The Times from San Mateo, California • Page 22

Mawlnv tub 24 1973 THE TIMES Bearcats 'High' For MPL Showdown By CHRISTOPHER STAVE Times Sporti Writer San Mateo High's Dave Savtdge stepped into the severed basketball net; the 6-3, 200-pound forward managed to pull it up over his waist. The result did not shake the fashion world, but it was that kind of celebration Saturday night at the College of San Mateo. In another dressing room Hillsdale High coach Bill Wilkln wore a grim expression. "They are sky high now," he said. "I heard they cut the nets down.

That's premature. There will be a game Tuesday." Wilkin was right. Hillsdale, as round robin champion of the Mid-Peninsula League, must be beaten twice in the playoffs to be eliminated. But San Mateo has momentum going into Tuesday night's final test (8 p.m. atCSM).

A tremendous snooting performance by injured San Mateo guard Mark Jackson erased an 11-point Hillsdale lead in the tea.rot' first playoff meeting Saturday night, and the Bearcats went on to take a 86-63 overtime win. It was San Mateo's Mcond victory over Hillsdale in three outings this season. And late in the third quarter, it hadn't seemed possible. Kan Mateo's offense was sputtering. And while the Benrcats played tighter defense than usual, they couldn't keep the ball away from Hillsdale center Mike Dunn, who was well on his way to a 29-point performance.

Hillsdale ted 43-33 going into the final quarter. That quarter belonged to Jackson. The 5-11 senior had sparked San Mateo all year, but Saturday night be was limping, his right leg heavily taped. He'd suffered a severe Charley horse the night before after a collision with 6-6 Mills center Dan Begovich. In the first three quarters Jackson took Just three snots, and missed them all.

But in the last quarter he broke loose, shot at will and hit six buckets from long range, one from 28 feet. He was two for two from the line for a H-point period as Jbe Bearcats came storming back to tie 56-55 at the end of regulation time. During that run San Mateo's defense got two steals and forced a turnover on an inbounds pass. The deciding play in overtime came with 0:45 remaining. With the score tied at 61, Hilbdale came across the time line on offense.

But San Mateo guard Bob McNary stole the ball. He juggled it near the out of bounds line, then passed back to Jackson, who suddenly seemed very healthy indeed. Jackson raced down, penetrated and whipped a pass into Sylvester Pritchett underneath. Pritchett scored and was fouled. Pritchett had been cold at the line during the playoffs, but he hit this snot to put San Mateo up 6441.

The Bearcats then gave Dun an uncontMted tmfcai with 0.24 left. After scoring, Hillsdale stole the ball with full court pressure. Hillsdale took the first of three shots with 0:12 left. The first was medium range, the next two follows ctose in. All missed.

Savidge finally rebounded with 0:08 left, was fouled and hit the game's final two points. Pritchett, the MPL scoring champ, had only nine points going into the three-minute overtime, but left the game with 18. Both San Mateo playoff victories, over Mills and Hillsdale, actually came on free throws. The Bearcats, improving on regular season performance, were 18 of 23 against Hillsdale and 37 of 49 for the two nights. "We managed to stay up when we trailed by 10," (See Page Col.

S) SI Wins WCAL, But Serra Didn't Die Easily ROUGH REBOUND (Tim y) San Mateo High's Sylvester Pritchett snatches a rebound and gets static from Hillsdale forward John Recker during MPL playoff game Saturday night at College of San Mateo. In overtime, Pritchett scored nine points as San Mateo took 66-63 win. By STEVE JOHNSON Times Correspondent Serra High's basketball team.breathed a fiery last gasp in the West Catholic Athletic League playoffs Saturday night. But it was the Padres' last gasp, just the same. St.

Ignatius of San Francisco (25-1) held off the Padres (18-8) in a 54-52 thriller to win the WCAL title before a roaring packed house at the University of San Francisco. It was Si's first league title since 1967. Ironically, the Wildcats beat Serra by two to win that one. The Padres, after being down by 13 points at one time in the first half and by nine going into the final quarter, came back for a snot at a tying basket in the final seconds. With seven seconds left and Serra trailing 50-48, guard Joe Moureaux twisted a drive to Si's basket.

