Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 43

MONDAY. MARCH 15, 1999 ASBURY PARK PRESS PAGE D5 NBA RALLY EXTRA Knicks, Van Gundy survive Freehold's David O'Rourke and Howell's Lindsey Gallo came through with fifth-place finished O'Rourke with a 54-1 shot put and Gallo with a personal-best 4:49.60 mile. Neptune senior Melissa Harris finished ninth in the preliminaries of the 60-meter dash with a 7.78, qualifying her for the semifinals, where she ran a 7.77, just .01 shy 6f qualifying for the eight-runner final. Christian Brothers Academy's 3,200 relay team won its unseeded heat in 8:02.40, but didn't place in the top 10 overall. Wall's Eric Mot-zenbecker clocked a 1:57.12 in the 800, barely edged out of first in an unseeded heat, and placed 13th overall.

But Guiney did not leave without a national championship ring. On Saturday, she'd anchored Middle-town South to the distance-medley relay title. Guiney got the baton in third place after twin sister Maggie had run the first 1,200 meters, Joanne Bradley the 400 leg and Tara Frohj-lichthe800. Taking off 40 meters off the pace, Cate Guiney ran a 4:58.9 anchor to win it. "We didn't care about not breaking our personal best time, 12:06.4," she said.

"Not as long as we won." Maggie Guiney also added a personal best yesterday, finishing first in the unseeded heat of the two-mile run in 10:59.02, which placed her tenth overall. Her prev ious best was 11:15.34. By JEFF SULLIVAN SPECIAL TO THE PRESS BOSTON Middletown South senior Cate Guiney had two thoughts on her second-place finish in the two-mile run yesterday in the National Scholastic Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Reggie Lewis Athletic Center. The first was that no one remembers who comes in second. Her second was that she didn't care not because she didn't want to win, but that she accomplished another goal by running a 10:27.20 to shatter the New Jersey high school record of 10:35.66 set in 1986 by North Hunterdon's Anne Marie Lauck, who went on to run the 1996 Olympic marathon.

Also, Guiney's time is one of the top 20 national performances in high school history. By BRIAN HEYMAN STAFF WRITER NEW YORK The Knicks were fresh off from making the Misera-Bulls almost look like the Jordan Bulls. It was hard to say the Knicks quit because they never really started. It was so bad Friday night that Peter Vecsey of NBC-TV threw out the ceremonial first rumor yesterday afternoon: If the Knicks didn't humble the basically harmless Hornets at the Garden last night, Jeff Van Gundy would have to turn in the keys to his office. Talk about a must-win game.

But management issued the expected denial of the potential firing, and the Knicks made it moot for another day anyway, stopping Charlotte 94-86 behind 20 points from Allan Houston, 19 from Larry Johnson and 16 from Latrell Sprewell. "It just started later this year," Van Gundy said about the rumors. "I wonder why it had taken so long." Van Gundy didn't deny he could be in trouble if there were more games like the Chicago game. But TRACK com" mmm plain because, even though I wanted to win, if 1 had been given the choice before the race, 1 would have taken the state record over first place," said Guiney. Guiney led most of the race, taking the lead from the start and relinquishing it only for parts of the second and third laps.

With about 100 meters remaining, however, sophomore Sara Bei of Santa Roa, passed her and sprinted to the finish line in 10:25.07. About halfway through the race, Bei (who'd won the one-mile in 4:53.98 earlier in the meet) trailed Guiney by almost 35 meters. "1 kind of knew she would be coming, but I didn't hear her until she passed me said Guiney. "She has a great kick; I gave it my best." Km NJSIAA BOYS BASKETBALL GROUP II FINAL Holmdel happy it can 'dance' again East Brunswick beats Columbia THE EAST Brunswick girls basketball team buried eight 3-pointers, including four in the second quarter, as the Bears defeated Columbia 63-57 at the Dunn Center in Elizabeth to capture their first NJSIAA Group IV title yesterday. Junior guard Jessica Olszewski scored 1 8 points and hit five 3-pointers to earn most valuable player honors.

