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Show '' ; ly y ii"',y-prj- irrigr i((rrnr y r. y Kareem Makes History as Jazz Wilt in Vegas 6 By Lex Hemphill Tribune Sports Writer LAS VEGAS It was an historic night for a great individual, and it wasnt a bad night for a great team either. On a night when Kareem Abdul-Jabb- ar became the greatest scorer in NBA history, the- Los Angeles Lakers put on a fantastic display of shooting and buried the Jazz, before 18,359 fans at the Thomas and Mack Center. Besides chopping the Jazzs Midwest Division lead to three games, the loss also dropped the Jazzs Las Vegas record to 6 With one game remaining, ensuring that they will have a losing record in their first year of Nevada play. It certainly - 129-11- 5, was not a home court on this night. "I think that it was almost like an away game in terms of the fans, who must have numbered close to 12,000, who came to cheer for the Lakers and see the record broken, said Jazz Coach Frank Layden. And, of course, they did see the record. Abdul-Jabbawho needed 21 points in the game to break Wilt e Chamberlains scoring record of 31,419 points, tied Wilt when he scored on a dunk off a James Worthy feed with 10:52 left in the game. He touched the ball on two more possessions, dishing off once and missing a sky hook on the second. Then, with 8:53 left in the game, he got the ball on the right baseline r, all-tim- from Magic Johnson and put up a sky hook over Mark Eaton that swished for his record points. That gave him 31,421, and it also gave the and Lakers a lead, 112-9that was just about the game. Kareem exited for the evening and substitutes played most of the rest of the way for Los Angeles. I thought it was, yeah, said Layden when asked if he thought the game was over at that point. I thought we had no zip left." Eaton got in early foul trouble trying to guard Kareem, but, much to his chagrin, he was on the floor and was the victim of the record-breakinbasket. I knew they were going to throw it to him every time down the court, g Friday, April Page 5 6, 1984 him. first-plac- two-tim- ... gional. Here's how Coach Marsden reads the meet by event: We have two of the top Vault Column 1 See Page M. Even the Magic got into the shooting act. Johnson, who was defensed by Thurl Bailey in the early part of the game, hit eight of nine shots in the first half, six of them from outside. Johnson wound up with 23 points and 12 assists. That wasnt all. Rookie Byron in the first half Scott made for 20 points and finished up with a team-hig24. James Worthy made shots and all six of his first-hal- f wound up with 20 points. Even Mike McGee, who started in place of the from absent Wilkes, made the floor for 17 points. In the face of this offensive barrage, the Jazz shot 48.5 percent and actually earned the applause of Lay-Se- e Column 1 Page h B-- Sports Information Call 2:17-202- 2:17-20- 1 0 3 Eagles, Oilers Open Playoffs LOS ANGELES fifth-seede- The Lakers, who are shooting 53 percent for the season and are on line to break their own record for shooting percentage in a season, blistered the nets for an incredible 72 percent in the first half and finished the evening shooting 65.9 percent. Call Local By Dick Rosetta n, Wilkes. For Recorded Scores Lady Utes Seek 4th Gym Title Tribune Sports Writer Greg Mars-den- s on were thoughts Friday night, but he couldnt help but think, at least fleetingly, about a year ago when his University of Utah womens gymnastics team was pointing for a third straight national title. Marsden and his No. 1 seeded Lady Utes were relaxing at a local motel here Thursday, anticipating the Friday night NCAA Gymnastics Nationals in Pauley Pavilion on the UCLA campus. It was in a quiet morning moment that Marsden discussed a parallel between his teams quest for greatness in 1984 and a year ago, when the Lady Utes won their third in a row. Adversity has always seemed to draw this team together, explained Marsden, in his ninth season at the Lady Ute helm. Here we are with d specialist) Tina Hermann hobbled with an ankle injury and thrust into a position where we are slim favorites instead of solid favorites. A year ago, we lost (defending NCAA champion) Sue Stednitz to a knee injury in the regional meet and, while it was devastating, the kids pulled themselves together for the Nationals. We were seeded only No. 3 and the experts not even the local media didnt give us a chance to beat or Arizona State. But we did. So, with Hermann and freshman Sardy Sobotka hobbled, Marsden has turned to the philosophy of a basketball coach Were going to have to reach back and go to our bench. Were going to have to call on competitors like Elaine Alfano (a New Jersey junior) and Celeste