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The Post-Crescent from Appleton, Wisconsin • 23

Publication:
The Post-Crescenti
Location:
Appleton, Wisconsin
Issue Date:
Page:
23
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

(G Henderson denied C-3 Bielecki boosts Cubs C-3 Prep sports C-4 Dolphins sign Ruhland C-5 Brewer pitchers a sore spot C-3 THE POST-CRESCENT APPLETON-NEENAH-MENASHA, WISCONSIN WEDNESDAY, MAY 1, 1991 I Dan Flannery Post-Crescent sports editor CLASSIFIED Bucks not bad enough to be good if. if -J t's a nice team. You've got a nice pair of guards, a collection of steady if unspectacular frontline players and some quality and quantity and the playoffs and we as a team just didn't play very well." The 76ers had shocked the Bucks" by winning the series' first two games on the Bucks' home court, i Barkley called it "not a big deal." "We knew that if we got our fast- break going and got out in transition, they wouldn't be able to stay with us," he said. "We may not be the best in the league in personnel, but if we play as a team we can stay with anybody." "Barkley is one of the great players in the game, one of six or eight who can dominate," Harris said. The 76ers now advance against the Chicago Bulls in the second round.

"My goal was not to just beat Milwaukee, but going into Chicago feeling like we can win," he said. The 76ers shot 59 from the field, Barkley rules as Milwaukee swept away PHILADELPHIA (AP) Coach Del Harris said the Milwaukee Bucks failed to adjust to a void. They ended their season Tuesday with a 121-100 loss to Philadelphia, eliminated from the first round of the NBA playoffs by losing their first three games in the best-of-five series with the 76ers. Harris refused to say the absence of leading scorer Dale Ellis made the difference entirely. J-j) A 1 The point is that, as coaches and players, we were unable to make the adjustments or to step up and adequately compensate for Dale being out," he said.

"The reason we lost is we were unable to make the proper adjustments to fill the void." with Barkley making 10 of 18, Hersey Hawkins nine of 15 for 26 points, and Ron Anderson eight of 12 for 18. Philadelphia outrebounded the Bucks 45-31. "Collectively on defense, we undoubtedly played the best we've played all year, and defense wins games in playoffs," Hawkins said. The game, 76ers coach Jim Lynam said, went exac "I just think we didn't Frank Brickowski said. Harris v.

tly according to plan. i Charles Barkley played, despite an injured knee in a brace. He scored 30 points, got 12 rebounds, had six assists and stole the ball four times. When Milwaukee threatened in the third quarter, Barkley got off the bench and scored two baskets to restore Philadelphia momentum. "It's unfortunate because we left Del out to dry," Alvin Robertson said.

"He had us prepared for the season off the bench. The coach seems to get as much from his players as can reasonably be expected. His team plays a well-rounded game, not reliant on any articular star to make the clutch asket; each player is the epitome of unselfishness, a credit to the coach. The team has a beautiful arena in which to play its games, and the hometown fans have been supportive. The owner of the team has shown little reluctance to let his basketball people run the basketball team, and they have supplied him with very respectable records and annual playoff appearances.

It's a nice situation. Nice team, nice chemistry. Nice arena, nice owner. Nice record, nice coach. Everything's just so, uh, nice, you know? But there comes a point and the Milwaukee Bucks have reached it at which nice is boring.

Nice is not enough. Nice wins about 45 games a year, and quickly peters out in the playoffs. Nice draws fans into the pretty new arena, and then disappoints those fans every spring. Nice is fun to watch some of ihe time, and pretty dull to watch the rest of the time. The Bucks are a team with a glaring, missing link.

They have not one player who is capable of kicking the butt of any opposing player. The Bucks have no Charles Barkley, no Rick Mahorn, no Karl Malone. They have not even a Bill Cartwright or a Dennis Rodman. Until they acquire a player who enters each game with a major chip on his shoulder, the Bucks will forever be a team that doesn't scare anybody. That's sad in a way, because basketball was not designed to be football without pads or WWF without the ropes.

Still, that is what it has become, and to compete no, to contend for the championship in the modern NBA, a team must have at least one player who will not be denied, a man who will not accept no for an answer. This lack of a buttkicker was evident in the first-round playoff series against Philadelphia. Milwaukee, with Alvin Robertson and Jay Humphries, has a better backcourt than the 76ers. The bench, with Jack Sikma, Jeff Grayer, Brad Lohaus, Adrian Dantley and Steve Henson, is not weak, but neither is it "We played the type of game we wanted to play, active on defense, pushed the ball. We played three pretty solid defensive games in the playoffs," he said.

