In brief: Kong playing hoops in Canada

College basketball: Former Gonzaga Bulldogs forward Bol Kong has returned to Canada to continue his basketball career.

Kong is playing for Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Edmonton. He withdrew from GU summer school classes in July. Kong is eligible immediately at NAIT, which is roughly comparable to an NCAA Division II program, head coach Don Phillips said.

Phillips knew Kong, who was born in Sudan but spent most of his life in Canada, before he joined Gonzaga’s program. Kong played in 31 games, scoring in double figures six times, in his only season with the Bulldogs.

“There’s probably not a college in Canada that wouldn’t want him, but what I’ve tried to hammer home is the athlete-student approach is done,” Phillips said. “It has to be student-athlete first.”

Jim Meehan

WAC sues Nevada, Fresno

Colleges: The Western Athletic Conference has filed a lawsuit to force Nevada and Fresno State to stay in the league through the 2011-12 school year before leaving for the Mountain West Conference.

WAC commissioner Karl Benson said Tuesday on a conference call that the league filed a complaint last week in Jefferson County District Court in Colorado.

“The damages the WAC could incur if Fresno State and Nevada left early are very, very significant,” Benson said. “That’s what has driven this: to protect the assets of the WAC as a corporate entity.”

Benson said WAC bylaws state members must inform the conference they are leaving for another league by July 1 or that departing member is obligated to stay through the next two school years.

Nevada and Fresno State announced they had accepted invitations to the MWC on July 18 and both have indicated they would like to leave the WAC and be in their new conference for the 2011 football season.

The Tri-Cities Fever signed head coach Adam Shackleford to a three-year contract extension that keeps him with the Indoor Football League team through the 2013 season.

Terms of the deal were not announced.

Shackleford coached the Spokane Shock in the 2007, ’08 and ’09 seasons.

Tri-City Herald