New Counts Filed Against Jones, Who Pleads Innocent

Two new criminal counts were filed in Fresno on Thursday against Avondre Jones, who was thrown off the Fresno State basketball team when he was charged with using a gun and samurai swords to threaten, assault and rob a man.

An amended complaint accused Jones of threatening to kill or injure a woman named Alycia Norberke in October 1996.

The other new count alleges that when Jones was arrested last month, he was illegally in possession of a firearm because of a previous felony firearms possession conviction in Los Angeles.

Jones pleaded innocent to the new counts and all charges in the original complaint. Recruit Kenny Brunner also pleaded innocent to the original complaint stemming from their arrests March 17.

In that complaint, Jones and Brunner are charged with making threats and assaulting Collin DeForrest with a deadly weapon, a sword.

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Former NFL quarterback Jim Kelly successfully defended himself against a libel suit brought by his former agent.

A federal jury at Concord, N.H., found the former Buffalo Bill star did not make false statements in his autobiography when he said agent A.J. Faigin mismanaged his money and he fired him in 1988.

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Wisconsin quarterback Mike Samuel will not be kicked off the team despite pleading no contest to charges of driving with a blood-alcohol level twice the legal limit, the school announced.

Tennis

Anke Huber of Germany had surgery to remove debris from her Achilles’ tendon at Frankfurt, Germany, and probably will miss next month’s French Open, her agent said.

Alex Corretja, seeded No. 2, and defending champion Albert Costa were defeated, eliminating the two Spaniards from the $135,000 Conde de Godo Open at Barcelona, Spain. . . . Michael Chang lost 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, to Hendrik Dreekman of Germany in the third round of the Japan Open at Tokyo.

The American quest to avenge last year’s first-round Fed Cup loss to the Netherlands became a little easier with the news that big-serving Brenda Schultz-McCarthy will be unable to play for the Dutch squad.

Schultz-McCarthy is suffering from a disk problem in her back, leaving the Dutch team without its biggest weapon.

Miscellany

Seeking to strengthen the financially ailing AVP tour, players and board members of the 15-year-old league agreed to cut the total prize money at each of the remaining 20 beach volleyball events on the tour to $50,000, the league announced.

Larry Kopp led opening Pro Stock Truck qualifying in the 18th annual Fram Nationals at Commerce, Ga. Kopp covered Atlanta Dragway’s quarter-mile in 7.778 seconds at 173.57 mph.

Mike Tyson, who was recently invited to the a royal gala ball by the prince of Monaco, requested permission from Marion County Judge Patricia Gifford to travel to Monaco and to appear on an international music awards show the next day during a five-day trip.

As part of Tyson’s probation for a 1992 rape conviction, he must get Gifford’s approval before traveling outside the country.

Texas Tech improperly paid 66 current athletes’ fees to take the Texas Academic Skills Program test and has reported the violation to the NCAA, which was already considering whether to punish the school, an official said.

Pittsburgh Penguin holdout Petr Nedved won’t be skating for the Las Vegas Thunder in the International Hockey League playoffs.

An arbitrator ruled against Nedved, who was involved with Sparta Praha of the Czech elite league, and the Thunder because of a clause prohibiting IHL teams from signing players from non-North American teams after Feb. 2.

Junior guard Rob Turner has decided to return to Indiana for his senior season after meeting with Coach Bob Knight. . . . Rashard Lewis, a 6-foot-10 standout from Elsik High School in Houston, declared himself eligible for the NBA draft, becoming the latest prep school star to bypass college for the lure of the pros. . . . Sam Weaver, an associate basketball coach at Iowa State last season, was named as coach of Northern Iowa. . . . Wake Forest center Loren Woods, who struggled in the shadow of Tim Duncan for two years, said that he will transfer to another school. Woods has visited Seton Hall and will visit Arizona in the next two weeks.

The Long Beach StingRays lost guard Dana Wilkerson to Chicago in the ABL expansion draft, then traded point guard Niesa Johnson to Seattle for the third pick in the ABL draft on May 5.

Students at the UC Riverside, an NCAA Division II school, passed a referendum that will enable the Highlanders to move up to the NCAA’s more prestigious and competitive Division I if they can find a Division I conference to accept them.

Kicker Ryan Longwell, who made the Green Bay roster as a longshot last summer, has signed a three-year contract.