Tuesday’s Sports In Brief

NFL

DALLAS (AP) - Tony Romo couldn’t bring himself to use the word “retired” and didn’t have an answer for whether he would have decided to replace another former quarterback in Phil Simms as lead analyst for CBS if he hadn’t lost his starting job in Dallas.

This much Romo did know: Teams were interested in him continuing his chase for an elusive Super Bowl, and he couldn’t pass up a chance to go straight from the field to a No. 1 booth with Emmy Award-winning play-by-play man Jim Nantz.

Romo’s release by the Cowboys and his deal with CBS were announced simultaneously - roughly four weeks later than Dallas owner Jerry Jones told the franchise passing leader he would turn him loose to pursue other teams.

The delay gave Romo time to consider his future after two injury-filled seasons, which cost him the job he had for 10 years when rookie Dak Prescott directed a club-record 11-game winning streak after Romo’s preseason back injury. It was his fourth back injury since 2013.

ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) - Raiders owner Mark Davis says he did everything he could to try to keep his team in Oakland and is not able to celebrate the upcoming move to Las Vegas because he’s “bittersweet” about leaving the East Bay fans.

In an interview with the team’s flagship radio station 95.7 The Game in the Bay Area, Davis said Oakland never presented a viable plan to keep the team and that led to the decision to apply for relocation. The NFL approved the move to Las Vegas last week and the Raiders are expected to begin play there in 2020.

Davis said he thought he was close to a deal for a new stadium at the site of the Coliseum in the summer of 2013 and in ’14 but that unraveled once the Oakland Athletics were given a 10-year lease at the site.

Davis said he talked with the A’s about doing a joint deal for two stadiums at the Coliseum site and selling them 20 percent of the Raiders, but they weren’t interested.

NBA

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - For just a few moments, Russell Westbrook slowed down.

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s mile-a-minute point guard took the time to soak in the atmosphere after he matched Oscar Robertson’s single-season record with his 41st triple-double. The home crowd stood and chanted “MVP! MVP!” long after the assist, and he later waved to the crowd after play stopped .

Westbrook finished with 12 points, 13 rebounds and 13 assists to help the Thunder beat the Milwaukee Bucks 110-79. He clinched his seventh straight triple-double on an assist to Taj Gibson with 9:17 left in the third quarter.

Robertson set the record during the 1961-62 season, and Westbrook can break it Wednesday in Memphis.

BASEBALL

ST. LOUIS (AP) - Albert Almora Jr. provided a big lift for the Chicago Cubs with a birthday present for his mom.

Almora robbed Matt Adams of a home run and Javier Baez made a terrific sliding stop on Kolten Wong’s game-ending grounder, sending Jake Arrieta and the Cubs to a 2-1 victory against the St. Louis Cardinals.

It looked as if the Cardinals had tied the game in the seventh, but Almora tracked Adams’ deep fly ball to the wall and hauled it in with a leaping grab at the top of the fence in center. A pumped-up Almora then celebrated with left fielder Kyle Schwarber as Adams tipped his batting helmet in appreciation of the play.

Arrieta pitched six innings of one-run ball, helping the World Series champions bounce back from a wild 4-3 loss to St. Louis on Sunday night.

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) - Exactly seven months after being struck in the head by a line drive that left him with a cracked skull, Matt Shoemaker looked every bit the same pitcher he had been.

Shoemaker tossed five effective innings in his return to the mound and Danny Espinosa hit a three-run homer in the ninth to rally the Los Angeles Angels past the Oakland Athletics 7-6.

It was Shoemaker’s first regular-season outing since he was hit by a line drive off Kyle Seager’s bat in Seattle last September, an injury that required surgery to stop bleeding in his brain. The right-hander wore a carbon-fiber protective insert under his cap to protect an area where a titanium plate was inserted on his skull.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - North Carolina dedicated the past year to redeeming itself for 4.7 agonizing seconds.

No longer haunted by the memory of a buzzer-beating loss in last year’s title game, but galvanized by a misstatement from their most decorated former player, the Tar Heels returned home with their sixth NCAA Tournament trophy, which they earned a night earlier by beating Gonzaga in the championship game.

Thousands of fans poured into the arena and onto the court before the team’s flight had even landed at nearby Raleigh-Durham International Airport, and they cheered fanatically every time live footage of the team’s motorcade was shown on the video scoreboards.

When the individual players were introduced, they showered Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year Justin Jackson with chants of “one more year.”

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Florida coach Mike White might be facing a bigger rebuilding project than initially expected.

White said injured center John Egbunu plans to “test the waters” of the NBA draft. Egbunu doesn’t intend to hire an agent, meaning he could end up returning to school for his final year of eligibility.

A fourth-year junior on track to graduate this semester, Egbunu missed the final 10 games of the season after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in mid-February. The 6-foot-11 Egbunu averaged 7.8 points and a team-leading 6.6 rebounds.