Knicks Get $1 Million, No. 1 Pick for Riley

The Pat Riley tampering soap opera ended Friday when the New York Knicks received $1 million and a first-round draft pick from the Miami Heat, who had pursued the hiring of Riley.

The Knicks withdrew the tampering charges they had filed against the Heat on June 29 for comments by club executives interested in hiring Riley, who still had a year remaining on his five-year deal with New York.

Miami said it was negotiating now with Riley and wouldn’t comment further. A news conference is scheduled for today.

The Knicks will receive the Heat’s 1996 first-round draft pick, previously acquired from the Atlanta Hawks. According to Knick President Dave Checketts, if the pick is in the top five, Atlanta will retain the choice and the Knicks will get the following season’s. That also will be true if the choice is in the top five in succeeding seasons.

Also, Checketts said the Knicks could use the pick in 1997, when they don’t have a first-round choice, instead of a year earlier if they notify Atlanta at least two weeks before the draft.

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Thousands of Greek fans turned up at Athens airport to welcome former NBA star Dominique Wilkins, whose two-year, $7-million contract with the Panathinaikos club is the biggest such signing in Europe.

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Officials at The Pond of Anaheim said they have signed an agreement to keep the John R. Wooden Classic college basketball event through 1999.

The first Wooden Classic, last December, included games between Kansas and Massachusetts, and UCLA and Kentucky. On Dec. 9, UCLA will play Maryland and Purdue will play Villanova.

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Former Nevada Las Vegas forward Kebu Stewart, who was twice suspended last season, criticized for lethargic play and unable to return to UNLV because of academic difficulty, says he will play at Division II Cal State Bakersfield.

Hockey

Goalie Guy Hebert agreed with the Mighty Ducks on a multiyear contract.

Specifics were not announced, but it’s believed the incentive-laden, three-year deal could push Hebert’s salary to about $1 million a year. He earned $535,500 last season and was seeking a contract that would pay him close to $1.2 million, the average salary for starting goalies in the NHL.

He had a 12-20-4 record with a 3.13 goals-against average in 39 games for the Ducks during the lockout-shortened 1995 season.

Cam Neely, 30, signed a two-year contract with the Boston Bruins that provides an automatic extension for a third year if his oft-injured knee holds up.

Golf

Marco Dawson, seeking his first PGA Tour victory, shot a six-under-par 65 to share the lead in the Greater Milwaukee Open with Richard Zokol.

Dawson had eight birdies, one on a 50-foot putt, for a two-day total of 135, seven under. Zokol, the 1992 champion, began the second round with a one-stroke advantage and shot a one-under-par 70.

Ben Smith, a non-winner in 12 years on the Senior PGA Tour, shot a tournament record-tying 63, nine under par, at Park City, Utah, and took a two-stroke lead over Larry Laoretti in the first round of the Franklin Quest tournament.

Smith, 61, had nine birdies on the 7,026-yard Park Meadows course, matching the mark set by Dave Stockton in 1993.

Australian Greg Norman and Spaniard Seve Ballesteros failed to make the cut for the third round of the European Masters at Crans-Sur-Sierre, Switzerland, where England’s Stephen Richardson took a two-stroke lead.

Norman had a second-round 72 for a one-over 145, two shots over the halfway cut. Ballesteros had a 76 for 150.

Richardson had the tournament’s best round, an eight-under 64 for a 13-under total of 131, two shots better than defending champion Eduardo Romero of Argentina.

The Federal Trade Commission said it has ended its investigation into the PGA Tour’s conflicting event and television release rules without action.

Miscellany

John Andretti won the first pole of his Winston Cup career, setting an event record with a 167.379-m.p.h. lap in a Ford Thunderbird while qualifying for the Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

U.S. national soccer team member Roy Lassiter surrendered his passport in Raleigh, N.C., after missing a hearing this week on 3-year-old breaking-and-entering and forgery charges.

His lawyer said Lassiter missed his court date because he was in Costa Rica, where he has played professionally for three years.

Quarterback Doug Flutie of the Calgary Stampeders needs surgery to repair a torn elbow tendon and will miss the rest of the Canadian Football League season.

Ken Blum’s overtime goal gave the San Jose Rhinos a 2-1 mini-game victory over the Montreal Roadrunners and the Roller Hockey International title at Montreal. Montreal forced the mini-game with a 7-6 victory.

Eduardo Paret went two for three and hit a home run to lead defending champion Cuba past South Korea, 2-0, for the baseball gold medal in the World University Games at Fukuoka, Japan.

In the bronze medal game, relief pitcher Masao Morinaka shut down the United States over the last five innings in a 7-3 Japanese victory.

Also at the University Games, Italy used a 17-7 second-half run to upset the favored U.S. women’s basketball team, 73-65.

Sprinter David Oaks pulled the Americans even with the Japanese at 20 gold medals each by winning the men’s 100 meters in 10.28 seconds.

Track and Field

Haile Gebrselassie settled his duel with Moses Kiptanui in the 5,000 meters with 600 meters remaining, winning in 12 minutes 53.19 seconds in the last meet of the Golden Four series, this one in Berlin.

Okkert Brits of South Africa beat world-record holder Sergei Bubka of Ukraine in the pole vault, clearing 19 feet 6 1/4 inches.

With victories, Michael Johnson, in the 400; Gwen Torrence, in the 200; Sonia O’Sullivan, in the 5,000, and Natalya Shikolenko, in the javelin, split 44 pounds of gold for sweeping their events in the Golden Four series that began July 21 at Oslo and also visited Zurich and Brussels.