Louisville Cardinals
Wednesday's Sports in Brief
Louisville Cardinals

Wednesday's Sports in Brief

Published Oct. 19, 2017 4:21 a.m. ET

GYMNASTICS

Two-time Olympic medalist McKayla Maroney says she was molested for years by a former USA Gymnastics team doctor, abuse she said started in her early teens and continued for the rest of her competitive career.

Maroney posted a lengthy statement on Wednesday that described the allegations of abuse against Dr. Larry Nassar, who spent three decades working with athletes at USA Gymnastics but now is in jail in Michigan awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography. Nassar also is awaiting trial on separate criminal sexual conduct charges and has been sued by more than 125 women alleging abuse.

Nassar has pleaded not guilty to the assault charges, and the dozens of civil suits filed in Michigan are currently in mediation.

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Maroney, now 21, says the abuse began while attending a U.S. National team training camp at the Karolyi Ranch in the Sam Houston Forest north of Houston, Texas. Maroney was 13 at the time and wrote that Nassar told her she was receiving ''medically necessary treatment he had been performing on patients for over 30 years.'' Maroney did not detail Nassar's specific actions.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Louisville trustees have fired athletic director Tom Jurich in the wake of its involvement in a national federal investigation of college basketball.

The Board of Trustees voted 10-3 to fire Jurich after 20 years as the school's AD. Jurich, 61, had been placed on paid administrative Sept. 27 by interim university President Greg Postel. Louisville's Athletic Association fired men's basketball coach Rick Pitino on Monday.

Postel did not take questions about Jurich's firing with cause after more than three hours of meetings behind closed doors.

Jurich has played a major role in Louisville's success on the field, and how the school has handled issues off the field.

PRO BASKETBALL

NEW YORK (AP) - Cleveland's victory over Boston in the first game of the NBA season was TNT's second most-watched telecast ever on opening night.

The network says the Tuesday telecast peaked with 6.7 million viewers and its audience was a 95 percent increase over last season's opener. The game featured Kyrie Irving's return to Cleveland after his trade to the Celtics and was marred by Gordon Hayward's gruesome ankle injury in his first game in a Boston uniform.

The game ranked fifth in TNT's viewership for any regular-season game.

The opening-night doubleheader, capped by Houston's victory over defending champion Golden State, averaged 4.9 million viewers. Turner Sports says Wednesday that's up 53 percent from last year and was its most-watched opening night since 2010.

BASEBALL

PHOENIX (AP) - Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa is leaving the Arizona Diamondbacks organization.

La Russa served as chief baseball officer from 2015 to 2016 and became chief baseball analyst when the new regime of general manager Mike Hazen and manager Torey Lovullo arrived last spring.

La Russa said in a statement that the job was ''more demanding than I realized.'' He said with the current leadership in place, the Diamondbacks can expect winning baseball for years to come.

Diamondbacks managing general partner Ken Kendrick said La Russa played a significant role in putting the franchise on the path to success.

Hazen said La Russa was of great value to him personally and he's ''very appreciative for all he has done here and the manner in which he handled the transition.''

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Jerry Sandusky lost a bid for a new trial and a second chance to convince a jury he is innocent of the child sexual abuse charges that landed him in state prison to serve a lengthy sentence.

Judge John Foradora denied Sandusky's requests for a new trial or for dismissal of charges.

The former Penn State assistant football coach's lawyers said they were disappointed and planned to appeal the decision to Superior Court.

''The court's decision is not the end of Jerry's case, it is only the closing of a chapter which we need to go through in the course of our endeavor to obtain a new trial, a reversal of his conviction, and ultimately his release and vindication,'' said defense attorney Al Lindsay.

Sandusky, 73, has consistently maintained he was wrongly convicted. He argued that he did not receive adequate representation at his 2012 trial and that prosecutors should have disclosed more details about changes to victims' stories.

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