A roundup of the week March 30-April 5
ARCHERY—RICK McKINNEY scored a 1,167 out of a possible 1,200 to win the men's title at the U.S. Indoor Championships in Harrisburg, Pa. RUTH ROWE placed first among the women with a score of 1,135.
PRO BASKETBALL—In one of the NBA's two-out-of-three mini-series, Philadelphia swept Indiana. After a 124-108 victory at home in which Julius Erving scored 32 points, the 76ers triumphed 96-85 in Indianapolis to earn a place opposite Milwaukee in the conference semifinals. Chicago, meanwhile, won its spot against Boston, beating New York 90-80 (holding the Knicks to their lowest point total of the season) and 115-114 in overtime to extend its winning streak to 10 games. In the Western Conference, the competition was tighter. Kansas City trailed Portland 86-76 with just over six minutes remaining in the first game of their series, but the Kings rallied to tie the score at 90-90 on a driving layup by Otis Birdsong with a second to play and went on to win 98-97 in overtime. The second K.C. Portland game also went into OT; this time the Blazers triumphed 124-119 behind 40 points by Mychal Thompson. Kansas City clinched its ticket to a semifinal matchup against Phoenix with a 104-95 victory in which Reggie King scored 28. Houston won its series with Los Angeles two games to one (page 12).
BOWLING—WAYNE WEBB beat Steve Martin 232-231 to win a $100,000 tournament in Baltimore.
BOXING—JEFF CHANDLER retained his WBA bantamweight championship by fighting to a draw with Eijiro Murata in Tokyo.
Sergio Palma successfully defended his WBA junior featherweight title with a unanimous 15-round decision over Leo Cruz in Buenos Aires.
Air Force beat West Chester (Pa.) State 58-34 in Reno to win the national collegiate title.
FENCING—PENN STATE won the AIAW championship, defeating runner-up Temple 9-1 and third-place Penn 10-6 in South Bend. The Lady Lions' JANA ANGELAKIS finished first in the individual competition.
GOLF—LARRY NELSON beat Mark Hayes in sudden death to win the $300,000 Greater Greensboro (N.C.) Open. They each finished regulation play with a seven-under-par 281.
Nancy Lopez-Melton fired an 11-under-par 277 to defeat Carolyn Hill by two strokes and win a $250,000 tournament in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
GYMNASTICS—NEBRASKA outpointed Oklahoma 284.60-281.95 in Lincoln, Neb. to win its third consecutive NCAA team championship. Cornhusker JIM HARTUNG won the individual all-around title for the second year in a row, defeating runner-up Bart Conner of Oklahoma 115.90-115.85.
HOCKEY—With a 7-3 victory at Buffalo on the final day of the regular season, the Islanders won the NHL regular-season title for the second time in three years, with a total of 110 points. With the winning score in a 5-4 victory at Washington, Islander Mike Bossy finished with 68 goals—eight short of Phil Esposito's 1970-71 single-season record. St. Louis, which tied last-place Winnipeg (5-5) in its final game, finished second with 107 points. Edmonton's Wayne Gretzky had three assists in a 5-2 triumph at Pittsburgh, two more in a 4-4 tie with Colorado and a goal and four assists in a 7-2 win over Winnipeg to bring his assists for the season to 109, surpassing the record of 102 set by Bobby Orr in 1970-71, and his total points to 164, 12 more than Esposito's mark of 1970-71. Gretzky also became the first NHL player to average more than two points a game; previously the highest average had been Bruin Bill Cowley's 1.97 in 1943-44. Winnipeg, Detroit, Colorado and Hartford had earlier been knocked out of playoff contention, but Washington was only one point behind the 16th-place Maple Leafs going into its game with Detroit on Sunday. Toronto had tied Chicago 2-2 and Quebec 5-5 earlier in the week and needed either at least a tie in a return match against the Nordiques or a Capitals' loss to clinch a playoff spot. Washington won 7-2, Dennis Maruk getting a hat trick, but so did Toronto, 4-2.
HORSE RACING—HEAVENLY CAUSE ($5.80), ridden by Laffit Pincay Jr., beat Nell's Briquette by a head to win the $223,150 Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park. The 3-year-old filly ran the 1[1/16] miles in 1:43[4/5].
