Allen Opts to Leave Early for NBA Draft

Ray Allen, one of the best college basketball guards in the country, is making himself available for the NBA draft after leading Connecticut to the best record in the school’s history.

Allen said Monday he is giving up his final year of eligibility. He is certain to be among the top selections in the June 26 draft.

“I believe a lot has been learned by me here at this university and it is time to move on,” said Allen, the Big East player of the year. “Wherever I end up after this year, I will always be an ambassador of this university.”

Allen led UConn in scoring (23.4 points) and three-point shooting (46.6%) in helping the Huskies to a 32-2 record.

Hockey

Tim Leiweke, president and chief executive officer of U.S. Skiing, told his staff over the weekend that he is leaving the organization for a similar position with the Kings.

Leiweke, 38, has been with U.S. Skiing since September and previously worked for the Denver Nuggets and Minnesota Timberwolves.

An announcement could come as early as today, and sources told the Denver Post that Leiweke’s multiyear deal starts at $450,000 per year, along with incentives.

San Jose Shark teammates Chris Tancill and Tom Pederson scored goals as the United States defeated Austria, 5-1, in the World Ice Hockey Championships opener for both teams at Vienna, Austria.

The other U.S. goals went to Darby Hendrickson, Joe Sacco and Brian Bonin.

Viktor Tikhonov, who coached Soviet and Russian hockey teams to three Olympic and eight world titles, has been fired as coach of Russia’s flagship Central Army team.

Pro Football

A Florida state senate panel dealt a major defeat to supporters of a tax plan that would help finance a $168-million stadium to keep the Buccaneers in Tampa.

Tennis

Andrei Medvedev advanced to the second round of the $2.2-million Monte Carlo Open by beating Alberto Berasategui, 6-4, 6-4.

In other matches, 11th-seeded Arnaud Boetsch defeated Marc Goellner, 6-2, 6-4; Petr Korda beat 14th-seeded Todd Martin, 6-4, 6-3; and Stefan Edberg topped Alex Corretja, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3.

Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe are seeded No. 1 and No. 4, respectively, in the fourth Coopers & Lybrand Champions tennis tournament at the Riviera Country Club beginning today. Defending champion Andres Gomez is seeded No. 2 in the $150,000 men’s over-35 tournament.

Frenchman Henri Leconte, a favorite with Wimbledon crowds since he reached the semifinals in 1986, said he had been refused a wild card for this year’s tournament.

Golf

Corey Pavin, the top-seeded American, was defeated by eighth-seeded Davis Love III in the Andersen Consulting World Championship of Golf at Lake Oconee, Ga.

All four lower-seeded players won. No. 7 Scott Hoch beat No. 2 Tom Lehman, 1-up; No. 6 Mark McCumber beat No. 3 Loren Roberts, 4 and 2, and No. 5 Lee Janzen defeated No. 4 Peter Jacobsen, 3 and 1.

In a process that lasts more than nine months, sectional winners from the United States, Japan, Europe and the Rest of the World will meet in the finals Jan. 4-5 in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Jurisprudence

Former University of Cincinnati basketball player Arthur Long pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of choking his girlfriend after an argument in November.

Eggie McRae, the top returning scorer for the Dixie college men’s basketball team, remained in jail on charges of forcible sexual abuse, burglary and kidnapping.

Names in the News

In a service where the number of mourners in Goodland, Kan., nearly equaled the size of the town, Nebraska quarterback Brook Berringer was eulogized by a sobbing Coach Tom Osborne as a “great example of how to live your life.” Friends, family and teammates filled a high-school fieldhouse for a funeral service in which a Nebraska helmet rested on the casket of Berringer, who died in a plane crash last week.

Helen Denman handed former world-record holder Samantha Riley her first defeat in a 100-meter breaststroke in more than two years at the 1996 Australian Olympic selection trials.

NASCAR fined Doug Hewitt, crew chief for rookie Johnny Benson Jr., $5,000 and suspended him for two weeks for using an illegal clutch in the team’s car last week at Martinsville Speedway.

John Kostecki and Tom Olsen of San Diego are the leaders of the Star class at the U.S. Olympic yachting trials at Savannah, Ga.