A roundup of the week March 9-15

COLLEGE BASKETBALL—BETHANY NAZARENE COLLEGE of Bethany, Okla. defeated Alabama-Huntsville 86-85 in overtime to win the NAIA tournament in Kansas City. KENTUCKY STATE won the women's title with a 73-67 triumph over Texas Southern.

PRO BASKETBALL—With a 133-108 victory over Dallas, San Antonio clinched a tie for the Midwest Division title and joined Phoenix and Los Angeles as teams assured of Western Conference playoff berths. The Spurs then suffered a letdown, losing to the Lakers (118-104) and for the first time ever to San Diego (126-118). The Mavericks, who had won only 10 games all season, ran off a two-game winning streak by beating Phoenix (107-103) and Golden State (120-118), Tom LaGarde scoring the game-winner against the Warriors with three seconds left. With eight games to play, Portland needs four wins to clinch a Western Conference playoff spot (page 56). Kansas City trailed the Blazers by one game after victories over the Suns (105-68) and San Diego (107-100), Ernie Grunfeld getting 30 points, six rebounds and 12 assists. In the Kings' 116-101 loss at L.A., Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's fifth point (he had 28 in the game) was also the 26,000th of his career. Houston rediscovered winning—with triumphs over Golden State (109-92), Portland (126-104) and Utah (101-82). Moses Malone had 51 points and 19 rebounds against the Warriors, who led the Rockets by a half-game in their race for the sixth (and last) playoff position. In the East, New York joined Philadelphia, Boston and Milwaukee in the playoffs with a 127-117 victory over Chicago, which was in sixth place, 3½ games behind Indiana and two ahead of Washington. After staying alive with a 103-99 triumph over Chicago, the Bullets lost to New Jersey (109-104) and to Indiana (114-107).

BOWLING—MIKE DURBIN beat Earl Anthony 277-165 to win a $125,000 PBA tournament in Milwaukee.

GOLF—RAY FLOYD shot a 15-under-par 273 to win the $250,000 Doral Open in Miami by one stroke over Keith Fergus and David Graham.

Patty Hayes defeated Sandra Palmer by two strokes to win the $100,000 Sun City Classic in Arizona. She shot a 15-under-par 277.

GYMNASTICS—TRACEE TALAVERA scored 74.15 points to win the all-around title at the USA Women's Championships in Allentown, Pa.

HOCKEY—After St. Louis, which led the NHL with 99 points at week's end. and Montreal, in third place with 91. staged a preview of one possible Stanley Cup final (the Canadiens prevailing 4-3, page 20), the second-place Islanders and fourth-place Philadelphia followed with a replay of the 1980 Cup final. The Flyers lost that series in six games, but this time they gained a 3-3 tie on Brian Propp's wrist shot early in the third period. At the trading deadline. Los Angeles acquired Left Wing Richard Martin from Buffalo, hoping that Martin, who has averaged 41.7 goals a season in his nine-year NHL career but has not played since January because of knee troubles, can minimize the loss of Charlie Simmer, who broke his leg on March 2. The Kings also got Center Don Luce from Buffalo, and Luce scored a goal in his L.A. debut as the Kings trounced Minnesota 10-4. After he scored a hat trick to lead Washington past Toronto 7-3 for the Caps' first win in 14 games. Dennis Maruk said. "I feel like somebody lifted a gorilla off our back." The Caps then beat Colorado (4-3) and Hartford (5-2) before losing to Boston (7-1) and Toronto (5-3). Darryl Sittler got the hat trick for the Leafs in that game and Goalie Michel Larocque, obtained earlier in the week from Montreal in return for Defenseman Robert Picard, won in his Toronto debut. Another traded goaltender, Chico Resch, won his first start in a new uniform. Traded to Colorado by the Islanders on Tuesday, Resch joined the Rockies on Wednesday and beat the woeful Rangers 4-3 that night. Colorado's winning goal was scored by Steve Tambellini, who came with Resch in the deal that sent Mike McEwen to the Islanders.

HORSE RACING—RELAXING ($7.60), ridden by Angel Cordero Jr., defeated Irish Tower by three lengths to win the $138,600 John B. Campbell Handicap at Bowie. The 5-year-old marc ran the 1¼ miles in 2:04[3/5].

