The News from Paterson, New Jersey • 10

sportsday NlUB MONDAY, MARCH 23, 1981 10 Rangers forget defense, tie Nordiques lead. the open net. Chris Kotsopoulos had lost the puck in center ice to set up the Eddie Johnstone carried the puck down right wing into the Quebec end. He fed a goal of the game when he eluded de-fenseman Carol Vadnais in the right circle and beat Baker with a backhander from the right corner of the net. The Rangers, who trailed 4-3 after the first period, struck for three goals in the second period and led 6-5 after two periods.

Quebec's lone second period goal was a 45-foot screen shot by Hunter which zipped through Baker's legs at 9 19 and tied the game 5-5. Vickers put New York into the lead with his 19th goal of the season at 12:46 By WADE WALKER Staff Writer NEW YORK Ron Greschner scored his 25th goal of the season with 4:51 remaining to lift the Rangers into a 7-7 tie with the Quebec Nordiques in a loosely-played game last night in the Garden. "Neither one of us (Quebec or New York) played well defensively," said Greschner, who had a goal and two assists and twice missed close-in scoring chances in the third period which might have given New York a victory. "We have to play better defensively," Greschner continued. "We have a big game in Buffalo Wednesday night.

If we can get a win there, we'll fly intd Montreal (Rangers play the Canadiens Saturday night)." The Nordiques got goals from Marc Tardif and Dale Hunter to take a 7-6 lead at 13:38 of the third period, tardif put a shot through goalie Steve Baker's legs from deep in the right circle to tie it 6-6 at Hunter scored his second Baker, who had a shaky first period, surrendered Jacques Richard's 47th goal of the season at 3:20. Richard drove a 58-footer off the post and behind Baker for a 1-1 tie. With Ed Hospodar in the penalty box for roughing, the Nordiques capitalized on a giveaway by Dean Talafous when Peter Stastny drilled a shot past Baker's glove side from the left circle. At Anton Stastny drew Baker way out of position and fired a shot into scoring play by yueDec. But Hedberg's second goal of the game less than two minutes later cut the Nordiques' lead to 3-2.

Anton Stastny and Jere GUlis traded goals 25 seconds apart late in the period and Quebec led by one after 20 minutes. Duguay's power play goal 1:29 into the second period pulled the Rangers into a 4-4 tie. cross-Ice pass to Vickers, cruising down the left side, and Vickers lifted the puck over Nordique goalie Dan Bouchard from the left post. The Stastny brothers, Peter and Anton, combined for three of Quebec's four first period goals. After Anders Hedberg gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead when he converted Ron Duguay's rebound at 1:19, the Nordiques scored three unanswered goals to take a SM I Bucks get ready for post-season at Nets' expense Indiana, LSU reach Final Four United Press International BLOOMINGTON, Ind.

Patience and loyalty, the hallmarks of Indiana's basketball success under Coach Bobby Knight, proved again to be the keys yesterday in the seventh-ranked Hoosiers' NCAA Mideast Regional championship victory. The Big Ten champions, combining an awesome shooting display with their traditionally tough man-toman defense, destroyed St. Joseph's 78-46 before a partisan home crowd of 17,112. The Hoosiers' victory moved them to the Final Four at Philadelphia against Midwest Regional cham pion LSU. Knight, Immediately following the victory, grab bed the public address michrophone to thank the red-clad Hoosier faithful for not giving up on his team when it was only 7-5 in December.

"I want to thank you for staying with this team back In December," said Knight, whose team will take a 24-9 mark to the semifinals. Knight conceded the homecourt advantage helped his team. But it was Knight's decision to stay with Landon Turner despite the Coward's Inconsistent play second on the Nets to uuf Robinson's 20, put it in a nutshell. "They're as deep as any team in the league," he said. "Maybe even more so than anyone else.

We played with them for a while, but they just had a few more people to throw at us than we had to throw back." Buck reserves Cummings, Evans, Junior Bridgeman, Lynn Elmore and Brian Winters accounted for 65 points for Milwaukee. Only Bob McAdoo hit double figures off the Nets' bench; the other subs were merely bodies to be placed on the court. McAdoo, after looking quite rusty in the last three games with New Jersey, finally showed a glimpse of his former self, but too late. With the game on ice in the fourth quarter, patterned basketball went out the window and garbage tune was on. Play was nearly entirely transitional, and once people started running and gunning, McAdoo felt more at home.

He threw in 12 of his 17 points in the final quarter. "I'm not In real tip-top shape," Big Mac said. "I've had only two practices with the team, and they're only a few plays we can run that I can get into. It's frustrating, they call a number for an offense or a defense and I don't know what it means. It probably won't be until training camp next year that I start feeling 'with it' again." And whose training camp will that be? "I really don't know, because I'm a free agent after this season again," said McAdoo, soaking both feet in ice water.

