Sports Briefs April 19, 2011
Basketball
Washington State guard Klay Thompson announced Monday he will forgo his senior season and enter the NBA draft, and the only likely scenario in which he'd return to school is if Thompson doesn't believe he'll be a first-round pick.
Thompson said he believes he'll be a first-round pick and therefore have a guaranteed contract. But that uncertainty is why the leading scorer in the Pac-10 Conference last season is holding off on hiring an agent until he gets more feedback from NBA personnel.
"We'll see when we go to these workouts," Thompson said. "First round, that would be hard to turn down. ... If I feel right and my game is ready I'll make the jump."
Thompson was a first-team all-Pac-10 selection after averaging nearly 22 points per game in his junior season in Pullman.
• North Carolina's Harrison Barnes will return for his sophomore season instead of declaring for the NBA draft.
Barnes was the Atlantic Coast Conference rookie of the year, averaging nearly 16 points. The 6-foot-8 forward was widely regarded as the nation's top freshman entering the season and helped the Tar Heels win 29 games and the ACC regular-season championship before falling a win short of the Final Four.
Baseball
Former North Idaho College standout Jason Bay's minor league rehabilitation assignment has been extended by two more games by the New York Mets.
Bay, on the DL since spring training with a strained left rib cage, began his rehab assignment Saturday and had hoped to rejoin the Mets for today's homestand opener against Houston. He is now expected to be activated for Thursday's game against the Astros.
Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider said he would like to "move back" from having the 25th pick in next week's NFL draft to help stockpile picks in the middle rounds.
Schneider spoke as he prepared for his second draft in charge of the Seahawks.
Seattle is without a third-round pick and with plenty of holes to fill. Most of the attention has focused on the Seahawks potentially taking a quarterback with its first pick considering the questions about the possible return of Matt Hasselbeck, who is a free agent.
NHL playoffs
Flyers 4, Sabres 2: Brian Boucher stopped 35 shots and Philadelphia won at Buffalo.
Bruins 4, Canadiens 2: David Krejci and Nathan Horton scored first-period goals to lead visiting Boston over Montreal.
Penguins 3, Lightning 2: Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 25 shots, helping visiting Pittsburgh hold off Tampa Bay.
Red Wings 4, Coyotes 3: Ruslan Salei and Drew Miller had goals to help Detroit win at Phoenix.
Running
Kenya's Geoffrey Mutai ran the fastest 26.2 miles in history to win the Boston Marathon. Then his claim to a world record was swallowed up by the hills.
Not the inclines of Heartbreak Hill that have doomed so many runners before him.
It was the downhill part of the race that makes his time of 2 hours, 3 minutes, 2 seconds ineligible for an official world record.
Caroline Kilel won the women's race to complete the Kenyan sweep.
Volleyball
U.S. Olympic volleyball player Stacy Sykora is eating without the aid of a feeding tube and has taken her first walk around the hospital since seriously injuring her head in a bus crash last week in Brazil.
- The Associated Press