SPORTS IN BRIEF: Fairfield basketball, Aaron Hernandez, Robin Roberts, Big 12 basketball

Eight-grade boys defeat Burlington Edward Stone

The Fairfield Middle School eighth-grade boys? basketball A team lost to Washington 44-29 Monday.

Kolton Webber led the team with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Steeler Higdon scored seven points to go along with five rebounds and three steals.

The B team lost 29-4. Chance Crandell and Aaron Haines both scored two points. The C team also could not pull out a win, and fell to Washington 28-13. Brendon Higgins led the team with six points.

The A team defeated Burlington Edward Stone 47-31 Tuesday. Webber scored 29 points and grabbed seven rebounds. James Lyman scored 14 points. The A team finished the season with a 6-3 record.

?It was a tough year to get a flow going with all the weather problems,? Fairfield coach Tony Vandegriff said. ?We had three games called off due to weather. Overall a good year.?

The B team won 21-13. Jesse Burlson and Brendon Higgins both scored five points. The B team finished the season 4-5.

Hernandez sued by families of two slain Boston men

BOSTON (AP) ? The families of two men found fatally shot in Boston in 2012 have filed wrongful death lawsuits against former New England Patriots player Aaron Hernandez.

Boston-area media report that the lawsuits were filed Wednesday in Suffolk Superior Court on behalf of the families of Daniel Abreu and Safiro Furtado. Each seeks $6 million.

The men were sitting in an SUV in the city?s South End in July 2012 when another SUV pulled up and someone inside opened fire.

Nobody has been criminally charged with their deaths, but Hernandez has been identified by police as a suspect.

The 24-year-old Hernandez is being held without bail after pleading not guilty to murder in the unrelated death of 27-year-old Odin Lloyd in North Attleborough. Lloyd was dating the sister of Hernandez?s fiancee.

Hernandez is now facing four lawsuits, including one by Lloyd?s family and another by a former friend who alleges Hernandez shot him in the face.

Robin Roberts to speak at MLB Beacon Awards

NEW YORK (AP) ? Robin Roberts will be the keynote speaker at the 2014 MLB Beacon Awards Luncheon honoring Maya Angelou.

Major League Baseball announced Thursday that the ?Good Morning America? anchor will speak at the May 30 event in Houston before the annual Civil Rights Game. The Houston Astros will host the Baltimore Orioles.

Motown Records founder Berry Gordy and football legend Jim Brown also will be honored.

Grammy-winning violinist Miri Ben-Ari and rising singer Aloe Blacc, known for the hits ?Wake Me Up? and ?The Man,? will perform.

The MLB Beacon Awards Luncheon is among the events surrounding the Civil Rights Game that pay tribute to people who fight for equal rights.

The game will air on the MLB Network.

Big 12 tournament sold out yet again

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) ? Next month?s Big 12 tournament at the Sprint Center has sold out for the fifth consecutive year, though standing-room tickets may become available closer to the event.

The tournament, which was played at Kemper Arena for years, also sold out when it returned to Kansas City in 2008. It?s also been played at American Airlines Center in Dallas and Ford Center, now the Chesapeake Energy Arena, in Oklahoma City.

As other conferences struggle to sell tickets, that has never been an issue for the Big 12 in Kansas City. That?s one reason why Sprint Center has been awarded the tournament through 2016.

This year?s tournament begins March 12. The championship game is March 15.