The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 51

(I I Sports ISU women's basketball falls to Indiana State Cubs' Wood ready for sophomore season Illinois State men's track takes title Outdoors column F2 F5 F6 F9 Sunday, February 21, 1999 3 Swans vi Illinois Wesleyan senior Andy Boyden went in for the layup against Carthage's Jim Oboikowitch Saturday night at Shirk Center. Boyden and the Titans went on to take the win. mm i'1 v- 1 Williams, Redbirds finish home slate by sweeping Purple Aces By BRYAN BLOODWORTH Pantagraph sports editor Illinois State's basketball team rendered Evansville defenseless Saturday at Redbird Arena to earn a 79-68 Missouri Valley Conference victory before 8,723 people. Freshman point guard Victor Williams was the catalyst as he scored a team-high 18 points and EVANSVILLE 68 grabbed a career- jy yg high eight rebounds. 1 ft fti The PantagraphMAUREEN O'CONNOR The 5-foot-10 Williams scored 15 of his points from Moore, Southwest 3-point territory Missouri State roll as he Stroked in 5- nast InHiana of-6 attempts, State including four straight in the Page F10 I -V.

Streaking IWU tips Carthage By RANDY REINHARDT Pantagraph staff No buts about it, Illinois Wesleyan is picking up speed in its dramatic pursuit of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin basketball championship. Actually, there were three butts about Shirk Center Saturday Butt, sorry, but the trio of male streakers who sprinted diagonally across the CARTHAGE 63 court late in the second half were IWU 74 making pretty good time, too. Distractions aside, the Titans' hard-fought 74-63 victory over Carthage before a standing-room-only crowd of 2,800 left Wesleyan coach Dennie Bridges much more impressed with one aching back than three bare back sides. "Sometimes there are behind the scenes things you don't know about a ballgame that really jump out at a coach," Bridges said. "At the half, Andy (Boyden) told me the pain in his back was so bad he felt like throwing up.

I said to him 'will you try it, because I think we need you to beat That puts a kid in a helluva spot. Andy played a great second half." Boyden's gutty effort and typically stellar performances from guards Nathan Hubbard and Korey Coon extended the Titans' winning streak to six and gave Bridges his 400th career CCIW victory At 15-8 overall, Wesleyan is 8-4 and tied with Elmhurst for second in the CCIW. With two games remaining, Wheaton clings to first at 9-3. "It's unbelievably rewarding to be experiencing this turnaround," said Bridges, who thinks his team will qualify for a sixth straight NCAA Division III See IWU, Page F3 -i- Ik 1 'i a. a J- first half to propel the Redbirds.

"We didn't guard anybody and Williams just killed us," said Evansville coach Jim Crews, whose team was looking to clinch the Valley's regular-season championship with a victory. The Purple Aces, who already own a share of the title, lost to ISU for the ninth time in a row. Their season record dropped to 20-8 and their Valley mark to 12-5. ISU won despite a 34-point effort from Evansville's Marcus Wilson, who set a Redbird Arena record by making 13 free throws without a miss. His total points figure was three shy of the arena record.

The Redbirds' triumph moved their overall record to 15-13 and their league ledger to 7-10. It also assured the Redbirds of finishing with at least a .500 record for the seventh straight year and 27th time in 29 years at the Division I level. "Vic sparked our emotion and started everything we needed in the first half," said ISU's LeRoy Watkins, who shared game-high rebounding honors with Williams. "His emotion seemed to filter down through everybody. Once he got us started in the right direction everybody else picked it up a notch." Williams was joined in double figure scoring by Ryan Crowley with 15 points (13 in the second half) and Tarise Bryson with 11.

"We talked about rebounding before the game and I told LeRoy and Sean (Riley) that we really needed them to rebound," said Stallings, whose team owned a 33-22 edge on the boards including a 14-4 margin at the offensive end. "I told Crowley it would be OK if he got a few. I told Vic if he would just get See ISU, Page F10 I 7 )k fV It High holds off Pontiac The PantagraphMAUREEN O'CONNOR Illinois State guard Tarise Bryson (left) fought for a rebound with Evansville's Kwame James during the Redbirds' victory Saturday at Redbird Arena. By RANDY KINDRED Pantagraph staff Like a storm brewing on the horizon, University High School's basketball team knew it was coming. The question was not if, but when Pontiac would stage a rally in Saturday night's Corn Matchups hold key to tournament success for ISU 54 63 PONTIAC UHIGH Belt Conference showdown at the High Gym.

