Robert Morris

Two of the catalysts behind Coatesville's drive to the PIAA Class AAAA state final have made commitments to Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) programs. Speedy wideout and kick returner Chris Jones has committed to play at Coastal Carolina, and strong-armed quarterback Emmett Hunt, The Inquirer's player of the year in Southeastern Pennsylvania, committed to Delaware State. The 5-foot-11, 165-pound Jones, who made 71 catches for 1,490 yards and 24 touchdowns last season, opted for Coastal Carolina, in Conway, S.C., over Temple and Massachusetts.

Melvin Ely scored 14 points, all in the second half, to help No. 23 Fresno State (3-1) defeat No. 13 Michigan State, 63-58, last night in the consolation game of the preseason NIT in New York. Ely missed both his first-half shots but had six rebounds. Fresno held a 32-23 halftime lead. The Bulldogs were hot if Ely was not. Fresno hit 12 of 21 shots while Michigan State (2-1) managed only 10 of 34 in the first half. Ely, a 6-foot-10 senior, scored the first Fresno basket of the second half, and after Damon Jackson nailed a three-point shot, Ely scored again and Fresno opened the lead to 39-30.

Philadelphia police confirmed yesterday a common thread among four children whose deaths are being reexamined: They had the same father. But Homicide Capt. Richard Ross stressed that Robert Morris - whose two daughters were murdered in 1995, who lost a son to sudden unexplained infant death in 2002, and who is the father of a 3-month-old who died under suspicious circumstances Friday - is not suspected of any crime. "He is not a suspect right now more than anybody else is," Ross said.

Long after his players had left the locker room, Math, Civics & Sciences coach Danny Jackson, flanked by his assistants, was still fuming. "It was a lack of effort, a lack of defensive intensity, a lack of a lot of things," he said after the Mighty Elephants struggled mightily before ousting Sankofa Freedom Academy, 71-59, Friday night in a PIAA Class A boys' basketball quarterfinal at La Salle High. MC&S, ranked No. 6 in Southeastern Pennsylvania by The Inquirer, arrived in Wyndmoor as a considerable favorite.

Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany e-mailed conference officials to stamp out a rumor that Missouri, Nebraska, Notre Dame, and Rutgers had been offered a chance to join the league. The conference is looking at expanding from 11 members so it can extend the reach of its cable network and add a league championship game in football. The Big Ten athletic directors will meet May 17-19 in Chicago. Notre Dame backup tight end Mike Ragone , 21, a former Camden Catholic star from Cherry Hill, was arrested Saturday on a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession after a traffic stop in Indiana.

The Big 8 Conference - which earlier in the day saw Missouri and Kansas State eliminated from the NCAA Tournament - breathed a major sigh of relief around 11:15 last night. That was when the Kansas Jayhawks finally said goodnight to a major upset bid by Robert Morris in the final first-round game of the East Regional at the Omni. Kansas won, 79-71, in the only good basketball game played here yesterday. Kansas (30-4) will meet UCLA (21-10) tomorrow, with the winner advancing to the next round at the Meadowlands in East Rutherford, N.J. Kansas needed everything in its arsenal - including 14-for-23 shooting in the second half and five men in double figures - to escape Robert Morris's crowd-pleasing bid to become the first No. 15 seed in NCAA history to knock off a No. 2 seed.

Strawberry Mansion senior Devon White is expected to commit to La Salle today, according to a source close to the recruitment of one of the area's premier basketball players. White could not be reached for comment yesterday. The 6-foot-8, 220-pound center will officially make his announcement today at 1:30 p.m. at his school. According to the source, White was leaning heavily toward the Explorers over Nebraska, Arkansas State, Niagara and Robert Morris. "He just wants to stay close to his mother," the source said.

Sam Givens, a high-scoring forward at Academy of the New Church in Bryn Athyn, has orally committed to Drexel University. "Drexel has a good basketball coach in Bruiser Flint, and it's a quality school," Givens said. "It's got everything I need. " The 6-foot-5, 200-pound Givens averaged 19.6 points, 11 rebounds, and five blocks per game last season while helping the Lions to a 25-3 record and the Friends Schools League championship. Givens also had been offered scholarships by La Salle, St. Joseph's, Temple, Tulane and Virginia Commonwealth, among others.

Golf Association of Phila. Final score: Mid-Atlantic Golf Association 14, Golf Association of Phila. 4 Four-Ball: Stan Williams and Tim Vigotsky (MAGA) def. Mike Domenick, Phoenixville, and Robin McCool, Saucon Valley (GAP), 1 up; Keith Unikel and Daniel Hurley (MAGA) def. Tom Hyland, Little Mill, and Ryan McCarty, Little Mill (GAP), 3 and 2; Brent Martin and Jeff Lim-Sharpe (MAGA) def. Scott Klee, Bellewood, and John Brennan, Spring Ford (GAP), 2 and 1; Jeff Osberg, Llanerch, and Andy Achenbach, RiverCrest (GAP)

Philadelphia memories go back a long way. So when Wachovia Corp. declared in a report this month that bank founder and Revolutionary War financier Robert Morris and his partner "amassed at least part of their personal fortunes from the slave trade," a descendant, Rob Morris of Westtown, cried foul at the "unfair attack. " Morris did own slaves eight generations ago, as did Benjamin Franklin and other prominent Philadelphians. Robert Morris and Thomas Willing also "engaged in the slave trade" as a side business to their shipping and property investments, said Morris, a software consultant.