Harrington (a Detroit junior) to help us out in the Marsden may very well be hedging on something the experts feel is a foregone conclusion a Ute breeze to the schools fourth straight national title. When the top five seeded teams go to battle at 8:30 p.m. (MST), Utah is expected to emerge ahead of second-seede- d Florida, No. 3 seed d No. 4 pick Arizona State and host UCLA. I think its going to be exceeed-ingl- y close, Marsden said. But he feels the Utes (17-- 2 for the year with narrow losses only to Fullerton and ASU) will emerge on the depth factor. There are six competitors in each event (the vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercises) with the top five scores counting. In addition to the 10 teams, there are 10 individuals from across the nation, so there are about 110 competitors-iall, Marsden said. I feel we are strong in every event. While three-tim- e is the Megan McCunniff-Marsde- n Utes premier performer Coach Marsden rates her as a e possibility in the vault, beam and floor exercises the Ute mentor feels the 1984 key will be e NCAA defending Alfano, a champion in the vault. Last year, we had to call on Elaine for the (because of the Stednitz injury) and, on two weeks notice, she took fifth place. Two weeks ago, we looked at her as just a vaulter, but now we have to go back and ask her for three more the beam, bars and floor events exercises. is the foBut McCunniff-Marsde- n cal point of this team. She has been so consistent, the Ute coach said. If she hits all four events like she has been, she could win this thing going away. Her difficulty for all events is really up. If she can just relax McCunniff-Marsdethe defendchampion, ing NCAA placed first in every meet but one this past year. She won the vault (9.65), bars (9.50), floor (9.70) and (38.00) at the Midwest Re- Then he said playfully, I played about five minutes and then decided to give Mark a chance to gain infanot on my. So I picked up a foul purpose though. Kareem finished his big night with from the field for 22 points in 34 minutes. But he certainly wasnt the only offensive weapon for the Lakers, who were devastating even without the ill Jamaal Sports j&tlt fake tribune Section B and it was just a matter of time before it went in, said Eaton. Then, when asked if he felt like A1 Downing, who dished up the record 715th homer to Hank Aaron, Eaton replied, He didnt score 31,000 on me. Kareem got 12 points in the first 8:08 of the game and then slowed down in the middle portion of the game before finally getting the record. Rich Kelley got to play on Abdul-Jabbfor the last five minutes of the third quarter and actually shut him out, twice knocking away pass attempts inside. He needed three more points and I knew that, said Kelley. I got a couple of steals on it early to try to dissuade them from throwing it in to By Roger Graves Tribune Sports Writer After si;; months of adversity and artistry, and a combined 140 games of trial, tribulation and triumph, it has come to this: Two survivors the Golden Eagles and homeless Oilers attempting to endure one final process of elimination known as the Adams Cup playoffs. It all starts Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Salt Palace. But, this time, only one will survive. No more second chances, no more stays of execution for the loser of this series. To the victor and an invitation goes the spoils to the Adams Cup finals later this month. The loser takes an early summer vacation. Survivors? Yes, Salt Lake and the vagabond Oilers have become survival experts during the 1983-8- 4 season. The second-plac- e Oilers proved to have nine lives while surviving the financial failure of their franchise in Tulsa and relocating in Denver on Feb. 14 to complete the season as a road show. The Oilers also n endured a succession of injuries, an epidemic which struck the Golden Eagles earlier in the season and helped reduce their roster to 13 skaters for a Nov. 9 encounter against the Canadian Olympic Team (which Salt Lake won) in Calgary. A total of 37 different players wore a Golden Eagle uniform during the regular season, which made continuity virtually But Salt Lake persevered and won its 72nd game of the season to climax a 10 wins-in-1- 4 games streak and seize third place. Throughout a rash of NHL callups, injuries, and financial difficulties (only in the best-of-sev- late-seaso- Associated Rich Sutter of Flyers slams into Capitals goalie A1 Jensen while trying to rebound Press Laserphoto shot into net Thursday during Game 2 of Stanley Cup series. No penalty was called. NHL: North Stars Halt Hawks, Tribune Wire Services Minnesotas Willi Plett said a fracas started by Chicago goalie Murray Bannerman sparked him to d score a goal