Star Tribune from Minneapolis, Minnesota • Page 30

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 28 1998 PAGE C6 STAR TRIBUNE Sports COLLEGE BASKETBALL slim 10-game wsmile Scoreboard Kentucky Results Tuesday Men BIG TEN Conf. Pet Overall Pel victory 1 857 13 2 714 17 .765 .810 .750 .737 .650 .714 15 .714 14 .714 13 at buzzer Mich. Si Purdue Michigan Indiana Illinois Iowa Wisconsin Perm State Gophers Nwestem Ohio State .789 667 15 .375 10 .333 9 .250 9 10 .500 7 .563 10 .474 9 .471 12 368 .143 6 .000 7 Nebraska at Kansas SI, 7 p.m. SW Missouri St. at Drake, 7p.m.

EAST Canisius at Niagara. 6 p.m. Navy at Holy Cross, 6 p.m. West Virginia vs. Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh Civic Arena, 6 pm.

Md -Baltimore County at Mount Si Mary's (Md), 6:30 p.m. Mann at Boston College, 630 m. Robert Morris at St. Francis (Pa). 6:30 p.m.

Rutgers vs. St. John's at Madison Square Garden, 6:30 m. S. Utah at Buffalo.

6:30 pm Colgate at Lafayette, 7 p.m. SOUTH N.Carolina St. at Florida 6 p.m. Old Dominion at East Carolina. 6 p.m.

Florida at South Carolina. 6:30 m. George Mason at Richmond. 6:30 m. Georgia Southern at Georgia Tech, 6:30 p.m.

William Mary at -Wilminglon, 630 p.m. Arkansas at LSU, 7 p.m. Auburn at Mississippi 7 p.m. Mississippi at Georgia. 7 p.m.

Tennessee at Alabama, 7p.m. Wagner at Norfolk 7 p.m. Cleinson at North Carolina, 8 p.m. SOUTHWEST Colorado at Texas ASM, 7 pm Missouri at Texas Tech, 7 p.m. Southern U.

at Ark-Pine Bluff. 7:30 p.m. Texas-Arlington at Sam Houston 7:30 pm. WEST Montana at Weber 8 m. Portland St.

at Oregon 9 m. Women Mljl Gophers 58. Wisconsin 48 Nonconterence Northwestern 71. Chicago St.40 UPPER MIDWEST Fergus Falls 94. lake Region 80 Hamlme 100, Northwestern (Bosevilie) 89 Martin Luther 73.

North Central Bible 51 MIDWEST Creighton 75. Wichita St. 72, OT Iowa State 85. Texas 82 Xavier 93. Duquesne 71 EAST Connecticut 63, Providence 56 Hartford 93.

Harvard 82 lona 100, St. Francis (N 69 Manhattan 61. Fairfield 60 Sacred Heart 88. C. Connecticut St.

79 St. Bonaventure 79, Fordham61 Siena 75. Maris! 73 SOUTH Illinois 90, Austin Peay 80 Kentucky 63. Vanderbilt 61 La Salle 72, Virginia Tech 68 Oral Roberts 72, Belmont 60 Wake Forest 62, Virginia 55 Appalachian St. at Davidson, ppd snow Women UPPER MIDWEST Wisconsin Lutheran 64, Mount Senario 52 TOP 25 3 Old Dominion 80, 16 Virginia 51 Late Monday Men SOUTHWEST TCU10O.SMU82 WEST Games today Men BIG TEN Illinois at Ohio Slate.

7 p.m. Indiana at Michigan 7 p.m. Iowa at Penn State, 7 p.m. Associated Press St Louis' Darren Turcotte checks Buffalo's Richard Smehlik Into the Blues' bench during the first period Tuesday night In Buffalo, N.Y. MIAC Conf.

