—The Daily Collegian Monday, March 11, 1996
Cagers
Continued from Page 10.
time for a postseason that begins
Thursday with a first-round NCAA
Tournament game against
Arkansas. The victory also gave
them an unblemished, 14-0 home
record for the campaign and
wrapped up a shocking second
place finish in the conference.
"We were in a slump, and when
you're in a slump like that you real
ly hope to not keep it going into the
tournament," senior forward Glenn
Sekunda said. "We stopped it."
For the first time since beating
lowa 95-87 on Feb. 3, Penn State
(21-6, 12-6 Big Ten) hit better than
50 percent of its shots (53.7) and
scored more than 80 points. The
Lions rediscovered how to hit the
three, nailing six of 14 shots from
behind the arc.
And they got the balanced scor
ing so common the first half of the
season but so lacking recently.
With 21 points, a struggling Sekun
da stopped hitting the snooze bar
on his game and led four Lions in
double figures.
Last Saturday at Minnesota, they
came all the way back from 18
down only to come up short, 65-60.
And Wednesday, Wisconsin beat
the Lions 54-52 on a buzzer-beater
by Sean Daugherty.
"It was frustrating," point guard
Dan Earl said, "and we didn't quite
know the answers."
They found those solutions Sat
urday, with a 16-point win and the
kind of effort Dunn wanted to see
from his team in its recovery from
those late-season ills.
"This was a pretty good prescrip
tion," Dunn said of the 16-point win
Saturday. "It got us smiling again."
"After two losses on the road like
that in games you expect to win
emotions get pretty low and you're
looking bad," Sekunda said. "But
today we stepped it up, and this
team was more fired up before this
game than I've seen them all sea
son."
Despite the brimming motiva
tion, the Lions were relaxed and
"But today we stepped
it up, and this team
was more fired up
before this game than
I've seen them all
season."
Glenn Sekunda
Lion senior forward
had fun on the court for the first
time in weeks. They played with a
confidence offensively that belied
their inability to put the ball in the
basket over the last few games.
They bottled up the Buckeyes (10-
17, 3-15) on defense, holding them
to 42.6 percent from the floor.
It was a new outlook sparked the
day after the Wisconsin game.
Last Thursday, team leader Matt
Gaudio, along with Earl and senior
guard Donovan Williams, called a
players-only meeting just the
second of the season.
The assembled Lions realized
then what they had to do to get
back on track. They had to play
with some emotion, they had to
rededicate themselves in practice,
understanding they couldn't expect
to play poorly between games then
just turn it on when it mattered,
and they had to stop searching for
what was going awry.
"(The meeting) just set a tone for
our work ethic," Gaudio said.
"Instead of just trying to figure out
what was wrong we had to just go
out there (in practice), beat each
other up and do the little things.
Tonight, I think that showed. We
have to continue with that."
They have to if they expect to
contribute anything to March Mad
ness. They were far less than per
fect Saturday, with several blown
fast breaks and 18 turnovers. But it
was their best performance since
the lowa game, and it couldn't have
come at a better time.
Whoops
Continued from Page 10.
last, stepped off the bench and into
Lady Lion fan's hearts when she hit
two three-point jumpers in the first
half.
"I got my scholarship money
back in six points," Penn State
coach Rene Portland joked.
After her second trey, Penn State
had the largest lead of the game at
eight, then settled on 37-32 at half
time. The Lady Lions carried the
second half and had a five-point
advantage for the rest of the game.
"They play a lot of switching
defenses," Dunn said. "I think we
Wrestlers visit both
EAST LANSING, Mich. You
can't see it, touch or hear it,
yet yesterday it became the
biggest figure in the sports world.
It is the bubble.
Arkansas, for example, was a
bubble team that found its way into
the NCAA basketball tournament.
Minnesota, in the most popular
cliche of selection Sunday, had its
bubble burst.
The bubble was prominent at the
1996 Big Ten Wrestling Champi
onship yesterday as well. Aside
from being the crowning event of
the toughest wrestling conference
in the country, it is the qualifier for
the NCAA tournament.
The top six finishers at each
weight class earn automatic bids.
Then the 11 conference coaches
hold a brief meeting to select six
lucky wrestlers who receive wild
card bids.
Lower place winners can be
selected, but in essense, this
process leaves the seventh-place
finisher sweating it out from the
time they finish wrestling until
nearly an hour after the tourna
ment is complete.
