Battle Creek Enquirer from Battle Creek, Michigan • Page 13

An NBA first: Minnesota defeats LA. Lakers 6B BATTLE CREEK ENQUIRER JLT WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6, 1991 Red Wongs maike tede Kocuir Former MSU star Miller, meanwhile, heads home II Joe Kevin Kocur Miller son: "As long as fighting is allowed in this league, Joey is one of the scariest. When you feel your team is tough, it makes everyone play better." Miller, a nifty passer, was the Rangers' 1 Olh-round draft choice in 1984. He has 17 goals and 27 assists. Miller played three years at Michigan State and was a member of the 1988 Olympic team.

"I had never heard my name in any rumors, so I was surprised when I got the word," Miller said. "I really have mixed emotions about the deal. I'm leaving a lot of good friends in New York, and they have a good shot at the Stanley Cup. See KOCUR, 4B Nov. 2 1 985, in a game against St.

Louis, he had 42 penalty minutes a Detroit single-game record. "He will make other teams back down in terms of fighting," said Rangers' general manager Neil Smith, who knew Kocur from his days as the Red Wings' assistant general manager and who has been seeking an enforcer to keep the wolves away from his finesse-oriented team. Said Kocur: "I play my game and I do my best and things happen. Toughness doesn't win you the Stanley Cup, but it might help you win." Said Rangers Coach Roger Neil- The Associated Press NEW YORK The first-place New York Rangers acquired the enforcer they were seeking Tuesday by trading for Detroit's Joe Kocur. The Rangers sent forward and East Lansing native Kevin Miller, plus defenseman Denis Vial and the rights to Michigan State right wing Jim Cummins to the Red Wings for Kocur and defenseman Per Djoos.

In a separate deal, Detroit acquired goaltender Allan Bester from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for a sixth-round draft choice. "It wasn't easy to give up Joe Kocur and the toughness he pro- Class A at Charlotte uses full court to eliminate Lakeview Harry Atkins Don't count Lemon out just yet LAKELAND, Fla. Chet Lemon is 36 years old with 16 years of major league baseball already behind him. It's been a nice career, and Lemon would like more. But if his advancing years don't work against him, his declining production will.

That's why he's one of the hardest-working players in the Detroit Tigers camp this spring. Lemon hit only .237 in 1989. Last season was even worse. In 1990, he missed 47 games with everything from a swollen hand to a sore shoulder. He finished with a .258 batting average but only five home runs and 32 RBI in the 104 games he played.

"I had a lot of injuries, and I was going through a divorce," Lemon said. "That was tough on me mentally. My family has always been my first priority, then baseball. Off-field problems "The divorce really bothered hie. It hurt my concentration.

I Jried to keep my mind on the game, but I really couldn't" Finally, Tiger Manager Sparky Anderson suggested he get away for a few days and he did. Lemon's absence was billed as a "personal problem" at the time by the club's public relations department Because of the divorce, Lemon spent the off-season in Detroit rather than in Florida. That's where he met Brad An-dress, the Tigers' new strength and conditioning coach. Since he couldn't be with his four children, Lemon began going to the ballpark and losing himself in the club's new weight room. He found it helped him mentally as much as physically.

But if it doesn't help Lemon drive in some runs, this could be his last season with Detroit, anyway. Lemon, who is in the final year of his contract knows players his age ilon't get the kind of money he demands if they can't cut it And he can see rookie Milt Cuyler gaining on him. I Yet Lemon remains confident he can still play the game. "You look back and you can see that when I've played regularly, I've averaged about 20 home runs and 70 RBI a sea-Son," said Lemon, who's been moved back to center field from right field this spring. "I won't embarrass myself playing ball.

I'll look at what I'm doing. And if it's time to move on, IH just say 'baseball's been good to me' and that'll be it" Tiger notes Batting coach Vada Pinson says he doesn't plan any major adjustments in Mickey Tett-leton's swing, despite the fact that Tettleton stuck out 160 times in 444 at-bats for Baltimore last season. Pinson says it was adjustments that contributed to all those whiffs. "He was injured and that always seems to make guys want to make adjustments they don't need," said Pinson, who considers Tettleton "very coa-chable." i Shortly after Pinson spoke, Tettleton blasted a practice pitch over the 375-foot sign in left field at Marchant Stadium, bring a roar of approval from the hundreds of fans who show up each day to soak up some sun and baseball. Infielder Travis Fryman and pitcher Kevin Ritz both signed contracts on Tuesday.

