USC’s Stewart back at practice

USC senior shooting guard Lodrick Stewart has returned to practice after losing 12 pounds in 12 days, bringing the Pacific 10 Conference’s leading active career scorer to within two pounds of the weight coaches had asked him to meet before the start of practice.

Stewart, who was barred from nine practice sessions, said he weighed 217 pounds and hoped to get down to 205. He said he slimmed down by running five miles a day and sitting in a sauna. Stewart said coaches had asked him to report to practice at a weight of 215.

“It was difficult just walking around campus while they’re in practice for that week and a half,� said Stewart, who averaged 12.3 points last season. “But I was dedicated to doing it because I wanted to be back and be a part of this. It’s my last year and I want to go out in style.�

-- Ben Bolch

TENNIS

Federer blazes into second round

Roger Federer easily advanced to the second round of the Swiss Indoors, beating Tomas Zib, 6-1, 6-2, at Basel, Switzerland.

Federer, who has never won his hometown tournament, won 12 of the first 15 points, including four aces in the third game.

Federer will face Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who beat Julian Reister, 7-6 (4), 6-2.

Federer conceded only six points on serve against the 151st-ranked Zib and closed it out in 49 minutes.

Top-seeded Marcos Baghdatis and second-seeded Gaston Gaudio lost in the first round of the Lyon Grand Prix at Lyon, France, a defeat that could damage Baghdatis’ bid to qualify for next month’s Masters Cup.

Arnaud Clement defeated Baghdatis, 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, and Simon Greul routed Gaudio, 6-0, 6-2.

Eighth-seeded Francesca Schiavone, hampered because of an injured right calf, lost to Vera Zvonareva, 5-7, 6-1, 6-3, in the first round of the Generali Ladies at Linz, Austria.

Zvonareva will next play Mary Pierce, who beat Ai Sugiyama, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5).

Top-seeded Nikolay Davydenko defeated Fabrice Santoro, 6-3, 6-1, to advance to the second round at the St. Petersburg Open at St. Petersburg, Russia.

Wayne Arthurs, ranked 196th, upset second-seeded Tommy Robredo, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.

Andy Roddick and Ivan Ljubicic have clinched berths at the season-ending Masters Cup.

Roddick and Ljubicic join Federer and Rafael Nadal, who already had qualified for the Nov. 12-19 tournament at Shanghai.

JURISPRUDENCE

Heat’s O’Neal was part of botched raid

Shaquille O’Neal was present during a botched child pornography raid last month while working in Virginia as a reserve sheriff’s deputy.

The Miami Heat center, who pursues his interest in law enforcement during the off-season, denied taking part in serving the search warrant at the wrong house Sept. 23. However, Bedford County Sheriff’s Lt. Michael Harmony confirmed to the Associated Press that O’Neal was there.

A.J. Nuckols, who said his family has filed formal complaints, wrote in a letter published in the Chatham Star-Tribune that the raid at his Gretna, Va., home “scared beyond description� him and his family.

He described being “held at gunpoint, taunted and led into the house,� and said the home was ransacked by a “paramilitary search-and-seizure team� that took computers, cameras, DVDs and VHS tapes.

“Men ran at me, dropped into shooting position, double-handed semiautomatic pistols pointed at me, and made me put my hands against my truck,� Nuckols wrote.

It wasn’t until later authorities realized they had been given the wrong IP address, which Internet service providers can use to identify users, leading them to the wrong physical address, Harmony said.

It was the Internet company’s mistake, he said.

An assistant strength coach for Louisiana State was arrested and accused of violating state law by inviting student-athletes to his home to meet a sports agent and suggesting the agent should represent the athletes, campus police said.

Travelle Ernest Gaines, 26, of Port Allen, surrendered to university police and was booked into East Baton Rouge Parish prison, the university said in a statement.

It was the second arrest in two weeks connected to the university about violations of the law regulating sports agents in Louisiana, the university said.

Gaines had been employed with the athletic department since July.

LSU said the student-athletes invited to Gaines’ home didn’t realize an agent would be there, and the university said there was no evidence that the student-athletes violated the law.

University police arrested sports agent Charles Taplin, of Houston, earlier this month for attempting to contact student-athletes.

LSU said interviews with several student-athletes after Taplin’s arrest led them to Gaines, but university spokeswoman Kristine Calongne said there was no direct link between the two cases.

Michigan receiver Adrian Arrington has been charged with misdemeanor domestic violence, stemming from an alleged argument with his girlfriend.

MISCELLANY

Marathon winner is out of hospital

Robert Cheruiyot, winner of Sunday’s Chicago Marathon, was released from a hospital after spending two nights recovering from a concussion he sustained when he slipped at the finish line.

The Indiana Supreme Court has declined to hear a lawsuit accusing Indiana University of violating the state’s open meetings law in the days leading to the firing of basketball coach Bob Knight. That kills the suit filed by 46 fans six years ago, with the university’s actions being upheld.

The Chicago Bulls exercised fourth-year contract options for the 2007-08 season on guard Ben Gordon and forwards Luol Deng and Viktor Khryapa.

NBA owners unanimously approved the sale of the SuperSonics to a group headed by Oklahoma City businessman Clay Bennett, who says he wants to keep the team in Seattle.

The Hollywood Fame of the American Basketball Assn. has hired former Clippers coach Don Casey to serve in the same position with the new team.

Cycling’s governing body wants the World Anti-Doping Agency to push Spanish authorities to turn over documents in their investigation into alleged widespread doping in the sport.

The opening races of the World Cup ski season in Vienna, Austria, were canceled because of heavy rain and predictions of warm weather. The International Ski Federation said this weekend’s giant slaloms in Soelden would not be rescheduled.