The Michigan Daily- Tuesday, April 21,1992 - Page 11
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Lakers victory clinches
final playoff berth
The Michigan crew team kept it long and strong as the Wolverines rowed their way into the finals of the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association
tournament. Next weekend crew heads to the Midwest sprints in Madison.
'M' crew's SIRA final sets table for Dad Vail
by Greg Richardson
Daily Sports Writer
Only four crews were able to place all of
their boats in the finals at the Southern
Intercollegiate Rowing Association tournament
in Oak Ridge, Tenn., last weekend. Michigan
was one of those teams. The weekend may have
marked a turning point for the Wolverines, be-
cause it was the first time Michigan had ever
accomplished that at SIRAs.
"We did very well. We're very happy,"
women's varsity coach Charley Sullivan said.
"It's the most competitive tournament outside
of Dad Vail's."
In order for a boat to enter the finals it has to
finish in one of the top two spots out of six.
Every Michigan boat qualified for the finals.
Once the Wolverines got into the finals, al-
most every one of their boats came in fourth or
fifth. Virginia, Georgetown, Florida Tech and
Miami were the top teams, with Florida Tech
taking the title.
The varsity women netted fifth out of 15
boats. This eight person boat's finish was com-
parable to the varsity men, who finished fourth
out of 16.
. Other Michigan boats fared well, as the var-
sity men's lightweight placed fourth out of 12.
The novice women's A team was the most im-
pressive of the Wolverine boats finishing
fourth.
In the varsity men's fourth place finish, they
clocked in at 6:12 - six seconds behind Vir-
ginia. The Wolverine women also fell to
Virginia.
Michigan may have further reason for opti-
mism, because Sullivan feels that the Wolve-
rines are right where the Cavaliers were three
years ago.
Sullivan stated his team has made a transi-
tion to being possibly the second best team in
the Midwest. He and varsity captain Daryl
Laninga agree that Michigan has left many Mid-
western crews behind. However, there is more
work to do before Michigan reaches some of its
goals.
"We've made a jump with competitiveness,
but we need to find a little more speed if we're
going to compete with those teams who consis-
tently make the finals," Sullivan said.
Sullivan feels that Michigan's achievement
at SIRAs bodes well for the Wolverines' seed-
ing at Dad Vail's - the focal point of
Michigan's season. The Dad Vail's will be held
in Philadelphia on May 6-10.
"Our goal is to make the finals at Dad
Vail's.," Laniga said.
Associated Press
After the Lakers' 109-108 over-
time victory over the Clippers Sun-
day, the last of the 16 NBA playoff
teams had been determined. Miami,
Houston and Atlanta all lost games
that would have guaranteed a spot in
the postseason party.
Miami could have clinched the
final Eastern Conference spot, but
lost 109-93 to Boston, which sealed
the No. 2 seed in the conference with
a 109-93 victory over the Heat.
That left the door open for
Atlanta, but the Hawks lost 112-108
at Cleveland, giving the berth back
to the Heat. Both Miami and Atlanta
finished with 38-44 records, with
Miami getting the first playoff berth
among the four most recent expan-
sion teams on the basis of having a
better conference record than the
Hawks.
Houston could have clinched the
final Western Conference berth, but
fell at home, 100-97 to Phoenix set-
ting the scene for the Lakers clinch-
ing victory.
With those outcomes, the first-
round pairings in the Eastern Con-
ference have Miami playing Chi-
cago, Indiana facing Boston, New
Jersey meeting Cleveland and
Detroit meeting New York.
In the West, it's Utah and the Los
Angeles Clippers, Seattle and Gol-
den State, San Antonio and Phoenix,
and Portland against Los Angeles.
Jeff Hornacek scored 18 points
for the Suns, already assured of the
No. 4 playoff spot in the Western
Conference.
"Nobody can say we didn't try to
win this game," Phoenix coach
Cotton Fitzsimmons said. "I told the
team that if Houston gets in, they'll
have to earn it by beating us."
"It was a day when the lid was on
the casket," Rockets coach Rudy
Tomjanovich said. "Balls would be
on the rim and come out. It wasn't a
day to have a game like that."
Boston completed a comeback
from five games behind New York
with eight games tlef to tie the New
York with a 51-31 record. The Cel-
tics get the No. 2 seed because they
beat the Knicks 3-2 in the season
series.
Atlanta, trying to make the play-
offs for the seventh consecutive
year, led 108-107 in the final min-
utes before Mark Price scored five
points in the final 9.6 seconds for
Cleveland.
ft
Rangers down Devils in opener, 2-1
Associated Press
The New York Rangers -
looking to win the Stanley Cup for
the first time since 1940 - led a
parade of winners Sunday night in
four games that lived up to the
NHL's reputation for low-scoring in
the postseason.
The Rangers, the league's best
team this season, beat the New Jer-
sey Devils 2-1 as first-round action
began in the Wales Conference. The
four games produced only 14 goals.
Elsewhere, it was Washington 3,
Pittsburgh 1; Montreal 2, Hartford 0,
and Buffalo 3, Boston 2
Rangers 2, Devils 1
At New York, the Rangers got
another strong performance from
goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck and
their defense.
Darren Turcotte and Mike Gart-
ner each scored for the Rangers.
Vanbiesbrouck, the NHL's hottest
goaltender at the end of the regular
season with a nine-game unbeaten
streak (8-0-1), made 26 saves and
was at his best in the second period
with the Rangers clinging to a 1-0
lead. Vanbiesbrouck made two great
saves on shots in front of the net by
Tom Chorske and Laurie Boschman.
Capitals 3, Penguins 1
At Landover, Md., Don Beaupre
stopped 32 shots and Peter Bondra
scored twice as Washington beat the
defending Stanley Cup champions.
The Penguins played without
Mario Lemieux, scratched with a
bruised right shoulder.
Bondra's first goal gave Wash-
ington a 1-0 lead, and John Druce
made it 2-1 at 13:42 of the second
period. Bondra iced the victory
against goaltender Tom Barrasso by
converting a pass from Al Iafrate
with 2:08 left.
Canadiens 2, Whalers 0
At Montreal, rookie Gilbert
Dionne scored both goals, and
Patrick Roy made 32 saves for his
fifth career playoff shutout.
The opening goal came on the
power play after Mike Keane poked
free the puck from a scramble in the
corner. Dionne, Montreal's top
scorer in the second half of the
season with 21 goals, picked up the
puck behind the net and swept
around to tuck it under goaltender
Frank Pietrangelo at 16:18 of the
opening period.
Sabres 3, Bruins 2
At Boston, Buffalo's league-
leading power play produced two
goals and the Sabres survived a
furious third-period comeback by the
Bruins.
Petr Svoboda got a shorthanded
goal in the first period, and Pat
LaFontaine and Doug Bodger scored
in the second, giving Buffalo a 3-0
lead.
The Bruins, who had two
apparent goals waved off in the
second period, scored twice early in
the third, but Buffalo held on to take
a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.
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