that helped the North Stars nip the Black Hawks 5 Thursday night and even their Norris Division playoff series at one game apiece. When Bannerman speared me at the end of the second period, it got me really ticked off, said Plett. When I get ticked off, I usually play better. The score was tied 3 when both benches cleared after the altercation between Bannerman and Plett. After serving a penalty, Plett knocked in a rebound midway through the third period. His score was sandwiched between North Stars goals by A1 MacAdam and third-perio- 6-- 3-- five-minu- Neal Broten. Chicagos Denis Savard and Darryl Sutter also scored in the final period, but Minnesota held on. The series now goes to Chibest-of-fi- cago for games Saturday and Sunday. Its 1 now and that next game Saturday night is now the big one, said Plett, realizing that Chicago has knocked Minnesota out of the playoffs the last two straight years. Brotens rebound goal with 7:30 left proved to be the The rebound came off to me and the net was open. I saw that the puck was bouncing and I said to myself, Brot just hit the puck straight, Broten said. After Chicago rallied with three goals in the first eight minutes of the Min second period to inch ahead game-winne- r. 3-- nesota tied it with seven minutes left in the second period when Keith Acton intercepted a clearing pass and beat Bannerman to tie the game 3-- In other Stanley Cup playoff games Thursday, goalie Glen Hanlon posted the first Stanley Cup victory of his career and Reijo Ruotsa-laine- n and Peter Sundstrom scored power play goals to guide the New York Rangers to a 0 victory over the Islanders and even their NHL Stanley Cup playoff series at one game apiece. 3-- Meanwhile, Mario Tremblay and Mats Naslund scored first period goals, and rookie Steve Penney made them stand up with brilliant goaltending as Montreal stunned Boston 1 to take a 0 lead in their NHL playoff series; Craig Laughlin 3-- 2-- 6-- 5 and Dave Christian scored two goals 32 seconds apart in the third period to give Washington a win over Philadelphia; Dale Hunter scored Quebecs first and fifth goals to carry thhe Nordiques to a 2 triumph over Buffalo; rookie Steve Yzer-man- s goal midway through the final period broke a 3 tie and helped give the Detroit Red Wings a 3 victory over the St. Louis Blues to even d their playoff series at Jim Peplinski and Mike Eaves scored goals in a 1:03 span in the second period to lead the Calgary Flames to a 2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks and a 0 lead in their series, and defenseman Randy Gregg scored on a long wrist shot 21 seconds into overtime as Edmonton erased a 2 deficit for a 4 victory over Winnipeg and a 0 lead in their Smythe Divison semifinal series. 6-- 2 6-- 3-- first-roun- 2-- 5-- 2-- Todays Radio, TV Here Is a list of Friday's sporting events scheduled to be broadcast, according to local radio, television and cable stations: 1 p.m. Golf, Greensboro Open, ESPN (cable). 5:35 p.m. Baseball, Expos vs. Braves, WTBS (cable). 5:30 p.m. Boxing, USA (cable). 7:30 p.m. American Association baseball, Indianapolis vs. DenKWGN (cable). ver, 7:30 p.m. CHL hockey, Eagles vs. Oilers, KRGO-A(1550) and KLO-A- 8 (1430). p.m. dres, Baseball, Cubs vs. Pa- WGN (cable). case of Tulsa), the Eagles and Oilers have survived. Now can they survive each other? Both teams have overcome a lot of adversity this season, admitted Golden Eagle Coach J.P. Parise. Its going to be a helluva series. Im sepredicting a long, hard-fougries. The teams are very equally balanced. Although the Eagles and Oilers share a common bond in the survival department, they are opposites in many respects. Salt Lake is essenteam, tially an offense-minde- d while the Oilers are more defensively structured. So its the Eagles atomic offense vs. the Oilers disciplined defense. The Eagles boast the first, third and ninth best scorers in the CHL in the persons of Scott MacLeod (118 points), Dirk Graham (94 points) and Tim Harrer (69 points). The Oilers didnt have a player among the final top 10 scoring leaders. Salt Lake rang up 334 goals this season. The Oilers scored only 252, although they did play four fewer games. The Eagles own the CHLs most productive power play, erupting for 71 goals with a man advantage this season. In contrast, the Oilers recorded only 34 power-pla- y goals this season for a 16 percent conversion rate. So the offensive comparisons seem to favor Salt Lake, a fact of. which Oilers Coach Tom Webster is well aware. The closer the score is to the better chance we have of winning, analyzed Webster. We cant afford to get into a shootout with Salt Lake. We have stressed checking all year and I think the playoffs are going to boil down to goaltending