A roundup of the week March 28-April 3
BADMINTON—RODNEY BARTON won the men's national championship, and CHERYL CARTON was the women's titlist in Countryside, Ill.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL—NORTH CAROLINA STATE defeated Houston 54-52 to win the NCAA championship in Albuquerque (page 18).
Southern California beat defending champion Louisiana Tech 69-67 to win the women's NCAA title in Norfolk, Va. (page 24).
Fresno State defeated DePaul 69-60 to win the NIT title in New York City.
PRO BASKETBALL—Jeff Ruland and Rick Mahorn have been called the world's only interracial sumo wrestling team. Last week Washington's roundish center-forward combo nearly grappled the final Eastern Conference playoff berth away from New York. The Bullets have won 12 of their last 17 and drawn to within a game of the Knicks, who were extremely accommodating, losing 103-97 to San Diego, 102-88 to Pacific Division front-runner Los Angeles and 115-108 to Phoenix. Ruland and Mahorn accounted for 34 points and 26 rebounds in a 94-81 win over Central Division leader Milwaukee and 33 and 24 as the Bullets edged New Jersey 100-97. But with Ruland out with a wrist injury, Mahorn's 24 points and 15 rebounds weren't enough in a 120-117 loss to Boston. The Celtics' Larry Bird played like a true Druid in a 142-116 drubbing of Indiana. His 53 points were a team regular-season record. And it took him only 33 minutes to do it. Atlantic champ Philadelphia lost 97-95 to Chicago and 111—104 to the Nets to ensure that Moses Malone's prophecy of a 70-win season would go unfulfilled. The Sixers now have to win their last eight games to tie the 1971-72 Lakers' standard for the best record (69-13) by an NBA team. Houston, whose 13-62 mark looks like Philly's in reverse, inserted rookie Chuck Nevitt late into a game against Midwest Division-leading San Antonio. At 7'5" he became the tallest player in NBA history. But his contributions (two points and one rebound) were infinitesimal, and the Rockets lost 112-101.
BOWLING—GARY DICKINSON beat Steve Neff 214-202 to win the $140,000 U.S. Open in Oak Lawn, Ill.
BOXING—AARON PRYOR retained his WBA junior welterweight title with a third-round TKO of Sang-Hyun Kim in Atlantic City.
PRO FOOTBALL—USFL: Denver's Mile-High Stadium looked like a clearinghouse for former Broncos when Red Miller's Gold turned back John Ralston's Oakland Invaders 22-12. Miller and Ralston are the only coaches with winning records the Broncos ever had. Chicago's George Allen converted NFL castoff Luther Bradley from cornerback to free safety. "He's a natural centerfielder," said Allen. The Blitz' answer to Willie Mays snagged six interceptions in a 42-3 draining of Tampa Bay before 46,585. About 35,000 fewer fans witnessed Boston's 27-16 beating of Birmingham. Even fewer fans attended Philadelphia's 34-3 win over Washington. Los Angeles slipped by Oakland, 10-7, and New Jersey finally won, 35-21 over Arizona (the Herschel Walker count: 177 yards on 33 carries and three touchdowns).
GOLF—AMY ALCOTT won the $400,000 Dinah Shore Invitational in Rancho Mirage, Calif. with a six-under-par 282. She edged Beth Daniel and Kathy Whitworth by two strokes (page 34).
Hal Sutton fired a five-under-par 283 to win the rain-delayed $700,000 Tournament Players Championship in Ponte Vedra, Fla. by one stroke over Bob Eastwood.
