A roundup of the week Feb. 6-12
PRO BASKETBALL—NBA: In increments of some 24 hours, the Philadelphia 76ers continued to outdo themselves. With each loss they broke their own league record—20 straight after a 108-90 setback at Los Angeles. It was the 11th straight defeat for Coach Kevin Loughery, who replaced Roy Rubin at the All-Star break. Nate Archibald, still the scoring and assist leader, hit for a game-high 37 points to complement his 20 assists as Kansas City-Omaha defeated Houston 121-116. The Kings remained in third place in the Midwest Division behind Milwaukee and Chicago. The Bulls beat the Kings 102-101 on Bob Love's tip-in at the buzzer. Love had 34 points in that game after scoring 44 the night before in a 103-97 win at Cleveland. The Atlantic Division race between Boston and New York remained as close as it has been all season—one game, more or less. Baltimore's lead was 5½ games over Atlanta in the Central Division. The Lakers maintained a nine-game advantage over Golden State and 17 over the Suns in the Pacific.
ABA: Julius (Dr.J) Erving entertained a few friends from New York and Kentucky, but the cover charge was high. Erving scored a career-record 58 points in Virginia's 123-108 win over the Nets at Norfolk. In a game against Kentucky at Richmond, Erving, the ABA's leading scorer, had 20 of his 48 points in the final period as the Squires came from behind for a 105—100 win over the Colonels. Earlier in the week, however, Erving's team-high 22 points was not enough for the East, which lost to the West 123-111 in the Ail-Star Game at Salt Lake City. Willie Wise and Warren Jabali, the game's Most Valuable Player, led the West during a spurt in the last quarter that broke open the game. In divisional races Carolina held a 4½-game advantage over Kentucky in the East and Utah had a 2½-game edge over Indiana in the West.
BOWLING—CARMEN SALVINO of Chicago defeated Bob Strampe 245-204 to win the $85,000 Lincoln-Mercury Open tournament in New Orleans for a first prize of $10,000 and a new automobile.
BOXING—JERRY QUARRY scored a unanimous 12-round decision over Ron Lyle in a heavyweight bout at Madison Square Garden (page 60).
GOLF—Winning his fifth Bob Hope Classic, ARNOLD PALMER carded a 17-under 343 for 90 holes in Palm Springs, Calif. Palmer had a three-under 69 on the final round to defeat Jack Nicklaus and Johnny Miller by two strokes.
Kathy Whitworth carded a 54-hole total of 219 to win the $25,000 Naples-Lely LPGA Classic at Naples, Fla. by two strokes.
GYMNASTICS—SOUTHERN ILLINOIS handed the University of California its first loss in 55 dual meets by recording a 161.00—360.35 victory at Berkeley.
HARNESS RACING—JOHNNY CHAPMAN won the Florida Drivers' Championship by three points (198 to 195) over Billy Haughton at Pompano Park, Fla., as Herve Filion, winner of trotting's national driving title for the past four years, finished third with 189 points (page 22).
HOCKEY—-NHL: For the first two periods, at least, it looked as though the New York Rangers were going to cut Montreal's lead to just two points in the East Division. New York held a 2—0 lead in quest of its 11th straight home victory, which would have broken the 33-year-old club record the team tied the day before in beating the Islanders 6-0. But Montreal scored twice in the last 20 minutes for a 2-2 tie and—for the meantime—status quo in the race. Boston, seeking to break out of its current slump, received a hat trick from veteran Mike Walton in the first period in a 6-3 triumph over Pittsburgh. The game also marked the return of penalty-killer Derek Sanderson, who had signed with the Bruins three days before. Chicago, the top team in the West, rallied to defeat Atlanta 4—3 in a game that could prove costly. Stan Mikita, who tied the score at 3-3 in the final period with his 398th career goal, broke a bone in his left heel on the play and should be out for about three weeks.
WHA: Quite suddenly the East Division race is no longer tight. Cleveland opened its lead over New England to five points with an 8-4 win over the New York Raiders. The Crusaders scored four times in the last period as Ted Hodgson started the rout with a backhander in the first minute. Winnipeg increased its lead over Houston to seven points in the West with a 6-5 overtime victory at Los Angeles. Dune Rousseau tied the game in the last seven seconds of regulation time for Bobby Hull's Jets and Norm Beaudin won it in the overtime with his 25th goal. Hull scored the first two goals and had two assists, including setting up Rousseau on the game-tying goal.
