Supersonics Trade Riley For Draft Pick

The Seattle SuperSonics made it official today: they dealt Ron Riley to the Detroit Pistons for a second-round pick in the 1997 NBA draft.

Riley, a guard for Arizona State, was drafted No. 47 by Seattle in Wednesday night's draft. He is a 6-foot-5, 205-pound shooting guard who also has played at small forward.

He is the Wildcats' all-time scoring leader with 1,834 points in 116 college games and the only player in Arizona State history to reach 1,600 points, 500 rebounds and 200 steals. Last season, Riley averaged 20.1 points for Arizona State.

-- The NBA and its players' association came to terms today on a new collective bargaining agreement, avoiding the second lockout in the last two years. The agreement came after four days of negotiations. A lockout would have precluded the league's 29 teams from signing free agents and draft choices.

-- Craig Ehlo became a free agent today when the Atlanta Hawks declined to exercise their option on his contract, which would have paid him $1.8 million for the 1996-97 season.

-- The NBA and NBC jointly announced the formation of the long-awaited Women's National Basketball Association, which will start play next year.

Under the five-year, revenue-sharing deal for the eight-team league - which will play from June to August - NBC will televise 10 games and the championship game.

NBA Commissioner David Stern said the NBA cities that will have teams will not be announced soon, because "We felt it best to wait until after the Olympics."

-- The Portland Trail Blazers acquired the draft rights to Texas Tech forward Jason Sasser from Sacramento for future considerations.

-- Isaiah Rider, the Minnesota Timberwolves leading scorer, was arrested in Oakland and faces misdemeanor charges of driving with marijuana in his car and possessing an illegal cellular phone.

The arrest may jeopardize a trade involving Rider that had been arranged with the Trail Blazers and was to be announced Monday. The trade, reported by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, would send Rider to Portland for backup shooting guard James Robinson, reserve forward Bill Curley and a No. 1 draft choice.

GOLF

Greg Norman staged a late charge for a 6-under-par 64 to match newcomer Joe Daley for a share of the first-round lead in the Greater Hartford Open in Cromwell, Conn.

OLYMPICS

Canadian equestrian Eric Lamaze did not willingly take cocaine and will appeal his suspension from the Olympic team, his lawyer said. Lamaze, 28, faces a four-year ban.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

Reserve defensive end Derrick Ham of the University of Miami was suspended indefinitely, becoming the fifth Hurricane player to be disciplined in the past two weeks. A university spokesman said the suspension stemmed from domestic disputes Saturday and Wednesday between Ham and his girlfriend.

NORTHWEST

Washington state boats were in the lead after two days in Division 3 of the Victoria-Maui yacht race.

Kismet, skippered by Charlie Guildner of Bellingham, covered 117.4 nautical miles during the second day, leaving 2,106.3 miles to go in the 2,308-nautical-mile race. In second was Louis I, skippered by Francis Demers of Oak Harbor (95.4 miles) and third was Spitfire, with skipper Woodson Woods of Eastsound (86.1 miles).

-- University of Washington Coach Bob Ernst has been named the Pac-10 Conference men's crew coach of the year for the seventh straight season.