In Brief

BASKETBALL

Florida International fires stunned Thomas as coach

Isiah Thomas was fired Friday as Florida International's basketball coach after going 26-65 in three seasons at the Miami school. The Panthers were 8-21 this past season.

Thomas' hiring came out of nowhere in 2009, and so did his firing. FIU announced the decision in a simple statement: "We want to thank Isiah Thomas for his three years here at FIU. However, we have decided to take the program in a different direction."

Thomas, a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame who starred at Indiana University and for the NBA's Detroit Pistons, told ESPN he was shocked by the news. "This is the most surprising thing that has happened to me in basketball," he said. "I never been fired before for basketball reasons. This is the first time."

Also: Jay Spoonhour, a former UNLV assistant basketball coach and interim head coach, was named head coach at Eastern Illinois. He replaces Mike Miller, fired after a 12-17 season.

Spoonhour was 64-27 in three seasons at Moberly Area Community College in Missouri. He was on the staff of Charlie Spoonhour at UNLV and briefly served as interim coach in 2004 when his father took a leave of absence.

Baylor junior center Brittney Griner won the Wooden Award for the nation's top female college basketball player, joining male winner Anthony Davis of Kentucky. Both of their teams won national titles, with Griner guiding the Lady Bears to a 40-0 season.

Griner received 1,424 points in the voting -- 308 more than runner-up Elena Della Donne, a junior at Delaware. Junior Skylar Diggins of national runner-up Notre Dame was third with 1,073.

Ohio State sophomore forward Deshaun Thomas will return to school rather than enter the NBA Draft. He averaged 15.9 points and 5.4 rebounds this past season.

Alabama junior forward Tony Mitchell, second on the team in scoring (13.1 points) and rebounding (7.0) this past season, was granted a release from his scholarship. He missed the final 11 games after being suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team.

New Jersey Nets center Brook Lopez will miss the rest of the season after an injury-marred year in which he played in only five games. Lopez, who broke his right foot in the preseason and then sprained his right ankle in his fifth game back, averaged 19.2 points.

Orlando Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu will undergo surgery today for a facial fracture and miss at least the final three weeks of the regular season. He was averaging 10.7 points, 4.5 assists and 3.8 rebounds.

FOOTBALL

Recording released without approval, ex-Saint says

A recording of then-New Orleans defensive coordinator Gregg Williams urging players to deliver punishing hits on specific San Francisco 49ers players was released without approval by retired special teams standout Steve Gleason, who had helped a documentary filmmaker gain behind-the-scenes access to the Saints.

Gleason, 35, has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and has allowed filmmaker Sean Pamphilon to capture his struggle with the incurable disease. He played for the Saints from 2000 to 2007 and maintains a strong relationship with the club.

Gleason's connections to the team and to Pamphilon allowed the documentarian to be in the room with the Saints defense ahead of a 36-32 playoff loss to San Francisco in January. Gleason said there was an agreement that he and his family would own the rights to any recordings made of his interaction with the Saints and that "nothing can be released without my explicit approval."

Williams is suspended indefinitely for his admitted role in overseeing a bounty system that rewarded Saints defenders with cash for painful hits during his tenure with the team from 2009 to 2011. He left New Orleans after the playoff loss and was hired as defensive coordinator by the St. Louis Rams.

Also: Gary Tinsley, a senior starting linebacker on last year's University of Minnesota team who was set to earn his degree in a few weeks, was found dead in his campus apartment Friday morning. He was 22. The cause of death wasn't immediately released as authorities awaited autopsy results.

LOCAL COLLEGES

Aztecs surge to baseball win over UNLV in 11th

San Diego State scored three runs against UNLV reliever Mark Shannon in the 11th inning, and the Aztecs gained a 6-3 victory in Mountain West Conference baseball at Wilson Stadium.

Joey Swanner had two hits for the Rebels, but grounded into a game-ending double play. UNLV's Danny Higa had two RBIs on a groundout and a bases-loaded walk, and Trent Cook also walked to bring home a run for the Rebels (14-17, 2-9 Mountain West).

UNLV hosts the Aztecs (16-16, 5-3) in the series finale at 1:05 p.m. today.

Also: The UNLV men's golf team is sixth after two rounds of the ASU Thunderbird Invitational in Tempe, Ariz. The Rebels are at 2-over-par 570 after shooting 285s in each round, 13 strokes behind leader San Diego State. UNLV senior Derek Ernst is third individually at 6-under 136, three shots off the lead.

The UNLV men's tennis team lost to Texas Christian 6-1 in a Mountain West match at the Fertitta Tennis Complex. Tamas Batyi captured a 6-4, 6-3 victory at No. 4 singles for the Rebels (7-11, 1-1 MWC).

College of Southern Nevada was swept by host Salt Lake 9-3 and 8-6 in Scenic West Athletic Conference baseball. Quinnton Mack went 4-for-6 with a homer for CSN (26-12, 13-9 SWAC).

MISCELLANEOUS

Stosur ousts Venus Williams, to face Serena in semis

U.S. Open champion Samantha Stosur won five of the final six games and beat Venus Williams 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, S.C. Stosur will meet Serena Williams in today's semifinals of the season's first clay-court event.

Serena Williams advanced when Sabine Lisicki twisted her left ankle during the first set and withdrew after five games. The buzz for a Williams' sisters showdown in the semifinals had grown as they moved through the draw. Both reached the quarterfinals without losing a set.

In today's other semifinal, Lucie Safarova will meet Polona Hercog. Safarova defeated Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 6-3, and Hercog ousted Nadia Petrova, 6-1, 6-2.

Also: John Isner defeated Gilles Simon 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 to pull the United States into a 1-1 tie with France after opening singles in the Davis Cup quarterfinals at Roquebrune, France. In the first match, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat American Ryan Harrison, 7-5, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Harrison, 19, was playing his first meaningful Davis Cup match, replacing Mardy Fish, who pulled out because of fatigue.

In other quarterfinal matches, host Czech Republic and Serbia were tied 1-1; Spain led visiting Austria 2-0; and host Argentina was tied 1-1 with Croatia.

Minnesota-Duluth center Jack Connolly won the Hobey Baker Award as the top college hockey player. He had 20 goals and 40 assists in 41 games this season.