The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 33

HIGH SCHOOL POVS OASKETOALUCOLLEGSHQnSH RACIKQ the record D-9 t. Anthony breezes inato ToffC FRIDAY, MARCH 17. 1989 1 filial. nNv Eastern Regional's Michael Edwards tries-to split the Elizabeth defense Elizabeth romps, DANIELLE P. RICHARDSTHE RECORD of Tyrone Billingsley, left, and Jim Brennan.

set for rematch the ball to Luther. But we did play K. A By Mark J. Czerwinski Record Staff Writer PISCATAWAY St Anthony of Jersey City played two strong quarters Thursday night, and that was enough to handle McCorris-tin. The Friars opened and closed the Tournament of Champions semifinal with a flourish, stopping the Iron Mikes, 69-54, in the Louis Brown Athletic Center at Rutgers.

The victory, played before 5,535 fans, was the 49th consecutive for the Friars (31-0), and sets up Sunday's title game against Group 4 champion Elizabeth in Byrne Arena. The Iron Mikes (28-4) cut St. Anthony's lead to 51-42 with 2:02 remaining in the third quarter, but couldn't get closer. The Friars awoke from their two-quarter slumper, and quickly put the game out of reach. Senior guard Bobby Hurley Jr.

sealed the victory by scoring the first 10 points of the fourth quarter, including seven of eight from the foul line. Hurley finished with 26 points, eight assists, and five rebounds. Senior center Jerry Walker had 12 points for the Friars, and senior Terry Dehere added 10. For the second consecutive game, the Friars opened with a strong first quarter followed by an erratic second. The Friars began the game in one of their patented grooves, and the first eight minutes looked like their own personal basketball clinic.

McCorristin didn't try to trap St. Anthony, even though the star-tegy was successful against Bergen Catholic and Bridgewater West. The Iron Mikes looked helpless as Hurley bounced off passes to every open man around the basket. St Anthony led 11-0 before McCorristin's Bryan Caver hit a jump shot with 4:31 remaining in the quarter. The Iron Mikes had turned over the ball on their first four trips down court "We do that pretty regularly," said St Anthony coach Bob Hurley Sr.

"Our defense generates a lot of the way we start games, and once we dug that hole, it was hard for them to get out" Walker had eight points and Hurley added six assists as the Friars led, 27-11, after one quarter. A St. Anthony blowout never materialized in the first half. The problems began in the second quarter, just like they did in the Parochial title game against St Rose of Belmar. The Friars were 7-of-10 from the field in the quarter, but were plagued by bad passes and fouls.

The Friars led, 39-18, but Mark Bass shot McCorristin back into the game. St. Anthony gave the sophomore the open shot, and he responded with four three-pointers and 14 points. The Iron Mikes finished the half with a 9-2 run, cutting St. Anthony's lead to 41-27.

"We just ran into a very good St. Anthony team," said McCorristin coach John A. Castaldo "I still don't think there's a team that can -beat them." The Friars were able to keep the lead in double-figures because they dominated the boards. McCorristin had only one rebound in the first 10 minutes, and was outre-bounded, 18-9, in the half. Bass had only two points in the second half, both from the foul line, to finish with 16 points.

Caver added 12 points for the Iron Mikes. ond personal foul midway through the first quarter and went to the bench with his team leading, 13-7. And by the time he returned two minutes into the second period, the lead was up to 27-14. "He's been playing with more intensity in the tournament," said coach Ben Candelino, "and picking up more fouls, some of them stupid. "We've played parts of big games without him, and the kids played well without him.

Yet we're not the same team without him there as a force." The team moves much quicker without the center. "We did everything we wanted tonight," said Billingsley; "We got Elizabeth set its defense to stop 30-point scorer Edwards. It used DeWarren Watkins to stop him high, and if he got past the guard, another player, usually Mike Ma-teiro, was waiting for him. The defense forced Edwards, who finished his career with more than 2,000 points, to shoot quickly. He wound up with 24 points on 6-of-23 shooting.