That's where Penn State's John
Lange and Matt Hardy come in.
Both finished seventh, knowing
full well their fate rested in the
did a good job of putting the ball on
the floor, penetrating and getting
some good looks."
Two Boilers took advantage of
those looks. Purdue rallied behind
Lovelace's 12 and guard Stephanie
White's nine second half points to
close the gap to 62-60.
Purdue pulled no closer, as Lady
Lion Jamie Parsons, hit her only
jumper of the night with 4:12 left to
place the lead back at three. Center
Kim Calhoun hit from 15 feet next,
before a Potthoff layup made it 68-
61 with 2:08 remaining, setting up
Nicholson's two foul shots.
hands of the coaches of the Big
Ten.
"I guess I'm nervous," Lange
said before the decision came
down. "If this was my last match, it
will be a dissappointment. All sea
son, I wanted to go to nationals and
be an All-Amercian. I hope this
wasn't my last match."
Hardy was not nearly as animat
ed. He was disappointed in his fin
ish, and it showed on his face and
in his comments prior to the
announcement of the wild card
recipients.
"I'm not nervous. There's noth
ing I can do about it now," he said.
"I had my chance (Saturday)."
While it is true that there was
nothing Hardy could do, coach
John Fritz was prepared to speak
Wrestle
Continued from Page 10.
of the year along with Michigan
State coach Tom Minkel. "To do so
with the domination of the scoring
makes it all the more worthwhile."
One of the ones that got away
from the Hawkeyes was at 118
where Mike Mena was beaten by
hometown hero David Morgan in
the finals.
The 2-0 victory was the culmina
tion of a weekend in which he did
not surrender a point and was
named outstanding wrestler of the
tournament.
"All year it's been an inspiration
sides of dreaded bubble
on his behalf. At the post-tourna
ment meeting, coaches get a
chance to make a case for each of
their seventh-place finishers.
"We try to be objective about it,"
Fritz said. "But it's hard for me not
to stand up and fight for our guys
because we get so emotionally
attached."
This problem could easily be
fixed. The NCAA could appoint a
selection committee, like it has for
basketball. But with the current
system, Fritz had to walk the line
between objectivity and loyalty to
his wrestlers.
More than an hour before the
meeting, Fritz had prepared an out
line for the Matt Hardy sales pitch
he would give his colleagues.
Before suffering an injury at team
duals in late January, Hardy was
11-2, Fritz explained. He finished
the season 11-10, but had some
quality wins and losses to top foes.
Fritz's pitch for Lange would be
much simpler. Lange finished sev
enth in the toughest weight class in
the conference. The No. 1,3, 4,5, 6
and 12-ranked wrestlers in the
nation are from the Big Ten.
"I'm sure (Fritz) is going to go in
there and argue for me," Lange
said. "I hope a couple other coach
es who recruited me will remem
to wrestle in front of Michigan
State fans," Morgan said. "It was
nice to start off the tournament
like that for the fans."
The excitement of Morgan's win
carried over to the 190-pound
bracket where Spartan Brian Pick
lo won the championship. The
Michigan State 177-pounder, Erich
Harvey, was not so fortunate, los
ing to Northwestern's Rohan Gard
ner 9-8 in the finals.
In the heavyweight division,
Tony Vaughn of Purdue rode out
Golden Gopher Billy Pierce in dou
ble overtime to capture the crown.
ber me. There are no stupid coach
es in the Big Ten."
After the tournament, Fritz went
to the meeting, leaving Hardy and
Lange to wait in the bleachers.
Lange appeared restless, jawing
with his teammates. Hardy sat
expressionless next to John Hugh
es.
"He's nervous," John Hughes,
seated next to Hardy, said. "He's
just doesn't show it."
The meeting went smoothly,
Fritz said.
He got the chance to make his
case, then the coaches voted. No
heated words, no more politics, just
a simple vote.
Fritz emerged from the meeting
and made the long walk across the
gym floor to deliver the news.
Lange was in. Hardy was not.
Lange was careful not to cele
brate, keeping Hardy's dissapoint
ment in mind. "I feel relieved," he
said.
Hardy's expression did not
change. Fritz offered some words
of comfort, but Hardy merely
stared vacantly, a victim of the
heartless bubble.
Jonathan Bombulie is a senior
majoring in journalism and a Colle
gian assistant night sports editor.