But 6-7 Wildcat forward Mike Bowie was there to meet Moureaux. Bowie batted down the shot and SI forward Juan Mitchell immediately grabbed the loose ball. He was fouled and hit two clinching free throws with four seconds left. Serra guard John O'Leary made the final margin two when he meshed a 27-foot jumper at the buzzer. "I was proud of that comeback," said first year Padre coach Pat McGlennon.

"But it didn't surprise me. It's the kind of thing our guys have done all season. "I couldn't have asked for any more from them. They went to war every second they were out there. On that last shot, O'Leary was signaling for a timeout while the ball was still in the air.

Something like that says a lot." The Padres bad closed to 47-42 when center Joe Ned fouled out with 5:42 left a potentially crippling blow in the face of Si's tall and talented front-line. But Serra refused to be crippled, and at 1:20 John Caselli made it 52-48 with a pair of free throws. Seconds later, Caselli stole a pass. At 1:01, O'Leary and Mou- reaux worked a perfect back door play. At 0:41, Mike O'Regan deflected a pass and Caselli grabbed the ball.

The Padres then worked outside until Moureaux made his move. Timely Morale Booster Turnabout for Golden State By JOHN HORGAN Times Staff Writer Memories are short in the NBA. Each regular season runs to some 82 games. After a while, the contests tend to become a sort of blur, each one indistinguishable from the others. But the Warriors will probably never forget what occurred last year.

In 1973-74, Golden State blew what seemed to be an insurmountable lead in the final weeks of the season and permitted Los Angeles to overtake them for the Pacific Division championship. That depressing legacy stHl hangs over this year's team, even though the roster is half-stocked with new faces, there is a rejuvenated front office and their own division is the worst in the NBA. After building a considerable record early in this season, the Warriors had lately begun to falter. What had been a ten- game Pacific Division bulge suddenly dropped to half of that. The specter of last year had never left them after all.

Until Saturday night, that is. It was on this past weekend that the Warriors finally rose up to smite one of the league's toughs. Before they disposed of Boston, 114-108, in Oakland, the Warriors had lost nine of ten games to probable playoff teams since the All-Star Game break. They had not beaten another division leader since Jan. 4.

"Yes," acknowledged Warrior Coach Al Attles, "this was our best win since the break. It was good for our morale. We hadn't beaten someone of this stature for a long time. I think it proves that we can still play with the best." The victory shoved ithe Golden State record to 36-25 and it keeps them seven games in front of Seattle as the campaign narrows down to the final month of regular-season action. The Warriors have won their last three games in a row, and four of their last five.

Golden State has 21 games left to play, 11 of them against the flaccid competition found in their own The Warriors, feasting off local competition, have taken 14 of 19 games against divisional rivals so far this year. Still, that doesn't prove too much as far as the rest of the league is concerned. That's why the conquest of the Celtics was so important to their own psyches. Said Warrior Clifford Ray, "We know we're as good as a lot of these other people. We made very few mistakes.

And that's what you have to do against the good teams." The Warriors, who meet Phoenix at home at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, got several i a contributions from their reserves against Boston. Substitutes Phil Smith, Derrek Rickey, Jeff Mullins and Charles Dudley totalled 47 points and 26 rebounds between them. The Boston bench chipped in with only. 13 points and 11 boards.

Noted Attles, "The people who came in for us off the bench turned the game around." However, all of that outstanding work by the reserves would have gone for naught had it not been for forward Rick Barry, who scored 42 points, on 20 of 38 from the floor. Most of those baskets came from 20 (See Page 23, Col. 4) He appeared to have an opening until Bowie closed it. "I just never saw him until it was too late," said Moureaux. Serra's five starting seniors O'Leary, Moureaux, O'Regan, Caselli and Ned all finished standout seasons with standout games.

