European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 11, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday March 11, 1992 the stars and stripes b Page 25 four teams gain tournament bids Irish May be out by United press International four teams played their Way into the Mcaa tournament by winning conference tournaments monday night while notre Dame played itself out of consideration by losing to Evansville. The newly crowned tournament champions were Lasalle in the metro Atlantic Southwest Missouri state in the Missouri Valley old Dominion in the colonial athletic association and Pepperdine in the West coast conference. Notre Dame entered its season finale against Evansville with a 14-13 record but the fighting Irish have a string of upsets Over ranked teams and thought they had a Chance to gain a tournament berth. But the purple aces tuned up for the midwestern collegiate tournament by crushing notre Dame 74-56, and the Irish will Likely Settle for the nit at 1414. At Evansville ind., Parrish Casebier scored 41 Points including eight 3-pointers, to crush notre Dame. Casebier scored 31 Points in the first half staking the purple aces to a 45-20 halftime Lead and the Irish never got closer than within 14 in the second half. Casebier scored 20 straight during a crunching 22-5 run Midway through the opening half. He hit 13 of 23 from the Field including 8 of 11 from 3-Point distance. Evansville 22-5, is the top seed for its conference tournament which begins thursday night in Cincinnati. At Albany n.y., Bron Hollands jump shot with 0 07 left gave Lasalle a 77-76 Victory Over top seeded Manhattan. Sec College basketball Ond seeded Lasalle 20-10, never led in the second half until Hollands Basket capped a thriller at the Knickerbocker Arena. Lasalles Randy Woods led All scorers with 32 Points including 6 of 12 from 3-Point Range and grabbed five rebounds. Woods scored Lasalles first 11 Points and the first eight of the game. At St. Louis Andre Rigsby who had Only four Points in his previous two tournament games scored 20 in the championship game to Lead Southwest Missouri state to a 71-68 Victory Over Tulsa. Tony Graves added 16 Points for the bears 237, while Johnny Murdock had 15 and Jackie Crawford 16. At Richmond va., old Dominion edged James Madison 78-73 to claim an automatic Mcaa tournament berth. At Portland ore., Pepperdine survived a scare from Gonzaga for a 73-70 Victor and its second straight West coast championship. Towson state won the East coast tournament with a 69-61 Victory Over Hofstra but the conference Champion does not gain an automatic berth. Two other conference final matchup were set monday night. No. 25 Massachusetts and West Virginia advanced to the Atlantic 10 final thursday night in Philadelphia and Eastern Illinois and Southwest Missouri state qualified for the mid continent final tuesday night at Cleveland. At Philadelphia Harper Williams scored a game High 22 Points to help top Jason Alexander of Rhode Island drives past Mike Williams of Massachusetts. Seed Massachusetts improve to 27-4. Rhode Island finished 20-9 and will probably head to the nit. Chris Leonard scored a game High 20 Points and West Virginia survived a 10-Point second half by holding Temple scoreless Over the final 6 00. The mountaineers improved to 20-10 and Temple finished 17-12. At Cleveland Eastern Illinois tripped Wisconsin Green Bay 75-65, and Illinois Chicago slammed Cleveland state 83-59.capitals beat rangers in the Garden by the associated press new York a Madison Square Garden is a great Home building for the new York rangers except when the Washington capitals come calling. The capitals won their third game at the Garden this season in As Many tries beating the rangers 5-2 monday night. Dale Hunter assisted on three goals and Don Beau pre stopped 27 of 29 shots As Washington which split its four games against new York at the capital Centre clinched a convincing 5-2-0 season series advantage against the rangers who Are 23-5-3 at Home against the rest of the league. The loss new Yorkus third in a Row reduced its Lead Over Washington to three Points in the Patrick division a i Job and in the race for the leagues Best record. The rangers and the Montreal canadians Lead the nil with 88 Points though new York has a game in hand. It also resurrected two memories the rangers would have preferred to leave behind As the playoffs approach. In first place for most of the 1990-91 Campaign new York lost eight straight games in March and watched the Pittsburgh penguins pass them in the standings in route to winning their first Stanley cup. The rangers then were eliminated by Washington in the playoffs for the second straight season. A i  Call Washington an Enigma for us a said bangers defens Eman James Patrick whose team twice turned 3-1 leads into 5-3 losses against Washington at Home this season. A we know what they do. They play a physical game. They go to the net  the capitals who out shot the rangers 29-12 in the first two periods thoroughly outplayed the rangers in the first 40 minutes but had Only a 2-1 Lead. John Druce and Dimitri Hristich scored in the first period for Washington. Tim Kerry a goal at 17 33 of the second was new Yorkus Glimmer of Hope. But that faded when defens Emen Calle Johansson and a1 Lafrate scored in the third period against Mike Richter who lost his third straight game for the first Blackhawk Call up Leblanc Chicago apr goaltender Ray Leblanc who starred for the United states olympic hockey team was called up from the minors by the Chicago Blackhawk and was to Start tuesday nights game against san Jose. Leblanc a 27-year-old who spent almost 10 years in the minor leagues was playing this season for the Indianapolis ice of the International hockey league. By playing in at least one nil game Leblanc becomes eligible for the expansion draft involving the new Tampa Bay and Ottawa franchises. Leblanc told wbb am radio in Chicago that it was a a great to be called up and that he would be Happy to spend the rest of the season with the Blackhawk but he would not be disappointed to be sent Back to Indianapolis. A a in la take it one shot at a time one period at a time and lets see what happens from there a Leb Lanc said. Leblanc a nil experience has been limited to one game in uniform As a backup without and playing time. He has Laboured in obscurity playing the past six seasons in the Ihl for Saginaw Flint fort Wayne and the ice. He starred in the olympics with his acrobatic saves keeping the . Team in medal Contention until it lost to the unified team and Czechoslovakia to finish fourth. A a it a More or less a shocker for me a Leblanc said of his newfound Fame. A fall these things have happened to me after the  Leblanc who once went 26 games without a loss in the Ontario Junior league is undefeated in four starts since rejoining the ice after the olympics. Time this year. New Yorkus Darren Turcotte and Washington a Michal Pivonka into an empty net exchanged late goals to Complete the scoring. A a it a the right time of year for us to get 20 Guys playing 60-minute hockey games a said defens Eman Rod Langway who successfully blanketed Mike Gartner new Yorkus leading goal scorer and an sex capital. In other games monday night Kings 4, Maple Leafs 1 Inglewood Calif. A los Angeles tied a team record with its eighth consecutive Victory by beating Toronto. Tony Granato broke a 1-1 tie late in the first period with his career High 38th goal As the Kings matched the longest winning Streak in team history originally set during the 1972-73 season. The win also moved the Kings 32-24-14 within seven Points of first place Vancouver in the smythe division. Kings goalie Kelly Hrudney made 33 saves Lor his seventh straight  2, whalers 0 Quebec a Stephane Fiset made 30 saves Lor his  shutout and the Nordques kept alive then slim playoff Hopes by beating Hartford. The Nordques who won on the Road for the first time in nearly a year with a 10-4 rout in Hartford last thursday got goals from Bill Lindsay and Owen Nolan to move within 10 Points of the fourth place whalers in the Adams division. Hartford has a game in hand. Lindsay opened the scoring with 50 seconds to Plav in the first period. Nolan added an insurance goal with 1 40 left in the game