Wednesday Sports in Brief

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - Tyson Ward scored 23 points, and North Dakota State advanced to the NCAA Tournament round of 64 with a 78-74 win over North Carolina Central in a First Four game on Wednesday night.

Vinnie Shahid had 14 points, including a pair of foul shots with 8 seconds left to seal the game for North Dakota State (19-15), which advances to play East Region No. 1 seed Duke on Friday in Columbia, South Carolina.

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) - Luguentz Dort overcame a hard foul and a leg injury, scored 21 points and led Arizona State to a long-awaited NCAA Tournament victory Wednesday night, 74-65 over St. John’s in the First Four.

The 11th-seeded Sun Devils (23-10) will play Mid-American Conference champion Buffalo on Friday in the West Region, coming off their first NCAA Tournament win in 10 years.

Arizona State also provided a Pac-12 breakthrough: The conference’s first NCAA Tournament win in two years.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - Syracuse senior guard Frank Howard is out “for an indefinite period of time” for violating school policy.

The school announced Howard’s suspension on Wednesday, the eve of the Orange’s NCAA Tournament game against Baylor.

The 6-foot-5 Howard lit up social media during the ACC tournament against Duke last week when he appeared to stick his foot out as Blue Devils star Zion Williamson ran by. Howard denied trying to trip Williamson and the school did not say if the suspension was related to the alleged attempt.

BASEBALL

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Mike Trout and the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday night announced their 12-year contract, a record deal that ties baseball’s top player to the Orange County club for what likely will be the rest of his career.

A person with knowledge of the contract told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the deal is worth $432 million, shattering baseball’s previous high set when Bryce Harper and Philadelphia struck a $330 million, 13-year agreement earlier in spring training. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal had not yet been finalized.

The Angels will celebrate with a public appearance by Trout outside Angel Stadium on Sunday when the team returns from spring training for the first of three exhibitions against the Dodgers. Fans are invited to welcome home the two-time AL MVP, who already ranks among the most accomplished players of his generation.

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (AP) - Rookie Brandon Lowe, who made his big league debut last August, has agreed to a $24 million, six-year contract with the Tampa Bay Rays.

Lowe’s deal, announced Wednesday, includes club options for 2025 and 2026 with escalators based on MVP voting that could make the agreement worth $49 million over eight seasons.

The 24-year-old infielder and outfielder has 58 days of major league service.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - New York Yankees guest instructor Lee Mazzilli was struck in the head by a ball in batting practice Wednesday and taken to a local hospital.

Yankees spokesman Jason Zillo said in an email that Mazzilli “will spend the night at the hospital for observation.”

AUTO RACING

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) - NBC Sports announced Wednesday that Danica Patrick will be part of its inaugural broadcast of the Indianapolis 500 in May, a project that will return her to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time since she ended her career there a year ago with the second leg of the “Danica Double.”

Patrick is the only woman to lead laps in both the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis 500, win the pole for the Daytona 500 and win an IndyCar Series race. Her third-place finish at Indy in 2009 is the highest for a woman.

She walked away last season after a farewell tour that stopped at Daytona and Indianapolis.

NFL

NEW YORK (AP) - Trevor Siemian has joined the Jets to be Sam Darnold’s backup.

The veteran quarterback signed a one-year deal Wednesday with New York, which was in the market for an experienced QB while Josh McCown mulls his playing future.

A person with direct knowledge of the contract says it is worth $2 million, with a maximum value of $3 million with incentives. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team does not announce financial terms of contracts.

The 27-year-old Siemian spent last season with Minnesota, but was with Denver the previous three years. He has 30 touchdown passes and 24 interceptions in 26 games, including 25 starts.

-By AP Sports Writer Dennis Waszak Jr.

CENTENNIAL, Colo. (AP) - Former Broncos backup quarterback Chad Kelly has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor second-degree criminal trespassing for entering a couple’s suburban Denver home uninvited.

After Kelly entered the plea Wednesday in Arapahoe County District Court, he was sentenced to one year of supervised probation and 50 hours of community service.

Kelly was originally charged with first-degree criminal trespassing, but that was dropped as part of a plea agreement with prosecutors.

