Off the wire

BASKETBALL

Larkin to enter NBA Draft

Miami guard Shane Larkin said he will forgo his final two years of college eligibility and enter the NBA draft. Larkin averaged 14.5 points and 4.6 assists this season for the Hurricanes, who won 29 games, climbed as high as No. 2 in The Associate d Press Top 25 and reached the round of 16 in the NCAA Tournament. Larkin’s decision means Miami will be without its top six scorers from this season when it takes the court next fall. Larkin led the Hurricanes in scoring. The next five highest scorers for Miami were all seniors. Larkin is the son of Baseball Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, and had until the end of Sunday to officially enter the draft. The Hurricanes were 48-20 with Larkin in their lineup.

FOOTBALL

Big Ten going East, West

The Big Ten says it is going to an East and West alignment for divisions and a nine-game schedule format for conference play. Big Ten presidents and chancellors approved the moves on Sunday. The new division alignments will begin in 2014 when Rutgers and Maryland join the conference, meaning “Legends” and “Leaders” will be a thing of the past. Teams will go from playing eight conference games to nine in 2016. Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State, Penn State and Rutgers will be in the East division. The West will consist of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Northwestern, Purdue and Wisconsin. Schools will play six division games plus two against teams from the other division in 2014 and 2015. In 2016, they’ll play three cross-division games. Indiana and Purdue will meet on an annual basis.

SOCCER

Beckham receives red card

David Beckham was ejected Sunday during a game in which players clashed at the finish and Paris Saint-Germain moved closer to clinching the French league title with a 1-0 victory at Evian. Beckham drew a red card as did teammate Marco Verratti. The victory will do little for PSG’s image, with midfielder Blaise Matuidi running over to gloat before the Evian bench moments after the final whistle and goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu confronting several Evian players. Javier Pastore scored in the 50th minute to keep PSG nine points ahead of second-place Marseille with four rounds remaining. Earlier, Lyon held third place after rallying for a 1-1 draw at home to local rival Saint-Etienne.

HOCKEY Avalanche fire Sacco

The Colorado Avalanche have fired Coach Joe Sacco a day after the team missed the playoffs for the third consecutive season. General Manager Greg Sherman said in a news release Sunday the “organization believes a change of leadership behind the bench is needed going forward.” Colorado never got on track in the lockout-shortened season and finished last in the Western Conference. Sacco was hired in 2009 after coaching in the minors. He preached an up-tempo style and it served the youthful Avalanche well in his first season as the team earned a postseason spot. But the team couldn’t duplicate that success. Sacco will lead the U.S. squad at the world championships later this week.

A person familiar with the decision tells The Associated Press that the Dallas Stars have hired Jim Nill to replace fired General Manager Joe Nieuwendyk. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Sunday night because the move hadn’t been announced. Dallas fired Nieuwendyk on Sunday after four seasons with two coaches and no playoff appearances. The Stars finished their season 22-22-4 Saturday without earning a spot in the playoffs for the fifth season in a row. Nill has helped the Detroit Red Wings extend their postseason streak to 22 straight appearances. He was Detroit’s assistant general manager for 15 seasons and has worked for the franchise’s front office since 1994.

MARATHON

Kiprop, Veiga take Madrid

Kanya’s Francis Kiprop and Spain’s Vanessa Veiga won the Madrid Marathon, which observed a minute of silence before the start in commemoration of the victims of the Boston bombings. Kiprop finished in 2:10.37 on Sunday. Veiga won the women’s division in 2:36:38. Many of the approximate 26,000 held two fingers together to make a lower case “b” in solidarity with the victims of the two bombs that exploded near the Boston Marathon finish line. Spanish authorities beefed up security, deploying 1,100 police and other personnel. Madrid is competing with Tokyo and Istanbul for the right to host the 2020 Olympics. The winner will be announced in September.

TENNIS Sharapova defends title

Maria Sharapova beat Li Na 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday to successfully defend her WTA Porsche Grand Prix title in a final between the last two French Open champions. The top-seeded Russian swept to her second title of the year after winning in Indian Wells, Calif. She became the first player to retain the Stuttgart title since Lindsey Davenport in 2005. This was her 29th career title and 16th consecutive win on clay, dating to Rome last year. Since Stuttgart last year, she is 23-1 on clay. Her only loss was to Serena Williams in Madrid. Sharapova, ranked No. 2, was using the Stuttgart tournament for her clay-court debut this season, as she did last year when she went on to capture the French Open. The second-seeded Li had a double-fault on match point, with another one earlier in the final game. Sharapova had to fight through three long three-setters to get to the championship match, but there was little drama in the final. The Russian opened with a break and went up 4-1 before Li could pull back one break. But that was not enough, and Sharapova closed the set with a service winner. Li, who became the first Chinese player to win a Grand Slam title with her victory at Roland Garros in 2011, simply didn’t have enough consistency to threaten. Sharapova gained the key break in the seventh game of the second when Li sent a volley wide. Sharapova holds a 9-5 career edge over Li, who beat her in the semifinals of the Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam.

Rafael Nadal won the Barcelona Open for the eighth time Sunday, defeating Nicolas Almagro 6-4, 6-3 for his fourth title of the year. This latest victory, with next month’s French Open approaching, is a promising sign that Nadal is getting back to full strength from a knee injury that sidelined him since last summer. After trailing 3-0 in the first set, Nadal found his form and broke his fellow Spaniard in three of his next four service games to take command in a final played in a drizzle. He has made six straight finals since returning from his knee injury. This title, the 54th of his career, comes one week after his eight-year reign at Monte Carlo ended with a loss to top-ranked Novak Djokovic. Nadal won the Barcelona Open from 2005-09 but did not play in 2010 because of a knee injury. He has won every year since. He has won 39 straight matches on the red clay at Real Club de Tenis, his last loss coming 10 years ago to Spain’s Davis Cup captain, Alex Corretja. Almaro, ranked 12th, has lost all 10 of his matches to Nadal.