IN BRIEF

FOOTBALL

Fifth person charged in slaying of Redskins star

Prosecutors in Miami say a fifth person has been charged in the slaying of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor.

Miami-Dade County State Attorney's Office spokesman Ed Griffith said Wednesday that Timothy Brown, 16, is charged with first-degree murder. He is also charged with armed burglary of an occupied dwelling.

Taylor died of massive blood loss after he was shot at his Miami-area home during a botched robbery in November.

The Miami Herald reported on its Web site that one of the other four suspects charged in the slaying, Venjah Hunte, has pleaded guilty.

Under the plea agreement, Hunte will serve 29 years in prison and cooperate with prosecutors.

Also: The Cleveland Browns cut defensive back Kenny Wright, who was arrested last month on marijuana possession charges after trying to outrun police in Pearland, Texas.

Quarterback Ryan Perrilloux, kicked off Louisiana State's national championship team after repeated off-the-field problems, signed with Jacksonville State.

Southern California has signed a new 25-year lease that will keep its football team in the Los Angeles Coliseum and include improvements in the stadium.

BASKETBALL

Celtics' Ainge named NBA Executive of Year

Danny Ainge, who engineered the trades for Kevin Garnett and Ray Allen that helped the Boston Celtics post the biggest turnaround in league history, was given the Sporting News NBA Executive of the Year award.

In voting by general managers and other executives from all 30 teams, Ainge received 18 of 47 votes. Los Angeles Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak had 14 votes and New Orleans Hornets general manager Jeff Bower 12.

After the Celtics went 24-58 in 2006-07, they won 66 games this season.

Also: Former Indiana University coach Kelvin Sampson was one of four assistants hired by Milwaukee Bucks coach Scott Skiles.

Skiles also hired former Chicago Bulls coach Jim Boylan and ex-NBA players Lionel Hollins and Joe Wolf.

Sampson resigned as Hoosiers coach Feb. 22 after an NCAA report charged him with five major rules violations.

The Las Vegas Stars (4-4) beat the Chicago Heights 173-140 in an International Basketball League game at the Centennial Hills YMCA Community Center behind Eddie Shelby's 24 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists.

MISCELLANEOUS

Sharapova wins, moves closer to No. 1 ranking

Maria Sharapova moved a step closer to the No. 1 ranking, beating Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in the second round of the Italian Open in Rome.

With top-ranked Justine Henin announcing her retirement, Sharapova is poised to move to No. 1 next week -- depending on if Henin asks the WTA Tour to remove her from the rankings.

Also: Sami Lepisto's goal at 3:59 of overtime led Finland to a 3-2 win over the United States in the world hockey quarterfinals in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Finland will play Russia in the semifinals Friday at Quebec City.

Defending champion Canada will face Sweden in the other semifinal game.

The UNR men's golf coach who was the target of an NCAA investigation into rules violations resigned, saying he made some "errors in judgment" that the school's athletic department was not aware of.

Rich Merritt, the Western Athletic Conference golf coach of the year in 2007, did not specify what the errors were.