All St Benedict 12 0 15 0 S). Thomas 11 1 14 1 Gustavus 9 3 11 4 Concordia 8 4 10 9 St. Oaf 8 4 10 5 Carteton 5 7 7 8 Hamline 5 7 6 9 Bethel 4 8 5 10 St. Mary's 4 8 5 10 Augsburg 3 9 4 11 Macalester 3 9 4 11 St Catherine 0 12 0 14 NHL standings FLORIDA 3, CAROLINA 0 Associated Press MIAMI John Vanbiesbrouck made all the stops as the Panthers ended a franchise-worst 10-game winless streak. "What this win gives us is hope.

You don't want to leave yourself stranded, feeling that you're hopeless," Vanbiesbrouck said after making 31 saves and leading the Panthers over the Hurricanes on Tuesday night. "There's a lot of hockey left to be played." The Panthers, coming off an 0-5-3 road trip and an 0-5-5 stretch overall, improved their home record to 6-13-5. Ray Sheppard, Scott Mellanby and Tom Fitzgerald scored for the Panthers, who improved to 3-0 against the Hurricanes this season. Mellanby left the game after the second period because of the flu. "We know we're going to have to start winning at home, but we still relied too heavily on Johnny," Sheppard said.

The Hurricanes ended a two-game winning streak despite out-shooting the Panthers 31-17, including 23-9 over the final two periods. Vanbiesbrouck recorded his second shutout of the season and 27th of his career. "A shutout is a team thing, you need to get lucky here and there," he said. "Ray's first goal was a great faceoff play and that let us play the game we wanted to play." Carolina 0 0 00 Florida 2 0 1-3 FIRST PERIOD: 1. Fla Sheppard 12 (Mellanby, Washburn), 9:22.

2. Fla Mellanby 9 (Whitney. Vanbiesbrouck), 11:39. pp. Penalties Wesley, Car (interference), Dineen, Car (slashing), Mellanby, Fla (major, fighting), Halter, Car (major, fighting).

Washburn, Fla (hooking), 14:12. SECOND PERIOD: No scoring Penalties Ranheim, Car (holding). Norton, Fla (holding). 19:36. THIRD PERIOD: 3.

Fla Fitzgerald 8 (Lindsay), 0:29, sh. Penalties Norton, Fla (interference), O'Neill, Car (holding), Kozlov, Fla (roughing), Hill, Car (roughing), Ciccarem, Fla (roughing), Cniasson, Car (high-sticking), Emerson, Car (slashing), 17:08. SUMMARY: Shots on goal-Carolina 8-01431, Florida 8-3-617. Power-play opportunities Carolina 0 of 3, Florida 1 of 5. Goalies Carolina, McLean 9-19-4 (17 shots-14 saves); Florida.

Vanbiesbrouck 14-18-8 (31-31). A 14,703 (14.703). Referee Mick McGeough. Linesmen Mark Pare, Ray Scapinelk). Results Tuesday Western Conference Associated Press Nazr Mohammad, who spent much of the game on the bench in foul trouble, flipped the ball in off the backboard as time expired to give No.

7 Kentucky (19-2, 8-0 Southeastern Conference) a 63-61 victory over Vanderbilt (14-6, 3-4) Tuesday night in Nashville. Drew Maddux hit a high-arching three-pointer with 4.4 seconds left, tj i tying the game for the nOUnUlip 13th time at 61-61. But 3 Jeff Sheppard passed the ball to Mohammad in the forecourt. The 6-10 junior center started to drive, looked at the clock and then flipped the ball in off the glass for the game-winning shot. Referee Gerald Boudreaux called the shot good, prompting Vanderbilt coach Ian van Breda Kolff to complain to the officials on the sideline.

No. 9 Connecticut 63, Providence 56: The Huskies (18-3, 8-2 Big East), leading by only three points with three minutes left, held off the Friars (8-10, 3-6) in Providence, R.I. Richard Hamilton, who led Connecticut with a 22.5 average, was held to only four points on 2-for-13 shooting. And UConn coach Jim Calhoun was charged with the three technicals in the second half the last two leading to four free throws by Jamel Thomas that tied the score 47-47 with 8:47 to go. But the Friars made only one basket the rest of the way.

