With Oilers at a Low Point, Coach Is Fired

George Burnett, his team on a seven-game losing streak, was fired Thursday as coach of the Edmonton Oilers, two days after ousting Shayne Corson as captain.

Burnett, in his first season as Edmonton coach, was replaced for the rest of the season by assistant Ron Low. Burnett, 33, was the NHL’s youngest coach.

Low inherits a team that is 12-20-3 and in ninth place in the Western Conference, one spot out of the playoffs.

General Manager Glen Sather said he had been thinking about firing Burnett for a while.

“I don’t think it was quick,” Sather said. “The team has been floundering and they have not responded the way I thought they should be. Instead of making no decision at all, I made a decision.”

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The Chicago Blackhawks reacquired Denis Savard, one of their all-time stars, when they sent a sixth-round choice in the 1996 draft to the Tampa Bay Lightning. . . . Benoit Hogue, a 36-goal scorer last season for the New York Islanders, and Paul DiPietro of the Montreal Canadiens were acquired in separate deals by the Toronto Maple Leafs. Toronto goaltending prospect Eric Fichaud was sent to the Islanders, while the Maple Leafs gave up a fourth-round draft pick to the Canadiens.

Pro Football

Ram safety Marquez Pope has received an offer sheet from the San Francisco 49ers and is expected to decide today if he will sign it. If he does, the Rams have seven days to match it or let him go and accept a No. 2 draft pick from the 49ers.

The Pittsburgh Steelers signed former Ram offensive lineman Tom Newberry to a free-agent contract. Terms were not disclosed.

Newberry, 32, was with the Rams for nine seasons and went to the Pro Bowl in 1988 and ’89. Last season, he started 14 games.

Newberry is expected to replace Duval Love, who signed last week with the Arizona Cardinals as a free agent after three years with the Steelers.

College Basketball

Mario Bennett, whose knee injuries limited his career at Arizona State to 87 games in four seasons, passed up his final year of eligibility and made himself eligible for the NBA draft.

“I’m fully prepared for the challenge that is ahead of me, and I’m confident that I not only can make it, but make it big,” said Bennett, a 6-foot-9, 230-pound center who set a Pacific 10 Conference record with 115 blocked shots last season.

“My decision wasn’t really based on money. People who hear that could say I’m lying or whatnot, but it just wasn’t my financial status.”

Bennett, who averaged 18.7 points, 8.2 rebounds and 3.5 blocks last season for the Sun Devils (24-9), said he is a natural power forward.

Bennett tore a ligament in his left knee during a summer pickup game in 1992 and redshirted the following season. He reinjured the knee in another pickup game the next summer and sat out the first six games of the 1993-94 season.

Oregon State scheduled a news conference today to announce that Eddie Payne of East Carolina has been named as its new men’s basketball coach.

East Carolina had three winning seasons in 16 years before Payne, 43, became coach in 1991. In his second season, the Pirates won the Colonial Athletic Assn. tournament and qualified for the NCAA tournament. Last season, East Carolina was 18-11.

Jurisprudence

Former New Mexico basketball player Cornelius (Corky) Ausborne, accused of shoplifting, was ordered to attend classes designed to deter possible future petty larceny.

Metropolitan Court Judge Roderick Kennedy also ordered Ausborne to stay out of an Albuquerque Wal-Mart. Ausborne, a reserve guard who left the team last year, must pay $30 for the four three-hour classes and $36 in court costs.

Alabama wide receiver Rondi Gibson, charged with drunken driving, is the fourth Crimson Tide player to be arrested since last season. Coach Gene Stallings said his policy was to “handle it myself.”

A Palm Beach County grand jury indicted Neal Douglas Evans, 30, of first-degree murder and attempted armed robbery of Dave Shotkoski, a replacement player for the Atlanta Braves who was shot to death in West Palm Beach, Fla., on March 24.

Former Florida State cornerback Corey Sawyer was charged with perjury by Leon County authorities who say he lied about taking money from a prospective agent while playing for the Seminoles.

Sawyer, now with the Cincinnati Bengals, turned himself in at the Leon County Jail and was released after he posted $5,000 bond.

Prosecutors for tennis star Monica Seles will have to wait at least a month until Judge Gertraut Goering releases the written explanation of her decision before their appeal regarding Guenter Parche’s two-year suspended sentence for the stabbing of Seles will be considered.

Tennis

The top three seeded players--Conchita Martinez, Gabriela Sabatini and Magdalena Maleeva--advanced to the quarterfinals on another windy, rainy day at the Bausch & Lomb Championships at Amelia Island, Fla.

Sixth-seeded Karel Novacek was defeated by Javier Sanchez, 6-3, 6-4, in the Estoril Open in Portugal. Sanchez’s older brother, Emilio, also moved into the quarterfinals by eliminating American Bryan Shelton, 7-6 (7-1), 6-4.

Track and Field

Kenya’s Simon Chemoiywo ran the fastest time on American soil in the 10,000 meters--27 minutes, 25.82 seconds--in the Sea Ray Relays at Knoxville, Tenn.

A 15-year-old high school pole vaulter in Albuquerque, N.M., died after bouncing off the landing mat and striking his head during a practice jump. Colin Larkin-Thomson, a Del Norte High sophomore, never regained consciousness.

Miscellany

Hundreds of English soccer fans ripped up seats, rampaged across a section of stands and confronted Spanish police during Chelsea’s European Cup Winners’ Cup semifinal at Zaragoza. . . . Students at Sacramento State voted to increase fees to $45 a semester to keep football and other sports . . . Japanese yachtsman Minoru Saito sailed into Punta Del Este, Uruguay, to complete the third leg of the BOC Round-the-World race. . . . Al Mitchell, 51, was appointed coach of the 1996 U.S. Olympic boxing team. . . . Cheryl Lanzinger and her crew from the Seattle Yacht Club solved the light and shifting wind in winning two of the first three races of the 1995 U.S. Women’s Challenge conducted by the Newport Harbor YC.