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.
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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
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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
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