Page 15 - Florida Sentinel 4-9-19

Sports
Duke 'Looking Into' Claim Nike Paid Zion's Mother
ZION WILLIAMSON
Duke athletic director Kevin White said the school is "looking into" attorney Michael Avenatti's allega- tion that Nike paid Zion Williamson's mother for consulting services while her son was a top high school re- cruit.
Avenatti, who has been charged with attempting to extort more than $20 million in payments from Nike, al- leged on Twitter on Friday night that Nike paid for "bogus" services in 2016 or 2017 "as part of a Nike bribe to get Zion to go to Duke."
In a statement to multiple outlets Saturday, White said Duke would investigate the claim as a compliance matter.
"We are aware of the alle- gation and, as we would with any compliance matter, are looking into it. Duke is fully committed to compliance with all NCAA rules and regu- lations," White wrote. "Every student athlete at Duke is reviewed to ensure their eligibility. With regard to men's basketball: all re- cruits and their families are thoroughly vetted by Duke in collaboration with the NCAA through the Eligibility Cen- ter's amateurism certification process.Williamson said there is a “high chance” he will forego his final three sea- sons of eligibility and enter the NBA Draft.
The discussion with his parents should be a brief one. Nobody thought Williamson would be any more than a one-and-done player. He’s projected as a po- tential first overall pick, and the formal announcement of his decision should come quickly. It’s telling that he all but admitted to it less than an hour after his freshman sea- son ended.
USF Bulls Tops DePaul To Capture CBI Title
USF players celebrate after forward Alexis Yetna (10) dunked during the second half of a home win against Stony Brook in the opening round of the College Basketball Invitational.
BEAUTY UNLIMITED
TIONA
The Beauty Unlimited feature for this week is the lovely Tiona. It’s been a long time since a feature with natural beauty has been featured, and what better choice than this young woman. Tiona absolutely loves posing in front of the camera, and understand the sacrifice and strength it takes to be successful. Tiona said she is a very hard worker and she puts 100% effort into every photo shoot. She loves to have fun, and she says she’s very easy to work with. Congratulations to Tiona for appearing as this week’s Beauty Unlimited feature.
Cowboys, Lawrence Agree To $105M Deal
David Collins had 19 points and eight rebounds, and South Florida beat De- Paul 77-65 on Friday in the College Basketball Invita- tional championship.
USF made three 3-point- ers in a four-minute span to take the first double-digit lead of the second half at 57- 47 and extended it to a 14- point advantage after an 8-0 run. The Bulls led by double figures for five-plus minutes until Max Strus made three free throws at 1:06 to pull to 71-64. Xavier Castaneda sealed it with two free throws with 40.4 seconds to play.
Justin Brown had 12 points for South Florida (24- 14), which was picked to fin-
ish last in the preseason American Athletic Confer- ence coaches' poll. LaQuincy Rideau added 10 points. Antun Maricevic had seven rebounds for the visitors.
South Florida led 37-20 with 6:15 remaining in the first half but didn't score again until Rideau beat the halftime buzzer with a layup for a 39-34 lead. DePaul went on a 14-0 run during USF's drought to get within three points with 25.7 seconds left.
Devin Gage had 19 points for the Blue Demons (19-17), who never led in the game. Strus added 16 points. Femi Olujobi had 14 points and 10 rebounds.
The Dallas Cowboys have agreed to a five-year, $105 million deal with defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, with $65 million guaranteed.
The Cowboys placed the franchise tag on Lawrence before free agency started, which would have guaranteed him $20.5 million, but the idea was to use it as a place- holder for a contract that would make him among the highest-paid pass-rushers and a Cowboy for the foreseeable future.
A key breakthrough on the negotiations came Thursday, when Cowboys executive vice president Stephen Jones and Lawrence talked on the phone directly. The result was a five-year deal that will pay Lawrence $31.1 million in the first year, with a $25 mil- lion signing bonus.
Among current contracts, Lawrence's $65 million in guaranteed money is the
Incident At Super Bowl
Michael Bennett Has
Charge Dropped From Alleged
DEMARCUS LAWRENCE
fourth highest given to a de- fensive player, trailing that of Khalil Mack, Aaron Don- ald and Von Miller.
Without the long-term deal, a source said Lawrence would not have taken part in the offseason program, organ- ized team activities, minicamp and training camp and might have skipped regular-season games.
Next up for Lawrence will be shoulder surgery that will keep him out until train- ing camp. He played last sea- son with a torn labrum.
Michael Bennett has been facing a felony charge stemming from an incident in which he allegedly injured an elderly person at the Super Bowl in 2017, but that charge has now been dropped.
Prosecutors in Harris County moved on Wednesday to dismiss the felony charge of injury to the elderly against Bennett.
Bennett was facing up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine if convicted. Of- ficials said they conducted an “extensive review” that in- cluded reviewing surveillance footage from NRG Stadium in Houston, where Bennett was in attendance to watch his brother Martellus play in the Super Bowl for the New England Patriots.
The allegations against Bennett stated that he shoved a 66-year-old para-
MICHAEL BENNETT
plegic woman who was work- ing security during the Super Bowl as he was making his way onto the field after the game. Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said Bennett told people, “You all must knowwhoIam,andIcan own this m—–f—–. I’m going down to the field, whether you like it or not.” The woman allegedly suffered a sprained shoulder. Bennett’s attorney flat-out denied that the inci- dent took place.
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