Florida wins first NCAA title
INDIANAPOLIS, April 3 (UPI) -- The Florida Gators won their first NCAA Tournament title in school history Monday night with a 73-57 victory over the UCLA Bruins.
Florida's only other appearance in an NCAA basketball final was in 2000 when the school lost to Michigan State.
Florida Coach Billy Donovan, 40, became the second-youngest active coach to win the national title. Bobby Knight won at age 35.
Joakim Noah led the Gators with 16 points and six blocked shots. Lee Humphrey 15, Al Horford 14, and Corey Brewer 11 for Florida (33-6). The Gators, who won the SEC Tournament, won their final 11 games.
Jordan Farmer scored 18 for the Bruins (32-7), who came into Monday with the nation's longest winning streak at 12 games, but failed in their bid for a record 12th title. The Bruins fell to 11-2 in championship games, with their only other defeat coming in 1980 to Louisville. Their last title came in 1995 with a win over Arkansas.
Pistons' Wallace suspended one game
NEW YORK, April 3 (UPI) -- Detroit's Rasheed Wallace was suspended for one game without pay Monday after getting his 16th technical foul of the season.
The foul came in Sunday's 109-102 win over Phoenix.
Wallace got his most recent technical late in the third quarter. He will miss Tuesday's game against New Orleans.
Wallace was nearly late for Sunday's game, arriving 20 minutes before tip-off. He cited the clock change as his reason.
For the rest of the season, under NBA rules, Wallace will receive an additional one-game suspension for every other technical foul he receives.
Wallace is averaging 15.5 points and 6.9 rebounds this season for the Pistons, who have an NBA-best record 59-14.
Safina, Shaughnessy win Amelia openers
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla., April 3 (UPI) -- Russian Dinara Safina and veteran American Meghann Shaughnessy were among Monday's opening-round winners at the Bausch & Lomb Championships.
Safina beat Japan's Shinobu Asagoe 6-2, 6-2, while Shaughnessy upset Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 6-0, 7-5 at Amelia Island Plantation.
Other Day-1 upsets included Spanish qualifier Virginia Ruano Pascual beating 10th-seeded Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 and Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko beating 13th-seeded Argentine Gisela Dulko 6-0, 6-1.
Two other seeds avoided upsets, as No. 11 Anabel Medina Garrigues defeated fellow Spaniard Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 and 15th-seeded Czech Lucie Safarova defeated Dutchwoman Michaella Krajicek 7-5, 6-7 (2-7), 6-4.
Dolphins re-sign running back Sammy Morris
MIAMI, April 3 (UPI) -- The Miami Dolphins re-signed running back Sammy Morris Monday to a one-year contract.
Morris, 29, started in two of the 16 games he played for the Dolphins last season. He rushed for 58 yards on 16 carries and caught eight passes for 54 yards.
Morris' best season came in 2004, his first season with the Dolphins, when he ran for 523 yards. He's totaled 1,069 yards rushing and 13 touchdowns on 282 attempts and tallied 91 receptions for 630 yards and a score in his NFL career.
He also played for the Buffalo Bills.
Albert Pujols has two homers and four RBI
PHILADELPHIA, April 3 (UPI) -- Albert Pujols had two home runs and four RBI on Monday when the St. Louis Cardinals routed the Philadelphia Phillies, 13-5.
Scott Rolen added a grand slam against his former team in an eight-run fourth inning. Offseason acquisition Aaron Miles had four hits, including a triple and two RBI. St. Louis had 17 hits.
Philadelphia's Jimmy Rollins extended his hitting streak to 37 games with a double down the right-field line with two outs in the eighth inning.
St. Louis starter Chris Carpenter (1-0), the 2005 National League Cy Young Award winner, went five-plus innings and allowed four runs on nine hits.
Andruw Jones has four RBI in slugfest
LOS ANGELES, April 3 (UPI) -- Andruw Jones homered and drove in four runs Monday as the Atlanta Braves outslugged the Los Angeles Dodgers, 11-10.
Jones, who had a career-best 51 homers last season, went 2-for-4 and scored twice for the Braves, who seek a 15th straight division title.
Adam LaRoche added a three-run homer and one of the newest Braves, Edgar Renteria, was 2-for-5 with two RBI for Atlanta, which led the entire game, but nearly blew a six-run, eighth-inning lead.
Jeff Kent was 2-for-4 with four RBI for Los Angeles, which scored five times in the final two innings but lost in the debut of Dodgers Manager Grady Little.