On the other end, Tyrone Bil-lingsly, despite injuring his knee twice and leaving the game with an upset stomach in the second quarter, finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds. In addition, Elizabeth had its junior mountain, 7-foot-2 Luther Wright, in the middle. And the giant added 21 points, 16 rebounds, and four blocked shots. The Vikings went on an 8-2 tear in the fourth period to cut the deficit to 43-31, but Brennan retalitat-ed with a three-pointer. Wright followed with a stuff and then rebounded his own miss for a layup, and the lead was up to 19 points.

Elizabeth showed it could play without Wright. He drew his sec Spotlights to shine on small DI Farms St. streak on line HEN'S BASKETBALL By Bob Kurland Record Staff Writer PISCATAWAY Elizabeth was too tall and too talented for Eastern Regional, the last-seeded team in the Tournament of Champions, and the Minutemen romped into the final round with an 82-58 victory Thursday night at Rutgers. The second-seeded Minutemen (28-3) will take on the nation's No. 1 team, St Anthony, Sunday in Byrne Arena for the state boys basketball crown.

Elizabeth's Mike Brennan opened the game with a three-point goal, and Mike Edwards countered it for Eastern Regional. But two free throws by Brennan put the Minutemen on top, 5-3, and they were never caught' "We shot very poorly," said losing coach Gary Wilson. "But if we had made some of the early shots we could have made a game of it." But the Vikings (28-6) hit only 3-of-ll in the opening quarter in falling behind, 25-10. And things were even worse in the second when they made only 2-of-16 and left at intermission trailing, 39-23. Seifriz is the tournament's top three-point shooter, hitting 106 of 198 for 54.5 percent.

The 6-5 Gordon does nearly all of his scoring in close, while Miller is a long-range gunner, hitting 99 of 210 three-pointers for 47.1 percent. Whitewater won its first 21 games, but dropped two of its last five regular season contests. Centre (24-5) has won 10 in a row, including a 124-123 triumph STAC women The Associated Press KANSAS CITY, Mo. -Fourth-seeded St. Ambrose of Iowa, led by six players in double figures, defeated St.

Thomas Aquinas, 111-75, Thursday in the first round of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics women's basketball tournament The Queen Bees (34-1) took the lead on Cindy Bom's basket with 8:35 left in the first half. They led at half, 57-45. St. Ambrose hit 65 percent of its shots, compared to 39 percent for the Lady Spartans, and it had a 44-34 edge on the boards. 3).

Garrett Teel of Ridgefield Park had two hits for William Paterson and John Daly took the pitching loss for the Pioneers. KENNESAW 18, STAC 0 Cliff Brannon went 3-for-6 and hit a Trenton From The Record's news services SPRINGFIELD, Ohio Top-ranked Trenton State takes on Southern Maine and No. 3 Wisconsin-Whitewater plays No. 9 Centre (Ky.) tonight in the semifinals of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division III men's basketball tournament. The games begin at 6:30 and 8:30 at Wittenberg University.

The championship game is scheduled at 7:05 p.m. Saturday, with the semifinal losers playing in the consolation game at 5:05. Trenton State (29-1) has won 24 in a row since an early season loss at Jersey City State. The Lions avenged that loss twice with an 82-80 regular season win over the Gothic Knights and an even tighter 78-77 win in the regional tournament semifinals. The high-scoring Lions, led by 5-foot-7, 140-pound Greg Grant's 32.4 points per game, have been over the century mark 10 times.

They average 92.8 points per con-' test, with an average winning margin of 25. Coming into the weekend Final Four games, Grant had scored 974 points this year, breaking the state collegiate record set by Princeton's Bill Bradley, now New Jersey's senior senator. With 2,540 career points, for an average of 30.6 per game, Grant ywiiy ill biic ociuiiu ijuaitci. j-iui, that could be because we drew a bye and haven't played since Sat- urday." As for playing without Billingsley smiled and said, "Luther gets down court fast when he wants to, but we are quicker without him." The 6-2 Billingsley then turned his attention to Sunday. we can piay wun anyone tne country and are looking forward to meeting St.

