“If it matters to the USA family, it matters to us.” VOL. 54, NO. 7FEB. 24, 2014

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In this Issue: JagLife, Page 7

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JagLife: ELC competes in Olympic-themed event.

See JagLife, page 8

►

JagLife: ‘All My Sons’ showcases talent at drama department.

See JagLife, page 7

►

Sports: Men’s basketball tops Trojans in a must win showdown.

See Sports, page 9

►

Sports: Men’s tennis 4-3 victory over Southern Miss.

See Sports, page 12

►

By SAM ANDREWSEditor-in-Chief

See Guilty plea Guilty plea Page 6

SGA SGA reforms reforms electionelection

A new reform to the SGA election process could

divide the voting power held by the larger campus organizations.

According to Elections Chair-man Coleman Wolf, USA stu-dents will only be allowed to vote for the SGA candidates within their own college in the upcom-ing election. For example, a stu-dent with a declared major within the College of Arts and Sciences can only vote for candidates run-ning within the College of Arts and Sciences.

“In the past, and I’m saying this as a member of a fraternity,” Wolf said, “Greeks have had a lot of power in picking who were the offi cers and who was on the sen-ate because everyone could vote for everyone.”

Wolf also hopes the reform will attract candidates who felt the odds were stacked against them.

FCC approves radio constructionFCC approves radio constructionBy KANDACE RAYBONContributing Writer

By EMILY JEANMINETTEContributing Writer

Two men plea guilty for student’s murderTwo men plea guilty for student’s murder

Renato Mazariegos co-hosts The Sports Preys, one of the sports talk shows on USA’s student radio, The Prowl.

South Alabama’s student-run radio station, The Prowl,

has received the construction permit applied for this past fall. The station has been assigned the frequency 97.1 FM, and Heather

Stanley, the faculty adviser for The Prowl, has requested the call letters WJGR.

Within the next few weeks, the federal communications represen-tative who handled The Prowl’s application will be coming to South’s campus to look over the facilities and to give an estimate

as to how much the construction will cost.

The construction that will be taking place will include an addi-tion of an antenna to the Com-munication Building, which is lo-cated across from the Humanities Building on campus. The commu-nication department is hoping to get started on the construction as soon as possible, but no start time will be decided until after the visit.

The Prowl hosts a variety of student-produced shows through-out the week. These include mu-sic shows, talk shows, sports talk shows and live sports broadcast-ing. The Prowl staff includes students from many different de-partments and gives the students the opportunity to have fun while building their resumes.

“It allows students to get more professional experience because we don’t have anything radio other than here at The Prowl,” JT Crabtree, The Prowl’s sports di-rector, said.

Crabtree also talked about The Prowl obtaining a construction permit and frequency. “It’s really cool,” Crabtree said. “Most big universities have a radio station, and so with the school getting bigger, we might as well add as many components to the puzzle

KANDACE RAYBON | CONTRIBUTING WRITER

In a court hearing Thursday, Feb. 20, two men plead guilty to the

felony murder charges of Andrew Saxon, a 25-year-old biology student from USA.

Tevin Wells, 21, and Christopher Case, 29, faced Circuit Court Judge Sarah Stewart and both pleaded guilty to charges of murder in the second degree. The two men were partici-pants in the original plan to commit the burglary of Saxton’s house in 2012, according to their plea agree-ments. Investigators revealed that Case knew Saxon at the time of the

incident.Wells and Case could face possible

sentences of 10 years to life in prison for the murder convictions. During the defendants’ court appearance Thursday, Stewart ordered a presen-tence investigation after a request was made by the lawyers of both defendants. The investigation is to be conducted before their sentenc-ing hearing May 7 in order to acquire more information to post a proper sentencing. Stewart warned both of the defendants that the possibility of a lighter sentence may not be in the future and that the investigation was only to provide adequate support of whatever sentencing upon which the

court settles.According to authorities, Quinten

Godfrey, 23, along with Case and Wells, broke into Saxon’s home on North University Boulevard Jan. 11, 2012. Of the three men, Godfrey was

the one in possession of an illegal, unlicensed gun and shot Saxon in the chest. Court reports show that Saxon was robbed of a guitar and several video games at the time of his death.

See Prowl Prowl Page 6 See SGA SGA Page 6

Christopher Case (left) and Tevin Wells (right) both plea guilty to charges of murder in the second degree.

VOL. 54, NO. 7 / FEB. 24, 20142

Jag Media ManagementPaying positions for the 2014-2015 academic year. Send your résumé and cover letter explaining the position for which you

are applying. Applications are due no later than Saturday, March 15. Send applications to jaucoin@southalabama.edu.

Be prepared to interview for the position.

Positions AvailableEditor-in-Chief, The VanguardThe editor-in-chief is responsible for the overall operations of the newspaper, ensuring that all tasks, from planning to distribution are completed. Applicants should have strong understanding of journalism techniques and leadership skills. 20 hours per week and scholarship.

Advertising ManagerThe advertising manager is responsible for advertising sales in both The Vanguard and Due South. Duties include cultivating and calling on advertisers, overseeing ad designs, overseeing sales staff, and ensuring the quality and accuracy of advertising. 20 hours per week and scholarship.

General Manager, Jag TVThe general manager is responsible for hiring and overseeing the Jag TV staff, ensuring quality of the campus news programs, covering campus events, producing original programming and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the television station. Applicants should be familiar with video editing techniques, camera operation and television direction. 20 hours per week and scholarship.

Editor-in-Chief, Due SouthThe editor-in-chief is responsible for the overall operations of the magazine, ensuring that all tasks, from planning to distribution are completed. Applicants should have strong understanding of journalism techniques and leadership skills. 20 hours per week.

Assistant Editor, Due SouthThe assistant editor is responsible for all production functions and operations of the newspaper. The managing editor is also responsible for all layout and design responsibilities as defined by the editor-in-chief. 15 hours per week.

General Manager, The ProwlThe operations manager is responsible for recruiting and overseeing Prowl staff, ensuring the quality of the campus radio programs and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the radio station. Applications should be familiar with audio editing techniques, broadcast operation and radio direction. 20 hours per week.

YOU COULD BE THE NEXT JAG MEDIA LEADER

Operations Manager, The Prowl

3VOL. 54, NO. 7 / FEB. 24, 2014

“University of South Alabama’s Student Voice”

Editor in ChiefManaging Editor

Copy Editor Opinion Editor

Sports EditorJagLife Editor

Web Editor

Samantha AndrewsStephanie FeatherMeg LundbergMatthew Strickland

Alyssa NewtonEmma MitchellMatthew Strickland

Editorial

Distribution Bobby FaulkAlan Smith

Distribution

Advertising Graphic Designer

Justine BurbankRyan KellerSheldon Hall

Advertising

Advising

Accounting

J. SellersJ. AucoinKathy Brannan

Management

MissionThe Vanguard, the student-run newspaper of

the University of South Alabama, serves its read-ership by reporting the news involving the campus community and surrounding areas. The Vanguard strives to be impartial in its reporting and believes fi rmly in its First Amendment rights.

Send letters and guest columns to: The Vanguard

University of South Alabama P.O. Drawer U-1057 Mobile, Ala., 36688.

Orthevanguardeditor@gmail.com

Letters and guest columns must be received by 7 p.m. on the Wednesday prior to the Monday publication. Submissions should be typed and must include the writer’s name, year, school and telephone number. All submissions become the property of The Vanguard. The Vanguard reserves the right to edit letters and guest columns for length and clarity. Letters will be limited to 300 words. Letters and guest columns are the opinion of the writer. The Staff Editorial represents the consensus opinion of the Editorial Board All members of the Editorial Board have the same weight. The Vanguard has a commitment to accuracy and clarity and will print any corrections or clarifi cations. To report a mistake, e-mail thevanguardeditor@gmail.com. The Vanguard is published Mondays during the academic year, except for exam periods and vacations, and is published twice each summer. The Vanguard is supported in part by an allocation from student activity fees and operates in the Student Media Department of the Division of Student Affairs. Issues are available at most University buildings and select off-campus locations. The fi rst copy is free. Additional copies are $1 each. Freelance writers will receive payment at the discretion of the section editor and will be notifi ed.

