Press and Sun-Bulletin from Binghamton, New York • 15

KNICKS FALTER LATE We neltver nTK CQTPTFD CLASSIFIED MARKETPLACE PORTS New York loses after being outscored 35-20 by Pacers in fourth quarter. PAGE 7C mmmmm Begins on Page 8C Executive Sports Editor Charlie Jaworski, 798-1191 or 1-800-365-0077 cjaworskipressconnects.com Press Sun-Bulletin pressconnects.com Tuesday, December 18, 2007 HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL mm immm Vanks Si ii Reliever backs Pettitte, Clemens 4. v. jW 5 5 A- "Av By John Delcos jdelcoslohud.com Gannett News Service NEW YORK As arguably baseball's greatest closer, Mariano Rivera's he tried to extinguish the blaze of performance-enhancing drug-fueled controversy swirling around the New York Yankees. During a conference call to announce his three-year, $45-million contract, Rivera defended the Yankees' championship run of four titles in five years after a large number ofhis teammates were mentioned in last week's Mitchell Report.

"I don't think we have to defend anything," Rivera said. "Those years were about hard work and dedication." Andy Pettitte, Roger Clemens, David Justice and Chuck Knoblauch were the four most prominent current and former Yankees mentioned. "Could we have done it without them? I don't know," Rivera said. "God knows what would have happened." Of the four, Pettitte acknowledged using human growth hormone. Clemens issued a denial through an attorney while Justice used his platform as a YES Network analyst to deny using performance-enhancing drugs.

Knoblauch has not spoken publicly. Rivera said he was glad Clemens as its keynote speaker in a convention next month. Clemens was to talk of how his work ethic extended his career. "Nothing is final, but we will be meeting in regards to the issue," Jim Long, president of the Texas coaches association told The Chronicle. "We would like to talk with Roger, and then decide on a course of action from there." Rivera would also like to talk with Clemens.

"If you did it, the best thing to do is bring it out and put an end to this thing," Rivera said Pettitte said he used HGH to help recover from an injury. Rivera, who has endured nagging injuries during his career, said he's never been tempted to use HGH. With Rivera's signing officially announced Monday, the Yankees brought back all four of their key free agents, including Pettitte, Alex Rodriguez and catcher Jorge Posada. "It was important for the team and it is important for us that the Yankees signed everybody back," Rivera said The total commitment to these players, excluding Rodriguez's possible home run bonuses, is $378.4 million. Rivera was 3-4 with a 3J5 ERA and 30 saves in 67 appearances last season, his fifth straight year with at least 30 saves and his 10th in the past 11 years.

While Rivera is still effective, the contract also reflects a lifetime-achievement acknowledge xsr ji i X' 3" i 1 -i JOSEPH GERONIMO Press Sun-Bulletin Union-Endicott point guard Jon White splits Maine-Endwell defenders during Monday's game in Endicott. White fed Chandler Jones for the winning basket with 1:02 remaining in U-E's 49-48 victory. Jones' layup lifts U-E Pettitte admitted using HGH. ST0RYCHAT Talk about this story at pressconnects.com It snows accountability," he said. "(Using HGH) was the if- ment.

The postseasonhasn't been kind to the Yankees since they vanquished the New York Mets in five games to win the 2000 World Series. It is why they are wrong thing to do at the time. I support Andy. I know how hard he works, ON THE WEB For a photo gallery of the game: pressconnects.com ations with the Minnesota Twms A I I lohan Santana. -Ithinkhe will be perceived the same (by the fans)." The same might not be true for Clemens.

The Houston Chronicle reported the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association AW From staff reports Chandler Jones' layup with a minute and two seconds remaining proved to be the winning score Monday night as Union-Endicott edged Maine-Endwell, 49-48, in a non-league boys' basketball game between two Southern Tier Athletic Conference teams. U-E point guard Jon White penetrated M-E's 1-3-1 defense to find Jones open for the easy score. On the ensuing possession, M-E (2-4 overall, 1-3 STAC) held the ball for most of the shot clockbefore Jones stole the ball, but his momentum carried him out of bounds, giving M-E the ball back with the shot clock reset to 35 seconds. M-E inbounded and ran its offense, but U-E's defense deflected the ball out-of-bounds. The Spartans' inbounded again, and Dan Okesson's jump shot hit the back of the rim.

Jones grabbed the 1 III JTX a couple of brief calls," Yankees is considering removing 1 Hank rebound before time expired "This is abigrivalry game even though it's a non-leaguer," U-E coach Kevin McManus said. "We had only one practice to prepare for M-E, we knew it was a great 3-point shooting team, and we held them to 4 of 16 from 3s, so I was proud of our team's defense." C.J. Megelick led U-E (3-3 overall, 1-2 STAC) with 12 points. Joe Powell and Ryan Fetterman each had 16 for M-E 1' 1 iW I i Membrenner said. "The door's not closed.

