IN BRIEF

COLLEGES

UNLV teams among academic overachievers

The UNLV men's golf, women's tennis and volleyball programs were among 767 Division I teams honored by the NCAA as academic overachievers.

The list singles out all teams that score between 976 and a perfect 1,000 on the Academic Progress Rate, significantly higher than the NCAA's cut line of 925 for poor performers.

Although actual scores from the data collected by the NCAA between 2004-05 and 2007-08 will not be released until May 6, the UNLV athletic department stated that all three of its honorees posted perfect scores of 1,000.

North Carolina men's basketball coach Roy Williams and Connecticut women's basketball coach Geno Auriemma proved that their players can perform equally well on the court and in the classroom.

Less than three weeks after celebrating their most recent national titles, Williams and Auriemma were rewarded again when their programs were also among teams honored.

Only 11.9 percent of all Division I squads earned the recognition, though the 767 total was an increase of 55 teams from 2008.

Also: The UNLV baseball team lost to Texas Tech 14-5 in Lubbock, Texas.

The game was tied at 5 through five innings, but the Rebels (20-20) gave up four runs with two outs in the sixth and couldn't recover.

J.J. Sferra's hitting streak was snapped at 28 games for UNLV.

UNLV women's tennis players Kristina Nedeltcheva, Nikol Dimitrova and Katy Williams were named to the All-Mountain West Conference team. All three were honored in singles, and Nedeltcheva and Williams comprised one of six doubles units.

Three UNLV players also made the men's All-MWC team: Elliot Wronski (singles, doubles), Mehdi Bouras (singles) and Luca Barlocchi (singles, doubles).

UNR point guard Armon Johnson and four other Wolf Pack athletes were involved in incidents that led to Ahyaro Phillips being arrested and dismissed from the basketball team for carrying a handgun on campus, police records show.

Phillips was arrested last week for carrying a gun after he confronted two football players on campus following an earlier altercation with them at an off-campus party, UNR athletic officials said.

No one but Phillips has been charged, and university officials said no disciplinary action was anticipated against any of the other students whose names appear in the police reports.

A Bellefonte, Pa., judge sentenced Penn State's Navorro Bowman to an extra 12 months of probation, along with drug testing and counseling, after the linebacker admitted smoking marijuana.

Bowman was the Nittany Lions' leading tackler last season.

FOOTBALL

'Refrigerator' Perry remains hospitalized

Former Chicago Bears defensive lineman William "The Refrigerator" Perry remains hospitalized in Aiken, S.C.

Aiken Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Melissa Summer said Perry, 46, is in serious condition. He has been hospitalized to deal with complications from Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a chronic inflammation disorder of the peripheral nerves.

The 300-pound defensive tackle played for the Bears' 1985 Super Bowl winner and helped lead Clemson to the 1981 national championship.

Also: Authorities said former Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Jimmy Smith was pulled over and found with crack cocaine and marijuana in his car.

Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Bill Leeper said the 40-year-old Smith, who played 10 seasons for Jacksonville, was pulled over on Interstate 95 in Jacksonville on Wednesday afternoon, initially for excessive window tint on his 2009 Mercedes Benz.