Thomas scored 26 for Providence. Former Minneapolis North star Khalid El-Amin scored nine points for Connecticut. No. 24 Xavier 93, Duquesne 71: James Posey scored a career-high 25 points and tied his career high with 15 rebounds as the Musketeers (13-5, 5-3 Atlantic 10) defeated the Dukes (8-12, 3-5) in Cincinnati. Big Ten Northwestern 71, Chicago State 40: Evan Eschmeyer scored 20 points to go over 1,000 in his college career as the Wildcats (8-9) beat the visiting Cougars (2-17) to end a five-game losing skid.

Eschmeyer became the 22nd player in school history to score 1,000 points. Sean Wink added 18 points for Northwestern. Women No. 3 Old Dominion 80, No. 16 Virginia 51: Nyree Roberts had 18 points and 14 rebounds, and Natalie Diaz scored 17 points as the Lady Monarchy (17-1) defeated the Cavaliers (13-5) in Richmond, Va.

Boston 6, Ottawa 1 Florida 3, Carolina 0 St. Louis 3, Buffalo 3 San Jose 4, Anaheim 2 Results Monday Gustavus at Concordia, 5:30 p.m. Augsburg at Macalester, 7:30 m. Bethel at St. Olaf, 7:30 p.m.

St. Benedict at Carteton, 7:30 p.m. St. Catherine at Hamline, 7:30 p.m. St Mary's at St.

Thomas, 7:30 p.m. NSIC Bemidji St at 5:30 p.m. Minn-Morris at Winona SI. 5:30 p.m. Northern St.

at Southwest 5:30 p.m. Summary Big Ten men Chicago St .13 27-40 26 4571 MIAC Conf. All Augsburg 10 1 14 1 Gustavus 10 1 14 1 Carteton 9 2 13 2 St Oaf 7 4 9 6 St. John's 6 5 7 7 St. Thomas 5 6 9 6 Hamline 4 7 7 8 Macalester 3 8 5 9 Bethel 3 8 5 11 St.

Mary's 2 8 2 12 Concordia 1 10 2 13 Central pu gf ga Dallas 33 11 8 74 160 104 Detroit 29 13 10 68 160 117 St. Louis 26 20 8 60 156 137 Phoenix 23 20 8 54 145 139 Chicago 20 21 9 49 121 117 Toronto 17 25 7 41 118 143 Pacific Pts GF GA Colorado 25 12 16 66 155 127 Los Angeles 21 19 9 51 139 136 San Jose 19 24 7 45 124 134 Edmonton 18 24 9 45 130 145 Anaheim 17 26 9 43 126 156 Calgary 13 28 10 36 128 160 Vancouver 12 31 8 32 131 184 Eastern Conference Atlantic Pts GF GA New Jersey 31 15 4 66 148 102 Philadelphia 28 12 9 65 147 105 Washington 25 17 9 59 144 129 N.Y. Rangers 16 21 14 46 129 139 Florida 16 25 11 43 128 149 N.Y. Islanders 16 28 7 39 128 148 Tampa Bay 9 33 8 26 88 162 Northeast pts gf ga Pittsburgh 27 15 9 63 142 116 Montreal 26 18 7 59 153 124 Boston 22 19 9 53 128 122 Ottawa 21 23 8 50 119 128 Buffalo 19 21 9 47 120 125 Carolina 19 27 6 44 127 147 Colorado 2, Edmonton Dallas 5, Toronto 1 Ottawa 2, Tampa Bay 1 Philadelphia 3, N.Y. Islanders 1 Phoenix 4, Vancouver 2 Pittsburgh 4, St.

Louis 2 Washington 2, N.Y. Rangers 2 Games tonight Pittsburgh at Washington, 6 p.m. Carolina at Tampa Bay, 6:30 p.m. Philadelphia at N.Y. Islanders, 6:30 p.m.

Phoenix at Detroit, 6:30 p.m. New Jersey at Edmonton, 8 p.m. Vancouver at Colorado, 8 p.m. Calgary at Anaheim, 9:30 p.m. Games Thursday Dallas at Florida, 6:30 p.m.

