The Palm Beach Post from West Palm Beach, Florida • Page 92

Po.t, onday. May 5, 1 934 -B 11 Nuggets strike gold in OT, even series with Rockets DENVER (AP) Ale English scored six points in overtime, and Lafayette Lever and T.R. Dunn hit key free throws down the stretch yesterday, rallying the Denver Nuggets to a 114-111 NBA playoff victory over the Houston Rockets, squaring the series at 2-2. Game 5 in the best-of-seven series is set for Tuesday night in Houston. The Rockets had won the series' first two games in Houston before losing two in a row in Denver.

The Nuggets trailed 104-99 with 44 seconds left in regulation, but Denver reserve guard Elston Turner made a three-point basket and then slipped along the baseline for a reverse layup with 1 1 seconds Pro Basketball it at the end." Moe was drained by ordeal Denver coach Doug Moe, drained by the ordeal, said, "1 was too tired to even know what was going on out there. That was just an unbelievable performance by those guys. It seemed like nothing was going right for us in the last quarter, but Elston (Turner) hit some big shots and (Bill) Hanzlik was magnificent in defending against (Ralph) Sampson. "I really couldn't believe we were still in the game the way we couldn't hit a shot, but we just wouldn't give up. Everybody was hustling." Houston coach Bill Fitch called tt "a tough one to lose We missed three big free throws (in overtime), but we made almost everything in the first half.

We now have a three-game series starting in Houston Tuesday. Be there." English, who scored only two points in the first quarter, had 28. HOUSTON (111) fcCr If tj I Oiatwon It 77 1 1 7) spwn la 10-7 7 WH i Bed J4 71 tt.gg.nt I 7 Petersen 4 4 14 Leeveil 7 1 7 V. DweH 06 0-0 0 Marr.s O-1 0-0 0 Totals 4 C- 7S ij III OCNVEH (1MI Engi.sn .1 tt mwster 1 4 1 3 Cooper 4 10 0 7 Lrvtr 7 i 4 17 Dunn 0-1172 Natt VII 40 14 vent Mil Turner 00 HenI, 44 10 Scnaves 7 4 Totals 42 44 20 Ja 1 14 HevttM 10 74 7-111 27 74 23 JO 10-114 Thrr 4nt Mls-E Turner Fu l4 otrl Otaiuwon Cooper etoawftfltt Hout'on 41 (Sempton Hi Denver 44 (Cooper Oi Amtrt-Hutton 74 tRerJ 7). Oenver 7J tTurner Man-life 4i Tafal town Houtton 30.

Denver 37 Tethrt.ceit Houtton coatfl Fifth, Denver illegal detente 2 14 147 remaining to send the game into overtime. Reid played well late Houston, getting solid play in the fourth quarter and in overtime from point guard Robert Reid, who scored 11 of his team's final 13 points, took a four-point lead in the extra period on Reid's baseline jumper. A free throw by Reid with 1:31 left put the Rockets up 111-108, but Houston didn't score again against a sticky Denver defense. English hit two free throws with 1:19 remaining and Lever added two more with 1 02 left, giving Denver its first lead since early in the third quarter. Dunn, fouled after Reid missed a jumper, made both free throws with six seconds remaining to account for the final margin.

Allen Leavell's desperation three-point attempt missed at the buzzer. "I think sometimes people don't realize how good this team can be," English said, "but today we showed everyone. When a team plays that hard for that long like we did today, you just know you're going to be in Alex English six overtime points lift Nuggets if M' 1 -M 1 dj Hawks IVom 157 i 1 ni.iai.iaji i 'M inm i II II I II ail II 4" Glenn Rivers answered that with a three-point play and Bird came back with a basket for the Celtics before the Hawks scored the next nine points. Lots of big plays "There were a lot of big plays today but the biggest was the last play of the game, then looking up at the clock and seeing that the season wasn't over," Wilkins said. Spud Webb, at 5-foot-7 the shortest player in the NBA, also made a key contribution when the Hawks took control in the third quarter, penetrating the Boston defense to set up baskets for teammates.

Webb finished the game with 21 points. "We needed to get the monkey off our back," Webb said after the Hawks beat the Celtics for the first time in 10 tries this season. "Webb looked like player of the year," said Boston coach K.C. Jones. "We also saw the same old Dominique today." Kevin McHale led the Celtics with 26 points and Bird finished with 20, although he had only four in the first half when he made only one of 10 shots from the field.

