Arizona Republic from Phoenix, Arizona • Page 17

FINAL" PORTS The Arizona Republic sunday, march 5, 1989 Cards' QB situation: Four's a crowd Suns sail by sinking ClioDC irs Hogeboom arrival makes StoudtV status uncertain By Steve Schoenfeld The Arizona Republic With Saturday's signing of free-agent Gary Hogeboom, the Cardinals suddenly have four quarterbacks, one too many for Coach Gene Stallings. Stallings said Saturday at a news conference to announce the signing of Hogeboom that he won't carry four quarterbacks next season. Stoudt refused to comment. Hogeboom, left unprotected by the Indianapolis Colts, signed a four-year contract for about $3.3 million, according to a source close to the negotiations. The Cardinals outbid the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills to get Hogeboom, a pro.

Stallings praised Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill, General Manager Larry Wilson and Vice President Terry Bledsoe for signing Hogeboom, whom the coaches have wanted because of injury problems to Lomax. "The reason I'm concerned about Neil is because Neil is concerned," Hogeboom, 6-foot-4, 208 pounds, joins starter Neil Lomax and backups Cliff Stoudt, a 12-year pro, and Tom Tupa, a rookie last season. Stallings wouldn't say which quarterback will be leaving, but a source close to the Cardinals said they will try to trade Stoudt, 33. But to trade him, the Cardinals must first sign Stoudt, whose contract expired at the end of last season. Stallings said he expects Stoudt to participate at the team's off-season conditioning program, which begins Monday at East High School.

OiflT is a competitor," Stallings said. "He's not going to shy away from Stallings said of Lomax's degencra-tivs arthritis in his left hip. "I don't know if he can play five years or five games." Hogeboom, who was involved in a quarterback controversy in 1984 in Dallas, was careful not to say he considered himself a starter for the Cardinals. But he said he was aware of Lomax's injury status and didn't rule out that he could wind up starting. "I'm not coming here to create problems, but I know the situation here, I know it well," said Hogeboom, who was accompanied at the news conference by his wife, Kristi, See CARDS, pagcD14 Gary Hogeboom Former Colt now one of four Cardinals No.

5 Corona defeats Apollo for AAA-1 title r7t I ijL? a v23 OCT) fpJb Mif nTj 42-point margin largest since '78 By Lee Shappell The Arizona Republic It was totc-bag night- at the Madhouse on McDowell, and the Los Angeles Clippers proved they couldn't carry the Suns'. 't The Suns flexed their muscles against the league's biggest weakling Saturday and really roughed them up. But then, who doesn't? It wasn't achieved in orthodox fashion. The Suns played without shooting guard Jeff Hornacck, shuffled other players into positions they seldom play and still came away a 133-91 victor. That's the largest margin they've beaten the Clippers by and the second-largest margin they've beaten anyone.

Only a 43-point victory over New Orleans on Jan. 11, 1978, was a bigger rout. "Early this year, I talked about having interchangeable parts," said Suns Coach Cotton Fitzsimmons. "I like to move people around. We're flexible.

We have few players who play only one position, and it shows in this type of situation." On the surface, that was to be expected against a team that has lost 31 of its last 32 games, including 12 straight, and owns a 2-32 road record (1 1-48 overall) as the Clippers do. Hard as it is to believe, considering the addition of highly touted rookies Danny Manning (injured), Charles Smith and Gary Grant to a young nucleus, the Clippers finally have fallen behind their dismal pace of a year ago (12-47 after 59 games). You'd never know it to hear interim coach Don Casey. "This was disappointing performance, the first we've had for some time," Casey said. With Manning lost for the season, and former coach Gene Shue fired, Casey has suffered through a 1-20 mark.

"This team can play at times, we've jusl got to get it to where we can play By Richard Obert The Arizona Republic Glendale Apollo guard Damin Lopez wished for one last shot at' winning a game in a season filled with his winning shots. But, with three seconds left and the Hawks down by two, Tempe Corona del Sol guard Doug Harris invaded Lopez's ultimate dream by tipping away a long pass to Harris brother, Dave. It preserved fifth' ranked Corona del Sol's 88-85 victory for the MX Arizona Republic AAA-1 state basketball championship in front of 10,500 on Saturday night at the Activity Center. Everyone knew exactly whose hands No.3 Apollo (27-2) wanted the ball to be in after Corona (24-5), leading by 87-85, made a turnover with three seconds left. Lopez, who scored the fourth most points in a state championship game with 35 including a three-point basket that cut the deficit to two with nine seconds left.

said the last play was designed for him to shoot a three-point shot. It was something the 5-foot-9 senior had done so often to win games this year. But his dream was doing it in front of a big crowd and the bright lights for the title. Forward David Sengstock, in-bounding under the Corona basket, threw downcourt toward Toby Daily, who was in a crowd: Harris, playing like a defensive back, tipped the ball away to Dave Harris, who was fouled intentionally with one second left. "It's always a risky play, but, this was for the state championship and you only have three seconds left," Lopez said.

