IN BRIEF

LOCAL COLLEGES

UNLV men's golf places third in MWC tourney

Colby Smith fired a 2-over par 73 Saturday to lead the 22nd-ranked UNLV men's golf team to a third-place finish in the Mountain West Conference championships in Tucson, Ariz., one stroke behind co-winners Texas Christian and San Diego State.

The Rebels shot a final-round 1-over 285 to finish the 54-hole event at 7-under 845. TCU and San Diego State tied for first at 8-under 844.

UNLV's Ji Moon (5-under 208) finished second in medalist play behind New Mexico's Steve Saunders, who finished at 9-under 204 following a final-round 71.

The Rebels' Eddie Olson (1-over 214) fell from sixth place into a two-way tie for 13th with teammate Derek Ernst after shooting a final-round 76. Olson and Ernst were named to the 10-player all-conference team.

UNLV is expected to receive an NCAA Tournament at-large bid when the field is announced Monday.

Also: Ryan Thornon delivered a two-run single with two outs in the top of the ninth inning as the UNLV baseball team beat New Mexico 8-6 in a Mountain West Conference game in Albuquerque, N.M.

Reliever Corey Hales (3-2) picked up the win for the Rebels (24-23 overall, 8-9 MWC), with Marc Baca pitching a perfect ninth inning for his third save.

Jaci Hull drove in six runs as the UNLV softball team beat Utah 12-8 in a Mountain West Conference game at Eller Media Stadium.

Stephanie Bregante (11-4) was the winning pitcher for the Rebels (31-18 overall, 7-7 MWC) with 3 2/3 innings of relief.

College of Southern Nevada's baseball team had its Scenic West Athletic Conference doubleheader against Salt Lake Community College in West Jordan, Utah, rained out.

TENNIS

Djokovic, Nadal reach Rome Masters final

Defending champion Novak Djokovic rallied after a rain delay to beat Roger Federer 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the semifinals of the Rome Masters, extending Federer's title drought to seven months.

Djokovic will face Rafael Nadal in today's final, after the top-ranked Spaniard cruised past Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 6-3. Nadal extended his clay-court winning streak to 29 matches, stretching back to an opening-round loss here last year.

Federer wasted breaks in the second and third sets. He hasn't won a tournament since taking the title in October at home in Basel, Switzerland.

Djokovic reached his second consecutive Masters Series final on clay, losing to Nadal in Monte Carlo two weeks ago. Nadal holds a 12-4 career edge over Djokovic.

Also: Dinara Safina, the world's top-ranked women's player, rallied to defeat Flavia Pennetta 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 to set up a showdown with Svetlana Kuznetsova in today's final of the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany.

Kuznetsova defeated second-seeded Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-2.

Top-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain won her ninth career title, needing just one hour to rout Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 6-0, 6-1 in the final of the Grand Prix SAR in Fez, Morocco.

MISCELLANEOUS

Mexican soccer fans shut out of matches

Millions of Mexican soccer fans were deprived of seeing any matches in person because of the swine flu outbreak.

All 176 weekend games -- from the first division to the lowly third -- were shuttered to fans from Tijuana in the north to Merida in the south.

The games went on behind closed doors in sun-drenched, deserted stadiums.

Mexico's 18 first-division soccer teams clubs usually draw 200,000 to 300,000 fans each weekend.

Also: Lance Armstrong just missed being collected in an accident during the Tour of the Gila cycling race in Silver City, N.M.

Teammate Chris Horner was tagged by another cyclist on the 1-mile downtown course, and his bike almost took out that of Armstrong, who is returning to the sport after suffering a broken collarbone in an accident during a race in Spain in late March.

Defending champion Russia scored three power-play goals to beat the United States 4-1 in a second-round match at the ice hockey world championship in Bern, Switzerland.

Russia secured a spot in the quarterfinals as a top seed, having won Group E with 11 points with a game to spare.

The U.S. is second with seven points with one game to play.

A former mixed martial arts cage fighter was sentenced to one year in jail for punching a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper who pulled him over for drunken driving.

Joshua Pupa, 28, of Fall River, Mass., was sentenced Friday in Washoe County District Court to the maximum term after earlier pleading guilty to a gross misdemeanor charge of battery on a police officer.

Pupa, who now is a construction worker, also pleaded guilty to drunken driving in Reno Justice Court.