IN BRIEF

Curtin posts hat trick; Falcons rout Wranglers

Fresno winger Luke Curtin recorded a hat trick with a goal in each period as the Falcons beat the Wranglers 6-2 in an ECHL game Saturday in Fresno, Calif.

Curtin also had two assists for Fresno (25-11-6, 56 points).

Las Vegas (28-9-7, 65) received goals from defenseman Mike Madill and left win Bruce Mulherin.

HORSE RACING

Zito nominates 19 for Triple Crown races

Nick Zito is back on the Kentucky Derby trail in a big way: The two-time Derby winning trainer nominated 19 3-year-olds for this year’s Triple Crown races, including his unbeaten 2-year-old champion War Pass.

A near-record 448 thoroughbreds — 446 males and two fillies — were made eligible for the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes when early nominations were released. The nominating fee was $600 per horse.

Four-time Eclipse Award winner Todd Pletcher led all trainers for the fifth year in a row, this time with 31 nominees.

The record of 450 early nominations was set a year ago.

Also: Monterey Jazz edged Tiago by 41/2 lengths in the $300,000 Strub Stakes for 4-year-olds at Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.

Ridden by David Flores, Monterey Jazz ran 1 1/8 miles in 1:45.65 and paid $13.60, $4.40 and $3.60.

Barrier Reef earned his first stakes victory, and Triple Crown consideration, with a half-length victory over Roman Emperor in the $109,000 Whirlaway Stakes for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct in New York.

The gray colt finished in a time of 1:44.47 over 1 1/16 miles.

Barrier Reef paid $12.80, $5.60 and $3.90. Roman Emperor returned $4 and $3.10. Texas Wildcatter paid $3.80.

LOCAL COLLEGES

Top-ranked Coyotes beat Fullerton College

Braeden Schlehuber went 3-for-4 with two RBIs to lead the top-ranked College of Southern Nevada baseball team (5-2) to a 6-3 win over California’s Fullerton College (3-1) in the Coyote Classic at Morse Stadium.

Taylor Cole, Kyle Bostick and Joel Reese all went 2-for-4 for CSN.

Also: Three New Mexico players scored 20-plus points, led by Amy Beggins with 26, as the Lobos routed UNLV 94-64 in a Mountain West Conference basketball game in Albuquerque, N.M.

New Mexico improved to 3-4 in league and 11-9 overall.

UNLV, which was led by Dominique Harris with 24 points and Sequoia Holmes with 18, fell to 2-5 and 6-14.

UNLV’s 72nd-ranked men’s tennis team (2-1) won five of six singles matches, sparked by Elliott Wronski’s straight-set victory at No. 1 singles, to beat New Mexico State 5-2 at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.

Eli Tanimoto placed fourth in platform and ninth off the 1-meter board to highlight a four-person UNLV contingent at the Air Force Diving Invitational in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Lakeisha Lawson placed fifth in the 60-meter dash in a time of 7.65 seconds and Lauren Johnson finished fifth in the 200 meters in 25.35 seconds to highlight UNLV’s performance in the Washington Invitational track and field meet in Seattle.

MISCELLANEOUS

Sutton becomes fifth coach with 800 wins

Eddie Sutton became just the fifth coach to win 800 games as San Francisco came back from a 19-point second-half deficit to beat Pepperdine 85-82 in Malibu, Calif.

Danny Cavic made a 3-pointer with 14.9 seconds left to give the Dons the lead and give the coach the milestone win in his fourth attempt.

Sutton joins Bob Knight, Dean Smith, Adolph Rupp and Jim Phlean as the only Division I coaches to win 800.

Also: Lindsay Davenport lost 6-1, 7-5 to Germany’s Sabine Lisicki in the United States’ opening match of a Fed Cup quarterfinal in La Jolla, Calif.

Ashley Harkleroad shook off her nerves and evened the best-of-5 series 1-1 with a brilliant Fed Cup debut, a 6-1, 6-3 win over Tatjana Malek.

The final three matches are scheduled for today, when rain is forecast.

Maria Sharapova won her Fed Cup debut match and defending champion Russia split with Israel in their opening singles, while Spain and China took 2-0 leads in the first round.

Sharapova defeated Tzipi Obziler 6-0, 6-4, and Israel’s Shahar Peer rallied to defeat Dinara Safina 0-6, 6-2, 6-2 in Ramat Hasharon, Israel.

Nuria Llagostera Vives of Spain upset Francesca Schiavone of Italy 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-2, and Anabel Medina Garrigues followed with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Flavia Pennetta in Naples, Italy. That puts the 2006 champion and last year’s runner-up on the verge of elimination heading into today’s competition.

In Beijing, Li Na defeated Alize Cornet of France 6-3, 6-1 and Peng Shuai outlasted Virginie Razzano 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 to put China within one victory of its first appearance in the Fed Cup semifinals.

Top-seeded Fernando Gonzalez of Chile won his home country’s Movistar Open in Vina Del Mar after fellow finalist Juan Monaco injured an ankle in the doubles final.

Tina Maze of Slovenia won a downhill World Cup race in St. Moritz, Switzerland, while Lindsey Vonn finished fifth and missed a chance to tie the U.S. downhill record for victories.

Bode Miller of the United States and the rest of the men’s downhill field got a day off after the World Cup race was canceled because of heavy snowfall in Val D’Isere, France.