PRO BASKETBALL
Jerry Colangelo says he won’t seek a third term as chairman of USA Basketball, instead focusing on his role as managing director of the men’s national team program.
Colangelo says Thursday in a release that he will concentrate on the transition from coach Mike Krzyzewski to Gregg Popovich and building the player pool for the competition cycle through the 2020 Olympics.
Colangelo is the only person to serve two terms as chairman. USA Basketball’s board of directors will elect a new chairman at its annual meeting on Nov. 14.
The Americans won gold again in men’s and women’s basketball in Rio and are 267-6 since Colangelo began overseeing the organization in 2009. The U.S. is also ranked No. 1 in the world at the boys and girls levels.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Kevin Durant matched his career high with seven 3-pointers and scored 39 points, coolly knocking down long jumpers while thoroughly embarrassing Russell Westbrook and his old Oklahoma City team in Golden State’s 122-96 rout of the Thunder on Thursday night.
This rematch of the Western Conference Finals won by the Warriors in seven games quickly turned into the KD show at sold-out Oracle Arena, where OKC (4-1) took its first loss to leave LeBron James and the champion Cavaliers as the league’s lone unbeaten team.
So much for this one being just like any other game for Durant. Even he knew it would certainly mean more once the ball was tipped, a matchup circled on calendars everywhere from the moment he joined the Warriors in July.
Westbrook was held to 20 points - yes, that’s right - after coming in as the NBA’s leading scorer averaging 37.8 points.
COLLEGE SPORTS
BOSTON (AP) - Harvard University is suspending its men’s soccer team for the rest of the season over sexual comments made about members of the women’s soccer team.
University President Drew Faust said in a statement Thursday night that an investigation into the 2012 team found that their “appalling” comments were not isolated and have continued through the current season.
The 2012 document uncovered by The Harvard Crimson student newspaper rated the attractiveness of recruits on the women’s team and included lewd comments about them. Members of the men’s team called it their “scouting report” and circulated it online.
Athletics Director Robert Scalise has sent an email to student athletes announcing that the university will forfeit its remaining games of the season.
The soccer team is currently ranked first in the Ivy League.
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - The U.S. Department of Education is hitting Penn State with a record $2.4 million fine for violating a law that requires colleges and universities to report campus crimes and warn people if their safety is threatened.
The fine announced Thursday was the result of a five-year federal investigation into how Penn State officials handled complaints about former assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky before he was charged in 2011 with child molestation.
The agency says Penn State largely ignored many of its duties under the Clery Act. It’s the largest fine issued under the law.
It says the school violated regulations when it didn’t warn students and employees of the forthcoming charges against Sandusky, who was convicted of 45 counts of child sexual abuse.
Penn State says it’s reviewing the findings.
BASEBALL
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The Phillies have declined their contract option on longtime first baseman Ryan Howard.
The team also turned down an option on pitcher Charlie Morton. Both moves were expected, and Philadelphia made them official Thursday.
Howard had a $23 million option for next year and instead gets a $10 million buyout. The 2006 NL MVP was the last remaining member of Philadelphia’s 2008 World Series championship team. He ranks second on the franchise home run list with 382 and third in RBIs with 1,194.
Morton started four games in his only season with the Phillies before tearing a hamstring. His mutual option called for $9.5 million, and instead he receives a $1 million buyout.
Both players become free agents.
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