CYCLING

Armstrong won’t face criminal charges, as prosecutors end doping investigation

Federal prosecutors dropped their investigation of Lance Armstrong on Friday, ending a nearly two-year effort aimed at determining whether the seven-time Tour de France winner and his teammates participated in a doping program.

Armstrong has steadfastly denied he doped during his unparalleled career, but the possibility of criminal charges threatened to stain his legacy as the world’s greatest cyclist and could have cast a shadow over his cancer charity work.

BASEBALL

MAJOR LEAGUES: Right-hander Matt Garza agreed to a $9.5 million, one-year contract with the Chicago Cubs, just before the scheduled start of a salary arbitration hearing.

• Pitcher Shaun Marcum and the Milwaukee Brewers agreed to a one-year contract worth $7,725,000, just before a salary arbitration hearing.

• The Tampa Bay Rays won their salary arbitration case against pitcher Jeff Niemann, who will earn $2.75 million instead of his request for $3.2 million.

• First baseman Dan Johnson, whose dramatic home run on the final night of the regular season helped Tampa Bay reach last year’s playoffs, agreed to a minor league contract with the Chicago White Sox.

• Reliever Matt Belisle and the Colorado Rockies agreed to a two-year contract that includes a mutual option for 2014.

• Cleveland finalized a $3 million, one-year deal with first baseman Casey Kotchman.

GOLF

PGA TOUR: Spencer Levin holed out from a greenside bunker for eagle on the par-4 17th and shot an 8-under 63 to take a three-stroke lead in the suspended second round of the Phoenix Open.

Levin completed a first-round 65 in the morning and was 14 under overall.

Harrison Frazar was 6 under for the round and 11 under overall with three holes left when play was suspended because of darkness.

AUSTRALIAN LADIES MASTERS: U.S. Open champion So Yeon Ryu shot an 11-under 61 to take a four-stroke lead after two rounds at Gold Coast, Australia.

Ryu had a two-round total of 17-under 127.

HOCKEY

NHL: Jaroslav Halak stopped 22 shots and Jamie Langenbrunner scored in the second period to lift St. Louis to a 1-0 home win over Los Angeles.

• Mark Eaton scored 2:35 into overtime in his 600th NHL game, giving Ottawa a 2-1 victory over the visiting New York Islanders.

• Sean Bergenheim scored the go-ahead goal in the second period as Florida beat visiting Winnipeg, 2-1.

• The Minnesota Wild traded forward Casey Wellman to the New York Rangers for center Erik Christensen and a conditional seventh-round draft choice.

SKIING

MEN’S WORLD CUP: Klaus Kroell gave Austria its first downhill victory of the season, edging Bode Miller by 0.01 seconds at Chamonix, France, in a race so tight the top five skiers were separated by only 0.08 seconds.

Miller was faster than Kroell at every split, but the American lost time on the bottom section and finished an eye blink behind Kroell, who won in 2 minutes, 4.22 seconds.

FREESTYLE: Olympic champion Hannah Kearney used a strong final run at Park City, Utah, to beat teammate Heather McPhie and earn her 13th straight World Cup moguls victories Thursday night.

Canadian Mikael Kingsbury tied the men’s record of six consecutive wins set by American Jeremy Bloom in 2005. Carrabassett Valley’s Jeremy Cota, who was ranked No. 2 in World Cup standings and was leading after qualifying, busted his pole trying to land his first jump and couldn’t finish.

TENNIS

OPEN SUD DE FRANCE: Top-seeded Tomas Berdych, second-seeded Gilles Simon, defending champion Gael Monfils and Philipp Kohlschreiber reached the semifinals at Montpellier, France.

PREP SCHOOLS

GIRLS’ BASKETBALL: Torie St. Pierre scored the final three points as Berwick Academy earned its fourth straight win, 41-39 over Newton Country Day School, at South Berwick.

Nicole Kleinmann had 10 points, and Juliana Blais finished with nine points and 14 rebounds for Berwick (9-7, 8-3 Eastern Independent League).

— From staff and news services