Posted on Tue, May. 06, 2008

COLLEGES

S. Carolina's Downey faces assault charge

Associated Press

COLUMBIA --

Devan Downey, who led South Carolina's basketball team in scoring last season as a sophomore, has been charged with simple assault.

University spokesman Russ McKinney said the charge stemmed from an argument Downey had with another student on campus last week. Athletics department spokesman Steve Fink said Downey has been suspended from the team.

Downey started every game for the Gamecocks last season, averaging 18.4 points. He was at the Richland County jail Monday night.

• Nate James will be named an assistant coach for Duke's basketball team, sources confirmed for The (Raleigh) News & Observer.

James, a captain on the 2001 NCAA title-winning Duke team, will fill the spot left when associate head coach Johnny Dawkins departed to become Stanford's head coach April 26.

• Jack Rye hit a two-run homer in the third and Buster Posey had three hits to lead Florida State to a 4-2 baseball win at Clemson. FSU (40-7, 22-5 ACC) swept the three-game series from the Tigers (24-23-1, 10-16-1) and clinched the Atlantic Division title.

• Duke's Nate Freiman stretched his hitting streak to 14 games with a home run and a double in the opener, and Jonathan Foreman and Will Currier held Longwood at bay in the nightcap as the host Blue Devils took 6-4 and 10-3 baseball wins.

• In Atlanta, the medical examiner's office said Georgia Tech pitcher Michael Hutts died last month from an accidental drug overdose.

In brief

HIGH SCHOOL: In Colorado, Jobi Wall of Denver's Faith Christian High hit for the cycle and pitched a perfect game Saturday.

A senior right-hander, Wall struck out six batters and retired 15 in a row in a five-inning 18-0 victory against Coal Ridge. At the plate, the left-handed hitter tripled, singled, doubled, then homered in only four innings.

HORSE RACING: The trainer of euthanized filly Eight Belles defended the way jockey Gabriel Saez handled the Kentucky Derby runner-up. Larry Jones said Saez applied the whip only to prevent the filly from crashing into the rail.

In a statement, Saez said Eight Belles never indicated anything was wrong: "All I could sense under me was how eager she was to race."

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called for Saez to be suspended. Eight Belles broke both front ankles while galloping out a quarter-mile past the finish line Saturday.

PETA announced plans to protest the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority today, arguing for major changes.

OLYMPICS: Ex-North Carolina standout Shalane Flanagan was pretty sure she'd run the 5,000 meters at the U.S. Olympic trials this summer. Suddenly, the 10,000 is looking pretty inviting, too.

She broke the U.S. record by 17 seconds in her first 10,000-meter race, a duel Sunday with Kim Smith at the Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational at Stanford. Flanagan's time of 30 minutes, 34.49 seconds was the fastest in the world since 2006.