BASKETBALL
Mac McClung hit a long 3-pointer with 2.6 seconds left as the Delaware Blue Coats rallied in the fourth quarter to beat the Maine Celtics 125-123 Tuesday night at Wilmington, Delaware.
The Blue Coats, who had lost two straight to Maine, outscored the Celtics 38-23 in the fourth quarter.
Luka Samanic, who had a season-high 35 points, gave Maine a 123-122 lead with a 3-pointer, but the Blue Coats came down to win the game.
Maine lost for just the second time this season in nine games.
Julian Champagnie led Delaware with 34 points.
WNBA: The Connecticut Sun hired Darius Taylor as the team’s general manager and added assistant GM to Morgan Tuck’s title.
Taylor takes over for Curt Miller, who served as Connecticut’s coach and general manager before he left to take the coaching job with Los Angeles last month.
Taylor had been with Atlanta since 2017, rising from assistant coach to interim head coach and assistant GM in 2021.
GOLF
HERO WORLD CHALLENGE: Tiger Woods painted an uncertain picture about how much golf he can play, saying that “I don’t have much left in this leg.”
Woods is at Albany Golf Club in Nassau, Bahamas, strictly as the tournament host. He had to withdraw on Monday because of plantar fasciitis in his right foot that makes it too difficult to walk over 72 holes, even on a relatively flat course for a holiday event.
Woods said he was posting low scores at home in Florida while riding in a cart. And his next two events – a made-for-TV match over 12 holes on Dec. 10, and the PNC Championship with his son the following weekend – allow for carts.
“I can hit the golf ball and hit whatever shot you want,” he said. “I just can’t walk.”
He said the plantar fasciitis was related to injuries he suffered in the Los Angeles car crash in February 2021, which ended any hope of him playing on a regular basis.
TENNIS
DAVIS CUP: U.S. Davis Cup team coaches Mardy Fish and Bob Bryan were fined $10,000 apiece for promoting a gambling operator via social media.
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) announced the punishments, saying Fish and Bryan cooperated fully with its investigation and removed the problematic posts immediately.
They were given four-month bans that were provisionally set aside and will be enforced only if there is another breach by Fish or Bryan during a four-month probationary period that began on Nov. 11.
“Bob and I did a DraftKings promo during the U.S. Open that we were unaware we weren’t allowed to do,” Fish wrote in an email to The Associated Press. “As soon as we found out, I deleted the posts and cooperated with the ITIA.”
BASEBALL
MAJORS: Jose Abreu and the World Series champion Astros agreed to a $58.5 million, three-year contract, adding another powerful bat to Houston’s lineup.
Abreu, the 2020 AL MVP, gets $19.5 million in each of the next three seasons.
• The Pittsburgh Pirates have signed veteran first baseman/designated hitter Carlos Santana to a 1-year contract.
The deal is worth $6.75 million.
The arrival of the 36-year-old gives the young Pirates an experienced hitter who the team hopes will serve as a role model in 2023.
• Infielder Jeimer Candelario agreed to a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals, giving the club someone to compete for the starting job at third base.
The 29-year-old Candelario is a switch-hitter who is coming off a down year for the Detroit Tigers, hitting just .217 with a .272 on-base percentage in 2022.
But in 2021, he tied for the major league lead with 42 doubles and batted .271 with a .351 on-base percentage, 16 homers and a career-best 67 RBI.
• The Major League Baseball Players Association voted to extend the contract of executive director Tony Clark through 2027.
The 50-year-old Clark – who had a 15-year big league career, mostly with the Tigers and Diamondbacks – helped broker the players’ current labor deal with MLB. After several contentious months of negotiations, the MLBPA and MLB agreed to the new deal in March, which saved a full 162-game season.
The five-year extension means Clark is in position to lead the players through their next deal, too. The current contract is set to expire after the 2026 season.
Clark has had a busy last few years, helping guide the players through the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season. He also helped the union add thousands of more players after the minor leagues voted to join the MLBPA earlier this year.
AUTO RACING
FORMULA ONE: Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto is leaving the team at the end of next month after four years in which they often struggled to keep up with Formula One’s leaders.
Binotto has been with Ferrari for 28 years and took over the team principal role in 2019.
The team was winless in 2020 and 2021, but started 2022 promisingly as Charles Leclerc won two of the opening three races, only for his title challenge to fizzle out as Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the championship with ease.
Ferrari came under criticism for blunders in its pit and tire strategies during Binotto’s time in charge. A botched pit stop at the Dutch Grand Prix in September saw only three tires initially fitted to Carlos Sainz Jr.’s car and was seen as a symbol of Ferrari’s difficulties.
Ferrari did not immediately name a successor but said its choice “is expected to be finalized in the new year.”
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