Milwaukee led by seven points in See BUCKS, Page C-5 AP photo by Rusty Kennedy points, 12 rebounds, six assists and four steals CHARLES BARKLEY: Despite an injured knee, he had 30 against the Bucks. Pippen makes the moves as Bulls sweep tie was going hard to the basket," Jordan said. "I used to be able to do that, but I guess I'm getting a little old for that." Jordan's only dunk of the game belied that tongue-in-cheek statement. His second-quarter change-of-direction move fooled three Knicks before he drove the baseline for a slam. After Jordan made a rebound basket, the Bulls' next eight baskets were layups and dunks, keying a 20-9 run that closed the gap to 54-53 at halftime.

Chicago, which has 10 consecutive victories over New York and seven straight this season, advanced to the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs against Philadelphia. "We were beaten by a team that won 61 games, and we won 39," Knicks coach John MacLeod said. "That was the difference in the series." Kiki Vandeweghe and Patrick Ewing scored 20 points each for the Knicks. LAKERS 94, ROCKETS 90 At Houston, Byron Scott's jumper made it 92-90 with 16.9 seconds to play, and Magic Johnson had 24 of his points in the second half. The Rockets called a timeout after Scott's 18-foot-er from the baseline and missed a chance when they could not get the ball inbounded, and it went over to the Lakers.

Hakeem Olajuwon missed a three-point attempt with 8.6 seconds to go. Olajuwon had 21 points and 17 rebounds, and Otis Thorpe added 21 points, including 17 in the first half. James Worthy scored 22 points for the Lakers, who won the first two games at home. Thorpe scored 1 1 points in the first quarter and had 17 by halftime, leading the Rockets to a 46-39 lead at the break. But Johnson's 16 third-quarter points gave the Lakers a 66-65 lead after three periods.

PISTONS 103, HAWKS 91 At Atlanta, Joe Dumars and Isiah Thomas sparked Detroit's comeback from a 17-point second-quarter deficit, leading the visiting Pistons to a 2-1 advantage over Atlanta. The Hawks led 46-29 on a pair of free throws by Dominique Wilkins his first points of the game with 5:30 left in the first half before the Pistons began chipping away, starting with a three-point basket by Mark Aguirre. Dumars, who scored 30 points, had 11 and Thomas added eight in the comeback that saw the Pistons take the lead for good at 66-64 on Dumars" second consecutive three-pointer with 3:40 left In the third quarter. Thomas finished with 19 points and 13 assists and Vinnie Johnson scored 13 of his 17 points in the second quarter. Kevin Willis led the Hawks with 24 points, while Wilkins, hounded by Dennis Rodman throughout the game, had 18.

SONICS 102, TRAIL BLAZERS 99 At Seattle, Sedale Threatt sank a three-point shot with four seconds left as Seattle beat Portland, precluding a sweep by the Trail Blazers. Game 4 of the best-of-five Western Conference series will be played In Seattle on Thursday night Portland leads 2-1. Threatt, who led the SuperSonics with 29 points, See NBA, Page C-5 By The Associated Press With Scottie Pippen doing an impression of Michael Jordan, the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets are out of the NBA playoffs. "On the road, you have to take it to the basket, and I wanted to do that and break down their defense," Pippen said after the Bulls com- pleted a three-game sweep of the Knicks with a 103-94 HHSA victory Tuesday night. "Mi- I chael had some opportuni-plciyOlXS ties to do the same thing, but he elected to shoot jumpers." Pippen made five layups and five dunks to account for all but one of his 21 points.

Jordan had nine baskets on jumpers, four on layups and one dunk to finish with 33 points. "I was taking what they gave me while Scot- See NICE, Page C-5 WISAA will crown two more champs Foxes bat their way to victory DAVENPORT, Iowa The Appleton Foxes and Quad Cities Angels played for three hours and seven minutes Tuesday night in a Midwest League baseball slugfest that produced 21 runs and 32 hits. So, of course, the game was decided during the first two innings as the Northern Division-leading Foxes (13-4) scored eight runs en route to a 14-7 victory over the Southern Division-leading Angels (12-7). During their six-run first, 12 'fiK eft rrf foxes batted. Left fielder Ed Gerald who finished with three hits, four RBI and two runs scored doubled off the left-field fence to score Darren Burton, who drew a leadoff walk.

Butch SAA board would determine sites. The four qualifiers would be re-seeded for the two-day state tourney. The rest of the schools would be Division 3. Seeding would not be done because of the significant travel involved. There would be 28 teams (boys and girls) competing in the state tournament, four more than participated last year.