Anthony again," he' saiu. rriL ii me nars oiew away uie miii- utcweu uy 40 uuuita a icguiai season meeting. nni a ln rtf hrnnH maws "At one time, we had as many as quantity and go for quality. It appears we made the right decision." NOTES Jim Campbell, the leading trainer at the Big could be on his way to a blockbuster season. After Wednesday's card, Campbell had sent out 36 winners, 14 more than runner-up Larry Rem-men.

At his current pace, Campbell would shatter the single season Big training record of 106 victories in a season set by the team of Joe Holloway and Dave Rovine in 1987. Jim, the younger brother of The Meadowlands leading driver John Campbell, reports the addition of even more firepower to his already potent arsenal with the recent purchase of San Andre. A winner in 1:54 last year as a 2-year-old, San Andre could be Campbell's horse I .1 I 1 1 1 T1 ior uie juiy j. ivieauuwianus race. The expanded weekend format at The Meadowlands will include an additional trifecta.

Starting tonight, the Friday and Saturday cards will expand to 12 races. Monday through Thursday feature the usual 11 contests. The extra races will be offered for the next 17 weeks to make up for the three days the track was closed be cause ui pour weauier. On the nights with 12 races, four trifectas will be offered instead of tho iiaiial three The t.rifefti races will be the fourth, seventh, 10th, and 12th. The 11th, usually a trifecta race, will feature an exacta as lL.

me exouc opuun. Word from Florida indicates Easy Goer continues to tune up in fine form. The early favorite for the Kentucky Derby worked a iiaii-iiiiie ui a xu came this week. A convincing winner in his sea- -son debut in the Swale Stakes at Gulfsteam Park, Easy Goer is expected to next compete in the 0n IWt flnfttam Cfolraa ot Anno. duct April 8.

$96.60, $28.20, and $8. Classic Sport, at 17-1, paid $19.40 and $8.40 to place. Ruthless 3-1, was worth $3.60 to show. The track's all-time trifecta payoff, set in 1986, was $36,186.90. FREEDOMS CHERIE raced to a three-length victory to win the $18,000 featured purse for fillies and mares in 1:5676 at The Meadowlands Racetrack.

Driven by John Campbell, Freedoms Cherie took her third straight victory for the Posz Sta-' bles of Short Hills. The 5-year-old Freedom Fella mare returned $3.80, $2.80, and $2.60. By Mike Farrell Racing Correspondent EAST RUTHERFORD DI Farms, the tiny New Jersey breeding operation that produced two division champions last year, will receive a well-deserved salute Saturday night at The Meadowlands Racetrack. The owners, the D'Altrui family, will be honored with a special on-track presentation to commemorate Sweet Reflection, the 3-year-old pacing filly of 1988, and Totally Ruthless, last year's top freshman pacing colt. Two champions in a season is an outstanding achievement for any breeder.

Two champions from a farm with only five broodmares defies all odds. "It's just an incredible feeling," said Tom D'Altrui Jr. "After the tremendous year that Sweet Reflection had as a 2-year-old, we figured it was a once in a lifetime experience. We were just hoping she'd be as good at three as she was at two. "We never thought it would happen again.

When Totally Ruthless came up and did so well, I couldn't believe it." Sweet Reflection has been retired and is a broodmare at the farm in Belle Mead. She was off the board only once in 32 starts, winning 26. Among her victories last year were the Tarport Hap at the Big and the Breeders' Crown. Totally Ruthless is preparing for the 1989 season under the guidance of trainer Steve Elliot. A winner of 12 of 15 starts, he is only $62,000 shy of becoming a millionaire.

The D'Altruis, Tom senior and junior, have been in the breeding business about 20 years. They started out with grand plans. "I had a lot of ideas about being the top breeder in New Jersey," Tom Jr. said. "I soon realized that being a small farm, we couldn't compete with the big farms.

