IN BRIEF

MOTOR SPORTS

Sprint Cup driver Hamlin suffers torn left ACL

Sprint Cup standout Denny Hamlin has a torn knee ligament, but he won't have surgery to repair it until after the upcoming NASCAR season.

Hamlin said Sunday he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee playing basketball on Friday. The injury was first reported by ESPN.com after Hamlin pulled out of a skills competition for NASCAR drivers hosted by the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats.

Hamlin had surgery in December on his right knee, and the new injury is unrelated.

The NASCAR season begins next month at Daytona International Speedway.

WINTER SPORTS

Steelheads' scoring too much for Wranglers

The Wranglers couldn't keep up with a torrid scoring pace against Idaho, giving up the final four goals of the game -- including three in the third period -- in an 8-5 loss to the Steelheads in Boise, Idaho.

Idaho (27-11-2) scored the final four goals of the ECHL contest, taking the lead for good at 6-5 on Mark McCutcheon's goal early in the third period.

Las Vegas (17-20-4) spread out its scoring after falling behind 2-0 early in the first period. Jeff Hazelwood and Alex Bourret netted goals to tie it up, and Matt Kang scored with just 51 seconds left in the first to put the Wranglers up 3-2.

After two more goals from Idaho (27-11-2) in the second, Shay Stephenson tied it again for Las Vegas with five minutes remaining in the period, and just 13 seconds later, Adam Miller gave the Wranglers a 5-4 lead -- their last goal of the night.

Also: Tanja Poutiainen won a World Cup giant slalom in Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy, and American Lindsey Vonn retained her overall lead after finishing 19th.

Poutiainen posted a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 26.51 seconds, showing that the technical specialist from Finland has fully recovered from a back problem just in time for the Vancouver Olympics.

Vonn has a 56-point lead in the overall standings on Maria Riesch of Germany, who was eighth in Sunday's race.

MISCELLANEOUS

German wins; Armstrong 25th in Tour Down Under

Andre Greipel of Germany won the Tour Down Under for the second time in three years, finishing fifth in the sixth and final stage of the ProTour event, which ended in Adelaide, Australia.

Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong placed 77th out of 129 riders in the stage to finish 25th overall, 1 minute, 3 seconds down on Greipel's accumulated time of 18 hours, 47 minutes, 5 seconds.

Also: Two Bishop Gorman seniors said they orally committed to colleges at the end of their official football recruiting visits.

Linebacker Evan Palelei picked Navy, and running back Victor Belen chose Samford.

Those two join tight end Xavier Grimble (Southern California), defensive linemen Alex Turner (Stanford) and Ian Bobak (UNLV), offensive lineman Geoffrey Gibson (California) and safety Taylor Spencer (UNLV) as Gorman seniors to have committed.

In addition, Liberty senior receiver Anthony Norris committed to Southern Utah at the end of his visit.

Left-hander Tim Byrdak and the Houston Astros have avoided salary arbitration by agreeing to a one-year, $1.6 million contract.

The 36-year-old Byrdak made a club-leading 76 relief appearances last year and was 1-2 with a 3.32 ERA. He held opponents to a .178 average, lowest in the majors among left-handers.