Fast Break

NFL

Chargers drop Seahawks late

Backup quarterback Billy Volek threw a 2-point conversion pass to Malcom Floyd in the fourth quarter, giving the San Diego Chargers an 18-17 preseason win over the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night.

Volek’s lob to Floyd followed a 1-yard touchdown run by rookie Jacob Hester that pulled the Chargers to within 17-16 with 2:30 left in the game. The 6-foot-5 Floyd out-jumped Omare Lowe, a 6-1 cornerback, near the left sideline in the end zone for the go-ahead score.

College basketball

Vandals craft hefty slate

The University of Idaho men’s basketball team released an ambitious 2008-2009 schedule under first-year head coach Don Verlin.

The schedule includes matchups with NCAA tournament teams Michigan State, Gonzaga and Washington State. The 30-game regular-season schedule ties it for most in school history.

The Vandals begin the season with a non-conference game at home against Evergreen State on Nov. 14. The WAC schedule begins with Idaho on the road for two games, beginning with Nevada, Jan. 3.

Speaking out

Jackson asks for change

Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson accepted an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, the University of North Dakota, and asked the school to think hard about its Fighting Sioux nickname.

Jackson said he had been asked by his Lakota friends to speak out against the nickname. He said UND has a chance to embrace change.

Under a settlement reached last fall with the NCAA, UND has three years to win the approval of North Dakota’s Sioux tribes if it wants to continue using the name without sanctions. The NCAA considers the name hostile and abusive, but school officials dispute that.