Birmingham Post-Herald from Birmingham, Alabama • 27

gilt ttnwimlatm Ifani SATURDAY Krmbudwn PoHerald fttwnrt 1W1 iD5 Sports Just call Bandits quartermasters lBahditssummar7 Washington govenor predicts sale Washington Gov Booth Gardner predicted baseball owners will approve the sale of the Seattle Mariners to a group led by a Japanese industrialist A group dominated by Hiroshi Yamaudd president of Nintendo Co Ltd of Kyoto has proposed to raise 125 million to purchase the Mariners from Jeff Smalyaa Commissioner Fay Vincent has said the proposal is unlikely to gain appoval and ownership committee hassaid it will probably be able to finish analysing the plan in time for the March quarterly meetings Gardner earlier this week led a delegation that lobbied Vincent for the deal instincts are that in the rad they wfil approve the ownership proposal that is before Gardner said ownership group doesn't want legal action and baseball want legal action why I think it will be resolved in favor of the Montreal Expos backup catcher Gilberto Reyes was suspended for 60 days by commissioner Fay Vincent for violating his aftercare program and drug policy Reyes had a positive substance test several weeks ago while playing winter baseball in his native Dominican Republic SCORE Bandts 119 Fort Wayne Fury 108 ATTENDANCE 822 QUARTERS WON: Birmingham 4 Fort Wayne 0 STAR: Birmingham guard Eric Johnson had 19 points seven assists and five steals KEY STAR Six Bandts players scored double figures NOTE The Bandts won al seven points their first 7-0 sweep of the season QUOTE only wish the cameras were here to record It (Eric Johnson's hslfoourt shot)" Bandits Coach Mo McHone said "It would have mada the of the Week' NEXT: 7:05 pm COT today at Wichita Fals Texans Chet Fussman By Cbet Fussmun Fori-Hvald Reporter The Birmingham Bandits pitched their first shutout of the teaaon last night The Bandits defeated the Fort Wayne Fury 119-108 and mm all four quarters each by a slim margin for a 7-0 sweep before a crowd of 822 at State Fair Arena was one of our better said Bandits Cbach Mo McHone whose team railed to within a few points of the Eastern Division lead looks like starting to put things -One of the key architects was point-guard Eric Johnson the younger brother of former NBA star Vinnie Johnson While Viimie was known as "The for his ability to heat up quickly Eric who was celebrating his 28th birthday was the toaster oven last night Johnson tied a season-high with 19 points including a spectacular half-court shot that barely beat the 24-second shot in the second quarter first half court Johnson sail Area teams: in position 1 to win titles! From Staff and Pros Report! Two Birmingham area high school are in good position to pin down their respective state wrestling championships today When the Alabama High School Athletic state wrestling championship rounds start this afternoon Erwin and Fultondale will have their opportunities to come oqt on top In the Class 6A tournament at Walker High School in Jasper lejof Montgomery has wrestled a dominating lead with 111 points after oqs sy of the two-day event ji Benjamin Russell of Alexander Gty is in second place with 74 psiMs Hewitt-Trussville is third with 68 The other Class 6A teams are Grissom with 62 points Berry 59 Minor 36 Huntsville 38 Scotsboro 36 Vesta via 35 Walker 33 Mountain Brook 26 Shades Valley 22 Auburn1 19 Johnson 4 Southside 4 Sydney Lanier 4 Woodlawn 4 and Butler 0 and Pelham 0 The Class 6A meet resumes at 9 am today The championship rounds Will start after noon Alter the second day of the three-day Class 5A tournament at Athens High School two teams stand alone at the top Erwin leads with 176 pointsnuly six points ahead of Oxford However Oxford has seven wrestlers in tomorrow's finals and Erwin has six After Erwin and Oxford Pinson Valley is third with 134 Vi Athens is fourth at 11814 followed by Welbourne 76 Arab 6414 Home-wood 6314 Hartselle 49 Payne 48 John Carroll 2214 Chil-derburg 1914 Saks 6 and McAdory 3 The 5A consolation quarterfinals start at 9:30 am The consolation and championship finals will begin St 12:30 pm In the first day of the Class 1A-4A meet at Fultondale High School Fultondale did everything it had tadoto jump out to a big lead of our kids are in the Coach Billy Hughes said one of -1 Because of that Fultondale leads with 92 points Weaver is second with 70 and Deshler is third with 51 toi The other teams are in ordovCle-bume County 51 Sylvania 37 Alabama School for the Blind 36 Oak Grove 17 Tarrant 0 and TaBassce minus-2 The 1A-4A competition starts at 9 am today The championship round begins at 5 pm No Hogs means no sellout for SWC The departure of Arkansas from the Southwest Conference has left league officials and Dallas leaders scrambling to sell out the SWC Post-Season Classic basketball tournament Tickets for the mid-March tourney have typically been gobbled