The first wave came late in the third quarter, when the Indians cut a 12-point deficit to two. A Seth Hubbard basket allowed High to push the lead to 38-34 entering the final period. The second surge came midway Lefty's Corner Bryan Bloodworth Sports Editor High's Hubbard named third team Associated Press Class A All-State through the fourth quarter, when a seven-point High lead evaporated to 46-45. But again, a Hubbard basket and ensuing free throw Page F2 ISU has defeated Drake twice. The Redbirds have lost twice to Northern Iowa and don't appear to have anyone capable of stopping the Panthers' perimeter players.

Playing the 8:30 game Friday also would afford the injury-plagued Redbirds more rest should they win. If ISU were to win Friday, the Redbirds would not play again until 6:05 p.m. Saturday against the No. 2 seed (most likely Southwest Missouri or Evansville). Should the Redbirds fall to eighth place in the standings, they would play the No.

9 seed (most likely Northern Iowa) at 6 p.m. Friday. See LEFTY, Page F10 Evansville and Creighton are better suited matchups. Regardless of how Monday's regular-season finale at Indiana State shakes out, ISU likely will finish seventh in the league standings. That would mean the Redbirds will face the No.

10 (or last-place team in the standings) at 8:30 p.m. Friday in the opening round of the Valley postseason tournament in St. Louis. ISU fans better hope Drake finishes last. The Bulldogs are currently tied with Northern Iowa for the No.

9 and 10 spots. That tie will be broken Monday when Northern Iowa plays host to Drake. against the top three teams in the conference in Evansville, Southwest Missouri State and Bradley And, ISU owns an identical mark against the bottom three teams in Wichita State, Drake and Northern Iowa. "A lot of it is matchups," said ISU coach Kevin Stallings. "We have played some good games, but some of the games we've lost are just tough matchups for us.

Certain types of teams and situations are going to be tough on us." Because of their aggressive and physical style of play, Wichita State, Northern Iowa and Southern Illinois give ISU the most trouble. The more finesse teams such as Southwest Missouri State, figure. kept Pontiac at bay. The three-point play started a 10-0 spurt that carried High to a 63-54 victory and a share of the Corn Belt title with Mahomet-Seymour. "In the Corn Belt, everyone makes runs at you," said High sophomore forward Dan Hubbard, who scored a team-high 17 points to help deny Pontiac a share of the league crown.

"If they get the lead, they'll have the momentum. But any time you get it down deep to Seth, he's going to finish it and probably get fouled." Illinois State's basketball team defeats Evansville, which has already earned a share of the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season championship, twice this season. The Redbirds own a 3-3 record See HIGH, Page F2 Ryerson claims title at 103 iihiiihii.iiiMUI'Iii ll II. h1 AP v. a- By RANDY SHARER Pantagraph staff CHAMPAIGN Regardless of who lost the 103-pound title in the Class A state wrestling tournament Saturday in front of 10,541 at the Assembly Hall, lack of an accurate scouting report was not going to be an excuse.

Sophomores Jeremy Ryerson of Clinton High School and Josh Collins of Olympia, ranked No. 2 and No. 1 in the state by The Illinois Best Weekly, were facing each other for the fifth time this season. What those previous matches, including a 14-1 loss in the sectional, taught Ryerson was to avoid getting locked between Collins' legs. Such knowledge locked up the state championship for Ryerson, 4-3.

The only other area finalist was No. 1-ranked Paul Geary of El Paso-Chenoa, who finished second for the second straight year after dropping a 4-2 decision to No. 2-ranked Dan Niles of Yorkville at 152. The battle of unbeatens left Niles at 35-0 and Geary at 40-1. Five area wrestlers reached the third-place match, with Eureka's Doug Lehman and Olympia's David Tackett winning while fourth place went to Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley's Chris Acree and Clinton's Jacob Fatheree and Tyrone Byrd.

In the all-area final at 103, Collins took a 2-0 lead in the first period and stretched it to 3-0 early in the third, but with 52 seconds left, Ryerson tossed him for a takedown and a two-point nearfall. "He shot and it wasn't so deep," Ryerson said. "He gave me his arm and I threw it." That decisive move was similar to one Ryerson used in a 13-7 loss to Collins in the University High Invitational. Ryerson's only other win over Collins was a 4-2 decision in overtime. Ryerson lost the regional final, 11-10.

"Collins was cranking on him, doing the best he could," said Clinton coach Rob Ledin. "Even though last week was a blowout, Jeremy knew from previous meetings it would be close. He wrestled a smart match. He didn't really force anything." See WRESTLING, Page F4 Tti PintasraptVSTEVE SMEDLEY Washington's Jordan Webster (right) tried to fight off the advance of Midlothaian Bremen's Tim Springs in a Class AA 135-pound semifinal Saturday at the IHSA state wrestling tournament at the Assembly Hall in Champaign. Clinton's Jeremy Ryerson reacted after winning the 103-pound title Saturday in Champaign..