Update on the latest sports

AP

by Rayos Syndication User

OLYMPICS

US men rout Australia to play for basketball gold

TOKYO (AP) — Kevin Durant and the Americans still have their grip on gold and it’s going to take more than a few bad minutes for anyone to take it away from them. Durant scored 23 points, Devin Booker had 20 and the U.S. blew past and eventually blew away Australia 97-78 in the Olympic men’s basketball semifinals after falling into a 15-point hole.

With their gold-medal streak looking in jeopardy midway through the second quarter, the Americans overwhelmed the Australians with a 48-14 stretch that gave them a 74-55 lead after three periods. They will play France for gold.

France overcame a big night from Luka Doncic (DAHN’-chihch) to beat Slovenia 90-89.

Doncic recorded the third known triple-double in Olympic men’s basketball history. He got there with his 10th rebound with 19 seconds remaining, when he already had 16 points and 18 assists. Doncic has 36 triple-doubles in his three seasons with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, 11th-most in NBA history. He missed a triple-double by one assist in Sunday’s group-play finale against Spain and by two rebounds in Slovenia’s win over Germany in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Also in Tokyo:

— Megan Rapinoe and Carli Lloyd each scored a pair of goals and the United States won the bronze medal in women’s soccer at the Tokyo Olympics with a 4-3 victory over Australia. The loss spoiled the Australians’ first-ever trip to the medal round at the Olympics. No Australian soccer team, men or women, has ever won a medal.

— The gold-medal match between Canada and Sweden has been moved from Friday morning in Tokyo to the evening in Yokohama. There were concerns about playing in the heat with an 11 a.m. kickoff in the National Stadium, and the final couldn’t be played there later in the day due to the venue being used for track and field.

— The American “A-Team” has advanced to the gold medal match of the Olympic beach volleyball tournament. April Ross and Alix Klineman beat Switzerland to clinch at least a silver medal. They will face Australia, while Latvia will play Switzerland for bronze.

— The U.S. beat the Russian Olympic Committee team 15-11 to advance to the women’s water polo final against Spain, continuing the team’s bid for a third consecutive gold medal. The U.S. had to rally after it trailed 7-4 with 48 seconds left in the first half. Maddie Musselman scored five times, and captain Maggie Steffens had three goals.

— Ryan Crouser broke his own Olympic record on his way to defending his shot put title. On his last attempt, Crouser went 23.30 meters to earn the first track and field gold for the American men at the Tokyo Games. U.S. teammate Joe Kovacs finished second. Crouser is already the world-record holder after breaking a 31-year-old mark on June 18 at the U.S. Olympic trials.

— A slow exchange left the American 4×100-meter relay team out of medal contention at the Olympics. The team of Trayvon Bromell, Fred Kerley, Ronnie Baker and Cravon Gillespie finished sixth in their qualifying heat to extend a quarter-century of misery for the country that brings the deepest track team to the Games. The United States hasn’t won the Olympic 4×100 since 2000 and hasn’t made it cleanly to the finish line in a final since taking a silver medal in 2012. But they gave that one back because of a doping ban against Tyson Gay. The U.S. got DQ’d for another bad pass in the medal race in 2016.

— Hansle Parchment of Jamaica won gold in the 110-meter hurdles at the Olympics by overtaking American Grant Holloway, the world champion. Holloway was in front through nine out of the 10 hurdles but faded on the last. Parchment won in his season’s best time of 13.04 seconds. Holloway took silver in 13.09 and another Jamaican, Ronald Levy, had the bronze in 13.10 seconds.

— China’s Quan Hongchan won the gold medal in women’s 10-meter platform diving. All seven judges gave the 14-year-old perfect 10s for her second and fourth dives in the five-round competition. Quan ended with 466.20 points to finish ahead of 15-year-old teammate Chen Yuxi, who claimed silver medal with 425.40 points. Melissa Wu of Australia took bronze. American Delaney Schnell finished fifth.

