The Michigan Daily-Thursday, March 16, 1978-Page 11
MR
THE SPORTING VIEWS
im - if
F
Rare excitement . ..
.. *on field Saturday
By JAMIE TURNER
4.
t
In most years, the NCAA Track and Field Championships held in Detroit
last weekend would have begun pulling up the stakes and congratulating
itself around 3:50 on Saturday afternoon. That's when the track portion of
the schedule ends, and everybody knows that Kenyans don't high jump or
pole vault, the only two events left, anyway.
The crowd had been treated to one of the more exciting Championships,
with plenty of close contests and upsets. Washington State, which had been
one of the pre-meet favorites to capture the team title, was upset twice when
Cougar athletes were beaten by Irishmen John Treacy and Gerald Deegan
in'the three and two mile runs.
I
Too little,
too late
DETROIT'S TITANS learned
the lesson of playing quality com-
petition as a prelude to tour-
nament play as they lost their;
fourth game of the season to any
type of competition. The com-
petition yesterday was North
Carolina State, who U of D lost to
84-77 in the NIT tourney as they
completed their season with a 25-N
4 mark.
John Long, who will have his
jersey retired after the season,
here scraps with the Wolfpack's
Tony Warren for a loose ball.
Long did not shoot well for the
Titans but the difference in the
game was the Wolfpack's almost
2-1 rebounding advantage.
AP Photo
SPOR TS OF THE DAILY:
Gervin ices Pistons
SCORES
NBA
San Antonio 135, Detroit 106
Indiana 111, Buffalo 106
Philadelphia 113, Los Angeles 93
NHL
Philadelphia 2, N.Y. Rangers 2 (tie)
Toronto 5, Washington 2
Cleveland 2, Colora'do 2 (tie)
NIT College Basketball
Texas 67, Nebraska 48
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Michigan had acquitted itself well, grabbing a sixth place tie with
Auburn and Maryland in what was the Wolverines finest national perfor-
mance. James Grace and Jim Stokes had grabbed seconds in the 440 and the
pole vault, while Bill Donakowski was fourth in the two mile.
Usually the crowd leaves shortly after the track events. The high jump
and the vault are events that have been going on all afternoon, and who
knows or cares who the contestants are?
Well, they didn't leave Saturday, and the performers made themselves
well known.
Jumpy jumper
The stage had been cleared for world record holders Mike Tully and
Franklin Jacobs to attempt meet records in both the vault and the jump,
respectively. Neither one had any doubts that he would be successful.
"I felt really positive today," said the personable Jacobs, who says he
needs to feel both positive and quite nervous before he's comfortable. "I was
very confident that I'd jump well, and when I think that, I do."
"I came here for 18-/2 (the meet record in the vault)," added Tully.
"I've been thinking of (meet record holder Earl) Bell for quite a while."
Indeed, the only question when the two entered the meet was whether or
not there would be any records set. Both Tully and Jacobs were head and
shoulders above (no small feat for the 5-8 Jacobs) the rest of the field. This,
was shown when Jacobs declined his first jump until the bar reached 7-3,
only 1/4 inch off the meet standard held by Olympic medalist Greg Joy.
So the bar was set at 7-5 in the high jump and 18-1/2 in the pole vault. In a
stretch of 90 seconds both were cleared and the crowd began looking for
bigger and better things.
Again there was no doubt in Tully's mind. "I came here for 18-2, but the
second thing was the world record," he said. "This was the first meet that I
have ever thought of breaking the record ahead of time. Usually you have to
take it as it comes."
So the bar moved up to 18-51/4 while Tully psyched himself on the run-
way. Meanwhile, there was a different kind of psyche job going on.
No sooner had Jacobs bounced off the mats after his meet record than
the Fairleigh Dickinson sophomore was waiving off any more jumps. Claiming
that the adrenalin needed for a world record was lacking, he started for the
passageway leading to the athletes' quarters. It was there that his mind was
changed for him.
"He looked real strong and had good concentration over the bar," said
Dickinson coach Walt Marusyn, "I felt Franklin had an obligation to the
people that had come to the meet, and I told him that."
Traped into try
"I told him that there were 10 to 12 thousand people here and he's one of
the highlights of the meet," continued Marusyn, "and besides, I thought he
would do it."
"They also told me they wouldn't let me out unless I tried," Jacobs
added.
So the high jump bar went up to 7-8, a height that would break Jacobs'
own record set only two months before. Both Tully and Jacobs were now
trying to better their own records, but only one was really confident. Only
one would be successful.
While Jacobs failed at 7-8, Tully cleared his height on the first try. The
bar bounced a couple of inches but came to rest back on the supports with the
packed house at Cobo roaring their appreciation.
"I've had a lot of adversity in my career," the Californian remarked, "I
deserved a little bit of luck. I had the height and I probably would've done it
on the next two jumps."
"I had lost my emotion," said Jacobs, "I need the competition, it helps
me keep going."1
Ladies and gentlemen, presented for your perusal is a case of mind over
matter.. . the pole vaulter who had it, and the high jumper who didn't.
