Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 39

ASBURY PARK PRESS I FRIDAY, MAY 31, 2002 Oil hJeII QGGQnQfi) NO. RUNS. The Mets are waiting for their offense to awaken. 3 HOOK, LINE SINKER The Delaware River is the place to go for striped bass. SECTION RALLY EXTRA Middletown North falls to Hunterdon Central 4-0 in in Cjf Group IVsofiball.

7 PLUS Baseball 2,3 Scoreboard 10, 11 new jersey nets i boston Celtics NBAPJavoflfe it Eastern Confonnc Final Nats lead cartas 3-2 NISIAA TENNIS Holmdel finishes season No.l The Hornets top Dwight-Englewood 3-2 to win the Tournament of Champions. ON BRINK OF FINALS fee Bravo Jockey out with broken wrist Unlucky Seventh i By HOWARD BASS STAFF WRITER OCEANPORT Jockey Joe Bravo broke his left wrist when he was thrown from his mount, Oh My Pretty Halo, in yesterday's seventh race at Monmouth Park. "Healing time on something like this is typically six to eight weeks," said Dr. An-gelo Chinnici, medical director for the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. Bravo swerved to avoid Eibar Coa, who was on the turf after his mount slipped and fell entering the first turn of the 1 116-mile turf race.

Coa, aboard 4-5 favorite Mato, was challenging for the lead outside of two horses and was left lying in the middle of the turf course with six horses behind him. Bravo was headed directly for the fallen jockey but yanked his filly hard to the left, just missing Coa. The momentum flung Bravo off to the right and over the fallen Mato, and he hit the ground with his left arm tucked under him. Bravo lay on the ground for about a minute before getting up holding his arm. He then took off his helmet and flung it down in frustration.

"I was major See Bravo, Page C4 By SCOTT STUMP STAFF WRITER WEST WINDSOR When analyzing his team on his preseason information form, Holmdel High School coach Chuck Che-lednik wrote, "We hope to have the best season ever by Holmdel tennis" with "ever" underlined twice. Turrs out he had modest expectations. The Hornets capped the greatest season by any Shore Conference boys tennis team in more than a decade by beating Dwight-Englewood 3-2 yesterday to become the first Shore team to win the state Tournament of Champions since Christian Brothers Academy in 1990. Holmdel is the first state champion other than Newark Academy since Millburn won in 1994. Newark Academy, which won for seven straight years, was knocked off this year in the semifinals by Dwight-Englewood.

The Hornets are the first public school from the Shore to win the TOC. A three-set victory at first doubles by juniors Mike Craparo and Steve Chu clinched the win over the Bulldogs (25-2), the Parochial A champs, at Mercer County Park. The duo had beaten Dwight-Engle-wood's Matt Kutner and Evan Xenopoulos in three sets in a regular-season Hornets win, so even after dropping the first set their confidence didn't wane yesterday. "We picked up our intensity," Craparo said. "We came out and weren't playing our game.

We just wanted to pick the pace up because that's the way we play best fast." Craparo and Chu breezed through the second set to tie the match and then jumped out to a See Holmdel, Page C8 File photo Gordie Milchutsky won 6-2, 6-2 at first singles for the Hornets. atif '-m 1 ONMOUTH hVWY MS! Top to bottom: Jockey Eibar Coa begins to fall as his mount, Mato, slips. Joe Bravo tries to swerve his mount, Oh My Pretty Halo, around the fallen Coa, but winds up being thrown. To watch yesterday's seventh race at Monmouth Park on the Internet, go to httpvwww. injersey.com mpracingvideo.html different meaning, author-i ities have asked restaurants to be discreet about serving canine dishes.

Indeed Seoul wants to be the best in this show, which it is co-hosting with Japan. "The Korean people are joining forces to make this World Cup a milestone on their road toward becoming a great and prosperous nation," President Kim Dae-jung said yesterday. Defending champion France plays Senegal in the opener in Seoul today, two of 32 teams competing at the monthlong tourna-. The United States, hoping to improve on its last-place' finish in France in 1998, "'pens Wednesday against! Portugal, a title contender whose star -A See Cup, Page CI 1 Vj lit ytor Chrysler iiilra li September SOtt. come te The Jeep Start end we waive all your remaining payments.

Keith Van Horn and the Nets can make their first trip MICHAEL J. TREOLAStafT Photographer to the NBA Finals with a win over Boston tonight. Seoul fueled by World Cup energy Subplots detract from great show Once again, we seem to have lost our way. Confronted with astonishing events, with these events right under our noses, we simply can't wait to stray from an obvious source of wonder and joy. But those are the rules of popular culture in the moronic tabloid society we have come Nets need one win By BOB CONSIDINE STAFF WRITER BOSTON Keith Van Horn had just put a bow on the Nets' 103-92 victory over the Celtics in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals Wednesday night with a couple of daggers from 3-point range.

Then he had to do something, find someone, as Boston called a timeout amid a tygYS raucous New Jersey celebration. at CELTICS 7 p.m. NBC; 710 AM He raised his arms to the sky. He looked right. He sprinted left.

Finally, from the direct opposite spot he buried his last long shot, to accept. The Nets are doing things we could never have imagined them doing, given their track record over the last They are one victory away from going to the NBA Finals. They need win only one of the next two games against the Celtics, either tonight in Boston or Sunday at Lv BILL HANDLEMAN some 94 feet away, Van Horn found some fans to high-five. This was a perfect visual to explain just how new this phenomenon is to the Nets as they sit one game away from reaching the NBA Finals. They almost don't know what to do with themselves in their greatest moments.

"I don't know why I ran over to that corner," Van Horn said. "It was kind of weird. Sometimes I don't know what the hell I'm doing." So the Nets haven't nailed down the perfect party yet. But they'd like to have another chance at it tonight before a hostile crowd that sees red and against a determined team in green at the Fleet-Center. See Nets, Page C5 THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SEOUL, South Korea Welcome to the World Cup, South Korean style.

Paper lanterns shaped like soccer balls are strung along, the city's eight-lane Thousands gather in the streets to watch games; on giant TV screens strapped to skyscrapers. Laser images of soccer action light up ancient palaces at night. The planet's most popular sporting event, in Asia for the first time, begins today, thrilling this country of 47 million with chance to shine on the world stage. The streets have been cleaned, sidewalks repaired, beggars shooed away, flowers planted in plazas, and traffic 'jams cleared up. And, in a where dog food can have a totally FINANCING in; Ha nfoAVtsyrir the Meadowlands.

So what's the hot topic of conversation? Joumana Kidd, Jason Kidd's wife. She has become the central figure in an inconsequential subplot that has diverted our attention from the main event. Yesterday her picture was on the front page of the New York tabloid that's owned by the same guy who signs the paychecks at the See Handleman, Page C5 no i Ti Dovnf rzsi rv Auuca ckcsokzi mt mm A-.