After the four-day All-Star break, the Colorado Rockies return to the diamond tonight to begin a three-game series with the Philadelphia Phillies at Coors Field. Both the Rockies and Phillies are hoping to spark turnarounds to disappointing first halves. The Phillies, winners of the last five National League East division titles, currently sit in last place in their division. The Rockies are also cellar dwellars, trailing San Diego by percentage points for that ignominious distinction in the NL West. The Rockies will send rookie southpaw Christian Friedrich to the mound tonight, aiming for his fifth win of the season. He’ll be facing fellow lefty Cliff Lee. The 17-game winner last year had just one win in the first half. ESPN Radio 1410 has the action from Denver tonight. Pregame coverage begins at 7:05, with the first pitch set for 7:40.

Two Nebraska football players are on the Outland Trophy watch list released Thursday. Junior guard Spencer Long and senior defensive tackle Baker Steinkuhler are among the 71 players on the watch list for the nation’s top linemen as voted on by the Football Writers of America. Long rose from obscurity to enjoy a breakout season in 2011. The walk-on from Elkhorn started every game, helping pave the way for the fifteenth-ranked offense in the nation. He was chosen by the media as a second-team All-Big Ten selection. Steinkuhler started all 13 games for Nebraska in 2011, totaling 40 tackles, including a pair of sacks from his defensive tackle spot. The Lincoln native has started 26 games for the Huskers over the past two seasons, earning honorable-mention all-conference recognition in both 2010 and 2011.

Yesterday was a fruitful recruiting day for the Husker baseball team. First, they announced on Thursday that Colton Howell has signed a National Letter of Intent to play for the Huskers in 2013 season. A product of Fort Zumwalt West High School in O’Fallon, Mo., Howell is a pitching prospect and can also play the infield. This past season, Howell was a first-team Missouri High School Baseball Coaches Association Class 4 selection. He was also named the Gateway South Conference Player of the Year and was a first-team St. Louis Post-Dispatch All-Metro pick. Nebraska also scored a big time commitment for the 2014 class in Jakson Reetz, a standout catcher and pitcher at Norris High School. Reetz was a second-team All-Nebraska selection this past season and is ranked the twenty-first best player in the 2014 class by Perfect Game.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Kevin Durant picked up where he left off in international competition, scoring 24 points and grabbing 10 rebounds to lead the U.S. Olympic basketball team to a 113-59 victory over the Dominican Republic on Thursday night in an exhibition game.

The MVP of the world basketball championship two years ago, Durant came off the bench to shoot 9 of 11 from the field, making 5 of 6 3-pointers in 22 minutes.

Andre Iguodala added 18 points and Carmelo Anthony had 13 for the Americans, who were without All-Star forward Blake Griffin. He returned to Los Angeles for evaluation Thursday after experiencing discomfort following practice Wednesday in his left knee, the same one that bothered him in the playoffs.

Alternate Anthony Davis took his place and was in uniform against his college coach, John Calipari of national champion Kentucky. But Calipari was the on the wrong end of the talent mismatch in this one, calling a few timeouts but probably knowing there was no strategy to stop the onslaught of U.S. fast breaks.

Davis, the national player of the year as a freshman and No. 1 pick in the NBA draft, had been unable to make the 12-man roster after being unable to scrimmage before it was selected while recovering from a sprained ankle. But USA Basketball leadership believes his rebounding and shot blocking could be a good addition to an undersized team in case of an injury, and he scored nine points in 10 fourth-quarter minutes.

Al Horford of the Atlanta Hawks shot 1 of 12 and had seven points and the Dominicans’ other NBA player, Francisco Garcia, missed all three attempts.

LeBron James and Kobe Bryant both had limited duty, playing less than 20 minutes and combining for 11 points.

Durant hit all five shots in the first quarter, including three 3-pointers. He returned early in the second and knocked down another 3 before he finally missed, helping the Americans build a 50-27 halftime lead behind his 21 points. He started the second half.

Griffin could be another loss for a U.S. team that already saw Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh withdraw because of injuries. Chris Paul has been limited during training camp after spraining his right thumb on the first day.

Despite those losses, the Americans still consider themselves the best team in the world — and apparently, ever. Bryant created a stir when he said he thought this young, athletic U.S. team probably would have pulled out a game against the Dream Team, which didn’t sit well with his Hall of Fame elders.

“I absolutely laughed,” Michael Jordan said before playing in a celebrity golf tournament in Charlotte, N.C. “For him to compare those two teams is not one of the smarter things he ever could have done.”

