Briefly

Dave Bliss was hired as the coach of the Continental Basketball Association’s Dakota Wizards on Friday, two years after he quit as Baylor’s coach amid a scandal after a player was shot to death.

“I made a mistake and I’m grateful for the second chance,” Bliss told The Associated Press before a news conference. “I’m humbled about what I did. Selfishness and ambition played a large role in what I did.”

Bliss and athletic director Tom Stanton resigned from Baylor in August 2003, two months after the death of player Patrick Dennehy. Former teammate Carlton Dotson pleaded guilty in June to killing Dennehy and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.

Baylor found that Bliss improperly paid up to $40,000 in tuition for Dennehy and another player, and that the coaching staff had not reported players’ failed drug tests. Bliss also asked players and an assistant coach to lie to investigators by saying Dennehy paid his tuition by dealing drugs.

•Andy Kennedy was hired as interim head coach at Cincinnati, two days after Bob Huggins was forced out as the Bearcats’ basketball coach. Kennedy had been Huggins’ top assistant and served as recruiting coordinator the past four years.

•Bob Hill, former head coach of the San Antonio Spurs and Indiana Pacers, joined the Seattle SuperSonics’ coaching staff as an assistant. Ralph Lewis also was hired as an assistant under new Sonics head coach Bob Weiss.

•The United States lost to Canada 92-76 in the World Championship qualifying tournament in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Lynn Greer led the Americans with 21 points, and Alex Scales added 11. Denham Brown scored 28 points and Juan Mendez had 21 for Canada.

•Dikembe Mutombo signed a two-year deal with the Houston Rockets and plans to retire after the 2006-07 season.

Tennis

Davenport moves up to No. 1

Lindsay Davenport reclaimed the top spot in women’s tennis, beating Russia’s Anna Chakvetadze 6-3, 6-3 to advance to the final of the Pilot Pen in New Haven, Conn., against France’s Amelie Mauresmo.

The win guarantees that Davenport will regain the No. 1 spot when the new rankings come out Monday. She had lost the top spot this week to Maria Sharapova.

•Two tennis umpires have filed a lawsuit alleging that the sport’s international and national governing organizations discriminated against them after they complained that blacks and females were not treated fairly on the job.

The lawsuit against the International Tennis Federation and the U.S. Tennis Association was filed in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Thursday on behalf of Cecil Holland, 47, of Queens, N.Y., and Sande French, 47, of Albion, Calif.

According to the lawsuit, Holland and French, who are black, and other minority umpires have been subjected to racial slurs while they faced limited opportunities in a hostile work environment.

Miscellany

Armstrong gets American support

Lance Armstrong received strong backing from cycling’s domestic governing body, which said accusations against the seven-time Tour de France champion are “completely without credibility.”

Armstrong has denied reports in the French media this week that he used a banned blood booster in his first tour victory in 1999. The sports newspaper L’Equipe reported that new tests on six urine samples Armstrong provided during the 1999 tour resulted in positive results for the red blood cell-booster EPO.

•From the frantic moments after 19-year-old Aaron O’Neal’s death in July to the preseason practices leading to their first game next week, Missouri football players have publicly stood united in support of the program.

But Boone County medical examiner Valerie Rao – who interviewed 10 of O’Neal’s teammates as part of her autopsy investigation – heard a different story. According to copies of her interview notes obtained by The Associated Press through a request under Missouri’s open records law, several players openly questioned the response by trainers and strength coaches once O’Neal showed signs of trouble.

Three of the Tiger players interviewed by Rao identified sports medicine director Rex Sharp as the unnamed staff member in Rao’s autopsy report who concluded that “there was nothing that could be done” when summoned by head conditioning coach Pat Ivey to help O’Neal during the July 12 voluntary workout.

•The entire Winthrop men’s soccer team has been suspended at least two games for its involvement in an off-campus gathering with underage drinking.

Each of the 27 players will be suspended for two to four games, and players will serve suspensions in groups, possibly five or six at a time, to avoid forfeiting games, athletic department spokesman Jack Frost said.

•Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele set a world record in the 10,000 meters at the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels, Belgium, while American sprinter Justin Gatlin fought back from a slow start to win the 100.

Running on his own for almost half the race, Bekele finished the race in 26 minutes, 17.53 seconds, faster than his time in Ostrava in June 2004 by 2.78 seconds.

Gatlin rallied to take the 100 in 9.99 seconds, beating France’s Ronald Pognon and Jamaica’s Dwight Thomas. Maurice Greene finished last in a disappointing 10.56.

•Softball came within one vote of staying in the Olympics after 2008, according to results of last month’s secret International Olympic Committee ballot.

The sport received 52 votes in favor and 52 against, with one abstention, in the July 8 IOC vote in Singapore, said International Softball Federation president Don Porter.

Softball needed a majority of 53 votes to stay on the Olympic program. Instead, it was dropped from the 2012 London Games, along with baseball.