The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 26

D2 TUESDAY, MAY 20, 2003 Sports THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR WWW.INDYSTAR.COM THE DAILY DOUBLE Spezza helps Senators stave off elimination NHL PLAYOFFS Rookie has goal and an assist on game-winner as Ottawa forces Game 6 in Eastern finals. THEY SAID IT "I didnt realize until last year, maybe, what it takes out of you. Everything still has to go perfect for you to have a chance and then you get beat by a nose." Horse trainer Bob Baffert, who has had three shots at racing's Triple Crown since 1997, including last year with War Emblem. THE NEXT THREE Home games in bold OTTAWA 0f-seven series NEW JERSEY 1 shifts back to Next game: New Jersey for at New Jersey, Game 6 on 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Wednesday, The win not ESPN only ended Ot- tawa's three-game losing streak, but also reversed the team's troubling past of going 0-6 when facing elimination. Scott Stevens scored for the Associated Press OTTAWA Rookie Jason Spezza provided the Ottawa Senators the offense they needed to stay alive in the playoffs. Spezza, making his NHL playoff debut, had a goal and assisted on Martin Havlat's game-winner, lifting the Senators to a 3-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals on Monday night. Todd White also scored for the Senators, who cut the Devils' lead C2h INDIANS Today 6:05 a.m. at Buffalo Thursday 6:05 p.m.

at Ottawa Friday 6:05 p.m. at Ottawa FEVER May 29 6 p.m. at Charlotte May 31 3 p.m. vs. Washington June 7 7 p.m.

vs. New York Suicide is ruled in death of Packer assistant's son WXNT-1430 AM ESPN TV AND RADIO TODAY Baseball 6:05 p.m. IL, Indians at Buffalo Basketball 7 p.m. NBA playoffs, New Jersey Cycling 8:30 a.m. Giro d'ltalia, 10th stage Softball 5 p.m.

H.S., Roncalli at Ben Davis STAFF CONTACTS fe4 Assistant Managing Editor for Sports: Tim Wheatley 1-317-444-6502, tim.wheatleyindystar.com Sports Editor: Jim Lefko 1-317-444-6352, jim.lefkoindystar.com Assistant Sports Editor: Tom Rietmann 1-317-444-6046, tom.rietmannindystar.com Assistant Sports Editor David Lewandowski 1-317-444-6730, david.lewandowskiindystar.com Sports Copy Desk Editor Martha Allan 1-317-444-6525, martha.allanindystar.com Main number 1-317-444-6644 Fax line: 1-317-444-6500 HOT CORNER Pacers' Miller undergoes surgery on sore right ankle OFF THE WIRE Morry Gash Associated Press Somber day: Police Lt. Jim Arts answers questions regarding the death of Ray Sherman the son of Ray Sherman, a receivers coach for the Packers. discuss adding two more teams to the playoffs, one in each conference. That would mean only the club with the best conference record would have a bye, and there would be six games on the first weekend of the postseason. Elway fires Crush's staff A 2-14 record in the inaugural season just wasn't good enough, so co-owner John Elway fired the Colorado Crush's entire coaching staff Monday.

One day after the Crush's season-ending 59-48 loss in its first year, Elway dismissed coach Bob Beers and his assistants. BASKETBALL Kentucky gets 2 7-footers For the first time in Kentucky basketball history, the Wildcats will have two 7-footers on their 'roster. Kentucky announced the sign-ings of Shagari Alley ne and Lukasz Obrzut on Monday. Both signed during the spring period that ended Thursday. The 7-2, 260-pound Alleyne averaged 21 points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots last season for Rice High School in New York.

Obrzut (7-1), from Gliwice, Poland, played for Bridgton Academy in North Bridgton, Maine, last season, averaging 12 points and eight rebounds. Cincinnati freshman Eric Hicks, a 6-6 freshman forward who averaged 25 points last season, was suspended indefinitely from the basketball program Monday for conduct detrimental to the team. mm Schaefer failed on his wraparound attempt, but the rebound rolled to Havlat, standing at the right post. Martin Brodeur prevented Havlat from jamming the puck in, and then blindly kicked the puck away. The puck, however, hit the skate of New Jersey defenseman Richard Smehlik and rolled back into the net.

Spezza sealed the victory with 7:32 remaining, redirecting Chris Phillips' point shot for a power-play goal. It was Ottawa's first man-advantage goal of the series, ending an 0-for-20 streak. HOOSIER DIGEST ATLANTA Georgia Tech hires Joseph Former Purdue women's basketball star and assistant coach MaChelle Joseph was hired Monday as head coach at Georgia Tech. Joseph, an assistant at Georgia Tech this past season, succeeds Agnus Berenato, who resigned earlier this month after 15 seasons to become the coach at Pittsburgh. Berenato is the winningest women's basketball coach in Georgia Tech history with a record of 223-209.

