Monday's Sports In Brief

By The Associated Press

PRO FOOTBALL, PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ben Roethlisberger signed an eight-year extension with the Pittsburgh Steelers worth $102 million that makes him one of the league’s top-paid players.

The agreement comes after Roethlisberger re-established himself as one of the NFL’s best quarterbacks last season, and nearly two years after his life and career were threatened by a motorcycle crash. The accident happened a few months after he led the Steelers to a Super Bowl victory.

Roethlisberger’s contract guarantees him $36 million and is easily the largest in the Steelers’ 76-season history. The quarterback, who turned 26 Sunday, gets $25 million immediately as a signing bonus.

BOSTON (AP) — The New England Patriots re-signed receiver Randy Moss to a three-year deal worth $27 million, his agent said. The signing was confirmed by the team shortly after Moss posted a message to fans on his Web site.

Moss’ agent, Tim DiPiero, said the deal included guarantees of $15 million, including a $12 million signing bonus to the receiver who set an NFL record with 23 touchdown catches and helped the Patriots reach the Super Bowl in his first season with the team.

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Jets signed linebacker Calvin Pace and offensive lineman Damien Woody.

Pace was the Arizona Cardinals’ first-round pick in 2003. He underperformed for most of his five seasons with Arizona, but is coming off his best year. Pace, 27, had 98 tackles, 6 1/2 sacks and an interception after moving from defensive end to linebacker full-time.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

NEW YORK (AP) — North Carolina was back at No. 1 again, thanks to a memorable few days in the state of Tennessee.

Tennessee started last week at No. 1 in The Associated Press’ college basketball poll after defeating previously top-ranked Memphis. But the Vols then lost to Vanderbilt on Tuesday.

Up stepped North Carolina, which ran its record to 27-2 with a win over Boston College and returned to the top spot it held for the first 10 weeks of the season.

Memphis (28-1), which held the top spot for five weeks, stayed at No. 2. UCLA (26-3) moved up one spot to third while Tennessee (26-3) dropped to No. 4.

NEW YORK (AP) — Virginia entered the women’s Top 25 for the first time in four seasons after coming off one of its most thrilling victories in years.

The Cavaliers rallied from 15 points down Sunday to beat Georgia Tech 103-101 in double overtime, a win that carried Virginia to its first ranking — at No. 25 — since the preseason poll of the 2003-04 season.

Connecticut remained the top choice in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll Monday with 40 of the 50 first-place votes.

The top five in the poll remained unchanged with North Carolina, Tennessee, Rutgers and Maryland following Connecticut. The Tar Heels still had two first-place votes and Rutgers received the other eight.

TENNIS

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Roger Federer is on a losing streak for the second time in four months.

Top-ranked Roger Federer, who won three Grand Slam titles last year but has struggled since the U.S. Open, lost to Andy Murray 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Federer, who won the Dubai tournament four times in the last five years, had not lost in the first round of a tournament since his defeat to Dominik Hrbaty in the 2004 Cincinnati Masters. Last year, Federer lost his opening match at the Pacific Life Open to Guillermo Canas after getting a bye into the second round.

Fabrice Santoro of France also advanced, beating last year’s finalist, Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3, 6-4. Fourth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain advanced by beating Tommy Haas of Germany 6-3, 6-0, and seventh-seeded Richard Gasquet of France defeated Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 6-4, 6-4.

BANGALORE, India (AP) — Sybille Bammer rallied to beat Akiko Morigami of Japan 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 in the first round of the Bangalore Open.

Defending champion Yaraslova Shvedova of Russia was knocked out by Akgul Amanmuradova. The big-serving Uzbek won 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

AUTO RACING

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Mike Skinner will replace AJ Allmendinger at Red Bull Racing for this weekend’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Skinner, a former Cup driver who now races full time in the Truck Series, will attempt to qualify the No. 84 Toyota for Sunday’s race.

Allmendinger, who was testing Monday at Phoenix International Raceway, was disappointed but understood the decision.

Allmendinger failed to qualify for last week’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, making him 0-for-3 on the season. Teammate Brian Vickers has made all three races in the other Red Bull car. SNOWBOARDING

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. (AP) — Mathieu Bozzetto of France and Svetlana Boldikova of Russia won parallel giant slalom titles on the final day of competition in the U.S. Snowboarding Cup on Whiteface Mountain on Monday.

Bozzetto entered the men’s race as the World Cup points leader and beat Tyler Jewell of the United States in the final heat.

Jewell, of Sudbury, Mass., fell during the first of two final heats against Bozzetto, giving the French racer a 1.5-second lead heading into the second run. Jewell’s second-place finish was the best result of his World Cup career. Benjamin Karl of Austria was third.