PATRICK BIGBIE | STAFF METEOROLOGIST

Twitter: StormTeam4g9wxFacebook: Facebook.com/StormTeam4Gamma9Wx

Weather for Feb. 17 - 23Weather for Feb. 17 - 23

LEAVE COMMENTS FOR CAMPUS AT thevanguardonline.com/campusfeedback

Community Community honors alumhonors alum

By MEG LUNDBERGCopy Editor

USA alumna Julia Bolton died in a fatal car crash on Airport Boulevard and Ridgefi eld Road Feb.

21, according to WKRG. The Mobile, Ala. native earned her bachelor’s degree in public relations in 2013. She was 22 years old.

During her lifetime, Bolton left an impression on many lives, especially on South Alabama’s campus. A former classmate, Kalyn Andrews Sutherland, was one of the people whose life was touched by Bolton. In her mourning, Sutherland has decided to celebrate Bolton’s life.

“Julia managed to light up my life so much during our time at South together,” Sutherland said on Facebook. “I really felt compelled to do something to show support during this tragedy.” To honor Bolton’s memory and “the incredibly bright life she lived,” Sutherland encour-ages everyone to “light up the campus” by wearing or-ange, Bolton’s favorite color, Monday, Feb. 24 or another day during this week.

“We will also be wearing orange in support of her family and friends,” Suther-land said, “who we know are going through something unimaginable to most at this time.”

Visitation for Bolton will be held Feb. 25 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Radney Funeral Home on Dauphin Street with a funeral service to fol-low.

COURTESY OF JULIA BOLTON’S FACEBOOK

VOL. 54, NO. 7 / FEB. 24, 20144

By JAMIE REIDContributing Writer

The Vanguard is in need of new

writers. Interested individuals

should email their contact info and

sampled writings to Editor in Chief

Samantha Andrews at thevanguardeditor@gmail.com

New counselor availableNew counselor available

University of South Alabama Counseling and Testing Services, a provider of free

counseling sessions for students, has hired a new Licensed Professional Counselor who spe-cializes in domestic and dating violence.

Counselor and Sexual Assault Coordinator Leslie Weaver was recently added to the ranks of the care providers in the counseling service department. In a release sent to the Student Af-fairs staff, Robert B. Hanks, the Counseling and Testing Services director, stated, “We are very excited about having her as a part of our team.”

Weaver shared some information on her background. She graduated from South in 2000 with a bachelor’s degree in health educa-tion and in 2005 with a master’s degree in com-munity counseling. She has an integrated ap-proach adapted to meet individual client needs. Her counseling specialties include domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, relation-ship issues, boundaries and self-esteem. Weaver previously worked at Penelope House provid-ing services to victims of domestic violence. She was there for 10 years. She is a member of the Alabama Counseling Association and the Alabama Association for Specialists in Group Work. Weaver is also a mother of two.

“I am very excited to join the staff here at the University, and in particular, I am very ex-cited to be working with such great profession-als in the Counseling Center,” Weaver said when asked how she feels about her new position.

“I look forward to working with the students, faculty and staff for many years to come.”

The counseling services depart-ment offers many services for stu-dents. According to their web page, some of the ser-vices the depart-ment offers are

individual, relationship and group counseling; career testing, interpretation, and counseling; substance abuse assessment, counseling, and education; sexual assault counseling; outreach educational programs on variety of topics; con-sultation for faculty and staff on mental health issues; standardized test administration and proctoring of other academic/special examina-tions; and referrals to other mental health pro-viders and/or resources when appropriate.

When making an appointment for counsel-ing, the secretary will ask for some information about the issues of concern to assign an appro-priate counselor. It is not a requirement, how-ever, to reveal any information about the issue.

Appointments for counseling or testing can be made by contacting the counseling services offi ce at 251-460-7051. They suggest an early arrival time for a fi rst appointment in order to complete paperwork.

Leslie N. WeaverCounselor and Sexual Assault Coordinator

5VOL. 54, NO. 7 / FEB. 24, 2014

The Vanguard Staff PositionsPaying positions for the 2014-2015 academic year. Send your resume and a cover letter explaining the position for which you are applying. Send samples of writing, photography and layout if available. Applications are due no later than Saturday, March 29. Please send applications to thevanguardeditor@gmail.com. Likewise, send any related questions. Be prepared to interview for the position.

Managing EditorThe managing editor is responsible for all production functions and operations of the newspaper. The managing editor is also responsible for all layout and design responsibilities as defined by the editor-in-chief. 15 hours per week.

Copy EditorThe copy editor will be asked to edit any or all copy that appears in the publication for errors of grammar, punctuation, clarity, accuracy, fairness and completeness. Be prepared to demonstrate knowledge of AP style. 5 hours per week.

Web EditorThe web editor will have an overall responsibility for web design, content planning and production. 5 hours per week.

Sport EditorThe sports editor will be responsible for managing the content and layout of their designated section, while ensuring a variety of USA sports coverage. 15 hours per week.

JagLife EditorThe JagLife editor will be responsible for managing the content and layout of their designated section, while capturing the lifestyles and flavor of the USA community. 15 hours per week.

Opinion EditorThe opinion editor will be responsible for managing the content and layout of their designated section, while finding and reflecting the diverse, in-depth perspectives across the USA community. 10 hours per week

Senior ReporterA senior reporter will be well-versed in AP style, relentless in gathering information and professional when conducting interviews to provide frequent and expert articles. 10 hours per week.

Staff Reporters A staff reporter will regularly cover assigned beats and provide ongoing story ideas, all in accordance with deadlines and AP style. Please specify which section you are most interested in covering: Campus, JagLife, Sports or Opinion. 5 hours per week.

Positions Available

WORK FOR THE VANGUARD

usavanguard@gmail.com(251) 460-6898

Advertise your businsess here. With up to 18,000 weekly readers, the Vanguard is the place to advertise.

ADSpace

Student Health prepares Student Health prepares for spring sports injuriesfor spring sports injuriesBy COURTNEY TURNERContributing Writer

The Student Health Center’s staff of li-censed practitioners and medical stu-

dents from USA is expanding to better take care of students medical needs.

There will be a new Women’s Health Prac-titioner joining the team in March. This should allow for the women’s health area to expand and offer more services. “We have women’s health available primarily by appointment, in-cluding annual examinations, birth control, etc.,” Beverly Kellen, practice director, said.

The health center provides services, includ-ing primary care, women’s health and sports medicine, Monday through Friday. “Sports medicine has been increasing in demand,” Kel-len said. The care of sports medicine is for all students both male and female at all levels. “They can diagnose any musculoskeletal con-dition and provide complete therapy for many of them, which includes sprains, minor frac-tures, etc. If the problem is beyond their scope, they can facilitate a referral to a sports orthope-dist,” Kellen said.

“It is not necessary to have an appoint-ment,” Valerie Heidel, supervisor of clinical operations, said. “You can make an appoint-ment by phone or online using the web portal.”

SHC helps students with health insurance. “We accept BCBS (Blue Cross Blue Shield) from all states and United Healthcare,” Kel-

len said. She also said that they have easily af-fordable plans for enrolled students. The SHC works with Blue Cross and United Healthcare.

“For those whose insurances aren’t accept-ed, we give a receipt and a claim form so that the patient can get reimbursed,” Rhonda Bax-ter, billing and insurance clerk, said.

“We do not turn anyone away regardless of their inability to pay,” Baxter said. This is also found in their policy brochure which can be found on their website. You can enroll for the health insurance the SHC offers by either talk-ing with Baxter or going online. Medical stu-dents have to speak with her directly. The SHC health insurance plan can also be used out-side of the SHC as long as it’s with a United Healthcare doctor.

How do you get to the Student Health Cen-ter? According to Kellen, though the health center gets a decent fl ow of students, aver-aging about 45 students per day, more would come to the health center if they knew where it is located. “If you turn onto North Boule-vard next to the Allied health building, off of the University Boulevard, then take a right at the fork on North, onto Health Services Drive and then take a second left onto Clinic drive proceed north and there will be a parking lot on the right you’ll fi nd the Student Health Center,” Kellen said. “Students can always call 460-7151 for directions.” Offi ce hours can be found on the website at southalabama.edu/studenthealth.

