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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 14, 1978)
Page 8 Portland Observer Thursday December 1«. 1978 Blazer win snaps losing streak Pilot Profile. by UUysses rucker. Jr. by UUysses Tucker. Jr. The University o f Portland Pilots are o f f and fast-breaking to their best start since 1951, that's »hen James " M u s h " T o rs o n 's team dashed to a 12-0 start. Coming o ff a tw o -d a ) road trip to H a w a ii, the Pilots no» stand strong at 7-0. T his past weekend the P ilots defeated the University o f Hawaii twice behind 6 ’ 5” ju n io r forw ard Rick " D r . Y ” Ravio’s 20 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds. (Ravio is a grad uate of Benson T e c h ). Helping him was Darwin Cook who added 17 points, 6 assists, and ex cellent floor leadership Three other Pilots also scored in double figures, not to mention 6'7 ” senior forward Ken Downes, who scored only five points; however, he dished out 11 "sweet" assists. The final score was $4-68 The night after, the Pilots defeated the tough Rainbows by the score o f 71-64 in a “ very physical" game. It has been said, "th at where there's contact, there's Rick R a v io ," and that proved to be the case. Ravio led the Pilots in elbows taken, most times on the floor, and in scoring with 20 points again. He also cashed in 12 out o f 12 free-throws, and add ed thirteen rebounds. Darwin Cock and Jose Slaughter, were the only other Pilots in double figures with 11, and 13 respectively. Jeff Heller, the 8 '9 " senior center helped to con trol the boards with 10 rebounds to complete the team effort " W e are rapidly improving with each gam e." said Head Coach Jack A v in a . " B u t the season is very young. A t this point. I'm concerned m ore w ith getting my freshm en seasoned for W .C .A .C . play.” By fa r , freshm an guard Jose Slaughter, a native o f Compton. Ca lifornia has been the most productive for the Pilots. .Against the University o f H a w a ii, he received his firs t college start and fired in 13 points in 24 minutes. Slaughter, at 6 '4 ” and 205 pounds, has been averaging a shade under 10 points in 13 minutes a game until then. "Jose has the potential to be a great player in the future. H e’s very strong and aggressive. He can pass, shoot and has an excellent attitude tow ards the g a m e ,” said A v in a . “ Jose can also plav with his back to the basket, 1 plan to bring him along slow ly.” A vina also praised the play o f freshman guard Moby O liver, the 5’ 11” playm aker, and 6 ’ 5” forward Sidney Watson. Both players are from the talent rich Los Angeles area. W hat is the conference outlook? “ San Francisco is led by 7*1” , 250 pound All-Am erican Bill Cartwright, and 7’0 " Wallace Byram, a fresh man w ho is showing greatness already. Nevada-Reno has five start ers from a 19-8 team which had two A ll- W .C .A .C . Players in; Edgar “ Slam D u n k ” Jones at 6 ’ 10” ; and Johnny High a 6 ’4 ” guard — then there’s Santa Clara. They are led by 6 ’ 10" center M ark M cN am ara, 6 ’7 ” Kurt Rambis ( A ll- W .C .A .C .) and classy 6 '4 ” guard Londale Theus. These team should be the forerun ners," said Avina. "B u t Seattle (with th a r 7 footer Jawann O ld h a m , and A ll-L e a g u e Forward C lint Richardson), Pepper- dine, and the Pilots all have a chance to upset the big teams Loyola, and Saint M a ry ’ s look the weakest on paper but they came close to RICK RAVIO knocking o ff a couple o f the giants last season. It ’ s going to be rough for every team .” be said. "L a s t year, there were fo u r teams th a t won nineteen games or m ore." When questioned about how the Pilots will counter against the size in the conference, Avina said, " W e will have to rely on our quickness and mo bility to overcome our size deficiency.” Despite being the second smallest team in the league last season, the Pilots still finished as the third best rebounding team. This past summer. Coach Avina conducted a survey on the overall road progress