A roundup of the week Feb. 18-24

PRO BASKETBALL—On Wednesday Indiana suffered its seventh defeat in eight games, blowing a 67-57 lead over Cleveland to lose 102-92 and prompt a soul-searching, players-only meeting on Thursday. "Everybody voiced opinions on how or if we can salvage anything this season," reported Pacer co-captain Jerry Sichting. On Friday, Indiana got 31 points from Herb Williams to upset the Pacific Division-leading Lakers 122-113 and halt an L.A. winning streak at nine. Denver, No. 1 in the Midwest Division, won its fifth in a row, 132-129 over Atlantic Division leader Boston (page 34), before losing to Seattle (133-123) and beating Phoenix (117-107). Milwaukee also ran up a five-game streak, by edging Detroit 113-112 to lead the Pistons by 654 games in the Central Division, but the Bucks were then beaten 128-106 by the Cavaliers, who were playing without World B. Free (out with a lower-back sprain) and Lonnie Shelton, who was attending his mother's funeral in California.

BOATING—SMILES, a 41-foot production sloop skippered by CHARLIE SCOTT of Annapolis, Md., placed fourth in class and 11th in fleet in the Nassau Cup race in the Bahamas to retain first place overall and win the six-race Southern Ocean Racing Conference series. Glory, a 39-footer, was second, 16½ points behind.

BOWLING—TED HANNAHS defeated Bob Handley 215-190 to win a $150,000 PBA tournament in Peoria, Ill.

BOXING—MICHAEL SPINKS stopped David Sears in the third round to retain his undisputed light heavyweight crown, in Atlantic City, N.J.

Sot Chitalada retained his WBC flyweight title by stopping Charlie Magri in the fourth round, in London.

PRO FOOTBALL—USFL: In the league's season opener, Tampa Bay routed Orlando 35-7 on the strength of four touchdown runs, of three, 68, six and one yards, by Gary Anderson. Jim Kelly threw for 574 yards in Houston's 34-33 triumph over Los Angeles (page 14), while Bobby Hebert threw for four TDs to lead Oakland past Denver 31-10. In Doug Flutie's debut, New Jersey lost to Birmingham 38-28, as Flutie ended up with 12 completions on 27 attempts for 189 yards and three interceptions. Luis Zendejas kicked three field goals to lift Arizona over Portland 9-7, while Brian Franco booted five in Jacksonville's 22-14 defeat of Baltimore.

GOLF—MARK McCUMBER beat Tom Kite by one stroke to win the $400,000 Doral Open in Miami. He had a four-under-par total of 284.

Amy Alcott shot a nine-under-par 279 to win the $175,000 LPGA Tucson Open by one stroke over Betsy King.

COLLEGE HOCKEY—WCHA champion Minnesota-Duluth ended the regular season with a 7-6 and 5-3 sweep of Northern Michigan as Bulldogs forward Bill Watson clinched the conference scoring crown with a total of 37 goals and 43 assists. RPI clinched first place in the ECAC by beating Dartmouth 11-1 and Harvard 4-1. The wins were the Engineers' 22nd and 23rd in a row. CCHA champ Michigan State split with Lake Superior State, losing 4-2 and winning by the same score, while Boston College, the Hockey East winner, split games with Maine, winning 3-2 and losing 4-3.

PRO HOCKEY—After Winnipeg's 6-2 loss to Hartford, Jets general manager John Ferguson, in violation of an NHL rule that stipulates a locker room must be open not later than 10 minutes after a game, kept the dressing-room doors closed for 40 minutes while he met with his players and coaches. Ferguson may well be fined $500, but two nights later Winnipeg defeated the Islanders 3-2. "Five hundred of the best-spent dollars you've ever seen," declared Ferguson. Winnipeg then lost 6-4 to Montreal, which took over the Adams Division lead as Buffalo, which had held the top spot, lost to Norris Division leader St. Louis (4-1) and Los Angeles (4-2). Philadelphia won its sixth and seventh games in a row, 4-1 over both Toronto and Calgary, but Washington still led in the Patrick Division by two points after defeating Vancouver 6-2—Mike Gartner had a hat trick in that win—and tying Smythe Division leader Edmonton 3-3.