It's just too difficult and too expensive tonight over Stanislaus State in the finals of the South Regional. The Colonels also squeaked out a 69-68 semifinal win over Washington Danny Johnson, a 6-3 forward, leads Centre in scoring at 20.9 points per game, shooting 56.2 percent from the field. Centre's other double-figure scorers are 6-5 Bo Weyendt at 15.2 and 6-1 Mike Yates at 14.3. The Colonels are making their eighth tournament appearance and seventh in a row, but just their second in the Final Four. eliminated Before leaving with an injury, Schironda Jones had 26 points for St.

Thomas Aquinas of Sparkill, N.Y., which finished 26-2. St. AmbroM 111, STAC 75 ST. AMBROSE Gilbraith 1-2 0-0 2, Ciprlan l-S 5-5 21, Umbardo 3-4 4-5 10, Meade 0-1 0-0 0, Daughenbaugh 0-1 0-1 0, Dietzel -7 0-0 12, Forler 10-14 2-2 22, Deahl 0-1 0-0 0, Becker 8-16 4-9 20, Clarke 3-5 2-2 Born 4-7 2-3 10, Sikkema 3-5 0-0 6. Tetili: 46-71 19-27 111.

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS Pendl 1-5 4-6 6, Cooney 2-4 0-0 4, Goukling 2-6 4-5 9, Bowden 1-2 0-1 2, Prisco 4-10 2-4 10, McNultv 0-5 0-0 0, MacRse 6-11 3-5 15, Maro 1-3 1-3 3, Jones 9-21 5-5 26. Totals: 26-67 19-29 75. HalHIme St. Ambrose 57, STAC 45.

Thru-point goals SI. Ambrose none. STAC 4-7 (Goulding 1-1, Prisco 0-1, Maro 0-1, Jones 3-4). Fouled out Prisco. Rebounds St.

Ambrose 44 (Becker 12), STAC 34 (Pendl, Jones 9). Assists St. Ambrose 27 (Forler 9), STAC 16 (Goulding, Prisco, Maro, Jones 3). Total touts St. Ambrose 24, St.

Thomas Aquinas 23. two-run home run in the first inning to move Kennesaw (11-5) past St. Thomas Aquinas (1-5). Don McKinley hit a two-run home run to spark an eight-run third inning for Kennesaw. SOFTBALL Manhaltanvllle at FDU-Madlson (2), 1 p.m.

Buena Vista at Glassboro State, 12:30 p.m. Allegheny at Glassboro Stale, p.m. Monlclalr Stale at Buena vista, 9 a.m. Montclalr State vs. Ill-Benedict, 2:15 p.m.

Army at LaSalle, I p.m. Glassboro vs. Buena Vista, 12:30 p.m. Glassboro vs. Allegheny, 4 p.m.

LACROSSE Delaware at Army, 2 P.m. GYMNASTICS Eastern Championship at Syracuse, 2 P.m. TRACK Georgia Relays at Athens, Ga. Sunday BASEBALL Glassboro vs Lowell at Miami, noon Kean at Boca Raton, 1 p.m. Bergen CC vs.

Methodist Coll. at Favettevllle, N.C, 2 p.m. Jersey Tech vs. E. Stroudsburg In Florida, 11 a.m.

William Paterson vs. Northeast Illinois at Deland, 10 a.m. William Paterson vs. Wisconsin at Deland, Fla, 1 p.m. TRACK Glassboro at Hampton Relays, Va.

has guaranteed himself a Division III career scoring average record. This year marks the; fourth NCAA appearance in the past five years for Trenton State, which lost to Hartwick in last year's quarterfinals, 84-69. The Lions also have two other players averaging in double figures 18.3 for Kevin Ryan and 11.9 for Jimmy Glover, who also leads the team in rebounding at 9.5 per contest. Southern Maine, which brings a 23-6 record into its game against Trenton State, is led by 6-6 forward Jeff Bowers, with 20.5 points per game. The Huskies, making their second tournament appearance, lost in the first round a year ago to Clark Wisconsin-Whitewater, 27-2, comes into the tournament as its highest scoring team.

