Eaton Out for Rest of Season

Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton was scheduled to have an operation on his torn knee ligament today while his teammates prepared to take on the Denver Nuggets in the National Basketball Assn. playoffs.

Jazz officials said Monday that Eaton will miss the remaining playoff games and won’t be back until the Jazz open training for the 1985-86 season.

The surgery, scheduled this morning at Long Beach Memorial Hospital, will repair a torn medial collateral ligament, which Eaton injured late in the second quarter of Sunday’s first-round playoff game at Houston.

The Jazz, playing without Eaton in the second half, came from behind to win the series’ fifth and deciding game, 104-97, earning the right to play Denver in the Western Conference semifinal round.

Utah Coach Frank Layden said he will start Rich Kelley in Eaton’s place, but reserve forward Jeff Wilkins also would get a lot of court time during the series.

Kelley started 30 games this season, including 28 from Jan. 22 through March 13 while forward Adrian Dantley recovered from a pulled hamstring.

Eaton, who blocked an NBA-record 456 shots during the season, set two playoff records in the Houston series. He blocked 10 shots in Friday night’s loss, a single-game record, and he blocked 29 in five games, also a record.

Czechoslovakia scored a stunning 2-1 upset over the Soviet Union in Monday’s opening medal-round games at the World Ice Hockey Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia.

In another game, Canada, which had lost by a goal to the United States in the preliminary round, beat the Americans, 3-2.

The results left the championship wide open going into the second round Wednesday, when Canada will play the Soviets, who had been undefeated in 42 games over five years of world championship and Olympic play, and the United States takes on Czechoslovakia.

The playoffs will end Friday with Canada playing Czechoslovakia, and the Soviets playing the United States.

Mark Breland and Tyrell Biggs, gold medal winners at the Los Angeles Olympics, will be among five Olympians on a fight card May 17 at Stateline, Nev.

Breland, who has won unanimous decisions in all three of his professional fights, will fight Vince Dunfee in a welterweight bout. No opponent was named for Biggs, the Olympic super-heavyweight champion, who will be fighting his third pro fight, and second since undergoing rehabilitation for drug abuse last December.

Other Olympic medal winners listed on the card are Meldrick Taylor, Virgil Hill and Franceso Damiani of Italy, who lost a split decision to Biggs in their gold medal fight in Los Angeles.

A swarm of bees broke up a soccer game in Bangui, capital of the Central African Republic, as terrified players and officials ran for shelter.

The referee then called off the game and fled.

Bees invaded the same stadium a week ago.

Baseball’s anti-drug television spots involving San Diego Padre second baseman Alan Wiggins will be pulled from circulation. Wiggins, who asked to re-enter a drug rehabilitation program over the weekend, had been chosen as the Padre spokesman in these TV spots sponsored by major league baseball.

Name in the News

Greg Hill, a 6-1 guard who helped lead El Camino College to the 1985 California community college championship, has signed a national letter of intent to attend the University of Washington. Hill averaged 14.9 points a game at El Camino.