Atlanta's biggest lead in the game was 104-91 in the final BOSTON (44) Bird 5 14 10 10 70 MtHal 7 10 12 14 26. Pariitl 4 4 4 4 13. A.nye 4 12 7 1 II, Johnton 4-11 2 7 II, Sirhting 1-3 0 0 7, Wedman 4 1114 ite 0 0 0 0 0 Vimenl 0 3 0 0 0, Third Kill 0 1 000 Totals V) I4 32 J6 94 ATLANTA (104) WHkint 1 1-74 15 14 37, Wi lit 3 6 0 0 6. Rollint 0 1 0 0 0 Rivert 4 9 3 3 14, Witlman 4 13 1-7 13. Levingtlon 3 6 0 0 6, on cak 0 3 12 I.

Webb 10 14 12 21. Davit 2 4 0 0 4, Hastings l-l O0 2 Tolalt 42 07 21 24 106 Boston 24 7 7 7 70- 44 Atlanta 24 21 J9 27-104 Three point goals-Wedrnan 2. Ainge, Johnson, Rivert Fouled out None Reboundt Botlon 48 (Ml Half 121, Atlanta 60 (Rollint 161 Assists -Botton 19 Brd 51, Atlanta 27 IvVebb 121 Total foult-Boslon 22, Atlanta 2t Technicals Willis. Altanta illegal defense. Boston illegal defense A 12,357 Polynice changes mind, will not enter NBA draft Five collegians Dwayne "Pearl" Washington, William Bedford, Michael Graham, Chris Washburn and John Williams have gambled that they'll be part of the -NBA May 11 lottery but Vir-t ginia center Olden Polynice has de- 2 cided to pass.

Saturday, only hours before the-, NBA's midnight deadline for un-T derclassmen to declare themselves Z-eligible for the league draft, Polyn- Z-ice, a 6-foot-ll junior, reversed his announcement of two days earlier and said he would stay in even though he won't be able td Zl play until January at the The NBA draft will be June 17, but next Sunday, seven teams will line up in hopes of win- ning the top pick. ll hhc rv EMILIO VAZQUEZ JR. Staff Photographer Miami's Kirk Dulom (left) hugs Jose Trujillo after Trujillo scored Canes' first run by stealing two bases left uncovered Hurricanes steal victory from Seminoles Norman easy winner in Panasonic tourney Golf Results, B12 Post Wire Services (11-10). Last night we got blown out (14-6) and could have rolled over. "We set our goal to win two out of three.

That's what we had to do to get momentum for the rest of the season. We wanted the series, no doubt about it, but we also wanted momentum for the road trip." Miami starter Chris Lee retired the first 10 batters he faced, but FSU's Paul Sorrento broke up his perfect game with an opposite-field double to left with one out in the top of the fourth. Lee walked Luis Alicea and Bien Figueroa to load the bases and the Seminoles tied the score on Eric Mangham's two-run single to left. Steve Taddeo forced Mangham at second and Lee threw one ball to Fulton before Fraser brought Davies in from the bullpen for his first relief appearance since Feb. 20, 1985.

Fulton singled to center, scoring Figueroa with the go-ahead run, but Davies got Barry Blackwell to ground to third, forcing Fulton for the final out of the inning. The only other baserunner allowed by Davies was Mangham, who hit the ball back to the mound with two out in the sixth and was safe on Davies' throwing error. By that time, the Hurricanes had a 5-3 lead, scoring three runs off Pollack in the fourth on Kirk Dulom's single, Chris Howard's triple and singles by Rusty De-Bold, Trujillo and Vaughn. well's throw was late, trying for an inning-ending force on Greg Vaughn's slow grounder. Trujillo, noticing no one covering third, stole it.

No one was covering the plate, either, so he continued home for his 12th stolen base of the season and a 1-0 Miami lead. Moments later, Pollack's throw to first had Vaughn picked off, but the swift right fielder raced to second for his 34th stolen base. Vaughn scored on Rick Richardi's single to left, giving Miami a 2-0 lead. The Hurricanes later came from behind to take the rubber game of the series, which was witnessed by a crowd of 3,858. Attendance for the three-game series ws a stadium-record 16,802.

