
A roundup of the sports information of the week
BASKETBALL—NBA: BALTIMORE (47-17) continued to lead the furious Eastern race, but PHILADELPHIA (43-21) knocked the Knicks out of second with four wins and a loss. NEW YORK (44-24) became the coolest team in the league, the Lakers ending the Knicks' 11-game winning streak, 113-109, and beginning their three-game losing streak. BOSTON (39-25), a far-from-out-of-it fourth, won three and lost only one, as CINCINNATI (34-31) stayed even with a four-game split, and DETROIT (26-41) lost ground by dropping four of five, which gave MILWAUKEE (20-45) higher hopes. The Bucks helped themselves by winning three of three. Flynn Robinson scored 41 points in the 106-97 win over Los Angeles, got 43 against the Hawks and 45, including a last-second 30-foot shot, in a 108-107 victory over the Pistons. LOS ANGELES (43-23) lost three of four but held first in the Western Division as ATLANTA (41-27) divided four. SAN FRANCISCO (32-35), with four wins and a loss, stayed in third, SAN DIEGO (28-37) in fourth with one win and two defeats. CHICAGO (26-40) and SEATTLE (24-43) held firm on splits, while PHOENIX won one and lost four. In the 124-121 loss to Baltimore, however, the Suns had a bright spot, Dick Van Arsdale scoring a career high of 44 points.
ABA: The biggest news of the week for the only minor league in the majors was that the New York Nets reportedly got the draft rights to homegrown Lew Alcindor, should he reject an NBA bid. In the West, OAKLAND (45-10) was still well in the lead, second-place DENVER (34-23) split two, third-place NEW ORLEANS (30-29) split four, fourth-place DALLAS (26-29) split four but won its eighth in a row over Indiana, fifth-place LOS ANGELES (24-33) split four and HOUSTON (17-37) lost all three. In the East, MIAMI (30-25) widened its lead over MINNESOTA (30-27) as KENTUCKY (28-27) moved into third behind two wins and a loss, and INDIANA (31-32) fell to fourth with three losses and only one win. NEW YORK (16-39) looking to Lewie, dropped two and won one.
BILLIARDS—ED KELLY, 30, of Las Vegas won the World Invitational Pocket Billiards championship at Los Angeles with a run of 109 in his 150-87 defeat of Joe Balsis of Minersville, Pa. and a 56-ball run in a 150-108 victory over Cicero Murphy of Brooklyn in the finals.
BOATING—American Eagle, the first U.S. 12-meter to campaign actively as an ocean racer, was first across the line in the Miami-to-Lucaya race, but the sloop—built for the 1964 America's Cup and now owned by Ted Turner of Atlanta—was beaten on corrected time by TOUCHE, skippered by Chips Virgin of Miami.
BOBSLEDDING—WEST GERMANY won the World Four-Man title at Lake Placid, N.Y. with its No. 2 sled piloted by Wolfgang Zimmerer (page 20).
BOXING—MANDO RAMOS, 20, of Long Beach, Calif., became the youngest lightweight champion in history when he was awarded a knockout over Carlos (Teo) Cruz, 31, of the Dominican Republic, at 2:41 of the 11th round in Los Angeles, the referee stopping the fight on account of a cut over Cruz's eye.
Efren (scorpion) Torres of Mexico scored an eighth-round TKO over Chartchai Chionoi of Thailand to win the world flyweight title at Mexico City.
GOLF—LEE TREVINO won the $100,000 Tucson Open by seven strokes over Miller Barber, finishing with a 271 (page 52).
