In Brief

HOCKEY

Wranglers rally, capture
4-3 win over Steelheads

The Wranglers rallied from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Idaho Steelheads 4-3 on Friday in an ECHL game at Boise.

Pete MacArthur scored two goals and Adam Miller one in the second period to lead the comeback by Las Vegas, which trailed 3-1 after the first.

The Wranglers took a 1-0 lead on a short-handed goal by Josh Lunden three minutes into the game, but gave up three goals in three minutes.

Las Vegas outshot Idaho 38-22.

Also: Petr Holik scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period, and Petr Mrazek made 52 saves to lead the Czech Republic to a 5-2 victory over the United States at the world junior hockey championship in Edmonton, Alberta.

BASEBALL

Buckner hired by Cubs
as Class A hitting coach

The Chicago Cubs hired former major league player Bill Buckner as the hitting coach for the Boise (Idaho) Hawks of the short-season Class A Northwest League.

Buckner played for the Cubs from 1977 to 1984 and won the 1980 National League batting title. He was a career .289 hitter in 22 seasons.

Buckner, 62, was manager last year for Brockton, a Massachusetts team in the independent CanAm league. He previously was a hitting coach for the Chicago White Sox and held the same position in the minors for the Toronto Blue Jays.

Also: Two-time All-Star Melvin Mora retired from baseball, five weeks shy of his 40th birthday. Mora, who played 13 seasons in the major leagues, began last year with the Arizona Diamondbacks, was released July 1 and did not play again in the majors.

He was a career .277 hitter with 171 home runs.

The Seattle Mariners signed left-handed reliever George Sherrill to a one-year contract. He appeared in 51 games with the Atlanta Braves last season and was 3-1 with a 3.00 ERA.

MISCELLANEOUS

Shepard, Findlay Prep
rip South Dakota team

Winston Shepard had 20 points, nine rebounds and seven assists to lead the Findlay Prep boys basketball team to an 89-53 blowout of Roosevelt (S.D.) in the Mike Miller Classic on Friday night at the Corn Palace in Mitchell, S.D.

Dominic Artis scored 21 points for the Pilots (14-1), who bounced back from a 67-66 loss to La Lumiere (Ind.) on Thursday.

Findlay Prep next plays Flora MacDonald (N.C.) at 6 p.m. Friday at South Point Arena.

Also: Paris Saint-Germain's bid to sign David Beckham from the Los Angeles Galaxy might be thwarted by family matters, the French club's sporting director said. Beckham's five-year contract with the Galaxy ended after he won his first MLS Cup last month.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said Thierry Henry will sign with the Premier League team in a two-month loan deal once an insurance agreement is reached with the New York Red Bulls, Henry's club in Major League Soccer. Henry scored a club-record 226 goals at Arsenal from 1999 to 2007.

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic swept aside Roger Federer 6-2, 6-1 and will play David Ferrer in the final of the World Tennis Championship exhibition in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Ferrer defeated Rafael Nadal, 6-3, 6-2.

Offensive lineman Barrett Jones, who won the Outland Trophy as the nation's best interior lineman, said he will return to Alabama for his senior season. Jones graduated with a 4.0 average and a degree in accounting and is enrolled in graduate school.

Syracuse defensive end Chandler Jones said he will skip his final season of eligibility and enter the NFL Draft. He was an All-Big East first-team selection.

Minnesota senior forward Trevor Mbakwe had reconstructive surgery on his right knee. Mbakwe, a preseason All-Big Ten first-team selection, was leading the team with 14.0 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.