A roundup of the week Feb. 25-March 3
COLLEGE BASKETBALL—QUEENS (N.Y.) COLLEGE defeated Immaculata, the 1973 National Women's collegiate champion, 57-56 at Queens to end the Mighty Macs' 35-game winning streak.
PRO BASKETBALL—NBA: Over three years and 22 games Buffalo had never beaten Boston, and as Center Bob McAdoo put it: "We were beginning to think we were snakebit playing them." Then the Braves struck, taking a big bite out of the Celtic mystique with back-to-back 122-104 and 110-94 victories. And McAdoo provided the venom with 68 points and 33 rebounds. Buffalo then whipped Philadelphia 103-99 and was four wins (or four Atlanta losses) away from a playoff berth. Atlantic leader Boston, meanwhile, came back to destroy second-place New York 104-88 behind Don Chaney's season-high 26 points. In the Central Division, Atlanta, plagued by typical inconsistency, lost to lowly K.C.-Omaha 85-76. then buried Milwaukee 105-89 and edged Houston 129-122. Hawks Guard Pete Maravich, who confirmed on Tuesday that he was "seriously considering retirement," fired in 31 points on Friday against the Bucks. Atlanta trailed Capital (page 16) by nine games at week's end. In the Midwest, Milwaukee's Oscar Robertson showed signs of shaking his year-long doldrums, scoring nine of his 15 points in the first quarter in a 113-90 rout of Detroit, then hitting five of five plus five assists in the first half as the Bucks downed Seattle 116-99. Second-place Chicago lost three of four to fall four games off the pace. Detroit dropped four straight but remained five games up in the wild-card playoff scramble. The race in the Pacific Division tightened as both Golden State and Los Angeles, only 1½ games back, went unbeaten. The Lakers got yeoman work from Gail Goodrich, Hap Hairston and reserve Pat Riley in wins over Chicago 100-90, Buffalo 119-112, Milwaukee 110-108 and K.C.-Omaha 107-100.
ABA: With San Diego Coach Wilt Chamberlain mysteriously missing, the Qs beat Virginia 126-119 and Carolina 119-117. Then Wilt returned to watch New York overpower the Qs 138-119 as Julius Erving led seven Nets in double figures with 24 points. Still, the Qs were only 1½ games behind Denver and the last playoff spot in the West. San Antonio moved back into a second-place tie with Indiana, spurred by George Gervin, who scored 19 points in a 107-103 win over New York and added 28 more as the Spurs downed Denver 113-104. Utah finally righted itself 127-105 against Denver after five straight losses. The Stars led the division by 10 games. In the East, Kentucky beat the ABA's weak sisters, Virginia (104-83) and Memphis (123-117), as well as San Antonio 108-93, to move into a first-place tie with New York, which lost two of three. Carolina lost one, then edged Indiana 110-108 as Ted McClain set a league record of 222 steals in a single season.
GOLF—JERRY HEARD fired a three-under-par 69 on the final round to win $30,000 in the $150,000 Florida Citrus Open at Orlando. Heard's 72-hole total of 273 led Jimmy Jamieson and Homero Blancas by three strokes.
Kathy Whitworth shot a final-round 71 to win Florida's $30,000 Orange Blossom Classic in St. Petersburg with a total of 209, one stroke better than Sandra Haynie.
HOCKEY—NHL: Montreal's Claude Larose matched his season's total of three goals with a hat trick in the team's 6-5 victory over Atlanta, and when the club next swept past Pittsburgh, 7-1, the veteran winger scored four more. Even in defeat, 4-3 to California, Larose shone with two goals, and the Canadiens finished the week 10 points back of East leader Boston but four points ahead of New York. The Rangers ran their winning streak to six games, dropping Philadelphia 3-2, Vancouver 4-2 and Minnesota 3-1. Fifth-place Buffalo snapped Boston's 10-game undefeated skein 3-2. Boston walloped Detroit 8-1 as Ross Brooks tied an unofficial NHL record for consecutive wins by a goalie with 14. Buffalo tied Chicago 2-2 but lost to Philly 4-2 and trailed Toronto and a playoff berth by 10 points. Sixth-place Detroit, paced by Mickey Redmond's six goals in four games, won twice and held Boston to a 4-4 tie. Philadelphia kept first place in the West by two points over Chicago. Los Angeles doused Atlanta 3-1, then beat St. Louis 4-2. L.A.'s Butch Goring bested the Blues with his sixth goal in the last five games. The Kings thus lept from fifth to a third-place tie with the Blues, who lost twice. The Flames also lost two in a row and were one point back.
