National Sports Briefs

Published 12:00 am Saturday, October 25, 2008

Associated Press
HAMPTON, Ga. ó Ryan Newman passed Ron Hornaday in Turn 2 on the last lap at Atlanta Motor Speedway to win in his first Truck Series start.
Hornaday, who started the day trailing Johnny Benson by 65 points in the standings, trimmed the lead to 31 with three races to go. A victory would have given Hornaday an additional 10 points, but he didn’t fault Newman for not giving him the win.
DUKE HOOPS
DURHAM ó Kyle Singler and Elliot Williams each scored 15 points to lead Duke past Virginia Union 114-50 on Saturday in an exhibition game at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Gerald Henderson and Miles Plumlee added 14 points apiece for the Blue Devils, who had six players score in double figures.
Duke plays its final exhibition against Lenoir-Rhyne on Nov. 5 and opens the regular season five days later against Presbyterian in the 2K Sports Classic Benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer.
GOLF
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. ó Kevin Sutherland shot a 7-under 63 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead over George McNeill after the third round of the Frys.com Open, the fifth of the PGA Tour’s seven Fall Series events.
– SAN ANTONIO ó Jeff Sluman moved into position for his third Champions Tour victory of the season, shooting a 7-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead over defending champion John Cook and Mark James in the AT&T Championship.
– MADRID, Spain ó Seve Ballesteros underwent a third operation for a brain tumor that was completed without complications.
NBA
NEW YORK ó A suburban police chief likened the conflicting accounts of an accidental overdose at Isiah Thomas’ home to a “cover-up” and rebuked the former New York Knicks coach Saturday for saying it was his teenage daughter who required treatment.
“It wasn’t his daughter,” Harrison Police Chief David Hall told The Associated Press. “And why they’re throwing her under the bus is beyond my ability to understand.”
Authorities were called early Friday to Thomas’ Westchester County home, where police said a 47-year-old man was taken to the hospital and treated for an overdose of sleeping pills. Several media outlets reported that police confirmed it was Thomas who went to the hospital.
NFL
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. ó New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress was fined $45,000 by the NFL for verbally abusing an official and tossing a ball into the stands during last weekend’s game against San Francisco.
BASEBALL
PHILADELPHIA ó At press time, Game 3 of the World Series between the Tampa Bay Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies was not complete.
– Game 2 of the World Series was a thud on television.
The Tampa Bays Rays’ 4-2 victory Thursday night received an 8.1 fast national rating and 13 share on Fox, the network said Friday. That is the second-lowest rating for a Series game, ahead of only the 8.0 for the St. Louis Cardinals’ 7-2 win over the Detroit Tigers in the 2006 opener.