BASKETBALL
NBA: The Philadelphia 76ers are trying to make a statement with Ben Simmons.
The disgruntled point guard’s contract was structured for him to receive 50% of this season’s $33 million salary by Oct. 1. He previously received an initial payment of $8.25 million on July 1 and was scheduled to get his second payment Friday.
Instead, the Sixers withheld his salary and placed the second payment in an escrow account, sources confirmed. Sources have said that was an option as the Sixers looked to ensure any fines for his training camp no-show could be deducted from that account moving forward.
Simmons wants to be traded and has refused to show up for training camp.
Teams have the ability to withhold salary when players fail to provide services, according to the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement. The Sixers can also fine Simmons for missing media day and training camp practices. He did not show up for Monday’s media day and has now missed three practices. Friday’s scheduled practice was canceled.
Players can be fined $2,500 for the first day of missed practice. The fine increases to $5,000 for the second day missed and $7,500 for the third day. And the Sixers could also suspend Simmons once preseason games begin on Oct. 4, which would cost him $227,613 for each game missed.
COLLEGES
FIELD HOCKEY: A pair of goals in the final 10 minutes from Poppy Lambert lifted visiting Maine (6-5, 3-0 AEC) to a 2-1 win over Albany (4-6, 1-1).
Alison Smisdom scored for Albany 3:48 into with assists going to Floor de Ruiter and Julie Rodijk. Goalie Lara Behn finished with two saves.
Both of Lambert’s goals were assisted by Madisyn Hartley and Brittany Smith. The tying goal came at 52:08 and the go-ahead score at 57:26. Mia Borley stopped three shots in goal.
NCAA VIOLATIONS: The NCAA has amended its Notice of Allegations against Louisville, adding additional violations committed by the men’s basketball program that include impermissible activities and accusations Coach Chris Mack did not promote an atmosphere for compliance.
Already under review by the Independent Resolution Panel (IRP) for violations related to a college basketball corruption case detailed in a May 2020 NOA, the school received the amendment on Thursday from the governing body’s Complex Case Unit.
The NCAA alleges Louisville allowed graduate assistants, managers and noncoaching staffers to conduct impermissible activities with current players; produced, showed and personalized recruiting videos to prospects including their names and likenesses; presumed Mack responsible for both allegations. The amendment adds that Mack did not rebut presumption of responsibility.
MEN’S BASKETBALL: Clemson Coach Brad Brownell has received a two-year contract extension that will tie him to the Tigers through the 2025-26 season Brownell is the program’s all-time victories leader with a 201-149 record over 11 seasons.
HIGH SCHOOLS
DEER HITS RUNNER: A deer derailed a cross country meet in Michigan on Saturday, ramming into an eighth-grade athlete and dashing away, leaving the girl dazed and bleeding.
Madison Sylvester, of Saginaw, was competing in a 2-mile race at Delta College, with her sister, Maegan, trailing just a few feet behind her when it happened, Michigan Live reported. The sisters saw the deer coming up from beside the trail just before the collision, but there was nothing they could do.
Madison hoped it might dodge past her, ziz-zag through, but instead it “barreled right over her,” her father, Josh Sylvester, told the outlet. “Apparently, the deer hit her straight in the side, knocked her off balance, then picked her up and threw her before running off.”
Madison sprawled out on the ground in shock and recalls Maegan springing into action as she lay there.
”I remember my sister like screaming for help and stuff and a few other girls,” she told the TV station.
Those first moments were scary, her dad told McClatchy News. His daughter was bloodied and falling “in and out of consciousness.” The extent and severity of Madison’s injuries were unclear, but after “several scans and tests” at a hospital, the worst of his fears were eased.
She suffered a concussion and has a fractured clavicle, but Madison is doing fine, according to her father. But to her disappointment, Madison won’t be racing again for at least a few weeks.
“(She’s) on the mend until protocol for concussion passes,” her dad said, adding she “can’t wait to get back out there and compete.”
GOLF
PGA: Will Zalatoris felt like he couldn’t miss on the green and rarely did, setting the course record with an 11-under 61 to share the lead with Nick Watney and Sahith Theegala in the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Mississippi.
Zalatoris, voted the PGA Tour rookie of the year despite not having full status last year, made it look so simple at the Country Club of Jackson that his longest putt for par was 3 feet.
LPGA: So Yeon Ryu birdied the last three holes for a 6-under 65 and a share of the lead with Jodi Ewart Shadoff in the ShopRite LPGA on Friday at Galloway, New Jersey.
Scoring was so low on the Bay Course of Seaview that 20 players shot 67 or better. Ewart Shadoff, who has missed the cut in her last eight LPGA Tour events, birdied the par-5 18th to join Ryu in the lead.
Jin Young Ko, the world’s No. 2 player, Inbee Park and Solheim Cup star Matilda Castren of Finland were among those one shot behind at 66.
DUNHILL LINKS: Tyrrell Hatton produced a brilliant display of links golf St. Andrews, Scotland on Friday to keep himself on track for a third victory at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
The Englishman, fresh off the 19-9 hammering from the United States in the Ryder Cup, could not have faced a much tougher test as he played the famously difficult Carnoustie on day one and then met high winds at Kingsbarns on day two. But after posting a sparkling 64 at the British Open venue, he battled to a 70 in the second round to get to 10 under and lead by one heading into a weekend over the Old Course at St Andrews.
Fellow Englishman Daniel Gavins was his nearest challenger, a shot clear of 2016 Masters champion Danny Willett and China’s Li Haotong.
Starting at the 10th, Hatton turned in level par with three birdies and three bogeys but back-to-back gains on the sixth and seventh took him to the top of the leaderboard. Gavins carded a 68 at Carnoustie, Willett signed for a 69 at Kingsbarns, and Li recorded a 72 at St Andrews to make his first cut in 14 events this year.
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