Off the wire

LITTLE ROCK — BASKETBALL

76ers center suspended

Philadelphia 76ers forward Elton Brand has been suspended without pay for one game for committing a flagrant foul against Washington Wizards center JaVale McGee on Tuesday night. NBA executive vice president of basketball operations Stu Jackson announced the punishment on Wednesday. Brand missed the Sixers’ game against the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night. Brand was ejected with 3:32 left in regulation for a deliberate two-handed knockdown shove on McGee after a dunk in a 116-114 overtime loss to the Wizards.

BOXING Female boxer shot, stabbed

Deputies in Florida say boxer Christy Martin was shot and stabbed by her husband while the two were fighting at their home.The Orange County Sheriff’s Office says the 42-year-old boxer had been shot and stabbed in her torso and left leg when she ran away from her home in Apopka, which is near Orlando. She was able to flag down a passing motorist for help. Martin told deputies that her husband, 66-year-old James Martin, had confronted her with a knife and handgun. Deputies are still searching for James Martin. A sheriff’s spokesman said Wednesday that he didn’t know the extent of Christy Martin’s injuries, nor why the couple had been fighting. Christy Martin was a pioneer in women’s boxing in the 1990s, once landing on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Alfonso Gomez has a torn ligament in his left elbow that will prevent him from fighting Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. next week. Pawel Wolak will replace Gomez (22-4-2, 11 KOs), who withdrew from the Dec. 4 bout on Wednesday. Chavez (41-0-1, 30 KOs) is among Mexico’s most popular fighters, drawing huge crowds and attention largely due to his father’s fame. Wolak ( 27-1, 17 KOs) has won six consecutive fights, most recently beating James Moore at Yankee Stadium in July.

TENNIS Nadal beats Djokovic

Rafael Nadal defeated Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-2 at the ATP World Tour Finals in London. Djokovic was bothered by a problem with his contact lenses during the match. Djokovic lost to the top-ranked Nadal in this year’s U.S. Open final. This time, the Serb called for a timeout out early in the eighth game because of his lenses. After Nadal held at love to 4-4, Djokovic left the O2 Arena court to tend to the problem, but it seemed to persist when he returned. Nadal raised his record to 2-0 at the round-robin tournament for the world’s top eight players. He will next face Tomas Berdych, who defeated Andy Roddick 7-5, 6-3 in the early Group A match. Roddick dropped to 0-2 in the season-ending event.

BASEBALL Former Dodgers pitcher dies

Danny McDevitt, the former Brooklyn Dodgers pitcher who won the team’s final game at Ebbets Field, has died. He was 78. His daughter-in-law, Kristie McDevitt, said McDevitt died on Saturday of unknown causes and was buried on Tuesday in Covington, Ga. McDevitt, a left-hander, was 21-27 with seven saves in seven major league seasons with the Dodgers in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, the Yankees, Twins and Kansas City Athletics.

Vladimir Guerrero won the Edgar Martinez Outstanding Designated Hitter Award after helping the Texas Rangers earn their first trip to the World Series. The commissioner’s office made the announcement Wednesday. Guerrero beat out Boston’s David Ortiz and Minnesota’s Jim Thome. The ninetime All-Star hit .306 with 25 home runs, 106 RBI and 73 runs in 129 games at DH. Guerrero struck out only 56 times in 523 at-bats. Overall, the nine-time All-Star hit .300 with30 home runs, 115 RBI and 83 runs in 152 games.

FOOTBALL

Leach sues ESPN, PR firm

Former Texas Tech Coach Mike Leach sued ESPN Inc. and a public relations firm on Wednesday, accusing them of libel and slander after he was fired by Texas Tech amid accusations that he mistreated a player suffering from a concussion. The suit filed in Texas district court claims the network’s coverage of Leach’s firing last year was “willful and negligent defamation” and that it failed to “retract false and damaging statements” it made from “misinformation” provided to ESPN by Craig James, the father of the Texas Tech player. Josh Krulewitz, spokesman for the network based in Bristol, Conn., said officials had not seen the lawsuit and declined comment.

BASKETBALLPurdue women’s player in critical condition

INDIANAPOLIS - Hours after the Purdue women’s basketball team canceled a trip to Mexico because of a sick teammate, a team doctor said junior forward Drey Mingo is progressing in her recovery.

Mingo was hospitalized Tuesday night with bacterial meningitis, an inflammation of the coverings around the brain and spine that can be fatal. The Boilermakers’ second-leading scorer is listed in stable but critical condition at an undisclosed hospital in West Lafayette, Ind., and has a long way to go to recover.

“She’s had some improvements in her mental status that indicate some of the inflammation has decreased,” team physicianAlayne Sundstrom said during a hastily arranged conference call with reporters. “But because of the inflammation around the central nervous system, it’s still critical. We don’t know what’s going to happen yet.”

Coach Sharon Versyp described the junior from Atlanta as being “kind of sedated” though Versyp said she can recognize people and will speak - just not in long sentences.

Mingo is expected to be treated with antibiotics for another two weeks and it is uncertain whether she will spend all of that time in the hospital.

Team officials have not established a timetable for Mingo’s return to action, but that is the least of their concerns.

“Basketball does not matter, it just brings us together.

She’s getting the best health care that we could possibly have,” Versyp said. “Obviously, they’re shocked and in disbelief, but I think we’re so close [as a team], I think that’s really helped them.”

Sundstrom said Mingo complained of cold symptoms Monday and Tuesday, which is consistent with the early onset of meningitis.

By Tuesday night, Mingo was admitted to the hospital - at the same time her teammates were traveling to Indianapolis. They were scheduled to fly to Mexico early Wednesday morning.

Meningitis can be transmitted by recurrent exposure to saliva or coughing or other direct contact, but it is not highly communicable.