The Record from Hackensack, New Jersey • 21

NORTH JERSEY SPORTS D-8 SCOREBOARD D-11 WEATHER D-12 THE RECORD MONDAY. MARCH 19. 1990 SECTION New Jersey Blue Devils Duke returns to Byrne UCLA freshman plays it 1 1 cod against Kansas; Bruins head to Arena. D-4 Syracuse block helps hold off Virginia; Minnesota edges Northern Iowa. D-5 Loyola Marymount ousts Michigan, Alabama surprises Arizona out West.

D-6 How the brackets look. D-4 HBox scores. D-6 By Steve Adamek Record Staff Writer ATLANTA Duke's road to Byrne Arena this year didnt just go through Atlanta. It took a treacherous, pothole-filled road through a team that calls a treacherous, pothole-filled place home. Thursday night, though, the Blue Devils will be back in East Rutherford.

Duke (26-8) will make its fourth postseason appearance in five years there for the NCAA tournament's East Regional, courtesy of Sunday's come-from-behind 76-72 victory over St. John's in The Omni. Thursday's opponent: UCLA. Freshman forward Tracy Murray's two free throws with 9.1 seconds to play gave the seventh-seeded Bruins (22-10) a 71-70 victory over second-seeded Kansas (30-5). Sixth-seeded St.

John's (24-10) led third-seeded Duke by nine with 13:20 to play and by seven with 6:30 to go after trailing by nine in the first half. A technical foul against forward Billy Singleton with 8:49 to play, however, helped Duke tum an eight-point deficit into two in one fell swoop. That didn't completely upset the St. John's apple cart, just turned it on its side. "That didn't cost us the game," St.

John's coach Lou Camesecca said. "We were still up two. It's what you do from that point on." What St. John's did from That point on was to stretch the lead back to seven. What St.

John's did from that point on, however, was stop scoring, for all intents and purposes, and ultimately spill all the apples. The Redmen did not score a 'his? The Boss' heart of gold The choice line from George Steinbrenner as the filth enveloped him anew Sunday was this: "I gave him the money out of the goodness of my heart." If that were the case, Howie Spira would have had enough cash to buy a cup of coffee and nothing more. Instead, George says he gave Howie $40,000. We should all be so lucky to find a spot somewhere near the goodness of George's warm heart But then, we did not conspire with George for four years to disgrace Dave Winfield, the man whose reputation Steinbrenner obsessively tried to besmirch throughout the Eighties. Spira, a 30-year-old self-described sports promoter, did what the rest of us could not: He convinced George that he could help him in the Winfield crusade.

Steinbrenner has always been blind in his hunt to bring Winfield down, but this was the sleaziest step yet. When the slime-slinging was done last year, we hadn't learned anything new about the prominent parties. We did learn that Spira had trouble getting his facts straight. Also, he owed big-time gamblers millions, and he made a lousy star witness. But with George's backing, Howie was omnipresent in every media outlet, giving countless interviews about how Winfield had loaned him money for gambling debts.

Serious charges. A ballplayer paying a known gambler. And Howie had proof. If you had a minicam, he had the $15,000 canceled check for your viewing. Spira did have to pay the money back, albeit at exorbitant rates.

field goal in the final 6:30. Their offense consisted of four free throws by Boo Harvey. Duke, meanwhile, had already turned up the tempo. Seven times after St. John's took its final nine-point lead, 53-44 with 13:20 to go, Duke scored less than 20 seconds after a St John's score.

That pace produced rushed shots, rushed passes a flustered St. John's team down the stretch, far more flustered than Singleton thought he was when official Ron Zetcher T'd him up. "I don't know what was going through his mind," the junior forward said. "I asked him a question." He asked about a scramble under the Duke basket in which he intercepted a pass, then got stripped by Duke's Robert Brickey, who was then stripped and fouled by St. John's Chuck Sproling.

"I don't know exactly what he said," Camesecca said of Singleton, adding later, "I don't think See ST. JOHN'S Page D-4 i mm0r i 1 Ik i 4 i J' v. ASSOCIATED PRESS Bloomfield's Alaa Abdelnaby of Duke goes over the top of Malik Sealy, who had 19 points and four steals for St. John's. The Redmen did not score a field goal in the final 6:30 in falling to Blue Devils.

Georgetown a victim of foul play mm i MIDWEST REGIONAL (At Dallas) Thursday North Carolina (21-12) vs. Arkansas (28-4) Xavier, Ohio (28-4) vs. Texas (23-8) Championship Saturday WEST REGIONAL (At Oakland, Calif.) Friday Nevada-Las Vegas (31-5) Ball State (26-6) Loyola Marymount (25-5) vs. Alabama (26-8) Championship Sunday EAST REGIONAL (At East Rutherford) Thursday Connecticut (30-5) vs. Clemson (26-8) Duke (26-8) vs.

UCLA (22-10) Championship Saturday SOUTHEAST REGIONAL (At New Orleans) Friday Michigan State (28-5) vs. Georgia Tech (26-6) Minnesota (22-8) vs. Syracuse (26-6) Championship Sunday From The Record's news services INDIANAPOLIS Everybody practices shooting. Unheralded Xavier practices fouling and getting away with it. The Musketeers did it masterfully Sunday in a 74-71 victory over eighth-ranked Georgetown.

"We didn't want to let them tie the game with a three-pointer," said Xavier coach Pete Gillen, who twice told his players to foul the Hoyas in the closing seconds of their NCAA Midwest Regional game. It paid off. The Hoyas' David Edwards twice missed the front end of one-and-one free-throw opportunities in the final eight seconds. That preserved the victory. The Musketeers (28-4), ranked 25th and seeded sixth, will play lOth-seeded Texas Thursday at Dallas.

