BRIEFLY REPORT: BLISS ATTEMPTED COVER-UP.

Byline: Daily News Staff and Wire Services

Before he resigned as Baylor University men's basketball coach, Dave Bliss directed players to provide investigators with false information indicating slain teammate Patrick Dennehy had paid his tuition by dealing drugs, according to conversations secretly recorded by an assistant coach, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported Friday.

``What we've got to create here is drugs,'' Bliss said in one of the conversations, which were taped by assistant coach Abar Rouse with a concealed microcassette recorder on July 30-31 and Aug. 1.

The tapes also reveal Bliss knew some players smoked marijuana and that Baylor coaches weren't truthful when they made public statements indicating they had no knowledge of threats allegedly made against Dennehy by Harvey Thomas, the heralded junior-college recruit who arrived in Waco, Texas, in late spring.

Rouse, who joined the coaching staff June 1, made the tapes available to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram on Friday, shortly before he met with an NCAA enforcement official and Baylor's investigative committee.

Reached at his home late Friday, Bliss told the Star-Telegram he had been trying to ``share some of the stories that I had heard, and I was completely wrong in what I did.''

HOCKEY: Mike Babcock will have at least two more chances to match the unexpected success of his first season as Mighty Ducks coach after receiving a one-year contract extension Friday.

Babcock, assistant coaches Lorne Henning and Paul MacLean, goaltending consultant Francois Allaire and video/scouting coordinator Greg Carvel each signed one-year extensions and are under contract through the 2004-05 season. Carvel also was promoted to assistant coach.

- Brice Nixon

--The Nashville Predators signed defenseman Kimmo Timonen just before his arbitration hearing.

OLYMPICS: The U.S. Olympic men's basketball team's exhibition game against Puerto Rico was postponed until Sunday because of lingering blackout conditions at Madison Square Garden.

The game will be played at 9 a.m., USA Basketball spokesman Craig Miller said.

TENNIS: Monica Seles pulled out of the U.S. Open with a left foot injury that has sidelined her since May and could end her career.

The nine-time major champion, including the 1991-92 U.S. Opens, hasn't played a competitive match since losing in the first round of the French Open.

--French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne beat Elena Bovina 6-2, 6-4 to reach the semifinals of the Rogers AT&T Cup in Toronto. She faces Elena Dementieva, a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 winner over No. 3 Amelie Mauresmo.

Unseeded players Paola Suarez and Lina Krasnoroutskaya will meet in the other semifinal.

--Seventh-seeded Andy Roddick easily advanced to the semifinals at the Cincinnati Masters, defeating Argentine Mariano Zabaleta 6-1, 6-2 in Mason, Ohio.

Roddick faces Max Mirnyi in his semifinal match, and Rainer Schuettler will meet unseeded Mardy Fish in the other.

HORSE RACING: The trainer of Preakness and Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide is doubtful his horse will run in the $1 million Travers because of concerns over the horse's health after a fever. The race Aug. 23 has been highly anticipated as a rematch between Funny Cide and Empire Maker, who denied the chestnut gelding the Triple Crown by winning the Belmont Stakes.

PAN AM GAMES: Michael Raab, of Rockville, Md., led the imposing U.S. team on another big night in the pool. The Americans won four races, including Raab's 200-meter butterfly triumph in a personal-best 1 minute, 57.33 seconds.

Peter Marshall of Atlanta took the 100 backstroke ahead of George Bovell of Trinidad and Tobago and Jayme Cramer of Cincinnati.

Morgan Hentzen of La Habra Heights and Rachel Burke of Bethesda, Md., went 1-2 in the women's 800 freestyle. The U.S. women also took the 400-meter medley relay by nearly eight seconds over Canada, setting a Pan Ams mark of 4:05.92.

--In other results: Earning gold on the mat was taekwondo Olympic champion Steven Lopez of Houston in his first international competition in a new weight class, the 68-kilogram division. Simona Hradil, also from Houston, shared the women's welterweight bronze after losing 5-4 to Yaneth Leal of Venezuela in the semifinals. ... Rami Zur of Chula Vista shook off Thursday's disqualification in the 500 meters and earned a bronze medal in the one-man kayak 1,000.

LOCAL: Kennedy High of Granada Hills baseball player Ozzie Lewis committed to Fresno State. The outfielder, who holds Kennedy's record for triples in a season, was a first-team All-Valley Mission League selection as a junior this spring.

--Hart High of Newhall's football opener against Los Alamitos on Sept. 12 at College of the Canyons in Valencia will be televised live by Fox Sports Net, according to station spokesperson Brook Hefner.

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MIKE BABCOCK

Ducks coach signs contract extension after taking team to the Finals last season.