VOL. 54, NO. 7 / FEB. 24, 20146

Guilty pleaGuilty pleaContinued from Page One

ProwlProwlContinued from Page One

SGASGAContinued from Page One

as possible.”The Prowl transitioned from

Jag Radio at the beginning of summer 2013 under the guidance of Stanley. Since then, the station has undergone many changes and has made more progress than ever before. The listenership has con-tinued to increase since the tran-sition and the switch to FM will only help boost that increase.

“It’s going to help us gain lis-teners and gain notoriety, which is what we need as a student-run col-lege radio station,” student sports broadcaster Renato Mazariegos said. Along with Crabtree, Mazar-iegos co-hosts The Sports Preys, one of the sports talk shows on The Prowl.

The station directors, who are all students, have been work-ing with the rest of the staff in preparation for the switch to FM radio. The on-air personalities have had to attend workshops to learn Federal Communications Commission regulations, includ-ing learning what can and cannot be said on air. This will not only ready the students for working on

The Prowl, but it will also help better prepare them for a career in broadcasting, if desired. It will also prevent any fi nes from the FCC or the suspension of The Prowl’s license.

The public relations team for The Prowl will be working to bet-ter educate students on what is going on around campus, in addi-tion to promoting the University, the station and its shows. Each week the team records public ser-vice announcements, including information submitted by student organizations informing listeners of activities and events happen-ing on campus. The safe driving public service announcement that plays on the station will be even more infl uential once people are able to listen to The Prowl in their cars. The Prowl staff is continu-ally working to improve its broad-cast to make sure they will be ready when the station goes live.

After construction takes place, the station will continue to broad-cast on the South Alabama app and their new website theprowlu-sa.wix.com/home. To learn more about The Prowl, you can visit the station’s website for live stream-ing, staff contacts and a list of shows and show descriptions.

“A lot of people haven’t run in the past because they knew they couldn’t beat the Greek vote,” Coleman said.

SGA isn’t waiting another election sea-son to enforce the new system either. On Feb. 17, the senate gave the elections com-mittee the power to change the election format temporarily.

A permanent change in the voting pro-cedure will amend the constitution, if passed through the senate and the student body.

Students will have the option to vote on the constitutional amendment at the same time they vote for the next SGA members.

Applications for SGA candidates will be available starting Feb. 28 and will be due in to the SGA offi ce by March 18 at 4:30 p.m. SGA candidates will then have about a week and a half to campaign be-fore the vote.

A debate will be held March 25 for the offi cer candidates, with a place and time to be determined March 18. Students are encouraged to attend and question their future SGA leaders.

Voter turnout has grown in recent

According to District Attorney Keith Blackwood, the three men were looking for money and “they didn’t fi nd any.” Saxton was found dead in a neighbor’s carport with gunshot wounds to the chest, according to the police.

AL.com reported that in exchange for a capital murder charge, Godfrey accepted two consecutive life sentences for the murder of Saxon in his Jan. 27 hearing. One of Godfrey’s attorneys, Dennis Knizely, stated that the deci-sion to plead out was due to a number of factors, including the option of serving a life sentence without the pos-sibility of parole and the death penalty.

According to Blackwood, Godfrey will be eligible for parole in 15 years during the period of his fi rst sentence, and if paroled he would then begin his second life sentence. During his sec-ond life sentence, he would eligible for parole as well.

AL.com also stated that Saxon’s family was in court to hear Stewart’s sentencing of Godfrey, but declined to comment on the conviction and sen-tencing. The family was also in atten-dance Feb. 20 for the court appearance of Case and Wells, but left quickly after court was adjourned.

years. According to the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Michael Mitchell, the 9 percent response rate for SGA elections in 2012 rose to 10 percent in 2013.

Questions about the election can be sent to Wolf at jaguarelections@gmail.com.

Coleman WolfElections Chairman

JT Crabtree co-hosts The Sports Preys, one of the sports talk shows on USA’s student radio, The Prowl.

KANDACE RAYBON | CONTRIBUTING WRITER

7VOL. 54, NO. 7 / FEB. 24, 2014

Weekly Lowdown

Want your event featured? E-mail the name, date, time, price,

place and a brief tagline (under 10 words) to

thevanguardeditor@gmail.com

Monday > Feb. 24

Wednesday > Feb. 26

Thursday > Feb. 27

• “Dr. Josiah Nott and the Types of Man-kind.” Lecture- Marx Library, Rm. 181, 7:00 p.m.

• Nick Strange, Percus-sion Recital - Laidlaw Center, 7:30 p.m., $5 for students

• Flute Music of Ian Clarke- Laidlaw Cen-ter, 7:30 p.m., free

• “All My Sons” by Authur Miller - LPAC, 7:30 p.m., $10 USA students and faculty, shows Feb. 28 and 29.

jagLIFE EMMA MITCHELL, JAGLIFE EDITOReem1002@jagmail.southalabama.edu

LEAVE COMMENTS FOR JAGLIFE AT thevanguardonline.com/lifefeedback

‘All My Sons’ showcases talent at drama dept‘All My Sons’ showcases talent at drama deptBy MARY BETH LURSENContributing Writer

Love, grief, hope, despair. These are all emotions peo-

ple can feel about their family. These are also just a few of the emotions that “All My Sons” by USA’s theatre department will leave the audience feeling as they leave the fantastic production.

“All My Sons” by Arthur Miller follows the story of two families who are dealing with the aftermath of events that took place during World War II. One family, the Kellers, has lost a son and brother to the war. Joe Keller (Colgan Meanor), patriarch of the Kellers, worked with Steve Deev-er, the father of Ann Deever (Kris-tina Walker) and George Deever (Blake Walters). Steve is serving time in jail after he sent out faulty engine heads of planes that resulted in the death of 21 soldiers. In the midst of this all, you have Joe’s youngest son, Chris Keller (Brandon Mallette) who is pursuing Ann.

Complicated, yes. But oh so good.

“This play is about families,” Christopher Peck, director of the play, said. “I think a lot of individuals

are coming with a strong dynamic, who believe in the power of family over other things.”

Each cast member does a terrifi c job of making these characters relat-able to the audience through family dynamics. You see your mom worry-ing when you see Miranda Lambert’s portrayal of Kate Keller, matriarch of the Keller family. You see your dad cracking a joke about your new date in Meanor’s depiction of Joe.

“My favorite part was defi nitely making a new human,” Mallette said. “You work on all these things to make a new person and live a new life. That would be one of my favorite parts about the play and the process is telling that person’s story.”

While each character was relat-able, it was easy to read emotions from just their facial expressions and movements. Even without dia-logue, you could read the character’s thoughts. Chris’ frustration with his mother’s inability to let go of his older brother came out in the way Mallette ran his hands through his hair. You saw Ann’s nerves get the best of her when Walker wrung her hands together.

It’s diffi cult to fi nd a villain in the story because every character had bad moments and redeeming mo-ments. Every character was human and believable, which is what makes the play. It’s defi nitely a play that is character driven. You’re so invested in what happens to the characters that you’re sitting on the edge of the seat as the play progresses.

In addition to excellent charac-ters, the set and costume design are on point.

“The set is amazing,” sophomore theatre major Will Ballard said. “It’s beautiful, and it makes the stage look a lot bigger than it normally looks.”

Between the acting, set design and costumes, you leave feeling like you’ve been in another universe for the last two and a half hours. The drama department’s hard work paid off in this production, a sure sign that their next production will be just as good.

“All My Sons” opened Friday, Feb. 21. Upcoming shows will be held Feb. 28, March 1 and 2 at 7:30 p.m. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit the box offi ce in Laidlaw.

Chris Keller, played by Brandon Mallette, exchanges dialog onstage with Ann Deever, played by Kristina Walker.

MARY BETH LURSEN | CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Joe Keller, played by Colgan Meanor, consoles his wife Kate Keller, played by Miranda Lambert.

MARY BETH LURSEN | CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Tuesday > Feb. 25

• Joyce Sylvester “Mov-ing On, Moving Up” A Tribute to Legends - Laidlaw Center, 7:30 p.m., $5 for student.

• Discussion and screening of the fi lm “Half the Sky” - Marx Library Auditorium, 6:00 p.m.

• Symphony Band and Wind Ensemble Win-ter Concert- Laidlaw Center, 7:30 p.m., $5 for students

• “The Yes Men Fix the World” documentary screening - Stokes Hall, 5:30 p.m. Free pizza

• Southerners Open House - Alumni Hall, 5 p.m.

VOL. 54, NO. 7 / FEB. 24, 20148

By MATTHEW POIRERContributing Writer

COURTESY OF CHIMENE GECEWICZ

ELC competes in Olympic-themed eventELC competes in Olympic-themed event

USA’s English Language Center held an Olym-pic-themed event Monday, Feb. 17. It was the

second cultural immersion activity since the inception of the Peer Mentor Internship. “The Peer Mentor In-ternship,” ELC faculty member Chimene Gecewicz explained, “is a new internship opportunity being pro-vided to anthropology, foreign language, international studies and sociology majors.”

Gecewicz maintains that one of the primary pur-poses of the ELC is to increase students’ sense of belonging, and cultural immersion activities facilitate inclusion. “One of the things peer mentor interns are responsible for,” Gecewicz said, “is building a sense of community while exposing international students to the local culture. They do this through the cultural immersion events. These events are planned and orga-nized by the peer mentors. They must write a proposal for the activity, get approval from the director of the English Language Center, publicize the event, manage the event and handle both set-up and clean-up.”

The Olympic-themed party, which was organized by USA student and peer mentor George Colbourne, featured games such as pool noodle javelin, a three-legged race, long jump and limbo. Approximately 35 ELC students participated in the event.

The ELC, according to their website, “offers inten-sive English language instruction and cultural orien-tation to international students who are preparing to study at a U.S. University or who simply wish to im-prove their English.”Ali throws the pool noodle javalin, with Hassen Binmohmes (left) and

Hosain Elmalki (right) during the ELC Olympic cultural event Feb. 17.

9VOL. 54, NO. 7 / FEB. 24, 2014

SPORTSSPORTS ALYSSA NEWTON SPORTS EDITORakn1104@jagail.southalabama.edu

LEAVE COMMENTS FOR SPORTS AT thevanguardonline.com/sportsfeedback

Men’s basketball tops Trojans in a must win showdownMen’s basketball tops Trojans in a must win showdown

What I told our guys was, this is a must win game. If you want to compete in New Orleans for a conference

championship you have to win.

-head coach Matthew Graves

“

”

By ALYSSA NEWTONSports Editor

ALYSSA NEWTON | SPORTS EDITOR

The Jaguars keep their conference tournament dreams alive with 86-78 victory over in-state rival Troy Trojans

For the South Alabama Jag-uars, the 86-78 win against

in-state rival Troy was not just an-other conference “W,” but a must-win to keep their league tournament dreams alive.

Whether it was head coach Mat-thew Graves’ speeches or the heart-breaking loss after a blown foul call in the last two seconds of overtime in the Texas Tech earlier in the

week, something lit a fi re in the Jag-uars Saturday night.

“What I told our guys was, this is a must win game,” Graves said. “If you want to compete in New Orleans for a conference champi-onship, you have to win tonight. I thought our energy and effort from the opening tip was outstanding. We got off to a great start.”

The Jags came out blazing with their best half of basketball all season. Freshman Kevin Williams

and sophomore Barrington Stevens started off hot, both 2-2 in the fi rst few minutes setting the tone of the half. Williams sparked up the half with two back-to-back 3-pointers. It took three minutes for South Ala-bama to miss their fi rst shot of the game.

The Jags only added to the lead throughout the fi rst half, extending the Trojans’ defi cit by 26 points. By the time the buzzer sounded halftime, the Jags lead the Trojans 45-24.

In the fi rst half, Troy shot 7-25 for only 28 percent, while the Jags went 19-35, making 54 percent of their shots from the fi eld. Williams ended the half leading the Jags with 14 points and 4-of-6 3-point at-tempts with Augustine Rubit not far behind with 11 points.

But domination over the Trojans was only temporary.

After the Trojans controlled tip off, the second half was completely different from the fi rst for the Jag-uars. South Alabama led by 23 early in the second half with the help of freshman Georgi Boyanov, but Troy scored the next 12 points and took advantage of fi ve missed shots and two Jag turnovers.

South Alabama went almost six minutes without scoring a fi eld goal, allowing Troy’s Hunter Williams to shine. The 23-point lead at the be-ginning of the second half was cut to within 6 points, but after a tip-in and two hit free throws from Rubit,

the Trojans only got as close as 8 points for the rest of the contest.

“I do think fatigue played a little bit of a factor,” Graves said of Troy’s rally attempt. “We were on the road Thursday and with the quick turnaround and Aakim’s (Saintil) limited minutes due to foul trouble. I think those guys got tired, but at the same time, Troy has a couple guys that can really shoot the basketball. When they get feeling good and get in a rhythm, they’re certainly capable of making shots. We missed a couple switches and a couple things on our rotation. In large part, it was due to our fatigue, and you have to credit Troy because they could have easily rolled over, but they kept fi ghting until the end.”

The Trojans got a game-high 24 points from Hunter Williams, who made fi ve 3-pointers.

Rubit ended the night with his 10th double-double of the season with 22 points and 10 rebounds along with fi ve assists. The fi ve as-sists are a new career-high for the se-nior. In the contest, Rubit shot 8-for-15 from the fl oor with two blocks.

South Alabama placed a season-high fi ve players in double-digit scor-ing: Williams with 18 points and 4

assists, senior Antoine Allen with 15 coming off the bench, and Stevens and junior Mychal Ammons both fi nishing the game with 11 points.

Boyanov fi nished the game with 6 points and six rebounds, starting in place of Ammons and Aakim Santil, who fouled out in the second half, starting in place of Allen.

But not only was the game a team effort win from the players, but the huge crowd turnout helped the Jag-uars as well.

“For the fi rst time in a long time, our crowd really helped us tonight,” Graves said. “You could hear them getting louder, the players got really excited and I was thankful we had a lot of fans here tonight support-ing the Jags. That really helped us through our tough stretch.”

South Alabama goes on the road next week for their fi nal two road games of the season, starting Thurs-day, Feb. 27 at Louisiana-Monroe at 7 p.m.

Even with the win against the Trojans, the Jags can’t take their eyes off the New Orleans prize.

“The Monroe game is a must-win,” Graves said. “We have to go in there on the road with a mindset win or go home.

Augustine Rubit fi nished the contest with 22 points, 10 rebounds, fi ve assists and two blocks against Troy.

ALYSSA NEWTON | SPORTS EDITOR

Freshman Georgi Boyanov started on Saturday and ended the night with 6 points against the Troy Trojans.

VOL. 54, NO. 7 / FEB. 24, 201410

Lady Jags can’t pull out win in Texas, Troy game at homeLady Jags can’t pull out win in Texas, Troy game at homeSouth Alabama women’s basketball succumbs to Sun Belt conference opponents first on road then at home

No. 19 South Alabama softball wins big at Citrus ClassicNo. 19 South Alabama softball wins big at Citrus Classic

ALYSSA NEWTON | SPORTS EDITOR

The Lady Jags could not pull out wins in their last two games bring their record

so far this season to 7-17 overall, 5-9 in the Sun Belt conference.

On Feb. 19, the University of South Ala-bama women’s basketball faced off against Texas State for the fi rst time ever in their his-tory. The Sun Belt comer held the Jags at a 12-point defi cit at the half, but the Jags would make a rally attempt that would come up just short as the Jags fell to the Bobcats 63-61.

Meghan Dunn led all scorers as with 18 points on 6-of-9 shooting. She was also 5-for-5 at the free-throw line. This was her 17th dou-ble-fi gure game of the season and her eighth straight. Dunn recorded 18 points, 13 during the fi nal 20 minutes of the contest, as she was 4-for-4 both at the foul line and from the fi eld in the second half.

