Basketball Coach Jailed on Sex Abuse Charges in Clackamas County

A controversial basketball coach is jailed on sex abuse charges in Clackamas County.

Howard Avery, 51, was arrested on Thursday, Feb. 19, faces five criminal counts, including sodomy and sex abuse. He is being held on $250,000 bail.

No other details of the case have been released.

Avery admitted in 2004 that he had sexual contact with two girls he worked with.

At the time, Avery told the Portland Tribune he had sex with two former pupils, one who was 15 when he was 39.

The other sexual incident, Avery said, took place with a 19-year-old female when he was 40. He described it as consensual; the young woman told The Oregonian it was rape. No charges were filed in either case.

Sun Yue makes NBA Debut for Lakers

Chinese Olympian Sun Yue has made his first National Basketball Association appearance for the Los Angeles Lakers, scoring four points in the Lakers' 105-92 victory over Milwaukee.

NBA Most Valuable Player Kobe Bryant and all the other Lakers starters scored in double figures to deliver the victory.

Bryant led the way with 20 points and Derek Fisher chipped in 19 for the Lakers, who led from wire to wire for the second straight game.

Sun received a warm cheer from the Staples Center crowd when he took the court with 5:14 to play in the final period.

Sun, whose rookie NBA season has been hampered by glandular fever as well as a foot injury, had been activated by the Lakers for the first time only because Luke Walton was ill.

He learned only at the end of the pre-game shoot-around that he would be in uniform for the game.

Sun played 5:14 minutes and scored four points on 2-of-3 shooting with four fouls and two turnovers.

Sun admitted to some nerves as he took the court.

"Maybe the first 10 seconds," he said. "But when I got the first foul I calmed down.

"For me, that's my first game for a long time ... In last three minutes I think I found a rhythm."

Sun, a six-foot-eight inch (2.06 metre) guard, was originally selected by the Lakers in the second round of the 2007 NBA draft, but was not given a contract or an invitation to training camp last year.

The 23-year-old inked a two-year contract with the Lakers in August after averaging 6.8 points and 2.5 assists a game for the Chinese national team in the Beijing Olympics.

U.S. Men's Team beats Spain to Win Olympic Gold in Basketball

The whole U.S. squad joined the post-game press conference for the celebration of their come-back to the top of the world after they beat Spain 118-107 in the final of the Olympic men's basketball tournament here on Sunday.




A talented Spain team was as close as two points early in the fourth quarter and still within five in the last three minutes of the game and never completely went away in the US's 118-107 victory.

"This team has come a long way, and we had a lot of blowouts those first few games," point guard Chris Paul said. "So it was fitting that this one would be a close one. It really tested us to see what we were all about, and in the end, we showed we're the best in the world."

Kobe Bryant waved to the roaring crowd at Wukesong Arena, pounding his hand over his heart and beaming a smile as wide as all of China. Every few seconds, he looked down at his chest and seemed to rediscover the Olympic gold medal resting against his Team USA warmup jacket. He kissed the precious disc again and again, a kid who just received the toy he always wanted but never thought he'd get.

"Everybody wants to talk about NBA players being selfish and arrogant and individuals," Bryant said. "But what you saw today was a team bonding and facing adversity and coming out with a big win."

United States Defeated Argentina 101-81 to Reach Finals

The United States beat defending champions Argentina 101-81 on Friday night to earn a ticket to the gold medal game at the Olympics. The Americans, who won the title in 2000 but lost in the semi-finals to Argentina four years ago, got a team-high 21 points from Carmelo Anthony.

The USA stormed out to a 21-point lead and Argentina then lost superstar guard Manu Ginobili to a foot injury. Remarkably, Sergio Hernandez’s team fought back with inspirational leadership from Andres Nocioni and closed the gap to six but got no closer.

“We lost the chance to go for the gold medal game but today I believe we won the gold medal for the heart, the courage and the guts we put out there,” said Carlos Delfino.

“We lost our top scorer, Manu Ginobili. We were down 21 points against a team made up of superstars. We fought back and we gave everything we had on the court. In the end, the lack of oxygen and the fatigue caught up with us.”