Susan Firestone and Megan 0 Neill added 14 points apiece, with O'Neill going 8-for-10 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. Schrkya Massey led Columbia with 15 points, and Marcie Dickson added 12. IN OTHER GIRLS GAMES: MENDHAM 56, STERLING 51: Molly Creamer scored nine of her 18 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Mmutemen (26-3) over the Knights in the Group II title game. Creamer converted 6 of 6 free throws in the final 2:19 to help secure the win. HADDONFIELD 61, BLOOMF1ELD TECH 45: The Bulldogs pulled away in the second half to capture their third consecutive state championship with the win over the Spartans in the Group I title game.

EWING 54, SPARTA 51: Jenn Stiller fired in a 3-pointer to give the Blue Devils (24-3) the lead for good as they beat the Spartans in the Group III championship game. Stiller's shot gave Ewing a 4744 lead. Tariqah Miller, a 6-fooM senior center, led Ewing with 15 points and 13 rebounds. IN BOYS GAMES: PARSIPPANY 57, LAWRENCE 55: Senior guard Rashawn Ward scored on a breakaway layup with 2.5 seconds to play to cap a game-ending 7-0 run, leading the Vikings over the Cardinals in the NJSIAA Group III championship in Atlantic City. Parsippany (20-6) trailed 55-50 with 48 seconds left before rallying to win its first state group championship.

Clarence Curry set up the game-winning basket by slapping the ball away from a driving Julius Gause. NEW PROVIDENCE 39, HIGHLAND PARK 37: Mike Machin one-handed, fadeaway flip in the lane just before the final buzzer lifted the Pioneers over the Owls in the NJSIAA Group I title game. Machin, a 6-4 senior who finished with 13 points, was the game's most valuable player. Todd Simo added 12 points for the Pioneers (21-5), who are now 2-0 in state group finals. They also won Group I in 1965.

TEANECK 65, RANCOCAS VALLEY 59: Marcelle Williams scored 21 points and the Highwaymen opened the game with an 11-2 run en route to beating the Red Devils in the NJSIAA Group IV championship. Williams, a 5-1 1 senior point guard, added six assists in winning the most valuable player award for the Highwaymen (28-1), who captured their first state group crown. They lost two previous title games. The Associated Press llv'' Holmdel players celebrate another Group II state title. 4Z- mm DARYL STONEStaff Photognphtr With Holmdel's 16-point, second-quarter lead having shriveled to two points in the final minute, Fleischner was well aware Mendham would be looking to its 6-foot-5 junior scoring machine, Jeff Schiffner, for the tying or go-ahead points.

"I was pretty sure they were going to that kid (Schiffner) again," said Fleischner. "He was scoring the whole game." Anticipating a pass in Schiffner's area, Fleischner stuck out an arm and the ball glanced off the Holmdel player and then grazed Schiffner as it rolled over the sideline with 29 seconds remaining. "I reached out, hoping to get a piece of it," said Fleischner. Stead, perhaps in a bit of gamesmanship as a Thursday meeting with Group III champion Parsippany looms in the opening round of the Tournament of Champions. "It's a little bruise." Fleischner, however, played the entire game and worked a gorgeous pick-and-roll clearout with Klatsky with five seconds remaining in the first half.

The basket gave Holmdel a 29-17 lead and Klatsky his career point. "Klatsky needed seven to reach 1,000 and he comes up with 27, the quietest 27 I've seen all year," Stead said. "This game wasn't easy by any ATLANTIC CITY olmdel. It's the small school from the small league (Shore Conference Class South) from one of the state's smallest groups. But once again the Hornets are going Big Time.

