March 20, 2024 4:44 am
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Joel Scott had 23 points and 11 rebounds as Colorado State won an NCAA Tournament game for the first time in 11 years, blowing out Virginia 67-42 in the First Four. Nique Clifford scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for the Rams. Colorado advances as a No. 10 seed to play seventh-seeded Texas in Charlotte, North Carolina, on Thursday. Reece Beekman had 15 points on 4-of-16 shooting for Virginia, which hasn’t won an NCAA Tournament game since it won the national title in 2019. That stretch includes two first-round losses as a No. 4 seed. Earlier, Wagner kicked off March Madness with the first NCAA Tournament win in program history, getting 21 points from Melvin Council Jr. and holding off a late rally by Howard to win 71-68 in the First Four. The Northeast Conference champion Seahawks advanced as the No. 16 seed in the West Region and will play top seed North Carolina on Thursday in Charlotte, North Carolina. Howard trailed by 17 points early in the second half but went on a late 14-2 run, closing within 69-68 on Bryce Harris’ layup with 18 seconds left. Howard attempted three 3-pointers in the last 6 seconds but missed them all.
March 20, 2024 4:38 am
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Jake Allen made 36 saves, and Timo Meier and Dawson Mercer each scored twice to lead the New Jersey Devils to a 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night. Alexander Holtz also scored, and Jesper Bratt, Tomas Nosek, Jack Hughes and Luke Hughes each had two assists as New Jersey won for the third time in eight games under interim coach Travis Green. Marcus Pettersson and Bryan Rust scored for Pittsburgh. Goaltender Tristan Jarry made 33 saves as the Penguins lost for the ninth time in 12 games and for the 11th time in 13 road games.
March 20, 2024 4:40 am
Justin Fields went from being considered a franchise quarterback to disregarded by the Chicago Bears in just three seasons. It’s quite a fall for a former first-round pick who showed promise. After more than a dozen QBs switched teams last week in the opening days of the NFL’s free-agent frenzy, the Bears traded Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a conditional sixth-round pick in 2025. The pick becomes a fourth-rounder if Fields ends up playing more than expected. It’s not surprising that Fields was traded, but it was a shocker that the Bears basically gave him away.
March 19, 2024 9:52 am
Conference championship week is over. Selection Sunday has come and gone. Tonight, the NCAA Men’s Basketball National Championship Tournament tips off with the First Four in Dayton. WJPA-AM (1450) is your home for all the exciting moments of March Madness. We’ll bring you live coverage from every site, every game through opening weekend, Sweet 16, Regional Finals, the Final Four and the National Championship games. We’ll have extensive coverage of the Women’s Tournament starting with the Sweet 16 next weekend.
DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Last year, a team from New Jersey called Fairleigh Dickinson played its way out of the First Four and then became one of the most improbable bracket-busters in NCAA Tournament history. Two days after winning in Dayton, the Knights upset Purdue, only the second time in history a No. 16 seed beat a No 1 seed. Eight teams begin their NCAA Tournament journey on Tuesday and Wednesday nights, hoping to be the next team to start in Dayton and do some bracket busting. Wagner faces Howard on Tuesday night, followed by Colorado State against Virginia. On Wednesday, Grambling plays Montana State, and Colorado draws Boise State.
March 19, 2024 4:55 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Kenny Pickett is ready for a fresh start in Philadelphia. The Pittsburgh Steelers traded the quarterback to the Eagles last week. Pickett will serve as the backup QB to Jalen Hurts. The move came hours after the Steelers signed nine-time Pro Bowler Russell Wilson to a one-year deal. Pickett said Monday that he “just thought it was time” for him to leave Pittsburgh and called the move to Philadelphia a “good reset.” The New Jersey native grew up an Eagles fan.
March 19, 2024 2:26 am
(WPXI) – One day after possibly the biggest win in his career at Duquesne, head basketball coach Keith Dambrot announced he’s retiring at the end of the year. Duquesne won the Athletic 10 Conference Sunday as a 6th seed with a 57-51 win over VCU. That earned the Dukes an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. They’ll face BYU Thursday at 12:40pm in Omaha, Nebraska. It’s Duquesne’s first NCAA bidi since 1977. Dambrot took the head coaching job at Duquesne in 2017. In his second year, he led the Dukes to its first winning season in nearly a decade. Dambrot’s relationship with Duquesne runs deep. His late father played there from 1952 to 1954, when the Dukes were number one in the country.
March 19, 2024 4:28 am
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — A person with knowledge of the move says the Dallas Cowboys are slightly reducing quarterback Dak Prescott’s massive salary cap hit by reworking his contract going into the final year of the deal. A $5 million roster bonus has been converted into a signing bonus to reduce the 2024 cap hit by $4 million. It’s now at $55 million. The Cowboys can create more salary cap relief with an extension for Prescott. He is coming off a wild-card loss at home to Green Bay that dropped his playoff record to 2-5.
March 19, 2024 4:29 am
A person familiar with the negotiations tells The Associated Press that two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and the San Francisco Giants have agreed to a $62 million, two-year contract. Snell has the right to opt out after this season and become a free agent. A 30-year-old left-hander, Snell is 71-55 with a 3.20 ERA in 191 starts over eight major league seasons, winning Cy Youngs in 2018 with Tampa Bay and last year with San Diego.
March 18, 2024 4:39 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby matched Wayne Gretzky for the seventh-most goals with a single franchise in NHL history, and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Detroit Red Wings 6-3. Crosby, Lars Eller, Reilly Smith and Valtteri Puustinen each had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh, which won for the second time in three games following a four-game losing streak. Michael Bunting and Drew O’Connor also scored. Crosby’s 583rd career goal, his first in 12 games and No. 33 on the season, helped the Penguins keep their playoff hopes alive after dealing star winger Jake Guentzel at the trade deadline.
March 18, 2024 4:41 am
Duquesne earned an NCAA Tournament bid for the first time in 47 years, beating fifth-seeded seeded VCU 57-51 to win the Atlantic 10 Tournament championship. The sixth-seeded Dukes (24-11) led by 14 at the half, but bringing home that long-awaited invite to March Madness was a struggle. Duquesne scored only 21 points and shot 5 for 29 from the field in the second half. The small Catholic school in Pittsburgh will head into the NCAA Tournament with an eight-game winning streak. Joe Bamisile led VCU, which was trying to repeat as A-10 tournament champs, with 20 points.