Joseph, a four-year starter at Purdue, was the Big 10 Player of the Year as a senior in 1992. She finished her career as the top scorer in conference history, and is the only player to rank in the top 10 in assists and scoring. She worked as an assistant coach for the Boilermakers from 1994-96. INDIANAPOLIS Dixon to be honored The American Dairy Association of Indiana will salute driver Scott Dixon today at the 29th Fastest Rookie of the Year awards luncheon at the Brickyard Crossing Golf Resort Inn. Dixon's four-lap average speed in qualifying was 230.099 mph.

He will start the 87th Indianapolis 500 on the inside of row two. ANDERSON Anderson names Zapolski Michael Zapolski, associate athletic director at Pepperdine, has been named the new athletic director at Anderson University, the school announced Monday. Zapolski has worked as sports information director and assistant athletic director for Pepperdine. Zapolski, a 1985 Pepperdine graduate and Nevada native, replaces Barrett Bates, who is retiring after 28 years at his alma mater. ELKHART Former Elkhart star dies Ray Ball, a member of the Indianapolis Star Indiana All-Star basketball team in 1954, died Monday.

He was 68. Ball led Elkhart High School in scoring during the 1953-54 season with 528 points. He also played basketball at Indiana University where he was a member of the 1958 Big Ten championship team. WICHITA, KAN. ISU to face Wichita State Indiana State will face Wichita State Wednesday in the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference baseball tournament.

The Sycamores (35-20, 15-17 MVC) are seeded No. 5 and the Shockers (42-24, 19-13) are No. 2. From Star news services, special reports then, the Cowboys will be a better team. If not a playoff team, if not a Super Bowl contender.

Valley Ranch, the site of the Cowboys' training complex, is still somewhat subdued since the mysterious death on May 11 of Ennis Haywood, a practice-squad running back last season. When an autopsy did not determine the cause, toxicology and tissue tests were ordered. Parcells knows better than to predict how many games these Cowboys will win. But when he was reminded that his pal Bob Knight, the Texas Tech basketball coach, has put the number at nine, he smiled. "Tell him," Parcells said, "to pay attention to his own deal." Dave Anderson is a sports columnist for The New York Times.

Devils, who appeared to have the series momentum coming off Saturday's 5-2 victory. New Jersey, attempting to reach the Stanley Cup finals for the third time in four years, has never lost a series it led 3-1. After the teams traded second-period goals, Havlat put the Senators up for good on a broken play with 12:01 remaining. Peter Schaefer sparked it when he stripped the puck from New Jersey's Sergei Brylin behind the Devils net. TENNIS Roddick defeats Martin Top-seeded Andy Roddick beat Alberto Martin of Spain 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) Monday in the first round of the Raiffeisen Grand Prix in St.

Poelten, Austria. There were several upsets in the opening round. Fourth-seeded American Taylor Dent lost to Croatia's Mario Ancic 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, fifth-seeded American Jan Michael Gamill was beaten 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 by Richard Krajicek of Holland and seventh-seeded Karol Kucera lost to Martin Verkerk of Holland 6-2, 6-1. Former U.S. Open champion Marat Safin withdrew from the French Open on Monday with a wrist injury.

SOCCER Injury sidelines U.S. star Forward Shannon MacMil- lan has a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee and likely will miss the Women's World Cup later this year. MacMiUan, a star on the U.S. national team, was hurt Sunday night playing for the San Diego Spirit of the WUSA. She's expected to have reconstructive surgery Wednesday to repair the completely torn ACL, a partially torn medial collateral ligament and cartilage damage.

The United States and Sweden were the only nations to submit complete bids to host the Women's World Cup, and FIFA will try to make a decision by the end of next week. The tourney had been scheduled in China from Sept. 23-Oct. 11. FIFA's executive committee decided May 3 to move the quadrennial event because of SARS.

CYCLING Cipollini sets record World champion Mario Cipollini edged Australian Robbie McEwan in a sprint finish Monday in Montecatini Terme, Italy, setting a new record with his 42nd career Giro d'ltalia stage victory. The 36-year-old captain of the Domina Vacanze team won the ninth stage, one day after tying Alfredo Binda's 70-year-old mark for stage victories. He completed the 99.2-mile leg from Arezzo to Montecatini Terme in 3 hours, 41 minutes, 58 seconds. Earlier Monday, Cipollini and his team were denied a wild-card entry in the Tour de France. Cipollini said the decision ruined his record-setting feat.

From Star news services mean tin-soldier behavior, but behaving in a manner that reflects a knowing and an understanding of what the game is about. I only have three rules: Be on time, pay attention, practice and play hard." Unlike some coaches, Parcells enjoys surveying his players in the weight room. He gets to know them that way. "You can tell which ones are lazy, which ones don't want to do this," he said. "And which ones are trying to improve." After a 5-11 record in each of the past three seasons, the Cowboys need to improve, but that is why the owner-general manager-financier-marketer Jerry Jones signed Parcells to a four-year, $17.1 million contract.

Sooner or later their egos will clash, but by The 14-year-old son of Green Bay Packers assistant coach Ray Sherman shot himself in the head with his father's gun, a death the medical examiner ruled a suicide. Ray Sherman Jr. was helping his family move from a rented home Sunday afternoon when he found his father's weapon while alone in the garage, Green Bay, police Lt. Jim Arts said. Ray Sherman found his son 10 minutes after the gun went off and called 911, Arts said.

