McNamee meets with U.S. attorney in Clemens case

The prosecutor seeking an indictment of Roger Clemens got his first chance to question the former baseball star’s chief antagonist, personal trainer Brian McNamee, during a five-hour session Friday in Washington that included FBI investigators.

McNamee has told federal agents, baseball investigator George Mitchell and a House of Representatives committee that he injected Clemens more than a dozen times with steroids and human growth hormone from 1998-01.

This, however, was McNamee’s initial meeting with Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Butler, who is presenting evidence to the federal grand jury determining whether Clemens should be charged with lying to Congress when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs.

•Yankees, Mets get more money: The New York Yankees and Mets won their fight to get public backing for additional financing for their new ballpark that will save them hundreds of millions of dollars interest payments.

The city’s Industrial Development Agency approved additional public bond requests for the teams, which were given hundreds of millions in tax-exempt bonds when construction began in 2006.

NFL

Lions introduce Schwartz

Jim Schwartz faces the biggest challenge among NFL teams next season: turning around a team that didn’t win a single game. Bring it on, said the Detroit Lions’ new coach.

“There’s no better feeling in football than turning a situation around. That’s what drives me here,” the 42-year-old former Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator said during his introductory news conference at Ford Field.

The Lions had the NFL’s first 0-16 season and have won one playoff game in 50-plus years.

•Stadium bond goes to voters: A key part of billionaire Ed Roski’s plan to build an $800 million stadium and lure the NFL back to the Los Angeles area goes to the city of Industry’s 84 registered voters Tuesday, when they cast ballots on a bond measure that would provide $150 million to pave the way for the stadium with infrastructure improvements.

College basketball

UNC women rout Virginia

Rashanda McCants had 23 points to help No. 2 North Carolina beat No. 14 Virginia 103-74 in Chapel Hill, N.C., setting up a possible 1-vs.-2 matchup against Connecticut on Monday. The Tar Heels used a 17-6 run spanning halftime and scored on their first four possessions after the break to take a double-digit lead, then coasted from there.

•Duke women hold off Hokies: At Blacksburg, Va., Chante Black had 13 points and 14 rebounds and No. 4 Duke overcame a sloppy performance in a 57-52 victory over Virginia Tech, the Blue Devils’ 13th in a row. Duke beat the Hokies for the ninth straight time.

•NCAA retains rule: The NCAA kept intact a new rule that bars men’s basketball coaches from attending nonscholastic tournaments in April, a blow for the hundreds of unregulated events that high school players have used as auditions for college.

NBA

Magic beat Lakers

Jameer Nelson scored 15 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter, Dwight Howard had 25 points and 20 rebounds and the Orlando Magic beat the Lakers 109-103 in Los Angeles for their sixth straight win.

Kobe Bryant had 28 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists for Los Angeles, but missed two jumpers in the waning moments. The triple-double was the 15th of Bryant’s career, but his first since April 1, 2005.

Howard’s double-double was his league-leading 30th of the season.

•Thunder have winning streak: Kevin Durant scored 32 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder delivered a knockout punch with a 13-point run to start the fourth quarter in an 89-79 win over the visiting Detroit Pistons. The Thunder won back-to-back games for the first time this season.

Tennis

Dementieva continues roll

Elena Dementieva continued her winning streak leading into the Australian Open, beating Dinara Safina 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 in the title match at the Sydney International in Sydney, Australia.

Dementieva won the Auckland title last week and enters the season’s first major as the No. 4 seed and on a 10-match winning streak.

In the men’s semifinals, Novak Djokovic lost 6-4, 7-6 (3) to Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen, missing another chance to move to a career-high No. 2 ranking. The 21-year-old Serbian needed to reach the final to move ahead of Roger Federer in the rankings when the Australian Open starts Monday.

He next faces Argentina’s David Nalbandian, who reached his 20th ATP Tour final with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Richard Gasquet.

•Federer wins tuneup: Roger Federer crushed Olympic gold medal-winning doubles partner Stanislas Wawrinka 6-1, 6-3 to win the Australian Open tuneup event at Kooyong.

Miscellany

Pernice, Green lead Sony

Tom Pernice Jr. eagled the final hole for a 7-under-par 63 and a share of the lead after the second round of the Sony Open in Honolulu.

Pernice and Nathan Green, who shot a 66, were at 8-under 132 going into a weekend that could be wide open.

A dozen players are within four shots of the lead, and nine shots separate the top from the bottom.

Tadd Fujikawa, the 18-year-old who turned pro after his sophomore year in high school, made his first cut as a pro.

•DE Evans leaving Penn State : Penn State junior defensive end Maurice Evans has made himself eligible for the NFL draft. He finished with three sacks for the Nittany Lions. In September, Evans was charged with possession of a small amount of marijuana and held out of three games.

•Miller struggles again: Carlo Janka of Switzerland won a World Cup super-combi in Wengen, Switzerland, while Bode Miller lost control during the slalom and finished 32nd. Miller, the reigning World Cup champion, hasn’t won in 18 events this season.

•Dakar Rally set for final stage: Giniel de Villiers of South Africa leads Volkswagen teammate Mark Miller of the United States by just more than 2 minutes heading into the last stage of the Dakar Rally in Buenos Aires, Argentina.