Sports briefs 4/6/04

Baseball

Cleveland Indians left fielder Matt Lawton reported the theft of $117,000 in jewelry and other items from his downtown hotel room over the weekend, when the Indians were in town for exhibition games against the Phillies. Lawton called police Sunday morning after returning from a trip to Atlantic City, N.J., to report the theft of jewelry and other personal items from his room at the Ritz-Carlton.

Basketball

Clyde Drexler and Lynette Woodard led a group of six elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Monday. Joining Drexler, chosen among the top 50 players in NBA history, and Woodard, an Olympic gold medalist and the first female Harlem Globetrotter are Bill Sharman, already in the hall as a player who will be inducted as coach, the late Maurice Stokes, the 1956 NBA rookie of the year, Jerry Colangelo, chairman of the Phoenix Suns, and Drazen Dalipagic, an international star from Yugoslavia.

The judge suspended the Jayson Williams manslaughter trial for a week after lawyers for the retired NBA star said they needed time to review new evidence they received from prosecutors over the weekend. Defense lawyers said they might seek a mistrial over the evidence dispute, which started last week when the prosecution said it had discovered 25 photographs and notes from its weapons expert that it was obligated to send to the defense months ago.

College

Colorado placed assistant defensive coach Vance Joseph on leave amid a recruiting scandal that includes rape allegations and other misconduct by football players. Joseph was put on administrative leave last week, the school said Monday. It called the suspension a "personnel matter" and refused to say why he was suspended.

Football

Cornerback Ray Buchanan signed with the Raiders. Buchanan, an 11-year veteran who made the Pro Bowl in 1998, spent the last seven seasons with the Atlanta Falcons.

Hockey

Colorado forward Paul Kariya will be out indefinitely after spraining his ankle Sunday in the regular-season finale against Nashville.

-- From wire reports