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Sports

Wednesday, May 27, 1998

Golf teams claim titles over weekend


PECOS, May 27 -- The team of Sammy Jimenez and Albert Bosman
fired a pair of 63s on Saturday and Sunday to capture first
place in the championship flight of the Pecos Men's Golf
Association's annual two man low ball tournament over the
Memorial Day weekend.

The 126 score by Jimenez and Bosman was three shots up on
Greg Watson and Mike Claburn, who shot a 63-66-129 for
second. Jim Bob McNeil and Mike Neace shot 64-69-133 for
third.

In the first flight, Craig Claburn and Terry Willingham won
a playoff for first over David and Gerald Burnett, after
shooting a 65 on Sunday for a 36-hole total of 135. The
Burnetts shot a 66-69-135, while Kim Anderson and Jack
McGowan placed third, with a 68-68-136 total.

Second flight winners were Garry Hennessey and Robert
Dickman, with a 70-71-141 total. Jim Poague and Jim Espy
were a stroke back, at 69-73-142, and Ruben Baca, Jr. and
Ruben Baca, Sr. won a playoff for third, after shooting a
73-71-144.

Beau Jack Handrick and Beau Tate Hendrick won the third
flight, shooting a 72-70-142, while Lonnie Crow and Ernest
Briles won a scorecard playoff for second over Charles
Perkins and Dennis Glenn. Both teams shot 72-73-145.

Fourth flight winners were Jack Ruiz and Tommy Thompkins,
with a 67-74-141. Evert McDougal and Tom Wright were next,
at 70-75-145, and Bobby Shuster and Lowell McDaniel were
third, at 73-74-147.

Julio and Abraham Torres were the winners in the fifth
flight, with a 72-74-146 score. Alvin Gomez and Roy Evaro
shot a 74-77-151 for second, and James Acker and David
Watson shot a 79-77-156 for third.

Surprise! -- Schools decide they're out of WAC


By AARON J. LOPEZ
AP Sports Writer
DENVER, May 27 -- Western Athletic Conference commissioner
Karl Benson was sleeping when the call came. More restless
nights are sure to follow.

Colorado State president Al Yates' call woke up Benson on
Tuesday to tell him Air Force, Brigham Young, Colorado
State, UNLV, New Mexico, San Diego State, Utah and Wyoming
plan to leave the WAC after the 1998-99 academic year.

``The 16-team league was not going to work,'' New Mexico
athletic director Rudy Davalos said. ``It wasn't the fault
of the commissioner or any school. It was just one of those
unmanageable type numbers.''

In deciding to abandon the WAC, the eight schools cited the
loss of traditional rivalries, rising travel costs and
insufficient revenue growth. The WAC is the nation's largest
collegiate league, spanning 3,900 miles and four time zones.

``We've had our growing pains, and we've had our own members
question how operable it is. We've been our own worst
enemies at times,'' Benson said. ``I'm obviously
disappointed we didn't have more time to make it work.''

The rebel schools said they will file the paperwork to leave
the WAC before Sept. 1 as required by league bylaws. They
also will ask the NCAA to recognize the new unnamed
conference immediately.

``You've got a group of eight institutions that are
committed to making a new conference work,'' said Yates, who
also is chairman of the WAC board of directors. ``We've
spent most of our time in conversation trying to respond to
the question, `Is there a way to make this 16-team
conference work?' Our conclusion in all that was that there
was not.''

Fresno State, Hawaii, Rice, San Jose State, Southern
Methodist, Texas Christian, Texas-El Paso and Tulsa remain
part of the WAC, but Tuesday's development cast the league's
future in serious doubt.

``None of us had any knowledge of this particular effort,''
Hawaii President Kenneth Mortimer said. ``We are in a
situation now where we are trying to analyze where we are at
this time.''

``Right now we're kind of in a state of shock,'' Tulsa
athletic director Judy MacLeod said. ``We're trying to
regroup and see where everybody is at.''

Because of contractual agreements, the departing schools
will honor their 1998-99 athletic schedules and withdraw
from the WAC on June 30, 1999.

The change likely will affect the league's football and
basketball television contracts with ESPN and its status in
the Super Alliance that determines who plays in the most
lucrative bowl games.

``It lends itself to some uncertainty,'' said Charles Bloom,
spokesman for Super Alliance chairman Roy Kramer. ``In its
16-team state, the WAC was guaranteed certain access.
Whether that changes, we won't know until things clear up.''

Founded as a six-team conference in 1962, the WAC expanded
to 10 teams between 1978 and 1980. The landscape remained
unchanged until 1996 when it added Southwest Conference
refugees Rice, TCU, and SMU, former Missouri Valley
Conference member Tulsa and former Big West participants
UNLV and San Jose State.

