BRIEFLY : LEWIS-BRIGGS FIGHT SET.

Lennox Lewis wanted a heavyweight unification match with Evander Holyfield for his next fight. Instead, he will defend the WBC title against Shannon Briggs March 28 at Atlantic City, N.J.

The fight was made after negotiations were unsuccessful for a fight against Holyfield, the WBA-IBF champion. The Lewis-Briggs fight will be televised by HBO, and the purses are expected to total about $8 million.

Holyfield says he's forgiven Mike Tyson for biting off part of his ear and would not rule out fighting him again. ``If time permits,'' Holyfield said when asked about a possible rematch.

(ub)NBA: A desperately indebted businessman who tried to extort $150,000 from Utah Jazz owner Larry Miller avoided prison time when a sympathetic judge sentenced him to five years' probation.

A pre-sentence report recommended that Richard Lewis Christiansen serve up to three years in prison. But U.S. District Judge J. Thomas Greene said Christiansen's threats to bomb the Delta Center unless the millionaire car dealer paid him were ``pathetic'' and out of character.

The New Jersey Nets waived forward Xavier McDaniel and center Jack Haley. McDaniel, a former All-Star who has played with Seattle, Phoenix, New York and Boston, averaged 1.3 points and 1.5 rebounds in 19 games this season. Haley, a 6-10, 10-year veteran out of UCLA, had 10 points and nine rebounds in 32 minutes over 11 games.

BASEBALL: An investment group headed by Dallas Stars owner Tom Hicks ironed out details to buy the Texas Rangers, a source told The Associated Press. The Rangers, meanwhile, scheduled a ``major news conference'' for today. Hicks, a billionaire leveraged buyout specialist, was reported to be near a $150 million purchase of the Rangers.

Cleveland added a second baseman by signing Carlos Garcia, and the Minnesota Twins got pitching help by signing Ricky Bones. Also, outfielder Derrick May and the Montreal Expos agreed to a minor-league contract.

Costa Rica and Nicaragua have offered asylum to Cuban pitcher Orlando ``El Duque'' Hernandez and six others who defected with him, baseball agent Joe Cubas said. The United States had offered Hernandez, his common law wife and the other player humanitarian visas. Hernandez is half-brother to Florida Marlins pitcher Livan Hernandez.

ETC.: The U.S. swim team, trying to gain Olympic medals for swimmers in the 1970s and '80s who lost to drug users from the former East Germany, has hired German lawyers to monitor the investigation in Germany into systematic drug abuse in sports during the former East German regime. . . . Professional figure skater Gary Beacom has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for failure to pay more than $187,000 in federal taxes during the early 1990s.

- Daily News Wire Services