NHL

DETROIT (AP) - The Detroit Red Wings have signed goalie Jimmy Howard to a $4 million, one-year contract extension.

The deal keeps Howard in the fold for next season. The 34-year-old Howard has played for the Red Wings his whole NHL career. He’s third on the franchise’s career list in wins (240) and fourth in shutouts (24).

Howard played in his 500th career game on Feb. 14 and was named to the NHL All-Star game for the third time in his career this season.

COLLEGES

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - The American Athletic Conference and ESPN have reached agreement on a new 12-year television contract that will increase revenue to the league’s schools but is far less than the money provided to their Power Five counterparts.

An official with knowledge of the negotiations says the conference will receive about $1 billion over the next dozen years and in exchange ESPN will get the rights to AAC games, many of which will be broadcast on ESPN-plus, the company’s a la carte digital platform.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the contracts have not been signed, said the deal will provide the conference with about $83.3 million per year, with each member school receiving an average of just under $7 million a year.

-By AP Sports Writer Pat Eaton-Robb.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Penn State will collect hundreds of thousands of dollars left over from the defunct charity for youth founded by convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky, settling claims from a threatened civil lawsuit.

The university and the state attorney general’s office both confirmed this week that an agreement was reached recently.

The university said it also will receive additional payments from entities that ensured The Second Mile, although the terms are confidential.

When Penn State took steps in 2017 to sue The Second Mile it did not spell out why it was going after it and Jack Raykovitz, who was the charity’s president when Sandusky was arrested in 2011.

HORSE RACING

BALTIMORE (AP) - Baltimore has ratcheted up a bitter dispute with the owners of a historic racetrack in an effort to seize a nearly 150-year-old course and block the move of one of America’s premier horse races out of the city where it was first run in 1873.

Under state law, the Preakness Stakes - the middle jewel of the Triple Crown of thoroughbred horse racing - can be moved to another track in Maryland “only as a result of a disaster or emergency.” But the Canada-based development company that owns and operates the rundown Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore has made it abundantly clear that it wants to move the storied race out of the city.

A lawsuit freshly filed by Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh, the City Council and three residents claims that the Canada-based development company that owns the track is “openly planning to violate Maryland law by moving the Preakness to a different racetrack despite the absence of any disaster or emergency, except for the disaster that they are in the process of creating.”

MMA

LAS VEGAS (AP) - TJ Dillashaw has surrendered the UFC 135-pound championship because of an “adverse finding” in his last drug test.

Dillashaw posted on social media that he would give up the belt after he was informed by the New York State Athletic Commission and the United States Anti-Doping Agency of the results of his test leading up to his last fight in January. Dillashaw suffered first-round loss to Henry Cejudo and failed to become a two-division champion.

SOCCER

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - A South American coalition hoping to host the 2030 World Cup relaunched its bid on Wednesday with the addition of Chile to the group.

The head of South American soccer body CONMEBOL, Alejandro Dominguez, announced the decision after a meeting in Buenos Aires with the presidents of the four nations, which also include Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

Argentina President Mauricio Macri said the South American bid will face “tough competitors.”

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Former Southampton and Portsmouth midfielder Jhon Viafara has been arrested in his native Colombia on a U.S. drug warrant.

Colombia’s chief prosecutor’s office said Wednesday that prosecutors in Texas believe Viafara was part of a criminal network tied to the nation’s feared Gulf cartel, which for a decade moved large shipments of cocaine on fast boats and semi-submersible through the Pacific Ocean to Central America and onto the U.S.

He was arrested Tuesday along with four other people near the southern city of Cali after being involved in a car accident. Police say he was speeding while driving intoxicated.

OBITUARY

CINCINNATI (AP) - The Cincinnati Reds’ first African-American player has died at the age of 94.

The team says Charles “Chuck” Harmon died Tuesday, nearly 65 years after he made his debut against the Braves in Milwaukee on April 17, 1954. It did not provide details.

Harmon had remained a familiar figure in Cincinnati as a regular participant in fan and community events.

Among his Reds honors is a bronze plaque near their stadium entrance.

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