BASKETBALL

NETS EXERCISE OPTION ON COACH FRANK The New Jersey Nets have exercised the option on coach Lawrence Frank’s contract for the 2007-08 season, the team said yesterday. Frank signed a four-year, $10 million contract extension at the beginning of the 2004-05 season. He led the Nets to a 49-33 record and the Atlantic Division title for the second time in three years this season. The team also had a 14-game winning streak that tied a franchise record.

Under Frank, who took over midway through the 2003-04 season when Byron Scott was fired, the Nets have a 116-88 regular season record. They are 12-14 in the playoffs, losing in this season’s Eastern Conference semifinals in five games to Miami after eliminating Indiana in six games.

After taking over for Scott, Frank led the Nets to a 25-15 record, which included winning his first 13 games. The Nets reached the Eastern Conference semifinals that season.

BASEBALL

ROYALS TAKE HOCHEVAR WITH FIRST PICK IN DRAFT Hard-throwing righty Luke Hochevar, back in the draft after failing to reach a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, was selected by the Kansas City Royals with the no. 1 pick yesterday.

Taken by the Dodgers as the 40th overall pick out of the University of Tennessee last year, Hochevar and agent Scott Boras did not sign. The 6-foot-5 pitcher had been staying in shape by playing for the independent Fort Worth Cats, and is still working with Boras.

Hochevar was 1-1 with a 2.38 ERA in four starts with the Cats, and flashed the stuff – a fastball in the mid- to upper-90s, a late-breaking slider and knee-buckling curve – that made him such a top commodity last year. Hochevar, a Golden Spikes finalist in 2005, is the first right-hander to go no. 1 overall since Pittsburgh took Ball State’s Bryan Bullington in 2002.

The Yankees drafted Southern California right-hander Ian Kennedy with the 21st overall pick.

ASTROS PUT OSWALT ON 15-DAY DL Houston Astros ace Roy Oswalt was placed on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to May 30 yesterday. Oswalt, 5-3 with a 3.11 ERA, has been diagnosed with a mid-back strain on the left side and is scheduled to return on June 14.

The back-to-back 20-game winner was scratched from his last start on Sunday just two minutes before the game was to begin. At the time, the Astros said he had back spasms and Oswalt said it felt like “somebody hit me in the back.”

TIGERS MOVE MAROTH TO 60-DAY DL The Detroit Tigers transferred pitcher Mike Maroth to the 60-day disabled list and purchased outfielder Alexis Gomez’s contract from Triple-A Toledo yesterday. Maroth went on the 15-day DL on May 26 – one day after allowing six runs in one-third of an inning against Kansas City – and underwent arthroscopic surgery last week to remove bone chips in his left elbow.The lefthander was off to arguably the best start of his career at 5-2 with a 3.56 ERA and 22 strikeouts in nine starts this season, his fifth with the Tigers.

TRACK AND FIELD

GATLIN, POWELL TO MEET IN LONDON The world’s fastest men will finally face each other on the track. Co-world record holders Justin Gatlin and Asafa Powell will race in the 100 meters at the London Grand Prix on July 28, USA Track & Field said yesterday.

The two were scheduled to race at the British Grand Prix in Gateshead, England, on Sunday. But Gatlin’s agent, Renaldo Nehemiah, pulled him out of the meet, saying there never was a contract for the Olympic champion to run against Powell. Gatlin tied Powell’s mark of 9.77 seconds in Qatar on May 12. The American initially posted a world-record mark of 9.76, but it was changed five days later because of a timing mistake. Powell set the mark in June 2005 in Athens, Greece.

– Associated Press