Between now and June we'll put everything into motion," said Bill. We'll have to determine what sites are available to us and who will host what games. We'll get down to the nitty gritty. I am fired up about it," Bill continued. The only reservation from our standpoint was we had to insist the concept was well-received.

Now we need the cooperation of member schools. We're confident we can get it done. We'll have it all in place by March of 1992." Appleton East selected one of its own to replace Tom LaFountain as boys tennis coach. Bob Verkins, the new coach, played tennis at East before he was graduated in 1972. He also served as junior varsity coach under LaFountain the last four years.

Verkins, who earned his master's in vocational rehabilitation from the University of Wisconsin-Stout, is employed in the rehab department at Appleton's St. Elizabeth Hospital. Appleton East senior track star Michelle Carbiener, who won the 100 and long jump and finished second in the 200 last year during the state meet, is nursing a middle hamstring pull. Coach Bob Simonson said Carbiener might return to the track next week. "We're taking every precaution.

We're taking it very slowly. We don't want her to be reinjured," said Simo.nson. By Dan VanderPas Post-Crescent assistant sports editor The Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association made it official during a recent board meeting to further divide its girls' and boys' basketball tournament formats. Instead of two divisions, there is now three. It was unanimously adopted as presented to the board," said Al Bill, WISAA's executive director.

The board felt strongly about the fact that it was recommended by 10 people (three WISAA officials plus school districts representing various areas) who looked it over for a two-mtmmm vear period. They felt it was lr6p important that member schools IlOtCS had a good opportunity to look it over and to respond to it." In making the change, WISAA is following the lead of the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association which went from thre classes (A, and to four divisions (1-4) beginning with the 1991 tournament. In the WIAA, that means there is one state basketball champion for every 106 schools. In WISAA, there will be one state champion for every 19 schools. According to WISSA's new format, Division 1 will consist of the 16 largest schools.

Teams would be seeded on a state-wide basis into sectionals with the top eight seeds hosting one game to determine the eight state qualifiers. Teams then would be re-seeded for the three-day state tournament in Milwaukee. Division 2 would contain a maximum of 24 teams and they would be assigned goegraphically into four districts. Each district would then be seeded, with the top two seeds drawing a first-round bye. The WI Gerald AP photo by Dave Schlabowske ARRIVING AT THE SAME TIME are Milwaukee's Robin Yount, 19, and the throw to Chicago White Sox second baseman Scott Fletcher Tuesday night in Milwaukee.

Fletcher slapped the tag on Yount, who failed in a stolen-base attempt. The end: Brewers finally beat Sox By Rick Gano AP staff writer Cole, Tom Smith and Lance Jennings also produced run-scoring hits. In the second, Gary Caraballo singled to set up Cole's run-producing double. Cole scored after Harry Guanchez singled. The Foxes added three in the fifth on Gerald's three-run homer, and three in the ninth, keyed by Gerald's double, Jennings' run-scoring single and Tim Smith's two-run double.

Appleton got 19 hits off three Quad Cities pitchers. The Angels answered with 13 hits off two Appleton pitchers. Foxes starter Shayne Rea yielded nine hits and five earned runs in five innings to pick up the win. Reliever Gabriel Pineda allowed four hits and two earned runs in four innings in picking up the save. of years." The White Sox had beaten the Brewers 20 times in 24 games the last two seasons, including 10 of 12 times at County Stadium.

Dante Bichette and Franklin Stubbs homered for the Brewers and Billy Spiers had three hits in a 13-hit attack. Bichette, like Stubbs, wasn't with the Brewers until this season, so the frustration against Chicago was not so apparent. "I heard it right before the game. Somebody said, These guys think they own Bichette said. "But this is a different team from the last couple of years.

I felt really confident about beating them." Milwaukee starter Chris Bosio was in trouble in each of the first four innings and gave up a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to Matt Merullo in the third. Bosio (3-2) left with See BREWERS, Page C-6 MILWAUKEE The Milwaukee Brewers hadn't beaten the Chicago White Sox at Milwaukee County Stadium in nearly two years, a six-game losing streak that had become a source of irritation for the home team. But after a three hour, 39-minute game that included a first-inning delay for an umpire's injury, 314 pitches, eight walks, 23 hits and 22 men left on base, the Brewers' long wait was finally over Tuesday night. They nad an 8-2 victory. "They've owned us," said Brewers' infielder Jim Gantner, who had four hits in Milwaukee's first win over the White Sox at the stadium since June 25, 1989.

"It's fun any time you get four hits, especially if you win. It's a nice way to start off against the White Sox because wev haven't done well against them the last cCiple.

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