The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 49

MARCH 19, 1978 I eueinEss Page C-17 Racing C-16 Scholastic sports C-7-10 McAdoo has 4 hut Knicks lose is kj- 1 1 if Lloyd Free led Philadelphia with 23 points, followed by Dawkins and Julius Erving with 22 apiece. Doug Collins added 20. "If they the Knicks had all their people, it might have been a different game," said McGinnis. "They got a little tired in the second "It shows you how strong a team we can be when you have Collins and Erving on the bench when you 'break the game open," said 76ers' coach Billy Cunningham. Knick coach Willis Reed feels helpless.

"What can you do?" he asked. "We have two players out and we have to juggle people around." New York plays in Denver, Phoenix and Golden State after today's game. Haywood, who strained the ligaments in his left knee Friday night, and Gondrezick, still recovering from a broken nose, won't make the trip. The Knicks, who are 9-24 on the road, are now 36-34 and could come home with a record below .500. "It's gotten to the point where I'm See KNICKS, Page C-2 McAdoo kept the Knicks in the game for as long as possible, but Philadelphia eventually wore New York down.

Mc-Adoo's task was made more difficult as Earl Monroe had a subpar shooting night and Lonnie Shelton, who replaced Haywood in the starting lineup, was charged with his fifth personal foul less than four minutes into the second half. The 76ers turned on their offensive power in the final three minutes of the third quarter, outscoring the Knicks 16-4. Two foul shots by McAdoo gave the Knicks a 91-86 lead, equaling their biggest margin of the game. The 76ers then came alive. Philadelphia scored the last nine points of the third quarter to take a 102-95 lead.

Center Darryl Dawkins had a three-point play starting with a slam dunk, to highlight the outburst. The 76ers ran their scoring streak to 15 points by scoring the first six points of the last quarter. McAdoo was resting on the Knick bench as the 76ers upped their lead to 108-95 against a New York front line of Jim McMillian, Toby Knight and Phil Jackson. By John Row Slid Writsr NEW YORK The Philadelphia 76ers, in beating the Knicks 141-127 last night, proved that an arsenal has more firepower than one cannon. The shorthanded Knicks, playing without the injured Spencer Haywood and Glen Gondrezick, asked their best scorer.

Bob McAdoo, to do the near impossible and he almost pulled it off. McAdoo scored 40 points, including 23 in the first half, but he lacked a supporting cast. The awesome 76ers had six players in double figures as they won their eighth straight game and clinched the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division title. They lead the Knicks by 13Vi games. The loss was New York's third straight, and the Knicks now have to start sweating out making the playoffs.

New York has lost five of its last six games and takes a four-game road losing streak into Philadelphia today p.m., Channel 2), where the 76ers have won 20 games in a row. The game starts a four-game road trip for the Knicks. desperately to escape grasp of Passaic Catholic wins I Chris Catalfo of Pascack Hills tries Tops Catalfo in Surage By Joel Plsetzner Staff Writer PRINCETON The improbable occurred twice in the final round of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association Wrestling Tournament yesterday. Only one school placed more than one champion. Improbably, it wasn't Pascack Hills it was Passaic Valley.

Hills, the No. 1 school in the State, had only one champion. Equally improbably, It wasn't Chris Catalfo the returning State champion was beaten in the 141-pound final by Passaic Valley's Anthony Surage. Valley's other winner, 115-pounder Jim Pagano, carved out his title in orthodox fashion. But the rest of the final- State wrestling earns crown '4 i 1 Stall photo by Ed I Valley's Anthony Surage.

and Pascack Hills Howie Lindstrom fell, 11-5. But those matches were overshadowed by Surage's 4-3 victory over a foe who had beaten him in all three of their previous meetings and who is one of only three 100-match winners in New Jersey history. "I don't believe it, I don't believe it you can write that a million times," gasped the elated Surage after being hugged by nearly every Homet follower in the capacity Jadwin Gymnasium crowd. Nixon's sentiments were more or less Identical after his stunning 7-6 win over Seton Hall's John Splnazzola, a World See PAGANO, Page C-7 What's Inside C-2: The Islanders lose to Atlanta. C-3: Evonne Goolagong and Chris Evert won at Boston, while the U.S.

Davis Cup team leads South Africa, 2-1. And Iowa is the NCAA wrestling champ. C-4-5: Kentucky beat Michigan State, 5249, and Arkansas edged Cal State-Fullerton, 61-58. C-6: Jack Nicklaus leads the TPC; Dave Davis of Hacken-sack won bis 17th pro bowling tournament; Montelair State beat Utah, 74-50, in women's college basketball tournament NIT semifinals at Madisoa Square Garden today. C-7: Lyndhurst lost, 49-42, la State Group 2 girls basketball final.

C-8: Lodi tries to win State Group 2 boys basketball title today. C-12: Marty Noble wiites on Mets' weightlifting program; Yankees beat the Mets, 6-2; Cosmos had an open house for their fans at Giants Stadium. C-13: WBC stripped Leon Spinki of his world heavyweight title. title ping the 6-foot-7 Donovan. With 6-2 Betty Strock and 6-0 Heather Podosek double-teaming her, Donovan had scored just 18 points and PC trailed 5343 with only three minutes left in regulation.

It seemed as if the fourth try for the title would be just as futile as the first three. Then Donovan, who scored her 1000th point of the 1977-78 season on a layup with 7:20 remaining, brought PC back on a 12-2 tear, scoring 10 points that included the game-tying basket with just six seconds left in regulation. Edgewood helped matters, missing five of seven foul shots down the stretch, including two in the final 43 seconds. See DONOVAN, Page C-7 Stan" photo by Al Paglion basket ball championship win. shine Paramus By Paul Schwartz Corespondent NORTH BRUNSWICK The ball hung on the rim, and with it rested Paramus Catholic's chances for its first State girls basketball title.

