Press and Sun-Bulletin from Binghamton, New York • 6

Section Chiefs release top kicker Lowery3C Yankees, Mets each lose by 14C U-E runner hurdles to success6C Press Sun-Bulletin Thursday, June 9, 1994 NHL PLAYOFFS sports liii's ly a' Managers go ffoir it all Mets 6, Harrisburg 3 New Haven 1, Albany 0 Bowie 7, Trenton 5 Canton-Akron 8, Portland 3 New Britain 6, Reading 1 PageIC At a glance Within reach: The New York Rangers hold a 3-1 lead over the Vancouver Canucks in the best-of-seven Stanley Cup finals heading into tonight's game at Madison Square Garden. On TV: 8:08 tonight on ESPN. diately available for comment. Red Wings spokesman Bill Jamieson-said he has heard rumors about Keenan. joining his club but "no one has said a word; tome." Rangers general manager Neil Smithy told the Detroit News on Wednesday the.

Red Wings had not asked for permission to speak to Keenan and he refused further comment. Before the Keenan story broke, thej Rangers players were already trying to; keep level heads. "It's only going to get tougher," Adam. Graves said. Captain Mark Messier said the team; won't be caught looking ahead.

"We're not going to fall into that trap at', all," he said. lano said Keenan's hiring was news to him. "It's just a rumor," he said. "I talked to (owner Mike Illitch) last night and nothing had happened at that point." The Rangers, who have a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven final, were en route to New York from Vancouver and were not imme mi Olajuwon hits 28 -a, home the club would not comment on the report. "It's inappropriate for us even to discuss it while we're playing for the Stanley Cup," Watkins said.

"It's speculation and we don't comment on speculation." The New York Post. Mike Keenan in it's Wednesday editions, quoted sources as saying the Rangers would not block an effort by Keenan to leave. The Post also reported that Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman would move director of player personnel if Keenan were to come aboard as coach. Red Wings vice president Jimmy Devel- 't i II gl -r to, At a glance Wednesday night: The Houston Rockets defeated the New York Knicks, 85-78, in game one of the best-of-seven finals at Houston. Friday: Game two at Houston, 9 p.m.

on NBC. points, five more than his playoff average for an entire game. New York scored the first five points of the game, then extended the margin to 10-4 on the first of Derek Harper's two three-pointers in the first quarter. Olajuwon rallied the Rockets, scoring 11 points on 5-for-5 shoot- A ing in a span of 4:07, including a Both cities hungry for NBA championship, Page 6C HOUSTON (AP) The Houston Rockets won the opener of the NBA Finals 85-78 Wednesday night in the kind of game the New York Knicks wanted. The low-scoring game featured plenty of defense and that caused poor shooting and the Rockets, who had been off for eight days, were able to hold the scrappy Knicks, who couldn't pull off another playoff comeback.

The Rockets had a 77-65 lead with 8:53 left and that dwindled to three with 2:13 remaining. But a free throw by Hakeem Olajuwon, who had 28 points, and a dunk by Othis Thorpe, who had 16 rebounds, built the lead to 82-76 with 1:02 remaining. Patrick Ewing led the Knicks, who closed out a tough seven-game Eastern Conference final against Indiana on Sunday, with 23 points. Charles Oakley had 12. The second half was the lowest scoring half in finals history as the Knicks outscored Houston 32-31.

The previous low was 69 by Syracuse and Fort Wayne in 1955. Olajuwon made nine of 13 shots and scored 19 points in the first half, carrying the Houston Rockets to a 54-46 lead over the New York Knicks in game one of the NBA Finals. Olajuwon had 11 points in the first quarter and eight more in a 17-9 second-quarter run that gave the Rockets an eight-point lead, matching their largest of the half. Patrick Ewing scored 12 points and Charles Oakley 10 on 5-for-6 shooting in the first half for the Knicks. Carl Herrera, making his first appearance since May 17 because of an injured right shoulder, came off the Rockets bench with eight From wire service reports NEW YORK Tonight might be the biggest hockey night ever in New York, with the biggest sports celebration mid-town Manhattan has ever seen.

