BASKETBALL
Luka Samanic hit the go-ahead basket with 40 seconds remaining, and the unbeaten Maine Celtics rallied Thursday night for a 105-103 win over the Capital City Go-Go in a G League game at the Portland Expo.
JD Davison, Samanic and Mfiondu Kabengele made 3-pointers during a late 15-2 run by Maine (5-0) that turned a 96-87 deficit into a 102-98 lead. Capital City (4-2) regained the lead at 103-102 on a 3-pointer by Johnny Davis, but Samanic answered with a short hook shot.
Davison sank 1 of 2 free throws and Kabengele missed two with a chance to clinch the win, but the Celtics forced a turnover on Capital City’s final possession.
Samanic led Maine with 24 points and 16 rebounds. Kabengele had 21 points, 13 rebounds and seven blocks, and Davison finished with 20 points.
NBA: X-rays on LaMelo Ball’s left ankle were negative, but the Charlotte Hornets’ All-Star point guard has already been ruled out of Friday night’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Coach Steve Clifford said it is too early to know how much time Ball will miss after spraining the ankle for a second time in a 125-113 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Wednesday night.
GOLF
LPGA: Lydia Ko began her quest for the largest prize in women’s golf history by hitting a tree and making bogey on a par 5. The rest of her opening round in the CME Group Tour Championship couldn’t have gone better.
Ko responded with eight birdies, including four in a row late in the round that sent her to a 7-under 65 and a one-shot lead in the LPGA Tour season finale at Naples, Florida, with a $2 million prize on the line.
Danielle Kang and Pajaree Anannarukarn of Thailand were at 66, Gemma Dryburgh of Scotland and Hyo Joo Kim of South Korea were at 67, and the group at 68 included Nelly Korda and Brooke Henderson.
PGA: Cole Hammer shot an 8-under 64 to take the lead after one round of the RSM Classic at St. Simons Island, Georgia.
Hammer, who graduated from Texas in May, shared the low score with another Longhorn alum, Beau Hossler, whose 6-under 64 came at the Seaside course, which played about two shots more difficult to par than the Plantation course.
TENNIS
ATP: Taylor Fritz advanced to the final four of the ATP Finals by beating Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-2 at the year-end tournament in Turin, Italy.
The American will face five-time champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.
• Player compensation on the ATP Tour and the lower-level ATP Challenger Tour will rise to a record $217.9 million combined in 2023, thanks to a $37.5 million increase that is the largest single-season jump for the men’s tennis circuit.
On-site prize money will go up $18.6 million on the ATP Tour, boosted by the growth of Masters 1000 tournaments in Madrid, Rome and Shanghai from eight- to 12-day events. The Masters 1000s in Canada and Cincinnati will both expand to 12 days in 2025.
The ATP is also increasing its 2023 bonus pools to $21.3 million, an 85% increase from 2022.
WIMBLEDON: Wimbledon is relaxing its requirement for all-white clothing to allow female players to wear colored undershorts to be more comfortable on their periods.
Wimbledon’s strict policy about all-white attire for players is one of the best-known features of the grass-court Grand Slam tournament, but the All England Club said it decided to update the rules after discussions “with the WTA, clothing manufacturers and medical teams on how best to support women and girls competing at the championships.”
The new rules state that women can now “wear solid, mid/dark-colored undershorts provided they are no longer than their shorts or skirt.”
SOCCER
WORLD CUP: Sadio Mane will miss the World Cup because of a leg injury, the Senegalese soccer federation said.
Mane was injured in a German league game between Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen on Nov. 8.
• Jacqui Oatley will become the first woman play-by-play commentator for U.S. World Cup telecasts, heading one of Fox’s five broadcast teams for the tournament in Qatar that opens Sunday.
Pien Meulensteen, Vicki Sparks and Robyn Cowen are among the broadcasters for matches on BBC in Britain.
“Loads of people will have negative comments about women and women commentators and that’s because that’s just the way that they think. They’re not open to hearing anything different,” said Meulensteen, the 25-year-old daughter of former Fulham manager and current Australia assistant coach Rene Meulensteen.
“I’ve loved football since I was a kid. I grew up in a footballing house, My dad works in football. My two brothers play football, and we all talk about the same thing, so why not have a female talking about it?” Pien Meulensteen said. “And I’m hoping in time, as well, that we’ll just be accepted. It won’t be seen as like, `oh, wow, there’s a woman that’s doing commentary.’ This should be a normal thing to have females talking about football, just as much as men.”
Oatley, 47, worked the 2018 World Cup for Britain’s ITV as a studio presenter and sideline reporter. She and Meulensteen have become regulars on the Premier League’s world feed, heard in the U.S. on NBC’s networks.
FIFA: FIFA President Gianni Infantino is getting four more years in charge of soccer’s governing body after no candidate stepped up to challenge him.
FIFA said the 52-year-old Swiss lawyer was the only person to enter the race by the time the deadline passed overnight – exactly four months before election day on March 16 in Kigali, Rwanda.
Infantino won a five-candidate race in 2016 to replace Sepp Blatter, and was re-elected unopposed in 2019. He’s now set to stay in the job beyond the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
AUTO RACING
INDYCAR: Stefan Wilson will attempt to make his fifth Indianapolis 500 next year in a combined entry fielded by Dreyer & Reinbold Racing and Cusick Motorsports.
The British driver will pilot the No. 24 Chevrolet-powered car. Dreyer & Reinbold, which fielded two cars in last year’s 500, still plans on a second entry.
FORMULA ONE: Formula One champion Max Verstappen says he has resolved a conflict involving Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez and is prepared to help him at the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen also hit out at what he said were unfair media reports and abusive messages aimed at his family on social media.
Last Sunday, he refused a team order to let Perez through for sixth place at the Brazilian Grand Prix and said his reasons will “stay between myself and the team.”
“It was about something that happened earlier in the season and I already explained that (at the previous race in) Mexico and the team understood and agreed,” he said.
“Nothing had been said to me about a potential swap” of the positions in advance in Brazil, he said. “I think they should have known my response already from what had been said the week before.”
Since then, Red Bull has held talks to clear the air between the drivers, Verstappen said.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