I'm still thinking about it." 1 MARIANO RIVERA JOSEPH GERONIMO Press Sun-Bulletin Union-Endicott's Anthony Espe is defended by Maine-Endwell's Ty Yesensky during Monday's NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE Peterson finishes strong as Vikings upend Bears aw. i umii.iuiu.ij.uiM witou uMwpjiw1 wupmui The Associated Press MINNEAPOLIS Brian Urlacher and the Chicago Bears had Adrian Peterson all bottled up, at least until it really counted. Peterson's 8-yard touchdown run, started by a shoulder-shake counted, plunging through the line from a yard out to pull Minnesota within 13-12 before a low snap by Cullen Loeffler preceded a missed extra point by Ryan LongwelL Then in the fourth quarter, with quarterback Tarvaris Jackson sidelined temporarily by a cramp in Coughlin defends his play-calling By Ernie Palladino epalladilohud.com Gannett News Service EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin was in defensive mode Monday. Not that he hadn't anticipated a few raised eyebrows about the wisdom of throwing a football 52 times in gale-force' winds.

Coaches who employ that kind of game plan take their chances the next day, especially if it fails as badly as it did in the Giants' 22-10 loss Sunday to the Washington Redskins. The 9-5 Giants, who entered the game as the front-runners in the NFC wild-card race, could miss the playoffs entirely if they don't beat Buffalo this week and the Redskins, Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints keep on winning. None of those teams must play the undefeated New England Patriots, either, as the Giants will in the season finale. Despite the 25 mph gusts and the fact that nmningbackBrandon Jacobs gained large chunks in a 130-yard rushing day, the coaches continually had Eli Manning put the ball in the air. The frequency of heavy-risk deep passes, and the situation- Vikings 20 Bears 13 The Associated Press Giants center Shaun 0'Hara, left, quarterback Eli Manning, center, and tackle Kareem McKenzie were frustrated during Sunday night's loss to the Redskins.

Manning completed just 18 of 52 passes, and had several dropped. to fake Urlacher at the line of scrimmage, sent the Minnesota Vikings to their fifth straight victory, 20-13 over the Bears on Monday night. The Vikings (8-6) stayed in control of the NFC's last wild-card spot despite four turnovers andamissed extra point. Tarvaris Jackson threw three interceptions, his first bad game in more than one month. Peterson finished with two touchdowns and 78 yards on 20 carries, just his calf muscle, Peterson added another clip to his rookie highlight video.

On third-and-goal, after brushing backup Brooks Bollinger during a bad handoff, Peterson stutter-stepped to freeze Urlacher before darting left and scurrying over the goal line. Urlacher just shook his head, while Peterson hammed it up with teammates in the end zone. Bollinger's dive forward on a draw play gave the Vikings the 2-point con Stats page 2C al timing of them, had some scratching their heads. Coughlin defended his strategy in an often tense post-mortem. "It's easy to sit and (criticize)," Coughlin said.

"The first half we didn't exactly knock them dead with the run. In the course of the game, nobody wants to throw the ball 52 times. But when you're down22-3, OK, you're trying to find some way to get back in the game." The problem was the timing as much as the number of passes. Coughlin has been criticized in the past for abandoning the run too soon, and Sunday proved another example of that. The Giants' first drive saw Manning throw three incom- pletions right after Jacobs rushed 17 yards for a first down.

Those issues put a Giants' offense that has averaged just more than 16 points since midseason in tough situations throughout. Manning's receivers also dropped eight passes by the coaches' official count. Amani Toomer dropped a perfectly-thrown ball to the deep middle that could have produced atouchdown, andPlaxico Burress dropped two deep in Redskins territory. Jacobs couldn't hang onto a bunch of short dumps that would have produced some yards. See GIANTS Page 4C enough to keep Minnesota in front of New Orleans (7-7) and Washington (7-7) in the conference race.

Coming off the self-declared worst game of his career, just 3 yards on 14 carries against the San Francisco 49ers, Peterson had more trouble finding room to run for the better part of three quarters. But he came through when it version and a 20-13 lead with 1056 left, plenty of time for Chicago to come back. Kyle Orton, though, didn't have it in him. In his first start in two years, the Bears quarterback stayed away from the costly turnovers that Jackson was guilty of, but way too many of his throws were off target. Orton completed 22 of 36 passes for 184 yards..