The Odessa American from Odessa, Texas • 25

PORTS HOUSTON PICKS UP ANOTHER AGAINST COLORADO 5 WEDNESDAY. JUNE 22, 2005 WWW.0A0A.COM SECTION CKSXITCUT The Second Annual Sandgator Classic Golf Tournament, a four-person draw scramble that benefits the American Cancer Society's Crane Unit is scheduled for 9 a.m. Saturday at Crane Country Club. Call 558-Z651. ftyfor stays aSive with rally for the ages 8 BAYLOR Trailing 7-5 headed into the bottom of the ninth, the Bears got a leadoff single from Josh Ford to knock out reliever Daniel Lantham.

Sean Morgan (6-1) came in and gave up a single to Reid Brees and then an RBI double to Dillon, who bounced a ball over first after faking a bunt. Gomes replaced Morgan and intentionally walked Kevin Russo to load the bases before Seth Fortenbery popped out. Abe Woody (10-3), who pitched 4 1-3 innings of two-hit relief, got the win. Baylor (46-23) earned another meeting with Texas and must beat the Longhorns twice, beginning today, to go to the best-of-three championship series beginning Saturday. Baylor beat Texas four straight times during the season before losing to the Longhorns in the first round of the CWS, 5-1.

Tulane (56-12) goes home after the crushing THE ASSOCIATED PRESS OMAHA, NEB. Baylor simply refused to leave the College World Series. The Bears, down 7-0 after six innings, rallied for three runs in the ninth Tuesday night, scoring the winning run on a throwing error by Tulane second baseman Joe Holland to stun and elirninate the top-seeded Green Wave 8-7. One out after reliever Brandon Gomes issued an intentional walk to load the bases, Baylor's Paul Witt hit a hopper to Holland near the bag at second. Holland touched the base for the second out of the inning.

But his relay throw to complete a double play that would have ended the game and given Tulane the win went past first baseman Micah Owings. The tying run scored and then so did a jubilant Zach Dillon from third with the winner as the ball got away. 7 TULANE V- ON 3D Arizona State ties game in ninth, knocks out Nebraska in 11 innings AP PHOTO Baylor's Zach Dillon (left) scores the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning as his teammates start to celebrate Tuesday night at the College World Series. The Bears rallied to beat top-seeded Tulane 8-7 after trailing 7-0 through six innings. NDA FINALS: SAfl A NT OHIO VS.

DETROIT 1W7 7Jfs Surprise, surprise. Pistons force first Game 7 since 1994 SPORTS BRIEFS ODESSA AMERICAN STAFF Hounds key West to All-Star victory FRISCO The Midland RockHounds were a major factor Tuesday in the Texas League All-Star Game. Midland players accounted for four runs, two RBIs and the pitching win as the West beat the East 5-0 before 10,398 fans at Dr PepperSeven-Up Ballpark. Midland outfielder Andre Ethier, who drove in the game's first run, was named Most Valuable Player, while Evan Farhner pitched one inning for the win. Shortstop Omar Quintanilla went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored.

All the scoring came in the seventh inning with several RockHounds getting in on the act Catcher Jeremy Brown and outfielder Jason Perry walked to open the inning, setting up Ethier's run-scoring single. Frisco's Jason Hart and Quintanilla followed with RBI singles. After Brant Colamarino, who was promoted to Triple-A Sacramento on May 27, singled to load the bases, the West plated two more runs on groundouts by Frisco's Drew Meyer and San Antonio's T.J. Bohn Jr. The RockHounds had five of the West's eight hits with Brown getting a single in the eighth.

Midland reliever Alex Santos worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the eighth to preserve the shutout Juniors faring well Permian's Raelyn Smith shpt a 77 Tuesday in the opening round of the under-17 girls division of the 49th Annual Texas-Oklahoma Junior Golf Tournament and is tied for third, three shots off the lead. Also in Smith's division, Pecos' Shelly Martinez shot an 82, and Kelsie Gray of Andrews carded an 84. In the under-13 division, Odessa's Skylar Smith finished with a 77. Gabriella Cano of Pecos has a 107 over two nine-hole rounds. On the boys side, Permian's Mark Jones rebounded from his 79 Monday to score a 70 in the second round in the under-17 boys division.

Permian's Ryne Echols shot an 84 for the second day for a 168 total. Andrews' Tyler Hogan also ended with an 84 Tuesday for a 163 after two rounds. In the under-18 boys division, Midland's Brian Scherer leads the tournament with a 138. He is two shots ahead of Brent Bennett, also of Midland Odessa's True Graves shot a 76 Tuesday for a 153 total. Andrews' Austin Gray in the under-15 division and Clay Hines of McCamey in the under-16 division resume play today after shooting 82 and 85 on Monday.

