Brown Sends New Message to Iverson

Although the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team began its exhibition season with a 96-71 victory over Puerto Rico on Saturday at Jacksonville, Fla., the most intriguing move came from Coach Larry Brown.

The coach of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons benched Allen Iverson, LeBron James and Amare Stoudemire for showing up late to a pregame meeting, a move that rekindled memories of the six contentious seasons Brown and Iverson spent at Philadelphia when Brown coached the 76ers.

“They broke a team rule and we are a team,” Brown said. “They paid the penalty. Nobody wanted to embarrass them, and now we’re moving on.”

Brown and Iverson frequently feuded while with the 76ers but they claimed to have patched up things when Brown left after the 2003 season. But in their first significant reunion, there was trouble.

“I’m the captain on the team and to be suspended just for being a couple minutes late just doesn’t sit well for me,” Iverson said. “I’m supposed to be one of the leaders of the team, and this is not a good look.”

Iverson, James and Stoudemire watched the game from the bench.

Carmelo Anthony and Carlos Boozer led the U.S. with 16 points each, and Tim Duncan finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Golf

Minea Blomqvist, 19, had six birdies and two eagles and made a 60-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a tournament-record 10-under-par 62 in the Women’s British Open at Sunningdale, England. Karrie Webb had the previous tournament record with a 63 at Turnberry three years ago.

Rachel Teske and Heather Bowie each shot a 65 to share the lead at 12 under. Blomqvist was at eight under, tied with Laura Davies (69) and Seol-An Jeon (70).

Annika Sorenstam (70) offset double-bogey sevens at Nos. 1 and 14 with six birdies to move to seven under.

Vijay Singh shot a seven-under 65 to take a two-stroke lead over John Daly and a three-shot advantage over Tiger Woods in the Buick Open at Grand Blanc, Mich.

Woods shot a bogey-free 66 and still lost ground to Singh. Woods was tied with Carlos Franco (67). Daly also shot a 66.

Peter Jacobsen shot a one-under 70 for a share of the second-round lead with Craig Stadler (69) at seven under in the rain-delayed U.S. Senior Open at St. Louis.

The tournament concludes today with 36 holes after rain washed out play Friday.

Tennis

Andy Roddick advanced to the final of the Tennis Masters Canada at Toronto with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Nicolas Kiefer, setting up a rematch of his Wimbledon final against Roger Federer.

Federer extended his unbeaten streak to 22 matches with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory over Thomas Johansson.

Kim Clijsters of Belgium will not be ready to play in the U.S. Open because she is still recovering from wrist surgery, her website said.

Pro Football

Quarterback J.P. Losman signed a five-year deal with the Buffalo Bills that could be worth as much as $24.5 million through incentives and that includes a $5.6-million signing bonus. Receiver Lee Evans also agreed to a deal but terms were not disclosed. Evans was selected 13th overall from Wisconsin and Losman 22nd from Tulane.

Miscellany

Mike Tyson tore a ligament in his left knee in the first round of his fourth-round knockout loss to Danny Williams in a heavyweight bout Friday at Louisville, Ky., said his manager, Shelly Finkel.

Tony Kanaan won the pole for today’s Michigan Indy 400 with a fast lap of 215.871 mph at Michigan International Speedway at Brooklyn.

El Cajon’s Austin Cameron earned his third straight victory of the NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series season by winning the NAPA Auto Parts 150 at Irwindale Speedway.

Cameron, who is undergoing treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, was in third place late in the second 75-lap segment when the top two drivers at the time, Johnny Borneman and Mike Duncan, brushed each other and spun out.

The scheduled 50-lap Auto Club of Southern California Late Model Series feature had to be shortened to 40 due to time constraints. Scott Youngren barely held off Tim Huddleston for his first win of the season.