One of the top targets on Nebraska’s recruiting wishlist spurned the Big Red for blue and gold. Devin Fuller, a four-star quarterback recruit from Old Tappan, New Jersey, announced yesterday that he would be signing with UCLA, picking the Bruins over Nebraska, Arizona and Rutgers. The dual-threat quarterback had long been one of Nebraska’s top targets. But the Huskers aren’t hurting for quarterbacks in this class, having already received a commitment from four-star Texan Tommy Armstrong and having convinced the state’s top QB prospect, Grand Island’s Ryker Fyfe, to walk on. Nebraska’s list of scholarship commitments for the class of 2012 sits at 14 with National Signing Day on Wednesday. Several top targets remain undecided, including five-star offensive lineman Andrus Peat.
The 19th-ranked Nebraska women’s basketball team made it three straight victories with a 67-47 win over Illinois in Champaign yesterday. Lindsey Moore scored a game-high 20 points and Jordan Hooper set a new career high in rebounds with 16 to lead the Huskers to the win. In addition to the 16 boards, Hooper scored 12 points to collect her tenth double-double of the season. Emily Cady also scored in double figures for the Huskers, pouring in 17 points. Nebraska struggled from the field in the game, shooting just 33 percent, but their defense compensated, holding Illinois to just 29 percent shooting. The victory moves the Huskers to 18-3 on the season and 7-2 in Big Ten conference play. They are back in action on Thursday, when they travel to visit current Big Ten leaders Purdue.
Former Denver Nugget Chauncey Billups came back to haunt his former team in his hometown. The Denver native scored 32 points and drew a key offensive foul in the final seconds as the Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Nuggets 109-105 at the Pepsi Center last night. In his first game against the Nuggets since being included in the Carmelo Anthony trade last season, Billups hit six three-pointers to help the Clippers snap Denver’s six-game winning streak. Five players scored in double figures for the Nuggets, led by Nene’s 18. But Nene was called for an offensive foul when he tangled with Billups with 18 seconds left and the Nuggets down by two. Danilo Gallinari added 17 points for the Nuggets in the loss. The Nuggets fall to 14-6 on the season. They host Memphis on Tuesday night.
MINDEN, Neb. (North Platte Post)-The second of two suspects wanted in connection with a late night pursuit in which shots were fired at a Nebraska State Patrol trooper has been taken into custody.
Petr Strizheus, 18, Harrisburg, SD was taken into custody without incident around noon, Saturday, January 28, at the public library in Minden. Strizheus was arrested by Minden Police and a Kearney County Sheriff’s deputy after the librarian reported a suspicious subject to law enforcement.
Strizheus and another suspect were the subjects of a pursuit that led to an overnight search in Kearney County, when the two ditched the vehicle they were driving near the Fort Kearney Feedlot. The first suspect, Aleksandr Voznyuk, 22, Sioux Falls, SD was located at 2:00 a.m., hiding in a field near the feedlot.
Neither suspect was armed at the time of their arrests. Both men will be lodged in the Buffalo County Detention Center. The investigation into the incident continues.
The Nebraska State Patrol was assisted by the Kearney, Buffalo & Phelps County Sheriff’s Offices, and the Kearney and Minden Police Departments.
Wheel of Fortune’s Pat Sajak has admitted he has hosted the show while drunk.
Yesterday (Thursday) he told ESPN2’s Dan LeBatard that on long dinner breaks he and co-host Vanna White would down sweet-and-sour tequila cocktails at a bar across from their Burbank studio. “Vanna and I would go across and have two or three or six and then come and do the last shows and have trouble recognizing the alphabet. They are really good tapes to get a hold of.”
Sajak, 65, says his drinking days are behind him. “Now, if I were to inhale the cork and a bottle of wine I would probably keel over, I’m getting a little older for this.”
We’ve lost a Sweathog. Robert Hegyes, who played Epstein on Welcome Back Kotter, died from an apparent heart attack yesterday in New Jersey. He was 60.
The actor’s brother said he’d suffered a heart attack several years ago and was not in good health. Robert’sother acting credits include Cagney and Lacey, NewsRadio, Diagnosis Murder and The Drew Carey Show.
Hegyes along with his Kotter castmates — John Travolta (Vinnie Barbarino), Gabe Kaplan, Laurence Hilton-Jacobs (Freddie “Boom-Boom” Percy Washington) and Ron Palillo (Horshack) — reunited at the TV Land Awards last year to accept the 35th Anniversary Award.