Then Carol Shemansky's last-second try came off the rim as the buzzer sounded, and the Paladins had their long-sought Group 3 title 60-58 over previously unbeaten Edgewood in overtime yesterday. It was PC's fourth final-round appearance. "I froze when she shot that ball," said Paramus Catholic coach Rose Battag-lia, who had coached Paramus to the finals in 1973 against Gloucester Catholic and last year against Asbury Park. "I was so nervous, I could barely see." The Paladins' other final appearance was in 1976. Brother John McNiff coached in an 80-58 loss to Asbury Park.

Paramus Catholic cheerleaders show Former By Larry Schwartz Staff Writer NEW YORK It would not be surprising if every night before Boston Bruins general manager Harry Sinden goes to sleep, he offers thanks in his prayers for the creation of the New York Rangers. And, every night before Rangers general manager John Ferguson goes to sleep, he might say a curse aimed at his predecessor. Emile Francis' farewell present to the Rangers was trading Jean Ratelle, Brad Park and Joe Zanus-si to Boston for Phil Esposito and Carol Vadnais. Ferguson didn't do any better In his first deal with Sinden, a swap which was instigated by Esposito. While nei the Takes Group 3 Mary Beth Reilly had put the Paladins ahead with 16 seconds to go, taking a perfect feed from Mary Rowe for a Ia-yup.

It was one of only two baskets not scored by Paladins superstar Anne Donovan in the final 11 minutes of the game. "I kept looking inside to Anne, but I didn't see her open," said Rowe, who had 11 assists in the game. "But Mary Beth was open so I gave her the pass." "Mary IRowe didn't seem as comfortable getting the ball into Anne as she had all year, and Anne wasn't really moving well for most of the game, but it turned out all right," said Battag-Ha. In fact, Edgewood had done as good a job as any team this season in stop strain during team's overtime State Rangers ther the same quality, nor quantity of the first trade, the Rangers still were taken. New York got Ken Hodge, now playing for New Haven, and the Bruins got Rick Middleton, still scoring goals for them.

The Rangers continued to pay the price for the trades yesterday as Ratelle, Park and Middleton all scored goals in a 6-3 Boston victory. The three always have experienced successful returns to Madison Square Garden where the Bruins are 7-0 since the Esposito trade on Nov. 7, 1975. While Esposito did score a power-play goal to bring the Rangers to within 4-3 with 8:47 left, for the most part he continued his lethargic skating. As for Vadnais, he was on the ice for four Boston goals and looked bad on second-period Uphill struggle Villano va seeks recognition round results came strictly from left field.

Hackensack's Bill Nixon managed a takedown with two seconds remaining to win the 101-pound crown. Hills' Steve Bessette, bleeding from the head, outpointed Westfield's John Iglar, also bleeding from the head, for the 170-pound title. All three returning State kings were dethroned Catalfo by Surage, 122-pounder Andy Zuckerman by Jackson's Lou Durant, and 129-pounder Peter Schuyler by Pemberton's Darryl Burley. Two wrestlers from the Bergen-Passaic area fell In the final round. Previously-unbeaten Dave Galdi of Pascack Valley was whipped, 12-3, at 135 pounds va's performance was stricken from the NCAA tournament records.

The Wildcats even had to return their runnerup trophy and the money the school had gained from the tournament. Villanova reached the Eastern final the next year, and then fell on hard times. But the times have changed and the Wildcats are on the brink of their second or is it the first Eastern Regional championship. Yet even in winning 23 games and advancing to today's (2:15 p.m., Channel 4) Eastern final against Duke, the Wildcats have gone largely unrecognized. "We're in the final 16 and we didn't even get into the Top 20 last week," said guard Rory Sparrow after putting the Wildcats into the final eight with an eight-fapt bank shot that beat Indiana, 61-60, Friday night.

"Maybe after on national TV somebody will notice us. Or maybe if we reach the final four we'll finally, get some recognition." The Wildcats have risen in anonymity under the guidance of Rollie Massimino the 5-foot-6, 44-year old coach, who begins every game neatly dressed in a See VILLANOVA. Page C-5 By Ron Drogo Staff WrfiBT PROVIDENCE Consider Villanova's Identity crisis. The Wildcats claim to have won one NCAA Eastern Regional championship, and they did indeed beat Perm, 90-47, in the 1971 Eastern final. They claim further to have reached the National championship game and they did indeed beat Kentucky in the semifinals before succumbing to the UCLA dynasty in the final.

Yet the NCAA record book shows the 1971 national runnerup to be "Vacated." It further shows that the Outstanding Player of the championship round was "Vacated." As far as the NCAA is concerned, the Villanova team of 1971 is null and void. And the Wildcats have been struggling for recognition ever since. After the Wildcats failed in their only NCAA final, it was discovered that Howard Porter had signed a contract with the American Basketball Association. With the tournament MVP declared retroactively ineligible, Villano goals by Park and Ratelle which gave the Bruins a 4-2 lead. But the Ranger who suffered most yesterday was Don Murdoch, who suffered a partially-dislocated left shoulder.

Murdoch was put in a headlock by Boston defenseman Rick Smith and thrown to the ke as Ron Greschner was scoring to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 4:19 of the first period. "I don't think it was such a dirty play," Smith said. "Actually, he was interfering with me." That is, if you consider interference putting your head where somebody puts a wrestling hold. The injury will indefinitely sideline Murdoch, who was out six games earlier this season with a See PAST, Page C-14.