Coach admits player bit foe
In one of the strangest moments of the season in college basketball, a player was ejected from Saturday’s Houston-Cincinnati game after referees determined he bit an opponent during a scramble for the ball.
In the closing minutes a 64-62 road loss to Cincinnati, Houston’s DeJon Jarreau dove for a loose ball and landed at the feet of Cincinnati’s Keith Williams. Jarreau’s face appeared to make contact with the back of Williams’ left leg as he was on the floor, and Williams fell as Jarreau kept wrestling for the ball. Cincinnati reserve Mamoudou Diarra dived in as well, and Jarreau’s face made contact with his leg too.
“In the initial video clip I requested and saw immediately after Saturday’s game at Cincinnati, I did not believe there was a bite on Keith Williams,” Houston coach Sampson said in a statement. “After further reviews from multiple angles, it can clearly be seen that DeJon Jarreau bit Mamoudou Diarra.”
NBA
Kyrie Irving will miss at least a week with a sprained medial ligament in his right knee.
The Brooklyn Nets star had an MRI exam Sunday that confirmed the team’s diagnosis after he was injured Saturday in Washington
Irving got hurt in the fourth quarter of a 113-107 loss, when he and Wizards guard Bradley Beal got tangled battling for a loose ball and Irving’s knee twisted as he landed on the court. He stayed down for a couple of minutes before remaining in the game for the jump ball — in which he didn’t jump — and then left the court and went to the locker room
Irving previously missed 26 games in his first season in Brooklyn with a right shoulder injury.
SPEEDSKATING
American women added two gold medals and a bronze on the final day of the Four Continents Speedskating Championship, the first international competition at the Pettit National Ice Center since 2005.
Brianna Bocox won the women’s 1,000 meters with a time of 1 minute 15.537 seconds, her personal best, and joined with Mia Kilburg and Paige Schwartzburg in winning the team pursuit. Bocox finished the three-day competition with two individual golds (1,500 Saturday and 1,000) as well as the team pursuit.
Kilburg entered the day with two individual golds (3,000 Friday and mass start Saturday) and finished third in the 1,000. She, Bocox and Schwartzburg set a time of 3:02.559 in the team pursuit to beat the second-place Canadians by more than 6 seconds.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Lauren Van Kleunen’s hook shot with 0.7 seconds left gave Marquette a 52-50 victory over Big East rival Creighton.
Sophomore guard Selena Lott scored all 15 of her points in the second half while Jordan King (11 points) and Van Kleunen (10 points) reached double figures. Lott tallied a team-high five assists while Isabelle Spingola led the team with nine rebounds.
Van Kleunen’s game-winner gave host Marquette (17-5, 8-3 Big East) its fifth straight victory
Wisconsin 73, Illinois 64: Senior Abby Lazewski scored 16 points to lead the Badgers.
Imani Lewis added 11 points and has scored in double figures in 12 straight games.
Visting UW (11-11, 3-8 Big Ten) outscored the Illini 25-11 in the second quarter. Lazewski also swatted a pair of shots and is fifth all-time at Wisconsin in career blocks with 105.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE HOCKEY
Eight Badgers scored in Wisconsin’s 11-1 victory over St. Cloud State in Madison.
Britta Curl, Delaney Drake and Sophie Shirley scored twice for No. 1 ranked UW (25-2-1, 15-2-1-0 WCHA).
SKIING
Federica Brignone won a women’s World Cup super-G after overall leader Mikaela Shiffrin sat out the race, strengthening her runner-up position in the standings. The win left the Italian 270 points short of Shiffrin’s leading tally.
The American three-time overall champion decided to skip the races in the 2014 Olympic resort after winning the previous super-G and a downhill in Bulgaria a week ago.
With cloudy weather affecting visibility in Rosa Khutor, Russia, Brignone overcame a mistake halfway down the course when she caught a bump and lost half a second.
She quickly rediscovered the ideal race line and won by 0.20 seconds ahead of her Italian teammate Sofia Goggia, who returned after missing the last two races with a right leg injury.
“I had a big fault on the flats but I knew I could do well on the steep,” said Brignone.