But as the New York Rangers try to put away the Vancouver Canucks for their first Stanley Cup championship, a distracting report surfaced Wednesday night, saying coach Mike Keenan will leave after the season to become the coach and general manager of the Detroit Red Wings. The report came from Prince Edward Island radio station CJRW, which broke last week's firing of Bryan Murray as the Red Wings' general manager. It quoted unnamed sources in the Keenan report. New York Rangers director of com-munciations Barry Watkins said from his NBA PLAYOFFS '0 New York Knicks guard Derek Harper, Houston Rockets guard Kenny Smith HOCKEY coa to Goalie's long-term By PAUL STUART Staff Writer Boris Rousson has no clue where he'll be playing hockey in the fall. But Rousson, who is coming off his third season as a Binghamton Rangers goaltender, does know where he'll be fac-mgshots this summer with the Atlanta Fire Ants of the Roller Hockey International league.

It could be a long summer if his debut is any indication of the Fire Ants' ability in the high-scoring league. The Fire Ants' franchise debuted with a 23-3 road loss Monday night against the Minnesota Artie Blast. Rousson, 25, played out his option last season with the New York Rangers. Originally a free-agent signee in the spring of 1991, Rousson said he doesn't think he'll asked to return by Binghamton's NHL I to I- left, chase a am Texas 6, New York 5 Detroit 14, Boston 5 Chicago 3, Toronto 2 California 5, Minnesota 4 Baltimore 6, Kansas City 4 Milwaukee at Oakland Cleveland at Seattle Page 4C Colorado 5, New York 4 Atlanta 5, San Diego 2 St. Louis 8, Cincinnati 2 Florida 5, Los Angeles 4 Houston 9, Montreal 2 Philadelphia 3, Chicago 0 Pittsburgh 3, San Francisco 1 Page 4C Houston 85, New York 78 PageIC For late scores, phone 798-9397 New AL president has love for game CINCINNATI (AP) Gene Budig has an impressive baseball collection.

He was once promised a tryout by Bill Veeck. One of his early jobs was covering baseball games as a journalist. After nearly three intervening decades in academia, Budig is moving toward a new challenge and an old love. Budig, 55, was unanimously approved Wednesday as the American League's seventh president, succeeding Bobby Brown. He has been a college director for 22 years the last 13 as chancellor at Kansas Gene Budig and a member of the Kansas City Royals' board of directors for one year and one day.

Budig will begin a five-year term as AL president Aug. 1. "At age 55, it's time to do something new and different," Budig said. "I love this game. It's a real honor to be associated with it." b-rt World Cup tickets should be delivered by Friday Gannett News Service By the end of Friday, every purchased ticket order for the World Cup should have been delivered, according to Chairman Alan I.

Rothenberg. He said in a telephone conference call Wednesday that those who still have not received the packages from Federal Express or who have questions by then should call 310-277-9494 "so we can track the problem and get it resolved." Rothenberg said complaints range from people not getting what they ordered to tickets that had "misprinted information" (wrong cities, in some cases) to many who complained about the location of their seats. Group preview, Page 5D. Police doubt robbery of Greek soccer team TETERBORO, N.J. (AP) Police and stadium authorities said Wednesday they don't believe the Greek soccer team's claim that it was robbed during Sunday's exhibition game against Colombia at Giants Stadium.

Allegations that hotel keys, money and jewelry were stolen are "unfounded and unsupported," said Maj. Carl Williams, acting superintendent of the New Jersey State Police. "If anything happened, it was an inside job," said Robert Mulcahy, the president of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which operates Giants Stadium. He said the incident appears to have been "staged." FACT Frequent flyers 1994 World Cup entries most often eliminated in first round: South Korea three of three times Bolivia two of two times Norway one of one time Bulgaria four of five times Romania four of five times Mexico seven of nine times U.S. three of four times SOURCE: WORLD FEATURES SYNDICATE Questions or comments? You can call the sports department at 798-1191 (1-800-365-0077) from 3-1 1 p.m.