Choice: Aggies HOUSTON Texas football signee Martellus Bennett has dropped out of the NBA draft and will play football and basketball for the Aggies this year. Bennett, considered the state's top football recruit decided in May to explore his chances of being a first-round pick in the draft But he told The Dallas Morning' News for online editions that he would forgo the draft and enroll in classes for the second summer session at At 6-foot-7, 243 pounds, Bennett was ranked the nation's top tight end by the recruiting Web site Rivals.com He caught 46 passes for 650 yards as a senior at Alief Taylor High School but also excelled in basketball. Bennett averaged 23 points and 8.2 rebounds as a senior and was considered one of the top players in highly touted group of basketball recruits. BY CHRIS SHERIDAN The Associated Press SAN ANTONIO The identity of the next NBA champion will not be known for another two days not until Game 7 of a suddenly suspense-ful series is over. Chauncey Billups, Richard Hamilton and the Detroit Pistons weren't ready to concede their title, and Tim Duncan's San Antonio Spurs weren't quite good enough to earn it Tuesday night.

Behind the scoring of their guards and several clutch plays from foul-plagued Rasheed Wallace down the stretch, the defending champions displayed the resiliency they've become known for as they defeated San Antonio 95-86 in Game 6 of the NBA Finals to send the championship series will to a winner-take-all game for the first time since 1994. Billups made five of the Pistons' eight 3-point-ers as they matched their long-range output from the first five games combined. Billups scored 21, Hamilton had 23 and Wallace 16 for the Pistons, who played at their peak despite being on the brink of elimination just as they did in the Eastern Conference finals against Miami earlier this month. There were 23 lead changes and seven ties in the first three quarters before Detroit built a seven-point lead early in the fourth quarter and stayed ahead the rest of the way, handing the Spurs just their sixth home loss in 51 games at the SBC Center this season. Now, the Pistons will have to try to become the first team in finals history to win the last two games on the road.

Once again, ball control was one of the key-factors as Detroit committed just five turnovers against 19 assists. Billups played brilliantly for the second straight game; and Hamilton was not affected by the tight defense of Bruce Bowea JUNE 9 Spurs 84, Pistons 69 JUNE 12 Spurs 97, Pistons 76 JUNE 14 Pistons 96, Spurs 79 JUNE 16 Pistons 102, Spurs 71 SUNDAY Spurs 96, Pistons 95 (0T) TUESDAY Pistson 95, Spurs 86 series tied 3-3 THURSDAY Pistons at Spurs, 8 p.m. AP PHOTO Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons (left) defends San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili on Tuesday night during Game 6 of the NBA Finals in San Antonio. The Spurs led at halftime, but the defending champion Pistons rallied in the second half and pulled away for a 95-86 victory. The seventh and deciding game of the series will be played at 8 p.m.

Thursday in San Antonio. Henin-Hardenne can't avoid upset bug French Open champion falls in opener; Serena survives NBA's players, owners make deal High schoolers won't be allowed until a full year after graduation BY CHRIS SHERIDAN The Press SAN ANTONIO The days of. jumping from high school to the pros the route to the NBA chosen by LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, Tracy McGrady and others are almost over. A one-year increase in the min'mum age was part of a new six-year collective bargaining agreement tentatively reached Tuesday by owners and players. Commissioner David Stern and union director Billy Hunter finalized the deal in principle in New York and immediately flew to the NBA Finals to announce it prior to Game 6 between San Antonio and Detroit.

The agreement will replace the seven-year pact expiring June 30. "We're gratified that we were able to avoid a work, stoppage," Stern said. "This agreement creates a strong partnership with our players, See CONTRACT Page 4D Justine Henin-Hardenne was sent packing from Wimbledon after her first round match Tuesday -against Greece's Eleni Daniiidou, just more than two weeks after the Belgian capped her stirring comeback from injury to win the French Open in Paris. Serena Williams and Tim Henman avoided upsets, though. AP PHOTO 0N3D Wimbledon notebook Tuesday's complete Wimbledon results BY HOWARD FENDRICH The Associated Press WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND The asphalt courts at the public park where Serena Williams and Angela Haynes learned to swing a racket and the patch of grass where they engaged in a riveting- Grand Slam match Tuesday are separated by thousands of miles and so much more.

Yet there they were, the seven-time major champion Williams and the unheralded Haynes, trading powerful groundstrokes and grunts. Haynes practiced beside Williams in Compton, in the 1980s, looked up to her in recent years, and led her for the better part of two hours in See TENNIS Page 3D A.