Jennifer Johnson had one of her best games of the season off the bench as she had 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds. John-son went 5-of-10 from the fi eld, 2-for-2 from the 3-point line and recorded three blocks for the night. The two threes were the senior’s fi rst since USA’s conference opener against Western Kentucky. Ronnkea Robertson also fi nished in

double fi gures with 10 points.USA then returned home to host Troy Sat-

urday night at the Mitchell Center for South Alabama’s annual “Pink Zone” game.

In this matchup, turnovers would be the nail in the coffi n for the Lady Jags as they commit-ted 23 that allowed Troy 26 points that would lead to the Jaguars’ 86-76 loss.

USA had four girls fi nish the contest with double fi gures. Breanna Hall fi nished with 17 points, most of those points coming from her 13-of-14 trips to the foul line. Dunn recorded 16, Rachel Cumbo with 14 and Robertson fi n-ished with 13 points as well as seven rebounds.

At halftime, the Lady Jags held the lead at 41-39, a new season high, USA shot 46.7 per-cent in the fi rst half and was 10-of-14 from the foul line.

Troy would gain the lead in the second, ex-tending their lead and not allowing USA to get any closer than a 4-point defi cit in the rest of the contest. Troy would topple the Jaguars with a 10-point win.

USA will now head back out on the road for a pair of games, beginning with Louisiana-Monroe Feb. 26. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at Fant-Ewing Coliseum. South Alabama to keep their Sun Belt Conference tournament dreams alive, but the road won’t be an easy one.

By ALYSSA NEWTONSports Editor

No. 19 South Alabama fi nished the 2014 Citrus Classic, hosted by Diamond 9 Events at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando, Fla. with four wins, moving to 11-1 on the year and 3-0 versus ranked opponents

Friday USA 8, IPFW 0 (6 inn.)

Four Jaguars recorded multiple hits versus IPFW, as USA outhit the Mastadons, 11-2, South Alabama starter Campbell not allowing a hit until the fi nal inning of the contest, which ended early by way of run-rule, marking the Mobile club’s fourth win in 10 games to end in mercy-rule fashion.

Eleven hits and three steals marked season-highs for the Jaguars

Campbell recorded half her six total strike-outs versus IPFW in the top of the fi rst, and USA built a 4-0 lead in the bottom half on four hits and two Mastadon errors.

Chloe Rathburn subsequently drew a walk, and when she broke for second on a steal at-tempt, IPFW’s shortstop impeded her catcher’s throw to second, Griffi th allowed to score

in the ensuing scramble. Later in the inning, Messer reached on an IPFW fi elding error that allowed Breeden, who previously singled, to round home and put USA up 4-0.

South Alabama added a run to in the bot-tom of the third when Gwen Jones rounded home on another Messer reach by way of error. Jones was pinch-running for Amanda Herron, who reached on a fi elder’s choice.

Herron recorded two RBI in the bottom of the fi fth to put USA ahead, 7-0, when she sin-gled to score Griffi th, who led off the frame with a triple off the center fi eld wall, and Rath-burn, who was hit by a pitch.

Johnson drove in USA’s eighth and fi nal run, enacting the mercy rule, with her single to left fi eld that scored Pilkington, who led off the bottom of the sixth inning with a single.

Friday USA 6, East Carolina 1

South Alabama scored in all but one inning in which it batted against the Pirates.

USA went up 1-0 in the bottom of the fi rst inning when Breeden drew a two-out, bases-loaded walk to send Johnson home. ECU pitcher Gabby Andino struck out two Jaguars

to start the bottom half of the inning before walking three straight, all leading to the game’s fi rst run.

ECU’s Alex Fieldhouse evened the score to lead off the second inning when she belted a solo homer to left center, issuing starter Beard her fi rst earned run of the year.

In the bottom of the fourth, the Jaguars went up 5-1 on Rathburn’s RBI single to right fi eld, which plated Johnson, who, before, regis-tered her second base hit of the contest. Her-ron’s homer, a solo blast to left center in the bottom of the fi fth, brought the fi nal score to 6-1

Saturday USA 15, Lehigh 9

Fifteen runs tied for the fi fth-most in pro-gram history, marking the most USA has scored since hanging 16 on Southern Illinois on Feb. 18, 2012. It was also the most USA has given up since falling, 12-1, to No. 3 Alabama on Feb. 11 of the same year.

USA’s 16 total hits on Saturday ties for the third-most all-time, 14 RBI ties for fourth-most, four doubles ties for fourth-most and nine earned runs allowed ties for seventh-most.

South Alabama recorded a new program single-game record for stolen bases after successfully stealing all seven versus the Mountain Hawks.

Blair Johnson’s four hits ties a single-game school record. The junior went 4-for-4 on the day with four RBI and two runs scored to lead USA, which outhit Lehigh, 16-10. Five Jaguars recorded multiple hits on Saturday, including Amanda Minahan (3-for-5), Stephanie Pilk-ington (2-for-4), Kaitlyn Griffi th (2-for-4) and Taylor Rodgers (2-for-3).

USA’s evening contest with Mercer was can-celed due to inclement weather in the Orlando area.

The Jags went up 4-0 in the opening frame, beginning with Johnson’s RBI single that scored Pilkington, who drew a leadoff walk. Rathburn then reached on a throwing error by Lehigh’s second baseman, which allowed Johnson to round home for a 2-0 USA lead.

The Jaguars went up 6-0 in the bottom of the second after Messer scored on Minahan’s single, and the latter was plated on Johnson’s subsequent double to deep center fi eld.

Lehigh cut the lead in half in the top of the

Jaguars are 4-for-4 in Orlando, Florida facing oppenents including No. 17 University of Georgia

COURTESY OF USA JAGUARS South Alabama Athletics

Dunn recorded double-fi gures with 16 points against the Trojans on Saturday.

See Softball wins big Softball wins big Page 11

11VOL. 54, NO. 7 / FEB. 24, 2014

third after two Mountain Hawk runners got on and were brought home via a fi elder’s choice and groundout. USA got one back in the bot-tom of the third with a Jones pinch-run score from third after Herron’s leadoff walk.

USA extended its lead to 11-3 with a four-run fourth inning. Minahan led off the frame with a single to right and quickly touched home when Johnson tripled to left center. Griffi th then sent Johnson home with a double off the center fi eld wall.

South Alabama added two runs to its total in the bottom of the fi fth beginning with Pilk-ington’s score on a wild Lehigh pitch. Johnson then delivered an RBI single up the middle to plate Minahan, who previously singled.

The Jaguars put up two more scores to make 15 in the bottom of the sixth on Pilk-ington’s two-RBI double to left center, which scored Messer, who singled, and Breeden, who reached on a fi elder’s choice fi nishing off the contest.

Sunday USA 3, UGA 2

USA junior Blair Johnson delivered a two-run homer in the bottom of the fi rst inning to give South Alabama a 2-1 lead after the Bull-dogs scratched a run across in the opening frame.

UGA (11-1), which took its fi rst loss of the year, outhit South Alabama, 6-3, on the day, but erred twice. UGA left 10 runners on base to USA’s six.

Starter Hannah Campbell Struck out fi ve batters and allowed six hits and two runs (earned) to three walks in six innings of work. Farish Beard moved to 6-1 on the year with her win, entering the game when the score was tied, after striking out two to two walks in one inning of relief.

Johnson put USA up, 2-1, in the bottom of the fi rst when she ripped a one-out two-RBI

homer to right fi eld, scoring Pilkington who drew a leadoff walk. The two RBI gave John-son eight total on the weekend. She hung four RBI on Lehigh on Saturday, tying the program’s single-game best.

Georgia tied the game, 2-2, in the top of the sixth when pinch-hitter Tina Iosefa delivered an RBI single that plated Adele Harrison, pinch-running for catcher Katie Browne, who singled before.

USA loaded the bags in the bottom of the sixth with two outs when Kaitlyn Griffi th was hit by a pitch, Chloe Rathburn doubled and Alex Breeden was walked intentionally, but Wilkinson struck out freshman Taylor Rodgers to keep the score level.

