A roundup of the sports information of the week
BASKETBALL—NBA: Lew Alcindor scored 34 points and Oscar Robertson 28, but New York beat Milwaukee 108-103, its fourth win in five games against the Bucks this season. Dave DeBusschere scored 33 points and Reed added 27 for the Knicks. Los Angeles, which had already clinched the Pacific Division crown, lost to Baltimore 107-95 and to Buffalo 116-109—its fifth defeat in six games since Jerry West was sidelined for the season with a knee injury. With the Central Division locked up by Baltimore and the Atlantic Division by New York, Atlanta's playoff berth battle with Cincinnati is the league's closest race.
ABA: Indiana beat Carolina 118-105 and Memphis 122-113 and then conquered division-leading Utah 106-95, cutting the Stars' margin to one game, but Virginia beat Indiana 129-111 on the following night. Although the Squires lost to New York 132-120 they maintained a seven-game lead in the East over Kentucky, which walloped Pittsburgh 157-132.
BOWLING—Third-seeded EARL ANTHONY of Tacoma, Wash, rolled five straight strikes late in the championship game of the $85,000 Cougar Open to defeat Roy Buckley of Columbus, Ohio 226-181 at Madison Square Garden.
GOLF—ARNOLD PALMER scored his second victory of the season by capturing the $150,000 Florida Citrus Invitational at Orlando. Palmer had a 270, 18 under par, and was one stroke ahead of 51-year-old Julius Boros.
HOCKEY—The Boston Bruins continued their assault on the record books, winning four games; over St. Louis (4-1), California (8-1), Los Angeles (7-2) and Vancouver (6—3). Phil Esposito scored two goals against Los Angeles to give him 60 for the season, two more than the NHL record set by his one-time teammate Bobby Hull two seasons ago. Bobby Orr assisted three times to surpass his 1969-70 mark of 87. The Bruins have now won 10 in a row. In the West Division, St. Louis lost three straight before trouncing Buffalo 9-0. Chicago lost to New York 4-2 but beat Montreal 4-1 to clinch first place in its division.
HORSE RACING—Favored ACK ACK ($3.60), who had seldom gone beyond seven furlongs, won the 1-mile, $145,000 Santa Anita Handicap in 2:03, 1½ lengths ahead of fast-closing Cougar II, Mary F. Jones' Chilean-bred contender. Ack Ack has won four straight for Mr. and Mrs. Buddy Fogelson since they bought him from the estate of Harry Guggenheim for $350,000 early this year. The horse has virtually repaid the purchase price by winning the San Pasqual Handicap and San Antonio Handicap prior to the Santa Anita race.
Mrs. Stephen C. Clark Jr.'s HOIST THE FLAG ($2.20), last year's juvenile champion and 3-to-1 future book favorite for the Kentucky Derby, made his first start in five months. Toting the top weight of 122, he won by 15 lengths at Bowie, running the six furlongs in a fast 1:10[3/5].
PLATFORM TENNIS—JESSE F. SAMMIS 3rd and GORDON GRAY of The Field Club of Greenwich, Conn. won the national doubles championships at Scarsdale, N.Y. for the third successive year by defeating John Mangan of Rye, N.Y. and Robert Kingsbury of Scarsdale 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, 6-1 in the final round.
In the women's national doubles at Washington, MRS. JOSEPH DILLENBECK and MRS. RONALD DE BREE edged four-time champions MRS. S. Warren Lee and Mrs. Charles C. Stanton 7-5, 4-6, 6-4.
SKIING—On the next-to-last day of competition 17-year-old ANNE MARIE PROELL of Austria clinched the World Cup at Abetone, Italy, winning the giant slalom by almost two seconds over France's Michele Jacot. On the following day the blonde teen-ager captured the final giant slalom by speeding down the 1,600-meter course in 1:32.37. Fran√ßoise Macchi of France was second in 1:35.43. Miss Proell finished with 210 points, 33 ahead of overall runner-up Michele Jacot.
Gustav Thöni of South Tyrol, Italy became the youngest winner of the men's World Cup title at 20 when Henri Duvillard of France crashed into a gate early in the first heat of the giant slalom at Aare, Sweden. Thöni had 155 Cup points to 135 for Duvillard, and the Frenchman's only chance was to score significantly in the event.
SPEED SKATING—ARD SCHENK of the Netherlands established world records of 7:12.1 for 5,000 meters and 14:55.9 in the 10,000 meters at Inzell, Germany. ERHARD KELLER of West Germany set a world mark of 38.42 in the 500.
TRACK & FIELD—Marty Liquori won both the two-mile (8:37.2) and the mile (4:04.7) as Villanova took its second NCAA indoor championship at Detroit (page 64). Only one athlete, Jim Ryun in 1968, had ever swept the difficult distance double in the two-day meet. Villanova ended up with 22 points, while Texas-El Paso had 19¼ and Wisconsin 15. AL SCHOTERMAN of Kent State shattered the collegiate indoor record in the 35-pound weight throw by almost 3½ feet with a toss of 68'10¼". Teammate Jacques Accambray took second with 67'1½", also better than the previous mark. MOHINDER GILL of Cal Poly at San Luis Obispo triple-jumped 52'9¾", PAT MATZDORF of Wisconsin high-jumped 7'2" and freshman BOB WHEELER of Duke ran 1,000 yards in 2:07.4 for other NCAA indoor marks.
Wolfgang Nordwig of East Germany set a world indoor pole-vault record by clearing 17'8½" in the European championships at Sofia, Bulgaria. Sweden's Kjell Isaksson had jumped 17'7¾". Russia's NADEZHDA CHIZHOVA established a women's world shotput record of 64'7½" at the indoor meet.
MILEPOSTS—COACHING CHANGES: Disagreement over administrative policies led Indiana University's basketball coach, LOU WATSON, to resign after six years. GEORGE HANSON resigned as Minnesota basketball coach after a dismal 11-13 season. The Gophers, an early pick to contend in their conference, dropped their first seven Big Ten contests. HOWARD STACEY, interim basketball coach at the University of Louisville while John Dromo recovered from a heart attack, signed a three-year pact with Drake, replacing MAURY JOHN who moved to Iowa State. Former freshman Coach JOHN HARNUM was given the No. 1 slot at Delaware, succeeding Dan Peterson, who resigned to enter private business. MEADE BURNETT of Ashland College was named track and cross-country coach at Ohio University, filling a position held by Stan Huntsman until he moved to Tennessee.
ELECTED: JESSE HARPER (Notre Dame), HOMER NORTON (Texas A&M), GEORGE SANFORD (Rutgers) and FRANCIS SCHMIDT (Ohio State); to the National Football Foundation's Hall of Fame. All four coaches will be installed in the special Pioneer category.
INVALIDATED: The NBA's rule against signing college athletes before graduation; by U.S. District Court Judge Warren J. Ferguson in Los Angeles. The decision, rendered in connection with the Spencer Haywood case, said the rule violated the Sherman Antitrust Act.
DIED: WILLIAM L. (BIG BILL) JAMES, 78, pitching star of the Boston Braves "Miracle Team" of 1914; in Oroville, Calif. The team was in last place on July 19 but won the pennant and defeated the Philadelphia Athletics in four straight games in the World Series.
DIED: DR. W. BARRY WOOD, 60, an All-America quarterback at Harvard and a Phi Beta Kappa; of a heart attack, in Boston. Wood was one of the only two men in the school's history to win 10 athletic letters.
