Sports Digest: Purdue Cal meets Cal College in CCAC semis today

Men's basketball

PURDUE CAL MEETS CALUMET COLLEGE IN CCAC SEMIS: Calumet College hosts Purdue Calumet at 7 p.m. today in the semifinals of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference tournament.

Alex Richman scored a game-high 25 points Tuesday as the Panthers (9-20) upset No. 3 seed Judson 76-71 in the opening round. Andrew Anderson (Merrillville) added 21 points for the Peregrines (9-20), while Kedric Williams had 15 points and Trent Tucker 11 rebounds.

PUC'S WILLIAMS EARNS CCAC HONOR: Purdue Calumet's Kedric Williams was named the CCAC Player of the Week.

Williams, who won the award for the second time this season, averaged 27.5 points and 7.5 rebounds per game last week.

Pro golf

WOOD SURVIES; DONALD DOESN'T IN MATCH PLAY: Tiger Woods had to play a left-handed shot out of the desert. Retief Goosen holed out from 156 yards and didn't even win the hole. Dustin Johnson twice won a hole after taking a penalty drop.

But the strangest sight of all Wednesday at the Match Play Championship didn't come from the golf course.

It was Luke Donald on his way to the airport.

"Golf is like that sometimes," Donald said after his 5-and-4 loss to Ernie Els, becoming only the third No. 1 seed to lose in the opening round. "It's a fickle game, and sometimes it bites you."

It almost took a bite out of Woods, who had to rally to beat Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano; and U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy, the No. 2 seed who was 3 up with three holes to play and was sweating on the 18th until George Coetzee missed a short putt for par.

Donald was so dominant last year in winning the Match Play Championship that he closed out all six of his matches before they reached the 18th hole. He won't be playing the closing hole at Dove Mountain this year, either.

Els, who only got into the 64-man field when Phil Mickelson took his family on a ski vacation, delivered the biggest shocker in the first round by taking the lead for good on the eighth hole and putting the world's No. 1 player in a hole from which he couldn't recover.

Donald lost in the opening round for the first time in eight appearances in this World Golf Championship.

College lacrosse

2ND DEGREE MURDER VERDICT IN LACROSSE DEATH TRIAL: Jurors found a former University of Virginia lacrosse player guilty of second-degree murder Wednesday in the drunken, jealousy-fueled slaying of his ex-girlfriend, rejecting a verdict of first-degree murder and a possible life sentence.

George Huguely V, 24, stood, flanked by his attorneys, as jurors returned the verdict after about nine hours of deliberations. He was convicted in the slaying of Yeardley Love, who was found bloodied, beaten and bruised in the bedroom of her Charlottesville apartment in the early morning hours of May 3, 2010.

Huguely displayed no emotion as the verdict was read. Sobbing could be heard in the courtroom filled with family and friends of Love and Huguely.

Jurors who returned the verdict immediately began deliberating a sentence, which will include punishment for a grand larceny charge the jury also found him guilty on. The second-degree murder conviction calls for a sentence of 5 to 40 years, while grand larceny's sentencing range is 1 to 20 years. Formal sentencing will occur at a later date.

Prosecutors said Huguely, of Chevy Chase, Md., killed the U.Va. women's lacrosse player after a day of golf and binge drinking, incensed that she had had a relationship with a North Carolina lacrosse player. Love's right eye was bashed in and she was hit with such power that her brain was bruised.

Around the horn

Temple and the Big East are talking about the Owls rejoining the conference as soon as next season. MAC Commissioner Jon A. Steinbrecher said in a statement Wednesday that his league is "aware that Temple has been in discussions with the Big East regarding membership." ... Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo got a strange combination from the NBA on his 26th birthday. Rondo was named to the Eastern Conference All-Star team Wednesday night, replacing injured Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson. However, he was out of the Celtics' lineup for a game at Oklahoma City while serving the second game of a two-game suspension. ... Ryan Howard took live batting practice for the first time since he tore his left Achilles tendon while making the final out of the Philadelphia Phillies' season-ending 1-0 loss to St. Louis last postseason. ... Tight end Jermichael Finley says he has agreed to a new deal with the Green Bay Packers.