Reno Gazette-Journal from Reno, Nevada • Page 33

NBA 2D TVRADIO 2D TENNIS 3D AT A GLANCE 7D PORTS SUNDAY, MARCH 31,1996 RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL RAY HAGAR, SPORTS EDITOR PHONE, 788-6345; FAX. 788-6458 Kelly hopes for bigger role with Pack NBA Chicago 106, L.A. Clippers 85 Washington 107, Phila. 105 Miami 95, Detroit 85 Portland 109, Houston 94 Denver 98, Milwaukee 85 Seattle 100, Utah 98 Cleveland 90, Golden State 64 NHL Hartford 3, N.Y. Islanders 1 Pittsburgh 2, New Jersey 1 Montreal 3, Ottawa 1 Tampa Bay 2, Florida 1 Toronto 4, Edmonton 3 Olympian wins moguls event: Olympic gold medalist Edgar Grospiron won the Sprints, Bumps and Jumps championship at Heavenly ski resort Saturday.

The Frenchman, who won a gold medal in 1992 in Albertville and a bronze medal in 1994 in Lillehammer, edged out American Chuck Martin in the finals. Martin and Grospiron were neck-in-nick on the dual course run. The two crossed the finish line together but Grospiron was given the victory for jumping points. Grospiron won $6,000 for his first-place finish. Martin picked up a check for $5,000 after winning two of three events in the series.

Mariners-White Sox open season: For the first time in the 127-year history of professional baseball, the season starts in March when the Seattle Mariners and Chicago White Sox play Sunday night in the Kingdome. In order to avoid having the World Series stretch to Nov. 3 for a possible seventh game, baseball officials moved up the start of the season a week. Randy Johnson, last year's AL Cy Young Award after going 1 8-2, starts for the Mariners against Alex Fernandez, who was 12-8 last season. Baseball's previous earliest opening date was April 2, 1984, when three games were played.

Openers were scheduled on April 2 in 1990 and 1995, but they were scrapped because of a lockout and a strike. Seattle is coming off its most successful season ever. The Mariners finished over .500 for only the second time, beat California in a one-game playoff to win the AL West and defeated the New York Yankees in a five-game series before losing to Cleveland in six games in the AL championship series. LAN CAA St. 69 cky 81, UMass 74 Associated Press THE KID: Seatte Mariners centerfielder Ken Griffey, left and Jay Buhner stretch before practice Saturday in the Kingdome.

The Mariners open the season tonight against the White Sox in Seattle. Kertmcky, Syracuse Me i 1 I JL Wildcats: Hold off UMass in final minutes. EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) Kentucky showed that it can win the close ones, too. On Saturday night, the Wildcats avenged one of their two losses this season, and their 81-74 victory over top-ranked Massachusetts moved them into the position where many thought they'd be all year the national championship game.

On Monday night, the second-ranked Wildcats (33-2) will face Syracuse, which beat Mississippi State in the other semifinal. They reached their first title game in 18 years by answering those who wondered how they'd fare in a tight matchup. "The question was legitimate," Kentucky coach Rick Pitino said. "How do you know if you didn't have a lot of close ones? I always felt we'd play very well in a close game because we're a good free throw shooting team and a good passing team but 1 couldn't give you the answer because we didn't do it." After winning its four NCAA tournament games by an average of 28 points, even gaudier than the 23-point margin over the season, the Wildcats were finally tested as the Minutemen (35-2) closed a 15-point second-half deficit to 73-70 with one minute to play. "We had a 10-point lead.

Normally, we knock people out with that. They would never quit," Pitino said of Massachusetts, his alma mater. "When you get up they are going to bite your arm off right to the elbow. But we stayed the aggressor on offense and continued to attack the bucket. That's what I am proudest of." Mark Pope made two free throws with 52 seconds left to make the lead five and Antoine Walker's dunk 14 seconds later after a missed 3-pointer by Edgar Padilla See KENTUCKY page 5D Matt Kelly walked out of Mackay Stadium Saturday afternoon after the Wolf Pack's football scrimmage a little bruised and a little tired.

Just like he likes it. But the calendar still says March. Now if only he could feel the same way in September or October, "It was good to make so: catches 7ikJ were ltn tant to OE and to the team," Kel SANTORO ly said, wiping sweat from his brow. He was the star of the scrimmage, if there is such a thing in late March. The junior tight end caught a team-high six passes for 49 yards.

He also grabbed the only offensive touchdown of the day, a 5-yard pass from quarterback John Dutton. All in all, not a bad way to spend a spring morning. "It felt good," the former McQueen High star said. "I was just happy the offense finally scored. We were working hard all day and we were struggling a little bit." Kelly was one of the few who didn't struggle.

