Marcos Ambrose gets first Sprint Cup victory

Marcos Ambrose missed his daughter’s first day of school. She probably won’t mind.

The snakebit Ambrose, deprived more than once of a NASCAR victory, beat Brad Keselowski and Kyle Busch on a two-lap dash to the checkered flag Monday to win the rain-delayed Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen International in upstate New York.

It was his first victory in 105 starts in NASCAR’s top series and atoned for a slip-up a year ago on the road course at Sonoma, Calif., when he stalled his car under caution while leading with six laps to go and finished sixth.

ETC.

Galaxy acquires Irish striker Keane

The Galaxy acquired Irish international striker Robbie Keane from Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premier League and appeared on the verge of trading away Colombian forward Juan Pablo Angel.

Keane, 31, is the captain of Ireland’s national team, for which he has played 108 games and scored 51 goals. On the club level, his 14-year professional career has included stints with such teams as Liverpool, Inter Milan and Celtic, in addition to Spurs.

According to reports from England, the Galaxy paid Tottenham $5.7 million for the Dublin-born Keane, who will join the MLS club as a designated player as soon as he receives a U.S. work visa and after the Galaxy sheds one of its current three designated players.

With David Beckham and Landon Donovan virtually untouchable, it appears that Angel, 35, would be the player to be let go. There is a possibility that Angel might be traded to Chivas USA on Wednesday.

—Grahame L. Jones

The USC men’s basketball team lost, 87-81, to the Sao Jose dos Campos Club team, a first-division pro Brazilian team, in Sao Paulo. It was the second game of USC’s 10-day exhibition trip and it was previously scheduled to be a scrimmage.

Senior guard Jio Fontan scored 28, sophomore guard Maurice Jones had 20 and sophomore forward Garrett Jackson had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

—Baxter Holmes

Pittsburgh Penguins General Manager Ray Shero said star Sidney Crosby is still dealing with concussion symptoms and it’s too soon to know whether Crosby will be available when the Penguins open camp next month.

Crosby hasn’t played in a game since Jan. 5, sitting out the rest of the regular season and Pittsburgh’s first-round playoff loss to Tampa Bay as he slowly recovered from a concussion.

The Texas A&M Board of Regents gave President R. Bowen Loftin the authority to move the Aggies out of the Big 12 Conference.

The board gave Loftin the OK to take any action he deems necessary when it comes to conference alignment.

NCAA investigators visited the University of Miami campus looking into claims that more than a dozen former or current football players received gifts and services from convicted Ponzi schemer Nevin Shapiro, his attorney said.

Winnipeg Jets center Rick Rypien, 27, was found dead in his home in Coleman, Canada, nine months after he took a leave of absence to deal with an undisclosed personal matter. An official with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police called Rypien’s death sudden, but not suspicious.