The War-hawks, making their first Final Four appearance since 1984, are averaging 94.8 points per game and allowing 76.3. Jeff Seifriz, a 6-2 guard-forward, leads the Warhawks in scoring at 20.2 per game, followed closely by Elbert Gordon at 19.4 and Patrick Miller at 16.6. second fall against Rick Travis of California (Pa.) in the 126-pound class. "It felt great," the llth-seeded Kelber said. "Now I've got to get going." Oklahoma State lead the team standings with 19.25 points, followed by Oklahoma with 16 points.

Defending national champion Arizona State was tied with Nebraska and Penn State for third place with 13.5 points. Others ranked in the top 10 included Iowa, Iowa State, and Northern Iowa, all with 12 points; and Edinboro and Minnesota, tied for ninth with 10.5 each. Baseball TWAYNE Rob Loewrigkeit of Wayne had three hits in three at-bats in his college debut for William Paterson College, but the Pioneers' baseball team still fell to Rhode Island, 7-2, in their season opener Thursday. Bob Traverse went 2-for-3 and scored two runs and Bill Bakker went 2-for-3 for Rhode Island (3- N.J. wrestlers advance in NCAAs COLLEGE SCHEDULE 47-1 shot keys $7,968 payoff in Freehold's richest trifecta OKLAHOMA CITY Mont-clair State College's Pete Gonzalez of Ridgefield Park and Karl Monaco of Clifton won their opening-round bouts Thursday in the Na-tional Collegiate Athletic Association wrestling championships at the Myriad.

Monaco, seeded second at 150 pounds, pinned Bill Orr of Clem-son at 2:28 of the first round. Earlier, Gonzalez, fourth seeded at 126, decisioned Ahmed El-Sok-kary of California-Bakersfield, 5-3. The top seeds in all 10 weight classes won their preliminary matches, and Oklahoma State, as expected, took the early team lead. The highest-seeded wrestler eliminated was John Kohls of Brigham Young, the fourth seed in the 167-pound class, who lost to Rob Milavsky of James. Madison by decision, 12-7.

Of the 120 wrestlers seeded 12 in each weight class 17 lost preliminary bouts. Jason Kelber of Nebraska had the fastest pin of the round, a 51- Friday WRESTLING NCAA Tournament at Oklahoma City, Ok. BASEBALL STAC at Jacksonville State, noon Kean at Palm Beach Atlantic, 4:30 P.m. Ramapo vs. Jersey City State at Dade-North, 11 a.m.

Seton Hall at Virginia, 3 p.m. William Paterson vs. Mariam College at Deland, 10 a.m. William Paterson vs. Ohio Weslevan at Deland, 1 p.m.

SOFTBALL Glassboro State at Rebel Spring Games, Orlando, Fla. GYMNASTICS Eastern Championships at Syracuse, 7 P.m. Saturday WRESTLING NCAA Tournament at Oklahoma City, Ok. BASEBALL Kean vs. STAC, 1.30 p.m.

Manhaltanvllle at FDU-Madlson (2), 1 p.m. Bergen CC vs. Methodist Cod. at Atlantic Christian N.C, I p.m. Ramapo vs.

Michigan State at U. Miami, 10 a.m. King's (Pa.) at Army, noon Seton Hall at Virginia (2), 12 noon. Wl'iiem Paterson at U. ot Tampa, 130 p.m.

Glassboro vs. Lowed at Mlaml-Oade North The Associated Press FREEHOLD Longshot Flying Kazan keyed a $7,968.90 trifecta payoff Thursday by winning the $2,500 fifth race pace at Freehold Raceway. Coming one day after a 58-1 longshot helped set up the track's richest daily double payoff, Flying Kazan at 47-1, helped provide the highest trifecta payoff of the year. Winless in eight starts this year, the 6-year-old gelding took the lead by the first quarter and led the rest of the mile, winning by a nose in 2:02 2-5. Flying Kazan returned.