USC point guard gunned down

Southern California freshman point guard Ryan Francis was shot and killed early Saturday while riding in a car in Louisiana, where he was visiting his mother.

The 19-year-old Francis was killed about 3:30 a.m. in Baton Rouge, said Tim Tessalone, USC’s director of sports information.

Francis was among four passengers whose vehicle pulled up to a stoplight. The driver of another vehicle got out and opened fire, said Lt. Keith Bates of the Baton Rouge Police Department. The driver of the car Francis was in attempted to drive away but Francis, who was sitting in the back seat, was shot multiple times.

Bates said no one else in the vehicle was injured.

One person has been arrested, Bates told the Los Angeles Times and The Advocate of Baton Rouge.

Francis was the starting point guard this past season for USC (17-13) and averaged more than seven points a game. He ranked seventh in the Pac-10 in assists (111) and fifth in steals (47).

“We’re all devastated,” said USC coach Tim Floyd. “We’ve lost a special young man who in his short time at USC made an impression that will last forever.”

Tennis

Federer in final

Top-ranked Roger Federer and No. 2 Rafael Nadal will meet for the third time this year in the Rome Masters final today.

Federer advanced to his 13th straight final with an error-filled 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5) win over No. 3 David Nalbandian. Nadal defeated 19-year-old Gael Monfils of France 6-2, 6-2 in the other semifinal.

•Justine Henin-Hardenne defeated top-ranked Amelie Mauresmo 6-1, 6-2 to reach the German Open final in Berlin, where she will meet Nadia Petrova.

Henin-Hardenne needed only 57 minutes to win the most one-sided of her nine meetings with Mauresmo. Mauresmo had already played earlier in the day, beating Martina Hingis in a quarterfinal carried over a day because of darkness.

Petrova routed Li Na of China 6-1, 6-0.

Hockey

U.S. in quarters

Hours after landing in Europe, Patrick O’Sullivan scored the go-ahead goal and the United States held off Latvia 4-2 to clinch a quarterfinal berth in the world ice hockey championships.

O’Sullivan’s 11-hour flight from Houston meant he arrived in Riga, Latvia, only three hours before the game. The Americans, coming off a 4-0 loss to Finland the night before, followed fellow Group E leaders Canada, Finland and the Czech Republic into the quarterfinals.

Soccer

Liverpool wins

Liverpool won its seventh FA Cup title, beating West Ham 3-1 on penalty kicks after rallying from two goals down in Cardiff, Wales. Liverpool previously won the world’s oldest and most famous cup competition in 2001.

•Italian soccer was engulfed by turmoil when a World Cup referee’s accreditation was withdrawn after he was implicated in a game-fixing scandal, and star goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was questioned by prosecutors for suspected illegal betting.

Miscellany

Baffert duo out

Trainer Bob Baffert won’t run Bob and John or Point Determined in next weekend’s Preakness, keeping Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro from a rematch with two of his rivals.

•Rik Verbrugghe beat defending champion Paolo Savoldelli by 14 seconds in Saltara, Italy, to win the seventh stage of cycling’s Giro d’Italia, while Sergiy Honchar regained the overall lead.