1996

WEEK OF ___ ·t-~-- .~..t ~c..~..o-.~ ------:--

Basketball All-Star games are tonight By Lee Baker Clarto,_L~ger S\aH Wrttar The basketball bounce out one last ttme tonight with the 17th showing of the Mississippi Junior College All -Star games. >;on hwest Mississippi plays host a first time, taking ovei from Delta State, which had the games t he past foUI yeaiS. Ranger coach Mare Dukes now wonders why the games Sie in Senatobia. "The trouble isn't that we don't want the games," Dukes said. "It's just not having time to do all t he th ings to be ready because our men 's and women's teams both were in t he national tournaments." Northwest men at Hutchinson, Kan., and women at Tyler, Texas, both finished sixth nat ionally after ..:apturingRegion 23 tourney titles. . "That, alongwith trying to do oui recruiting, makes it all a little more I headache than we might have want– ed," Dukes said "It killed alotofthe I prepSiation we wanted to get in, so I wecould have a real good showhere." Butjuco all-star games are point- ., ed primarily at senior college re– cruiters, who pour through the win– dow ofopportunity between the end I ofFinal Four games and an April lO signing day to check out the talent. That appears on track. [ "I'd stay we should have 50 to 75 men's coaches in, most by the work– outs today after the players report between 2 and 3 t his afternoon, and as many women's coaches," Dukes said. "The games basically are a showcase for our Mississippi play– ers and the coaches do come in." Tonight's women's game will tip off at 5:30 followed by the men at 7:30.

Longtime Ranger coach Kenneth "Cat" Robbins will be honored to– night with the Mississippi Associa– tion of Community and J unior Col– lege Achievemen t Award. Also, state juco Coach of t he YeSI awSids go to Dukes and East Central wom– en's coach Sammy Pace. Co~ ~orthwest golf is big, too, with the Rangers ranked No. 4 in College Sports Magazine's presea– son Division II juco ratings behind Tyler, Rend Lake (Ill.) and Temple (Texas). After placing ninth among 21 teams in t he primarily senior col– lege Derrall Foreman Invitational at Delta State, the Rangers finished second to host Meridian in t he MCC Eaf!'le lnvitiltional at Merid– ian Country Club. Football: East Central coach Willie Coats reached out of state for his latest signees- Joseph Anders, a 6-2, 190 defensive back from Tus– caloosa County, Ala., and Jason Nixon, a 6-3, 270 offensive lineman from Donaldsonville, Ga.

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SCOTT COUNTY TIMES_ ___ UNION APPEAL._____ WINSTON COUNTY JOURNAL.___ MERIDIAN STAR.___ _ _

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