Fast Break
College basketball
Winthrop player dies from accident
Winthrop basketball player DeAndre Adams died Wednesday, four days after sustaining head injuries in a car accident.
The 20-year-old guard had been in a coma since the accident Saturday. He was returning home to Austell, Ga., when his car left the road, flipped and hit a tree.
Adams had been in a drug-induced coma for four days at the Atlanta Medical Center before he died, the school said.
Adams, a sophomore, played in all 35 games last season, averaging 2.1 points, 2.8 assists and 1.1 rebounds.
He was in Spokane for the first and second round of the NCAA tournament in March and played 15 minutes in Winthrop’s upset win over Notre Dame in the first round. His exuberance in that win was captured (above) by The Spokesman-Review photographer Brian Plonka. Adams scored three points and collected three assists.
In Winthrop’s loss to Oregon in the second round, Adams played 20 minutes, scored two points and had four assists.
“He had a vibrant personality and he lived his life with great passion and enthusiasm,” Winthrop coach Randy Peele said. “We will miss DeAndre a great deal.”
Horse racing
Slots needed or Preakness ends
With the 132nd Preakness Stakes days away, Gov. Martin O’Malley reiterated that he believes Maryland will eventually lose the Triple Crown race if slot machines are not legalized in the state.
O’Malley has supported allowing a limited number of slot machines to save the horse-racing industry in Maryland since he was mayor of Baltimore. He said the state stands to lose 17,000 racing jobs and horse-related open space if it doesn’t legalize slot machines.
O’Malley said he has long believed horse racing will be lost if “we continue to insist that racing in Maryland has to compete on the unlevel playing field as it does.” He said the problem is that Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia allow slots at their race tracks to build bigger purses.
NBA
D’Antoni blasts suspension ruling
Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw accepted their one-game suspension with little criticism. Their coach had plenty to say.
“You know we do have the most powerful microscopes and telescopes in the world in Arizona,” Phoenix coach Mike D’Antoni said after the Suns’ morning shootaround. “You could use those instruments and not find a shred of fairness or common sense in that decision.”
The NBA suspended Stoudemire and Diaw for Game 5. The two violated an NBA rule by leaving the bench area after Robert Horry’s flagrant foul on Steve Nash in the final seconds of Phoenix’s 104-98 victory in Game 4. Horry was suspended for Game 5 and Friday night’s Game 6.