He caught four passes on the Pack's only touchdown drive. Two of the catches were good for first downs and another was for six points. He was also wide open on a possible 29yard touchdown pass but Dutton overthrew him. And Kelly was the intended receiver on a pass into the end zone that resulted in a pass interference penalty. Head coach Chris Ault and Kelly walked off the field together in conversation.

"I told him that he just had his best practice of the spring," Ault said. "He competed hard and even when he got tired, he did a great job. Those are the things you like to see." Kelly just wants to see the ball. The six passes he caught Saturday were four more than he's seen in two full seasons. The 6foot-2, 230-pounder caught one pass his freshman year and just one last season.

When asked if the tight end gets the ball enough in Ault's offense, Kelly smiled and said, "Never. But I want the ball on every play." There's not much chance of that happening. The main reason is that Ault expects the tight end spot to be shared by a combination of Kelly, Sean Simms and Casey Shine if and this is a big if all three are healthy. "All I know is that if I do the job when I'm in there I'll stay in there," Kelly said. That's all he's worrying about right now.

Staying in there. After all, it was an ankle injury last year that all but wiped out his sophomore season. "Coming off that injury from last year I told myself that I wasn't going to let anything bother me. All I'm going to do is help the offense and if I do that everything will be all right." Kelly is also confident that everything will be all right with the Wolf Pack offense. Things have come along slowly this spring because of all the new faces, especially at quarterback, offensive line and running back.

And All-World wide receiver Alex Van Dyke is also missing, currently setting his sights on the NFL draft. All Van Dyke did was set the all-time NCAA record for receiving yards in a season. So a few stumbles and struggles in March are to be expected. "I think we made a lot of strides (Saturday)," Kelly said. "Our defense has been playing great and that's always good to see because it means we're going to win a lot of games.

But you can feel the offense coming together." Kelly is already a fan of Dut-ton's. "This is a real hard offense to learn and the more reps he gets the better he's going to be," said Kelly, who helped the McQueen Lancers win Class AAA state titles in 1990 and 1992. "Dutton impresses me a lot. He's really steppinitupbigtime." Kelly can see some similarities between Dutton and the Pack quarterback of a year ago, Mike Maxwell. "They're both real smart guys," he said.

"They're both great leaders." Kelly just wants to be a big part of it all this fall. Joe Santoro's columns appear regularly in the Gazette-Journal. You can call him at the GazetteJournal at 788-6349. 'A t' nun. jk 1ai JLJgTlL 1 yr' game Orangemen: Put end to Mississippi State's season.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) The perception of Jim Boe-heim: a whiny coach prone to call a bonehead play from time to time. The reality of Jim Boeheim: a coach whose team is playing for an improbable national championship. Syracuse, the overlooked team with the oft-criticized coach, moved to the title game with a 77-69 victory Saturday over Mississippi State in the NCAA semifinals. "Whether you sneak in or not, when you get to the Final Four, it doesn't matter how you got there," Boeheim said.

"If some teams drop dead on you and you get here, you're still here." The Orangemen advanced to play in the second national title game in school history. They'll face No. 2 Kentucky, which beat Massachusetts 81-74 in the second semifinal, on Monday night. Syracuse lost the 1987 championship to Indiana on a shot in the final seconds by Keith Smart. See SYRACUSE page 5D FINAL FOUR AT A GLANCE Monday's game: Syracuse vs.

Kentucky, i p.nFor nca natrwu championship. TV: KTVN, Channel 2. Betting lines: Kentucky .137: Syracuse Overunder: Kentucky-Syracuse 154 Women's Final: Preview of today's championship game, 5D. AT A GLANCE PACK BASEBALL Today's game: Wolf Pack (20-7 overall, 3-2 in Big West Conference) at UC Santa Barbara (19-11, 2-3), 1 p.m. Wolf Pack pitcher: Josh Bendik Radio: Today's game will be broadcast on KOH, 780-AM, at 12:45 p.m.

