AUTO RACING
Man arrested after Darlington bomb threat
A Darlington, S.C., man was arrested after threatening to bomb Darlington Raceway, the track where NASCAR is expected to resume its season on Sunday following a two-month postponement due to the coronavirus.
Michael Donovan Avin, 46, was charged with possession, threatened or attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction for an act of terrorism following an investigation by the Darlington County sheriff’s office, according to the arrest warrant.
The warrant states that Avin left phone messages at the Darlington Raceway on April 27, “describing a possible explosive device and the results it may create to further his cause.” Investigators also alleged that Avin indicated in a letter written to another location in Darlington County that he had access to 125 tons of bomb-making materials.
Avin is in custody at the W. Glenn Campbell Detention Center awaiting a bond hearing while the case remains under investigation, according to the sheriff’s office.
Darlington Raceway and NASCAR declined to comment on the matter.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Alabama State hires ex-NBA guard Williams
Former NBA point guard Mo Williams is Alabama State’s new head coach.
Williams spent 14 seasons in the NBA, winning a championship with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016.
He played with Utah as a rookie and had stints with the Milwaukee Bucks, Los Angeles Clippers, Portland Trail Blazers, Minnesota Timberwolves and Charlotte Hornets. Williams also had two stops with the Cavaliers, retiring after the championship season.
Williams spent the past two seasons as an assistant for California State University at Northridge, under coach Mark Gottfried.
Williams was an All-star in his first season in Cleveland, in 2008-09, when he averaged a career-best 17.8 points. During his career, Williams averaged 13.2 points and 4.9 assists.
The NCAA is pushing back its deadline for early entrants to the NBA draft to withdraw and return to school, though it will wait to set a new date. The deadline was June 3, which would’ve come 10 days after the completion of the NBA scouting combine. But with the combine postponed amid the coronavirus pandemic, NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt
- said Wednesday that college sports’ governing body won’t set a new deadline until the NBA has determined its revised timeline for the predraft process.
- Georgia Tech and Georgia State announced Wednesday that the city rivals will play a three-game men’s series beginning in December, their first matchup during the regular season since 2008. The Yellow Jackets will host Georgia State on Dec. 16 at McCamish Pavilion, followed by another game on the Georgia Tech campus during the 2021-22 season. The Panthers will host the Jackets in 2022-23.
Courtney Paris
- is returning to Oklahoma as an assistant coach. Paris was the 2007 AP national player of the year as a sophomore and was selected Big 12 player of the year three times. She left Oklahoma with 20 NCAA Division I records. One of her most notable feats was an NCAA-record 112 consecutive double-doubles. Paris joins the Sooners after a 10-year WNBA playing career. She twice led the WNBA in rebounding and won a title as a member of the Seattle Storm.
NBA
League switches to Wilson game balls
Wilson will begin manufacturing game balls for the NBA again starting with the 2021-22 season.
Next season will be Spalding’s 37th and final season in that role for the NBA. Wilson, the NBA’s original manufacturer, will also provide game balls for the WNBA, the G League and, when it begins, the Basketball Africa League.
The WNBA will switch to the Wilson ball in 2022.
Former Celtics guard John McCarthy dies
John McCarthy, who won an NBA title with 1964 Boston Celtics and helped the Canisius Golden Griffins to a pair of NCAA tournament appearances in the 1950s, has died. He was 86.
Canisius said Mr. McCarthy died Saturday of natural causes in the Buffalo suburbs, where he grew up and lived most of his life.
Mr. McCarthy spent six seasons in the NBA, playing guard from 1956 to 1964. He closed his career by playing 28 games with the Red Auerbach-coached Celtics, who were in the midst of winning eight consecutive titles.
In 1960, while with the St. Louis Hawks, Mr. McCarthy registered 13 points and had 11 rebounds and 11 assists to become the NBA’s first player to post a triple-double in his first career playoff game. Only three other players — Magic Johnson, LeBron James and Nikola Jokic, in 2019 — have matched that feat.
ELSEWHERE
Theresa Feaster of Providence is the first woman on the coaching staff for the U.S. national junior team as video coach. She joins Ted Donato, Kris Mayotte and Steve Miller assisting Nate Leaman
- , who is also the head coach at Providence. That’s where where Feaster is heading into her ninth season and fifth as director of men’s hockey operations.
- Miami prosecutors dropped the domestic-violence case against former University of Miami and Miami Dolphins running back
Mark Walton
- , six months after his most recent arrest — one that might have ended his NFL career. Walton had been charged with aggravated battery on a person known to be pregnant. The alleged victim was his live-in girlfriend. The Dolphins moved quickly to cut Walton, who was on a zero-tolerance policy with the team after a string of early 2019 arrests in South Florida. He was actually serving a league-imposed suspension for those incidents when arrested on the most recent charge. The Dolphins quickly released him.