Orioles’ Ponson Detained on Suspicion of Assault

Pitcher Sidney Ponson of the Baltimore Orioles has been detained on suspicion of assaulting a judge at a beach in Aruba on Christmas Day, police said Sunday.

Ponson, who was born in Aruba, is expected to be arraigned today on assault and battery charges, police said.

Ponson’s attorney did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

On Saturday at a beach in Boca Catalina, several people confronted Ponson, accusing him of harassing them with his watercraft and operating it recklessly, police said.

Ponson, 28, allegedly struck one of the men in the group several times. The man was later identified as a local judge, who was hospitalized, but his condition was not known, authorities said.

Ponson fled the scene, but police detained him late Saturday. He was being held in a jail at San Nicolas.

The right-hander was 11-15 with a 5.30 earned-run average in 33 starts last season. He has a 69-80 career record in seven seasons and a 4.67 ERA

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Free-agent right-hander Kevin Millwood is working toward an agreement on a one-year contract with the Cleveland Indians, baseball sources told Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Millwood is scheduled to be in Cleveland today for a physical, the sources said. But there are still several other details to work through before a contract, believed to be in the $7-million range, can be finalized.

Millwood, 30, played the last two seasons with Philadelphia. He was 9-6 with a 4.86 ERA last season but made only two starts in September after spraining a ligament and tendon in his pitching elbow.

Millwood was 75-46 in six seasons with Atlanta. He was 18-8 in 2002, but the Braves traded him in the off-season to the Phillies for catcher Johnny Estrada.

College Basketball

Tulsa seniors Jarius Glenn and Kyle Blankenship said players were stunned when John Phillips announced he was stepping down as coach.

Glenn said that Phillips, who resigned Saturday, talked about what his family was going through and about wanting to give the team a fresh start.

The Golden Hurricane is 2-5 after finishing 9-20 last season. Phillips led the team to the NCAA tournament in his first two seasons as coach and was 61-42 in three-plus seasons.

Blankenship said interim Coach Alvin “Pooh” Williamson, Phillips’ assistant since 2001, brings an energy that is hard to match from a player’s standpoint.

Williamson, 31, called his promotion “bittersweet.” He said Tulsa has suffered from the “hangover” of last season’s poor finish.

Athletic Director Judy MacLeod said Phillips had accepted her offer to become assistant athletic director, but his duties were unclear.

High School Football

John Barnes of Los Alamitos High has been selected head coach and Anthony Harris of North Hollywood Campbell Hall and Jon Mack of Ventura St. Bonaventure have been selected assistants of the West team for the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Jan. 15 in the Alamodome at San Antonio.

The game features 80 of the top high school players in the nation.

Among those selected to play for the West team are quarterbacks Jim Barnes of Los Alamitos and Mark Sanchez of Mission Viejo, receivers David Gettis of L.A. Dorsey and Desean Jackson of Long Beach Poly, running back Marlon Lucky of North Hollywood, defensive back Kevin Thomas of Oxnard Rio Mesa and offensive lineman Rodney Picou of Moreno Valley Canyon Springs.

Chris Dufresne has the day off.