Beard entered the circle in the top of the seventh and immediately walked two batters before striking out two and forcing a foul out

USA junior designated player Amanda Her-ron drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the seventh, Jones entering to pinch run for her. Jones was pushed to second on Emily Messer’s sacrifi ce bunt, and Jones rounded home to end the game on Minahan’s laser and the subse-quent UGA throwing error.

On the weekend, USA batted .343 to op-ponents’ .215. The Jaguars outscored oppo-nents, 32-12, and outhit them, 36-23. USA slugged .514 as a team and recorded an overall on-base percentage of .442. Johnson led at the plate, going 9-for-13 (.692) with eight RBI, fi ve runs scored, a 1.154 slugging percentage and .643 on-base percentage.

Hannah Campbell was 2-0 in the circle with 15 total strikeouts on the weekend, two runs al-lowed (earned) and only fi ve walks allowed in 14 1/3 innings pitched for a 0.98 ERA. Farish Beard was 1-0 with 11 strikeouts and one run allowed (earned) to only three walks in eight in-nings pitched.

USA travels to Nicholls State on Wednes-day, Feb. 26, for a midweek clash in Thibodaux, La.

COURTESY OF USAJAGUARS

Blair Johnson tied the school record for RBI in a game with four RBIs on Saturday against Lehigh.

Continued from Page 10

Softball wins big Softball wins big

After losing the season opening series against Tennessee Tech, South Ala-

bama’s baseball team looked to rebound Tues-day night as the Alabama State Hornets came to Stanky Field with different plans. The Hor-nets shocked the Jag faithful as they shut out the Jaguars 5-0 while only allowing four hits.

South Alabama left-hander Jared Gates took the mound, and it didn’t start off as planned. Hornet center fi elder Richard Amion led the game off with a solo home run to left-center fi eld, which gave the Hornets what ulti-mately ended up being the game winning run. Gates did not let the lead-off home run rattle him as he retired 18 of his next 19 batters. He fi nished allowing only three hits and one run while striking out three over seven innings.

“Gates really battled for us tonight,” man-ager Mark Calvi said. “I thought he was out-standing.”

Jaguar pitcher Tripp Hobbs came in to pitch the eighth inning and struggled. He al-lowed a single, hit a batter and walked another to load the bases. Hornet catcher Richard Gonzalez followed with a two-run single, which gave the Hornets a 3-0 lead. Calvi im-mediately made a change, bringing in Hunter Soleymani who limited the damage as the Jags escaped the rest of the inning unharmed.

The Jaguars, who couldn’t get anything go-

ing offensively in the bottom of the eighth in-ning, hoped to keep the defi cit at three going into the bottom of the ninth. That was not the case as Soleymani gave up a two-run bomb to Hornet fi rst baseman Dexter Price, extending the lead for the Hornets to 5-0, which ulti-mately ended up being the fi nal score.

South Alabama had only three walks as a team coming into Tuesday’s action. The team more than doubled that number against Ala-bama State as they walked a total of eight times. The only thing that all the walks ac-counted for was adding to the number of Jaguars who were left stranded on base – 14. The closest the Jags came to scoring was in the bottom of the fi fth inning when Davis Knapp was tagged out at home after a beautiful throw by Hornet left fi elder Dillon Cooper.

“It was disappointing tonight all the way around, especially from an offensive stand-point,” Calvi said. “The amount of men we left on base all weekend was disappointing.”

Hornet starter Mike Estevez got the win as he threw fi ve innings of no run baseball while striking out fi ve and allowing only three hits. Jag left-hander Gates is tagged with his fi rst loss of the season as the Jaguars concluded this game with a disappointing record of 1-3 to start the year.

The Jags will next face Jacksonville State University at Stanky Field Feb. 25 at 6:30 p.m. and Feb. 26 at 3 p.m.

Baseball takes another lossBaseball takes another lossBy SAMUEL BROWN Contributing Writer

VOL. 54, NO. 7 / FEB. 24, 201412

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The University of South Ala-bama tennis team recently

ended their seven-match home stand when they hosted The Univer-sity of Southern Mississippi this past Wednesday at the Bruce David Lubel Memorial Tennis Courts.

Last February, Southern Miss claimed their fi rst win over USA since the 1990 season when they topped the Jaguars 4-3.

This season, the USM Golden Eagles, who are also in their spring campaign, went into the game with a 5-4 record. However, this was short-lived as the men’s tennis team soon had four singles wins in straight sets, defeating Southern Miss into a 5-5 overall record.

“Everyone gave an excellent ef-fort today,” USA head coach Nick Brochu said. “I’m very disappointed the way we played doubles, though, but we had a big turnaround in sin-gles.”

According to USAJaguars, No. 104 junior Daniel Leitner (Nieder-fi schbach, Germany) picked up his eighth-straight win and tied the match at 1-1 when he downed Brad Marriott 6-1, 6-1 at the No. 1 spot. Freshman Tuki Jacobs (Windhoek, Namibia) gave the Jags a 2-1 lead when he topped Alex Doleac at No. 3. Juan Escobar followed up with a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Juan Troglia

(Mendoza, Argentina) on the No. 6 court to even the match at 2-2.

“Once again, we got some quick wins from Daniel and Tuki,” Brochu said. “It is such a big advantage, as far as confi dence goes, to get up on the board really early. Those two guys re-ally stepped up.”

As for doubles, according to US-AJaguars, Manuel Belda (Posadas, Misiones, Argentina) and Gerhard Gruindelingh (Pretoria, South Afri-ca) got USA on the board with an 8-3 win over Marriott and Doleac on the

No. 1 court. USM responded with Escobar and Paulo Alvarado’s 8-4 victories over senior Shayann Vaez-zadeh (Bavent, France) and Troglia at No. 3.

Chao-Yu Huang and Vasco Val-verde clinched the doubles point for Southern Miss when they dropped Leitner and sophomore Sean Robin-son (Diamondhead, Miss.) 8-5 in the No. 2 fl ight.

“We came out a little fl at at the Nos. 2 and 3 positions in doubles,” Brochu said. “We played what I call

Men’s golf hosts Mobile Bay IntercollegiateMen’s golf hosts Mobile Bay Intercollegiate

Junior Manuel Belda helped secure the match for South Alabama with a win over Paulo Alvarado in the No. 2 fl ight.

For the fi fth year in a row, the University of South Alabama

recently hosted the Mobile Bay In-tercollegiate at the par-72, 7,212-yard Magnolia Grove Crossings Golf Course Monday, Feb. 17 and Tuesday, Feb. 18.

The USA Individual Tournament teed off Monday at 8:30 a.m. and in-cluded a fi eld of 36 competitors from 13 of the participating schools. After 36 holes following a shotgun start on the fi rst day, the fi nal round continued Tuesday beginning from the fi rst and 10th tees.

The event hosted 15 schools total, including No. 27 Auburn and No. 28 Wake Forest. The Jags were paired with both teams, opening on the fi rst, second and third holes.

“It’s always good to get back into competition, the guys have had almost

three months of downtime,” Jaguar head coach Ben Hannan said. “Since mid-January, they have been getting back into the swing of things, every-one is ready to get going on Monday, starting at home is always nice; there’s a comfort factor and you’re not trav-eling, so it is a good way to break into the spring and hopefully will lead to good results.”

According to USAJaguars, Ryan Pope carded a 2-under-par 70—the low round of the day for the Uni-versity of South Alabama men’s golf team—to pace the Jaguars. After a 75 that afternoon, the freshman was tied for 14th place among the 75 individu-als in the fi eld with a 1-over-par 145 total.

Michael Garretson recorded a 72 in the second round, a three-stroke improvement from his morning total, and was tied for 21st. Lane Hulse tied for 21st and Blake Kelley stood 58th

with a 152 two-round score. Matt Sheehan shot a 78 in the opening round and had a 161 total.

“In the fi rst round we actually got off to a very good start and unfortu-nately closed poorly coming in,” Han-nan stated. “In the afternoon round, the guys started to play pretty solid golf. Michael (Garretson) was plug-ging along and made an eagle on No. 6 to get back to 1 under, then stayed with that and played pretty well. Again, coming in we let a few shots slip away or our afternoon round would’ve been very competitive.”