and checking. Ive tried to stress all year that checking is more rewarding than scoring down the line for the whole hockey team. Thats why you wont see many of our players near the top of the league statistics. But you will see the Oilers near the summit when considering defensive statistics. The Oilers own the second and third finest CHL goal-Se- e Column 1 Page 0-- B-- Tolan: Utahs Forgotten Olympic Gold Medalist Ask any trivia expert with a track and field background how many Utahns have won gold medals in the Olympic Games and he might anthe swer, One late Alma Richards in the high jump in 1912 in Stockholm. Ask him how many John Mooney Utahns have won medals in the Olympic Games and he might answer, "Richards, Blaine Lindgren, second in the 110 hurdles in 1964, and L. Jay Silvester, second in the discus in 1972. Forgotten is the fact a kid who grew up in Utah won two gold medals in the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, and set Olympic records in winning the 100- - and dashes. Eddie Tolan won the 100 in 10.3 seconds and the 200 in 21.2 seconds, edging teammate Ralph Metcalfe for theold In both races. But by that time, Tolan's parents had 200-met- moved the family to Michigan where Eddie and his brother, Hart, competed in high school and Eddie went on to the University of Michigan and the U.S. Olympic Team. With Los Angeles preparing for 12, the Olympic Games July David H. Clegg of Salt Lake City recalled Tolans feats. At the time, I was given a scholarship job at the University of Southern California, he recalled. My job at the Olympics gave me complete freedom to go anywhere I wished and see all the Olympic events. Then, most of the Olympic events were held in the Coliseum. The exceptions were swimming and diving, wrestling, fencing and rope climbing, which were held nearby. Much of the time the Coliseum was filled only partially because the country was in the midst of the Great Depression. I was able to sit in the very first row at the starting line for the 100, and really was quite by myself in that area. "I well remember Eddie Tolan using athletic tape to make firm his eyeglasses as he prepared for the race. I called out to him, at a dis- - John It wasnt until years later that I saw the Movietone picture of the finish of the 100 in the Olympic Games and realized that batter who had beaten out a bunt on me was Eddie Tolan. Mooney Tribune Sport Editor tance of no more than five or six yards, Win for Bryant Junior High. Tolan looked my way and smiled, Mr. Clegg recalled. Abe Wagner remembers the days at Central Playground, where the late E.L. (Dick) Romney was the director of summer activities. "I was playing third base and had he recalled. It was a bunt situation and I was playing in for it. This kid bunted and while I bobbled the ball momentarily, I didnt butcher the play that bad, and when I looked up, the guy was resting on first base. a good throwing arm, (Years later, Romney, as coach at Utah State Agricultural College, was victimized in a challenge race by another great black sprinter, or have you forgotten that race on the railroad siding and Romneys conqueror collecting the wagers and laughing, Ise Craig, Coach.) Eddies parents were the cooks at the hotel which now is the Ambassador Athletic Club. In those days, we had football in junior high school and Eddie and Hart Tolan played for West Junior High (later Horace Mann). Fred (Feets) Tedesco was coaching our team and always said, Those two Tolan boys killed us, first Hart and then Eddie ripping through us for big gains. Eddie was one of the fastest youngsters I had seen, but it wasnt until I recognized him in the movie news reel that I appreciated just how great he was, Abe laughed. There was a reason for the lack of attendance at the 1932 Olympics, Mr. Clegg noted, and enclosed a clipping from the Christian Science Monitor which noted the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 53.89, two-yeTreasury notes brought y only 2Wi percent interest and a home in Beverly Hills was advertised for f 13,500. In todays athletic scene, the President of the United States traditionally makes a congratulatory phone call to the winners, but in 1932 President Herbert H. Hoover wired his regrets to the Olympic committee, adding matters of major importance make it impossible for me to leave the city, even for a day. On the other hand, a movie fan could see Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell in The First Year or Guy Kibbee in Winner Take AH if you had the two bits for theater admission and didnt like athletics. ar two-stor- Observation Ward Reports claim high school students are getting better grades, which ought to teU the television programmers something. |