Fax: 798-1113. Late scores: 798-9397. Charlie 1 ASSOCIATED PRESS and loose ball during the first quarter of game one of a the NBA Finals Wednesday night at Houston. EASTERN LEAGUE bi. fiii -31 -3i Ofi: oe three-point play that gave them their first lead, 19-18.

Ewing committed his second foul on that play and was taken out of the game. But Olajuwon was whistled for his second foul just 15 seconds later and was replaced by Herrera. An acrobatic left-handed layup by Sam Cassell gave Houston a 26-24 lead after one period. After Charles Smith tied the score 32-32 with a fast-break dunk' for the Knicks, the Rockets' 17-9; run made it 49-41 with 2:25 left. Baskets by Ewing and Oakley closed New York within four, before a dunk by Otis Thorpe made it 51-45.

Just before referee Dick Bavetta ruled that a shot by Olajuwon was partially-blocked, and when he argued after Thorpe's dunk, Bavetta called a technical. But a three-pointer by Kenny Smith with 36 seconds left enabled Houston to match its largest lead, 54-46 at halftime. r.i..r -niMiiM Mets watch Closing on road: The Mets (37-1 8) finish a four-game road series with the Harrisburg Senators at 7:05 tonight before returning home for a three-game series against New Britain. Mets left-hander Chris Roberts (8-2) pitches against right-hander Bob Baxter (4-1). Native returning: Former Windsor pitching ace Joel Bennett, now with New Britain, will make his second start at Binghamton Municipal Stadium this season when he at 1 :30 p.m.

Sunday. the sixth, Binghamton added a run-scoring single by Jacobs in the seventh. The Senators scored two runs off reliever Todd Fiegel in the eighth. But Jim McCready put a stop to the rally, going the final Vh innings to pick up the save. Mets third baseman Chris Saunders committed three of the Mets' four errors and struck out three times.

Otero's homer sparks Mets to fourth straight victory HARRISBURG Rick Otero's lead-off homer in the fourthsparked a 6-3 Mets' victory Wednesday night over the Harrisburg Senators at RiverSide Stadium. It was the fourth consecutive win for the Mets, and third straight over Harrisburg. Otero, who had two home runs in 503 at-bats last season, has hit all five of his home runs this season in his last 16 games, dating back to May 23. Wednesday marked the second time Otero has hit home runs in back-to-back games this season. Before giving up Otero's homer, Harrisburg starter Ralph Diaz retired the first nine batters he faced, including five on strikeouts.

But Otero's homer gave the Mets a 1-0 lead, which they never relinquished. He also led off the sixth with a single, later scoring the first run in a four-run inning on an overthrow to first. Frank Jacobs had an RBI single to right in the inning, before Jay Davis' sacrifice fly to center and Doug Saunders' RBI double gave the Mets a 5-0 lead. Mets right-hander Robert Person worked seven innings, giving up three hits, striking out five, walking two and surrendering an unearned run. After the Senators drew within 5-1 in Boris Rousson future uncertain AHL limits veterans, Page 7C.

parent club. "I don't expect that they will offer me new contract, although I wouldn't mind going back," he said. Rousson said there was no animosity, just a logjam of talent ahead of him that might be difficult to break through. Thus, Rousson and his agent Steve Bartlett will explore all options. Rousson played in 62 of Binghamton's first 70 games before second-year phe-nom Corey Hirsch arrived from the silver medal-winning Canadian Olympic team.

Even Hirsch's arrival couldn't earn the 33-38-9 Rangers a spot in the American Hockey League playoffs. Although durable, Rousson went See G0AUEPage7C Jaworski is the executive sports editor..