Caselli, the WCAL's Player of the Year, had 16 points. Moureaux had 14. Under McGlennon, the Padres, predicted by many to be little better than average, developed into one of the Central Coast Section's best teams. Serra is the only team to have beaten SI, the top- rated outfit in the CCS. Serre It-Sl St.

Ignatlui i 7-S4 Serra O'Leary 3 2-2 McCarthy 00-00, O'Regan 4 0-1 Moureaux 7 14, Caselll 5 6-4 16, Ned 2 2-2 Walsh 0 0-0 0, Total I 21 10-11 52. St Ignatius Bulck 20-04. McEvoy 11-17, Passanlsl 1 0-0 2, Burnemen 1 1-2 3, Mitchell 4 6-7 14, 6 4-7 16, O'Neill 3 2-31, Totall: 20 14-21 54. Total Fouls: Serra 19, SI 15; Fouled Out: Ned, Moureaux, Jot Ned -Shuffling in Offing For Stagnant Seals By HUGH MCDONALD Staff Writer Seals hockey director and coach Bill McCreary says he might just do a little juggling of his lines for Wednesday night's game at the Oakland Arena against the Minnesota North Stars. It's not that the Seals have played badly in winning one and tying two on their current home stand, but after yesterday afternoon's 2-2 standoff with the Los Ange- les Kings, he figures there should be ways to get more production.

Despite not losing in their last three games, the Seals haven't been able to make any i i i a gain on Toronto, the team which is between them and a playoff position. The Seals were hurt with the shoulder injury to Spike Huston on Friday night and he may be sidelined for two weeks. McCreary said he (AP Wiraphota) HAPPY DAY Pat FizSimons of Salem, raises his hands after winning the Glen Campbell Los Angeles Open at the Riviera Country Club Sunday. The win was the first for the 24-year-old and for his 9 under par 275 victory he picked up $30,000. thought Dave Gardner had played creditably between Butch Williams and Dave Hrechkosy, but he felt that putting the more aggressive Charlie Simmer Yetween Hrechkosy and Williams might sharpen up the Seals' offensive.

McCreary also is considering putting Al MacAdam back on left wing. He has been suffering a goal drought since moving to right wing about 15 games ago. Coach Bob PuBord of the Kings said be thought the Seals played well and that "we didn't deserve more than a tie." The Seals got off to a bad start when only 1:22 into the game Kings' Frank St. Marseille and Tom Williams were assessed minors on the same play. A stout Kings' defense kept the Seals from scoring with the two-man advantage.

The Seals also failed to get even a shot on goal in their next power play advantage, but at 14:38 Gardner got the puck out from behind the Kings' net for Hrechkosy to score his 26th goal of the season. The Kings pressed In the second period and went ahead on two rebound goals less than two minutes apart. As the puck bounded in front of Seals goalie Gary Simmons it seemed as if the Seals didn't know what to do with it. The Kings, more the opportunists, jumped on the loose pucks and this resulted in goals by Mike Murphy and Butch Goring. The Seals finally put a power play together at 7:11 of the third period just six seconds after they had the (See Col.

SJ's Acrobatic Puts 'Quakes in By ED CHITTENDEN Times Correspondent Usually it's the San Jose Earthquakes' outstanding that wins their games, but last night it was acrobatic goalkeeper Mirk Stojanovic who led the 'Quakes to the North American Soccer League Western Regional indoor title with a 7-3 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps at the Cow Palace. San Jose was originally scheduled to play Los Angeles in the final round, but NASL commissioner Phil Woosbam decided it would be more appropriate if the i a game was played between the two winners of Friday night's first round. On his success in the goal, Stojanovic explained, "The front office made me mad. They tried to compare me with Mike (Ivanow). Nothing personal, but I think I can put out more than any goalkeeper in the United States.

Despite my age (34), I can still do the job better than anybody. "Indoor soccer is five times harder for me than the outdoor game," said Stoja- novic. ''There are many more shots and from much closer angles, I have to watch those shots off the walls and be ready to dive on them. On some of those shots I have to guess, and come out and take a chance. After all, isn't that what the games all about?" added Stoja- novic.

