Three Basketball Players Suspended at Wisconsin

Wisconsin suspended men’s basketball players Maurice Linton and Travon Davis and women’s player Krita Bird for eight games for receiving unadvertised discounts at the Shoe Box in Madison, Wis. In all, 121 athletes have been disciplined for receiving substantial discounts at the store.

The three players suspended Wednesday must also close their accounts at the store and repay more than $500 in benefits in order to restore their eligibility. Another 37 avoided suspensions but must close out their accounts and repay the amount of the extra benefit to a local charity.

Sixteen athletes who received benefits of between $100 and $299 also must perform 24 hours of community service. They include Roy Boone, Andy Kowske and Mark Vershaw, all senior starters on the men’s basketball team.

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Minnesota has charged 17 former basketball players with academic misconduct, the Star Tribune and Saint Paul Pioneer Press reported.

The students, all believed to have left the university, each face one to six charges of misconduct for their roles in the school’s cheating scandal, the Star Tribune said.

Federal law prohibits the school from releasing any names.

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North Carolina State basketball Coach Herb Sendek received a two-year contract extension, through the 2004-2005 season. Financial terms were not disclosed. Sendek is 73-58 in four years at the school.

Pro Basketball

The Minnesota Timberwolves signed free-agent forward LaPhonso Ellis as insurance in case they lose Joe Smith, whose contract is being investigated by the NBA because of an alleged secret agreement.

Ellis, 30, averaged 8.4 points and 5.0 rebounds for the Atlanta Hawks last season.

Utah Jazz reserve point guard John Crotty will be sidelined for about six weeks after arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage damage in his right knee. . . . The Seattle SuperSonics signed free-agent forward Dickey Simpkins, who played for Chicago last season, to a one-year contract. . . . The Washington Wizards released Dennis Scott, a 10-year NBA veteran obtained in a trade from Vancouver.

Tennis

Top-ranked Martina Hingis returned to the court for the first time since her dramatic loss to Venus Williams at the U.S. Open and beat Belgium’s Justine Henin, 6-3, 6-0, at the Porsche Grand Prix in Filderstadt, Germany.

Nicolas Kiefer of Germany defeated Jason Stoltenberg of Australia, 6-3, 6-2, and will next play doubles partner Nicolas Lapentti in the quarterfinals of the $375,000 Salem Open in Hong Kong.

No. 2 Tim Henman of Britain ousted Argentina’s Mariano Zabaleta, 6-2, 6-4, and No. 8 Michael Chang stoped the Netherlands’ Sjeng Schalken, 6-1, 6-2.

Serena Williams, weakened by a cold since winning an Olympic gold medal in doubles, defeated Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand, 6-1, 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Toyota Princess Cup in Tokyo.

Top-seeded Monica Seles and No. 6 Amy Frazier also advanced. Seles beat qualifier Miroslava Vavrinec of Switzerland, 6-4, 6-4, and Frazier routed Angeles Montolio of Spain, 6-0, 6-1.

Miscellany

In night-time qualifying at Concord, N.C., for Sunday’s UAW-GM Quality 500, Jeff Gordon, the defending champion, ran a lap of 185.561 mph to win the pole. Bobby Labonte had a run around the 1 1/2-mile, high-banked tri-oval of 185.516 and will start from the outside of the front row.

Mike Tyson paid a $187,500 fine for late hits to Lou Savarese in their heavyweight fight in June. Tyson, fined in late August, also paid $1,500 in costs.

An 18-year-old student at Fredonia State in Buffalo, N.Y., has been suspended from school and is under FBI investigation for allegedly e-mailing death threats to track star Marion Jones during the Sydney Olympics.

An advisory council has given preliminary approval to a Pacific 10 Conference postseason basketball tournament. Conference presidents will vote on the matter Oct. 23.

Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s prime-time ratings for its live coverage of the Summer Games in Sydney fell 12% from the 1996 Olympics. CBC averaged 1.65 million viewers in 1996 and 1.45 million this year for the 7-11 p.m. time slot.