Sports Briefs

Camby suspended for five games

NEW YORK (AP) - Knicks center Marcus Camby was suspended for five games and fined $25,000 by the NBA yesterday for trying to sucker punch San Antonio's Danny Ferry.

Ferry, who had poked Camby in the eye, was suspended for one game and fined $7,500.

Camby's wild, roundhouse punch did not strike Ferry because Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy stepped between them at the last moment. Camby's head collided with Van Gundy's, opening a cut above the coach's left eye that required about a dozen stitches.

Van Gundy said he thought the punishments for Camby and Ferry were excessive.

"He got five games for not hitting a guy," Van Gundy said on WFAN. "I'm not here defending Marcus' actions. I said he was wrong, but the crime does not fit the punishment. Nobody's ever gotten five games for that kind of thing. No player got hurt."

Camby's outburst occurred after Ferry hit him the eye while he and Ferry jostled for rebounding position in the fourth quarter of New York's 104-82 victory on Monday.

Mets' owner criticizes Selig

PHOENIX (AP) - Baseball's proposed competitive balance draft drew criticism from one of the large-market teams yesterday as owners began to consider plans to reshape the sport's economics.

"I personally think it's an outrage. It's a sham," New York Mets co-owner Nelson Doubleday said. "It's everything baseball shouldn't be for."

Adopting a recommendation from the owners' latest study committee, commissioner Bud Selig's staff proposed the new draft in which teams with the eight worst records in the previous three years would be able to choose one player left unprotected by the teams with the eight best winning percentages.

Each of the top teams could protect 25 players in their organizations.

Doubleday, whose team is coming off its first National League pennant since 1986, strongly opposes the draft, the most-talked about of the proposals owners received last month from the commissioner's office.

"What you're saying is you don't have to scout. We'll do that for you," he said. "Why spend money on scouting when you can take eight of our best players, or four of them or two of them?"

Faced with some opposition, it was unclear if Selig would bring the plan to a vote.

While the meeting originally was scheduled to last two days, some owners said Selig was thinking about ending it last night.

Prep star posts 100-point game

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Dajuan Wagner became the first high school player in 22 years to score 100 points in a game - a feat that brought questions of poor sportsmanship from the losing coach.

Wagner is one of the most touted high school basketball players in the country, and has signed to play for Memphis.

Using a full-court press throughout the game, Camden High School beat overmatched Gloucester Township Technical School 157-67 on Tuesday night.

"What bothered me was that they pressed us the whole game," Gloucester Township Tech coach Bob Sweeney told The Courier-Post of Cherry Hill.

Camden coach Glen Jackson defended his actions.

"We expected him to have a good game and we saw how well he was shooting,'" Jackson said. "I can't apologize for him being a good player and why should we limit his ability?"

Wagner was 42-of-61 from the field, including 10 3-pointers Tuesday. He also made six free throws.