UI basketball brings in transfer
The University of Idaho men’s basketball team has added Mitchell Johnson, a transfer from Division II Franklin Pierce College. Vandal fans will have to wait until 2006 to see the 6-5, 195-pound Johnson in action as he sits out the mandatory season.
Johnson, who initially signed with the University of New Orleans before attending Franklin Pierce, was a member of the Bahamian Junior National Team.
At Franklin Pierce last season, he averaged 14.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. He shot 36 percent from 3-point range – and made 81 – as he reached double figures in 20 of 28 games.
Johnson is a native of the Bahamas and is a 2004 graduate of Cushing Academy at Ashburnham, Mass.
Baseball
Gonzaga lost the first game of a pivotal four-game West Coast Conference series, 3-0, to Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles.
With the loss the Bulldogs drop to 28-23 overall and 15-12 in the WCC. The Zags still need to win two of the remaining three games to capture the WCC Coast Division crown over LMU. With the win the Lions improve to 27-25 overall and 15-12 in the WCC and are now in a tie with the Bulldogs for first place in the division.
The Lions got on the board quickly as they scored two runs in the first inning on Jon Oller’s two-run single to right center field. LMU its other run in the sixth inning on Kyle Mura’s RBI double.
The Bulldogs and Lions play a doubleheader today.
•UCLA starting pitcher Hector Ambriz gave up two runs over 81/3 to lead the Bruins past Washington State 4-3 in a Pacific-10 baseball game in Pullman.
Ambriz (3-6) threw 138 pitches, scattered eight hits, struck out four and walked four. UCLA is 14-36, 3-16. WSU fell to 20-33, 0-19.
The three-game Pac-10 series continues Saturday at 1 p.m.
Football
Washington State running back Kevin McCall reached an agreement to plead guilty for fourth-degree assault with sexual motivation, days before his trial on a charge of third-degree rape was set to begin.
McCall pleaded guilty to the new, lesser charge on Thursday with the trial scheduled for Monday.
Instead, the 19-year-old will have a sentencing hearing Monday in Colfax.
Fourth-degree assault is a gross misdemeanor and carries a maximum prison term of one year.
“I can’t say I’m excited about it, but the victim was worn out and didn’t want it to go any further,” Whitman County Chief Deputy Prosecutor Carol LaVerne said Friday confirming the outcome.