BASKETBALL
Luka Samanic scored 30 points as the Maine Celtics topped the Wisconsin Herd 119-114 in overtime Wednesday night in an NBA G League game at Oshkosh, Wisconsin,
Mfiondu Kabengele had 25 points. Kamar Baldwin had his first career triple-double (23 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists) for the Celtics, who trailed 64-58 at halftime before rallying for their second straight win.
Maine has four games remaining in the regular season, starting with Friday night’s rematch in Wisconsin.
SOCCER
U.S. MEN: Gio Reyna, whose parents tried to oust U.S. Coach Gregg Berhalter after the 20-year-old midfielder was sparingly used at the World Cup, was selected by interim coach Anthony Hudson for CONCACAF Nations League matches against Grenada and El Salvador.
Reyna made two substitute appearances during the World Cup totaling 52 minutes and Berhalter later said he almost sent a player home because of lack of hustle — remarks Reyna admitted were aimed at him. His parents, former U.S. captain Claudio Reyna and women’s national team midfielder Daniele Egan Reyna, then complained to U.S. Soccer Federation officials and notified them of a 1992 domestic violence incident involving Daniele’s college roommate and Berhalter’s future wife.
The USSF commissioned a law firm to investigate, which determined Berhalter did not improperly withhold information of the incident. Hudson was appointed interim coach during the probe and will remain on until after a new USSF sporting director is hired and supervises the coach search. Berhalter is still a candidate.
The U.S. is planning to use predominantly Europe-based players for the Nations League final four in mid-June and mostly MLS for the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which runs from June 26 to July 17.
WOMEN: The global professional soccer players’ union says it sent a letter signed by 150 women’s national team players to FIFA calling for equal World Cup prize money.
FIFPro confirmed that the letter, which also asks for equal treatment and conditions for women’s teams playing in soccer’s most prestigious tournament, was sent to the sport’s international governing body in October — a month before the start of the men’s World Cup in Qatar.
The Women’s World Cup is set for this summer in Australia and New Zealand.
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Napoli beat Eintracht Frankfurt 3-0 to reach the quarterfinals for the first time in its history — and making it three Italian teams in the final eight.
Victor Osimhen continued his fine scoring record with a goal in each half and Piotr Zieliński converted a penalty in the second half as Napoli advanced 5-0 on aggregate.
It is the first time since 2006 that three Italian teams have progressed to the quarterfinals of Europe’s premier club competition.
There are no further restrictions on teams from the same country facing each other so Napoli could be pitted against Inter Milan or AC Milan when the draw is made on Friday. The other teams in the final eight are Bayern Munich, Benfica, Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid.
AUTO RACING
NASCAR: NASCAR levied the largest combined fine on one team in series history, hammering Hendrick Motorsports for modifying air-deflecting pieces last weekend at Phoenix Raceway.
Hendrick was issued a combined $400,000 in fines — $100,000 to each of its four crew chiefs, along with four-race suspensions for the quartet — and docked the drivers 100 regular-season points and 10 playoffs points each. Although NASCAR has issued larger monetary fines and suspensions, the Hendrick penalties are the largest combined punishment for one organization.
NASCAR’s winningest team said it would appeal. William Byron has won back-to-back races for Hendrick to give HMS two wins through the first four races of the season, and Alex Bowman was the Cup Series points leader prior to his 100-point deduction.
SKIING
WOMEN’S WORLD CUP: One year after almost quitting Alpine skiing in frustration, Ilka Štuhec was back at the peak of her form.
The two-time world champion completed her downhill season by beating Sofia Goggia, the season’s standout speed racer, for victory at the World Cup Finals at Soldeu, Andorra.
Štuhec raced down the sun-bathed slope to finish 0.51 seconds ahead of Goggia, a five-time downhill winner this season who already secured the discipline title. Lara Gut-Behrami was third, 0.81 seconds back.
MEN’S WORLD CUP: Vincent Kriechmayr took advantage of Aamodt Kilde being slightly off his game at the World Cup Finals Soldeu, Andorra to take his fourth race win of the season.
Kriechmayr was fast on the lower half of the 1.6-mile course to finish 0.09 seconds ahead of Romed Baumann. Andreas Sander was third, 0.13 back.
Kilde finished 0.30 behind in a tie for sixth, though had already retained the season-long World Cup downhill title with six race wins in the discipline.
DOPING
TRACK & FIELD: Raven Saunders, the U.S. silver-medal shot putter who used her triumph at the Tokyo Olympics to bring attention to social injustice, has been suspended for 18 months for failing to show up for doping tests.
TENNIS
MONTE CARLO MASTERS: Rafael Nadal is aiming to make his comeback from a hip injury at the clay-court tournament next month, organizers said.
The 22-time Grand Slam champion has been sidelined with a left hip flexor injury since the Australian Open, and pulled out of hard-court tournaments at Indian Wells and Miami.
The Monte Carlo Masters begins on April 8.
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