Ruland

Saint Joseph's and Gonzaga have attracted a great deal of attention this season being among the nation's top ranked teams, but there's another mid-major conference school that could make its share of noise in next month's NCAA tournament. At 21-2, including 15-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference, Southern Illinois is one of the country's big surprises. The Salukis were picked to finish fifth in the conference after losing their coach and their two leading scorers. "Everybody had a chip on our shoulders," said junior guard Darren Brooks, the team's leading scorer this season.

With a little more than eight minutes left in the game last night, Loyola's sophomore point guard Damien Jenifer drove to the foul line, started to make a move and simply lost the ball out of bounds with no one contesting him. Talk about total frustration for Jenifer and the Greyhounds in a season long since gone bad. "It's been that way the whole year for us," sophomore guard Anthony Walker said moments after streaking Iona had handed fading Loyola a...

Two years ago, Sean Forney was a 103-pound Francis Scott Key freshman. Yesterday, although nearly 60 pounds heavier, the slender 6-foot junior proved he's no lightweight wrestler. Forney used leverage to secure a double-leg takedown with four seconds left in a come-from-behind, 5-4, decision for the 160-pound title over Oakland Mills' Jeremy Askew. His win raised his record to 12-3, dropped Askew to 12-1 and allowed him to join winning teammates Joe Hansborough (145), Luke Schuster (189)

Harford Tech's second-ranked Josh Taylor turned a single-leg takedown into a cradle to pin Boys' Latin's No. 3 Justin Fitch with 12 seconds left in his 160-pound title victory in yesterday's Maryland Catholic Invitational at Archbishop Curley. Taylor's 12th pin improved him to 15-0, breaking a 1-1 tie in a match he trailed by a point entering the third period. Fitch's only previous loss was in overtime to the host school's Daniel Miller, who blanked Harford Tech's Jeff Gardener, 2-0, for the 171-pound crown.

After months of work on asbestos and lead-paint abatement, Johns Hopkins University officials unveiled plans yesterday to turn the former Eastern High School into office space and a city-sponsored business technology center. "We're ready to begin construction in earnest in the next few months," said Charles Weinstein, director of development for Dome Corp., the real estate and development arm of the university, which bought the school property from the city in 1996. After a breakfast meeting on the project yesterday at Hopkins' Homewood campus, university spokesman Dennis O'Shea said five more buildings will be built on the site eventually.

BOYS Maurice Fleming Gilman, wrestling Using two last-second, come-from-behind victories last weekend, the Greyhounds sophomore catapulted himself to the 119-pound title of the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association championships. In last weekend's semifinals, Fleming used a four-point move in the final five seconds of the match to win, 15-14. The decision avenged an earlier loss to Archbishop Curley's Mitch Fenton. In the title bout, Fleming scored a takedown in the final six seconds to hand St. Mary's then-No.

A week after dominating the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association tournament, the Mount St. Joseph juggernaut crushed an even bigger opponent last night at McDonogh: the private schools state wrestling tournament. With 269 points and five champions, the Gaels, the nation's 13th-ranked team, took the tournament title for the third straight year. They won titles with Jon Kohler (130), Brandon Propst (145), Mack Lewnes (160), Jake Bohn (171), and Kevin O'Connor (189). "We didn't have a situation where somebody gave them this state and national ranking and they rested on their laurels," Mount St. Joseph coach Jay Braunstein said.

Baseball New York Yankees -- Agreed to terms with OF Danny Tartabull a 5-year contract.Pittsburgh Pirates -- Fired Larry Doughty, senior vice president and general manager of baseball operations.BasketballBoston Celtics -- Place G Larry Bird on injured reserve. Activated reserve G Kevin Pritchard.Philadelphia 76ers -- Signed C Jeff Ruland to a multiyear contract. Waived F Michael Ansley (32 minutes played in 8 games).CollegesGeorgia Tech -- Named East Carolina's Bill Lewis head football coach.

BaseballCleveland Indians -- Released P Mike Bielecki. Recalled P Mark Clark from Triple-A Charlotte.Colorado Rockies -- Named Walt Jocketty assistant GM of player personnel, effective July 1.Los Angeles Dodgers -- Placed OF Darryl Strawberry on the 15-day DL.New York Yankees -- Signed P Paul Gibson to a minor-league contract with Triple-A Columbus.Oakland Athletics -- Placed P Rick Honeycutt on the 15-day DL, retroactive to Tuesday.BasketballDallas Mavericks -- Named Stu Inman team consultant.

MINNEAPOLIS -- Always a center, rarely the center of attention. But yesterday, Corsley Edwards sat in the corner of the Central Connecticut State locker room with 10 cameras in front of him and reporters crammed beside him. Only one problem: Nobody wanted to talk about him. The media only wanted to ask the Lake Clifton High graduate about his assignment today, Iowa State first-team All-American Marcus Fizer. Just listen to the round of questions that Edwards heard: What are your thoughts about Fizer?