Scoreboard
Lakers 97, Nets 89
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) —
Compared to his past performances
at the Meadowlands, Shaquille
O’Neal only graded this one a “C.”
Pretty tough self-critique for a guy
who scored 35 points and grabbed
13 rebounds with four assists and
three blocks. Then again, he once
scored 50 at the Meadowlands, he
also had his only career triple-dou
ble there, and another time he col
lapsed a basket support with a vi
cious dunk.
“I should have had 50,” O’Neal said
after leading the Los Angeles Lakers
to a 97-89 victory over the New Jer
sey Nets to extend the Lakers’ win
ning streak to eight games. “I
missed a couple of shots and a cou
ple of free throws.”
O’Neal finished 15-for-26 from the
fieid and 5-for-12 from the line and
was backed by 21 points from Kobe
Bryant and 15 from Glen Rice.
O’Neal broke the 30-point mark for
the 22nd time this season as the
Nets declined to double-team him
and let Jim Mdlvaineand Even Es
chmeyer guard him by themselves.
“Who else are they going to put on
me, (Gheorghe) Muresan? I’ll do the
same to all of them. Doesn’t matter
who they put on me, even if they
put Willis Reed on me,” O’Neal
said.
There was nothing particularly
flashy or fancy about this win, just a
perfect combination of tough de
fense from everyone and offensive
contributions from the Lakers’
three best players.
Strawberry busted again
TAM PA, Fla. (AP) — New York Yan
kees outfielder Darryl Strawberry
tested positive for cocaine on Jan.
19 and might once again be sus
pended from baseball.
A high-ranking baseball official,
speaking on the condition he not
be identified, said Tuesday the
commissioner’s office is investigat
ing and a decision whether to take
disciplinary action likely would be
made by Thursday at the latest.
Strawberry is tested two or three
times a week as part of his no-con
test plea on May 26,1999, to
- charges of cocaine possession and
soliciting a prostitute. He was sen
tenced to 18 months of probation
and 100 hours of community serv
ice.
The official did not say what disci
plinary action the sport was likely
to take against Strawberry. But giv
en his past penalties, a suspension
that would last most if not all of this
season appears likely. Rich Levin,
the spokesman for commissioner
Bud Selig, declined comment.
Yankees owner George Stein bren
nerand general manager Brian
Cashman also declined comment
on the news, first reported by WTVT
in Tampa and WLWT in Cincinnati.
WLWT obtained the three-page re
port on the probation violation
from the Florida Department of
Corrections and made it available
to The Associated Press.
The eight-time All-Star came back
from colon cancer surgery in Octo
ber 1998.
Best Bet
NCAA Men’s Hoop
Villanove vs.
Syracuse
4 p.m., ESPN
9 ■ v *
Wednesday
February 23,2000
Volume 101, Issue 103
Effufald
Wild, wild west gets more wild
USC’s Jeff
Trepagnier
and Arizona
State’s Awvee
Storey
ignited a
brawl
between
their teams
on Saturday
Men’s Notes
By Jeff Smith
Oregon Daily Emerald
Every Pacific-10 Confer
ence basketball game is a
war.
But on Saturday night,
Arizona State and Southern
California took that to an ex
treme in a post-game melee.
Moments after the horn
sounded following the Sun
Devils’ 93-81 home win
over the Trojans, USC guard
Jeff Trepagnier and Arizona
State forward Awvee Storey
walked toward each other
with their teams for the
post-game handshakes.
Although, with Trepag
nier and Storey, there was
no shaking go on.
Details are sketchy, but it
is assumed that both players
threw punches. When they
were through, Storey was
left with a blood-gushing
split lip.
“I got ‘cheap-shotted,’”
Storey told the Los Angeles
Daily News. “I didn’t see it
coming.”
“I was just trying to pro
tect myself,” Trepagnier
said. “He got in my face.”
And of course, where
there is one player there is
usually 11 teammates who
have their player’s back.
Soon after the punches,
Turn to Men’s hoops, page 12A
■ The Pac-10 season is nearly over,
and four teams, with Oregon in the
forefront, have a shot at the title
Pac-10
standings
1. Oregon
10-3
2, Stanford
9-3
UCLA
9-3
4. Arizona
9-4
5. Oregon St.
8-5
6. USC
6-6
7. Arizona St.
6-7
8. Washington
3-10
9. California
2-10
10. Wash. St.
1-12
Women’s Notes
By Scott Pesznecker
Oregon Daily Emerald
Outsiders looking into the
Pacific-10 Conference see
nothing more than a collec
tion of mediocre teams tak
ing turns beating each other.
Well, in
the midst
of all this,
four teams
are break
ing away
from the
pack. On
paper, Ore
gon holds sole possession of
first place, and is trailed by
Stanford and UCLA, who
are each half a game behind.
Arizona is one game back
from the Ducks, in third
place.
If you think that’s
mediocre, look again.
Oregon’s half-game lead
rests on the fact that Stan
ford and UCLA have played
both of their rivalry games.
Turn to Women, page 8A
Emerald
Oregon State’s Sissel Pierce leads the conference with 35 blocks this season.
Griffey needs help to lead Reds to Series
Matt
O’Neill
1th spring
training
opening this
week, all eyes
are on Florida.
Not on the defending
World Champs, but rather
on a team that barely
missed the playoffs last
year and who hasn’t been
to the postseason in almost
a decade.
Along comes a savior, or
so they hope, in the form of
a man named Ken Griffey.
However, without pitch
ing, the Reds will only go as
tar as their bats take them.
And in the National League
Central, where bats are
bountiful, that won’t be
very far.
The division is chalk full
of powerful lineups: the
Houston Astros, the St.
Louis Cardinals, and Sam
my Sosa -— I mean — the
Chicago Cubs are all in
there with Griffey and the
Reds.
Everyone forgets that the
Astros made it to the play
offs because of their quick
exit on account of the over
whelming pitching of the
Atlanta Braves. And as for
the Cardinals and Sosa,
they didn’t even make it
into the playoffs.
The Reds wanted Griffey
and Griffey wanted the
Reds — it was just a ques
tion of getting them togeth
er — and at what price.
Which turned out to be
outfielder Mike Cameron,
top-prospect Antonio
Perez, and pitchers Jake
Meyer and Brett Tomko.
While on the surface, the
Reds looked to pull off a
Turn to O'Neill, page 9A
H Even with
adequate
pitching the
Reds would
n't be able to
go as far as
they think
they can