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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

In brief: Klitschko retains title with knockout

Wladimir Klitschko knocked out Eddie Chambers in Duesseldorf, Germany, to retain his WBO and IBF heavyweight belts.  (Associated Press)
From Staff And Wire Reports

Boxing: Wladimir Klitschko knocked out Eddie Chambers in the 12th and final round to retain his WBO and IBF heavyweight belts in Duesseldorf, Germany.

The taller, heavier Klitschko dominated the fight and ended it with a left hook 5 seconds before the final bell. The American went down heavily and needed a couple of minutes to recover. The referee never bothered to count.

The 33-year-old Ukrainian improved to 53-3 and scored his 48th K.O. Chambers lost for the second time in 37 fights.

Klitschko caught Chambers with a big right that nearly floored him late in the second round. Chambers staggered but survived the round by clinging onto Klitschko.

Drew shoots Tar Heels past Bulldogs

College men: Larry Drew II hit a shot over Jarvis Varnado with 2 seconds to play, giving North Carolina a 76-74 victory over Mississippi State in Starkville, Miss., in the second round of the NIT.

Drew drove to the basket and was able to get the shot over the 6-9 Varnado, the NCAA’s career leader in blocks.

Will Graves made a contested 3-pointer with 31 seconds left to give North Carolina (18-16) a 74-72 lead. Barry Stewart tied it for the Bulldogs (24-12) with two free throws, setting the stage for Drew’s game-winner.

Wisconsin-Stevens Point wins D-III: Jared Jenkins finished with 17 points and Matt Moses scored 22 to help the Pointers (29-4) to a 78-73 win over Williams College (30-2) in Salem, Va., for Wisconsin-Stevens Point’s third Division III title in seven years.

The Pointers came back from 10 points down with 11 minutes to go. Jenkins capped the run with a 3-pointer and a three-point play.

Washington U. earns crown

College women: Washington University won its fifth Division III women’s title since 1998 with a 65-59 victory over Hope College (32-2) in Bloomington, Ill.

Alex Hoover scored 18 points, and Jaimie McFarlin had 15 rebounds and 14 points for the Bears (29-2).

Roddick, Ljubicic to square off in finals

Tennis: Andy Roddick outlasted Robin Soderling 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to make the BNP Paribas Open final in Indian Wells, Calif., for the first time.

The American will play for the title today against Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia, who rode his big serve to a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (1) victory over defending champion Rafael Nadal – the first time in 26 years that both men’s semifinals went three sets.

Furyk leads the field at Transitions

Golf: Jim Furyk played bogey-free with a round almost as flawless as the Florida weather, finishing off a 4-under 67 to build a three-shot lead at the Transitions Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla., as he tries to win for the first time since the 2007 Canadian Open.

Furyk was at 11-under 202, with a strong group of contenders behind him. Defending champion Retief Goosen birdied the last hole of a roller-coaster round that gave him a 1-under 70, part of four-way tie for second.

Ice Box uses late push at Florida Derby

Horse racing: Ice Box, a 20-1 long shot, rallied from last entering the final turn to win the $750,000 Florida Derby by a nose over Pleasant Prince, another long shot, at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

Favorite Rule finished third. Lentenor, a full-brother to the late 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, finished fourth.

Brandenburg second at U.S. Alpine

Skiing: Keely Kelleher and Travis Ganong both topped fields brimming with U.S. Olympians to win super-G titles at the U.S. Alpine Championships. Ganong won the men’s super-G in 1:05.43 against a field of 65 skiers. Will Brandenburg of Spokane was men’s runner-up in 1:06.20.

Kelleher, of Big Sky, Mont., finished in 1 minute, 6.31 seconds on Draper’s Drop at Whiteface Mountain near Lake Placid, N.Y.

With temperatures nearing 50 degrees, later skiers had to deal with soft snow and a track that rutted quickly.

Kokubo, Clark win U.S. championships

Snowboarding: Iouri Podladtchikov pulled off Shaun White’s signature move, the double McTwist 1260, twice during the U.S. Open snowboarding championship in Stratton, Vt., and still came up short in the halfpipe competition.

Podladtchikov finished third behind Kazuhiro Kokubo of Japan and Louie Vito of the U.S.

In the women’s competition, Americans took the top three spots, with Kelly Clark winning the day with 94.17 points.

Red Bulls christen new stadium with win

Miscellany: Joel Lindpere, Mike Petke and Dane Richards scored first-half goals to lead New York over Brazil’s Santos 3-1 in an exhibition that opened $200 million Red Bull Arena at Harrison, N.J in front of a sellout crowd of 25,000.

Florida women win NCAA swimming: Florida won its first women’s swimming and diving NCAA championship since 1982, holding off Stanford by 2 1/2 points at West Lafayette, Ind., in the second-closest finish in the history of the competition.