The News-Star from Monroe, Louisiana • Page 19

ff rn The News-Star SEC team reaches final: Florida will meet Texas in the championship round of the College World Series 2C i www.thenewsstar.com Friday, June 24, 2005 Baseball, 2C Golf, 3C Track, 3C Amazing day Sportsline This weekend: IBA Final! On Thursday, Bayou DeSiard Country Club's front nine was at the mercy of Australia's Marc Leishman, who shot a 28: Game 7: Spurs 81, Pistons 74 Spurs win series 4-3 HOLE PBI PB 88 EM Hi lffi Bfl PC PAR 4 "I "2 -4 -4 -5 -7 -6 -7 -8 '1111 LEGEND: (Q Eagle (Birdie Bogey turn Record round for Leishman AP Spurs coach Gregg Popovich led his team to its third NBA title in the last seven years. Cotton States if I ft t.NVHAiKfcW At Bayou DeSiard Country Club fnv V. 63 earns Aussie medalist honor By Keith Prince kprince a thenewsstar.com Tall and talented Australian Marc Leishman left the golf course somewhat distressed Wednesday after being assessed a two-stroke penalty that left him at even-par 72. In Thursday's second qualifying round of the 55th WE. Cole Cotton States Invitational, the 21-year-old Aussie used that earlier disappointment as motivation.

Playing his first six holes in an amazing seven-under par and finishing that nine at 8- See COTTON 3C Top medalists Marc Leishman 72-63135 Troy Denton 69-67136 Scores, 3C Match play begins today as the 64-man field will be cut down to 16 after today. Bateman's day Monroe golfer Brian Bateman is tied for second place at the PGA's Barclays Classic in Harrison, N.Y., after the first round. He shot a 37-3168 to stand three strokes behind leader Jim Furyk. 4 3 '1? V. 1 4 AP The Spurs' Tim Duncan, left, had 25 points and 11 rebounds Thursday while shrugging off a stretch of eight straight misses that ended in the third quarter with the teams tied.

Duncan was named MVP of the series. San Antonio butslugs Pistons late I Rangers (37-33) at Astros (31-39) Today: 7:05 p.m. (FOXSN) Saturday: 3:05 p.m. (FOX) Sunday: 1:05 p.m. (FOXSN) The series: Texas won all three meetings in May by a combined score of 27-6.

On the mound: Today, Rangers RHP Ricardo Rodriguez (2-0, 3.75) vs. Astros RHP Roy Oswalt (8-7, 2.72). Saturday, Rangers RHP Chris Young vs. Astros RHP Brandon Backe (6-5, 5.06). Sunday, Rangers RHP Chan Ho Park (7-2, 6.05) vs.

Astros LHP Andy Pettitte (4-7, 3.47). Notes: The Rangers are a season-worst 4Vi games out of first in the AL West with 10 losses in their last 15 games. Houston has won 10 of its last 15 games. This is the last interleague series for both teams this season. Texas SS Michael Young leads the team with a .316 batting average.

Yarbrough new SLU hoops coach Jim Yarbrough head basketball coach at Valdosta State for the past four seasons, was named to the same position Thursday at Southeastern Louisiana. Yarbrough, 41, was 97-42 with Valdosta State and was the Gulf South Conference's coach of the year in 2003-04. He beat out former Southern Mississippi coach James Green and current Southeastern assistant Roman Banks for the job. Yarbrough replaces Billy Kennedy, who accepted an assistant coaching job at Miami in May after leading Southeastern to its first back-to-back 20-win seasons and an appearance in the NCAA tournament. Associated Press Baylor basketball hit hard by NCAA Baylor's men's basketball team was banned from playing nonconference games for one season and placed on five years' probation by the NCAA on Thursday for numerous rules violations found after a former player murdered a teammate in 2003.

