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AUCKLAND, New Zealand Seth Curry scored 12 points to lead the United States to a 71-55 victory against France on Friday, sending the Americans into the second round of the FIBA under-19 world junior basketball championships.
Gordon Hayward had 11 points and five rebounds as the U.S. stayed top of Group B with one pool game remaining against Egypt today.
Curry, the younger brother of former Davidson star Stephen Curry, recently transferred from Liberty to Duke. A former Charlotte Christian star, Seth Curry led the nation's freshmen with a 20.2 scoring average.
NFL
U.S. soldiers expressed their gratitude over and over to the NFL coaches who made the trip to Iraq for the first NFL-USO coaches tour over the Fourth of July weekend.
“They kept thanking us,” said the Tennessee Titans' Jeff Fisher. “We kept thanking them.”
Fisher, the New York Giants' Tom Coughlin, the Baltimore Ravens' John Harbaugh, former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden are taking part.
A lawyer for Ryan Leaf says a fugitive action filed against the former NFL quarterback in Washington state has been dismissed.
The Whatcom County prosecutor had filed an interstate fugitive case against Leaf after he was arrested by federal Customs agents as he crossed the border from Canada in mid-June on his way to face drug and burglary charges in Texas.
Hockey
Anaheim forward Teemu Selanne says his next NHL season will be his last.
Selanne, a 10-time all-star, celebrated his 39th birthday Friday. He told the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper in Finland that a man his age doesn't belong in the NHL.
Turns out more than one player is willing to take a hometown discount to stay with the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins.
Ruslan Fedotenko signed a $1.8 million, one-year contract Friday, becoming the third forward to take a pay cut so he wouldn't have to leave a mostly young team that expects to be a championship contender for years.
The Phoenix Coyotes signed defenseman Shaun Heshka to a one-year contract Friday. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Ice Skating
Michelle Kwan will skate before an audience for the first time in three years when she joins world champion Kim Yu-Na in Ice All-Stars 2009 in Seoul, South Korea, in August.
Olympics
The Olympic Council of Asia has endorsed the bid of Tokyo to host the Summer Games in 2016.
“Asia will always support any city from Asia,” Kuwait's Ahmad Fahad al-Sabah, the council president, said after a general assembly meeting in Singapore. “They're doing a great job making progress toward a successful bid.”
Tokyo, which hosted the 1964 Olympics, is competing against Chicago, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro.
Soccer
Next week's first-leg match of the Copa Libertadores final will go ahead as planned in La Plata, Argentina, despite a swine flu outbreak that is blamed in the deaths of at least 44 people in the country.
The governing body of South American soccer said Friday the match between Argentine club Estudiantes and Brazilian club Cruzeiro would be played Wednesday.
Michael Owen joined English champion Manchester United on a two-year contract Friday.
Observer News Services