up by this time of year with Arkansas fans buying about 10000 seats hive a grave concern because said John Custer SWC deputy commissioner Several thousand tickets remain for this tourney at Reunion Arena March 12-15 Arkansas left the SWC for the Southeastern Conference this season South Carolina freshman guard Melvia Hartry has been charged with driving under the influence after his car ran of the road and plunged into a ditch Hartry 19 a little-used reserve guard was suspended from the team indefinitely The UAB Lady Blazers (15-5 3-2) play boat to Marquette at 3 pm today at UAB Arena in a Great Midwest Conference game Marquette defeated UAB 84-82 last month in Milwaukee Holmes wins bring on Foreman Lany Holmes outboxed and outfoxed Ray Mercer early this morning and once again became a pvt of the heavyweight championship picture will the 42-yearold Holmes shouted to writers from the ring just before the fight him The former heavyweight champion could not knock out Mercer but he did score a unanimous 12-round decision that could bring him a match with 43-year-old George Foreman and who knows? maybe even another shot at being champion as he was from 1978-85 No surprises for Tide Tigers Alabama and Auburn released their lists of signees yesterday and there were no surprises The Tide reported signing 21 players to letters-oo-intent including Peter DiMarto of Tuscaloosa-Central a 1991-signee who did not enroll jn school last falL Another of last signees Willie Gastoa has to complete his freshman yev before being re-signed Dothan defensive hack Kevin Jackaoa was the only name missing from the list Jackson is awaiting test 1ta hfnr lUriding whMW fo afffPt a scholarship or pay his own way to school and walk-on our judgement is what it should have been then we have had a good year said Tide bead coach Gene Stallings it is now we will not use our entire allotment of 25 scholarships This will allow us to go into the spring able to potentially offer a scholarship to a Auburn announced the signing of eight more football players yesterday giving theTigers 23 players since the national signing period began Wednesday The signings included Steve Davis a 6-2 217-pound running back from Spartanburg SC who is ranked among the best players Steinbrenner throws hat into Arena New York Yankees owner George Steiabreuner is branching into another sport Steinbrenner will be the owner of New new entry in the Arena Football League the league's board of directors announced The Arena league will field 12 teams during the 1992 season It will be one of two new franchises that will join the indoor league in 1993 Although Steinbrenner remains principal owner of the Yankees he is barred by Major League baseball from the day-to-day operations because of his association with a gambler Deion subs tickets for real thing Deioa Sanders says donate basketball tickets to a charity because he obey a court order to attend the breakfast today Decatur (Ga) Municipal Judge Margaret Gettle Washburn had ordered the Atlanta Falcons and Braves player to attend the North Gwinnett Kiwanis Gub breakfast to benefit the county Rape Crisis Center The breakfast was part of 10 hours of community service she ordered him to perform last May after he was convicted of using foul language with a police officer Washburn said Wednesday that if Sanders appear he would be in violation of his probation Sanders said he had a previous commitment to be in Orlando Fla with rap stv Hammer So Thursday he donated 150 tickets to the club for next Dekn Sanders Prime Time Shootout charity basketball game at Georgia Tech Washburn immediately say if the tickets would suffice South Africa will compete in South Africa will definitely compete in this Summer Games removing the uncertainty caused by the hard-line stance of world track officials IOC president Juan Aitouio Samaranch said on the eve of the opening of the Albertville Winter Games Samaranch's comments indicated the end of a power struggle between the International Olympic Committee and the International Amateur Athletic Federation over South return to world sport South Africa which last competed in the Olympics in 1980 was reinstated by the IOC last July Johnson who collected seven assists and had five steals also found plenty of scoring support Five other Birmingham players scored in double figures including Jim Farmer with 20 Skeeter Henry with 19 and Michael Cutrigfat with 18 That was more than enough to offset another high-scoring NBA sibling Fort Derrick Gervin -brother of farmer San Antonio Spurs star George Gervin who scored 29 points Johnson the only true point guard reserve guard Mike Goodson was waived earlier in the Bora ready for comeback again BJornBorg says ready to play competitive tennis again beginning Feb 28 with the Inaugural ATP Senior Tour event a 100000 tournament in Indian Wells Calif am looking forward to getting