South Mountaineer Volume 32, Issue 19

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Volume 32, Number 19
February 14,1990
Bethlehem, Pa.
Engineers smiling
after 28-13 victory
By MIKE ALBRIGHT
South Mountaineer Editor
Looking at assistant wrestling coach Jim Heffer-
rtan's face after Saturday's 28-13 victory over
Syracuse, one knew that a smile was likely to be
etched there for a long time.
Heffernan. a graduate of St. Edward's High
School and the University of Iowa—both are considered among the best wrestling programs in the nation—has long been accustomed to winning and many
believe this season has been a long one for the former
Hawkeye.
Saturday's win upped Lehigh's record to 3-8-1
but. more importantly, was taken from the defending
Eastern Intercollegiate Wrestling Association champions in their own backyard. It also snapped a four-meet
losing streak, the Engineers' second of the season.
Lehigh won the first three and last three matches
as well as one crucial middle-weight bout to ice its
51st victory over the Orangemen in 60 meetings.
Syracuse fell to 8-5.
"I thought that everyone did a great job."
Heffernan said. "'For the first time in a while, it
looked like the guys actually thought they could win
out there. They wrestled a little smaller than they have
been lately.
"Maybe some of these guys were getting tired of
taking their licks." Heffernan added.
One guy who may have fallen into that category
is Jim Benson (Monroeville. Pa.). Entering last week's
Cornell match. Benson had lost seven consecutive
Heavyweight John Morris puts Anthony Tabasso's shoulders to the mat for a pin in 1:28.    Photography by young hong
decisions at 177.
But Benson manhandled Cornell's Ben Morgan I Or
6 on Thursday and came out on fire again Saturday
against Syracuse's Chris Welch.
After giving up an early takedown. Benson escaped
and then scored a crucial five-point move on the edge of
the mat to go ahead 6-2 after one period.
He would yield another takedown early in the
second period but midway through the period, he took a
visibly-tired Welch to his back and notched the fall in
4:36.
At the time. Benson's win erased a 13-12 Syracuse
lead and virtually sealed the win.
"He beat two sood kids." Heffernan said. "He
hadn't had a lot of competition until January. Now
he's starting to think when he wrestles and his moves
are working, and that's helping his confidence."
Going into the match, Heffernan said he thought
the Engineers would win four matches with most of
the others going as tossups.
Lehigh got its four necessary wins from Rick
Hartman (Lakewood. Ohio) at 126: John Epperly
(Fairfax. Va.) at 134; Matt Ruppel (Deer Lodge.
Mont.) at 190 and heavyweight John Morris
(Poquoson, Va.).
But the Engineers also got key wins from Len
Combs (Madison. N.Y.) at 118 and freshman Rob
Patten (Burke. Va.)at 158.
See WRESTLING page 3
Lehigh in logjam for league lead
By MIKE ALBRIGHT
South Mountaineer Editor
Heading into this week's
play, there were more basketball
teams lining up for first place in
the East Coast Conference than
commuters trying to cross the
George Washington Bridge at
rush hour.
Six of the conference's eight
teams, including Lehigh, sported
5-4 records and a piece of the
first-place pie.
But Lehigh and head coach
Dave Duke had to feel just plain
fortunate to be in the hunt. After
winning 10 games in one 12 game
stretch earlier this year. Lehigh
stalled, winning just one game in its
five outings prior to last week's
play.
And heading into the week, it
looked even bleaker as the Engineers, 13-9 overall, had two
consecutive road games in gyms
that are considered among the worst
Jay Hipps scored a career-high 12 points in both games last week
(against Bucknell and Rider). Photography by young hong
in the ECC for visiting teams—
Bucknell and Rider.
Against Bucknell, the Engineers shot 56.4 percent from the
field to notch an 84-71 win. On
Saturday, Lehigh entered the Broncs
Zoo in Lawrenceville, N.J., and
escaped with a 76-69 victory over
Rider, also 5-4 in the ECC.
"This was a big win for us,"
Duke said. "No one had beaten
them coming in (Rider was 8-0 at
home entering the game). They
were in first place.
See MEN S BASKETBALL page 2