By DAVE RENBARGER
AND GARY LEVY
DETROIT - Right in their own gym,
right in front of their own fans, right
when they need a few victories the
most, the Detroit Pistons crashed to
record depths last night, falling to the
San Antonio Spurs, 135-106.
There are usually plenty of adjectives
used to describe such a non-contest. But
this was even worse. The lackadaisical,
sloppy play of the hometowners almost
defied description.
"We got our fannies beat tonight,
beat bad," said Piston coach Bob Kauf-
fman. "We'll have to resurrect our
game now." The Pistons are now an
even 22-22 under Kauffman's direction.
"WE GOT OUR fannies beat tonight,
beat bad," said Piston coach Bob Kauf-
fman. "We'll have to resurrect our
game now." The pistons are now an
even 22-22 under Kauffman's direction.
Defense around the Detroit basket
was virtually nonexistent from the
start, as the Pistons allowed the Central
Division-leading Spurs the season high
total of 39 first quarter points. The for-
mer EMU star George Gervin tallied 19
by himself, as the NBA's second
leading scorer was virtually unstop-
pable. Gervin, led all scorers on the
nightwith 28 points in just 30 minutes.
"I love to play at Cobo," said Gervin.
lI grew up here, and Twanted to get the
job done right."
WITH THE PISTONS trailing by
eleven after one period the game ,was
over for all practical purposes. But the
Detroiters were far from finished -
they could do plenty worse.
Take the third quarter, for instance.
Behind 67-52, it was obviously high time
for a comeback. So the Pistons went out
and hit only 7 of 20 third quarter shots,
mustering a sickly total of 14 points.
Meanwhile, the Spurs' power forward
Larry Kenon was single handedly
burying the Pistons with 19 third quar-
ter points to give the Texans a 102-66
bulge when it was over. Kenon ended up
with 25 points.
"TONIGHT NOBODY could get it
going," said Pistons' M. L. Carr. We
were pretty lackadaisical on both ends
of the floor."
The final twelve minutes was strictly
razzle-dazzle, one-on-one basketball, as
the Spurs continued to pour it on. San
Antonio coach Doug Moe showed the
mercy in his heart all evening long,
sticking everyone except the trainer in-
to the game, and they all scored.
With 4:26 left a basket by reserve
guard James Silas gave the Spurs an
incredible 43-point margin, 122-79,
before the Pistons made things at least
half way respectable.
The defeat was not the worst of the
year - a 116-83 decision in Los Angeles
gets that distinction. But it was cer-
tainly the most miserable performance
at Cobo.
The Pistons now have 14 games
remaining in their backward drive to
the playoffs. Even Detroit captain Bob
Lanier seems to be giving up. After
scoring 25 points a disgusted Lanier
said, "Maybe it (the season) should end
right now."
Brainy bouncers
CHICAGO - Indiana's Wayne Rad-
ford was the leading vote receiver on
the All-Big Ten Academic basketball
team selected by writers and broad-
casters and announced yesterday by
Commissioner Wayne Duke.
Radford was named on 119 of the 124
ballots cast. Big Ten champion
Michigan State placed Terry Donnelly
on the team which also included Dave
Baxter of Michigan, Neil Bresnahan of
Illinois, Mike Campbell of North-
western and Bill Pearson of Wisconsin.
BAXTER WAS SECOND with 104
votes, Bresnahan had 67 and Donnelly
64. Campbell and Pearson tied for the
fifth spot with 61 votes each.
Radford has a 3.18 average in
business administration, Donnelly a 3.0
in education, Baxter 3.1 in physical
education, Bresnahan a 4.0 on Illinois'
5.0 scale, Campbell a 3.79 in pre-law
and Pearson a 3.18 in education. -AP
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S EAREM E N 9lAIN
4I
Frazier
makes
comeback
PHILADELPHIA - Former heavy-
weight champion Joe Frazier has
kissed off a fight with one South African
boxer and signed to fight another.
Last week, it was announced that
Frazier would fight Gerrie Coetzee
April 15 in South Africa, but a provin-
cial board failed to come to an
agreement on the bout and on Tuesday
Smokin' Joe signed to fight Ilie Knoetze
in Las Vegas on April 29.
Knoetze owns a knockout victory over
Frazier stablemate Duane Bobick.
The signing to meet Knoetze left
Frazier, 34, in a mood to talk about
meeting new heavyweight champion
Leon Spinks.
"It doesn't matter whether it's with
Clay, just as long as we fight the cham-
piaon," he said in a reference to
Muhammad Ali, the longtime
heavyweight champion dethroned by
Spinks. Frazier retired after a 1976
defeat at the hands of George Foreman.
-AP
CTL NG 1Sn .C
POETRY READING
with CONSTANCE ENNIS,
JANE SIEGEL and EUGENE HAUN
reading fraom their work
Thursday, March 16-7:30 p.m.
at GUILD HOUSE
Refreshments 802 Monroe (corner of Oakland)
bNGHTB1.
8TAIZY,
STAIR Y
14;c
Stanley Kubrick's 2001 A SPACE
ODYSSEY '--9FM.-1A.M 4 A.
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