o f all the W .C .A .C , teams over a two season span. In his research, Avina found that during this period. San Francisco has com piled a record o f 12-2, Nevada-Reno 9-5, Santa Clara 7-7, and the Pilots struggling at 4-10. “ I t ’s very impor tant that our players understand the value o f being successful on the road." said Avina. Last season the Pilots dictated at home and currently have a sixteen game winning streak at the Memorial Coliseum. I f the Pilots hang tough away from their natural habitat, then "w e will have a good season," said Avina. A v in a , to o k over the P ilo t coaching duties back in 1971 when the program was at an all-time low. He departed to Oregon by way o f San M a te o C ollege in C a lifo rn ia where he never had a losing season. A fte r experiencing fiv e losing seasons in his first six "o u t on the b lu ff," A vina has turned the fo r tunes o f the program around with records o f 13-3 and 19-8 over the past two seasons. When questioned about pressure to win this season, A v in a responded, " t h e r e ’ s no pressure on me, the hard part is over,” he said. “ Coaches learn to live with pressure, if they can’t, they do not last long. Sure, people afflict ed with the program have high expec tations, but there is no pressure.” Last season, Avina was voted by his W .C .A .C . peers as "Coach o f the Y e a r." The Pilots will host the University o f C alifornia-Irvine this Thursday at How ard H a ll (campus) at 8:00 p m ., and St. M artins a week later. On December 29th and 30th, the Pilots will be guests at the KOA-Classic in B illings, M o n ta n a (C a l-F u lle rto n , L a S a lle and M o n ta n a ) before opening up conference play January 4th against Nevada-Reno. ROSE VILLA CLEANERS WE DO ALTERATIONS DRAPERY CLEANING SPECIALISTS 1 \FAST - I QUALITY DRY CLEANING £f LAUNDRY SERVICE. A > I The key play came w hen Arkansas rookie Ron Brewer rebounded a shot by Jabbar. Brewer drove the length o f the court and missed a lay-up, luckily T .R . Dunn’s natural instincts caused him to follow up the shot giving the Blazers a comfortable 113- 109 margin with 2:46 left. Blazer coach Jack Ramsay; "T h is was a very big win for us, especially the way it was acco m p lished . 1 thought Ron Brewer, Clemon John son, M ychal Thompson and Tom Owens just played great games for us. "P ressu re helped us and R on. Clemon, Mychal and Larry applied increased pressure and stopped their fastbreak. That's what it takes to beat them,” Ramsay said. Los Angeles coach Jerry W est: " W e haven't played very well lately; don't seem to take advantage o f our opportunities. For example, we had a lot o f good fastbreak opportunities tonight, had them at a disadvantage, then turned the ball over. Turnovers have been a problem for us, par ticularly against pressure. We don't handle pressure very well. "T h e y put some pressure on us, but it didn’t look from the bench that it was all that much pressure. But we didn’ t handle it at all well. " I t ’s easy to scrutinize a loss from the bench when you aren't out there, though. But it’s not the coaches who make things happen; it’s the players who make things happen. Portland executed very w ell and handled pressure. W e d id n ’ t execute and didn’t handle it ," West said. Asked his opinion o f the Blazers, West said, " I haven't seen them since pre-season, but 1 think they arc a good team . T h ey have talen ted players; they are well coached. They execute well and they have a lot o f confidence when th e y ’ re playing here. You can’ t relax against them and you must take advantage o f everything they give you. We didn’t and we lost.” Ramsay thought Clemon Johnson really gave the Blazers a lift when Owens picked up his fourth foul. " A n d Ron really gave us a lift. This was probably his best over-all game o f what I hope will be many more to come. T .R . (D unn) also made great contributions for us at the end.” said Ram say (n o tin g th at D u n n and Brewer, rather than Tw ardzik and Hollins, finished the game). He