WHA: New England rookie John Cunniff proved a prime example of the Whaler depth that opposing coaches fear: called up from Jacksonville nine games ago. Cunniff scored his sixth goal in a 7-1 rout of Vancouver. New England earlier recovered from a 2-0 loss to second-place Toronto by whipping the Toros 5-3. The Whalers then tied Jersey 3-3 to remain atop the East heap, three points ahead of Toronto and four up on Quebec, which surged to three straight wins. In the West, second-place Minnesota swept past Winnipeg 4-0 and continued unbeaten through eight games. Saints Goalie Mike Curran kicked out 41 Jet shots while Mike Walton and Wayne Connelly both notched goal No. 37 of the year. The Saints still trailed Houston by 11 points, with Winnipeg and Edmonton rounding out the playoff foursome.
HORSE RACING—LONDON COMPANY ($6.40). Angel Cordero Jr. up, won the $141,200 Pan American Turf Handicap by three-fourths of a length over Outdoors at Gulfstream Park. The 4-year-old completed the 1½ miles in 2:26[2/5].
Fernando Toro rode Chilean-bred TIZNA ($17.60) to victory in the $100,000 Santa Margarita Handicap at Santa Anita, edging Penny Flight by a neck.
SKIING—Defending World Cup Champion GUSTAVO THOENI of Italy won the giant slalom at Voss, Norway, but fell on the second run of the slalom. PIERO GROS took the slalom event and moved into the lead in World Cup standings. Thoeni is now fifth.
TENNIS—VIRGINIA WADE, in only her second tournament of the year, defeated Rosie Casals 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 to win the Virginia Slims of Chicago and $10,000. Wade had upset the top seed, Billie Jean King, in the semifinals 6-3, 7-6.
TRACK & FIELD—TOM HILL of the U.S. Army cut the world indoor record in the 60-yard hurdles to 7.3 and CLIFFORD OUTLIN, an Auburn sophomore, tied the world indoor 60-meter dash mark at 6.4, but the U.S. still lost to the U.S.S.R. 158-124 in Moscow. MARY DECKER, 15, coolly won the 800 meter but hotly lost her temper when she was elbowed in the 2,000-meter medley relay by Sarmite Shtula: she twice threw her baton at the Russian (missing both times), screaming: "She hit me in the stomach with her baton." The judges disqualified the Soviet team for interference and the Americans for bad sportsmanship.
MILEPOSTS—NAMED: The World Hockey Association's new Indianapolis entry, which begins play-next season: the RACERS. It was the choice of 145 fans in a contest that drew over 4,000 suggestions.
DIED: LARRY DOYLE, 87, captain of the New York Giants under John McGraw: in Saranac Lake, N.Y. Known as "Laughing Larry" for his high spirits, Doyle played second base between 1907 and 1920 and coined the phrase: "It's great to be young and be a Giant." In 1912 he won the Chalmers Award as the National League MVP and in 1915 led the league in batting with a .320 average.
DIED: HERMAN DAVID, 67, chairman of the All-England Club and Croquet Club and leading organizer of the Wimbledon tennis championships: after a long illness. David was one of the main forces in the crusade against "shamateurism" in tennis, and was primarily responsible for opening Wimbledon to the pros in 1968.
DIED: GARY MORAVA, 21, Southern Illinois University gymnast; of spinal injuries resulting from a fall during practice. Morava, one of the finest all-round gymnasts in the country, won the NCAA vaulting title in 1972 and was a member of the National All-Star team for the past three years.
