NBA
NBA teams that do not comply with league rules designed to minimize the spread of the coronavirus this season could face major penalties such as forfeiting games or draft picks, the league told its franchises Saturday.
The league also said that it and the National Basketball Players Association will discuss players, coaches and other staff “being required to receive a coronavirus vaccine” when it becomes available, strongly urged teams to encourage players and personnel to get flu shots, and said that effective immediately Tier 1 and Tier 2 personnel - which basically means players, coaches and some essential staff - must avoid bars, lounges, clubs even if food is served, most live entertainment or gaming venues, public gyms, spas and pool areas.
Also off-limits: indoor gatherings of 15 or more people. Those rules apply both when teams are at home and when they are on the road, the NBA said.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Shane Beamer is returning to South Carolina, this time as head football coach.
A source close to the search told The Associated Press on Saturday night that Beamer will be hired and take over the program run the past five seasons by Will Muschamp. Muschamp was let go last month with three games remaining in the season.
The person spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because South Carolina has not yet made the hire officials.
This is the first head coaching job for Beamer, the son of former Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer who served on the Gamecocks’ staff from 2007-2010 under former coach Steve Spurrier.
- By AP Sports Writer Pete Iacobelli.
MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - South Alabama has fired football coach Steve Campbell a day after a shutout loss to rival Troy.
Jaguars athletic director Joel Erdmann announced the decision on Sunday.
Campbell went 9-26 in three seasons at South Alabama. The Jaguars ended the season with a 4-7 record, capped by Saturday’s 29-0 home loss to Troy. They finished 3-5 in Sun Belt Conference games.
CONWAY, S.C. (AP) - CJ Marable rushed for 128 yards and two touchdowns and No. 14 Coastal Carolina continued its perfect season, stopping BYU’s Dax Milne at the 1-yard line as time expired to beat the eighth-ranked Cougars 22-17 in the showdown of 9-0 teams Saturday night.
The Cougars were a late-week, fill in, traveling more than 2,200 miles to the South Carolina coast eagerly stepping in Thursday after No. 25 Liberty had to back out of the game due to COVID-19 concerns.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - Top-ranked Gonzaga paused basketball competition Sunday through Dec. 14 because of COVID-19.
On Saturday in Indianapolis, less than 90 minutes before the scheduled tip-off against No. 2 Baylor, the game was called off because of two positive COVID-19 tests in the Bulldogs program.
Gonzaga last played Wednesday night in Indianapolis, beating No. 11 West Virginia to improve to 3-0.
The pause in competition wiped out scheduled home games Tuesday against Tarleton State, Thursday against Southern University, Saturday against Northern Arizona and Dec. 14 against Idaho.
HOUSTON (AP) - Houston coach Kelvin Sampson and his son, assistant coach Kellen Sampson, sat out because of COVID-19 concerns when the No. 10 Cougars hosted South Carolina on Saturday.
The school said the Sampsons missed the game because of the virus and contact tracing protocols. It said both Sampsons isolated at their homes and were not showing symptoms.
Assistant coach Quannas White served as Houston’s acting head coach against the Gamecocks.
ATHENS, Ohio (AP) - Ohio went on a 40-0 scoring run, spanning halftime, to set a NCAA record for a game involving two Division I men’s basketball teams, and the Bobcats beat Cleveland State 101-46 on Sunday.
Ohio scored the final five points of the first half for a 51-25 lead. Ohio then opened the second half by scoring the first 35 points.
Cleveland State missed 17 straight shots during the run. The Vikings ended their scoring drought on a free throw with 8:03 left, and didn’t make its first field goal of the second half until the 5:10 mark.
According to the NCAA record book, Oklahoma scored 39-straight points in a first-half run against Weber State on December 22, 2014.
GOLF
PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico (AP) - Viktor Hovland of Norway holed a 12-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole Sunday for a 6-under 65 and a one-shot victory in the Mayakoba Golf Classic, his second PGA Tour victory this year.
Aaron Wise closed with a 63 and was second. Adam Long (67) and Tom Hoge (69) tied for third at 17-under 267.
THE COLONY, Texas (AP) - Angela Stanford won her home LPGA Tour event in front of her parents, closing with a 4-under 67 for a two-stroke victory in the Volunteers of America Classic.
The 43-year-old former TCU star from Fort Worth won her seventh LPGA Tour title and first since the major Evian Championship in 2018. She finished at 7-under 277 at Old American Golf Club.
Inbee Park, So Yeon Ryu and 19-year-old Yealimi Noh, tied for the third-round lead, each shot 70 to tie for second in the final tuneup before the U.S. Women’s Open next week at Champions Golf Club in Houston.
BOXING
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Errol Spence Jr. defended his WBC and IBF welterweight championships with a unanimous decision over Danny Garcia on Saturday night in the Texan’s first fight since a car crash that almost derailed his promising career.
Two judges scored it 116-112 for Spence with the other at 117-111 at the home of the Dallas Cowboys. It was Spence’s third title defense on his home turf and came 14 months after he escaped injury in a high-speed crash near downtown Dallas.
AUTO RACING
SAKHIR, Bahrain (AP) - Sergio Perez stayed calm amid the chaos at a remarkable Sakhir Grand Prix to clinch his first Formula One career win Sunday in his 190th race.
The Racing Point driver finished 10.5 seconds ahead of Renault’s Esteban Ocon and 11.9 clear of teammate Lance Stroll.
SOCCER
Three Americans scored in Europe’s top five leagues on the same day for the first time in 15 years - since the father of one of the trio was among the U.S. players to score.
Gio Reyna scored his second Bundesliga goal in Borussia Dortmund’s 1-1 tie at Eintracht Frankurt on Saturday. Weston McKennie got his first goal for Juventus in a 2-1 victory over city rival Torino in Italy’s Serie A, and Christian Pulisic scored his first goal this season in Chelsea’s 3-1 Premier League win over Leeds.
TRACK AND FIELD
MONACO (AP) - Former world champion Marina Arzamasova of Belarus received a four-year ban for doping after her defense that she had taken contaminated over-the-counter supplements was rejected.
The 32-year-old Arzamasova, who won the 800 meters at the 2015 worlds in Beijing, had been provisionally suspended after testing positive in 2019.
The four-year ban dates to the initial suspension and ends on July 28, 2023, track and field’s Athletics Integrity Unit said in its decision released Friday.
HORSE RACING
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Princess Noor, one of the top 2-year-old fillies in the country, was retired Sunday because of a soft tissue injury sustained while leading the $300,000 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, she was the 3-5 favorite in Saturday’s Grade 1 race. She had breezed to the lead and appeared primed to draw away from her four rivals. Instead, she was pulled up early in the stretch by jockey Victor Espinoza.
Princess Noor was purchased for $1.35 million earlier this year for Zedan Racing Stables.
OBITUARY
Peter Alliss, who became the eccentric “Voice of Golf” on British television after a playing career in which he competed in eight Ryder Cups and was Europe’s best golfer for two seasons, has died. He was 89.
“Peter’s death was unexpected but peaceful,” the family said in a statement through the BBC, where he worked. It did not provide a cause of death.
Alliss won 23 tournaments worldwide in a professional career that ended in 1974 and was the Vardon Trophy winner - for the leading player on the British PGA, the forerunner to the European Tour - in 1964 and ’66. He played for Britain and Ireland in his first Ryder Cup in 1953 and then in every match from 1957-1969, and represented England 10 times in golf’s World Cup.
Alliss became of member of golf’s Hall of Fame in 2012.
NEW YORK (AP) - Dennis Ralston, a five-time Grand Slam doubles champion who was one of the initial players signed to the professional World Championship Tennis tour in the 1960s and a member of the sport’s Hall of Fame, died Sunday. He was 78.
He died of cancer in Austin, Texas, according to Darin Pleasant, director of tennis at Grey Rock Tennis Club, who spoke to Ralston’s wife, Linda.
Ralston found his greatest success in doubles. He paired with Rafael Osuna of Mexico to win Wimbledon in 1960 as a 17-year-old. He and fellow American Chuck McKinley won titles at the U.S. national championships in 1961, ’63 and ’64. Ralston teamed with American Clark Graebner to win the 1966 French championships on clay. He was a three-time Grand Slam finalist in mixed doubles.
Ralston turned pro after his runner-up finish at Wimbledon in 1966. He had a career singles record of 576-251 and won 41 titles. His career mark in doubles was 125-87. He retired in 1977 and was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame 10 years later.
He helped the U.S. win the Davis Cup title in 1963. He captained the team from 1972-75, including its 1972 win over Romania in the final.
___
More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Please read our comment policy before commenting.