According to coach Ivan Toplak, his goalie should have been the Most Valuable player in the tournament. Instead, the honors went to the 'Quakes' Paul Child, who scored three goals against Vancouver and four against Seattle in the first round. "We were much quicker in the transition between offense and defense, "Our team is basically offense oriented and everybody likes to shoot and score. The effort this game Is to get rather than to give up." Vancouver started the game off with the right idea: to stop San Jose's aggressive and tricky offense by covering every San Jose forward with a Vancouver defender. But that only workeJ out for the first 2:36 as the Earthquake's Man! Hernandz broke into the'open, received a Johnny Moore cross, and scored.

After that, San Jose ran free most of the night. The Earthquakes host the NASL semi-finals at the Cow Palace March 14 and 16 featuring Tampa, New York, and Dallas. The matchups have not been determined. Jack Got 65, But Lost Paul Child MVP LOS ANGELES (AP) "I thought if I shot 65 I would win," said Jack Nicklaus. "I didn't know how this young boy would react." Nicklaus shot his 65, but he didn't win.

That's because the reaction of the young boy, Pat FitzSimons, was a clinching string of 14 consecutive pars a hardwon string put together in the face of growing pressure that secured his first professional triumph in Sunday's final round of the Glen Campbell-Los Angeles Open Golf Tournament. FitzSimons was staked to a six-shot lead by his couraere- cord 64 in Saturday's third round and clinched it with a gritty, steady, one-under-par 70 over the last .18 holes of the demanding, Riviera Country Club course. He won by a comfortable four strokes with a 275 total. The big lead starting the final round was the difference. I "With a six-stroke lead, you want to concede yourself the victory, but you can't do that," the curly-haired, 24-year-old FitzSimons said.

"It's like looking at a threefoot putt for six hours. If you make it, people say, 'Well, that's what he's supposed to If you miss it, they say, 'How in the world could be blow something like "Blowing a six-shot lead could be a devastating thing." His closing string of 14 pars precluded that possibility, FitzSimons, who'd never even come close to winning before, left the strongest field of the year strung out well behind him. No one ever got closer than four strokes. That was Tom Kite, who birdied three of four holes on the back nine for a 68 and finished second at 279. Nicklaus, who started play 10 strokes back in the mild, sunny weather of the final round, made up the lost ground but finished five behind at 280.

"Delighted," Nicklaus said. "That's the first really good round I've played in a long time. I thought a 65 would win. It all depended on the young man leading." Tom Weiskopf and U.S. Open champion Hale Irwln were next at 282, Irwin with a closing 67, Weiskopf with a 68.

Tom Watson, Billy Casper, Jim Dent and Jerry McGee were at 283. Casper shot a last round 69, McGee and Dent 70, Watson 71. Johnny Miller never got in the chase. He had a triple- bogey seven on his second hole and finished with a 74-287. And he beaded home to a a a i for an extended break.

"I may take off a couple of weeks. I may take off a month. I know yet," he said. don't Pat FitzSimons, 130,000 70-7I-44-70-- J7S Tom Kite, 117,100 Jack Nicklaus, Irwln, Tom Welskopt, Tom Watioo, Jerry McSee, Billy Casper, Jim Deiit, M.4W Stockton, IXaOO Douglass, (2.WO John Mehafley, BobE. Smith, timer, Dick Crawford, K.3H Ed Johnny Miller, U.B5 Bruce FlUsher, Bob Goalby, Jim Wlechers, Jim Simons, si, TO Bud Allln, Rlk Mattangafe J.

C. Snaed. ArnoM Palmer, IS! L. Thompson, 11,155 Mark Hayes, 155.. George Cadle, 155 Bob Wynn, John Jacobs, Crenthaw, Hill, tHi.

Vic Regalado, Lee Trevlno, Mike Mor ley, Lyn Lett, Orvllle Moody, Glbby Gilbert, Doug Sanders, Jimmy Powell, MIS. Bob Unoer, MIS -tl-nt 70-7J-70-70-JW 72-74-70-MS 4C-74-74-71-2M It TS-71-71-74-- Jtl JtJ tK IW.