Sports Briefs March 15, 2011
Basketball
Oklahoma fired coach Jeff Capel on Monday after he followed a trip to the NCAA tournament's regional finals with the program's first back-to-back losing seasons since 1967.
Capel was 96-69 in five seasons with the Sooners, but just 27-36 over the past two after Blake Griffin entered the NBA draft early and became the No. 1 overall pick.
• Tia Jackson is out as womens basketball coach at Washington, going 45-75 in four seasons.
• Lamar University has fired Steve Roccaforte as men's basketball coach after a 13-17 season and a 76-78 five-season tenure.
• Loyola of Chicago has fired basketball coach Jim Whitesell, who led the Ramblers to a 109-107 record in seven seasons.
Baseball
Adam Kennedy drove in two runs with a sixth-inning single for Seattle, an inning after Chone Figgins doubled in the go-ahead run in the Mariners' 5-3 win over the Chicago Cubs at Peoria, Ariz.
• Seattle left-hander Nate Robertson will have arthroscopic surgery to remove loose bodies from his pitching elbow.
The team announced that the 33-year-old Robertson, who signed a minor league contract with Seattle in January, is expected to resume throwing in four weeks. He was 0-1 in three appearances (two starts) with a 7.71 ERA in spring training.
Robertson has had previous operations on his left elbow. He's a nine-year major league veteran, with most of that time spent with Detroit.
Heat 110, Spurs 80: Chris Bosh scored 30 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Dwyane Wade scored 29 and host Miami avenged its worst loss of the season by rolling past San Antonio.
Rockets 95, Suns 93: Kevin Martin scored 23 points and host Houston snapped a seven-game losing streak to Phoenix.
Nets 88, Celtics 79: At Newark, N.J., Brook Lopez scored 20 points and New Jersey beat Boston, extending its longest winning streak in three years to five games.
Thunder 116, Wizards 89: Kevin Durant scored 32 points to help visiting Oklahoma City past Washington.
Nuggets 114, Hornets 103: Ty Lawson scored 23 points and visiting Denver combined for 17 3-pointers to beat New Orleans.
Grizzlies 105, Clippers 82: Zach Randolph had 30 points and 12 rebounds to help host Memphis over Los Angeles.
Jazz 112, Sixers 107, OT: At Salt Lake City, Andrei Kirilenko scored seven of his 16 points in overtime to lead Utah over Philadelphia.
Kings 129, Warriors 119: Marcus Thornton scored 42 points and to help lift host Sacramento over Golden State.
Lakers 97, Magic 84: Pau Gasol scored 23 points and host Los Angeles beat Orlando.
Blackhawks 6, Sharks 3: Marian Hossa scored two power-play goals to help host Chicago past San Jose.
Lightning 6, Maple Leafs 2: Dwayne Roloson made 30 saves as visiting Tampa Bay dealt a blow to Toronto's playoff hopes.
Canucks 4, Wild 2: Raffi Torres, Daniel Sedin and Ryan Kesler scored to help Vancouver past Minnesota.
Dog Sled Racing
John Baker was leading in what could turn out to be an Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race record-breaker as he turned his team toward Nome and familiar territory for the Alaska native musher along the western coast.
- The Associated Press