Montreal at Philadelphia, 6:30 p.m. N.Y. Rangers at Ottawa. 6:30 p.m. Pittsburgh at Boston, 6:30 p.m.

Toronto at St. Louis, 7:30 p.m. Calgary at Los Angeles, 9:30 p.m. Chicago at San Jose, 9:30 p.m. Games Friday Phoenix at Buffalo, 6:30 p.m.

Carolina at N.Y. Islanders, 6:30 p.m. New Jersey at Vancouver, 9 p.m. Chicago St-Mitchell 3-11 3-4 9. Watts 2-8 1-2 5.

Demont Payton 2-6 04 4. Shannon 2-12 04 4, Hicks 2-15 4-6 9, Demetrius Payton O0 00 0, Carlotla 0-2 0- 0 0, Normand 1-20-02, Kunde 1-5 4-4 7, Ross OOO-O 0. Totals 13-61 12-2040. Northwestern Harmsen 2-5 00 4, Pomeday 3-6 0-0 9, Eschmeyer 6-8 8-14 20, Bonner 0-9 2-2 2 Wink 6-121-218. BatambuzeO0 1-2 1.

KammrathOOOOO. Branch 5-8 00 1 1 Hams t-3 00 2, Avery 1 -2 O0 2. Molnar 1-20-22, J. Eschmeyer 01 00 0 Totals 25-56 12-22 71 Fouls Chicago St. 18, Northwestern 16.

Fouled out Demont Payton, Wink. Rebounds Chicago SI 33 (Shannon 8), Northwestern 55 (E. Eschmeyeer 11). Assist-Chicago St. 5 (Mitchell 2), Northwestern 20 (Bonner 9).

Three-pointers Chicago St. 2-18 (MitcheN 0-4, Demont Payton 0-1 Hicks 1-8, Cartotta 0-2, Kunde 1-3), Northwestern 9-23 (Pomeday 34, Bonner 0-5. Wink 5-10. Branch 1-2). A 3,167.

Carteton at Si John's. 7.30 m. Gustavus at Concordia. 7:30 m. Macalester at Augsburg.

7:30 p.m. St. Olaf at Bethel, 7:30 p.m. St. Thomas at St.

Mary's. 7:30 p.m. NSIC Bemidji St at 7:30 Mirm -Morns at Winona 7:30 m. Northern St at Southwest 7:30 pm. MIDWEST Temple at Dayton.

6 p.m. VWanova at Notre Dame, 6:30 p.m. Baylor at Kansas, 7 m. Illinois St at S. Illinois, 7 m.

Up next Who: Gophers vs. Indiana When: Noon Saturday Where: Assembly Hall in Bloomington Records: Gophers 9-10 overall, 2-6 Big Ten; Hoosiers TV; radio: Ch.4;WCC0-AM 830 SI LOUIS 3, BUFFALO 3 BUFFALO, N.Y. Vaclav Var-ada scored his first NHL goal with 5:24 left in regulation for the Sabres, who extended the Blues' winless streak to seven games. Varada scored five seconds after Steve Duchesne had given the Blues a 3-2 lead with a short-handed goal, finishing a two-on-one break with Scott Pellerin. Jason Woolley scored one goal and set up another for the Sabres, who came back from a two-goal deficit in the final two periods.

Defenseman Alexei Zhitnik also scored for Buffalo. St. Louis 1 1 1 0-3 Buffalo 0 1 2 0-3 FIRST PERIOD: 1. StL Turcotte 7 (Atcheynum, Duchesne), 2:00. Penalties Bergevin, StL (roughing), Brown, Bui (roughing), McAlpine, StL (hooking), Brown, But (hooking), 15:31.

SECOND PERIOD: 2. StL Courtnall 21 (Turgeon, Conroy). 0:46. 3. But Woolley 4 (Barnaby.

