Arizona’s Olson to Receive 2-Year Extension

Arizona basketball Coach Lute Olson, who led the Wildcats to the 1997 NCAA championship , has agreed to a $1.6 million, two-year contract extension through 2002, the Arizona Republic reported Saturday.

Olson is also expected to receive $400,000 per year from a shoe deal, a 50% raise from last year.

Olson, who will be 67 when his contract expires and is expected to retire, was unavailable for comment.

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Chicago Bull General Manager Jerry Krause denied a report that the Bulls are shopping forward Scottie Pippen at the NBA meetings in Orlando, Fla.

Pippen, who was nearly traded to the Boston for Antoine Walker and three No. 1 picks, was set to test his injured left foot in his All-Star exhibition game at the United Center on Saturday night.

A deal that would have sent Dennis Scott from the Orlando Magic to Dallas for Derek Harper and former UCLA star Ed O’Bannon, was squashed at the last minute by Mavericks ownership.

Another deal that would send oft-injured swingman Scott Burrell from Golden State to Chicago for Dickey Simpkins was expected to be finalized early next week.

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Minnesota forward Courtney James, who was suspended for the 1997-98 season after being convicted of domestic assault last month, has decided to leave school and pursue a professional basketball career.

James, who helped the Gophers reach the Final Four, was convicted on one misdemeanor count of intending to cause fear after hitting hitting his girlfriend in the face with an address book.

Golf

Tim (Lumpy) Herron had an eagle, seven birdies and a bogey in shooting a course-record-tying 64 to take third-round lead at the LaCantera Texas Open in San Antonio with a 54-hole total of 14-under-par 202.

Rick Fehr shot a 66 and was second at 203. P.H. Horgan III, who had a 66, and Duffy Waldorf, who shot a 70, were tied for third at 12-under.

Mike Springer had a 67 and was another shot back and Craig Parry, who shot a 70, was alone at 10-under.

Larry Nelson shot a seven-under-par 65 to take a one-stroke lead in the Comfort Classic, a Senior PGA tournament at Indianapolis .

Nelson, who had eight birdies, including four straight on the front nine, was at 10-under 134 after 36 holes.

David Graham , who missed a five-foot birdie putt on No. 18 to finish with a 69, was tied for second with Raymond Floyd and Bud Allin.

Nancy Harvey and Liselotte Neumann made birdies on the 18th hole and shared a four-stroke lead after three rounds of the LPGA Welch’s Championship at Canton, Mass.

The leaders were tied at 10-under-par 206 after Neumann shot a three-under 69 and Harvey a 71.

Karrie Webb shot a 71 and was at 210 with Rachel Hetherington, who had a 72, and Sherri Steinhauer, who had a 67. Carin Hj Koch’s 72 put her at 211.

Greg Turner of New Zealand shot a six-under-par 66 to take a a two-stroke lead over European Ryder Cup player Thomas Bjorn of Denmark, in the British Masters at Coventry, England.

Turner had a 205 for the 54 holes. One stroke behind Bjorn, who shot a 66 Saturday, were Michael Jonzon of Sweden, and Mark James and Mark Roe of England. Jonzon and James shot 67s and Roe had a 70.

Tennis

Top-seeded Monica Seles reached the finals of the Toyota Princess Cup with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Naoko Sawamatsu of Japan. Seles will face Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, staved off seven match points and defeated Yayuk Basuki of Indonesia 1-6, 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 victory.

Auto Racing

Jacques Villeneuve took his eighth pole position for the Austrian Grand Prix by driving Williams-Renault to a lap of 1 minute, 10.304 seconds to average 137.579 mph on the 2.687-mile circuit.

Joe Bessey held off Busch Series leader Randy LaJoie for his first career victory in the MBNA 200 at Dover, Del. Bessey averaged 94.912 mph to beat LaJoie by .405 seconds. Matt Kenseth was third, followed by Mike Dillon and Elliott Sadler as Chevys swept the top 10 positions.

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Boxing

Lou Del Valle of New York, stopped Eddy Smulders of the Netherlands in the eighth round at Aachen, Germany to claim the vacant WBA light heavyweight title. The fight was stopped with 20 seconds left in the round when Del Valle caught Smulders with a left.

Del Valle is 27-1 with 19 knockouts, while Smulders is 34-2.

In a preliminary bout, Michael Loewe, of Romania won a 12-round split decision over Michael Carruth, of Ireland to retain the WBO welterweight title.

Loewe, who is unbeaten in 28 fights, was making the first defense of the title he won from Santiago Samaniego of the Dominican Republic on Feb. 22.

Zahir Raheem of Philadelphia, a member of the U.S. Olympic boxing team, remained unbeaten after seven pro bouts with fifth-round knockout of five-time New York Golden Gloves champion Lionel Odom in a junior featherweight fight at Atlantic City, N.J.

In a junior welterweight fight, Alfonso Sanchez of Mexico improved to 17-1 with a technical knockout of Charles Murray of Rochester, N.Y., at 1:27 of the third round.