Gene Marsh, chairman of the Division I Committee on Infractions and a professor of law at Alabama, said he believes it is the first time the NCAA has instituted a partial ban on regular-season games in basketball. He said the committee seriously considered banning Baylor's program for a season. "As a repeat violator, they were subject to the death penalty," Marsh said. "Their penalties and their approach saved their basketball season." The NCAA has used the death penalty only qnce on the SMU football program in the late 1980s. Marsh said Baylor's violations were "as serious" as those committed by SMU.

Baylor was considered a repeat offender because the tennis program received sanctions in 2000 for improper financial aid and extra benefits. Associated Press Man dies after shot put accident A man struck in the head by a shot put during practice for the U.S. track and field championships in Carson, on Wednesday has died. USA Track and Field, the sport's governing body, released a brief statement Thursday saying it "is profoundly saddened by the tragic shot put accident that took the life of Taul Suzuki on Wednesday." The accident occurred about 4:15 p.m. at the Home Depot Center, where the national championships are scheduled Thursday through Sunday and where the 77-year-old Suzuki was helping out during practice Wednesday.

Associated Press The numbers Spurs' all-time "II record in NBA Finals. Arely CastilloThe News-Star Marc Leishman rebounded from a two-stroke penalty Wednesday to shoot a 63 Thursday at the Cotton States. Franklin avoids injury letdown Brown headed to hospital Detroit Pistons coach Larry Brown said Thursday he plans to check into the Mayo Clinic after next week's NBA draft for a three-day stay. Brown will be in the hospital to address a medical problem that developed from complications following hip surgery in November, and did not go away after a second procedure in March. The Hall of Fame coach has said if doctors deem him healthy enough, he wants to return next season with the Pistons and insists he will not coach another NBA team.

Associated Press 15 51 Times Game 7 was tied; 11 came in first half. 3-pointers made by Spurs in series; Pistons had 18. It was a tough break for a player Tech coaches hope will play a significant role in the Bulldog offense next season. "It was terrible," -Tech coach Jack Bicknell said. "The main thing you want to get out of spring is to be By Mike Lopresti Gannett News Service SAN ANTONIO By late Thursday night, as the party started in the SBC Center, the NBA had new royalty.

Three championships in seven years, this one by as ferocious a Game 7 as anyone could imagine. Shouldn't that be enough to get the San Antonio Spurs celebrity status? Neither glamorous enough to be New York nor glitzy enough to be Los Angeles, what San Antonio has come to love is a basketball team that has never needed a marquee or spotlight to prosper. Just defense, Tim Duncan, an international cast, and every sneaker marching in the same direction. All necessary Thursday night, especially Duncan's 25 points, to survive a grit-teeth, clinched-fist Game 7 and finally finish off Detroit 81-74 in the NBA Finals. The Spurs have never been exactly illustrious.

Their dominance has come in hushed tones. But how can that not change, now that healtny, but you have to hit. It's a necessary evil. It's the game of Tech RB focus stays on lifting By Scott Beder sbeder thenewsstar.com The last practice of spring drills a scrimmage was winding down when Freddie Franklin ripped off a nice run to get inside the 10-yard line. But as the pile of bodies got up and headed back to their huddles, Franklin remained As luck would have it, Louisiana Tech's sophomore running back had suffered a broken clavicle.

"I made a good play and to come out with a result like that, it was devastating, you know," he said. "I didn't think I was hurt. I thought my shoulder pad shifted. As I tried to get off the ground my arm gave out and once I collapsed I knew I was messed up." football and you hate to see guys get hurt, especially at the end Duncan has won as many titles as Larry Bird? Now that Gregg Popovich has coached more NBA champions than any man the past 40 years except Phil Jackson and Pat Riley? "We just beat a great team," Popovich said. "I don't know how the hell we did it but I'm thrilled." Now that they have taken the title back from a steely opponent that had simply refused to lose? The obstinate Pistons needed one last push, in this series that began with yawns and routs and then turned into an absorbing fight to the finish.