Texas (22-8), edged lOth-ranked Purdue, 73-72, in Sunday's other second-round game in the Hoosier Dome. Xavier, which had won only one game in six previous NCAA tournaments, beat Kansas State in the opening round. "We practiced giving a foul all week," Gillen said. "We took a chance, but we didn't want to give them a shot to tie it." Both fouls against Edwards in the closing seconds were called on guard Jamal Walker, whose two free throws with 23 seconds to go gave the Musketeers their three-point See XAVIER Page D-5 MIDWE8T REGIONAL (At Indianapolis) Xavier 74, Georgetown 71 WEST REGIONAL 1 (At Long Beach, Calif.) Loyola Marymount 149, Michigan 115 Alabama 77, Arizona 55 EAST REGIONAL (At Atlanta) Duka 76, St. John's 72 UCLA 71.

Kansaa 70 80UTHEAST REGIONAL (At Richmond, Va.) Syracuse 63, Virginia 61 Minnesota 81, Northern Iowa 78 Texas 73, Purdue 72 Rangers victory could be costly This week, we have two new canceled checks to wave around. They come from a baseball owner to a known gambler. Steinbrenner's checks to Spira total $40,000. And they do not represent a loan. They come from the goodness of his heart.

Steinbrenner has denied that they suggest the obvious: that he was paying Spira off for helping him drag Winfield's name down as best he could. For Winfield's $15,000, Steinbrenner wanted us to believe his outfielder was consorting with gamblers and should be investigated by the commissioner's office. For $40,000, it's a harmless donation. Somewhere along the way in this mess, the name Pete Rose is going to come up. You could say that he was banned from baseball with less proof.

Two things: 1. What Rose did was against the rules of baseball. If he chooses, Steinbrenner can give out all the cash gifts he wants. 2. What Steinbrenner has done is worse.

Pete Rose is a naive man who was in an unhealthy state, dominated by the need to gamble. When Steinbrenner walked into this murky world, he should have known better. Howie Spira, for example, is only doing what he has always done: con people. Steinbrenner is supposed to be a professional executive, a noted businessman. But whatever managerial skills he once had if he ever had them, considering he inherited much of his fortune he's lost them in the last 15 years in his crazed desire for publicity and praise.

How else would you explain giving 40 Gs to a guy who has already ratted on one of his former associates (Winfield)? A guy who was charged with coercion in 1984 and convicted on a lesser charge? A guy who went on TV when he was trying to prove his worth as Steinbrenner's star witness and challenged Winfield to meet him on a New York street corner for a fistfight? Besides the "goodness of my heart" quote, here's my second favorite George line on this matter "I look stupid." You called it upon yourself, George. And it couldn't happen to anyone more deserving. Kennedy completes mission The Canucks scored a power-play goal after Mallette's match penalty to cut the Rangers' lead to'' 4-2 after two periods. But Mike Gartner's 40th goal of the season on a power play with just 3:15 left in the game cemented the triumph. See RANGERS Page D-7 (f- iff 1 1 fe WimU A' 4 iMuir By Vinny DiTrani Record Staff Writer NEW YORK The Rangers got a much-needed pair of points Sunday night when they jumped to a three-goal lead and went on to defeat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-2, in Madison Square Garden.

The victory returned the Rangers' Patrick Division lead to eight points over the Devils, who have one game in hand. The Rangers need just one more point to clinch a playoff berth. However, the win over the Canucks, already eliminated from the Smythe Division playoffs, could prove costly. Rookie Troy Mal-lette, who scored the first goal, was involved in a pair of second-period fights with Vancouver's Ronnie Stern. During the second battle, Mallette head-butted Stern, drawing a match penalty that also has him facing the possibility of suspension as the Rangers head into the final two weeks of the regular season.

Mallette had a match' penalty called for an alleged eye-gouging incident against the Islanders in October, but didn't receive a suspension after the National Hockey League reviewed the case. By John Mayer Correspondent PISCATAWAY Kennedy fulfilled a season-long mission to prove it was the best girls basketball team in the state Sunday by cruising to a 70-47 victory over previously unbeaten St. John Vianney in the Tournament of Champions final at the Rutgers Athletic Center. "We have been on a mission to get this far since the first day of practice," said senior forward Meticia Watson, who had 18 points and 10 rebounds to earn Most Valuable Player honors. I Watson hit Kennedy's first two field goals as the Knights ran off the first 12 points.

St. John Vianney (32-1) never got within 10 the rest of the way. "Once I hit that first shot, I felt I had the rhythm," said Watson, who connected on all five of. her first-half shots. All five starters scored in Kennedy's opening run, three of whom finished in double figures.

"We've been showing that type of balance all year," Kennedy coach Lou Bonora said. "And after getting off to such a great start, it See KENNEDY Page D-8 HOCKEY RANGERS 5 Vancouver 2 ISLANDERS 2 Pittsburgh 2 Buffalo 4 Winnipeg 3 (OT) Montreal 8 Quebec 3 Philadelphia 7 Los Angeles 4 Hartford 3 Edmonton 1 Washington at Minnesota PRO BASKETBALL Boston 122 NETS 106 Seattle 121 Golden St. 116 Detroit 114 Dallas 84 Cleveland 120 Orlando 103 Portland 109 Houston 96 Charlotte at LA. Clippers Minnesota at Denver HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL Tournament of Champions Boys final Elizabeth 65 St. Anthony 62 Girts final Kennedy 70 SJ Vianney 47 mm met I Negotiations Into the night.

D-2 LINDA CATAFFOTHE RECORD Meticia Watson, left, and Theresa Able converge on St. John Vianney's Colleen Demarest en route to Kennedy's win In Tournament of Champions final..