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Sports briefs

Pierce's shooting lifts U.S.

Paul Pierce had another of his scoring blitzes Monday night, cementing his status as the best offensive player on the U.S. national basketball team.

Pierce made seven consecutive shots and scored 20 of his 27 points in the third quarter to lead the United States to a 106-82 victory against Russia in the World Championships at Indianapolis.

Pierce has led the Americans in scoring in all four of their games.

The U.S. team hadn't looked special in its past two games, with Germany keeping the game close for three quarters and China opening a big early lead. This one was more to the U.S. team's liking, and Pierce turned it into a rout.

He drove for three layups and scored 10 of America's first 12 of the second half, added back-to-back 3-pointers later in the quarter for an 80-59 lead, then followed a tip-in by Ben Wallace with another 3-pointer for an 85-61 edge.

Against Germany on Friday, Pierce scored eight in 46 seconds to break open a close game.

Andre Miller added 18 for the United States, which plays New Zealand today and Argentina on Wednesday to complete the second round.

In other games, it was: Argentina 95, China 71; Spain 87, Turkey, 65; Puerto Rico 85, Yugoslavia 83; Germany 84, New Zealand 64; Canada 91, Lebanon 67; Venezuela 98, Algeria 83; and Brazil 86, Angola 83 in OT.

Also, Johnny Neumann was fired as coach of Lebanon's national team for criticizing the country's government.

CYCLING: An exhaustive doping probe into Lance Armstrong's team was closed last week because of a lack of evidence, the Associated Press reported. After 21 months of inquiries, investigators found no proof that the U.S. Postal Service team used banned substances during the 2000 Tour de France. Armstrong won his second Tour title in a row in 2000. In July, he won the Tour for the fourth year in a row.

SWIMMING: Matt Welsh broke the 50-meter backstroke short-course world record at the Australian championships in Melbourne. He finished in 23.31 seconds, .11 faster than the 25-meter pool mark set by Neil Walker on March 16, 2000, at Athens, Greece.

HORSES: Harlan's Holiday took the lead with 1 furlong left, then drew away from four rivals to win the $500,000-guaranteed Pennsylvania Derby by a widening 41/2 lengths at Philadelphia Park. ... AB What A Runner scored a wire-to-wire victory in one of the closest finishes in the 44-year history of the All American Futurity, the world's richest quarter-horse race, in Ruidoso Downs, N.M. The 2-year-old filly, who set the track record for 440 yards in trials two weeks ago, held off geldings Eye Opening Episode and Meteoric to win in a photo finish and earn the $1-million that goes to the winner of the $2-million sprint. ... Art Major led from start to finish in scoring a 4-length win on Monsoon Hall in the $369,188 Cane Pace final at Freehold Raceway in New Jersey. ... Band Is Passing upset favored Pisces by 2 lengths to win the $141,750 Miami Mile Breeders' Cup Handicap at Calder. ... Bop made a late charge and beat Rudirudy by a neck to take the $100,000 Thomas Edison Stakes at New Jersey's Meadowlands. ... Congaree, who finished third in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness and won the Swaps Stakes last year, rebounded from two stakes defeats by winning the $250,000 Del Mar Breeders' Cup Handicap by 1 length over Kela. ... Lone Star Sky, winner of the Bashford Manor Stakes at Churchill Downs in July and second in the Saratoga Special last month, finished 23/4 lengths ahead of Christmas Away in the $200,000 Miller Genuine Draft Cradle Stakes for 2-year-olds at River Downs in Cincinnati.

GOLF: Paula Creamer won the AJGA's Robert Trent Jones Junior Classic at Mobile, Ala., with a 54-hole total of 212. Seminole's Brittany Lincicome shot 2-under 70 in her final round to finish tied for second (218) with Jennifer Pandolfi. Tampa's Mallory Code (77) tied for eighth at 226.

OBITUARY: Abe Lemons, who won 599 college basketball games as a coach for Texas, Oklahoma City and Pan American, died at 79. The coach, who had Parkinson's disease and spent the past year in a wheelchair, broke a hip in a fall in July. He developed pneumonia during rehabilitation and did not recover.

-- DAVE THEALL, Times wires

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