HIGH SCHOOL 3A VOLLEYBALL STATE TOURNAMENT
Denver–The 11th seeded Roaring Fork Lady Rams take on Platte Valley this afternoon at 2 at the Denver Coliseum. Roaring Fork will then battle Eaton at 5 o’clock. The Lady Rams are led by the twin towers Hattie and Megan Gianinetti.
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
Rifle–The number one ranked and top-seeded Rifle Bears host the 16th seeded Erie Tigers tomorrow afternoon in the first round of the 2012 3A playoffs. The game kicks off at 1 o’clock with pregame coverage on KMTS beginning at 12:30. The winner moves on to battle either Palisade or Roosevelt next Saturday.
Elsewhere in sports…
LOS ANGELES (AP) – A report from USA Today says the Los Angeles Lakers have fired coach Mike Brown after a 1-4 start to his second season in charge of the team.
The newspaper report Friday cited Brown’s agent, Warren Legarie, as the source of the information.
Legarie didn’t immediately return messages left by The Associated Press.
Los Angeles began the season with championship expectations after trading for center Dwight Howard and point guard Steve Nash, adding two superstars alongside Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol.
But the talented group went 0-8 during the preseason for the first time in franchise history before stumbling into the regular season with an 0-3 start. After finally winning last Sunday, the Lakers looked listless again in a loss at Utah on Wednesday.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) – Federal authorities have dropped their investigation into sexual abuse claims that cost a Syracuse University assistant basketball coach his job, threw a top-ranked team into turmoil and threatened the career of Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim (BAY’-hym).
After a probe spanning nearly a year, U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian announced that there was no evidence to support claims that Bernie Fine had molested a boy in 2002 in a Pittsburgh hotel room.
The investigation erupted in the glare of a spotlight on child abuse shone by the Penn State University scandal that broke shortly beforehand.
It’s not clear yet whether Fine could get his job back.
NFL-COLTS-JAGUARS
Colts get another win, Jags take another loss
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) – The Indianapolis Colts are on a roll. Four days after setting a rookie record for passing yardage in a game, Andrew Luck ran for a pair of scores last night in Jacksonville and the Colts beat the hapless Jaguars 27-10 for their fourth straight win. That gets Indianapolis to 6-3, tripling their win total from last season.
The Colts defense chipped in, with Darius Butler returning an interception for a score.
Indianapolis scored on three consecutive possessions in the first half, opening a 17-0 lead that started emptying the stands at EverBank Field.
The victory avenges a loss to the Jags back in September. Jacksonville has lost six straight since then, falling to 1-8.
T25 FOOTBALL-FLORIDA ST.-VIRGINIA TECH
Seminole squeaker
BLACKSBURG, Va. (AP) – E.J. Manuel hit Rashad Greene with a slant pass that Greene took 39 yards for a touchdown with 40 seconds to play and No. 8 Florida State survived a scare to beat Virginia Tech 28-22.
The Hokies had gone ahead 22-20 on Cody Journell’s 21-yard field goal with 2:19 remaining.
The Seminoles improve to 9-1 with their fourth straight win. At 6-1 in the ACC, Florida State can clinch a spot in the conference championship game with a win over Maryland next week.
The Hokies lost for the fifth time in six games and at 4-6 need to win their final two games to qualify for a 20th straight bowl appearance.
T25 BASKETBALL-SCHEDULE HIGHLIGHTS
Curtain going up
UNDATED (AP) – A new college basketball season is upon us, and it is a busy opening night. Fifteen of the AP’s preseason Top 25 teams are slated to take the court. There’s a game at a Europe military base, two more aboard Navy ships and another featuring a reshaped national champion playing in a brand new building.
No. 14 Michigan State plays Connecticut at Ramstein Air Base in Kaiserslautern, Germany. It’s the Huskies’ first game since the retirement of coach Jim Calhoun and it marks the first game between Division I teams held in Europe.
Then it’s on to the decks for No. 4 Ohio State against Marquette on the USS Yorktown in Charleston, S.C., and Georgetown facing No. 10 Florida on the USS Bataan in Jacksonville, Fla.
No. 3 Kentucky, the defending national champion with a heralded freshman class, plays Maryland in the first college doubleheader at the new Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
Top-ranked Indiana opens at home against Bryant.