HORSE RACING—LOVLIER LINDA ($21.60), with Chris McCarron aboard, beat Mitterand by three lengths to win the $300,000 Santa Margarita Invitational Handicap at Santa Anita. The 5-year-old mare was timed at 1:48 flat for the 1‚⅛ miles.

Dr. Carter ($4.60), Jorge Velasquez up, won the $281,300 Gulfstream Park Handicap by three lengths over Key to the Moon. The 4-year-old colt ran the 1¼ miles in 2:02 flat.

Smarten Up ($123.40), a 60-1 long shot ridden by Rafael Meza, beat Fast Account by 1¼ lengths to win the $162,500 San Rafael Stakes at Santa Anita. The 3-year-old colt did the mile in 1:36[1/5].

INDOOR SOCCER—The Cosmos won twice—10-6 over Kansas City and 7-4 over Minnesota—before withdrawing from the league and effectively closing up shop. Eastern Division leader Baltimore headed into the All-Star break by beating Minnesota 3-2 in overtime, while San Diego, No. 1 in the Western Division, beat Las Vegas 7-5. At the All-Star game in Richfield, Ohio, the West beat the East 11-7 as the Sockers' Steve Zungul scored three goals.

MOTOR SPORTS—DEREK BELL and AL HOLBERT, in a Porsche 962, won the Grand Prix of Miami by 5.17 seconds over Darin Brassfield and David Hobbs, in a March-Chevy V-8. The winners averaged 68.342 mph on the 1.85-mile, 12-turn downtown circuit (page 60).

Dale Earnhardt drove his Chevrolet at an average speed of 67.945 mph around the .542-mile Richmond (Va.) Fairgrounds oval to win a $264,000 NASCAR 400 Grand National event by .3 of a second over Geoff Bodine, who also drove a Chevy.

TENNIS—KEVIN CURREN defeated Anders Jarryd 7-6, 8-6, 6-3 to win a $145,000 indoor Grand Prix tournament in Toronto.

Hana Mandlikova upset Chris Evert Lloyd 6-2, 6-4 to win a $150,000 indoor tournament in Oakland.

Larry Stefanki won a $375,000 event in La Quinta, Calif., beating David Pate 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

TRACK & FIELD—At the U.S. indoor championships in New York, DIANE DIXON ran the 440 yards in 52.77 in a heat and then 52.20 seconds in the final to twice surpass the women's world indoor record of 52.99 set 20 days earlier by Valerie Brisco-Hooks. BRISCO-HOOKS, in turn, ran a women's indoor world record of 23.08 and 22.95 in the 220, breaking the mark of 23.25 established by Chandra Cheeseborough in 1982; and in the men's two-mile walk, JIM HEIRING lowered his own 1984 world indoor record of 12:11.21 to 12:07.56.

DIETMAR M√ñGENBURG of West Germany high-jumped 7'10" in Cologne to surpass the world indoor record of 7'9¾" set two days before in West Berlin by Patrik Sjoberg of Sweden.

MILEPOSTS—ARRESTED: For possession of dangerous drugs, in Walnut Creek, Calif., Atlanta Braves outfielder CLAUDELL WASHINGTON, 30, who was stopped for weaving in traffic on a freeway and found to have one-quarter of a gram of cocaine and .05 of a gram of marijuana in his car. After the '83 season Washington underwent four weeks of rehabilitation for cocaine dependency.

NAMED: As winner of the AAU's Sullivan Award as the outstanding amateur athlete in the U.S. for 1984, diver GREG LOUGANIS, 25, who won two gold medals at the Los Angeles Olympics.

RE-SIGNED: By the Cincinnati Bengals, All-Pro wide receiver CRIS COLLINSWORTH, 26, to a multiyear contract worth an estimated $450,000 per annum. He had agreed in 1983 to play five years with the Tampa Bay Bandits, starting with the '85 USFL season, but the agreement was voided on Feb. 18 when Lloyd's of London refused to insure Collinsworth's ankles against injury.

RESIGNED: As basketball coach at Baylor, effective at the end of the season, JIM HALLER, 39, who admitted that he improperly allowed a player to keep a $172 expense check and encouraged him to make a car payment with it.

TRADED: By the St. Louis Blues, goaltender MIKE LIUT, 29, and future considerations to the Hartford Whalers for left wing MARK JOHNSON, 27, and goalie GREG MILLEN, 27.