No. 25 on the Sooners career scoring list

NEW YORK -- Philadelphias Ryan Howard and Washingtons Ryan Zimmerman have been cleared by Major League Baseball of allegations they used banned performance-enhancing substances.Pharmacist Charlie Sly claimed in an Al-Jazeera America documentary The Dark Side: Secrets of Sports Doping, which was broadcast Dec. 27, that the two used banned performance-enhancing substances.In a brief statement Friday, MLB said its investigation did not find any violations of the Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program by either Howard or Zimmerman.MLB said the players cooperated with its investigation and Sly did not.Howard, a three-time All-Star, and Zimmerman, a one-time All-Star, denied the allegations and in January sued Al-Jazeera America, Al Jazeera reporter Deborah Davies and former hurdler Liam James Collins, who was said to have assisted in the documentarys reporting. The suits, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., claimed defamation and false light invasion of privacy.The accusations from Al-Jazeera came out of nowhere, and I was shocked and outraged by their false claims, Howard said in a statement. I welcomed the investigation by Major League Baseball as an opportunity to clear my name. I was fully cooperative and transparent in the process, and MLBs findings validate what I have said publicly.Al Jazeera America at first claimed in a text report the two may have used human growth hormone, then changed the text report to the banned steroid Delta 2, conforming with the broadcast documentary. Sly, who worked as an intern at an anti-aging clinic, later recanted his claims.The three defendants asked the court to dismiss the suits. The parties in the Zimmerman suit last month asked U.S. District Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson to hold a hearing on the motion.I understand why Major League Baseball found it necessary to explore this matter, and I appreciate that MLB, after a thorough investigation, was able to publicly affirm my innocence, Zimmerman said in a statement.Throughout my life and career, I have been true to myself, my family, the Nationals organization and my community. It is not right that a so-called news organization and its personnel can publicly make false accusations that damage my reputation and call into question my integrity without any consequences whatsoever.Both players reiterated they would press forward with their defamation claims, filed in U.S. District CourtThe whole point of the lawsuit was to not allow people to basically smear your name without any evidence or without any proof, Zimmerman said before Friday nights game at Atlanta. So that will go on.Former major league catcher Taylor Teagarden, another player implicated in the Al-Jazeera report, was suspended for 80 games in April.The report also implicated NFL players Peyton Manning, Clay Matthews, Julius Peppers, James Harrison and Mike Neal. Manning, now retired, was cleared by the NFL after an investigation. The NFL is still investigating Matthews and Peppers, who play for Green Bay, Pittsburghs Harrison and Neal, a free agent.---AP freelance writer Amy Jinkner-Lloyd in Atlanta contributed to this report. Cheap Custom Padres Jersey . A statement from the worlds top-ranked player says all checks "were satisfactory and showed positive evolution" regarding the injury, which contributed to his loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the final in Melbourne. Padres Jerseys China . With the short-handed Warriors needing help from someone -- anyone -- to stop a three-game skid, ONeal returned from right knee and groin injuries that had sidelined him for four games and put up season highs with 18 points and eight rebounds. It was just enough to help lift Golden State to a 102-101 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. http://www.custompadresjersey.com/ .J. -- New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his left knee. Custom Padres Jersey China . Jane Virtanen scored two, and Alex Roach and Elliott Peterson rounded out the offence for the Hitmen (40-15-6). Brady Brassart chipped in with three assists. Colton McCarthy scored twice, Brayden Point had a goal and two assists, and Jack Rodewald also scored for the Warriors (15-35-9), who were 2 for 5 on the power play. Wholesale Custom Padres Shirts .B. - Sebastien Auger made 44 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs edged the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. NORMAN, Okla. -- With his Oklahoma Sooners looking listless and trailing upstart Abilene Christian at halftime on Friday, coach Lon Kruger switched two of his starters for the second half, looking for some sort of spark.Rashard Odomes, one of the benched starters, received the message. Once he exited the bench, he scored seven of his 13 points during a three-minute span midway through the second half, helping Oklahoma turn a two-point lead into a nine-point advantage -- a run that proved decisive in a 72-64 win.Jordan Woodard scored 16 points for Oklahoma (4-1), which had to rally from an early 10-point deficit. Oklahoma won for the 58th time in its last 60 nonconference home games, but the Sooners -- a Final Four team a season ago, albeit with only two returning starters -- struggled mightily against Abilene Christian (2-2), a Southland Conference program in its final year of transition from NCAA Division II into Division I.Abilene Christian was much the aggressor in the first half, Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said. We came back with a little bit better energy in the second half, but not (with) the number of good possessions that we need to have in a ball game. Theres a lot to learn from that one. Credit to Abilene Christian for how well they played and how hard they played. Hopefully it got our attention a little bit.The Sooners overcame poor shooting from the field (36.4 percent) and the free-throw line (63 percent) and the smaller Wildcats outrebounded Oklahoma 42-40.The Wildcats were up 30-26 at halftime and were tied with Oklahoma as late as the 13-minute mark. But their top player, Jaylen Franklin, left the game with an apparent knee injury with 14:51 left after scoring 11 points and didnt return. The Wildcats proved unable to keep up with Oklahoma down the stretch in his absence.Abilene Christians propensity for fouling proved to be its undoing. The Wildcats committed 32 fouls and Oklahoma ended up shooting 46 free throws, making 29, while Abilene Christian went 9 of 19 from the line. The Wildcats outscored Oklahoma 55-43 from the field despite committing 22 turnovers.When you go through transition, you play a bunch of these games, Abilene Christian coach Joe Golding said. Obviously, were trying to turn the program where we can come in here and compete in these games. If we keep competing, well eventually get one.Abilene Christian wasnt expected to offer much resistance against the Sooners. Abilene Christian was coming off a home loss to Charleston Southern and the Wildcats win in their most recent road game, at New Hampshire on Nov. 17, had ended their 20-game nonconference road losing streak that dated to November 2011.Even so, the Wildcats overcame 16 fouls to lead at halftime, having trailed for all of 23 seconds to that point. They used a 7-1 run to build a 15-5 lead on a layup by Jaren Lewis at the 12:35 mark..dddddddddddd. Consecutive baskets by Franklin in the final 73 seconds of the half gave Abilene Christian its four-point halftime lead.A 3-pointer by Jovan Crnik gave the Wildcats their last lead at 33-32 with 18:28 left. Woodard answered with a 3-pointer for Oklahoma and with the score tied 39-39, he threw an inbound pass off the back of Abilene Christians Hayden Howell, grabbed the carom and laid the ball in the basket while being fouled. He hit the free throw with 12:46 left and the Sooners led the rest of the way.Odomes had two baskets and went 3 for 5 from the line during his second-half flurry and Darrion Strong-Moores 3-pointer put the Sooners up 54-45 with 7:53 left. With Abilene Christian within 64-59, Odomes drove the lane and dunked to start an 8-0 run that sealed the win for Oklahoma.Weve just got to get back in the lab, back in the gym, and get some reps in in practice and get things going again, Woodard said.Lewis finished with 12 rebounds and eight points for Abilene Christian, while Khadeem Lattin had nine points and nine rebounds for Oklahoma.BIG PICTURE:Abilene Christian: It can only get easier schedule-wise for the Wildcats, as Oklahoma was the only major-conference foe on their schedule. The rest of Abilene Christians nonconference slate will be against teams with which the Wildcats should be competitive, with one tough test at New Mexico next week.Oklahoma: After taking third in the Tire Pros Invitational in Orlando, the Sooners showed they still have plenty of kinks to work out before facing tougher opponents like Wisconsin, Wichita State and Memphis.TIP-INS:Woodard, a senior point guard, jumped two spots to No. 25 on the Sooners career scoring list with his 16-point outing. Woodard, who now has 1,236 career points, passed former NBA player Garfield Heard and David Little. . Oklahoma is 3-0 all-time against Abilene Christian, having won by 24 points in December 1969 and 49 points in December 1982, a game in which Wayman Tisdale scored 51 points on a still-standing school-record 22 field goals.QUOTABLE:They had a big tournament trip . and they come back here and its tough to motivate them. We probably dont motivate them like some teams do. Im sure there was some waking up on (their part). But they woke up. Theyve got a good team. Theyre going to be really good down the road. You can tell the pieces are there for them. -- Golding on the Sooners performance against Abilene Christian.UP NEXT:Abilene Christian: Returns home for a game against Division III Howard Payne (Texas) on Sunday before a Wednesday road trip to another marquee foe, New Mexico.Oklahoma: Hosts Northern Colorado on Tuesday to prep for what figures to be a tough nonconference road game at Wisconsin on Dec. 3. ' ' '