IN BRIEF

HOCKEY

Ruutu leads Penguins to win in Crosby's return

Jarkko Ruutu had a goal and two assists as the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New York Islanders 3-1 on Thursday night in Sidney Crosby's first home game in more than two months.

The Penguins won their sixth consecutive home game and seventh of nine overall, extending their lead in the Atlantic Division to six points.

Crosby, who had missed the previous seven games and 28 of the past 31 with a high ankle sprain, didn't score. He took three shots.

Marian Hossa left the game with 16:23 to play after he was clipped with a blind check by the Islanders' Sean Bergenheim.

Also: Vancouver Canucks center Brendan Morrison will miss the rest of this season after tearing a ligament in his right knee during Wednesday night's 6-3 loss in Colorado.

Morrison was injured two minutes into the second period as he was taken lightly toward the boards by defenseman Ruslan Salei after firing a sharp-angle shot. Morrison appeared to hurt his knee trying to stop.

COLLEGES

UNLV men's tennis wins Mountain West opener

The UNLV men's tennis team defeated Brigham Young 4-3 at the Fertitta Tennis Complex in its Mountain West Conference opener.

The Rebels (7-8) won two of the three doubles matches for one point, and then received singles victories from Elliot Wronski, Wesley Burrows and David Campbell.

Also: UNLV's Devin Phillips finished 37th in the 200-yard individual medley at the NCAA Men's Swimming and Diving Championships in Federal Way, Wash. The Rebels' Johan Claar placed 42nd in the 500 freestyle.

Mississippi State's Ron Polk, the Southeastern Conference's winningest baseball coach, has resigned, effective at the end of the season.

Polk, in his 29th season as head coach at Mississippi State, ranks among the nation's top 10 in career victories with 1,360 and has the fifth-most wins among active coaches.

Oklahoma basketball coach Jeff Capel agreed to terms of a contract extension.

The new deal would keep Capel, who took Oklahoma to the NCAA Tournament in his second season at the helm, at the school through the 2013-2014 season.

MISCELLANEOUS

Spinks loses IBF title in hometown to Phillips

Having his famous father and uncle working the corner was no help to Cory Spinks, who relinquished his IBF junior welterweight championship in his hometown of St. Louis in a 12-round split decision to Verno Phillips.

The 30-year-old Spinks (36-5) has lost his last two fights. The latest setback came despite moral support from Leon Spinks and Michael Spinks, Cory's father and uncle, respectively, who are both former heavyweight champions.

The 38-year-old Phillips (42-11-1) is a former three-time 154-pound world junior middleweight champion who last held the belt in 2004.

Also: Top-ranked Justine Henin received the WTA Tour player of the year award for the second time in her career.

Henin won 10 of the 14 events she entered in 2007, including the French and U.S. open, and she became the first woman to earn more than $5 million in prize money. She also won the award for 2003.

Seattle SuperSonics forward Chris Wilcox will miss the remainder of the season with a dislocated finger on his right hand.

Wilcox originally dislocated a joint on the little finger of his hand in a game at Phoenix on Jan. 3. He aggravated the injury against Phoenix on March 19.

Wilcox appeared in 62 games this season, averaging 13.4 points and seven rebounds per game.

Graham Rahal, who badly damaged his car in a testing accident earlier this week, will miss Saturday's IRL IndyCar Series season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway.