Enquirer staff and wire reports

Denver City Attorney Cole Finegan said Friday he hasn't decided whether to drop a marijuana possession charge against Denver Nuggets star Carmelo Anthony, even though a friend of the player's said the drugs found in Anthony's backpack belonged to him.

"We're still looking at the facts in the case," Finegan said.

Anthony received a summons on Oct. 15 at Denver International Airport after a small amount of marijuana was found in his bag as the team prepared to travel to Milwaukee for an exhibition game.

Anthony's lawyer, Daniel Recht, said the marijuana belonged to James Cunningham of St. Louis, who often stays with Anthony when he's in Denver on business. Cunningham has signed an affidavit saying the drugs belonged to him.

After the news of Anthony's citation broke Thursday, Recht met with Finegan and said he expected the case to be dropped.

Before Thursday night's exhibition game in Los Angeles against the Clippers, Anthony said he was innocent and that he did not use or intentionally possess marijuana. He said he regretted any embarrassment he had caused his family, fans and team.

Recht has also said he received a letter from general manager Kiki Vandeweghe verifying Anthony passed four random drug tests last season and another just two weeks ago. The letter also said tests from U.S. Olympic Committee at the Athens Games this summer came back negative.

Golf

PGA TOUR: Briny Baird shot a 6-under 66 for a one-shot lead over Tom Lehman after the second round of the Funai Classic at Disney at Lake Buena Vista, Fla. Baird, at 13-under 131, had seven birdies, six par saves and only 23 putts on the Palm course. Winless for almost five years, Lehman put himself in contention for the third straight week with a 66 on the Magnolia course.

CHAMPIONS TOUR: Tom Kite grinded out a 2-under 70 in the second round for a 10-under 134 total and maintained his one-stroke lead over Morris Hatalsky, Dana Quigley and Hale Irwin in the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, the season finale at Sonoma, Calif.

PGA Q-SCHOOL: LPGA Tour rookie Isabelle Beisiegel shot her best round of the week, but it wasn't enough to end her attempt to become the first woman to qualify for the men's tour. Beisiegel, 25, shot a 7-over 79 at the Norman Course at PGA West. Her 72-hole total of 35-over 323 was last among the 78 golfers who completed all four rounds of the first-stage qualifying tournament. The top 24 players in the PGA West field advanced to next month's second stage.

EUROPEAN TOUR: Paul Broadhurst shot a 6-under 65 to take a one-stroke lead after the second round of the Madrid Open. Broadhurst, who hasn't won on the European tour in nine years, is 10-under 132 overall, just ahead of Miguel Angel Jimenez (63), Darren Fichardt (66) and Johan Edfors (67).

Tennis

MADRID MASTERS: Andre Agassi, seeded second, defeated Tommy Robredo 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-2 and will play No. 3 Marat Safin in one of today's semifinals.

Unseeded Ivan Ljubicic and David Nalbandian will meet in the other semifinal.

SWISSCOM CHALLENGE: Wimbledon champ Maria Sharapova defeated Venus Williams 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals in Zurich and extended her winning streak to 11 matches. Fourth-seeded Sharapova meets No. 3 Elena Dementieva in an all-Russian semifinal today.

Colleges

MND GIRLS COMMIT: Michelle Jones and Cassie Brannen, returning starters from Mount Notre Dame's 2004 Division I state basketball championship team, have committed to colleges. Jones will attend the University of Cincinnati, and Brannen picked Division II power Northern Kentucky University. Jones, a 6-foot-2 center, averaged 14.8 points a game last season and is a two-time Enquirer first team all-star. Brannen, a 6-1 forward, averaged 8.6 points last season and was an honorable mention all-star.

--Tom Groeschen

MIAMI-OSU HOCKEY: Rod Pelley scored twice as Ohio State defeated Miami 2-1 and snapped the No. 6 RedHawks' home unbeaten streak at 14 games. The Buckeyes (4-2-0, 4-0-0 CCHA) handed sophomore goalie Brandon Crawford-West his first loss (15-1-2) at Goggin Arena in two seasons. Miami fell is 4-2-0, 2-2-0 CCHA. Thursday night, OSU drubbed MU 9-3 at Value City Arena in Columbus.

UC VOLLEYBALL: The Bearcats will take part in Conference USA's "Dig For The Cure" program when it hosts Saint Louis at 2 p.m. Sunday in Fifth Third Arena. The program benefits breast cancer research and was originated by Charlotte coach Lisa Marston.

• Today, athletes representing many of UC's 18 varsity sports will continue their annual involvement with national Make a Difference Day. The group's project this year is painting and cleaning the Newmann Center at St. Monica/St. George Church in Clifton. The project has been dedicated to the late Stephanie Rosfeld, UC's assistant volleyball coach who died this fall. Rosfeld was a member of the church.

Horse racing

KEENELAND: Battle Won overcame Chosen Chief and then held off Sgt. Bert to win the $84,675 Woodford County and carry jockey Rafael Bejarano to his sixth stakes victory of the fall meeting.

Boxing

BRITISH RECORD: Joe Calzaghe successfully defended his WBO super-middleweight title for the 15th time, recovering from a fourth-round knockdown to win a unanimous decision over Kabary Salem in Scotland. Calzaghe (38-0) set a British record for consecutive world title defenses, moving ahead of Lennox Lewis, Naseem Hamed, Ricky Hatton and Chris Eubank.

Figure skating

SKATE AMERICA: Despite trouble landing several jumps, France's Brian Joubert got his victory in the men's free skate in Pittsburgh, finishing with an overall score of 193.46.

American Ryan Jahnke, a surprise bronze medalist at last year's nationals, scored 186.71 for second - another unexpected finish. Countryman Michael Weiss finished third.