Sports briefs

North Texas hangs on to beat Louisiana Tech 73-66
DENTON, Texas — Jeremy Combs blocked a shot with 49 seconds left then tipped in a basket at the other end to help North Texas hold off a Louisiana Tech rally Thursday night and clinch a 73-66 win.
Combs finished with 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting and grabbed 13 rebounds. Colin Voss, Jordan Williams and T.J. Taylor also scored 16 points apiece for North Texas (8-10, 2-4 Conference USA). Voss padded the final margin with a pair of free throws to put the game out of reach.
Trailing 49-28 at the break, Louisiana Tech (14-5, 5-1) rallied in the second half to pull within a point of the Mean Green on a bucket from Kenneth Smith that made it 63-62 with 4:30 to go.
North Texas held on down the stretch to end the Bulldogs’ six-game winning streak.
Alex Hamilton led Louisiana Tech with 27 points and Erik McCree added 17.

Texas-Arlington holds off Louisiana-Monroe 61-57
MONROE — Drew Charles scored 12 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, to lift Texas-Arlington to a 61-57 win against Sun Belt Conference leader Louisiana-Monroe Thursday night.
Lonnie McClanahan contributed 11 points and Johnny Hill added nine for UTA (11-7, 5-3) to avenge a Jan. 8 overtime loss to the Warhawks.
Trailing by three early in the first half, UTA took the lead for good during a 9-0 run capped by Charles’ layup that made it 22-16 with 5:34 left before the break.
The Mavericks took a 34-24 advantage into the intermission and then held off a Warhawks surge that tightened the score 59-57 with 38 second left.
Hill clinched the win with a pair of free throws.
Marvin Williams led Louisiana-Monroe (12-7, 6-2) with 17 points and eight rebounds, while Majok Deng added 10 points.

Bears hire tight ends, strength and conditioning coaches
LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Chicago Bears have hired Frank Smith as tight ends coach and Jason George as strength and conditioning coach.
Smith spent the past five seasons on Sean Payton’s staff in New Orleans, assisting with the offensive line and helping with all aspects of game preparation. He has a connection to new Bears general manager Ryan Pace, who was hired out of the Saints’ front office.
George is following new head coach John Fox from Denver. George spent the past three seasons as the Broncos’ assistant strength and conditioning coach.
The Bears announced the moves Thursday.

Louisiana Tech names Petri new defensive line coach
RUSTON — Louisiana Tech football coach Skip Holtz has named Rick Petri as the team’s defensive line coach.
Holtz said Thursday that Petri joins Tech after holding the same position at Duke the last four years, helping the Blue Devils to 28 wins, including the 2013 ACC Coastal Division title and three bowl game appearances.
His hiring is pending approval from the University of Louisiana System Board of Supervisors.
If approved, it would be Petri’s second stint at Louisiana Tech. He served on the Bulldogs’ staff in 1992.
Petri also has coached at Ole Miss, Miami, South Carolina and Kentucky in his 30-year career.
From The Associated Press