Grosek), 6:13 Penalties Smehlik, But (tripping), York, StL (hording), 19:51. THIRD PERIOD: 4. But Zhitnik 6 (Woolley. Hol-zinger), 7:56, pp. 5.

StL Duchesne 9 (Pellenn), 14:31, sh. 6. Buf Varada 1 (Peca), 14:36. PenaltiesYork, StL (hooking), Smehlik, Buf (high-sticking), Maclnnis, StL (slashing), Peca, Buf (tripping), Pronger, StL (roughing), Maclnnis, StL (holding), 18 55; Holzinger, But (crosschecking), 19:55. OVERTIME: No scoring Penalties-None.

SUMMARY: Shots on goal St. Louis 5-06-219. Buffalo 6-7-10-2-25 Power plays St Louis 0 of 4, Buffalo 1 of S. Goalies St. Louis, McLennan 6-4-2 (25 shots-22 saves): Buffalo, Hasek 18-17-7 (1016).

A 13.314 (18.595). Referee-Lance Roberts. Linesmen Brad Lazarowich, Derek AmeN. BOSTON 6, OTTSftfiV 1 BOSTON The Bruins' Steve Heinze had two goals and an assist, and Byron Dafoe nearly had his second consecutive shutout against the Senators. Dafoe stopped 22 shots and had gone more than 127 minutes without giving up a goal.

Then the Senators' Wade Redden scored his third goal of the season with 8:13 left in the game, spoiling the shutout. Tim Taylor's goal with 10:54 remaining in the first period ended more than 84 minutes of scoreless play between the two teams. They battled to a scoreless tie on New Year's Day. Ottawa 0 0 11 Boston 2 2 2 FIRST PERIOD: 1. Bos Taylor 13 (OiMaio, Sullivan), 9:06.

2. Bos Thornton 2 (Donato, Samsonov), 19:51. Penalties Murray, Ott (major, fighting), Baumgartner, Bos (major, fighting), 19:54. SECOND PERIOD: 3. Bos OiMaio 6 (Taylor).

4:46. 4. Boa Allison 18 (Heinze, Sweeney), 9.00. Penalty Heinze, Bos (holding), 17:42. THIRD PERIOD: 5.

Bos Heinze 12 (Allison, Bourque), 4:11, pp. 6. Bos Heinze 13 (Khnstich. Bourque), 5:58, pp. 7.

On Redden 3 (McEachern, York), 11:47. Penalties Altredsson, Ott (double minor, high-sticking), Van Allen, Ott (roughing), Sweeney, Bos (high-sticking), Alfreds-son, Ott (slashing), 13:49. SUMMARY: Shots on goal Ottawa 4-9-1023. Boston 1 0-6-8-24. Power plays Ottawa 0 of 1 Boston 2 of 3.

Goalies Ottawa. Rhodes, 9-14-4 (13 shots-10 saves), Tugnutt (4:46 second, 11-6); Boston. Dafoe 17-164 (23-22). A 14,183 Referee-Dave Jackson. Linesmen Pierre Champoux, Kevin Collins.

SAN JOSE 4, ANAHEIM 2 SAN JOSE, CALIF. Stephane Matteau scored the go-ahead goal as the Sharks rallied from two goals down to beat the Mighty Ducks and stretch their unbeaten string to five games. San Jose has gone 3-0-2 during its streak, overcoming deficits in four games. Sharks goalie Mike Vernon, who gave up two goals on six shots in the first period, blanked Anaheim the rest of the way, stopping 19 shots. The Sharks improved to 4-0 against the Ducks this season, but beat them for only the second time in the past nine meetings in San Jose.

Anaheim 2 0 02 0 3 14 FIRST PERIOD: 1. Ana Selanne 37 (RucchM, Oaio-neault), 10:31. 2. Ana Kariya 15 (Selanne), 19:27. Penalty Sturm.

SJ (slashing). 5:44. SECOND PERIOD: 3. SJ-Houkter 5 (Matteau. Craven), 4:56.

