College Basketball
DAYTON, Ohio – The University of Dayton says a member of its basketball team has died.
UD says in a statement that 20-year-old center Steve McElvene died Thursday in his hometown of New Haven, Indiana. No other information about his death was made available.
McElvene, a 6-foot-11 redshirt freshman, averaged 6.1 points and 5.6 rebounds in 32 games last season. His 56 blocked shots set a Dayton single-season record.
Golf
BEAU CHAMPS, Mauritius – Andrew Dodt began with back-to-back birdies and posted a 6-under 66 Thursday for the lead in the first round of the Mauritius Open.
Dodt had six birdies and an eagle at the Ernie Els-designed Four Seasons Golf Club.
He has an early 2-shot advantage over Rashid Khan and Siddikur Rahman.
NBA
ORLANDO, Fla. – Scott Skiles has stepped down as coach of the Orlando Magic.
Skiles was 35-47 this season, his lone year leading the Magic. The team made the surprising announcement Thursday, saying Skiles informed them that he would not be returning.
Skiles says he’s simply not the right coach for the Magic, and that any other speculation would be conjecture.
NFL
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Rob Gronkowski parties almost as well as he plays football, and now he’s showing off both sides of his larger-than-life personality as a cover model.
Gronkowski was selected for the cover of the Madden NFL 17 on Thursday. At the same time, he’ll be appearing on the front of GQ magazine along with model Hailey Clauson.
Gronkowski said that just making it into the video game his rookie year was a thrill.
Gronkowski succeeds Odell Beckham Jr. on the video game cover. But while last year’s edition showed the New York Giants receiver making a one-handed catch, Madden 17 features a classic Gronk spike.
Olympics
LONDON – The IOC medical director says the Olympic body “would not hesitate” to retest drug samples from the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi if there is evidence that doping controls were manipulated.
A Russian whistleblower told CBS’ “60 Minutes” that the former director of the Moscow anti-doping lab told him that four Russian gold medalists from the Sochi Olympics used steroids.
IOC medical chief Dr. Richard Budgett tells The Associated Press that the Olympic committee “will follow up any issues very clearly.”
He says international experts monitored the testing at the Sochi lab and “we made it as secure as we could.” But he notes the IOC has stored all the Sochi samples at the doping lab in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Soccer
MEXICO CITY – FIFA doping testers turned up unannounced to collect samples from a top Russian soccer team amid suspicions of meldonium use.
FIFA medical chief Jiri Dvorak told The Associated Press that the Rostov starting 11 were tested after they won 3-1 at Dynamo Moscow on Thursday. The samples will be taken to a laboratory in Europe. Rostov has mounted a surprise title run this season and is two points behind leader Dynamo.
Associated Press