More baseball: Giants fall to A's in Bay Bridge Series, 6D. Spring training roundup: Notes from around the league, 6D. Shore lead DINAH SHORE LEADER BOARD Patty Sheehsn 210 -6 Brandie Burton 210 -6 Martha Nause 211 -5 AmyFruhwirth 212 -4 Laura Davies 212 -4 KarrieWebb 212 -4 Meg Mallon 212 -4 Annika Sorenstam 212 -4 Tracy Hanson 212 -4 Sally Little 213 -3 Kelly Robbins 214 -2 Julilnkster 214 -2 Hollis Stacy 214 -2 Rosie Jones 214 -2 Kris Tschetter 215 -1 Nanci Bowen 216 Pearl Sinn 216 Val Skinner 216 Associated Press tory over UMass. The Wildcats advanced to Monday's championship game against Syracuse. JAMMIN': Kentucky's Walter McCarty slams home two of his eight points in the first half of Saturday's vic Santa Barbara hands Pack second consecutive loss Rough start: Pack errors lead to six unearned runs by Gauchos in first inning as Nevada drops to 20-7 The Pack, which lost 1 5-4 on Friday, has now lost three consecutive games after a 13-game winning streak.

Nevada is now 20-7 overall and 3-2 in the Big West Conference. Santa Barbara improved to 18-11 and 2-3. The two teams will conclude their three-game series with a 1 p.m. game today. It was three errors after five on Friday that hurt the Pack.

Staff reports SANTA BARBARA, Calif. Once again, the Wolf Pack's defense rests. The Nevada baseball team handed the Santa Barbara Gauchos six unearned runs in the first inning Saturday in losing for the second consecutive day at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, 1 1-9. Reno's Sheehan grabs share of Dinah The top five hitters in the Pack lineup each had at least two hits. Scott Pfeifer had four hits, Wade Jackson had three and Shane Slay-ton, Dominique and Glen Carson each had two.

Pfeifer and Jackson each scored three runs. Jackson, who drove in three runs, also contributed his 10th home run of the season. He is now tied with Dominique for the team lead. The Wolf Pack season record for homers is 14 by Petie Roach in 1992. But while the top of the order was on fire, the last four hitters were ice cold.

Kyle Kane, Lyle Overbay, Greg Holmes and Baugh were a combined 2-for-18. vous, probably not get any sleep and have bags under my eyes when I come out here," she said. "But I'm certainly going to give it my best shot. Whether I'm finally ready to win here or not, I'm not sure." Both Sheehan and Burton have come close in the Dinah Shore, considered the women's equivalent of the PGA's Masters. Sheehan finished second to Betsy King in 1987 at Mission Hills, and Burton was third in the Dinah Shore won by Dottie Mochrie four years ago.

Sheehan, who since joining the tour 1 7 years ago has won at least one tournament every year except 1987, began the third round five shots behind leader Tracy Hanson. Sheehan was deadly with her irons, and said that she is using a new set of clubs this week, going back to steel shaftsover the graphite she had been The Gauchos took a 6-1 first-inning lead off Pack starter Brian Dudley, who couldn't even get out of the inning. Dudley allowed four hits and walked three in leaving after ft of an inning but all six runs against him were unearned. Shortstop Darren Baugh, third baseman Andy Dominique and Dudley committed the Pack errors Saturday. Santa Barbara snapped a 9-9 tie in the bottom of the eighth, scoring another unearned run off reliever Chris Garza.

Despite the errors Santa Barbara also made four, leading to four unearned Pack runs the Wolf Pack caught the Gauchos, thanks mainly to a four-run fourth. a TV Today: Dinah Shore final round, 3 p.m. KOLO Channel 8., Inside: PGA Players Championship, 3D. pionship conspicuously absent from her list of 34 career victories, went to 6-under through three rounds at Mission Hills Country Club. Burton, who hasn't won a title in three years, shot a 68 to continue a comeback from an opening 75.

She had a 67 the second day. Although Sheehan, 39, obviously has been under pressure many times before since she has won so many tournaments, she was still excited about being a co-leader heading into the last day of the Dinah Shore, the LPGA's first major of the year. "I know I'm going to be very ner- RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. (AP) Patty Sheehan knew she was hitting the ball extremely well Saturday and figured that sooner or later, putts would start dropping. After missing five birdie tries from 1 5 feet or closer on the front nine, she finally sank a 1 0-footer on the 10th hole, rolled in a 25-footer on No.

1 1, then made a 5-footer at No. 1 2 for three consecutive birdies. Sheehan, of Reno, went on to birdie the 14th from two feet and 15th from 12 feet on the way to a 5under-par 67 and a share of the Nabisco Dinah Shore lead with Bran-die Burton. "I kept saying to myself, 'Keep plugging and hitting good I thought I would stay patient and something good would happen," Sheehan said. "And, boy, did it." Sheehan, an LPGA Hall of Fame member with a Dinah Shore cham- Associated Press LEADER: Reno's Patty Sheehan fired a 67 Saturday, the best round of the day, to grab a share of the lead in the Dinah Shore.

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