Asbury Park Press from Asbury Park, New Jersey • Page 47

SECTION Asbury Park Press Wednesday, March 17, 1993 Nr JL stop on Long Island to visit Jets. 'VP Ale Tennessee State is hoping history iLAAS of upsets Is on their side. 1 The All-Shore Boys Bowling team PCIlOiaSllC kicks off All-Shore week. mm Tomorrow: Back home Coverage of Nets vs. Hawks from Meadowlands Arena.

NBA Patrick Ewing scores 35 points as the Knicks hang on to beat Bucks. 8 Seton Hall destined to win it all Red Bank boys make history St. John Vianney girls repeat St. Rose girls gain first of This is a true story. A certain horse racing degenerate friend of mine we'll call him Dean so as not to confuse another thousand clowns who fit the description made a prediction back in early February.

He said, and I quote, ''Mark my words, Seton Hall's going to the Final Four this year." He even wrote it down on a cocktail napkin and made Louie The Arbiter put it in his wallet so people would know how smart he was come April. 1 Then he went lit a -Jf -frry A. Sir: -tV xvS ft f.V:. I 7rf ,3 IHf- Si "iwr 9 Perry (43, left photo) of Red Bank fights for a loose ball; Erica Gomez (top photo) of St. John Vianney tries a layup; and Jennifer Dinkjian (above) of St.

Rose dribbles through the DePaul defense. Photos by CRISSY PASCUAL and JAMES J. CONNOLLY Asbury Park Press Mannion steps up, sparks Roses' rally Donnelly lifts Bucs to 1st tide in decade Lancers' provides up and bet on a horse that had no shot whatsoever. Which just goes to show you how things have a way of evening out. Because he was right about Seton Hall, BILL HANDLE MAN 3 Dean was.

Just wait and see. Way back in February, when this wasn't such a fashionable notion, he was right. The day after the Pirates had taken a dagger in the heart up at Boston College no less. (It was Billy Curley at the buzzer, not Colonel Mustard in the library.) Anyway, here they were, the cream of the allegedly lean Big East crop, and they had just lost five of their last seven games and they were 16-6. So you can imagine how Dean's pronouncement was received that day, between the second and third races from Gulfstream.

1 But for once in his life, he was right. Not that I ever had any doubts about Dean or the Hall. It was the other genius at the table who was snorting out his sarcasm while simultaneously drooling contempt -Whatever, I recall this on the eve of the NCAA Tournament because I now feel Seton Hall will win it all. Strongly, I might adg, which should send all Seton Hall fans screaming into the night. Oh no, not that, anything but that doesn't look like Indiana's going to have Alan Henderson.

So much for the Hoosiers. What's the deal with Derrick Phelps? North Carolina just doesn't figure so huge without him. How about Grant Hill? Or does it matter this year with the Duties? Kentucky? Very good, no question. But not as good as the Hall. Michigan? The Pirates owe them one, don't they? Besides that, they're better than the Wolverines this time around.

Who else is there? Arizona? Right. Cincinnati? Please. Vanderbilt? Get serious. Kansas? Come on. Actually, I'm sort of figuring this group of teams to get knocked off earlier than expected.

Arizona always obliges, you know that going in. Cincinnati can't shoot free throws to save its life. Vandy is a figment of somebody's wild imagination. Kansas is simply not that good this year. Does this sound crazy, Virginia and Duke playing each other in New Orleans? How about Virginia beating Duke and advancing to play the winner of the Michi-gan-Seton Hall game for the big prize on the first Monday in April? And how about Seton Hall beating Michigan by a thread, then demolishing Virginia in the grand finale? I'm tellin' ya, ever since Dean started talking that crazy talk at the track that day, it has become more and more clear, this Seton Hall thing.

The Pirates play their little games in January, get serious in February, fine-tujjp their act in early March, and there they are, ready to go. Meanwhile, all the people who were bad-mouthing Seton Hall in early February are now wondering if Luther Wright's the same guy they couldn't trust to hang on to a lousy rebound every once in a while back then. Or if that's really Bryan Caver's twin brother out there now, the one who has something against turnovers. This is all you have to know about how the point guard situation has come along: Against Carolina in late January, Caver had seven turnovers in 30 minutes which is exactly as many as he had in the 157 minutes he played in Seton Hall's final six games of the season. Now this is big, of course.

Only not nearly as big as the Dean thing. That's like, etched in stone. No, make that scrawled on a cocktail napkin. You know, like destiny. Bill Handleman is an Asbury Park Press staff writer.

Mahoney leadership was more relieved than Allison School steamrolled Paramus By TOM SLATER PRESS STAFF WRITER By TOM OLAUSEN PRESS STAFF WRITER PISCATAWAY TOWNSHIP Red Bank senior Mustafa Barksdale summed it up with three words when asked what his team had just accomplished. "When the buzzer went SAYREVILLE On a team loaded with personality and St. Rose senior forward Eileen Mannion is the quiet one. She doesn't score all that much and never has much to say. 3 By BRUCE JOHNSON PRESS CORRESPONDENT SAYREV1LLE Nobody Mahoney.

When St. John Vianney High ST. JOHN VIANNEY 69 PARAMUS CATHOLIC 44 Bank boys last night's Jersey State championship "The motivation to beat these said Mahoney, the captain Lancers. "We have mostly off, my thoughts were, 'we made said Barksdale. For the first time in a de Basically, she been a good soldier for the Purple Roses for three years.

But last night, Mannion stood up and was counted. More specifically, her out- 66 48 was counted. RED BANK SNYDER 62 55 cade, the Red basketball team is a state champion, courtesy of 62-55 win over Snyder of Jersey City in the New Interscholastic Athletic Association Group III Please see Buc, page DS ear-to-ear smile. teams is, 'They're all and lone senior on the Lady sophomores. They don't know what Please see Lancers, page D6 who only scored in double figures twice during the season, led a second-half comeback to give St.

Rose a Roses, page D6 Card Devils' dubious road trip ends with loss to Bruins Express Cm Catholic 69-44 last night in the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Parochial A girls basketball final, Mahoney wore an ST. ROSE DE PAUL side jumper EAMB Bruins' John Blue watches shot whistle by Mannion, regular Please see By BOB JORDAN PRESS STAFF WARITER PROVIDENCE, R.I. Before their road trip turned into a total disaster last night, the New Jersey Devils believed they could find salvation in the most-populated city of the smallest state in the BRUINS DEVILS 3 1 union. They believed a local hero could have a piotval role in the neutral-site match against the Boston Bruins, the first NHL game ever played at the Civic Center. The local hero theory was right.

But John Blue, the goalie who was sensational in leading the Bruins to a 3-1 victory, was not the hero the Devils had in mind. Nor were the Devils anticipating a fourth-consecutive loss, the longest such streak they've had since the opening month of last season. Disaster invaded the Devils even as they received a competent effort in goal from their own Chris Terreri, who grew up here and starred at Providence College from 1982-86. And the Devils enhanced their chances by outshooting Boston 34-19. Blue, however, turned away everything except Claude Lemieux's 24th goal of the season that pulled the Devils into a short-lived tie in the second period.

Even that goal seemed more difficult than it should have been the puck came to Le-mieux at the left post, with no one else near, but he needed at least three whacks to get it over the goal line. Please see Devils, page DIO Assooated Press net as Devils' Tommy Albelin slides near goal..