MOTOR SPORTS—ALAN JONES, driving a Williams at an average of 87.60 mph on the 2.02-mile circuit, won the Long Beach (Calif.) Grand Prix (page 18).

Cale Yarborough, averaging 133.619 mph in a Buick, won a 500-mile Grand National on the Atlanta International Raceway's 1.522-mile oval. He beat Harry Gant, who also drove a Buick, by 33 seconds.

SKIING—UTAH won the NCAA title by defeating Vermont 183-172 in Park City, Utah.

TENNIS—JIMMY CONNORS beat Brian Gottfried 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 to win the $175,000 Belgian International Indoor Championships in Brussels.

Martina Navratilova defeated Pam Shriver 6-2, 6-4 to win a $ 175,000 tournament in Dallas.

TRACK & FIELD—TEXAS-EL PASO, paced by SULEIMAN NYAMBUI who won the mile for the third straight year, took the NCAA indoor championship for the second year in a row, outscoring runner-up Southern Methodist 76-51 in Detroit. KEITH CONNOR of SMU (and England) established a world indoor record of 56'9½" in the triple jump, surpassing the 56'9¼" of the U.S.S.R.'s Shamil Abbyasov set last month. CARL LEWIS of Houston became the first NCAA athlete since Jesse Owens in 1936 to win both the long jump (27'10") and the sprint, and LEO WILLIAMS of Navy set a meet record in the high jump, clearing 7'5¼" (page 42).

Virginia won the AIAW indoor title, outscoring Florida State and Tennessee 48-46 in Pocatello, Idaho. At that meet, MERLENE OTTEY of Nebraska (and Jamaica) twice lowered her year-old indoor record of 37.13 in the 300-meter dash with clockings of 35.91 and 35.83.

WRESTLING—THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA won its fourth consecutive NCAA championship, outscoring runner-up Oklahoma 129¾-100¼" in Princeton, N.J. The individual champions: 118 pounds—GENE MILLS, Syracuse; 126—DAN CUESTAS, Cal State-Bakersfield; 134—JIM GIBBONS, Iowa State; 142—ANDRE METZGER, Oklahoma; 150—NATE CARR, Iowa State; 158—RICKY STEWART, Oklahoma State; 167—MARK SCHULTZ, Oklahoma; 177—ED BANACH, Iowa; 190—TOM MARTUCCI, Trenton (N.J.) State; heavyweight—LOU BANACH, Iowa (page 48).

MILEPOSTS—ELECTED: To the Baseball Hall of Fame, JOHNNY (The Big Cat) MIZE, 68, who had a .312 average, 359 home runs and 1.337 RBIs in 15 seasons as a first baseman with the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants and Yankees; and ANDREW (Rube) FOSTER, who pitched or managed in the Negro leagues from 1897 to 1926 and founded the Negro National League in 1920. Foster, who was 51 when he died in 1930, got his nickname after he defeated Rube Waddell and the Philadelphia Athletics in an exhibition game in 1902.

HIRED: As coach of the Denver Broncos. DAN REEVES, 37, who had been an assistant with the Dallas Cowboys for the last seven seasons. He replaces Red Miller, 53, who was fired by the Broncos' new owner. Edgar F. Kaiser Jr. Miller's four-year record with Denver was 42-25 and included three trips to the playoffs and a 27-10 loss to Dallas in Super Bowl XII in 1978.

As coach of the Hartford Whalers, LARRY PLEAU, 33, who had acted as interim coach for 2½ weeks.

RESIGNED: As basketball coach at Colorado, BILL BLAIR, 38, who had a five-year record of 67-69; he blamed budgetary cuts for his decision.

DIED: BOB COOK, 23, a U.S. national cycling team member from 1978 to '80; of brain tumors; in Denver.

John M. (Red) Pollard, 71, the regular jockey for Scabiscuit; of natural causes; in Pawtucket, R.I.

Robert A. (Bob) Elson, 75, the voice of the Chicago White Sox from 1931 through 1970; of a heart condition; in Chicago. Elson, who also broadcast the Cubs' home games until 1942, received the Baseball Hall of Fame's Ford C. Frick Award in 1979 for contributions to the game by an announcer.