HOCKEY—NHL: MONTREAL (37-16-8), with three wins and a loss, moved into first place in the East, ousting BOSTON (33-12-12), which had led the division for five weeks. The Bruins not only lost both games, but also Phil Esposito, the NHL's leading scorer, who was suspended for two games because of pushing and punching a referee. DETROIT (29-23-9) popped into third place with two wins, a loss, a tie and the 18th career hat trick for Gordie Howe. NEW YORK (30-23-6) dipped to fourth with one loss and a tie. CHICAGO (29-26-6) rose to fifth with three wins, a loss and Bobby Hull's first hat trick since Dec. 8, pushing TORONTO (26-20-11) back into sixth. ST. LOUIS (33-17-12) continued to ride herd on the West and won its first game in Los Angeles, 3-1, but lost its first ever to OAKLAND (23-28-9). The Seals beat the Blues 3-2 but failed in an attempt to move their franchise to Vancouver. LOS ANGELES (20-32-6) lost all four games, but the Kings held onto third as fourth-place PHILADELPHIA (13-32-15) lost two of three. MINNESOTA (15-34-9) split two, and PITTSBURGH (13-38-9) split four, thereby gaining two points on the North Stars.
HORSE RACING—It was a great day for long shots and a bad one for favorites as YUMBEL ($94.40), an 8-year-old Chilean-bred horse ridden by Fernando Toro, won the 1-mile, $137,200 Widener Handicap by a head at Hialeah over favored Funny Fellow; and PRAISE JAY ($84.60) won the 1‚⅛-mile, $87,550 San Antonio Stakes, Miguel Yanez up, by 3½ lengths over favored Racing Room at Santa Anita.
MOTOR SPORTS—LEE ROY YARBROUGH of Columbia, S.C. won both the Permatex 300 and the Daytona 500 in a Ford, at Daytona Beach, Fla. (page 50).
SKIING—In World Cup competition GERTRUD GABL won the giant slalom in Czechoslovakia to move into first place. Marilyn Cochran of Richmond, Vt. was second. EDMUND BRUGGMAN of Switzerland won the men's event in Yugoslavia.
In the Nationals at Bear Valley, Calif., two other members of the Cochran family, BARBARA and BOB, won the giant slalom and slalom.
SPEED SKATING—JOHANNA SCHUT of Holland won the Women's World championship at Inzell, Germany, setting world records in the 3,000 meters (4:50.3) and in the 1,500 (2:18.5).
TENNIS—Top-seeded MARY ANN EISEL of St. Louis won the U.S. National Indoor Women's Singles championship at Winchester, Mass., beating Stephanie DeFina of Hollywood, Fla., 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
TRACK AND FIELD—Setting his own pace, GEORGE YOUNG increased his winning streak to 16 as he tied Kerry Pearce's world indoor record of 8:27.2 in the two-mile run at the San Diego Indoor Games. Young actually was timed in 8:27.1, but the international rule is that times of all events above a mile must be rounded off" to the next highest even tenth. WILLIE DAVENPORT kept his streak alive in San Diego, too, taking his 14th straight indoor race with a 6.9 in the 60-yard high hurdles; he had won the 55-meter high hurdles at the U.S. Olympic Invitational in New York the night before. NAIA mile champion JIM CRAWFORD of Harding College in Searcy, Ark. won the mile on San Diego's fine track in 4:01.2, the second-fastest time of the indoor season (and his fastest ever), 1.1 seconds ahead of Dave Patrick. Back at the Garden, the world's premier demi-decathlon was held. It consisted of five events, and Olympic gold-medalist BILL TOOMEY won the minisplendored thing with 4,278 points, 446 more than Rick Sloan of Los Angeles. Toomey put the shot 47'—his personal best—ran the 55-meter dash in 6.2, the 300 meters in 35.9 and long-jumped 24'4". The only event he lost was the high jump, which Sloan won at 6'7". In the proper high jump ED CARUTHERS of the Pacific Coast Club leaped 7'2" (the season's high), breaking the nine-meet streak of Ron Jourdan.
MILEPOSTS—DIED: GUY HARRIS (DOC) WHITE, 89, former pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies and the Chicago White Sox (1901-1913), after a lengthy illness, in Washington, D.C. White's major league shutout record of five consecutive games was broken last summer by Don Drysdale.
DIED: IVAN B. (IVY) WILLIAMSON, 58, athletic director at the University of Wisconsin from 1955 until last month, of injuries suffered in a fall at home in Madison, Wis.