Harry Atkins writes for the Associated Press. Will Kowalski is sports editor. If you have a story idea or questions, call 964-3668, ext. 721 between 7 and 10 pjn. Many deals made before trading deadline.

4B Red Wings win. 4B NHL roundup. 4B physical defenseman in Dennis Vial, and a good prospect in Jim Qunmins." Right winger Kocur, 26, has 253 minutes in penalties this season, sixth in the NHL. He has appeared in 399 games for Detroit with 56 goals and 55 assists. Kocur is also Detroit's all-time penalty leader with 1,714 career minutes.

In 1985-86, Kocur led the NHL with 377 penalty minutes and on Lakeview's Troy Allen (20) and at guard and Griffin at center. "There are a few games I'd like to have back, but we made a major improvement (after going 5-16 last season)," Aimesbury said. "The job's not done yet" In Lansing Waverly's win over Jackson, Tom Marowelli, Muhsin Muhammed and Erik Kutas combined to score 67 points. Marowelli had 24 points, includ- i Sim row past Hillsdale "We had no timeouts and they hit some tough shots. If we could have got three more minutes of being close and then put the pressure on them a little bit Daniels, who also grabbed seven rebounds, picked up two early fouls and saw limited action in the first half for Albion, which never got its strong inside game with Daniels and 6-foot-8 David Washington (six points) totally un-t racked.

"He really turned it on there," said Albion Coach Milton Barnes, whose team's ball-hawking defense kept it close until the offense started clicking. "We had to give (Daniels) a little wake-up call, and once he got going he turned it on." Albion will go for its third See WILDCATS, 3B a By BOB REED Staff Writer Welcome to Class A district basketball, Lakeview High. The Spartans got a rude introduction to Class A tournament play, losing to Charlotte, 94-71, Tuesday in the first round at the Battle Creek Central Fieldhouse. Eric Menk scored 45 points for the Orioles, who advanced to the semifinals at 8 p.m. Thursday.

Charlotte (16-4) meets Lansing Waverly (15-6), which beat Jackson, Brian Fitzgerald 71-64, in Tuesday's first game. "This is the first time a team totally destroyed our man-to-man defense," Lakeview Coach Shawn Aimesbury said. "They did whatever they wanted." Lakeview, which moved up from Class this season, made its first appearance in a Class A district since 1980. The Spartans (13-7) were never in the game as they committed 26 turnovers and allowed six Charlotte three-point plays. "We pounded it inside pretty good," Charlotte Coach Jerry Ernst said.

"They made a lot of turnovers against our pressure." Charlotte's full-court press forced eight Lakeview turnovers in the first quarter and 16 by half-time. "We were confident we could beat them," Aimesbury said. "But they applied so much pressure early that we never did settle down." Lakeview also got into early foul trouble as 6-foot-8 center Bryan Griffin went to the bench after committing his second with 2:54 left in the first period. Charlotte led 26-13 after one quarter and 47-26 at halftime. "Anytime you get into foul trou- vided," said Bryan Murray, Red Wings coach and general manager.

"But we've obtained a good scorer in Kevin Miller, a guy with a lot of dimensions who hustles; a strong, B.C. Centre! District Scoreboard Tuesday's Games 'A' at BCC: Charlotte 94, Lakeview 71 Lans. Waverly 71 Jackson 64. 'B' at Marshall: Albion 76, Hillsdale 53. 'B' at Plainwell: Mattawan 73, GuB Lake 55.

DC at Hackett Belfevue 68, G-A i 58; K-Hackett 61 Parchment 41 'D' at Mendon: Athens 73, Bun-Oak 55. ble that early, it affects your rotation," Aimesbury said. "We had Bryan, Troy (Allen) and Bill Slack on the bench in the first half." The absence of Griffin and Allen opened up the middle for Menk, a 6-5 junior center. He made 15-of-17 field goal attempts and 1 5-of-1 8 free throws. Menk's 45-point performance was a career high.

