HOCKEY

Zach O’Brien scored twice as the Newfoundland Growlers rallied to beat the Maine Mariners 3-1 in an ECHL game on Friday in St. John’s, Newfoundland.

Reid Stefanson scored in the first period to give Maine the lead. O’Brien then scored in the second and third periods to give Newfoundland the lead. Jack Badini added an empty netter.

Dryden McKay had 24 saves for Newfoundland, while Michael DiPietro had 26 saves for Maine, which had a two-game winning streak snapped.

BASKETBALL

NBA G-LEAGUE: Donovan Williams scored 29 points, while Langston Galloway had 19 points as the College Park Skyhawks beat the Maine Celtics 114-96 at the Portland Expo.

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Luka Samanic scored 24 points, while Mfiondu Kabengale had 14 points and 13 rebounds for the Celtics. Denzel Valentine added 16 points and Kamar Baldwin 14.

HORSE RACING

LAWSUIT: Churchill Downs never gave advance notice nor reached out to explain its two-year suspension, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said in federal court, and reiterated that the penalty has caused irreparable harm to his business and reputation.

The Hall of Fame trainer has sued the historic track and is seeking a temporary injunction to stop his suspension following a failed drug test by the now-deceased Medina Spirit after the colt came in first in the 2021 Kentucky Derby.

The suspension for a series of failed tests by his horses runs through the end of the upcoming spring meet and could exclude Baffert from the Derby for a second consecutive spring.

GOLF

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PGA TOUR: Kurt Kitayama is starting to feel more comfortable each time he gets in contention on the PGA Tour, and the Californian can only hope that’s the case going into the weekend at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in Pebble Beach, California.

Kitayama opened with 10 straight pars before getting on track and finished birdie-par on two of the tougher holes at Pebble Beach for a 2-under 70 that gave him a one-shot lead Friday.

Kitayama was at 9-under 134 and led by one over Keith Mitchell, Brandon Wu, Joseph Bramlett and Hank Lebioda.

OLYMPICS

LAWSUIT: Olympic bronze medalist Rosey Fletcher has filed a lawsuit accusing former snowboard coach Peter Foley of sexually assaulting, harassing and intimidating members of his team for years, while the organizations overseeing the team did nothing to stop it.

Fletcher is a plaintiff in one of two lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles on Thursday. One names Foley, the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the U.S. Ski & Snowboard team and its former CEO, Tiger Shaw, as defendants. Another, filed by a former employee of USSS, names Foley, Shaw and the ski federation as defendants.

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SOCCER

PREMIER LEAGUE: Enzo Fernandez’s debut for Chelsea fizzled out as Fulham earned a worthy 0-0 draw at Stamford Bridge in the English Premier League.

Fernandez, the most expensive player in British soccer history, was largely kept subdued. Chelsea was left stranded in ninth and its indifferent form was extended to one win in six in the league.

• Arsenal forward Gabriel Martinelli has signed a “long-term” contract extension, the Premier League leaders said.

The 21-year-old Brazil international has scored seven goals this season to boost Arsenal’s title bid in his fourth season in north London.

MLS: Mark Geiger will take over from Howard Webb as the head of referees in Major League Soccer.

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The 48-year-old Geiger, who retired as a referee after the 2018 season, was promoted to general manager of the Professional Referee Organization that supplies MLS match officials.

Geiger started as a MLS referee in 2004 and officiated 186 regular-season games and the 2014 MLS championship.

TELEVISION: The first English-language television broadcast of the U.S. men’s soccer team in its new media contract was seen by 416,000 viewers on TNT.

Last Saturday’s 0-0 exhibition draw against Colombia, which started at 7:37 p.m., was seen by 540,000 in its Spanish-language broadcast on Telemundo for a combined audience of 956,000, according to Nielsen.

TENNIS

DAVIS CUP: Australian Open semifinalist Tommy Paul and Mackenzie McDonald, who beat Rafael Nadal at Melbourne Park, gave the United States a 2-0 lead over host Uzbekistan in Davis Cup qualifying in London.

Paul beat Khumoyun Sultanov 6-1, 7-6 (6) after McDonald’s Davis Cup debut produced a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Sergey Fomin on an indoor hard court in Tashkent.

The best-of-five-match series finishes Saturday with one match in doubles followed by two in singles. The Americans can clinch a spot in the group stage of the Davis Cup Finals if Rajeev Ram and Austin Krajicek defeat Fomin and Sanjar Fayziev in doubles.

DOPING: Former top-20 tennis player and U.S. Olympian Varvara Lepchenko’s doping suspension for use of a banned stimulant was reduced from four years to 21 months as part of an agreement with the International Tennis Federation.


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