New Mexico State Basketball Gets Probation

The NCAA put New Mexico State on three years’ probation Tuesday and hit at the core of Coach Neil McCarthy’s recruiting strategy by suspending scholarships for junior college players for two seasons.

McCarthy has built a 229-114 record in 11 seasons with the Aggies--including five NCAA tournament appearances--largely by using junior college transfers.

School president J. Michael Orenduff said he would not appeal the sanctions.

The investigation began in 1994 and focused on two former assistant coaches accused of providing test answers and papers for players to gain fraudulent eligibility through correspondence courses at Southeastern College of the Assemblies of God in Lakeland, Fla.

The report put most of the blame on restricted-earnings coach Chris Nordquist, “who assumed he was expected to establish eligibility without regard for NCAA or institutional rules.”

Nordquist now teaches and coaches girls’ basketball at Channel Islands High in Oxnard.

Jurisprudence

The trial of four Clemson football players who a woman said gang-raped her in a campus dorm abruptly ended when the woman said she did not want to testify.

Other details were not immediately available, but news reports said the charges had been dropped.

Jury selection was to have begun Tuesday in Pickens, S.C., Circuit Court and solicitor Joe Watson had said he expected the trial to be over in a day.

Chicago Bear defensive back Donnell Woolford was fined $1,000 and sentenced to 200 hours of community service for his conviction on a charge of driving while under the influence of alcohol. Woolford also was ordered not to consume alcohol for a year.

“If the Bears win the Super Bowl and he sips on champagne in the locker room, he can go to jail,” prosecutor Charles Smith said.

New York state investigators are looking into whether heavyweight boxer Bobby Czyz was entirely truthful last May when he claimed a foreign substance on former champion Evander Holyfield’s gloves caused his eyes to burn and forced him to quit.

“The state athletic commission will consider whether the comments by Mr. Czyz were made in good faith,” commission spokeswoman Gwen Lee said.

She said investigators have found no evidence of any foreign substance, other than petroleum jelly--standard in boxing--on Holyfield’s gloves.

Tennis

Andre Agassi, coming off a first-round loss at Wimbledon and hoping to regroup for the Olympics and U.S. Open, offset the 120-mph serves of Jacco Eltingh for a 7-6 (7-1), 6-3 victory in the Legg Mason Classic at Washington. Wade McGuire, a two-time NCAA finalist at Georgia ranked 629th in the world, upset 10th-seeded Carlos Costa, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5).

Germany’s Marc Goellner upset third-seeded Marcelo Rios of Chile, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5), in the second round of the Mercedes Cup at Stuttgart.

Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov, No. 2 seed and ranked sixth in the world, made easy work of Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil, 6-1, 6-4.

Pro Football

Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George agreed to a five-year contract with the Houston Oilers.

“I feel elated. I’m glad it’s over. I’m glad I didn’t miss any practice time,” said George, scheduled to join the Oilers on Friday in San Antonio for the first day of training camp.

UCLA’s Jonathan Ogden, the NFL’s No. 4 draft choice, signed with the Baltimore Ravens.

A source said Ogden signed for $19.5 million for five years--and a $6.8-million bonus. The Ravens also signed their second first-round choice, 26th pick Ray Lewis, linebacker from Miami.

An offer from the Minnesota Vikings to Kansas City Chief cornerback Dale Carter includes a “poison pill” clause that could make it unattractive for the Chiefs to match.

The three-year deal offered by the Vikings would void the final two years if Carter plays in half of his team’s defensive plays this season.

The New Orleans Saints extended defensive end Wayne Martin’s contract another five years, what Martin describes as the rest of his career.

Martin came to camp at La Crosse, Wis., on the final year of a four-year deal signed in 1993. His new five-year contract is worth an estimated $17.4 million.

Also, the Saints signed veteran wide receiver Haywood Jeffires, a free agent from Houston.

Hockey

Three members of the Stanley Cup champion Colorado Avalanche, including goalie Patrick Roy, are among 24 players eligible for salary arbitration, the NHL said.

Czech center Robert Reichel, who left the Calgary Flames last season because of a contract dispute, will return to the team as soon his German league deal is dissolved.

Miscellany

Bernard Hopkins retained his International Boxing Federation middleweight title, stopping Bo James at 2:02 of the 11th round at Atlantic City, N.J.

Hopkins (30-2-1, 24 knockouts), dropped James (20-7-1) to one knee with a left hook.

Tony Linehan, 71, USC football player in the late 1940s who later coached and taught at Pasadena City College for 40 years, died of a heart attack Friday on the first green at the El Camino Country Club golf course in Oceanside. Services will be Monday at 9:30 a.m. in the St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Long Beach.

Mountain bike promoter Richard Long, 46, was killed in a motorcycle crash last week near Big Bear.