Bothered by a knee injury that he suffered in the quarter-final win over Greece, Nocioni didn’t start but came off the bench to score eight points in the first half and also play his customary tough defense.

When asked if he had been fouled at the end of the half, Anthony said: “They called it. But it was a big play. We could not execute our plan in the first quarter and that left us with a huge deficit,” said Argentina coach Sergio Hernandez.

“If already it is difficult to play against a Team USA that has technique, incredible athleticism and unlike any other Team USA in the past – discipline - you can imagine if we are down 19 points. We paid the price in the final quarter because the efforts to get back in the game required a lot of energy. The zone defense worked at times, we tried everything. What I am left with is the character of my players, who play to the last minute and I am very proud.”


“Their zone gave us problems because we weren’t playing good defense. I think our defense leads to good offense, not just in turnovers but in us getting into an attack mode. I felt we didn’t attack the zone and we weren’t attacking defensively, either,” Krzyzewski said.

If the Americans play good defense, Krzyzewski says, they will be tough to beat in the final. The real heart of our team is playing defense, that’s why we’re in the gold medal game.” he said.

Now the Americans will face Spain for the gold medal on Sunday, a team they throttled, 119-82, in the preliminary round. Spain got to the gold medal game earlier Friday by rallying past Lithuania, 91-86.

Olympic Men's Basketball - USA Defeated Australia 116 - 85 to Reach Semis

The Redeem Team is looking more every day like the original Dream Team, and now the Americans are two victories away from winning the gold medal. On Wednesday night, the USA men's basketball team defeated Australia 116-85 to reach semifinal of the Olympics.

Kobe Bryant had 25 points to lead the USA, who grabbed 57 boards to just 28 for the Boomers. The Americans will now meet defending Olympic champions Argentina (who clawed their way past Greece 80-78 in the last game of the night)in the last four, and Bryant didn’t hesitate to say who he wanted to face.

"Well, we want to play the best, Bryant said before that game. We want to play the defending champs. I mean, it's all about challenge. ... You want to be able to play the guys who won it the last time." he said.

The Americans struggled shooting the ball in the first half but scored nine second-chance points after hauling in 13 offensive rebounds to just two for the men from Down Under.

USA defeated Spain 93-55 at Olympic Women's Basketball

The United States squandered a 15-point first quarter lead but much improved in the second half to beat Spain 93-55 for their fourth streak win in the Beijing Olympic women's basketball tournament on Friday.

Spain played as if an upset might be on the cards in the second quarter but in the end, they were just upset after a to three-time defending Olympic champions the United States.

Tina Thompson scored nine of her 17 points during the decisive third quarter run and Lisa Leslie added 14 points and 11 rebounds to help the U.S. top Spain.

The Americans also secured their top position in Group B after the victory and will meet New Zealand (1-3) in their final preliminary round game on Sunday.

Lisa Leslie Aiming Fourth Straight Olympic Gold Medal with USA Basketball Team

Lisa Leslie is homing in on a fourth straight Olympic gold medal with Team USA, and she’s entered the record books along the way. Leslie set a new women’s team mark in Wednesday’s 97-41 win over Mali by making all seven of her shots from the floor in her points haul of 16.

Current USA teammate Katie Smith had shot six of six from the field at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, something that former teammate Nikki McCray did as well at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

"Records are made to be broken," Leslie said. "It was good. We just wanted to get the win.”

Most people are predicting that world champions Australia will meet the United States in the gold medal game, but USA coach Anne Donovan refuses to look that far ahead. “We are not thinking about Australia and that’s an honest answer,” Donovan said.

“We’ve not been here together long enough to think ahead. That’s the best part of this team and they’ve really stayed in the moment, everyday whether it’s practice or a game, we’re focused on getting better so it when it comes to the gold medal game, comes to the quarter-finals, comes to the semi-finals, we’re getting better and we are today.”

Russia upset the United States in the semi-finals of the 2006 FIBA World Championship in Brazil. “There is no script that says Australia and the United States will be in that gold medal game,” Donovan said. “There is a lot of work to do for us and we’re not looking ahead.”