HORSE RACING—Calumet Farm's GLEAMING ($5.40), with Angel Cordero Jr. riding, won the $68,900 Bougainvillea Turf Handicap at Hialeah, covering the 1[3/16] miles in 1:54[2/5].
MOTOR SPORTS—CHARLIE BLANTON, driving a 1973 Camaro, recorded a two-lap victory over Charles (Red) Farmer in the Royal Triton 300 stock-car race at Daytona. Blanton, who took the lead after 133 miles, averaged 150.062 mph in picking up the $5,400 top prize.
In his hometown of Sao Paulo, EMERSON FITTIPALDI drove a Lotus 72D John Player Special to an easy win in the Brazilian Grand Prix Formula I race. Fittipaldi finished 13.4 seconds ahead of Scotland's Jackie Stewart, who drove a Tyrrell-Ford 005 in the 200-mile, 40-lap race.
SKIING—Austria's ANNEMARIE PROELL achieved an unprecedented sweep of all eight World Cup downhill races this season by winning at St. Moritz, Switzerland to clinch the trophy with a perfect 125 points. She retained her combined lead in the World Cup standings with 250 points.
Norway's OTTO TSCHUDI won the slalom and JEAN-CLAUDE KILLY of France the giant slalom in pro racing at Beech Mountain, N.C. Spider Sabich, who was second in the slalom, remained the Benson & Hedges Grand Prix leader with 189 points, 13 more than Harald Stuefer and 20 more than Killy.
SPEED SKATING—ARD SCHENK of The Netherlands won the all-round class with 172.20 points for the $10,000 first prize in the first professional world championship at G√∂teborg, Sweden. Sweden's Hasse B√∂rjes captured the sprint title, worth $7,000.
SWIMMING—SHANE GOULD became the first woman to break 17 minutes in the 1,500-meter freestyle, lowering her own world record with 16:56.9 in the Australian National Championships. She also set a Commonwealth and Australian record with a 1:04.4 in the 100-meter butterfly.
TENNIS—After losing a two-set lead, STAN SMITH earned the $10,000 first prize in a WCT event in Philadelphia by beating his onetime doubles partner, Bob Lutz 7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 1-6, 6-4.
TRACK & FIELD—Olympic gold medalist ROD MIL-BURN set a world indoor record with a 13.3-second clocking in the 120-yard hurdles to highlight the Astrodome Federation meet at Houston.
In a pair of California meets, HERB WASHINGTON beat Olympic sprint champion Valery Borzov of the U.S.S.R. and STEVE PREFONTAINE ran the fastest indoor mile of the year with a 3:59.2 in the Los Angeles Times Indoor Games (page 64) and TOMMY LEE WHITE of the Southern California Striders equaled the American indoor record by turning in a 6.4-second effort in the 50-meter high hurdles at the Oakland Invitational meet.
The CHICAGO TRACK CLUB will submit its two-mile relay time of 7:23.6 in the Mason-Dixon Games at Louisville for consideration as a world indoor record. Dr. DELANO MERIWETHER won the 70-yard dash in 6.9 seconds.
MILEPOSTS—ELECTED: To the Baseball Hall of Fame, MONTE IRVIN, by the Special Committee on Negro Leagues.
ELECTED: RAY BLUTH of St. Louis, to the American Bowling Congress Hall of Fame.
RESIGNED: Effective the end of the current season, DICK LLOYD, head basketball coach at Rutgers University, whose team is 11-8 this year.
SIGNED: By his former employer, the Boston Bruins, DEREK SANDERSON, to a 1½ year contract through 1973-74 for an estimated $90,000.
SWITCHED: From athletic director at Florida Stale to the same post at Vanderbilt, CLAY STAPLETON.
TRADED: By the Baltimore Colts in their continued house-cleaning movement, Linemen DAN SULLIVAN and FRED MILLER, each for a future draft choice. Sullivan was sent to Oakland and Miller to Washington.