He fell short of the Charlotte single-game record of 53 held by Jason Bossard, who now plays for Michigan. Menk scored 28 points in the first half. With 7:39 left in the quarter, he had 41 points to 40 for the entire Lakeview team. "Most of them were layups," said Menk, who averaged 21 points per game during the regular season. "When our guards penetrated, their big guys stepped up and left the lane wide open." Charlotte guard Travis Rawson found the gaps in the Spartans' defense and finished with 16 points.

He was the only other Oriole in double figures. Allen had 24 points for Lake-view, including 12 in the fourth quarter. Brian Fitzgerald closed out his high school career with 17 points, and Slack scored 10. Despite the lopsided loss, the Spartans posted their highest victory total since winning 16 games in 1986-87. Starting forwards Allen and Slack are juniors, but Aimesbury will have to replace seniors Fitzgerald and Jamie Boland Bellevue tops G-A.

3B Athens advances, Gull Lake ousted from tournament 3B Boxscores, pairings, statewide basketball scores. 2B five minutes to lead Albion on a 23-7 run. Daniels' first basket gave Albion a 41-36 lead with 1:40 left in the third quarter. With 4:5 1 left in the game, Albion's lead was 64-43. "That one spot, when it went from about nine points to 20, was the difference," Hillsdale Coach Steve Prange said, whose team finished the season 5-16.

CIqcg at Marshall J) rt I Staff Photo by Doug Allen Charlotte's Troy Gardner (44) struggle for a rebound Tuesday. 11 the B.C. Central athletic director's office. Tickets also will be sold in the AD's office starting at 8 a.m. Thursday, and title game tickets go on sale there at 8 a.m.

Friday. Price is $3 per session. B.C. Central (19-2) plays Grand Ledge (5-15) in the first semifinal at 6 p.m. Thursday, followed by Charlotte vs.

Waverly. The title game is at 7:30 p.m. Friday. fifth place point in the Iditarod 2Vi hours ahead of Jeff King. Both mushers, along with Barve, decided to take their mandatory 24-hour stopover in McGrath, 415 miles into the 1 1 63-mile race from Anchorage to Nome.

"With a good fast team on a good fast trail, I'm not actually pushing them too hard," Butcher said after arriving at 10:30 a.m. "I'm just running my pace." The stopover is designed to rest dogs and mushers about midway in the race. Monday saw the first usher disqualified in the race. Joe Carpenter of Chugiak was disqualified at Skwentna, 1 5 1 miles into the race, for accepting a "tow" from a fellow musher after Carpenter's dogs quit running. Afoioim mi Daniels, Gasper carry Wildcats ing four free throws in the final minute.

Muhammad scored 22, converting a three-point play after a dunk with 2:20 left to give the Warriors a 60-55 lead. Kutas hit four 3-pointers and finished with 21 points. Ray Weathers had 23 points for Jackson (15-6). Tickets for Thursday's semifinal games went on sale this morning in Barve in Reaches halfway The Associated Press McGRATH, Alaska Battle Creek native Lavon Barve was in fifth place on Tuesday as the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race neared the midway point Barve who moved from Battle Creek to Wasilla, Alaska in 1971 and who still has relatives and friends in the Battle Creek area reached McGrath with his 18 dogs at 3:45 p.m. AST on Tuesday.

He had not yet left that site as of 3 a.m. local time today, an Iditarod spokesperson said. Barve, who was in third place on Monday, finished third overall in last year's race. Meanwhile, four-time defending champion Susan Butcher grabbed the lead Tuesday as she arrived in McGrath about By MARK BRADLEY Staff Writer MARSHALL The Hillsdale High basketball team wanted to "hang around" for as long as it could in its Class district semifinal against unbeaten Albion in a matchup of Twin Valley rivals. Well, the Hornets managed to hang for about 2xh quarters against the No.

2-ranked Wildcats. Then Chris Daniels arrived. Soon after, it was time to go for Hillsdale, which became the 21st straight victim of the Wildcats this season, falling 76-53 Tuesday at Marshall High. Daniels, a 6-foot-7 senior, went scoreless for the first 24 minutes, and 20 seconds. Then the Idaho State University-bound forward reeled off 18 points over the next.