COLLEGE BASKETBALL
LAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) -Rui Hachimura scored 20 points and No. 3 Gonzaga blocked four shots in the final 46 seconds to hold off five-time champion Duke 89-87 Wednesday in the Maui Invitational title game.
Top-ranked Duke (5-1) trailed by 16 in the second half before mounting a massive charge. After the Blue Devils tied it at 87-all, Hachimura scored on a hard drive to put Gonzaga up.
The Zags (6-0) missed four free throws to give Duke a final shot, but Brandon Clarke blocked R.J. Barrett’s drive on the game’s final play.
Gonzaga beat a No. 1 team for the first time and ended Duke’s unbeaten streak on the Valley Isle (17-1) with its second Maui Invitational title.
Barrett had 23 points and Zion Williamson scored 22 for Duke.
Zach Norvell Jr. scored 18 points for the Zags.
NFL
MAGNOLIA SPRINGS, Ala. (AP) - Authorities say four relatives of Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones have been wounded in a shooting at an Alabama trailer park.
Al.com reports Baldwin County Sheriff Hoss Mack says the cause of the Sunday shooting remains unclear. He says Jermain Dickerson, Tamarius Dickerson and Royald Jones confronted Jahlen Baker at gunpoint in Magnolia Springs. Mack says the Dickersons and Baker are brothers, and Royald Jones is a cousin. Mack says Julio Jones is either a cousin or uncle to the men.
He says Baker was shot in the abdomen and remains in critical condition. The other three were taken to a hospital and are in stable condition or have been released.
BASEBALL
CINCINNATI (AP) - Reds closer Raisel Iglesias agreed Wednesday to a three-year contract guaranteeing $24,125,000, a deal that avoided arbitration.
Iglesias reached a $27 million, seven-year agreement in 2014 that allowed him to void the remainder of the deal once he was eligible for salary arbitration. That agreement called for $5 million salaries in each of the next two seasons.
He made $4.5 million this year, when he had a career-high 30 saves in 34 chances and a 2.38 ERA.
NEW YORK (AP) - Outfielder Tim Locastro was acquired by the New York Yankees from the Los Angeles Dodgers for minor league right-hander Drew Finley and $75,000.
The 26-year-old Locastro made his big league debut with the Dodgers in 2017, appearing in three games, and hit .182 (2 for 11) this year with one double and four steals in 18 games, including three starts in center field. He batted .286 with 23 doubles, four homers, 29 RBs and 19 steals in the minors this year, mostly at Triple-A Oklahoma City.
Locastro is a native of Auburn, New York, and played at Ithaca College.
Finley, 22, spent the past three seasons with the Class A Staten Island Yankees and was 2-4 with a 7.24 ERA this year in one start and 15 relief appearances.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - The Minnesota Twins have hired Bill Evers for the final opening on their coaching staff under new manager Rocco Baldelli.
The Twins announced Wednesday the addition of Evers, who has spent more than 30 years as a coach, scout and instructor. He has been the minor league field coordinator for Tampa Bay since 2010. He spent two seasons as a bench coach for the Rays in 2006-07. Evers has also managed more than 2,500 games in the minor leagues. With the Twins, he will work with the catchers and assist Baldelli in other capacities. He replaces Jeff Pickler on the major league staff.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) - Rodney Linares is joining the Tampa Bay Rays as third base coach.
The team announced the move Wednesday. The 41-year-old replaces Matt Quatraro, promoted to bench coach after Charlie Montoyo left last month to become Toronto’s manager.
Linares has his first job at the major league level after 21 seasons in the Houston Astros organization. He spent last season as manager at Triple-A Fresno, which he led to an 82-57 record and the Pacific Coast League North Division championship.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) - Miami has dismissed leading receiver Jeff Thomas from its team, a move that comes just three days before the Hurricanes play their regular-season finale.
Thomas led Miami with 35 catches and 563 receiving yards this season. The team Wednesday did not say specifically why Thomas was dismissed.
It’s the latest blow in a rocky season for the Hurricanes (6-5, 3-4 Atlantic Coast Conference), the preseason pick to win the ACC’s Coastal Division and a team that started ranked No. 8 nationally. But they lost four straight games from Oct. 13 through Nov. 10, have struggled on offense all season and now will be without perhaps their fastest player.
MMA
HONOLULU (AP) - Honolulu police arrested mixed martial arts fighter Arnold Berdon on charges of attempted murder after he allegedly punched his wife and fellow fighter in the head, face and ribs, fracturing her eye socket.
His wife, Rachael Ostovich Berdon, filed a request for a temporary restraining order alleging he punched her on Sunday after a night out with family. She said she fell to the ground, gasped for air and escaped through a balcony. The 27-year-old said she coughed up blood and threw up several times.
Her representative, Brian Butler-Au, posted on social media that Ostovich Berdon won’t compete in a UFC bout against Paige VanZant scheduled for Jan. 19 because of her injuries.
SOCCER
DUBLIN (AP) - Martin O’Neill ended his five-year stint as Ireland coach on Wednesday after relegation in the UEFA Nations League, taking assistant Roy Keane with him.
Under O’Neill, Ireland advanced from the group stage at the 2016 European Championship for the first time, but fell short of qualifying the 2018 World Cup after a 5-1 aggregate playoff loss to Denmark.
O’Neill’s 55-game reign ended with relegation from the second tier of the Nations League after earning only two points from a group also containing Denmark and Wales.
Ireland has won only one of its last 11 games since November 2017, with five losses in that time, and has failed to score in any of its last four games.
COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) - Former Denmark forward Niklas Bendtner will have to serve a 50-day jail sentence after dropping his appeal against an assault conviction.
Early this month, Bendtner was found guilty of beating and kicking a cab driver in the Danish capital on Sept. 9. The 30-year-old Dane admitted to hitting the man but said he had acted in self-defense after a quarrel over the fare.
Bendtner was sentenced to 50 days in prison and fined 1,500 kroner ($230).
TENNIS
LONDON (AP) - Two Italian tennis players who previously were ranked in the top 50 have been banned for match-fixing at an ATP event in Barcelona in 2011.
Daniele Bracciali, who is still an active player, was banned for life and fined $250,000. Potito Starace, who has retired, was banned from any future involvement in the sport for 10 years and fined $100,000.
The Tennis Integrity Unit announced the sanctions on Wednesday, following a disciplinary hearing in September.
The TIU says both players were found guilty of two breaches of anti-corruption rules. One relates to contriving the outcome of matches and the other relates to facilitating betting on matches.
AUTO RACING
PLAINFIELD, Ind. (AP) - Santino Ferrucci has been hired to drive full-time for Dale Coyne’s IndyCar team in 2019.
The American competed in four races last season with Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais as his teammate on Coyne’s team. Ferrucci qualified 13th in the second race at Detroit and finished a season-best 11th in last season’s finale at Sonoma despite dealing with a mechanical problem the entire race.
He has not yet raced on an oval track but did complete rookie orientation at a private test at Texas Motor Speedway.
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