His father had gone looking for the teen to take him to a movie, Arts said. The coach told police he had owned guns for more than 20 years and that the 38-caliber pistol and ammunition were usually kept separately. The gun was in a duffel bag on a shelf in the garage. After an autopsy Monday, Al Klimek, the Brown County, medical examiner said the location of the wound right side of the head and other evidence led him to conclude the death was a suicide. "There's just things that we found through investigation that indicates this was more of an intentional act," said Klimek, who refused to elaborate.

No suicide note was found, Arts said. Settlement reached Korey Stringer's widow will ask an appeals court to reinstate her $100 million lawsuit against the Minnesota Vikings now she has settled with the last defendants. Kelci Stringer reached a deal with the Vikings' training camp physician, Dr. David Knowles, and his Mankato Clinic for an undisclosed sum, Hennepin County District Judge Gary Larson said Monday. Last month, Larson dismissed all of Kelci Stringer's claims against the Vikings and team officials over her husband's heatstroke death in 2001.

But the judge allowed her $100 million wrongful-death lawsuit to go forward against Knowles, who was not an employee of the team. Playoffs to be reviewed When NFL owners think about expanding the playoffs, they don't see a dilution of the product. They see two more postseason games, two more sold-out stadiums and two more television dates. The owners meet in Philadelphia today and Wednesday to line under "Tell 'em to have passion for their teams; that's competition, that's what I like," Parcells said earlier. "Tell 'em to look around.

My pal Lou Piniella is managing his fourth team. Larry Brown has moved a lot. Buck Showalter. Mike Fratello. Marty Schotten-heimer.

That's the way pro sports is now." After the Cowboys open their season here against the Atlanta Falcons, they go to Giants Stadium for a Monday night game with the Giants on Sept. 15, get a breather with a bye, then return to Giants Stadium on Sept. 28 against the Jets. But he claims that his sun-and-mousse- bleached hair will not be quite so blond in September. "It'll be back to normal by then," he said.

at Detroit OLN FM Matt Kryger staff photo Rehab: Reggie Miller originally suffered a severe sprain in an August exhibition with the U.S. team that played in the World Basketball Championship. and can then begin rehabilitation. They can begin shooting after a few weeks. Miller requested that details of his surgery and rehabilitation not be released, a right accorded to him under privacy rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

The privacy rules, enacted April 14, forbid employers from releasing health-related information of employees without written consent of the employee. Call Star reporter Mark Montieth at 1-317-444-6406. COMMENTARY Dave Anderson be down to about 345 and dropping. And out between the practice fields here, there Parcells was, wearing a blue Cowboys bucket hat, a white Dallas Cowboys T-shirt and blue Cowboys shorts with a white-bordered blue Cowboys star on the left thigh. The same Cowboys star, he was told, that so many of his New York and New Jersey loyalists now cannot bring themselves to root for after having rooted against it for so long, especially when he was coaching the Giants and the Jets.

By Mark Montieth mark.montiethC4indystar.com Indiana Pacers' guard Reggie Miller underwent what was described as successful arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle Monday and is expected to make a complete recovery. Loose cartilage and bone spurs were removed from the ankle in surgery performed by Pacers' team doctor Sanford Kunkel at Ortholndy Surgery Center. Miller has suffered several sprains in both ankles during his 16-season NBA career, which causes loose cartilage and bone spurs. He severely sprained his right ankle during an exhibition game with the U.S. World Championship team in Portland, last August.

He returned too quickly by his later estimation to participate in the tournament in Indianapolis, then sat out the Pacers' exhibition games and first 12 regular-season games. Miller played the remaining 70 regular-season games but averaged 12.6 points, his lowest output since his rookie season in 1987-88. He averaged 9.2 points on 28 percent shooting in the first-round playoff loss to Boston. Basketball players who undergo surgery such as Miller's usually are asked to stay off the ankle for a few days to allow the swelling to subside Cowboys falling in Parcells the disciplinarian IRVING, Texas Not long after Bill Parcells arrived here as the Dallas Cowboys' coach, he was talking to a veteran defensive lineman whose weight appeared to be at least an ounce or two too much. "What do you weigh?" Parcells said.

"About 340," the lineman said. "Let's go over to the trainer's room and see." On the scale, the lineman was 367. "You sure gained a lot of weight on the walk over here," Parcells told him, flashing that sarcastic smile. "If you fell over, you could rock yourself to sleep." By Parcells' first full-squad minicamp Monday, that unidentified lineman was understood to As a coach, he is already back to normal. He is as enthused as he ever was at the start of his tenures with the Giants, the Patriots and the Jets.

In a rare news conference Monday, he had the same sharp tongue, the same sharp insight, the same sharp New York-New Jersey wiseguy humor. When he was asked if he had a sense of where the team's psyche was, he replied, "They just need to worry about where I am mentally." They already understand his emphasis on discipline. "That's the way I was raised," he said. "Do things that allow you to win and don't do things that cause you to lose," meaning missed assignments or being overweight. "And try to behave.

I don't -a.