IN BRIEF

FOOTBALL

Las Vegas Bowl tickets to go on sale Monday

Tickets will go on sale Monday for the Las Vegas Bowl, to be played at 5 p.m. Dec. 22 at Sam Boyd Stadium.

Tickets are $20, $30, $50 and $100 and can be purchased by calling (866) 388-FANS or online at www.unlvtickets.com. Call 732-3912 for group and corporate package information.

The game will match the No. 1 pick from the Mountain West Conference against the fourth- or fifth-place team from the Pacific-10 Conference.

Also: The NFL has shut down its developmental league in Europe after 16 years. The league reportedly was losing about $30 million a season in NFL Europa.

Commissioner Roger Goodell said the NFL would concentrate internationally on regular-season games.

Tony Graziani threw for 198 yards and three touchdowns to lead Philadelphia to a 41-26 home victory over the Orlando Predators in the Soul’s first Arena Football League playoff game.

Brigham Young quarterback Cade Cooper will transfer, coach Bronco Mendenhall said. Cooper transferred from Snow College (Utah) after last season and competed for the starting job during spring practice, but he injured his foot in a scrimmage and was going to redshirt this fall.

HORSE RACING

Lava Man tries to win third straight Gold Cup

Lava Man will attempt to match the feat of Native Diver today when he goes for his third straight victory in the $750,000 Hollywood Gold Cup at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, Calif.

Lava Man will be ridden by Corey Nakatani and is assigned high weight of 124 pounds for the 68th running of the 1-mile race for 3-year-olds and up. The 6-year-old gelding can surpass the $5 million mark in career earnings with a victory.

Lava Man became the richest claiming horse when he won the Gold Cup last year by a nose. Two years ago, he won by a record 8 3/4 lengths.

MISCELLANEOUS

Aggies give Menzies three-year contract

Marvin Menzies, a UNLV assistant basketball coach in the 2004-05 season, was introduced as New Mexico State’s head coach.

Menzies, an assistant at Louisville the last two years, received a three-year contract from the Aggies with a base salary of $325,000 and the possibility of up to $200,000 in incentives.

The head coaching job is the first for Menzies, 45.

Also: The Charlotte Bobcats waived veteran Brevin Knight, leaving the NBA team without a backup point guard. Knight, 31, had a buyout clause in his contract worth $1.5 million and was scheduled to make about $4 million next season.

Center Daniel Briere has broken off negotiations with the Buffalo Sabres and will test the NHL free-agent market when it opens Sunday. Briere, coming off a career-high season in which he finished 10th in the league with 95 points, is expected to attract offers above $6 million.

The NHL salary cap will rise to $50.3 million per team next season, an increase of $6.3 million from last season, the league and players’ union announced.

Wladimir Sidorenko of Ukraine kept his WBA bantamweight championship and improved to 20-0-2 with seven knockouts by knocking out Jerome Arnould of France in the seventh round in Marseille, France.

Defending champion Alinghi defeated New Zealand by 19 seconds to take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-9 America’s Cup in Valencia, Spain.