Sports category, Page 1679
Wisconsin holds off furious Penn State comeback bid
INDIANAPOLIS — Aleem Ford scored 17 points and No. 6 seed Wisconsin made a stop on the last play to escape with a 75-74 win over No. 11 seed Penn State in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday night. The Badgers (17-11) led by 18 in...
Pirates sign veteran pitcher Trevor Cahill to 1-year contract
The Pittsburgh Pirates added a veteran to their pitching staff by signing right-hander Trevor Cahill to a one-year contract for $1.5 million, with another $1 million in incentives. The Pirates are his ninth team in 13 seasons. The 6-foot-4, 223-pounder was 1-2 with a 3.24 ERA and 31 strikeouts in...
Penguins beat Sabres, extend winning streak to 4
Western New York in March isn’t exactly a glamorous locale to spend a few days. There nearly are as many potholes as there are blinding snow squalls. But Mike Sullivan doesn’t mind setting up shop for a midweek excursion in Buffalo given the format the NHL has adopted for this...
Big finish sends Sergio Garcia to big lead at Players ChampionshipVideo
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Sergio Garcia rushed to the first tee and raced to the finish line Thursday in The Players Championship. Most importantly, he avoided the kind of wreck that allowed the TPC Sawgrass to live up to its reputation as the course where anything can happen to...
For Pirates, March 12 marks ominous 1-year anniversary of spring training shutdown
When the calendar flips to March 12 on Friday, it represents an ominous one-year anniversary for the Pittsburgh Pirates. It’s the day a global pandemic interrupted spring training and stopped the sports world for months. The previous night, the NBA stopped its season when Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested...
Pitt reserve Gerald Drumgoole Jr. decides to transfer, becomes 3rd to leave in 2021
Sophomore Gerald Drumgoole Jr., who caught Pitt coach Jeff Capel’s eye at the outset of his freshman season and was in the starting lineup for the first two games of the 2019-2020 season, has entered the NCAA transfer portal, Capel announced Thursday. Drumgoole was the 20th freshman in Pitt history...
Anthony Alford takes center stage, shining for Pirates with home run, diving catch
A day after Jared Oliva and Brian Goodwin made their mark on the center field competition with home runs, Anthony Alford answered in a way that might have pushed him to the forefront. Alford hit a two-run homer in the second inning, made a spectacular catch in the third, then...
Hendrick off to fast start with 2 wins heading into Phoenix
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Hendrick Motorsports celebrates each race win with a Victory Bell t hat is carted across the campus for every employee to ring. If not for the pandemic, the bell would have made two trips so far this season. The Hendrick folks believe the count should actually be...
Texans’ Culley on possible Deshaun Watson trade: ‘He is our quarterback’
HOUSTON — New Houston Texans coach David Culley reiterated Thursday that the team has no intention of trading Deshaun Watson despite the star quarterback’s request to be dealt. Culley, hired in January to replace Bill O’Brien, was asked more than a half-dozen times about Watson’s future with the team. Every...
‘Controlled environment’: NCAA plunges ahead with tourneys
Mount St. Mary’s earned its sixth bid to the NCAA Tournament on Tuesday night by beating Bryant in the Northeast Conference Championship game, setting off a postgame celebration that included joy, anticipation, hugs — and covid-19 testing. Before the Mountaineers made the 7 1/2-hour bus trip from Smithfield, Rhode Island,...
No. 12 Oklahoma St. beats No. 10 West Virginia in Big 12 Tournament
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Avery Johnson III hit the go-ahead bucket for Oklahoma State with less than a minute to go, and Sean McNeil’s tying 3-pointer came a split-second after the final buzzer, allowing the No. 12 Cowboys to escape with a 72-69 win over No. 10 West Virginia in...
Pirates say tickets to be offered month-to-month, delivered digitally
The Pittsburgh Pirates announced that tickets will be made available on a month-to-month basis to start the season and delivered digitally. Starting Thursday, the Pirates will notify groups for an exclusive presale for full, half and partial season plans for the first dozen games over two homestands at PNC Park,...
9 Penn State wrestlers will compete at NCAA Championships
Penn State will send nine wrestlers, including four top-three seeds, to the NCAA Championships on March 18-20, in St. Louis. Five freshmen and a sophomore are among the qualifiers. Two-time All-American and Big Ten champion Roman Bravo-Young (9-0) at 133 pounds and senior Nick Lee at 141 will be No....
Penguins reflect on a year since the NHL paused for covid-19
Mike Matheson was in a much different place exactly one year ago. Dallas, to be specific. Then a member of the Florida Panthers, Matheson was in his Dallas hotel room watching the Dallas Mavericks host the Denver Nuggets. And that’s when he realized the world was rapidly changing. During the...
After his release from Buffalo, WR John Brown thinks Steelers could be a fit
Veteran wide receiver John Brown is looking for a new home after being released by the Buffalo Bills. He thinks Pittsburgh could be a potential destination. One day after he was cut loose in a salary-cap move, Brown said the Steelers and Indianapolis Colts are two teams he wouldn’t mind...
5 Pitt wrestlers headed to NCAA Championships in St. Louis
A year ago, Pitt wrestlers Micky Phillippi, Jake Wentzel, Nino Bonaccorsi and Demetrius Thomas were named All-Americans by the National Wrestling Coaches Association. But in the wake of the covid-19 pandemic, there was no NCAA Championships to validate the distinctions. This year, five Pitt wrestlers, including four top-three finishers at...
NBA fines Heat’s Meyers Leonard $50,000 for anti-Semitic slur
MIAMI — The NBA has fined Meyers Leonard $50,000, the maximum allowed by league policy, and suspended him from using all Miami Heat facilities and activities for one week in response to his use of an anti-Semitic term. Commissioner Adam Silver, in announcing those sanctions, also said that he believes...
March 11, 2020: The night that sports, as we knew them, ended
Nobody knew exactly what to say in Oklahoma City around 7:10 p.m. local time on March 11, 2020. That was an issue for Mario Nanni, whose job as the Oklahoma City Thunder public-address announcer is to tell fans exactly what’s happening. He had just introduced the starting lineups. The Thunder...
Duke pulls out of ACC Tournament after positive covid test; NCAA tourney streak ends
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Duke arrived at the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament hoping to make an unprecedented run to extend its long NCAA Tournament streak. Instead, the Blue Devils abruptly had to pull out of the tournament and end its season due to a positive covid-19 test and the resulting quarantining...
IOC and China make vaccine deal for Tokyo, Beijing Olympians
GENEVA — The International Olympic Committee and China have teamed up to offer vaccines to athletes and teams preparing for the upcoming games in both Tokyo and Beijing. The collaboration with Chinese Olympic officials was announced Thursday during an online IOC meeting. “We are grateful for this offer, which is...
In 2nd spring training with Pirates, Jared Oliva emerges as dark horse in center field
Jared Oliva will be the first to admit he was uncomfortable at his first major league spring training last year, trying to absorb as much as he could from veterans without stepping on any toes. That was evident to Pittsburgh Pirates manager Derek Shelton, who saw as much trepidation as...
Penguins finally get their crack at Sabres. Now they need to pay it off.
After months of waiting, the Penguins are finally getting their shot at the Buffalo Sabres. While the rest of the Eastern Division teams have had their crack at the lowly cellar dwellers, the Pens and Boston Bruins have not. Now it’s time for the Penguins to make the most of...
First Call: Team that may have signed Ben Roethlisberger; team that may sign JuJu Smith-Schuster, James Conner
Let’s take a look at what could’ve been for Ben Roethlisberger had he not stayed in Pittsburgh. We also have a prediction on James Conner’s future, an ominous outlook for Pirates manager Derek Shelton, and another rough outing for former Penguins netminder Matt Murray. All that in Thursday’s “First Call.”...
U mad, bro?: Steelers fans bristle at negativity after Ben Roethlisberger’s new deal, NFL’s overtime idea
In this week’s “U mad, bro?,” Steelers fans clap back at my lack of faith in the team. Someone doesn’t like the NFL’s new overtime proposal. And I share the best email I have ever received. Jerry read my article about the Baltimore Ravens’ new overtime proposal. Like me, he...
Penn State rallies past Nebraska in Big Ten first-round game
INDIANAPOLIS — Jamari Wheeler scored a career-high 19 points, and No. 11 seed Penn State pulled away inside the last four minutes to beat No. 14 seed Nebraska 72-66 on Wednesday night in the first round of the Big Ten Conference tournament. Penn State (11-13) has won four of its...
