Knicks Want Riley to Sign Extension

The discussions between the New York Knicks and Coach Pat Riley over a proposed contract extension are still in the very early stages, said Dave Checketts, the president of Madison Square Garden and the Knicks. But Checketts added that the talks will not linger into next season.

“All I’ll say is this: It is not my intention to have him go into his final year with one year left on his contract,” Checketts said Wednesday. “It will be resolved one way or another. But it’s really his decision to make.”

Riley has one year left on the five-year, $6-million deal he signed in May, 1991.

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Knick center Patrick Ewing had surgery to remove torn cartilage from his right knee and is expected to recover fully. . . . The Phoenix Suns released assistants Lionel Hollins and Scotty Robertson. . . . In a protest of the violence in Bosnia, its national team has refused to play the Serb-led Yugoslav team in a European Basketball Championships qualifying game. . . . The NCAA men’s and women’s champions of UCLA and Connecticut will be honored at the White House on Friday.

Soccer

FIFA, soccer’s governing body, approved the use of sudden-death overtime for the 1998 World Cup.

In the past, when a game was tied at the end of regulation, teams played a full 30 minutes of overtime. Under the new rule, if there has been no scoring after an extra 30 minutes, the game will still be decided by penalty kicks.

Tony Meola, the top U.S. goalkeeper since 1989, was dropped from the national team for the U.S. Cup ’95 games against Nigeria, Mexico and Colombia. Chosen instead were Kasey Keller, Meola’s backup in 1990, and Brad Friedel, the 1994 backup.

Hockey

The Calgary Flames fired Coach Dave King after losing in the first round of the playoffs for the third year in a row. . . . The Kings acquired defenseman Jan Vopat, 22, from the Hartford Whalers for a fourth-round selection in this year’s NHL entry draft. . . . Center Jarrod Skalde signed a one-year contract with the Mighty Ducks.

Golf

Chris Hanell shot a 69 to lead Arizona State to a 288 total and a one-shot lead after the first round of the NCAA men’s championships at Columbus, Ohio.

Auburn’s Chip Spratlin held a one-shot lead in individual scoring with his five-under-par 67. Stanford’s Tiger Woods, the U.S. Amateur champion, shot a 73.

Track and Field

The indoor meet at the Sports Arena has lost Sunkist as its title sponsor. Negotiations are ongoing between Franken Enterprises in Beverly Hills and the MGM Grand hotel-casino to hold a meet in Las Vegas, tentatively on Feb. 10.

Jurisprudence

The mother and sister of Vitas Gerulaitis filed a $63-million civil suit in the tennis star’s death last year from carbon monoxide poisoning. . . . District Judge Bryan Levy fined former Michigan football coach Garry Moeller $409 for an April 28 drunken escapade and confrontation with police in Southfield, Mich., that cost him his job. . . . Treg Lee, a forward on Ohio State’s basketball team in 1988-91, has pleaded guilty to a felony drug abuse charge in Columbus, Ohio.

Names in the News

Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle, 63, has been undergoing treatment since Sunday for a stomach ailment and was resting in a Dallas hospital. His son, David Mantle, told the Dallas Morning News that the former New York Yankee slugger is expected to return home today.