In Brief

BASKETBALL

Tennessee coach Pearl admits
to misleading NCAA officials

Tennessee men's basketball coach Bruce Pearl acknowledged Friday that he provided misleading and incorrect information to the NCAA during a 17-month investigation into possible recruiting violations.

The school is making him pay for his actions. Volunteers athletic director Mike Hamilton is reducing Pearl's pay by $1.5 million over five years and prohibiting him from participating in off-campus recruiting for a year beginning Sept 24.

"I've made some serious mistakes, and for that I'm truly sorry," a tearful Pearl said during a news conference in Knoxville. "I provided incorrect and misleading information to the NCAA. I've learned some invaluable lessons. After I provided the false and misleading information, subsequently I went back and corrected the record.

"I learned that it's not OK to tell the truth most of the time, but you've got to tell the truth all of the time," he said.

Hamilton said Pearl provided the information while being interviewed in June about allegations of excessive phone calls made to recruits. Pearl notified officials three weeks later that he had provided incorrect information to the NCAA.

The coach did not explain why he gave incorrect information but acknowledged that by doing so he made what might have been a minor situation much worse.

Also: The New Jersey Nets signed veteran free-agent forward Joe Smith to a one-year contract at the NBA veteran minimum of $1,352,131. Smith has career averages of 11 points and 6.5 rebounds in 1,014 games with 10 teams.

The Charlotte Bobcats will bring veteran forward Darius Miles to training camp with a nonguaranteed contract as he attempts another comeback from a serious knee injury. Miles, 28, was out of the NBA last season and has played sparingly since microfracture knee surgery in 2006.

GOLF

Pressel fires 66 for early lead
at NW Arkansas Championship

Morgan Pressel shot a 5-under-par 66 to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the LPGA Tour's NW Arkansas Championship at Rogers, Ark.

Yani Tseng, Gloria Park and Na Yeon Choi opened with 67s. Michelle Wie, coming off a victory in the Canadian Women's Open, was another stroke back along with Suzann Pettersen, Janice Moodie, Danielle Downey and Jee Young Lee.

Also: Fred Funk, Jay Don Blake and Michael Allen shot 3-under 69s to share the first-round lead in the Songdo Championship at Incheon, South Korea, the Champions Tour's first tournament in Asia. John Cook and Sandy Lyle were a stroke back, and Bernhard Langer, a five-time winner this year, shot a 73.

India's Shiv Kapur shot a 2-under 68 for a share of the lead with Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts at the KLM Open in Hilversum, Netherlands. Colsaerts followed his opening 62 with a 70 to match Kapur at 8-under 132. American Todd Hamilton (67) was a stroke back with Sweden's Christian Nilsson (65) and France's Jean-Francois Lucquin (67).

MISCELLANEOUS

Driver who hit Patriots' Brady
did not have DUI arrest history

Authorities are backing off claims that a Massachusetts driver whose van slammed into a car driven by New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady had previously been arrested for driving under the influence.

A spokesman for Bristol County District Attorney Sam Sutter told the Boston Globe that someone else had impersonated Ludgero Rodrigues when he was arrested last year. Prosecutors dropped charges against the 21-year-old after he convinced authorities that he was not the person they detained.

Still, Rodrigues does have an extensive history of traffic violations.

He was cited Thursday for failing to stop at a red light before his Mercury Villager minivan hit Brady's Audi sedan at an intersection in Boston's Back Bay area. A 49-year-old passenger was seriously injured. Brady was not hurt.

Also: In the NHL, free-agent center Peter Mueller agreed to a two-year contract with the Colorado Avalanche, Czech center Martin Hanzal agreed to a two-year deal with the Phoenix Coyotes, and center Andrew Cogliano signed a one-year contract with the Edmonton Oilers.

Sarah Naranjo scored in the 79th minute as the UNLV women's soccer team defeated Oregon 1-0 in the Nike Invitational at Peter Johann Memorial Field. Kylie Wassell made eight saves in goal for the Rebels (5-1).

Freshman Joaquin Rivas scored a golden goal with just over two minutes left in the first overtime as the UNLV men's soccer team beat Stanford 2-1 in Palo Alto, Calif. UNLV (2-1) recorded its first win over a Pac-10 Conference team since 1984.

Kelsey Keeler had a match-high 16 kills to lead the UNLV volleyball team past Eastern Kentucky 25-11, 25-22, 25-20 in the UNLV Invitational at Cox Pavilion. The Rebels improved to 3-4.