back on the circuit both the regular tour and the 35s said Borg who turned 35 last summer The new ATP Senior Tour a 10-city international circuit for players aged 35-over also will include Staa Smith Ken Rosewall Joka Newcombe Rod Laver Roy Emerson Tom Gormaa and Hie Nastase The repeated lapses allowed the Bandits to pull out all four quarters none by more than three points is a confidence said forward Leonard Allen who scored 14 points grabbed nine rebounds and exchanged elbows and unpleasantries with Gervin late in the game need to take that confidence on the The Bandits won the first quarter 28-25 witji an 8-0 run in the final two minutes They increased their lead to 11 midway through the second quarter before settling for a 59-53 halftime lead Johnson had nine second-quarter points including a midcourt shot he was forced to heave after his attempted pass was batted backward only wish the cameras were here to record McHone said would have made the of the Fort Wayne battled back to take a 85-83 lead on a Gervin jump shot early in the second half But another 8-0 run gave the Bandits the third quarter and the lead the rest of the way The Fury never came closer than six points in the fourth quarter liie Bandits play tonight at Wichita Falls Texas followed by a tough Monday night game at La Crease Wis They won away from home since Dec 20 struggled on the McHone said this game has to week is known more for his hallhandling and passing than his shoot- 4 have to score to a certain point because it takes a lot of pressure off our other Johnson said a ht of times they were doubling off me so I was just taking what they gave 'The victory was crucial for the 'Bandits who are battling Fort Wayne tor an American Conference Second-seeded Michael Chang overpowered Theirry Champtou of France 8-3 8-3 to advance into the semifinals of the 8260000 Volvo San Francisco tennis tournament No 1 seed Jim Courier was to play Wally Maser of Australia in the final quarterfinals match on Thursday night If Courier ranked No 2 in the world reaches the finals he will surpass Stefan Edberg of Sweden and become the first American in Stt years to be ranked No 1 in the world UAB junior Freak Scfcalher lost a hard-fought match 6-7 7-5 8-4 to No-4 seed Jose Luis Noriega in the second round of the ROLEX National Indoor Tonis Championships in Minneapolis playoff berth The Bandits increased 'their lead over the Fury from 1014 to 17 points and handed the visitors their 18th loss in 19 road games That one victory was against the Bandits earlier in the season kWe just play well on the Fury coach Gerald Oliver said seems like we play more on emotion than anything else We make a run then we Bandits today! itmi Rookie wins pole for ARCA 200 Rookie Loy Allea Jr making his first qualifying effort on a superspeedway took the pole position for Daytona ARCA 200 in the rain-delayed opening round of time trials Allen driving a Ford Thunderbird owned by Robert Yates who fields cars for NASCAR Winston Cup star Davey Allison turned a lap of 191033 mph to beat longtime pro Charlie Glotxbach for the top spot Classified WORKS 2524411 1 Laat nighTs game not NikM Kmkigham BandUs (18-22) WicMa Mb Teona (22-19) Fals and Tube had 19 loaaai and Oklahoma Cky had 18 Iwadkig Into last night's play IheTaxane are lad by guard Steve Bardo averaging 23 points 10 assists and savsn rebounds In Ns past three games Kurt Rortmann ranks second In tha league in blocked shots This is tha drat of a Mrogame read trip for the Bandfis who are fighting for an American Conference playoff berth "The key" Bandks coach Mo McHone said "Is which teams In our dMsion can vrtn on the road" After a Monday night game to La Cnees the Bandits play nine of their last 15 games at State Fair Arana That doesn't include repiaytng tha final minute of a i theCatoirdsonFeb21 ChetFuteman WHEte 7-05 pjn CST today WHERE: WicNta Fife Texas AIRWAVES WVOK (690-AM) NOTES The Bandit tonight mate their Hut and only trip of BAAlidlAua AAAAAleiLkfli worantrafli DttNvDM Assoomon season to Wichita Fab leader of the Southern Division of tha NaSonal Conference wSh 157 points The three-team dMsion la tight Wichita not surprising that the spirited Mercedes-Benz 190 23 Sedan has the valuable safety and performance features a jt: Mercedes-Benz should have And all the comforts you could ask for But our new special leasing program should WE WILL ALL MEET GOD AS SAVIOR OR JUDGE Each of us must face thle Issue It needs to be settled now because tomorrow ierrt guaranteed to anyone or is one of the main themes It dearly teaches a literal judgement and hefi for unbelievers The Gospel's good news Is that God has provided a way for redemption fromjudgmcnt Ine Bible says: God to loved the world that be gave Ue one and only Son that whoever believe In him tbaB not perish but have eternal Me 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