The fi nal day of the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate, both Pope and Gar-retson recorded a 1-under-par 71, helping the University of South Ala-bama men’s golf team post its best team total.

According to USAJaguars, with an even-par 216 three-round score, Pope not only had his best fi nish as a Jag-

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uar, placing 13th in a fi eld of 75, but he was one shot shy of equaling his previous 54-hole low carded in his collegiate debut in September. It was the fi rst time in six events that Pope has paced the Jags.

“The guys played well today, shooting 2 over to have our best round. It was nice to fi nish on a good note,” Hannan noted. “As a group, we have some things we need to ad-dress, but all in all we are close and certainly moving in the right direc-tion. The more we play this spring, the better it is going to be.”

No. 27 Auburn won the tourna-ment title for the second year in a row, posting a 6-under-par 858 score after shooting 2 under on the fi nal day.

The USA men’s golf team will be in action again when play begins on Monday, March 3 at the Samford In-tercollegiate in Birmingham, Ala.

Men’s tennis 4-3 victory over Southern MissMen’s tennis 4-3 victory over Southern MissBy JENNA MUNDAY Staff Reporter

Tennis rallies after dropping doubles point, wins four singles for the win over USM

‘shy tennis.’ We played to not lose in-stead of playing to win, and Southern Miss was much louder than us and it did not feel like we were playing at home. After doubles, we had a big talk, and we went into singles really on fi re. We got three early breaks, and we won the fi rst set on fi ve of six courts.”

The Jaguars added to their two-match win streak and now hold a 7-3 record in their spring campaign. The USA Jags will play again Feb. 28-March 1 at the H-E-B Invitational in Corpus Christi, Texas.

By JENNA MUNDAY Staff Reporter

Jaguar golf ends Mobile Bay Intercolligate with Pope finishing the match 13 out of 75

COURTESY OF USAJAGUARS

13VOL. 54, NO. 7 / FEB. 24, 2014

On the road in San Marcos, Texas the Jaguars drop game in last seconds of exciting overtime

By SAMUEL BROWNContributing Writer

Men’s basketball drops overtime thriller to Texas State Men’s basketball drops overtime thriller to Texas State

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The Jaguars traveled to San Marcos, Texas,

Thursday to take on the Tex-as State Bobcats for the first ever meeting between the two schools. This game had huge implications in regards to the Sun Belt Tournament as the winner would take ninth place in the conference. Only the top eight teams make it to New Or-leans for the conference tourna-ment.

A huge Jaguar run at the end of the second half tied the game and sent it into overtime,

but a controversial foul call on Mychal Ammons with 2.6 sec-onds left in overtime sent Bob-cat Joel Wright to the free throw line where he made both shots, sealing the Bobcats’ victory 67-66.

“We have good kids in that locker room, and they care,” head coach Matthew Graves said. “We just need to under-stand that you have to play a full 40 minutes; in this case, a full 45. We just had too many lapses tonight where we didn’t have enough of a sense of urgency from start to finish.”

After taking an early 4-3 lead, the Jags trailed until 3:04 re-

maining in the second half when a Barrington Stevens free throw tied the game up at 50-50. With 26 seconds remaining in the second half, the Bobcats held a 55-53 lead and sent senior Reid Koenen to the line. In the Jaguars’ favor, he went 1-for-1 at the line to keep it a one possession game. The missed free throw set up for a Stevens 3-pointer to tie the game at 56-56 with 18 seconds remaining.

“We wanted to come down and set a high ball-screen for a pick-and-pop, and they end-ed up switching so Barrington ended up on one of their bigs,” Graves said. “He made a great

move, and the big backed up so he was able to get a good shot off. It was a really nice shot that he made.”

After a quick Bobcat turn-over, the Jags got the ball back with seven seconds remain-ing. Stevens couldn’t provide the magic again as his layup as time expired was blocked. The blocked layup sent the game into overtime. The Jaguars ulti-mately lost 67-66.

“I was disappointed with our lack of communication. We did not build upon some of the things we did really well on Sat-urday,” Graves said. “When we were in our zone on Saturday,

we talked, we communicated and we located shooters. To-night, we had Koenen on the scouting report as a shooter, and we allowed him to hit five threes in the first half and he hit seven for the game. It’s dis-appointing that we didn’t locate him time and time again.”

Augustine Rubit led the Jag-uars with 22 points and 7 re-bounds, while forward Reid Koenen led the Bobcats with 26 points and 5 rebounds.

With the loss, the Jaguars fall to 8-18 overall and 2-11 in Sun Belt play. The Bobcats improve to 8-18 overall and 4-9 in con-ference play.

ALYSSA NEWTON | SPORTS EDITOR

VOL. 54, NO. 7 / FEB. 24, 201414OpinionOpinion MATTHEW STRICKLAND, OPINION EDITOR

strickland.matthew12@gmail.comLEAVE COMMENTS FOR OPINION AT thevanguardonline.com/opinionfeedback

Fans should demand more from country musicFans should demand more from country music

By CURRY BEEKERContributing Writer

On Feb. 11, Eric Church released his long-awaited

fourth album, “The Outsiders.” In interviews preceding the al-bum’s release, Church promised a very progressive album. He told Rolling Stone, “I don’t know how people are going to take it.” He elaborated, “I don’t know if we’ll

make another one. I can’t imagine continuing to try to push the en-velope. How do you keep doing that?” Upon hearing such news, I was ecstatic. After Jason Aldean’s mediocre (to be generous) “Night Train” and Jake Owen’s uninspir-ing “Days of Gold,” I was truly desperate for a good country al-bum. Advanced word claimed the album would refl ect heavy rock infl uence and be vastly different from his earlier work. Upon hear-ing such news, waiting for the al-bum to drop became more akin to Melissa McCarthy counting down to National Doughnut Day at Krispy Kreme.

Feb. 11 arrived. After I fi nally opened my CD (they should use those security devices to guard safes (maybe that’s why no one buys CDs anymore?)) and popped

it in my car’s CD player, I felt un-derwhelmed. Though it is still a good album, I defi nitely think it is not as consistent as “Sinners Like Me” or “Carolina.” Equally as de-pressing, those two albums were much more “envelope-pushing.” Then it hit me—this highlights everything that is wrong with the current era of country music.

In an era where we, the listen-ers, reward “artists” (I use that term quite loosely these days) for using the Luke Bryan Formula (trucks plus hot girls catalyzed by alcohol yields a hit record), it’s not very surprising that “The Outsid-ers” appears progressive. Sure, the spoken word monologue on “Devil, Devil” is an interesting touch, but is this an album which will be cited as inspiration by the next generation of musicians?

Many of my friends despise country music. When grilled about what, exactly, they hate so much, I always got the same re-sponse: “All the songs sound the same.” I used to chuckle at their ignorance of the style as a whole, citing acts such as Brooks and Dunn, Lonestar and the Dixie Chicks as examples in country’s defense. Lately however, it’s get-ting increasingly diffi cult to sup-port the genre, as homogenized, blase songwriting asserts domi-nance over the air waves.

Surprisingly, country music fi nds itself in a similar predica-ment as rap music. Once MCs found out rapping about dealing cocaine was profi table, everyone spun tales of how they used to be their hometown’s Tony Montana. Today “crack rap” is ubiquitous,

and the only thing really evolv-ing in the genre these days is the beats. Country is staring down a similar barrel as more songs fol-low the Luke Bryan Formula and fi nd success.

Though not as breathtaking as promised, we are indebted to “The Outsiders.” It should be viewed as a call to arms for country fans ev-erywhere. If we want better songs, we as consumers must demand it, rather than accepting what record companies release. So stop listen-ing to Randy Houser’s third single in a row about riding in his truck through the country and tell your-self that you (and America!) de-serve better music. Because if we remain complacent, we’ll be stuck waiting for the “country music Jesus” Eric Church prophesized. Here’s to hoping he’s a country music Gabriel.