4. SJ Rico 5 (Friesen, Zyuzin), 6:53, pp. S. SJ Matteau 6 (unassisted), 18 34. Penalties Sandstrom, Ana (tripping), Janssens, Ana (interference), Mironov.

Ana (misconduct-game misconduct-gross misconduct), Sturm, Ans (slashing), Drury. Ana (high-sticking), Craven, SJ (roughing), 16:23. THIRD PERIOD: 6. SJ-Sturm 6 (Friezen), 9:46. Pen-Wee-flathje, SJ (holding), Nolan, SJ (roughing).

Marshall, Ana (roughing), 17:54. SUMMARY: Shots on goal Anaheim 06-9-21, San Jose 6-12-424. Power-play opportunities-Anaheim 0 of 3, San Jose 1 of 2 Goalies Anaheim, Shtalenkov 6-7-3 (24 shots-20 saves); San Jose, Vernon 16-14-5 (21-19). A 16.878 Referee Mark Faucette. Linesmen Swede Knox, Randy Mitton.

-4 Vv -j M' -Vi i' Cl x. Sean Daugherty reaches in on the Gophers' Qulncy Lewis during the second half. Star Tribune photo by Jerry Holt GOPHERS fromCl Tarver lights fire under 'U' after starting game on bench "I don't follow that stuff," Jacobson said of his streak. "The good thing was, I shot bad and the rest of the team was outstanding. We did so many other things." The Gophers (9-10 overall, 2-6) hadn't won a game without Jacobson leading them in scoring since a victory over Eastern Michigan eight weeks ago.

He had been their leading scorer in each of their past five victories, including Saturday's romp over Ohio State. Kelley, part of the Badgers' three-guard lineup, harrassed Jacobson by playing physical defense. By the time the Badgers switched to a zone defense late in the first half and throughout a good portion of the second half, Jacobson's shot had abandoned him. So Lewis, Clark and Tarver took over. The Gophers reversed their horrible start with a 23-6 run that turned the game around.

The run started, coinci-dentally or not, the minute Tarver hit the floor. Clark, who had 1 1 points, kept the Gophers in position to win with three three-pointers. Then Lewis, with an assist (literally) from Tarver, took them home. Lewis scored 13 of his 20 points after halftime, including consecutive baskets after the Badgers twice had pulled within two points in the game's final three minutes. Wisconsin junior guard Sean Mason scored a game-high 24 points.

His final two baskets cut the lead to 48-46 with 3:40 left arid'50-48 with two minutes left. Both times, Lewis answered with baskets. The last time, his baseline drive followed by Wisconsin guard David Burkemper's air-ball on a forced three-point attempt started an 8-0 run that ended the game. "What happened out there tonight has been the story of our Yankees appear willing to deal Milton Wisconsin 23 25-48 28 3058 rat) WISCONSIN rMn tg-toa fl-tta o-t pis Coleman 19 2-3 2-4 4-7 5 6 Daugherty 37 4-13 2-2 OS 4 10 Aunanlal 25 1-3 1-2 0-2 1 4 Mason 35 7-17 6-6 1-7 2 24 Duany 7 0-0 00 0-1 1 0 Kelley 20 0-1 frO 0-4 2 0 KowsM 24 0-1 0-2 0-0 3 0 Burkemper 13 0-2 0-0 0-4 1 0 Union 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 Versnaw 19 2-8 OK) 0-2 3 4 Team rebounds 4-4 Totals 200 16-46 11-16 8-37 22 46 FG-333 3PTV-357 rab GOPHERS mln fg-fga ft-tta o-t pf pts Jacobson 32 6-19 4-5 3-S 3 16 lewis 33 9-16 1-2 1-3 0 20 Sanden 18 0-1 OO 0-1 4 0 Clark 35 3-8 2 5 2-5 2 11 Harris 34 J5 0-O0-4 2 7 Archambault 1 00 0-0 0-0 1 0 Nathaniel 11 0-1 2-4 1-2 0 2 Schoenrock 3 00 OO 01 1 0 Broxsie 5 0-0 OO 02 2 0 Tarver 28 01 2-2 2-11 1 2 Team rebounds 0-0 Totals 200 20-51 11-18 9-34 16 56 season so far," said Wisconsin coach Dick Bennett, whose team has lost three consecutive games for the first time in his three seasons at Madison. On Saturday, Haskins threatened to undress on the sideline if it would help make officials protect Jacobson from overag-gressive defenders.