Land Of Eire ($69), Earlie Fires up, defeated Tunerup by 2½ lengths to win the $155,750 Widener Handicap at Hialeah. The 6-year-old covered the 1¼-mile course in 2:01.
Proud appeal ($5.80), Jeffrey Fell up, beat the early Kentucky Derby favorite Cure the Blues by a nose to win the $83,400 Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.
MOTOR SPORTS—RICHARD PETTY, averaging 85.381 mph in a Buick, won a 400-mile Grand National race on the .625-mile oval of the North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. He finished three seconds ahead of Bobby Allison, who drove a Pontiac.
SOCCER—NASL: Of the week's nine games, three were decided by shootouts—all of them by scores of 2-1. Fort Lauderdale and Jacksonville brought their records to 2-0 with 2-1 victories over Atlanta and New York, respectively, while Seattle edged Portland by the same score on a shootout goal by Defender Jeff Stock, whose father, Wes, is the pitching coach for the baseball Mariners. In a 4-3 Tampa Bay triumph over Toronto, Rowdie Right Steve Wegerle had a goal and two assists.
STEEPLECHASING—ALDANITI, ridden by Bob Champion, defeated Spartan Missile by four lengths to win the Grand National at England's Aintree racecourse. The 11-year-old gelding was one of 12 horses out of 39 starters to finish the 4½-mile race.
SWIMMING—In a FINA-sanctioned time trial in Austin, Texas, ROWDY GAINES and WILLIAM PAUL-US of the U.S. established world records of 49.36 in the 100-meter freestyle and 53.81 in the 100-meter butterfly, respectively. Gaines' mark surpasses the time of 49.44 swum by Jonty Skinner of South Africa in 1976, while Paulus' record in the butterfly outdid the 54.15 attained by Par Arvidsson of Sweden last year.
TENNIS—JOHN McENROE defeated Tomas Smid 6-2, 6-3 to win a $175,000 tournament in Frankfurt, West Germany.
Chris Evert Lloyd beat Hana Mandlikova 6-4, 6-3 to win a $200,000 tournament in Carlsbad, Calif.
MILEPOSTS—ARRESTED: By the FBI in Los Angeles, boxing promoter HAROLD J. SMITH, 37, on a charge of knowingly making a false statement on a passport application. Smith, the chairman of Muhammad Ali Professional Sports Inc., had gone into seclusion in January following the discovery of a scheme by which MAPS officials allegedly embezzled $21.3 million from Wells Fargo Bank.
NAMED: As basketball coach at Colorado, TOM APKE, 37, who had a 130-64 record in seven seasons at Creighton.
As basketball coach at Mississippi State, BOB BOYD, 50, former coach at USC (1966-79), to replace Jim Hatfield, who resigned.
RESIGNED: As basketball coach at Vanderbilt, RICHARD SCHMIDT, 39, whose two-year record was 28-27.
TRADED: By the Philadelphia Phillies, Leftfielder GREG LUZINSKI, 30, to the Chicago White Sox for an undisclosed amount of cash; by the San Diego Padres, Outfielder JERRY MUMPHREY, 28, and right-handed Pitcher JOHN PACELLA, 24, to the New York Yankees for outfielders RUPPERT JONES, 26, and JOE LEFEBVRE, 25, and two minor league pitchers; and by the Minnesota Twins, Centerfielder KEN LANDREAUX, 26, to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Infielder MICKEY HATCHER, 26, and two minor-leaguers. In other deals, the Cleveland Indians sent rookie Second Baseman JUAN BONILLA, 25, to the Padres for lefty Reliever BOB LACEY, 27, who had been acquired from Oakland the week before; the Houston Astros traded righty KEN FORSCH, 34, to the California Angels for Infielder DICKIE THON, 22, and dealt a minor league outfielder and an undisclosed amount of cash to the Baltimore Orioles for Shortstop KIKO GARCIA, 27. The Pittsburgh Pirates acquired First Baseman JASON THOMPSON, 26, from the Angels for Catcher ED OTT, 29, and lefthanded Pitcher MICKEY MAHLER, 28.