"When you have to go the Jacques BarbeyThe Arizona Republic Corona del Sol Coach Sam Duane is jubilant as his team hangs on to edge Apollo and win the AAA-1 state basketball title Saturday. 'y IT" MW vTJO' consistently for 48 minutes, Grant said. "Our time will come, and when it does, we'll pay all of these teams back." The Suns probably won't lose any sleep over that. They are on a roll. They won for the eighth time in succession here, and won their ninth in the last 12 games.

They improved to 21-0 against the Western Conference at Veterans Memorial Coliseum, where the 10th sellout of the season and, Suns officials believe, the first sellout ever against the Clippers watched. And the Suns continued to do it See SUNS, page D10 TITLE GAMES Class AAA-1 Tempe Corona del Sol 88 Glendale Apollo 85 Class AAA-2 Casa Grande 7 1 Flagstaff Coconino 63 Class A Snowflake 76 Holbrook 63 Class Phoenix Christian 71 Thatcher 63 Details, D5 full length of the court, you have to try something. "Toby was supposed to tip the ball to me and I was supposed to pull up right there. It would have worked great, but things just weren't there. What can I say? Corona is a great team and they just showed it tonight." As billed, the game was a roller-coaster ride, led by the top two point guards in the state Harris and Lopez.

They matched each other stride for stride. Harris, who had 36 points in a See CORONA, page D5 Jacques BarbeyThe Arizona Republic Corona del Sol's Doug Harris, who scored 34 points and made a game-saving play, moves in for a shot against Apollo's Victor Avina. Cats hold off Bruins in regular-season finale Dance Director corrals Gold Cup despite 45-1 odds By Larry Ward Arizona Repubic Correspondent A weather forecast that backfired helped put Dance Director in the winner's circle at Turf Paradise on Saturday. The chestnut gelding, owned by Lanny Sharp and Tom Kellcy, upset a field dominated by California thoroughbreds in the $100,000 Grade III race and kept the Coors Gold Cup in Phoenix. A 45-1 shot, Dance Director almost didn't enter the Gold Cup.

He had run a mile at Santa Anita last Sunday and Sharp, who trains the 6-year-old, was going to keep him on the West Coast for a race today. But the forecast called for rain Saturday, and Sharp decided to send Dance Director because he likes a sloppy track. As it turned out, the weather was sunny and the track was fast for the 6-furlong feature and Dance Director still See 45-1, pagcD19 By Bob Cohn The Arizona Republic LOS ANGELES A bright sun and a warm breeze outside Pauley Pavilion on Saturday brought a welcome change of climate for weather-weary Arizona. That wasn't the only difference. Inside Pauley, the Wildcats encountered a UCLA team that bore no resemblance to the one they beat by 38 points in Tucson two weeks ago.

The Bruins took an early exit from that game. This time they stuck around to the end before the Cats pulled out an 89-86 victory to conclude the regular season. "Both teams played their guts out," said UCLA Coach Jim Harrick. "It was a tremendous college basketball game," said UA Coach Lute Olson, who lauded the Cats' character after being held up and worn out by a Seattle snowstorm that skewed their travel plans Wednesday and Thursday. A Pauley capacity crowd of 12,729 stayed noisily involved throughout, and NBG beamed the game to a national audience, some of which might have thought this was a typical Pac-10 game.

It wasn't. The teams are fierce rivals. Even though the Cats (24-3, 17-1) clinched the conference title and UCLA (19-8, 13-5) sewed up third place and a likely NCAA tournament bid on Thursday, the atmosphere was thick with intensity and emotion. Harrick, in his first year as Bruins coach, sensed it would be like that. But he said the officials may not have been prepared.

Bruins center Kevin Walker and Harrick were whistled for successive technical fouls in the first half, resulting in a six-point possession See WILDCATS, page D3 1 Mike SmithThe Arizona Republic Dance Director holds off the outside charge of Sunny Blossom down the stretch to win the 1 00,000 Coors Gold Cup on Saturday at Turf Paradise. Inside Arizona Classic The Senior PGA event will be defying a Valley trend when the tournament tees off this week at a new location. D6 -Aw A survivor Bob Schermerhorn (right), the interim basketball coach at Arizona State, has not done badly for a guy born into poverty with little going for him except confidence and a strong work ethic. D3 Eagle Classic of Scottsdale The field for this week's World Championship Tennis event includes nine players ranked among the top 20 in the world. However, the tournament's future is in doubt.

D6 Peace in Mets camp Darryl Strawberry makes peace with Keith Hernandez (right) after returning to training camp, but says he will leave the team when his contract expires after the 1 990 season. D8 Prepping for the Derby Easy Goer confirms his status as the winter-book Kentucky Derby favorite by winning the Swale Stakes by 84 lengths. But another top candidate. Dixieland Brass, is eliminated because of an apparent career-ending injury in the Florida Derby. D19 INDEX: Basketball D2-3 Rodeo D7 Baseball D8-9 NBA DIO-ll Fraucnhcim D12 Bob Hurt DI4 NFL D15-I6 Scoreboard D18 NHL D19 BLHlCHLIGHTS College basketball: Georgetown at Syracuse, Ch.

10, 10 a.m. Golf: Seniors event, Ch. 3, noon Complete list, D8.