BRIEFLY.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

Wizards decide not to match Knicks' offer for Jeffries

Having found a cheaper, more enthusiastic alternative in DeShawn Stevenson, the Washington Wizards said Monday they won't match the New York Knicks' offer sheet for restricted free agent Jared Jeffries.

The Wizards had seven days to match the Knicks' five-year, $30 million deal. They spent the week signing Stevenson -- who, like Jeffries, is known for his perimeter defense -- to a contract that will pay him the NBA minimum of $932,000 for the upcoming season.

``Jared's representative made it crystal clear that he preferred being in New York,'' Wizards president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld said.

Penn State extended the contract of men's basketball coach Ed DeChellis two years, rewarding him the school's best record in five years.

HOCKEY: Veteran defenseman Eric Weinrich is retiring after an 18-year career and joining the coaching staff of the Ducks' AHL affiliate in Portland, Maine.

Evgeni Malkin still wants to play for the Pittsburgh Penguins as soon as possible, his agent said, although Malkin's Russian team announced the star forward has renegotiated his contract and plans to stay out of the NHL another season.

Russian super league team Metallurg Magnitogorsk posted a story on its Web site that Malkin met late into Sunday night with team officials and had reworked a three-year contract into a one-year deal that would allow him to become a free agent in 2007.

The New York Rangers agreed to terms Monday with forward Marcel Hossa.

Ladislav Nagy was awarded a one-year, $3 million deal by an arbitrator and agreed to terms with Phoenix.

J.P. Vigier, who missed half of last season with injuries, re-signed with Atlanta.

HORSE RACING: Bill Boland joined Carl Hanford, trainer of the famed Kelso, and champion thoroughbred Cougar II as the newest inductees into at the hall of fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

SWIMMING: USC senior swimmer Larsen Jensen declined his nomination to compete on the U.S. national team for the Mutual of Omaha Pan Pacific Championships, scheduled for Aug. 17-21 in Victoria, British Columbia.

-- Erik Boal

SOCCER: Emmanuel Cerda's 89th-minute goal lifted UANL Tigres past visiting UAG Tecos 2-1 in a Mexican Primera Division Apertura opener.

POKER: Former Hollywood talent agent Jamie Gold, a Malibu resident, wiped out two players in the space of an hour and amassing a stack of about 13 million in chips in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas.