Unbeaten Whits return to court

College basketball: No. 2-ranked Whitworth University returns to Whitworth Fieldhouse tonight to open the second half of Northwest Conference play with a matchup against Linfield that tips off at 8.

The Pirates (17-0 overall, 8-0 NWC), have won 28 straight regular-season conference games and disposed of Linfield (8-9, 4-4) by a lopsided 90-57 margin in McMinnville, Ore., in early December.

The Bucs close their brief weekend homestand on Saturday with another 8 p.m. NWC game, this one against 24th-ranked Lewis & Clark (14-3, 7-1), which extended its winning streak to eight with a 73-64 road win over Puget Sound last Saturday.

Whitworth handed LC its only NWC loss, in early December, when it thumped the Pioneers 77-60 in Portland.

Steve Bergum

Lagat after 9th Millrose title

Track and field: Bernard Lagat considered going out on top at the Millrose Games.

The American won the Wanamaker Mile for a record-breaking eighth time last year at the indoor meet in Madison Square Garden. It would’ve been easy to make that his last Millrose appearance, instead of risking a loss by returning to defend his title today.

But the more he thought about it, the 36-year-old former standout at Washington State couldn’t find any reason not to run – or any reason to believe he can’t win again.

He’ll have to beat two-time indoor world champion Deresse Mekonnen of Ethiopia.

“If I lose and don’t get the ninth, I’ll still go home feeling happy,” Lagat said.

A seven-time Olympic and world champ- ionship medalist who’s now focused on the 5,000 meters, Lagat plans to compete at least through the 2012 London Games.

Associated Press

New Mariner arrested on DUI

Baseball: Adam Kennedy, who signed a minor league contract with the Seattle Mariners this month, was contrite Thursday after being arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence on an Orange County, Calif., freeway.

Kennedy told The AP that he was slightly above the legal limit, but that it was “not acceptable to be driving in that situation.”

“It’s not a great way to start off with a new organization,” he said.

He was the ALCS Most Valuable Player for the Angels in 2002.

Associated Press