Hornets match Suns’ offer and retain Gordon
NBA: The New Orleans Hornets matched the Phoenix Suns’ four-year, $58 million offer to Eric Gordon on Saturday, which will keep the restricted free-agent guard in New Orleans.
The Hornets hope the 23-year-old Gordon can be the centerpiece of a rebuilding effort that includes first-overall draft choice Anthony Davis and 10th-overall pick Austin Rivers.
Gordon was limited to nine games last season because of a bruised right knee that required minor surgery. However, he averaged a team-high 20.6 points, and New Orleans was 6-3 when he played.
• Pistons sign 6-11 Ukrainian Vyacheslav Kravtsov: The Detroit Pistons have added Vyacheslav Kravtsov with a multiyear contract.
Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars said Kravtsov has good rebounding and shot-blocking ability.
The 6-foot-11 Kravtsov has played for the Ukrainian national team since 2006. He averaged 10.6 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.6 blocks in the Ukrainian Superleague last season.
• Bobcats awarded center Haywood off waivers: The Charlotte Bobcats have been awarded center Brendan Haywood off waivers from Dallas.
Haywood, who grew up in Greensboro, N.C., and played collegiately at North Carolina – the same alma mater as owner Michael Jordan – was cut loose by the Mavericks using the amnesty clause.
• Irving breaks hand: Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving broke his right hand during a practice in Las Vegas and could be sidelined two months.
The team said Irving injured his hand slapping the padding on a wall at the team’s practice site.
• Trail Blazers sign second- round pick Barton: The Portland Trail Blazers signed rookie forward Will Barton. The team selected the 6-foot-6 swingman from Memphis in the second round of last month’s NBA draft.
Top seed Isner reaches Newport final
Men’s tennis: Top seed and defending champ John Isner advanced to the final at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, R.I., by beating Ryan Harrison 7-6 (4), 6-3.
Isner will face Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt in the title match today. Hewitt defeated American Rajeev Ram 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
• Ferrer, Almagro to meet in Swedish Open final: Former champions David Ferrer of Spain and his countryman Nicolas Almagro advanced to the Swedish Open final in Stockholm.
No. 1 seed Ferrer topped Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov 6-3, 7-5 and No. 2 seed Almagro ousted Jan Hajek 6-4, 6-3. Ferrer and Amagro will meet in today’s final.
Capriati headlines ’12 Hall of Fame class
Women’s tennis: Jennifer Capriati and several others were inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame during a 90-minute ceremony in Newport, R.I.
Joining Capriati were recently retired player Gustavo Kuerten, master player Manuel Orantes, tennis industry executive Mike Davies and wheelchair champion Randy Snow, who was honored posthumously.
Montana quarterback Kemp suspended
Miscellany: University of Montana football coach Mike Delaney said quarterback Gerald Kemp has only been indefinitely suspended from the team, not dismissed as the school said a day earlier.
The first-year coach said the suspension was his decision and has nothing to do with Kemp’s arrest in October.
Police used a stun gun to subdue Kemp and another player as officers tried to break up a loud party. Both Kemp and cornerback Trumaine Johnson pleaded no contest in December to disorderly conduct charges.
• German league president calls on Blatter to resign: The head of Germany’s soccer league has called on FIFA’s president to resign over a bribery scandal.
Bundesliga president Reinhard Rauball told Germany’s Welt Online that FIFA chief Sepp Blatter should step down so that soccer’s governing body can make a fresh start.
Blatter has acknowledged he knew about payments by marketing agency ISL to former FIFA chief Joao Havelange but insisted they were legal in Switzerland in the 1990s.
• Olympic champion skier Sixten Jernberg dies at 83: Sixten Jernberg, a four-time Olympic champion who also captured four gold medals at world championships during his cross country skiing career, died after a nearly year-long battle with cancer. He was 83.
Jernberg’s son, Edy, said the skier passed away early Saturday at a hospital in his hometown of Dalarna in central Sweden.
Jernberg won a total of nine Olympic medals, capturing the first of his four golds in the 50-kilometer race at the Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo in Italy in 1956.
• Frank Burns, who played football for Rutgers and went on to become the school’s all-time winningest coach, died.
He was 84. Burns played quarterback for Rutgers from 1945-48, finishing with 30 touchdown passes. He coached the Scarlet Knights for 11 seasons from 1973-83, finishing with a 78-43-1 record.
Lemaitre wins at wet London Grand Prix
Track and field: Christophe Lemaitre shrugged off damp and dismal conditions to win the 200 meters at the London Grand Prix in London, while Blessing Okagbare upstaged the Olympic and world champions in the women’s 100.
Lemaitre of France won at the Crystal Palace Diamond League meet in a personal best for the season of 19.91 seconds.
Source: Raiders, Branch agree on deal
NFL: Oakland and safety Tyvon Branch have agreed to a new four-year contract that gives the franchise financial flexibility and the team’s leading tackler the stability he has wanted.
CBS Sports reported the deal is worth $26.6 million with $17.1 million guaranteed.
Point of Entry wins Man o’ War Stakes
Horse racing: Point of Entry extended his winning streak to three with the biggest score of his career, a 3 1/2 length victory over Center Divider in the $600,000 Man o’ War Stakes at Belmont Park in New York.
Point of Entry had a perfect trip, sitting second behind the pacesetting Center Divider. The 4-year-old trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey and ridden by Jose Lezcano pulled clear in midstretch for his fifth win in 12 starts.
• Switch wins A Gleam to earn Breeders’ Cup berth: Switch rallied in the stretch to win the $200,000 A Gleam Handicap by 1 3/4 lengths and earn a berth in the Breeders’ Cup, giving trainer John Sadler a sweep of the three graded stakes at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif.
One race earlier, Lady of Shamrock found an opening along the rail and drove through to win the $350,000 American Oaks for Sadler.