A Roundup of the Week March 12-18

PRO BASKETBALL—Detroit, tops in the Central Division, routed division-rival Chicago 106-81, out-scoring the Bulls 32-11 in the fourth quarter. The Pistons finished off a perfect week by beating Dallas 114-84 for their 24th win in 25 games. The second-place Bulls downed New York 111-108, behind Michael Jordan's 34 points, and Philadelphia 114-109 for their 11th and 12th wins in 14 games. In the Atlantic Division, the Knicks continued to falter, losing their three games. The Sixers pulled into a tie for first with New York after a 2-2 week. Philadelphia beat the Lakers, for the first time since Dec. 7, 1984, 116-110. Third-place Boston won three of four games and trailed the Knicks and Sixers by one game. Larry Bird had a triple-double (29 points, 18 rebounds, 11 assists) as Boston beat the Nets 122-106. The Pacific Division leaders, the Lakers, won two of four games. In L.A.'s 101-99 victory over Minnesota, Magic Johnson scored a season-high 37 points. Second-place Portland moved to within 1½ games of the Lakers by winning its four games. The Blazers beat Houston 109-96 for their ninth straight win. Phoenix, 3-0, ended Utah's 19-game home winning streak, beating the Jazz 114-106; two games later the Suns extended their own home winning streak to 19 by mauling Miami 129-103. In the Midwest, Utah, with a 1-2 week, led San Antonio by three games.

BOWLING—JIM PENCAK beat Chris Warren 223-214 to win a PBA event and $54,000 in Toledo, Ohio.

BOXING—WBC junior welterweight champion JULIO CESAR CHAVEZ scored a TKO at 2:58 of the 12th round to beat Meldrick Taylor and win the IBF title, in Las Vegas (page 16).

GOLF—JODIE MUDD shot a final-round 69 to beat Mark Calcavecchia by one stroke and win The Players Championship, in Ponte Vedra, Fla. Mudd had a 72-hole, 10-under-par total of 278 and earned $270,000 (page 34).

Colleen Walker won the LPGA Tucson Open by five strokes over Pat Bradley, Betsy King, Kate Rogerson and Heather Drew, and earned $45,000. Walker shot a final-round par 72 for a 12-under-par four-round total of 276.

Jim Dent beat Harold Henning by three strokes to win a Senior PGA tournament and $45,000, which put him over the $1 million mark on the Senior tour, in San Antonio. Dent's final-round 66 gave him a 54-hole total of 11-under-par 205.

HOCKEY—The Patrick Division race was still so tight that no team was yet guaranteed a playoff berth. The division-leading Rangers had a rocky week, which left them eight points in front of New Jersey. The Rangers lost to Los Angeles 6-2, largely as a result of goals by Tony Granato and Tomas Sandstrom, players the Rangers had traded to the Kings earlier in the season; Bernie Nicholls, the Rangers' acquisition from L.A., scored his 100th point of the season. But New York suffered its biggest loss in an 8-2 win over Toronto when defenseman Brian Leetch, the 1988-89 NHL Rookie of the Year, broke his left ankle midway through the first period; he'll be out for the rest of the season. Also in the Patrick, the Islanders hung on to a possible playoff berth by ending their 14-game winless streak with a 6-3 victory over the Rangers. The Isles played Pittsburgh to a 2-2 tie but remained in fifth place in the division, one point behind Washington. In the Norris Division, St. Louis clinched a playoff berth despite a 1-2 week. Rookie goalie Curtis Joseph stopped 33 shots to help the Blues beat Washington 4-1. Even while losing 6-5 in OT to Vancouver, St. Louis secured the berth when Detroit lost to Pittsburgh. Smythe Division-leading Calgary won three games by 5-4 scores—over Winnipeg, New Jersey and Hartford. The league-leading Bruins, after a poor week in which they tied Winnipeg 3-3 and lost to the recently hot L.A., had their lead over the Sabres cut to five points in the Adams Division.

HORSE RACING—In Kentucky Derby preps: WICKED DESTINY ($5.80), ridden by John Lively, held off Seasabb in the stretch to win the Remington Park Derby and $150,000. running the 1[1/16] miles in 1:43, in Oklahoma City: SMELLY ($3.80), Jean Cruguet up, won the Federico Tesio Stakes by 10 lengths and earned $120,000, at Pimlico, with a time of 1:45[1/5] for 1[1/16] miles on a sloppy track; CHAMPAGNEFORASHLEY ($2.80), Jacinto Vasquez aboard, beat Slew of Angels by 1½ lengths over 1[1/16] miles to win the Tampa Bay Derby and $90,000, in Tampa, in 1:44[3/5]; HOUSEBUSTER ($3.80), ridden by Craig Perret, beat Summer Squall by one length to win the Swale Stakes and $34,350, at Gulfstream Park, racing seven furlongs in 1:22[1/5]; and UNBRIDLED ($7), ridden by Pat Day, beat Slavic by four lengths to win the 1‚Äö√Ñ√∂‚àö√±‚àö¬µ-mile Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park in 1:52, to earn $300,000 (page 62).

MOTOR SPORTS—DALE EARNHARDT, driving a Chevrolet, beat Morgan Shepherd, in a Ford, to the checkered flag by .32 of a second to win a 500-mile NASCAR event at the Atlanta International Raceway. Earnhardt averaged a track-record 156.849 mph for 328 laps around the 1.522-mile oval and earned $85,000.

The tandem of DEREK DALY and BOB EARL, driving a Nissan, beat Geoff Brabham and Chip Robinson, also in a Nissan, by 1:27.82 to win IMSA's 12 Hours of Sebring. The winners averaged 102.933 mph for 301 laps (1,237.11 miles) around the 13-turn, 4.11-mile Sebring International Raceway circuit and shared $60,500.

SAILING—CHRIS DICKSON of New Zealand defeated Robbie Haines of Newport Beach, Calif., to win the Congressional Cup, in Long Beach, Calif. In a sweep of the best-of-three finals. Dickson won the first race by 19 seconds and the second by 30 seconds.

SWIMMING—TEXAS scored 632 points to second-place Stanford's 622.5 to win the NCAA women's championship, in Austin, Texas (page 32).

TRACK & FIELD—SERGEI BUBKA of the Soviet Union set a world indoor record for the pole vault of 19'10¼" at an international meet in his Ukrainian hometown of Donetsk. Bubka had set the old mark of 19'9¼" last year in Osaka, Japan.

MILEPOSTS—NAMED: As the winner of the AAU's Sullivan Award-as the top amateur athlete in the U.S. in 1989, swimmer JANET EVANS, 18. Evans, a freshman at Stanford and winner of three gold medals at the 1988 Olympics, last year set a world record in the 800-meter freestyle and American records in the 1,000- and 1,650-yard freestyles.

DIED: GENE KLEIN, 69, the former owner of the San Diego Chargers and thoroughbred owner who won three Eclipse awards; of a heart attack; in San Diego. Klein owned the Chargers from 1966 to '84. His filly, Winning Colors, won the Kentucky Derby in '88.

DIED: TOM HARMON, 70, the triple-threat tailback at Michigan who won the Heisman Trophy in 1940; of a heart attack; in Los Angeles. As a three-year starter (1938-40) for the Wolverines, Harmon gained 2,134 yards on 398 carries, completed 101 of 233 passes for 1,396 yards, scored 33 touchdowns and led the nation in scoring in '39 and '40. After earning a Silver Star and a Purple Heart while a fighter pilot in the Army Air Forces during World War II, Harmon played for the Los Angeles Rams in '46 and '47.