BRIEFS

Summer hoop

league results

The Cherokee County Summer Youth Basketball League tipped off last Friday with four Division I games.

Christian Munsterman scored 7 points to lead the 76ers to a 26-25 victory over the Bearcats. Parris Funderburke had seven points to lead the Bearcats.

Ivan Tucker had 17 points as the Heat topped the Kings 36-34 in overtime. Troy Tucker had 10 points and Toby Beckham scored 11 in a losing effort.

Josh Corry scored 21 points to lead the Indians to a 50-40 win over the Wildcats. Ty Davis had 13 points for the Wildcats.

C.J. Miller and Chase Tate each scored 12 points to lead One Time to a 33-29 win over the Clippers, who were led by Kendrick McCluney's 12 points.

Falcons ink

their top choice

For the second time in eight years, the Atlanta Falcons opened the vault and dropped a ton of cash on a franchise quarterback.

Matt Ryan, the No. 3 pick in last month's draft, signed a $72 million, six-year contract Tuesday. The announcement of the new deal came with smiles, confident talk of the future and no mention of Michael Vick, the first pick in 2001 who signed a $130 million extension, the richest in the league at the time, in December 2005.

Team owner Arthur Blank and the Falcons were especially eager to sign Ryan, avoid a holdout and help the franchise move away from the Vick era with new general manager Thomas Dimitroff, new coach Mike Smith and now a new quarterback.

''The circumstances are always different when it comes to a player, and in Matt's case the research that Thomas did and Coach Smith did, they were extremely comfortable in Matt and what Matt stood for and what he's going to be for the long term,'' said team president Rich McKay, the Falcons' lead negotiator.

''I don't think there was any hesitancy because of the experience we just had.''

Vick last year began a 23-month prison sentence after he confessed to bankrolling a dogfighting ring.

The Falcons' haste in finalizing the deal with Ryan received a boost when word leaked the NFLowners, who met Tuesday in Atlanta, were about to opt out of a labor deal with the players' union in 2011.

Shrine Club

golf tourney June 7

The 21st annual Cherokee Shrine Club GoflTournament will take place on June 7 at the Gaffney Country Club. The format will be a shotgun start, captain's choice-blind draw (a,b,c,d players).

Sign sponsorships are $50. Individual player sponsorships are $50. Prizes include trophies for first and second placess for low gross and low net, $5,000 for fist natural hole-inone and prizes for longest putt on No. 9 and 18 and closes to line on No. 1.

Entry deadline is June 5. Make checks payable to Cherokee Shrine Club. Mail to J.W. Rogers, 127 Knollcrest Dr., Gaffney, 29340.

Braves sweep

New York

Tom Glavine overcame a shaky first inning. Jorge Campillo pushed aside all those bad memories from his first big league start.

The result: a sweep for the Atlanta Braves.

Glavine pitched six strong innings against his former team, retiring his last 17 hitters, to lead the Braves past the New York Mets 6-1 in the opener of a doubleheader Tuesday. Then it was Campillo's turn, and he was even better than his future Hall of Famer teammate - six scoreless innings for his first major league win, a 6-2 triumph in the nightcap.

After the second game was delayed 1 hour, 39 minutes by a fierce thunderstorm, the Braves quickly picked up where they left off in the opener, improving the NL's best home record.