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Sports
Bits
b Matt Cissne
The Collegian
DYNASTY: The Duke
University Blue Devils (3-0)
are once again ranked #1 in the
nation after defeating the
Michigan Wolverines 79-68
Saturday in a classic college
basketball matchup. The Blue
Devils followed up Saturday's
win with a 103-72 thrashing
of Northeastern on Monday
night. Duke is trying to win
its third consecutive NCAA
championship.
BEWARE: Here is a warning
to NBA teams: Stay out of the
garden! That's Madison Square
Garden, home of the New York
Knicks. The Knicks (11-6, first
place in the Atlantic division)
are 9.0 at home after defeating
the Seattle Supersonics 100.88
Tuesday night behind Patrick
Ewing's. 33 points and 16
rebounds.
MY PICK: Well last week I
finally got one right for a
change, and now I am aiming
for Iwo a row. Thit weak
the WashingtOn
beat the Dallas Cowboys 28-17
in the RFK stadium where the
'skins are 5-1 this season.
Washigton's offensive line is
finally healthy and they have
played their best games of the
season the past weeks. Two
weeks ago, they defeated
Phoenix 41-3 and last week
they travelled to New York and
defeated the Giants 28-10. (Oh,
by the way, the Redskins are
my favorite team, even thougir
I am from Philly.)
BIG MONEY: Four major
league baseball all-stars signed
big contracts this week. Barry
Bonds signed a six year
contract with the San Francisco
Giants that guarantees him
$43.75 million. Pitcher David
Cone signed a three, year, $lB
million contract with the
Kansas City Royals, and
pitcher Dave Stewart inked a
two year, $8.5 million deal
with the Toronto Blue Jays.
Not to be outdone, outfielder
Ken Griffey Jr. agreed to a four
~.year contract for $24 million.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS: I
wish everyone a happy holiday
season and good luck on your
finals. I would like to thank
the entire Collegian staff for a
great semester ,and I especially
would like to thank Keith
McFall and Alicia Hartman for
their help in the sports section.
DACE HAPPY 21st
Athlete of the Week
Guard guides Lions
Don Plyler leads the Lions
to Hamot Classic Title
Keith McFall
The Collegian
The Athlete of the Week for
this week is Don Plyler, a
standout point guard on the
Penn State Behrend's men's
basketball team. He is a fifth
semester Behrend
communication major from
Meadville, PA.
He attended Maplewood High
School where he played three
years of varsity basketball. Don
was recruited by former Lion's
coach Mike Zimmerman prior
to his freshman year here.
This past weekend with the
Hamot Classic invitational Don
netted 44 points in two games.
In the first game on Friday, he
had 16 points against Hilbert
College.
The next night Don netted 28
points against Defiance College
to lead the Lions to the
tournament win. Don was 10-17
from three point range and 16-
25 overall.
He added three assists and six
rebounds, and had just five
turnovers in the two games.
"Don has been struggling a
little lately and I'm happy for
him that he could put out two
Julie CoughenourlThe Collegian
Leapin Lizards: Junior guard John Hawthorne
goes up strong during a game against Defiance
College.
Sports
performances like that at
home," said Coach Fred
Paulsen
Don has set a couple of goals
for himself for the season and he
hopes he attains them.
The first is to be a little more
consistent each game in his
shooting. "I didn't want to
score five points one game and
25 the next. I want to hit
somewhere in the middle,"said
Don.
He is also concentrating on
his defensive play this year.
"Good defense creates a good
offense, so I'm always working
on improving . that," he said.
Don has also set some team
goals he hopes they can achieve
this year. The main goal is to
get back to The East Coast
Athletic Conference (ECAC)
finals and win.
He also wants the team to
win ganies they know they
should win. "We lost a few
games last year that we should
have won because of blown
leads in the second half," he
said.
Another goal is for the team
to play together consistently.
"We will face a lot bigger
teams than we are this year, and
Julie CoughenouriThe Collegian
Hot Shot: Junior pointguard Don Plyler takes a
shot during the Hamot Classic.
the key to winning those games
is working together," he said.
Besides playing basketball,
Don participates in intramural
softball and volleyball in the
off-season. In the summer he
works for Channel Lock Tools
Inc. near his home and he also
plays in a summer softball
Lions corral
title
Joe Mottillo
The Collegian
Like packs of outlaws,
Methodist, Defiance and Hilbert
rode into Behrend to have a little
shoot-out with the sheriff, the
Lions.
The shoot-out was called the
Hamot Sports Medicine
Basketball Classic. The place
wasn't the OK Corral, but Erie
Hall. In the end, only one team
was left standing.
On a cold Friday night, the
Defiance College Yellow
Jackets came out with all guns
loaded against a winless
Methodist team. Methodist
wasn't as quick out of the draw
as the Jackets, and they fell 102-
63.
The second game featured the
Penn State-Behrend Lions in
their 1992-93 home debut
against the (3-2) Hilbert Hawks.
Behrend came in with a 1-3
mark and a chance to repeat as
Classic champions.
Thursday, December 10, 1992
league
Don plans on finishing his
career at Behrend and graduating
in the spring of 1994. After
graduation, he is undecided on
whether he will attend graduate
school or try to get a job.
Hilbert game out firing away
as they took an early lead on the
Lions. The Lions clawed their
way back to tie the game at 34-
34. They had a ton of
momentum going into the
second half after they overcame
the early deficit.
The Lions pulled out the big
guns in the second half as they
shot 73% to shoot down the
soaring Hawks 78-59.
Stephen Respress, Don Plyler
and Byron Thorne led the Lions
in scoring with 20,16, and 18
points respectively. Thorne
added 8 assists while Plyler
canned 4 out of 7 from three.
point land.
The Lions moved on to play a
Defiance team that wa s
averaging over 90 points in
their 4-0 start.
The consolation game pitted.
Methodist against Hilbert.
Hilbert pulled down third place
in the tourney as they won 80-
66. Richard Ernestine of
See LIONS se ll