— Germany’s Florian Wellbrock added a gold medal in marathon swimming to his bronze medal at the pool, romping to a dominating win in the men’s 10-kilometer race at Tokyo Bay. At the end he blew the field away to win by a staggering 25.3 seconds. Two swimmers failed to finish in the sweltering conditions. France’s David Aubry was carried away on a stretcher. American Jordan Wilimovsky was 10th.

— BMX rider Connor Fields was released from St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo, five days after a horrific crash in his semifinal race left him with a brain bleed and other injuries. He will be able to return to his home in Henderson, Nevada, in the coming days to begin his rehabilitation.

— Australia’s Keegan Palmer won the last skateboarding gold of the Tokyo Games. He won in men’s park, breaking what had been Japanese domination in all three previous events. The silver went to Pedro Barros of Brazil. Cory Juneau took bronze, the second skateboarding medal for the United States.

— Eddy Alvarez became only the third American to earn medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics when the U.S. baseball team beat defending champion South Korea 7-2 to gain a berth into this weekend’s gold medal game against host Japan. Alvarez won silver in 2014 at Sochi as part of the U.S. four-man short track team.

— Japan’s Risako Kawai won her second Olympic wrestling gold, defeating Belarus’ Iryna Kurachkina 5-0 in the women’s 57-kilogram freestyle final. American Helen Maroulis defeated Mongolia’s Khongorzul Boldsaikhan 11-0 in a bronze medal match. Maroulis won Olympic gold at 53kg in 2016. She became the first U.S. woman to win more than one Olympic medal.

— Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas won the men’s Olympic 400-meters gold medal, pulling away from the field at the halfway point and finishing in 43.85 seconds. Jose Anthony Zambrano of Colombia took silver. The bronze medal went to Grenada’s Kirani James. Americans Michael Cherry and Michael Norman finished fourth and fifth, respectively. It’s only the second time since 1904 that the U.S. has been shut out of the medals in a non-boycotted Games.

— Katie Nageotte (NAH’-zhaht) won an unexpected gold for the United States in the pole vault at the Olympics ahead of world champion Anzhelika Sidorova of Russia. Nageotte failed on her first two attempts of the competition at 4.50 meters but improved from there to clinch her first major medal. Sidorova took the silver at 4.85. Britain’s Holly Bradshaw won the bronze.

— American David Taylor scored a double-leg takedown with 17 seconds remaining to beat Iran’s Hassan Yazdani 4-3 and claim wrestling gold in the men’s freestyle 86-kilogram class. San Marino’s Myles Amine defeated India’s Deepak Punia 4-2 for bronze.

— Spanish teenager Alberto Gines Lopez won the first Olympic gold medal in sport climbing, riding a win in the speed discipline to the top of the podium. The 18-year-old finished with 30 points — the finishes are multiplied together — to edge American Nathaniel Coleman by two. Coleman topped three of the four “problems” to win bouldering, was fifth in lead and sixth in speed.

— After days of drama, the Belarus women’s 4×400-meter relay team finished last in its first-round heat at the Olympics. The team was embroiled in controversy when sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya criticized officials on social media for putting her in the relay, an event she’d never raced, setting off a massive backlash in state-run media in Belarus. She was later barred from competing in the 200 meters.

MLB-SCHEDULE

Alfaro gets big hit as Marlins beat Mets 4-2, win series

UNDATED (AP) — Jorge Alfaro hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning and the Miami Marlins beat the New York Mets 4-2, taking three of four from the sagging NL East leaders.

New York has lost six of eight overall and is 2-4 since its big trade-deadline acquisition, Javier Báez, made his debut. Báez went 0-for-5 with five strikeouts on Thursday and is hitting .160 with the Mets.

Miguel Rojas drew a one-out walk against Jeurys Familia and advanced to second on Jazz Chisholm’s single. Alfaro’s line drive to right scored Rojas.

Elsewhere in the majors:

— Victor Reyes tripled twice and drove in three runs, Tarik Skubal pitched five scoreless innings, and the Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox 8-1. Skubal allowed five hits and struck out four. Robbie Grossman hit a leadoff homer in the bottom of the first. He departed the game prior to the third with a left elbow contusion after getting hit by a pitch. Jonathan Schoop contributed two hits and two RBIs for Detroit. The Red Sox lost for the sixth time in seven games and dropped 1 1/2 games behind idle Tampa Bay in the AL East.