For the second year in a row, Holmdel's boys basketball team is in the New Jersey State Interscho-lastic Athletic Association's version of the Big Dance, The Tourna-ment of Champions. While most of the Shore's more traditional, perennial powers have put away their jerseys, Holmdel again has a shot at TONY GRAHAM something that's only been accomplished by two Shore teams Christian Brothers Academy and Long Branch and that's win a TOC game. "That's the biggest thing for us now," said Holmdel senior center Adam Fleischner after Holmdel, in what turned into a nail-biting finish held off Mendham yesterday, 55-51, in the state Group II final at the new Atlantic City Convention Center. "Last year we came very close to winning (in the TOO," said senior guard Brian Snodgrass. "This year, that's one of our things, get one in the TOC." Last year, after also defeating Mendham for the Group II title, Holmdel From Page Dl the floor and had seven rebounds and five assists.

"Klatsky is a guy who's been a 13-point scorer for us who's stepped it up to over 20 points per game in the state tournament," said coach Tom Stead. "But that's the kind of kid he is. We didn't ask him to do that. He did it on his own. This is his team, in his senior year, and he's in the driver's seat.

He's taking us for a ride. "Winning this is a such a relief and it feels great. When we won it with most of our kids juniors, you basically have to do it again when they're seniors. You have to have them reach their potential, and their full potential is a state championship again." Then Snodgrass, who with 40 seconds left had missed the front end of a one and one, swished both ends with 25 seconds left. When David Klatsky (27 points) popped in two more with two seconds left, Holmdel was back in the TOC where, this time, there is towering Long Branch standing in its path.

This is by no means intended to demean Group III Parsippany, Holmdel's first-round TOC opponent on Thursday, 6 p.m., at the Dunn Sports Center in Elizabeth. But the Redskins, at least oh paper, aren't CBA. The team from the Iron Hills Conference is just the third school from Morris County ever to win a New Jersey boy's basketball group title and the first since Mountain Lakes in 1969. "In this Tournament of Champions a lot of the big-name schools are sitting home watching," said Stead. "With that goes a lot of overrespect, a little bit of fear goes out the window now." Over the last four years Holmdel has won four Shore Conference division titles, three Central Jersey Group II crowns, and now two straight state Group Ii championships, joining Long Branch as the only Shore public schools to win back-to-back NJSIAA group titles.

"How much more said Stead. can we Well, now that you mention it, how about at least one more? Tony Graham is an Asbury Park Press staff writer. stretch. When Mendham made a run, it was up to our senior leaders to take care of the basketball." "Getting this game is total elation," Klatsky said. "To win this two years in a row, we're going fo look back on this someday and be awed by what we did." HOLMDEL (55): Fleischner 1-3 2-2 4.

McKeever 1-4 0-0 3. Klatsky 7-11 12 14 27, Donovan 4-9 0-1 9. Snodgrass 2-8 2-3 7, Craparo 0-2 0-0 0. Murrell 2 3 0-0 5. Ahmad 0-0 0-0 0 Totals: 17-40 16-20 55.

-MENDHAM (51): Schiflner 7-15 6-8 23. Wendarfer 3 5 0-0 6, Dillon O-l 0-0 0, Guest 4-9 2-2 11. Helbig 3-14 3-4 11, Lehnes 0-0 0-0 0, Barnes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-45 11 14 51. i Holmdel Mendham- 20 9 12 14 65 6 11 19 15-61 3-point goal: (H) McKeever, Klatsky.

Donovan, Snodgrass, Murrell; (M) Schiffner. Guest, Helbig game! KNICKS 94 HORNETS 86 KNICKS at BUCKS 8 p.m. TNT, MSG, 660 AM he didn't think his guys had tuned him out, citing Thursday night's Garden win over the Wiz ards. "Twenty-four hours before, they're listening when we play Washington and then they stopped listening?" Van Gundy asked. Friday night, it was better if Knicks fans weren't listening or watching as the Knicks tied the NBA's post-shot clock record for fewest field goals in a game with 19.