The Americans believe they can be better than the team that won the gold medal four years ago because of Durant, the NBA’s three-time scoring champion who seems even more dangerous in international competition. The 3-point line, just over 22 feet away, is an easy shot for him, and at 6-foot-9 he can play any frontcourt position — he entered the game the first time for center Tyson Chandler.

Durant set U.S. tournament records two years ago in Istanbul with 38 points in a game and an average of 22.8 for the championship, leading a young U.S. team to its first gold medal in the event since 1994. He has transitioned easily to this veteran squad that returns five players from the gold medalists in Beijing.

The Dominicans nearly joined the Americans in London, losing to Nigeria in the third-place game of the Olympic qualifying tournament last Sunday. Had they won, they would have claimed the 12th and final place in the field.

Now they know what they favorites would have looked like.

With Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski on the U.S. bench and facing Calipari for the first time in seven years, the coaching matchup was worthy of an NCAA Final Four. The scoreboard was more representative of a No. 1 vs. No. 16 game.

The Americans barely let the Dominicans get into any sort of offense, limiting them to 32 percent shooting.

About the only thing to question about the U.S. were their uniforms, featuring white tops with the pattern of an American flag faded into the back, and shorts that were white in the front and blue in back, making them look like the home team facing one direction and the visitors from behind.

The Americans head across the country Friday to continue their training in Durant’s hometown of Washington. They will play an exhibition game against Brazil on Monday before finishing their Olympic preparations in Europe.

The Dominicans lost former Louisville guard Edgar Sosa to a leg injury in the first quarter.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Penn State’s report about its handling of Jerry Sandusky includes a series of emails among school administrators following two accusations against Sandusky in 1998 and 2001. In one of the emails, one official worries about becoming “vulnerable” if they fail to report an allegation.

After athletic director Tim Curley opted not report Sandusky for an alleged assault of a boy in the football locker room showers in 2001, school vice president Gary Schultz called the decision to try and get Sandusky to seek professional help “humane.” But he also noted that “the only downside for us is if the message isn’t (heard) and acted upon and we then become vulnerable for not having reported it.”

The emails also point to coach Joe Paterno being aware of a 1998 case in which Sandusky was confronted about showering with another boy.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Joe Paterno’s family says the late coach never would have protected his former assistant Jerry Sandusky to avoid bad publicity.

A statement from the family Thursday also says Paterno “never interfered with any investigation.”

An internal investigation by former FBI director Louis Freeh says Paterno and other high-ranking Penn State officials concealed sex abuse reports regarding Sandusky to avoid criticism of the university and football program.

Freeh’s report found Paterno had a conversation with athletic director Tim Curley in 2001 just before university officials decided against informing law enforcement of a sex abuse allegation.

Freeh said he did not know the content of that 2001 conversation but that it was “the only known, intervening factor” between an agreement that the incident should be reported and the change of course.

BEAVERTON, Ore. (AP) – The president of Nike Inc. says he has decided to change the name of the Joe Paterno Child Development Center, a child care facility at the company’s headquarters.

CEO Mark Parker said Thursday he was deeply saddened by the news coming of the Louis Freeh investigation on the child sex abuse scandal at Penn State. Freeh says Paterno and other top school officials disregarded the welfare of Jerry Sandusky’s victims as they failed to report abuse allegations against the longtime assistant coach.

Says Parker: “It is a terrible tragedy that children were unprotected from such abhorrent crimes.”

Nike founder Phil Knight, who defended Paterno at the coach’s memorial service, says “it appears Joe made missteps that led to heartbreaking consequences.”

SAN DIEGO (AP) – Coroner’s officials say Junior Seau’s family has donated some of his brain tissue for research amid questions about whether damage from his football career contributed to his decision to commit suicide.

Sarah Gordon of the San Diego County medical examiner’s office said Thursday that the preserved tissue held by the office was recently released to the National Institutes of Health for study. She says it was done at the request of Seau’s family and has no information about what type of study will be performed.

The 43-year-old former NFL linebacker shot himself in the chest at his Oceanside home in May, less than 2 1/2 years after ending his Pro Bowl career.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) – The daughter of University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban is asking a judge to throw out a lawsuit filed by a one-time friend over a sorority fight.

A lawyer for Kristen Saban filed a motion Thursday claiming the 2010 altercation wasn’t her fault. She identifies the real aggressor as the woman who filed the suit, Sarah Grimes.

Kristin Saban also claims she didn’t cause any of the injuries that Grimes claims she suffered.

Grimes sued last month seeking at least $10,000 from Kristen Saban over a fight that she claims began over a Facebook post after a night of drinking in Tuscaloosa.

The lawsuit doesn’t mention the Alabama football coach and a representative is declining comment.

A university spokeswoman says Kristen Saban remains a student at Alabama.