MLB-NEWS

Hamels signs $3.05 million, one-year contract with Dodgers

UNDATED (AP) — Four-time All-Star Cole Hamels has signed a $3.05 million, one-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers through the end of the season, adding more depth to a pitching staff that has been racked with injuries.

The left-hander will earn about $1 million from the deal, signed with less than two months less in the season. He would earn $200,000 for each start and $200,000 for each relief appearance of 3 1/3 innings or more, up to a total of 15 each.He agreed to accept an optional assignment to the minors, and the team agreed to recall him no later than Sept. 2.

In other MLB news:

— The Cleveland Indians have agreed to a 15-year lease extension at Progressive Field. The deal will keep them at their downtown ballpark through 2036 and end speculation the franchise would relocate. The agreement still needs legislative approval. The two five-year options could extend the deal for 25 years through 2046. The Indians are partnering with the city, county and state to spend $435 million in renovations on the ballpark, which opened in 1994.

NBA-KNICKS-RANDLE

AP source: All-Star Randle agrees to extension with Knicks

UNDATED (AP) — A person with knowledge of the deal tells The Associated Press that All-Star forward Julius Randle has agreed to a $117 million, four-year extension to remain with the New York Knicks. The new deal takes effect following next season and brings his contract’s total value to five years and $140 million.

Randle earned the new deal by leading the Knicks to the playoffs in his best season. He set a career high by scoring 24.1 points per game and matched his high by averaging 10.2 rebounds in his seventh season. Randle also set career highs with 6.0 assists per game and his 41% shooting on 3-pointers. He was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player.

In other NBA news:

— The Atlanta Hawks have signed first-round draft pick Jalen Johnson before the forward participates in the team’s summer league in Las Vegas. The former Duke standout was the No. 20 overall pick in the NBA draft last week. The Hawks also signed their second-round pick, point guard Sharife Cooper from Auburn, to a two-way contract. Johnson, Cooper and 2020 second round pick Skylar Mays will be on the summer league team that will compete in Las Vegas beginning Sunday.

— The Brooklyn Nets have signed first-round draft pick Cam Thomas. The team did not disclose details of the contract signed by the guard, who was the 27th overall pick out of LSU. Thomas spent one year at LSU, starting 29 games. He averaged 23 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 34 minutes.

NFL-NEWS

NFL kicks off preseason…Cousins activited

UNDATED (AP) — The NFL preseason kicks off Thursday night with the Dallas Cowboys playing the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Hall of Fame game. But few, if any, stars will be on the field in Canton, Ohio. Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy says the Hall of Fame game carries importance as a trial for guys on the back end of the roster, and for backups at key positions.

In other NFL news:

— Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins has been activated from the COVID-19 reserve list. He completed the NFL’s required five-day quarantine for unvaccinated players deemed a high-risk close contact with an infected person. The Vikings also activated Nate Stanley to bring their quarterback cadre close to full strength after a tenuous stretch of training camp practices. Rookie Kellen Mond tested positive and remains on the reserve list away from the team. The absence of Cousins, Mond and Stanley left Jake Browning as the only quarterback Saturday.

TENNIS-FEDERER WITHDRAWALS

Federer out of Toronto, Cincinnati tournaments

UNDATED (AP) — Roger Federer has pulled out of the upcoming hard-court tournaments in Toronto and Cincinnati because of lingering issues with his surgically repaired knee.

The withdrawals announced Thursday shed doubt on his status for the U.S. Open. Federer turns 40 on Sunday. This news follows the 20-time Grand Slam champion’s decision to sit out the Tokyo Olympics after he said he “experienced a setback” with his knee during the grass-court season. Federer has not competed since losing in the Wimbledon quarterfinals to Hubert Hurkacz (HUR’-kahts) on July 8.

The U.S. Open begins in New York on Aug. 30.