FRANKFORT, Ky. - Kentucky State fired men's basketball coach Winston Bennett on Thursday for hitting a player.
Last week, senior guard Ricky Green filed a complaint with the Franklin County Attorney's Office accusing Bennett of striking him in the face during practice.
In a statement Thursday, Bennett said he and Green overreacted to a heated situation and both threw blows. He expressed regret and remorse.
"If there was ever a time when I wish the hands of time could be turned back, it is right now," Bennett said.
He was hired at Division II Kentucky State in May 2000. He went 44-43 in three seasons.
SOCCER: Tampa placed seven players on the All-Sunshine State Conference men's and women's soccer teams, including women's defensive player of the year Malana Winskas, and Saint Leo's Tony Paris and Casie Poyssick were named women's coach of the year and freshman of the year, respectively. Tampa's Winskas is joined on the first team by Kara Rasmussen and Samantha Robinson, while Jade Berbert was named second-team goalkeeper. Spartan men selected to the first team are Roy Fink, Ingo Fochler and Federico Della Picca. Eckerd senior Johanna Wiborg was named to the second team.
TENNIS: Florida's Alexis Gordon and Zerene Reyes won opening matches at the National Intercollegiate Indoor Championships at Michigan. Teammates Jennifer Magley and Julie Rotondi lost.
STEROID SCANDAL: Drug confirmed in sprinter
British sprinter Dwain Chambers' backup urine sample from an out-of-competition test in August confirmed a positive test for the steroid THG, the Associated Press reported. The European 100-meter champion faces the possibility of a ban lasting two years or longer, which would mean missing the Athens Olympics. He is one of five track and field athletes who tested positive for the recently discovered drug.
SPRINTERS TESTIFY: Tim Montgomery, the world's fastest man, appeared before a grand jury in San Francisco investigating a lab that supplies some top athletes with nutritional supplements. U.S. sprinter Chryste Gaines also testified. The Associated Press reported the grand jury is focusing on drug use by athletes as well as possible tax evasion by the lab, BALCO.
TENNIS: Capriati wins opener
Jennifer Capriati is in the hunt for the $1-million winner's check at the eight-player WTA Championships in Los Angeles, yet she's just about ready to write off a disappointing year. "The main thing is just for me to try to play my best and have some fun here. It would be nice to do well, but I don't have any really big expectations," she said. Capriati, with a strained right hip flexor, got a big challenge in her first match in the season-ending championships, fighting off four set points to defeat Ai Sugiyama 7-5, 7-6 (7-3) in round-robin play Wednesday night. In matches Thursday, No. 1-ranked Kim Clijsters overcame Chanda Rubin 6-4, 6-4, and Amelie Mauresmo topped Elena Dementieva 6-3, 6-2.
ET CETERA
SAILING: The Hallberg-Rassy 40 and the J/133 were honored as Cruising World and Sailing World 2004 boats of the year, respectively, in ceremonies at the St. Petersburg Yacht Club.
WOMEN'S HOCKEY: Katie King had a power-play goal and Natalie Darwitz got a short-handed score as the United States blanked Olympic and world champion Canada 2-0 in the Four Nations tournament at Skovde, Sweden. The Americans are 2-0 in round-robin play.
BASEBALL: Ryan Madsen pitched five scoreless innings as the United States defeated host Panama 3-0 for its third consecutive victory in the Americas pre-Olympic tournament.
HIGH SCHOOL: Woodside (Calif.) principal Linda Common, furious after some football players chanted obscenities at coach Packy Moss as he entered the locker room after another loss, canceled the remainder of the school's season. Woodside was 2-6.
SOCCER: The son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was suspended from Italy's top league pending results of a second drug test. Saadi Gadhafi recently signed with Perugia. ... San Jose defender Troy Dayak was fined $1,500 and Los Angeles forward Carlos Ruiz was fined $250 for fighting at halftime of Saturday's MLS playoff game.
MARTIAL ARTS: Former grand champion Akebono formally quit the sumo world and will launch a new career in Japan's K-1, a brutal sport that combines karate, kickboxing and tae kwon do. The Hawaii native was the first foreigner to reach sumo's highest rank.
RUGBY: After 40 matches over three weeks, the World Cup is down to eight teams - host Australia, England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, France, New Zealand and South Africa - with quarterfinal play this weekend in Brisbane and Melbourne.