cited Dunn for his key baskets, steals and rebounds and his overall play at both ends o f the court in the final quarter. Top scorers for the Blazers were Tom Owens, 27 (5 rebounds); Ron Brewer with his best game o f the season, 24 (o ff the bench). Maurice Lucas, 19 (7 rebounds); T .R . Dunn and Mychal Thompson with 10 each. The Lakers were led by Kareem A b d u l-J a b b a r's 31 poin ts (18 rebounds). Norm Nixon with 23 (10 assists); and Keith Wilkes who hit 21 p o in ts (II rebounds). Portland will travel to Denver on Friday to play the Nuggets, the game w ill be a ire d on K P T V -1 2 (8 :0 0 p m .). The Blazers are 3-11 on the road and 11-3 at home. The lakers are now 19-10. 1 Don’t Zap Your Christmas Zip! The holidays are no time for electric contact accidents. So. as you re decking the halls, here are a few com m on sense seasonal reminders from People at Pacific Power. Op on the roof top: Reindeer ¥es. People No. Unless you re as sure footed as Santa s four-legged fnends stay off the roof If you re packing a new TV antenna deco rations or whatever. know what e d o n g and stay far. far away the power lines. Deck the hafts. . . but care tufty. Power tools are s ^ e r now than ever before But If your new tool isn t double insulated, don t short-circuit safety by Ignoring those three-way grounded plugs Electricity is nothing to toy with. Defective or wrongfy assembled electnc toys are dangerous s\ake sure all plug-in toys are UL or otherwise safety approved And if you’re all thum bs when it com es to let som eone who knows re d o n g take over. Don t leave electric toys plugged n over- let the kids know the aymg safe If you're lighting u p ..-c h e c k ail cirruks. frayed wires and plugs Replace strings of lights if they SERVICE tr QUALITY MAKE OUR REPUTATION /> The Portland Trailblazers snapped a four game losing streak by over coming an excellent display o f skills by K areem A b d u l-J a b b a r and playmaker Norm Nixon to hang on for a 117-115 thriller over the Los Angeles Lakers Tuesday night. By half time the Blazers closed the first quarter gap o f 33-25 to 61-60 as M a u ric e Lucas and T o m Owens scored fifteen points each. Jabbar led a balanced Laker attack with 10 points while Nixon dished out five assists. Jerry West’s Lakers appeared to be on their way to victory as Nixon, Jabbar and Keith Wilkes fired the Blazers up from every angle. The Lakers fast-break seemed almost im possible to stop. Portland however, closed the gap to 91-85 at the end o f three quarters. W ith 6:26 left in the fourth quarter Kareem Abdul Jabbar passed to Jim Price for an uncontested lay-up (hat gave the Lakers a commanding 107- 95 spread. A t that point the sellout crowd o f 12.666 in attendance pondered the predicament o f the Blazers in total silence, after Price scored, 6 -year-old Todd M oore (after consulting his parents) realized that his team was losing •’Come o n ,” he screamed with all the energy o f a youngster his age. “ Get it together Trailblazers!” That they did, Ron Brewer responded by pumping in a short jumper to make it 107-97. Then the Blazers went on a 16-2 tear that brought the crowd back to life. The Blazers took the lead for good at 111-109 when T .R Dunn stole a Norm Nixon pass and scored on a "cradle” slam dunk. blink on and off when they aren't supposed to *Aake sure tree and outside lights are turned off when you leave the house and before retinng for the night J 8525 N.E. FREMONT Mon-Frl 8:30-6:30 - Sat. 8-1 | O SH O P lENOW 'S ur warmest wishes.. .we wish you the happiest and safest of all holiday seasons. And we invite you to stop by any Pacific Power office for plenty of free advice on how to save money and energy. T h e People at FOR V A ffllT IE S you lik e SIZES you w « r ( • M U ( I Mrlarewh.« • a • ’ a * i o«.»««« • * I • b -M b a M l» ( . •« G r a a i a y R I« .« • '13*4 •* S » O»w.a4ea. • OeN G~*xa oa waassré r * 4 » » <♦» a > i ■*•*«••* > a M I 6W«M*r6 • XaN I t i • 1 a ©**♦•••*• U m id . o»w a » a C»*y * 0 • A *« r ••• / I
