The Behrend Beacon I
Friday, January 27, 2006
Jerem Komek/ THE. BE}IREND BEACON
another touchdown making the score
17-6.
These two crucial calls were some of
the bigger game changing decisions by
the referees in the 2005-06 NFL play
offs. There were also some other
instances where calls by the referees
were visibly wrong. On many occa
sions there was noticeable pass inter
ference that was not called. One exam
ple was in the Steelers-Colts game
when Ben Roethlisberger threw the ball
to Antwaan Randle El to get the
Steelers into field goal range. Nick
Sharper, a defensive player for the
Colts, tackled Randle El before the
football was anywhere near him, but
nothing was called. This play almost
certainly caused the Steelers to put
more points on the scoreboard, but
Pittsburgh lost possession of the ball,
and the Colts answered with a field
goal on their next drive.
To much disbelief, the referees in this
year's playoff games did not perform
with the same quality as they have in
the past. This makes many people
wonder if this problem will continue
into the upcoming seasons.
Hopefully this predicament
will be solved, and football can once
again be a competition between two
teams and not the referees.