HOCKEY—Wayne Gretzky holds so many NHL records that to set a new one he almost has to break one of his own. The Edmonton center's 119th, 120th and 121st assists of the season in a 7-4 win over Vancouver eclipsed his year-old mark. Five nights later the Oilers, who won the Smythe Division, scored three goals against Calgary to finish with 424 for the season. That total bettered the league standard they set in 1981-82. Gretzky again led the NHL in goals with 71. He also ran off with the scoring title with 196 points, 72 more than runner-up Peter Stastny of Quebec. Denis Savard of Norris Division leader Chicago was third with 120. Philadelphia, No. 1 in the Patrick, won its first game in Toronto in six years, 6-3. Adams winner Boston finished tops in overall points at 109. Bruin Pete Peeters' 2.36 goals-against average and eight shutouts led all goalies. Mike Bossy of the Islanders became the first player to score 60 goals in three straight seasons. The Islanders won the Jennings Trophy for allowing the fewest goals (226).
HORSE RACING—Alexis Solis rode 36-1 shot CURRENT HOPE ($75.40) to victory in the $250,000 Flamingo Stakes, defeating Chumming by a neck. The 3-year-old ran the 1‚⅛ miles at Hialeah in 1:49[2/5].
Erins Isle ($3), Laffit Pincay up, beat Prince Spellbound by three-quarters of a length to win the $210,900 San Luis Rey Stakes at Santa Anita. The 5-year-old horse was timed in 2:26[1/5] for the 1½ miles.
SOCCER—MISL: Cleveland's goal is to catch first-place Baltimore in the East race. That's one more goal than The Force managed in a 6-0 loss to Pittsburgh. Spirit Goalie Krys Sobieski made 19 saves to get the league's third shutout of the season. Julie Veee of West leader San Diego had no trouble poking shots through the pipes. He winged in four during a 9-6 whomping of Wichita.
TENNIS—MATS WILANDER defeated Mel Purcell 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 to win the $300,000 Monte Carlo Open. Bjorn Borg, playing in his last tournament, lost to Henri Leconte in the second round.
TRACK & FIELD—LESLIEDENIZ added 11 inches to her own two-week-old U.S. women's record in the discus with a throw of 212' in Tempe, Ariz. At the same meet, MEL LATTANY, LARRY MYRICKS, WALTER McCOY and JAMES MAYS set a new U.S. standard in the men's sprint medley with a clocking of 3:11:08, more than two seconds faster than the previous mark established by a team from the University of Oklahoma in 1981.
MILEPOSTS—AWARDED: To Virginia Center RALPH SAMPSON, 22, the Eastman Award for the outstanding player in college basketball.
FINED: By the NHL, the Minnesota North Stars and the Chicago Black Hawks; $2,000 each as the result of a free-for-all brawl on March 21 in Bloomington, Minn. The fight lasted nearly an hour and there were 175 minutes in penalties.
HIRED: As basketball coach at: Arizona, LUTE OLSON, 48, whose college record of 191-93 includes a nine-season 167-91 mark at Iowa and five trips to the NCAAs; Brigham Young, LADELL ANDERSON, 53, Utah State's athletic director and former basketball coach; the University of Cincinnati, TONY YATES, 45, an assistant at Illinois who played on Cincinnati's NCAA championship teams in 1961 and '62; Idaho, BILL TRUMBO, 43, whose nine-season mark at Santa Rosa (Calif.) Junior College was 215-67.
PLACED ON PROBATION: For one year by the NCAA, the Florida State University basketball team, for recruiting violations.
SENTENCED: By a superior court judge, to three years' probation, former New York Giant and Pittsburgh Steeler Center JIM CLACK, 35, on a misdemeanor charge for possession of cocaine.
TRADED: By the Cleveland Indians, Infielder JERRY DYBZINSKI, 27, to the Chicago White Sox for Infielder PAT TABLER, 25; by the Houston Astros, Catcher-Outfielder ALAN KNICELY, 27, to the Cincinnati Reds for two minor leaguers; and by the New York Mets, Infielder TOM VERYZER, 30, to the Chicago Cubs for two minor league players.
DIED: PADDY FLOOD, 48, former welterweight boxer and manager of Mustafa Hamsho, the WBC's No. 2-ranked middleweight; of a cerebral hemorrhage; in New York.
