Sports Roundup

Pre-season Tri-County basketball tournaments Dec. 1-Dec. 13

KEYSER, W.Va. — The Keyser and Frankfort Tri-County League teams will host a basketball tournament Dec. 1 through Dec. 13 at the Keyser and Frankfort middle schools.

There will be boys divisions for sixth, seventh and eighth grades at the Keyser Middle School and girls divisions for sixth, seventh and eighth grades at the Frankfort Middle School.

The tournament is open to all teams, not just Tri-County League Teams. The entry fee is $75. Format will be single elimination with a two-game guarantee.

To enter a boys’ team call Harley Staggers at (304) 788-3147 or (304) 788-5749. To enter a girls’ team, call Duke Lantz at (304) 738-7013 or (301) 707-1187. For more information, contact Jeff Staggers at (304) 788-0770 or (304) 790-1801.

Fort Hill-Allegany tickets on sale today

CUMBERLAND — Advance sale tickets for Friday night’s Fort Hill-Allegany football game will sold today, Wednesday and Thursday, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., in the main office at each school.

The cost of tickets is $5. Gates will open Friday at 5:30 p.m. Season tickets will not be honored for admission but will entitle the bearer to their reserved seats.

Allegany Mat Club sets practices

CUMBERLAND — The Allegany Mat Club will hold practice on Monday, Nov. 24, and Wednesday, Nov. 26. For more information, call Mark Beeman at 301-478-5969 or Jim Lyons 301-707-4589.

Adult Rec Basketball League to meet Dec. 10 sign-ups due Dec. 19

CUMBERLAND — The Adult Rec Basketball League will start at the YMCA with team information and packets available at the YMCA. The cost is $450 per team, and players must be over age 18.

An informational meeting will be held Wednesday, Dec. 10, 7 p.m. All team registrations are due by Friday, Dec. 19. Call Laura McMahon at the YMCA at (301) 777-9622 for more information.

Also, any player over the age of 30 interested in joining a team in the Over-30 Rec Basketball League should stop at the YMCA or call for information.

Muschamp to become Texas

head coach when Brown retires

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — When Texas hired football coach Mack Brown a decade ago, it was the result of a high-stakes national coaching search to find just the right man to lead one of college football’s most prestigious programs.

Texas decided it didn’t want to go through that again when Brown retires, whenever that day comes. The Longhorns believe they already have the best guy for the job on the payroll.

Brown and Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds announced Tuesday that first-year defensive coordinator Will Muschamp will be signed to a new long-term deal that not only keeps him in his current role, but designates him as Brown’s successor.

Muschamp, 37, had been linked to openings at Clemson, Tennessee and Washington among others, but decided instead to wait his turn at Texas, a place where he’s been on the job less than a full calendar year. Muschamp’s coaching resume includes jobs at LSU and the Miami Dolphins under Nick Saban and a season as Auburn’s defensive coordinator before Brown hired him at Texas.

“This is a special place. I think it is ’the’ elite job in the country,” Muschamp said of Texas.

The 57-year-old Brown insisted several times during a news conference he does not expect to retire anytime soon. Brown is in his 11th season at Texas and has eight years left on his current contract.

“I don’t want someone to think this is the twilight for me,” Brown said. “It’s not.”

Fort Hill Wrestling Club to practice

CUMBERLAND — The Fort Hill Wrestling Club will hold its first practices on Thursday in the Fort Hill mat room.

Practice for grades 6-8 will be from 5 to 6:30 p.m., and practice for K-5 will be from 6:30 to 8.

Anyone interested who has not yet signed up may do so prior to the first practice. For more information, call Bernie Nichols at 301-697-5441.

The Fort Hill wrestling club will hold practice.

BCS, ESPN reach deal

to air games from 2011-14

NEW YORK (AP) — Bowl Championship Series games are moving to ESPN, the latest high-profile sporting event to migrate from over-the-air television to cable.

BCS coordinator John Swofford is confident that fewer and fewer viewers make a distinction between the traditional broadcast networks such as Fox, the current home of the BCS, and cable channels such as ESPN, which will start airing the games in January 2011.

Playoff games in the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball are already broadcast on cable, as is Monday Night Football. ESPN announced last week that the British Open will be televised live exclusively on cable beginning in 2010.

This marks the first time, though, that the decisive game in a major U.S. pro sports league or NCAA college football or men’s basketball will air on cable.

The BCS and ESPN announced a new four-year contract Tuesday. ESPN outbid Fox, which is paying $80 million annually to broadcast the games from 2007-10.

LeBron James becomes NBA’s youngest to 11,000 points

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Cleveland Cavaliers superstar LeBron James replaced Kobe Bryant on Tuesday as the youngest player in NBA history to score 11,000 points.

James (23 years, 323 days) reached the plateau with a wide-open jump shot set up by a great crossover dribble late in the first quarter of the Cavaliers’ game with the New Jersey Nets. He came into the game with 10,987 points.

Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers was 25 years, 99 days when he reached 11,000 points.

Pirates add Champion as GM aide

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Keith Champion, a Boston Red Sox scout the last two seasons, was hired Tuesday as a special assistant to Pittsburgh Pirates general manager Neal Huntington.

Before joining the Red Sox, Champion worked 12 years for the Chicago Cubs as an advance scout and a special assistant to the general manager.