In Brief

BASKETBALL

Lakers forward Artest succeeds
in goal of creating World Peace

Ron Artest's bid to become Mr. World Peace was delayed, but not denied.

A Los Angeles court commissioner granted the Lakers forward's request to officially change his name to Metta World Peace on Friday, three weeks after the bid was blocked because Artest had unpaid traffic tickets.

Artest, 31, did not attend a brief hearing.

Superior court spokeswoman Patricia Kelly said Artest's new last name will be World Peace.

His publicist, Courtney Barnes, said the player chose Metta because it is a traditional Buddhist word that means loving and kindness toward all.

Also: Former Washington Wizards guard Javaris Crittenton waived his right to an initial court hearing on a murder charge in Atlanta.

Defense attorney Brian Steel told a Fulton County, Ga., magistrate that Crittenton, 23, decided to forgo his right and did not attend the session. His next hearing is set for Sept. 30.

Police charged Crittenton with killing 22-year-old Julian Jones, a mother of four, during a drive-by shooting. Investigators say the shots were meant for someone who was walking with her.

The WNBA selected Minnesota forward Maya Moore as its Rookie of the Year and Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve as its Coach of the Year.

Moore and Reeve helped the Lynx to a dominating regular season. They set a franchise record with 27 wins, six better than the next closest team in the league. Moore averaged 13.2 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists.

Defending champion Spain and France will play for the European basketball title in Kaunas, Lithuania, on Sunday, giving both nations spots in next year's Olympics.

Juan Carlos Navarro scored 35 points to lead Spain past Macedonia 92-80 in one semifinal. In the other, France, backed by 22 points from Tony Parker of the San Antonio Spurs, beat Russia, 79-71.

MOTOR SPORTS

Dillon staves off Harvick for
second truck victory of season

Austin Dillon earned his second NASCAR Trucks Series win of the season by holding off Kevin Harvick at Chicagoland Speedway.

Dillon took the lead during the final round of pit stops. He pulled out to a sizable advantage and was never challenged over the closing laps.

The victory snapped the run of four consecutive wins from Kevin Harvick Inc.-owned trucks.

Harvick finished second and KHI driver Nelson Piquet Jr. third.

Also: Richard Childress denied his team ordered Paul Menard to cause an intentional caution at Richmond, Va., but NASCAR said officials are investigating anyway.

Menard spun with 16 laps remaining and Jeff Gordon leading the Sept. 10 Sprint Cup race. The drivers pitted under caution, RCR driver Kevin Harvick was first off pit road, and he held off Gordon to win his fourth race of the season.

Gordon has called the timing of the caution "a little fishy." Childress said it's much ado about nothing.

Michael Waltrip Racing is in active discussions with Sprint Cup driver Clint Bowyer. Bowyer is in the final year of his contract with Richard Childress Racing, and talks on an extension deteriorated over the past month.

Matt Hagan raced to the first sub-4-second Funny Car run in NHRA history during qualifying at the O'Reilly Auto Parts NHRA Nationals in Concord, N.C.

With the 3.995-second run at 316.23 mph, Hagan joined Larry Dixon (Top Fuel), Jason Line (Pro Stock) and Eddie Krawiec (Pro Stock Motorcycle) as the provisional No. 1 qualifiers.

UNLV ATHLETICS

Volleyball team hangs on
for win over Fresno State

The UNLV volleyball team blew a two-game lead, then held on to beat Fresno State in five games at Cox Pavilion, 25-9, 25-23, 25-27, 14-25, 15-13.

Makenzie Moea'I had 16 kills for the Rebels (5-4), who are hosting the UNLV Classic. Madeline Westman added 13 kills, Stephanie Thelen had 47 assists, and Allison Davies had 13 digs.

Also: The UNLV women's soccer team struck quickly against Seattle, but the Rebels couldn't hang on, allowing two second-half goals in a 2-1 loss in the UNLV Invitational at Johann Memorial Field.

Denali Murnan scored in the third minute, giving UNLV (2-6-1) a lead it would hold until the 63rd minute, when Heather Thomas scored for Seattle. Julie Besagno netted the winner in the 75th minute.

The UNLV men's soccer team took a 1-0 lead on Jonny Espinoza's penalty kick late in the first half, but UC Riverside netted two second-half goals to claim a 2-1 victory at Riverside, Calif.

Julio Reyes tied the game on a 55th-minute penalty kick, and Jose Diaz headed in a goal in the 67th minute for the Highlanders.

The Rebels (1-5) outshot UC Riverside 19-9, including 5-3 in shots on goal, but couldn't solve Cody Suppe, who made four saves.

UNLV won all seven singles matches and two of three doubles matches on the first day of the Men's Fall Invitational at the Fertitta Tennis Complex.

Alex Bull, Brian Kenyon, Johannes Markel and Bernard Schoeman each won in singles and doubles.

MISCELLANEOUS

Spain, Argentina jump out to
2-0 leads in Davis Cup semis

Four days after losing a grueling U.S. Open final to Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal dropped only four games to get host Spain off to a 2-0 start against France in the Davis Cup semifinals in Cordoba.

Nadal routed Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-0, 6-1 on his favorite clay-court surface, and David Ferrer cruised past Gilles Simon 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 in the best-of-5 series.

Djokovic was a late withdrawal from the opening day's singles in host Serbia's semifinal against Argentina with a back problem. His replacement, Viktor Troicki, lost to David Nalbandian, 6-4, 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. Janko Tipsarevic also lost to Juan Martin del Potro 7-5, 6-3, 6-4, giving Argentina a 2-0 advantage in Belgrade.

Also: A motion filed by attorneys for suspended Louisiana State quarterback Jordan Jefferson said several alleged victims in a bar brawl involving Tigers players incited the melee with racial slurs and that Jefferson's only role in the fight was to pull teammates away.

The motion asked a judge to rule police had insufficient evidence to arrest Jefferson for second-degree battery last month. It also said the injuries to a man who accuses Jefferson of kicking him in the face were not serious enough to warrant a felony arrest.

Syracuse and Pittsburgh are in talks with the Atlantic Coast Conference about leaving the Big East to join the league, The New York Times reported.

The story posted on the newspaper's website cited an unidentified source with direct knowledge of the talks. Officials at Pittsburgh, Syracuse and the ACC declined comment when reached by the Times.

Injured center Sidney Crosby will practice with the Pittsburgh Penguins when they open training camp today. When he returns to game action while recovering from a concussion is another story.

"Seeing Sidney Crosby on the ice in that jersey and at practice, it's always good to see that," coach Dan Bylsma said. "He'll be out there with his teammates participating."

Usain Bolt ran the season's fastest time of 9.76 seconds in the 100 meters at the Van Damme Memorial in Brussels and was still upstaged by Jamaican training partner Yohan Blake, who powered his way to the second-fastest 200 in history.

Blake took Bolt's advice and ran a contained curve before blasting for the line in 19.26 seconds, 0.07 seconds off Bolt's world record.