Both teams are ranked among the top five in the nation and probably will be host teams for NCAA Division I regional tournaments later this month. "Take those two runs away and we're going extra innings right now," said Fulton, who threw out three runners, singled, doubled and drove in two runs for the Seminoles. Left-hander Dan Davies (9-0), pitching in relief for the first time this season, was the winning pitcher, giving up one hit and no runs in 3Vb innings. Rick Raether pitched the last two innings for his 12th save of the season and 32nd of his career, tying the NCAA record set by Scott Wright of Cal State-Fullerton (1981-84). Pollack (8-3) was the loser.

The Hurricanes are at home against the University of Tampa at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. "I'm real proud of our kids," Miami coach Ron Fraser said. "We got ahead so far Friday night, then fell behind and came back to win it By Chuck Otterson Staff Writer CORAL GABLES Florida State catcher Ed Fulton's throwing arm forced the University of Miami baseball team to make a radical change in its strategy yesterday. After Fulton threw out the first two Miami (39-12) baserunners attempting to steal, the defending national champion Hurricanes decided to do their stealing before Fulton could get his hands on the ball.

And they literally stole the first two runs en route to a 7-5 victory over the No. 1-ranked Seminoles at Mark Light Stadium. "I've never done that before," Miami's No. 9 hitter, second baseman Jose Trujillo, said of the bizarre third inning in which he stole third and home when the Seminoles (49-10), thinking time had been called, left both bases uncovered. "We've been playing heads-up ball like that all year," said Trujillo.

"I saw nobody on third base, so I took off. Then I looked at the plate; nobody was there, either, so I took off again." Fulton blamed himself for the mixup. "I called time out when the umpire and I crossed," Fulton said. "I looked back and he was brushing the plate off. I made the mistake of assuming time was out and ran out to the mound.

"It was a stupid mistake. It ended up costing us two runs and that was the difference in the ballgame." Joe Nelson led off the bottom of the third with an infield single but was thrown out trying to steal. Left-hander Chris Pollack struck out Chris Magno, but Trujillo walked and was safe at second when third baseman Barry Black- shine, started the day three shots in front, birdied two of the first four holes and took it from there, finishing with a round of seven-under-par 65. His margin of seven strokes matched the best on the Tour this year and his 90-hole total of 333 tied the total with which Lanny Wadkins won the 1985 Bob Hope Classic. Littler captures senior tournament ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.

-Gene Littler shot a one-undcr-'; par 71 to score a two-shot vie-'-tory over Don January in the i $250,000 Sunwest Bank-Charley Pride Senior Golf Classic. Littler, who went into the day; with a five-shot cushion over January, left only a small mar-'; gin for drama in the final round. He birdied the 382-yard, par-4 first hole with a 30-foot followed it with a 5-foot birdie putt on the par-5 No. 4 and then protected his load with a seem--ingly effortless tee-to-green per-: formance the rest of the way. LAS VEGAS, Nev.

Greg Norman knew the tournament and the richest prize on the PGA Tour was his when he ripped his drive off the 10th tee yesterday. "That's it, boys," the white-haired Australian said to himself. "You're going to have to go hard to catch me now." No one did. No one even seriously challenged Norman, who went on to match some tour scoring records in the five-day, 90-hole Panasonic Las Vegas Invitational, and, in the process, snapped a 2-year non-winning string. He also pocketed the $207,000 first prize, the largest on the PGA Tour.

"It just goes to show it just takes patience," said Norman, a frustrated runner-up to Jack Nicklaus in the Masters and to Fuzzy Zoeller at the Heritage in his last two starts. It wasn't even close over the last 18 holes on the wind-raked Las Vegas Country Club course. Norman, his sun-bleached hair glistening in the desert sun FSU 000 300 011 5 5 1 Miami 002 300 tlx 1 12 2 Pollack, Litfle (5), Lewis (8) and Fulton. Lee, Davies (4), Raether (81 and Magno. W-Davies (90).

L-Pollack (8-3). Save-Raether (12) 2B: Sorrento (F), Fulfon (F), Truiillo (M), Vaughn (M). 3B: Howard (M). HR: Sorrento (F, 17). Wickersham Another 4old' star shines: Allison takes Winston 500 From Wi III.

.1.. IUIl.UII....l...ll.l...lllllilll. rf. i I jir iui i JP- I i fami4wifri. I f- i Earnhardt is the other who won a race prior to 1980.

After Elliott's broken transmission spewed oil over the 2.66-mile Alabama International Motor Speedway oval, bringing out the ninth and final caution flag of the day, Allison found himself fifth behind Buddy Baker, Dale Earnhardt, Richard Petty and teammate Bobby Hillin Jr. The green flag dropped for the last time on lap 179 and Allison quickly began to move to the top. He was fourth by lap 181, second the next time around the fast Talladega speedway and moved past Earnhardt and Baker to take the lead on lap 183. Earnhardt made a run at Allison going through the fourth turn on the final lap, but Allison, who led just 38 laps, was able to hold him off. The Buick LeSabre of Allison, from nearby Hueytown, crossed the finish line 2 car-lengths ahead of the Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS driven by the second-place Earnhardt, who moved into the Winston Cup point lead.

Spectator drives off with pace car Darren Crowder of Birmingham, a 20-year-old fan, jumped into an unoccupied pace car and delayed the start of the Winston 500, while police on motorcycles and in squad cars chased him down. The car finally was halted in the fourth turn when track safety and maintenance trucks formed a blockade across the track. Crowder, who stopped the Responds Jensen: "They want to see if I still have', it. I know I do. I can still play." Caught in the middle of the verbal fire is Wickersham, who was LSU's leading career passer with 6,921 yards and holds 16 school records.

Wickersham had a so-so senior year, which explains why he lasted until the 10th round. He completed 60 percent of his passes (209-of-346), but averaged only 6.2 yards an attempt I and accounted for just five touchdowns. I Wickersham must throw deep The Dolphins have no use for a dink passer, how- ever, with receivers such as Mark Clayton, Mark Duper and Nat Moore. Wickersham will have to throw long if he wants to play. "It will be an adjustment throwing longer passes, but that's what every quarterback loves to do," Wick- ersham said.

Wickersham has impressed Shula with his athletic ability. "He timed out real well in the shuttle, jumped well and he's also a strong kid," Shula said. "We knew he was an athlete. That's why we drafted him." With a young Marino around, Wickersham knows it will be difficult to break in with the Dolphins. He also knows many young quarterback would gladly exchange some special teams action to be in the same training camp with Marino and Strock.

"It didn't bother me getting drafted by the same team that has Marino," Wickersham said. "I think it's going to be a big help in learning quarterback at the professional level. If you can't learn from Marino and Strock, you can't learn from anyone. They're two of the best there is." 1 Wickersham better keep an eye on Jensen, too. That figures to be his best way at making the Dolphins.

One thing's for sure: Jensen has already got an eye on Wickersham. Notes Wickersham will get his first big test today when the Dolphins begin their three-day camp for passing game personnel. Marino, who held out of trairjng-camp for five-plus weeks last fall, is expected in camp. The Associated Press TALLADEGA, Ala. Bobby Allison became the latest in a growing list of fading stars to rise up and claim a major victory when he took the Winston 500 NASCAR stock car race yesterday.

Allison, 48, who ended a string of 55 consecutive races without a victory, became the oldest driver ever to win a race in NASCAR's top division. He surpassed Richard Petty, who was 47 when he last won at Charlotte, N.C., in October 1984. Allison's triumph follows close on the heels of the astonishing victories of 54-year-old jockey Bill Shoemaker in Saturday's Kentucky Derby and 46-year-old Jack Nicklaus in the recent Masters golf tournament. "I may be over the hill, like some people have been saying, but I enjoy what I'm doing," said the elated Allison. "This was really a thrill." Allison held off a last-turn challenge from Dale Earnhardt to win for the first time since the World 600 in Charlotte in May 1984.

"I got up next to him, but I just didn't have enough to get by him," said Earnhardt, who moved into the Winston Cup point lead. "I thought I might have a shot at it, but he was able to move away." The frustration of 1986 continued for Bill Elliott, who overpowered the fastest field in stock car racing history until his transmission broke just 14 laps from the end. "Bill was strong, but we made him run today," said Allison, who was the only driver within striking distance of Elliott when the latter's car slowed on lap 174 of the 188-lap event. Allison became the eighth different winner in nine races this year and only the second car without incident after getting up to more than 100 mph on the backstretch, was taken into custody and quickly driven away in a police car. LOWEN HOSACK Stalt Photogr, Quarterback Jeff Wickersham faces uphill battle ex-LSU player knows Jim Jensen's the man to beat tor roster spot.