Nec

Senior infielder Matt Furman, an Audubon High graduate, is leading Philadelphia University in several offensive categories and is one of four South Jersey players on the baseball team. Entering yesterday, Furman led the 10-23 team in batting average (.425), hits (52), homers (7), and RBIs (29). Senior outfielder Kevin Stinger, a Washington Township graduate, and sophomore infielder Dan Schmincke (Paul IV) were also key contributors. Stinger was hitting .294 with four homers and 15 RBIs, while Schmincke was hitting .272 with five homers and 24 RBIs.

Damian Battles tied his career high with 27 points to lead Central Connecticut to a 78-71 win over visiting Quinnipiac in the Northeast Conference championship game last night. Central Connecticut (27-4, 20-1 NEC) will enter the NCAA Tournament next week with a 19-game winning streak, best in the nation. John Alexander scored 14 points and Ron Robinson added 13 points and 10 rebounds for the Blue Devils. In other games: At McNeese State, Raynell Brewer had 12 points and had seven rebounds as the Cowboys beat Lamar, 71-57, in the Southland semifinals.

Jim Furyk hit a lot of wedges, made a bunch of birdies and is leading the NEC Invitational in Akron, Ohio. Right behind is Tiger Woods, who hit just about everything else. The wild ride ended yesterday when Woods made a 15-foot birdie on the final hole for a 67 that left him tied with Phil Mickelson and only two shots behind Furyk going into the weekend. "Two shots is nothing," said Furyk, who was at 9-under 131. "Two shots can change on one hole. " In other golf news: John Cook shot an 8-under-par 64 for a one-stroke lead halfway through the Reno-Tahoe Open in Reno, Nev. Moira Dunn shot a 6-under-par 66 and held a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the Betsy King Classic in Kutztown, Pa. Jim Thorpe shot a 2-under-par 69 and took a two-stroke lead in the AT&T Canada Senior Open in Mississauga, Ontario.

Anyone who thought Tiger Woods might have a letdown after winning his third consecutive major only had to see the scowl on his face. Or the 64 on his scorecard. Four days after his draining playoff victory in the PGA Championship, Woods resumed his relentless dominance yesterday by flirting with the course record at Firestone in Akron, Ohio, and settling for a one-stroke lead in the NEC Invitational. "The goal of the week is to win," Woods said. "When I'm not playing is the time to rest.

A trio of Conwell-Egan graduates helped the Monmouth softball team post a 35-13 record this spring. Kim Lyall, a former all-Catholic League player and first-team all-area pitcher last year as a senior for the league-championship Eagles, had a 15-6 record as a freshman for the Hawks. Lyall was named the Northeast Conference newcomer of the year and earned first-team all-conference honors. She had a team-best 1.64 ERA and collected two saves. In 149 innings pitched, she had 120 strikeouts and walked just 29. Lyall's twin, Colleen, had a .333 batting average and played 11 games in the outfield before a torn knee ligament ended her freshman season early in the spring.

Freshman Greg Burston scored 26 points and fourth-seeded Rider held off visting St. Francis, Pa., the fifth seed, 84-70, in a Northeast Conference quarterfinal playoff game last night. The Broncs will travel to top-seeded Mount St. Mary's for a semifinal contest Monday in a rematch of last year's title game. Rider (18-10) had a 58-43 lead with 8:52 remaining, but the Red Flash (13-14) uses a 17-8 run to pull within 66-60 with 2:41 remaining. Deon Hames's three-pointer made it 69-60, and Rider made 13 of 14 foul shots with less than two minutes.

As Rider prepares to play Kentucky on Wednesday in the opening round of the ECAC Holiday Festival at Madison Square Garden, the players will be reminded of upsets other Northeast Conference teams have been pulling off this basketball season. Monmouth defeated Princeton, Wagner topped Rutgers, and - in the biggest shocker - Mount St. Mary's knocked off Georgia Tech. But senior point guard Deon Hames knows Kentucky (6-1), ranked No. 4 in the nation, is on a different level. "Georgia Tech isn't the caliber of Kentucky with their press; they're a different type of team," said Hames, who will be responsible for dealing with the Wildcats' pressure.

Cherokee High graduate Randy Edney is 7 feet tall and weighs 300 pounds, but he looked even bigger against Rider College yesterday. Edney picked up 13 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocked shots to help second-seeded Mount St. Mary's upset the top-seeded Broncs, 69-62, in the championship game of the Northeast Conference tournament. The visiting Mountaineers (17-12) qualified for their first trip to the NCAA Division I tournament. They moved up from Division II in 1988-89.

Charles Smith, a forward on the Rider University basketball team, has become the first sophomore in team history to score 1,000 points. Smith, a Chichester High graduate, entered Sunday's game against Marist College needing one point to reach the mark. He scored 26. Entering last night's game against St. Francis (Pa.) in the Northeast Conference tournament quarterfinals, Smith had started all 24 games for the 17-7 Broncs this season. He was averaging 21.6 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.5 blocked shots per game.

The bench came through, the freshman star came up big, and Rider came away with its second straight trip to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. The top-seeded Broncs defeated second-seeded Monmouth, 62-56, in the Northeast Conference championship game yesterday at their own Alumni Gymnasium. The victory gave them an automatic bid to the NCAA's field of 64. "It almost seemed like a very typical Rider game, in the sense that there were a lot of challenges thrown out in front of us and a couple different people stepped up and we overcame those challenges in a very hard-fought battle," said coach Kevin Bannon, whose team won its second NEC title in as many years in the league.