"But I would like to play here." The Bucks are still concerned with the remainder of this season. Another week, and the second season the real season begins. After all, the playoffs are' what it's all about. "Right now health-wise we're in great shape for the playoffs," Marques Johnson said. "We've had time to let our regulars heal up and that's very important.

From here on in it gets a lot more physical. By GERRY MONIGAN Staff Writer NEW JERSEY What's the difference between a team preparing for the playoffs and one that's been out of the Icture nearly the entire season? Yester-uay it was nine points, but it may as well have been In cruising past the Nets 125-116, the Bucks accomplished more than just chalking up another win. "I wanted to play the bench more tonight," said coach Don Nelson, whose team leads the Central Division by 15 games. "Now that -we're out of it with Boston and PhUly (for best record and home court advantage), I wanted to try to heal the regulars' injuries and give the bench an extra 10 to 12 minutes so they can get ready," Nelson added. Nelson accomplished all he set out to do.

Bob Lanier, who missed two games earlier in the season after playing on the Rutgers Athletic Center's unforgiving floor, didn't bother to dress yesterday but it hardly made a difference. Pat Cummings, usually a backup for Mickey Johson, played most of his 26 minutes in the pivot and took advantage of his added time. Hitting his first four shots, the 6-foot-9 Cummings wound up connecting on 8-of-ll attempts from the floor for 18 points. Only Sidney Mon-crief's 23 points and Mike Evans 19 topped Cummings, although everybody in a Milwaukee uniform except Harvey Catchings made a solid contribution. "Anybody know what they shot?" asked Nets coach Bob MacKinnon.

"It must have been over 60 percent." Actually, it was 61 percent. The Nets shot 52 percent not too shabby, but not nearly good enough yesterday. "When we got them down to two, three points (it was 6946 early in the third quarter) I though we had a chance. But every time we made a run at them, they knocked in a few from way outside, and that did us in." Mike Newlin, whose 17 points were that was also Instrumental in the lopsided win over the Hawks. Turner hit 7-of-8 shots and scored 14 points for Indiana, which hit 69 percent from the field for the game compared to only 33 percent for St.

Joseph's. Turner hit 10 of his points in the first half when the sharp-shooting Hoosiers ran away from the Hawks. "Turner has been up and down all season," Knight conceded. "It's great that he came back off a bad game against Illinois and played well In our win at Michigan State. He didn't do much against Alabama-Birmingham Friday, yet he played well today.

Turner shrugged off the praise. "When you get inside, all you can do is go up and take the shot or throw it to the wing," he said. "We want to go and get it ourselves. We worked hard for what we got." Asked about his feelings on going to the Final Four for the third time, Knight replied, "I'm glad to be going. It's a great experience for our team.

I'll play anywhere in the continental United States, anywhere but San Juan. Knight was referring to his troubles with Puerto DPI Photo ISIAH THOMAS 1 1 of Indiana shuts off St. Joseph's Jeffery Clark 12) in yesterday's INC A A Mideast Regional final game. Mets blast Yanks, Kong clouts pair Rlcan authorities during the 1979 Pan Am games. While All-America guard Isiah Thomas scored only 3 points, he was again the floor general for Indiana.

He had 12 assists and helped Indiana solve what Knight called one of the best zone defenses in the country. St. Joseph's Coach Jim Lynam conceded Thomas was the difference. "We had hoped to spread things out but Thomas gives such good penetration it just wasn't Lynam said They probably take more shots from close in than any team I've ever seen and I think you have to attribute that to Isiah." Indiana's man-to-man defense caused the Hawks, 25-8, to hit only 35 percent from the field in the first half. While Indiana, seeking its fourth national title, was red-hot from the floor, St.

Joseph's was unable to go to its customary slowdown offense. LSU 96, Wichita State 85 NEW ORLEANS Durand Macklin scored 21 points In slightly less than 30 minutes yesterday to carry LSU Into the NCAA Final Four for the first time in 28 years with a 96-65 victory over Wichita State in the Midwest Regional championship. LSU took fourth place in the 1953 tournament -losing, ironically, to eventual champion Indiana in the semifinals. Macklin owned both ends of the court before western portion ot the 1981 NCAA playoffs, winning the regional title Saturday with an 82-68 victory against Kansas State. That victory sends a Dean Smith-coach UNC team into the Final Four for a sixth time.

And, in the opening game at Philadelphia March 28, the Tar Heels meet this year's East Regional champion. Virginia 74, Brigham Young 60 ATLANTA Virginia Coach Terry Holland says the best thing about having his Cavaliers play North Carolina Saturday is that no matter how it turns out there will be an Atlantic Coast Conference team in the NCAA finals. "Of course, what I would have preferred," said Holland, "would be to play North Carolina in the finals because then the ACC would have been assured of winning the national championship." Virginia beat North Carolina twice during the regular season, 63-57 at home and 80-79 at Chapel Hill, N.C. departing with 10 minutes left in the game because of a cut on the ring finger of his right hand that required stitches. He left with LSU in front 73-53 nut the Shockers were able to close within 9 in the final minutes in his absence.

All four of the other LSU starters joined Macklin In double figures with Greg Cook adding 19, Leonard Mitchell 17, Ethan Barton 13 and Howard Carter 11 as the Tigers upped their record to 31-3. Macklin scored two baskets 32 seconds apart to send LSU on a 14-0 spree and he tallied 9 points during an overall 19-2 binge that put the Tigers comfortably in front, 30-14 with 9:01 left in the first half. North Carolina 82, Kansas St. 68 SALT LAKE CITY North Carolina was celebrating its victory in the NCAA West Regional and planning its trip to the Final Four when up popped the Tar Heels' nemesis Virginia. The sixth-ranked Tar Heels swept through the Lee Mazzilli homered in the first for the Mets and Reggie Jackson hit his first home run of the spring in the fourth for the Yankees.

Expos 3, Royals 0 WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. Bill Gullickson and three others combined on a six-hitter, enabling the Montreal Expos to post a 3-0 victory over the Kansas City Royals. Giants 8, Cubs 3 PHOENIX, Ariz. Mike Ivy, Milt May and John LeMaster hit home runs to power the San Francisco Giants' to an 8-3 victorv over the Chicago Cubs. United Press International FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.

Dave Kingman hit two tremendous home runs yesterday and rookie Mookie Wilson had five hits and two RBI to give the New Yw Mets a 9-6 victory over the New York Yankees in the first meeting of the spring between the inter-city rivals. Trailing 5-2, the Mets rallied for five runs in the seventh to take the lead, which they turned over to relief ace Neil Allen. The right-hander blanked the Yankees on two hits over the last -2 2-3 innings, striking out five to pick up the save. i Fatigue spells end to Ghosts' unbeaten ways "Their press gave us problems because we didn't do the things we were supposed to do. We dribbled too much, instead of throwing the short pass and pushing it up that way." Tired legs lead to a multitude of sins, and the loser was obviously weary.

Atlantic City's pounding both backboards and hounding when it counted took the toll. What could not be taken from the loser was its pride. Rosser, a three sport athlete in Eastside's graduating class of 1969 and a quarterback at Cornell University, provided an unique example of how to handle a classic situation. Instead of the near-hysterics usually associated with the sudden death of a cherished dream, the entire group of Ghosts gave new dimension to the concept of stoicism. No weeping, no no despair.

Heads were up, and the look on the faces said: We lost, but we are not beaten. See GHOSTS, Page 12 By THOMAS MONIGAN Staff Writer 1 NORTH BRUNSWICK For 27 games, the Eastside girls' basketball team built for itself an aura of Immortality. Friday night in the Group IV state title game, Barry Rosser's Ghosts proved that they were, after all, human beings. In losing, 45-43, to Atlantic City (29-1), Eastside (27-1) did things that championship teams simply do not do The main reason fatigue. Several factors contributed to the crucial physical breakdown A grueling schedule, with six people playing pressure defense and transition offense most of the time, was partially responsible.

An unusual amount of bumps and bruises against Morristown in the semifinals did not help, although there were two days to recover. Most important, however, was the board strength and defensive execution by Atlantic City. The Vikings literally beat the Silk City people at their own game. "Our game plan was to try and stay close going into the fourth quarter, stay out of foul trouble, and really go at 'em with the press," winner Joe Fussner said after the biggest victory in his six seasons as coach "They're a tremendous transition team; one of the best fast break teams we've seen," he said. "We didn't feel we could press with them the whole game they're just too quick.

"We learned something by coming here last year and losing (67-62) to East Orange. We learned we had to cut off the transition and make 'em play half court basketball. "I think the key for us tonight was the ability to press at the crucial times and take them out of their offensive patterns Man-to-man denial and full-court pressure were tactics Eastside used throughout the longest winning streak in the school history. When all else failed, defense was the rallying point Fussner, demonstrative on the sideline, proved as devoted as Rosser to the belief that defense stops offense. It was a double-team trap just after an inbounds pass that produced the game-winning play Forget that Eastside committed a pair of violations and missed two 1-and-l free throw situations after leading, 41-37, with 2 :55 to play.

With the score tied for the 10th and final time, at 43, the Ghosts had the ball thanks to Kim Rousseau drawing a charge from Valeria Jones. Rousseau inbounded to backcourt partner Ja-nlne Hutchinson, but Hutchinson was trapped in the middle of the floor, near her own foul line. One of the defenders stripped the ball loose. Jones, despite playing with four fouls and having shot 6-for-19 until that point, came up with the bouncing ball. Hutchinson desperately cut off the drive, so Jones pulled up and hit the flat-trajectory shot that Is her trademark.

"They stuck the jumpers and made the foul shots they needed to make, and we didn't," Rosser said. "There's nothing to be ashamed of. Barry Kosser Remains proud.