College Basketball
NCAA selects men’s Final Four sites for 2017-21
INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA men’s basketball championship is going West in 2017.
Phoenix is one of five future Final Four sties chosen Friday by the men’s basketball committee. The others are San Antonio in 2018, Minneapolis in 2019 and Atlanta in 2020. Indianapolis, where the NCAA is based, will host the 2021 Final Four, even though the committee only was expected to award games through 2020.
Three other cities, including St. Louis, also made bids.
The NCAA last played a Final Four in the Pacific time zone in 1995 when Seattle was the host site. San Antonio has hosted the Final Four three times since 1998. Atlanta and Minneapolis will be playing in new venues. Indianapolis is hosting the Final Four this year, the seventh time the city has hosted the event.
Veterans Day 2016 will tip in Pearl Harbor, Honolulu
BRISTOL, Conn. – Four powerhouse college basketball programs will play games at Pearl Harbor less than a month before the 75th anniversary of the attack that plunged America into World War II.
Indiana will face Kansas, and Arizona will play Michigan State at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Honolulu on Veterans Day on Nov. 11, 2016.
The surprise Japanese air attack occurred Dec. 7, 1941.
The Armed Forces Classic games played on U.S. military bases around the world debuted in 2012 inside an airplane hangar on Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Last year’s matchup was at Army Garrison Humphreys in Pyeongtaek, South Korea.
Louisville will play Minnesota on Friday at Coast Guard Air Station Borinquen in Puerto Rico.
ESPN also announced Friday that next season’s game will feature Gonzaga and Pittsburgh at Marine Corps Base Camp Smedley D. Butler in Okinawa, Japan.
MLB
Yanagita leads Japan over Iwakuma and the U.S.
TOKYO – Yuki Yanagita drove in four runs from the leadoff spot, Hisashi Iwakuma was hit hard, and Japan beat the Major League Baseball All-Stars 8-4 on Friday to take a 2-0 lead in their five-game series.
NL batting champion Justin Morneau of the Colorado Rockies hit a two-run homer off Chihiro Kaneko, who earned the win.
Kansas City Royals right-hander Jeremy Guthrie will start Game 3 on Saturday, while Rakuten Eagles RHP Takahiro Norimoto will take the mound for Japan.
Soccer
USA again falters late in a 2-1 loss to Colombia
LONDON – Teofilo “Teo” Gutierrez headed in a tiebreaking goal in the 87th minute, and Colombia rallied to beat the United States 2-1 on Friday night in an exhibition at Fulham’s Craven Cottage.
Jozy Altidore converted a penalty kick in the 10th minute, his 25th international goal.
Third-ranked Colombia tied the score on a 61st-minute goal by Carlos Bacca, and the Americans allowed a goal from the 86th minute on for the third consecutive match.
Tennis
Djokovic cruises into semis and to the year-end No. 1
LONDON – Novak Djokovic celebrated at the O2 Arena after Tomas Berdych sent a final shot wide Friday that gave the Serb a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win, another year-end No. 1 ranking and a semifinals berth in the ATP Finals.
Djokovic, the Wimbledon champion, will finish the season No. 1 for the third time in four years.
Djokovic has won 16 of his last 17 matches, extended his two-year-old indoor winning streak to 30, won his seventh Grand Slam title (Wimbledon) and has won six titles this year.
Associated Press
