Sports briefs for May 24, 2005

Tuesday, May 24, 2005 | 9:35 a.m.

Manfredo favored in 'Contender' fight

Peter Manfredo Jr. is a slight betting favorite against Sergio Mora in today's finale of the NBC TV reality boxing show "The Contender," according to odds posted Monday in the Caesars Palace sports book.

Manfredo (24-1), of Providence, R.I., is a minus-120 favorite (bettors risk $1.20 to win $1) against Mora (15-0), of Los Angeles.

The winner will earn $1 million and the loser of the final will receive $250,000 according to the terms of the program, which portrayed 16 professional middleweights fighting for the top prize.

Today's fight from Caesars' indoor events center, which is sold out, is scheduled for 5 p.m. It will air live on NBC in some parts of the country and at 8 p.m. on tape-delay in Las Vegas and the West. The fight will be shown in the Caesars Palace sports book at 5 p.m.

An undercard featuring other boxers from the reality show was scheduled to get under way this morning at Caesars, including a bronze medal final between Jesse Brinkley (25-2) of Yerington and Alfonso Gomez (12-3) of Guadalajara, Mexico.

-- Jeff Haney

Fry named MWC player of the week

UNLV baseball senior Matt Fry led the Rebels to a sweep of Utah and the Mountain West Conference regular season title in his final three home games last weekend and on Monday was named the MWC player of the week.

It was the first MWC weekly honor of his UNLV career for Fry, an outfielder from Anaheim Hills, Calif., who went out with a bang in his final three games at Earl E. Wilson Stadium.

Fry finished the weekend with nine RBIs and had seven hits in 11 at-bats.

His big weekend helped UNLV clinch its second MWC regular season title in three years.

Ballyhooed recruit acquitted of assault

Epiphanny Prince, a junior at Murry Bergtraum High School and one of the top basketball players in the country, was acquitted in Brooklyn Criminal Court of assaulting and menacing a 13-year-old girl, and avoided spending her summer in a jail cell instead of on a basketball court.

Judge Suzanne Mondo, in a nonjury case, found Prince, 17, guilty of harassment in the second degree and ordered her to perform 15 days of community service and pay a $95 surcharge.

Prince, a 5-foot-11-inch guard, was arrested for her role in a melee that occurred on May 28, 2004 and resulted in a 13-year-old girl sustaining a broken leg.

-- Sun wire services