The United States should stay out of UkraineThe United States should stay out of Ukraine

By RYAN WALLACEContributing Writer

As I type this, The New York Times is reporting that armed policemen

have fi red into massed protesters in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev, marking the bloodiest day (according the Times’ story) since Soviet times. The fatalities probably number somewhere between 39, the Ukrai-nian government’s accounting, and 100, the number given by the protestors.

The violent outburst comes a day after a truce was declared between the protest lead-ers and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanu-kovych. The truce quickly broke down amid renewed violence and the capture of several police offi cers by the protest movement.

The situation is yet another in what seems an unrelenting stream of high-profi le civil eruptions worldwide, from Egypt to Brazil to Libya to Venezuela. Unfortunately, the es-calating violence during the last week looks less and less like the protests in Sao Paolo

last year and more like the full-scale civil war that has embroiled Syria in recent years.

Unfortunately, the situation in Kiev bears another unfortunate resemblance to Syria. Not six months removed from his infamous “red line” comments threatening military ac-tion against Bashar al-Assad’s government forces in Syria, President Obama has again raised the possibility of U.S. action if Yanu-kovych called the military into Kiev to crack down on the protestors. “We have been watching very carefully, and we expect the Ukrainian government to show restraint, to not resort to violence in dealing with peace-ful protesters,” Obama said. “There will be consequences if people step over the line.”

We can only hope the president has learned from his Syrian misadventure. While his heart is almost certainly in the right place, threatening U.S. response to what is a Ukrainian issue is a can of worms the United States should be loath to open. Much like the Syrian situation, the Ukrainian pro-testers are a mix of many different factions and movements, some of them of the type (fascist, communist, etc.) that the U.S. should never associate itself with under any circum-stances.

More importantly, an expedition that is more political than military is the last thing that our military needs. After more than a decade of war, which saw incredible domi-nance by the U.S. military over its opponents and incredible mismanagement by politi-cians back home, the U.S. needs a break. We

need time to assess what our military’s role is going to be in the world from this point forward and how our military and its civil-ian leadership will accomplish our goals in the future.

But more than anything else, despite the good intentions of our people and politi-cians, we need to allow national self-deter-minism to run its course. As our own nation-

al history proves, it can be a long, uncertain, violent process, but allowing the people of a nation to determine their own futures is the only way to protect the individual rights that we Americans hold dear.

I don’t think anyone enjoys the pictures of bloodied protesters lying in the streets, but the people who need to solve the prob-lems in Kiev are Ukrainian, not American.

15VOL. 54, NO. 7 / FEB. 24, 2014

JagPulse

Did you watch the 2014 Winter Olympics? If so what was your favorite part?

Carlton Warnberg I actually didn’t watch the Winter Olympics at all this year. I just followed the updates on Twitter. I still root for Team USA, but I guess they just

don’t interest me nearly as much as thesummer Olympics. To post your answers

to the next JagPulse, be sure to follow us

on Facebook.

Recently, Jay Leno retired for a second time, leaving The

Tonight Show to Jimmy Fallon. I certainly hope he does a good job, that is to say if he keeps the job.

In elementary school, whenever

exchanges were made or gifts were given, it was necessary to call no take backs. Much like calling dibs or making a pinky promise, a per-son who did not obey the unwrit-ten rules was labeled a cheater.

Typically in elementary school, unless you called no take backs, someone might give you a pen or a rubber gripper and then make you return it. No harm was really done, and the only result of this transac-tion would be your squashed hopes of receiving a cool freebie.

On May 29, 2009, Jay Leno hosted his fi nal Tonight Show for the fi rst time. He left to host The

Jay Leno Show just one time slot earlier. The prestigious position of The Tonight Show host, previ-ously held by the likes of Johnny Carson, was to be passed to Conan O’Brien, whom Leno called “cer-tainly the most deserving person for the job.”

Yet, when Conan’s ratings fal-tered slightly, NBC made the de-cision to push Leno’s new show and The Tonight Show back by an hour, placing Leno in a late-night time slot and The Tonight Show after midnight EST.

This decision was made without consulting with Conan. And with

Leno’s approval, NBC gave Conan an ultimatum: either accept the time change or leave NBC. Keep-ing its legacy in mind, Conan re-fused to let The Tonight Show air after midnight, and accepted the only other offer available.

Since elementary school, never have I felt a need to call no take backs. Yet, perhaps if Conan had called no take backs shortly after becoming The Tonight Show host, he might still be the host today.

My advice to Mr. Fallon: if you would like to keep your new job, be wary, be entertaining and, above all, call no take backs.

By SHANNON HOUSEContributing Writer

Hillary Renée Jones Loved seeing Meryl Davis and Charlie White win gold in Ice Dancing!

Joshua Estelle It was a disaster.

Phillip Pierce As always, BOBSLED!

Kim Lynn I liked all the ski events and speed skating

Dennis Mersereau There was an Olympics?

Travis Miller The Dutch dominating the speed skating.

Rodman is the key to US-North Korea relationsRodman is the key to US-North Korea relations

By MATTHEW STRICKLANDOpinion Editor

The United Nations’ commis-sion on human rights in

North Korea has been gathering data and testimonies for more than a year and says that the evidence of mur-der, deliberate starvation, torture and rape by the government is suffi cient enough to call for a trial by the Inter-national Criminal Court.

The actions of North Korea’s Su-preme Leader, Kim Jong-un, have caused him and his entire regime to be likened to Hitler’s Nazi-era Ger-many. The parallels between the two are appalling.

Testimony from one North Ko-rean guard detailed his duties, such as burning the bodies of those who have died from starvation and using

the ashes as fertilizer. The Nazis had similar inhumane practices. I remem-ber learning about World War II in grade school and the educational vid-eos that showed piles of bodies being burned and buried in mass quantities.

Michael Kirby, the leader of the panel that issued the study reveal-ing these atrocities, had this to say: “When you see that image in your mind of bodies being burned, it does bring back memories of the end of World War II, and the horror and the shame and the shock. I never thought that, in my lifetime, it would be part of my duty to bring revelations of a similar kind."

Other atrocities that have been re-corded include forcing a mother to drown her newborn simply because it was believed that the father may be Chinese, forcing a child to watch the public execution of his mother and sister and imprisoning more than 200,000 people only to squash any at-tempt at political dissent.

But there seems to be a glimmer of hope, a small hint that things will get better for the people of North Korea, and it goes by the name of Dennis Rodman.

A wedding dress wearing former

NBA star and WCW wrestler, Rod-man is one of the only Americans regularly invited to visit North Korea. Kim Jong-Un has been friends with Rodman for years now with one of the biggest reasons being basketball. “He loves his basketball,” Rodman said. “He has passion for it, I have passion for it.”

In fact, this past January, Kim Jong-Un invited Rodman to attend his 31st birthday, asking him to bring some former NBA stars with him to play against a team from North Ko-rea. Rodman seemed very happy to do it, and while there, dedicated the game to his “best friend” Kim Jong-Un and even sang him the birthday song.

Rodman saw it not only as a favor to his friend, but also as a chance at helping to bring North Korea out of seclusion. "I'm going to try and interact with him (Kim Jong-Un) on that point of love for sports. He loves sports. I like the guy, and he's an awe-some guy to me," Rodman said. "One thing is about showing people we can actually get along. Let's get along as human beings, not politicians."

During the fi rst half of the game, the team of former NBA stars played

against the team from North Korea, but during the second half, it was Rodman’s idea to merge the teams so that Americans and North Koreans were playing side-by-side and having to work together.

It’s not every day that an American gets to talk one-on-one with the Su-preme Leader Kim Jong-Un, so Rod-

man defi nitely needs to make the best of every trip that he can. Simply talk-ing about basketball or singing “Hap-py Birthday” to Kim Jong-Un isn’t going to save North Korea from or-chestrated starvation or false impris-onment, but it may be a much needed step in the right direction.

Dennis Rodman fi ghts the Nazi regimeJORDAN KNOX | CONTRIBUTING ARTIST

Catch the new Tonight Show host while you canCatch the new Tonight Show host while you can

VOL. 54, NO. 7 / FEB. 24, 201416