With Detroit fiercely clinging to its title defense, Duncan scored 17 points in the second half. Cementing his legacy along the way, for this is what great players do. With the Pistons working frantically to win another Game 7 on the road, Manu Ginobili added 23 points, including the killing 3-pointer that gave the Spurs a 72-65 lead with 2:54 left. With Larry Brown in perhaps his final game as Detroit coach, with a team he unabashedly loves, the Pistons were relentlessly bombed info submission. The Spurs took charge in the fourth quarter with 3-point-crs from Ginobili, Robert Horry and Bruce Bowen.

All were testaments to the Spurs' way of conducting business, where stats and egos and other individual do-dads mean nothing. The Pistons finally gave way as their backcourt finally came up dry. Richard Hamilton had 15 points, Chauncey Billups 13. The two of them shooting 9-for-26. The Pistons, 5-0 when facing elimination the past two years, finally had to surrender.

"Everybody feels like we let one slip away," said Detroit's Ben Wallace. "But you have to give credit to the Spurs." Franklin like that." The injury set back Franklin's off-season strength and conditioning schedule, preventing him from lifting with his upper body. Tech strength and conditioning coach Yancy McKnight said Franklin See FRANKLIN 3C ii, .11.11 mij-iiM i i iiimim iiwwMWjjy Macldin headlined LSU's national success La. Sports Hall Eight of Louisiana's all-time sports greats will be inducted into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday at a 6 p.m. banquet at Northwestern State University's Prather Coliseum in Natchitoches.

Tickets for the induction banquet are $25 and are available by calling the Hall of Fame office at (318) By Marty Mule Special to the LSWA Retiring his jersey and hanging his number in the LSU Assembly Center rafters, along with those of Bob Pettit, Shaquille O'Neal, and Pete Maravich is the way Dale Brown would like to honor Durand "Rudy" Macklin. "That's how much he meant to LSU basketball," the former Tiger coach said. "The only thing more impressive than Rudy Macklin the basketball player is Rudy Macklin the man," Brown said. Brown's case could be taken under advisement. Macklin is- the second only to Pistol Pete Maravich on LSU's all-time scoring list.

He tallied 2,080 points in his four-year career, a 16.9 average. Of course, that's pretty far down from the Pistol's national record total of 3,667 points, a 44.3 average, but no other Tiger has come closer. And Macklin is also LSU's No. 1 all-time rebounder with 1,276 59 more than O'Neal. The differences rest partially in the fact that Macklin played four varsity seasons at LSU while Pistol Pete and Shaq played three.

Still, that's pretty healthy company to be with in the record books, especially when it's realized Macklin reached one goal Maravich and O'Neal fell short of: reaching the Final Four. It was a bittersweet experience, but Brown's basketball Bayou Bengals were there in Philadelphia in 1981. Macklin, the first Ail-American of the Brown era at LSU, will be recognized Saturday as one of the best ever in sports in Louisiana with enshrinement in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. "I'd like to think we left a little mark," Macklin said of his talent-heavy senior team that lost to 31 games during its magnificent run. That season Macklin was the SEC's Player of the Year, beating out such players as Georgia's Dominque Wilkins, Kentucky's Sam Bowie, Mississippi State's Jeff Malone and Tennessee's Dale Ellis.

Macklin had the third-best field-goal percentage (.595) in LSU annals, with stratospheric single-season percentages of .625, .622 and .606. His single-game LSU records include field goal percentage of 1.000 in a 12-of-12 performance against Mississippi State in 1980 and rebounds, 32 against Tulane as a freshman in 1976. After a pro career, shortened by a physical ailment, Macklin returned to Baton Rouge and now heads the Governor's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, which he has directed for 10 years, and has recently been appointed state Director of Minoritv Health. Indiana 67-49 in the national semifinals before losing to Virginia in the last Final Four consolation game ever played. Indeed, they did, and he did.

During his four years as a starter, the Tigers were 113-38, the best record of any era in LSU basketball. In that time the Tigers won two SEC championships and advanced to the Elite Eight and Final Four. In 1980-81, LSU won a school-record Courtesy photo LSU legend Rudy Macklin, right, a native of Louisville, picked Baton Rouge because he wanted to help lift the Tiger program to new heights..