Even Patrick Ewing being sidelined wasn't an excuse to go that low. At least the Knicks showed Up for the game with the Hornets with an 11-9 record. The Hornets checked in at 6-12. Their coach, Dave Cowens, had already quit because the owner wouldn't give him a raise. Their best two players, Anthony Mason and Glen Rice, were hurt the whole time, and then the sharp-shooting Rice got shipped to the Lakers last week in a package that brought back Elden Campbell and Eddie Jones.

Even though Charlotte was 2-1 under new coach Paul Silas, the Knicks could get well against these guys. Plus, the Knicks were home, where they were a nice 9-2. So they went out and grabbed a 14-point, second-quarter lead before settling for a 10-point edge at halftime. But then they started turning the ball over and over, six straight to start the third. The Hornets finally pulled even at 59-59.

The Knicks managed to take a 71-68 lead into the final quarter thanks to a Chris Childs 3-pointer with 18.5 seconds to go in the third. The struggling Sprewell ultimately swished a couple of large shots down the stretch. First, he hit from 17 feet to give the Knicks an 83-80 edge, and then with an even four minutes to go, he knocked down another 17-footer, and it was an 86-80 game. After that, the Hornets never came closer than five. The Knicks didn't exactly come out with a better aim than they did against the Horri-Bulls, shooting 29.6 percent from the floor in the first quarter, sinking only 8 of 27.

af Bfe GOLF CLUB Holmdel dropped a double overtime TOC heartbreaker to Long Branch. "We got there today, second year in a row, TOC, we don't want to lose two years in a row," said Fleischner. "That's not what we're looking for. It would be pretty big to get another win in the TOC. That would be awesome." "It's sort of like (the movie) Hoo-siers," said Holmdel coach Tom Stead.

"I told these guys that we've got unfinished business. We'll celebrate tonight but we'll be back at work." As usual, little things worked yesterday for Holmdel. This is a team that plays not only with its heart but with its head. Mendham's Jeff Schiffner, a 6-5 junior who scored 20 points last season in the championship game loss to Holmdel, scored 23 points. Last year's game MVP, Adam Fleischner, was limited to four points and four rebounds.

The 6-3 post player had bandages on his left hand with Fleischner and Stead disagreeing on the extent of the injury suffered in the state semifinal victory over Sterling. Asked if his left thumb was broken, Fleischner said, "I think so. I don't know. It's all right now that we won." "He always says it's broken," said PX Holmdel 4th, Vianney tops THE HOLMDEL boys, who won the Group II title, drew the No. 4 seed and the St.

John Vianney girls, the Parochial A champions, drew the top seed as the NJSIAA Tournament of Champions announced its schedule of games for later this week. Boys Parochial A champion Seton Hall Prep is the top seed and will have a first-round bye, along with Parochial champion St. Augustine Prep. For the girls, Vianney and Group II titlist Mend-ham drew first-round byes. Both tournaments will split time between Rutgers University's Louis Brown Athletic Center and Elizabeth's Dunn Sports Center.

Both finals will be played at Rutgers. SCHEDULE Wednesday Girls first round At Om Dunn Sports Center, Elizabeth (5) Haddontleld vs. (4) twing 6 p.m. (3) E. Brunswick vs.

(6) Paterson Catholic8 pm. Thursday Boys first round at Dunn Sports Cantor (4) Holmdel vs. (5) Parsippany 6 pm. (3) Teaneck vs. (6) New Providence 8 pm Saturday Girls semifinals at Dunn Sports Canter Mendham (2) vs.

winner of 3-6 game 1 p.m. SJ Vianney (1) vs. winner of 4-5 game 3 pm Sunday Boys semifinals at Rutgers University, Plscataway (2) St Augustine vs. winner of 3-6 game (1) Seton Hall Prep vs. winner of 4-5 game Tuesday, March 23 Finals at Rutgers University Girls- 6 m.

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