Sports in Brief: Former ANC star leaves Pitt

Malcolm Gilbert, a 6-foot-11 sophomore center planning to redshirt this season, has left the Pitt basketball team for what the university called "family-related reasons" and will transfer to another school.

A native of Smyrna, Del., Gilbert played high school basketball at the Academy of the New Church in Bryn Athyn.

ICE HOCKEY: Andrei Makarov made 41 saves to help Russia beat the United States, 2-1, at the world junior championships in Ufa, Russia.

Jacob Trouba scored a tying, power-play goal on a slapshot from the blue line midway through the second period, but Vladimir Tkachyov scored from close range four minutes into the third.

U.S. goalie John Gibson had 28 saves.

Ryan Strome scored two goals and Canada rallied to beat Slovakia, 6-3.

The Czech Republic scored its first victory at the event, beating Finland, 2-1, on first-period goals by Marek Hrbas and Tomas Hyka.

SPEED SKATING: Heather Richardson won the women's 500 meters with the fastest time in the world this year at the U.S. Long Track Championships in Kearns, Utah, while Mitch Whitmore took the men's sprint title.

TENNIS: Top-ranked Novak Djokovic routed David Ferrer, 6-0, 6-3, to reach the final of the World Tennis Championship exhibition tournament in the United Arab Emirates. Djokovic will face Nicolas Almagro in the final. Almagro rallied from a set down to beat Janko Tipsarevic, 6-2, 7-6 (3), 6-2.

Rafael Nadal said he will not play the Australian Open because of a stomach virus, further delaying his comeback after being sidelined since June.

BASEBALL: The Cleveland Indians sold their regional TV sports network, SportsTime Ohio, to the Fox Sports Media Group.

SKIING: Anna Fenninger of Austria had two near-perfect runs to win a World Cup giant slalom in Semmering, Austria, while second-place Tina Maze of Slovenia extended her lead in the standings.

American teenager Mikaela Shiffrin, who won her first World Cup race last week, was eighth for the best GS result in her career. She's now 10th in the overall standings.

BOXING: Retired Puerto Rican boxing great Wilfred Benitez, 54, was hospitalized in the U.S. territory after family members worried he might have suffered a stroke.

Benitez, 53-8-1 with 31 knockouts, is the youngest fighter to ever win a world title, at 17 years old, but he struggled with traumatic brain injuries later in life. - Staff and wire reports