HIGH SCHOOLS

Pa. coach placed on leave after head-butting incident

A Pennsylvania high school basketball coach who apparently head-butted a referee during a game has been put on leave.

Videos posted online show Neshaminy High School boys’ coach Jerry Devine confronting a referee Tuesday night after he disagreed with a foul call. The team was trailing Pennsbury High School 46-42 with less than 40 seconds left in the game.

As Devine charges onto the court, another referee approaches him and the coach appears to head-butt the ref, knocking him to the floor.

Devine was ejected from the game. The school district said in a statement Wednesday that the coach, who also teaches algebra and history, was placed on administrative leave pending a review of the incident.

SOCCER

U.S. MEN’S TEAM: Clint Dempsey, Kyle Beckerman, Chris Wondolowski, Graham Zusi and Brad Evans were among the veteran players left off Jurgen Klinsmann’s training camp roster ahead of exhibition games against Iceland and Canada.

Eleven players on the youth-filled roster announced Wednesday are eligible to play for the American under-23 team, which faces Colombia in a two-leg playoff in March for a berth in this year’s Olympics. The U.S. Soccer Federation said several veterans are on “standby.”

Captain Michael Bradley heads the list of veterans, including Jozy Altidore, Jermaine Jones and Matt Besler, who will attend training camp on Monday in Carson, California.

MLS: The Philadelphia Union fired Coach Peter Nowak in 2012 after getting complaints he hazed rookie players by spanking them so hard it hurt his hand, directed them to run 10 miles in warm weather without water, and was dismissive of concussion injuries, according to newly filed court documents.

Lawyers for the team and Nowak made filings recently as Nowak tries to convince a federal court to overturn an April 2015 arbitrator’s ruling that upheld the dismissal and ordered him to pay the team about $400,000 in legal fees and costs.

TENNIS

AUSTRALIAN OPEN SERIES: Serena Williams withdrew from the Hopman Cup because of inflammation in her left knee, a setback in her preparations for the Australian Open.

• Two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka reached the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Ysaline Bonaventure

On the men’s side second-seeded Kei Nishikori advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Mikhail Kukushkin in his first competitive outing of the season in Australia.

• A match at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand, turned into a heated spat after Naomi Broady accused Jelena Ostapenko of deliberately throwing her racket and hitting a ball boy.

Ostapenko said the racket had slipped from her hand and had hit the ball boy accidentally. The Latvian avoided disqualification but was issued with a code violation.

Broady went on to win 4-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 to reach the semifinals.

QATAR OPEN: Novak Djokovic advanced to the quarterfinals at Doha by beating Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-2.

CHENNAI OPEN: Stan Wawrinka reached the quarterfinals in India by beating Russian teenager Andrey Rublev 6-3, 6-2.

SHENZHEN OPEN: Top-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland sailed into the quarterfinals in China, with a 6-1, 7-5 win over Chinese player Shuai Zhang.

– From news service reports

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