Boatwright opts out of NBA draft
USC forward Bennie Boatwright announced Thursday that he will withdraw from the NBA draft and return for his junior season. Boatwright’s announcement means the Trojans will return almost all of their roster from last season’s NCAA tournament team.
Previously, forward Chimezie Metu said he would forgo entering the NBA draft and guard Elijah Stewart changed his mind and also opted to return. Only guard Shaqquan Aaron remains declared for the draft, though he hasn’t hired an agent and is eligible to return.
The return of USC’s frontcourt is the best-case scenario for coach Andy Enfield, who has stewarded USC to two straight NCAA tournament appearances despite a roster with a striking absence of depth and experience.
With the core of the Trojans’ roster back, they will be expected to compete for a Pac-12 title. Last season’s top three teams, Arizona, Oregon and UCLA, all saw significant amounts of talent leave for the NBA. against St. Louis and is recovering from surgery to repair his femur.
The 20-year-old Fiala was hit by Blues defenseman Robert Bortuzzo and went hard into the boards behind the St. Louis net at 1:46 of the second period Wednesday night. His injury led to a 17-minute delay while Fiala received medical attention. He was taken off the ice on a stretcher.
Nashville won 4-3 for a 1-0 secondround series lead.
Right tackle Morgan Moses has signed a five-year contract extension with the Washington Redskins. The team did not reveal the deal’s financial terms when it was announced Thursday, before the start of the NFL draft.
The 6-foot-6, 335-pound Moses was a third-round pick out of Virginia in 2014. He has played in 40 regularseason games for the Redskins, including 33 starts — the last 32 in a row.
Maria Sharapova won again to reach the quarterfinals of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, while another major obstacle to a deep run departed. Two-time defending champion Angelique Kerber, who was opposed to Sharapova’s receiving a wild-card entry, was upset by Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-2, 7-5.
Sharapova advanced earlier by defeating fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova 7-5, 6-1 in her second match after a 15-month doping ban.
The Russian, who tested positive for meldonium at last year’s Australian Open, wrapped up the win with two straight aces to raise her total for the tournament to 20.
The five-time Grand Slam champion and former No. 1, who lost her ranking due to the suspension and entered the event on a wild card, will play 73rd-ranked Anett Kontaveit of Estonia for a place in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, Eugenie Bouchard ,a 2014 Wimbledon finalist from Canada who is playing this week in Istanbul, called Sharapova a cheater and criticized the wild-card entries given to the Russian.
“I don’t think that’s right,” Bouchard told Turkish broadcaster TRT World. “She is a cheater and so, to me, I don’t think a cheater in any sport should be allowed to play that sport again.”
In Spain, defending champion Rafael Nadal defeated Kevin Anderson 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals of the Barcelona Open. Andy Murray struggled but got past Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-4.