Haskins' coat didn't even come off Tuesday, though Jacobson lobbied the officials often to keep Kelley off his back. "Sam's the man, and when you're the man you're going to get pushed and shoved and held," Haskins said. "You have to through that. We'll take the icks, but when you get hit on shots, they have to call that. We've got good shooters.

We don't shoot airballs for no reason." Notes Sophomore guard Russ Ar-chambault missed Saturday's game because of the flu and played less than a minute against Wisconson. He committed a turnover and a foul in those precious seconds. and Ryan had discussed a trade of Knoblauch for righthanders Chad Ogea and Steve Karsay and prospects Enrique Wilson, an infielder, and William Martinez, a righthander. Although Hart would love to obtain Knoblauch, the team's payroll and need for starting pitching are greater issues. One problem for Hart is Cleveland's talks with free-agent pitcher Andy Benes are in jeopardy.

Without a pitcher to replace Ogea, the team is more reluctant to part with him. "I think there are too many obstacles to overcome," Hart told the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "Chuck Knoblauch is a very desirable player. We've talked to the Twins about him, no question but I don't see this happening. Too many hurdles." Staff Writer La Velle Neal III contributed to this report.

From News Services George Steinbrenner doesn't believe the New York Yankees absolutely need Chuck Knoblauch, but he wants the Twins' talented second baseman anyway and is pushing to obtain him, according to a report in Newsday. After months of protecting Eric Milton, the organization's top pitching prospect, Steinbrenner appears willing to include him in a multi-player trade for Knoblauch, a concession that could complete the deal. Though Steinbrenner said he was "very hesitant" about including Milton, 22, a lefthander who went 14-6 with a 3.1 1 ERA as he ascended from Class A to Class AAA last summer, the label of untouchable has been lifted. "They want young kids and we just don't want to be taken to the cleaners," Steinbrenner said. One Yankees official said the Twins have asked for five of the team's top seven minor league players in exchange for Knoblauch, but if Milton is packaged with outfield prospect Ricky Le-dee and pitcher Ramiro Men-doza, that may satisfy the Twins.

"We're not going to drag this out too long," Steinbrenner said. "We want to get something done if it's possible." Yankees general manager Bob Watson has been talking with the Twins but reaching a compromise has been difficult. "We've had ongoing discussions, but I won't talk about where we are," Watson said. "They hold all the cards, so it's going to take some work." Meanwhile, it appears Cleveland has dropped out of the Knoblauch sweepstakes. Cleveland general manager John Hart FT .611 Assists Wisconsin 14 (Aurisntal 4.

Kelley 3, Daugherty 2, Burkemper 2, Coleman, Mason, Vershaw), Gophers 14 (Clark 4, Harris 4, Tarver 3. Jacobson 2, Sanden 1). Blocks Wisconsin 3 (Daugherty, Aurisntal, Kowske). Gophers 5 (Lewis 4, Tarver). Stasis Wisconsin 5 (Kelley 3, Aunanlal, Mason), Gophers 8 (Jacobson 2, Clark 2, Lewis, Harris, Nathaniel, Tarver).

Turnovers Wisconsin 13 (Mason 4, Aurisntal 2, Duany 2. Vershaw 2. Coleman, Kowsks, Burkemper), Gophers 9 (Sanden 3, Clark 3, Hams 2, Archambault). Three-pointers Wisconsin 5-14 (Mason 4-8, Aurisntal 1-2. Daugherty 02, Kelley Ol, Burkemper 01), Gophers 7-18 (Clark 34, Jacobson 2-7, Lewis 1-2, Harris 1-3) A 14.354..