With Hawaii and the Texas schools so far apart, travel costs
were a tremendous burden for WAC teams. Schools found little
financial relief through television revenue, and a
realignment proposal that separated longtime rivals Colorado
State, Wyoming and Air Force created further unrest.

``If you're looking for reasons for today's decision, they'd
definitely have to be linked to the financial impact that 16
schools have had -- or the lack of financial impact,''
Benson said. ``My biggest challenge was to create a
financial source that was enough to satisfy 16 mouths.
Obviously we weren't able to do that.''

San Diego State president Stephen Weber said Utah, BYU,
Colorado State, Wyoming and Air Force officials made the
final decision to secede during a meeting Friday at Denver
International Airport. San Diego State, UNLV and New Mexico
were then asked to join them.

``Certainly from our point of view, the choice between
whether we would like to play with these folks or the other
folks, these are the people that our fans have more interest
in,'' Weber said.

Benson said he will talk to the remaining schools as well as
schools outside the conference to see if the WAC has a
future beyond 1999.

``I look at this as one more challenge to try to recreate
the Western Athletic Conference,'' he said. ``It was founded
in 1962 and I certainly am not anticipating or expecting it
to dissolve under my watch.''

Stars' hits clip Wings, even series


DALLAS, May 27 (AP) -- The Dallas Stars think they may have
found a way to rattle the defending Stanley Cup champion
Detroit Red Wings.

The Stars hit and hounded the Red Wings into critical
mistakes Tuesday night to even their Western Conference
series at a game each with a 3-1 victory.

``Our game is really a pursuit game,'' said coach Ken
Hitchcock. ``We have to pursue the puck hard and hit. We
created the tempo and knocked them off their game.''

Bob Bassen, Greg Adams and Guy Carbonneau each scored a goal
and Ed Belfour made 27 saves for the Stars.

Games 3 and 4 of the best-of-7 series will be played in
Detroit on Friday night and Sunday.

``We got physical with them,'' Dallas defenseman Derian
Hatcher said. ``That's how we have to win. We have to work
and bang. We're not going to out-finesse them, for sure. We
just have to hit them and take the energy out of their
game.''

Hitchcock said Hatcher is the key to getting the Dallas
rough stuff going.

``I think the nastier and harder Darien plays, the better it
is for us,'' Hitchcock said. ``We are prepared to pay the
price sometimes with penalties.''

Carbonneau scored into an empty net with 11 seconds left to
put the game away after Detroit had pulled goalie Chris
Osgood.

Belfour dominated the third period, making 10 saves. The
best was a pad save on a breakaway by Kirk Maltby at 11:11
after Mike Modano turned the puck over.

``It was very intense from the start,'' Belfour said. ``We
wanted to make up for that last game. I think we did. Maltby
tried a fancy move on me, but I took it away and put the
puck in the corner.''

Hitchcock said the Stars had trouble believing Bassen had
scored his first goal of the playoffs.

``The feeling on the bench after Bassen's goal was half the
guys weren't sure it was a goal,'' Hitchcock said. ``It had
started creeping into our heads we couldn't score. From
there we felt a lot more comfortable and confident. We
needed an ugly goal to fight back into it.''

Adams put Dallas ahead 2-0 at 8:48 of the second period.

``The puck kind of hopped up on me,'' Adams said. ``I was
kind of mad at first because I had a clear patch. I just
went ahead and shot it. The result was nice.''

Detroit scored its only goal in the second period when
Vyacheslav Kozlov converted a pass from Tomas Holmstrom.
Kozlov, scoring his fifth playoff goal, sent the puck
between Belfour's legs.

Bassen scored 5:56 into the game. Osgood tried to clear the
puck behind his net, but Grant Marshall intercepted and fed
Bassen just outside the crease with a perfect centering
pass.

``It was big to get the lead on them,'' Bassen said. ``We
were firing the puck tonight from all angles.''

It was crucial for the Stars to score first. They are 8-1 in
the playoffs in games in which they score the first goal.

``We had our chances on the power play,'' Detroit coach
Scotty Bowman said. ``This is going to be a low-scoring
series. I expected it to be close and it looks like it will
be. It seems to be a big advantage to score first''

The Red Wings had six power play chances.

``We let Dallas off the hook,'' Bowman said.

Detroit right wing Darren McCarty said the Stars wouldn't be
denied.

``You have to give them high marks for what they did
tonight,'' he said. ``They knew they had to win and they
did. We messed up a lot of opportunities and our special
teams struggled. But give them some credit.''

Carbonneau said that now the Stars know how to win, they
have to do it again.

``I think we're going to have to play the same way, only
harder than we played tonight,'' he said. ``They'll be at
home with their fans behind them. They play with a lot of
confidence in Detroit. Hopefully we can win one.''



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