March 20, 2023 12:01 am
South Fayette girls have never played in a state championship game. Oakland Catholic has seven times but not since losing in the 2012 final. Now, one of those droughts will end as the two meet in the PIAA 5A semifinals Tuesday night at Peters Township and on WJPA-FM (95.3). The Lions beat the Eagles for the WPIAL championship early in the month. Since then, both teams rolled through the first two rounds of the state playoffs, then won their quarterfinal games at the last minute: South Fayette on a buzzer beater, Oakland Catholic in overtime. The winner will take on the Archbishop Wood / West Chester Rustin winner in Saturday night’s championship game. PIAA Brackets
Tuesday, March 21, Semifinal (winners to PIAA Final Saturday)
5A Girls South Fayette vs. Oakland Catholic, 6:15 pm at Peters Township, WJPA-FM (95.3) Listen Here
March 21, 2023 3:46 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Dylan Ferguson stopped 48 shots in his first NHL start, and the Ottawa Senators topped the reeling Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1. Drake Batherson’s power-play goal with 2:09 left in regulation helped the Senators end a five-game losing streak. Thomas Chabot scored his 10th goal for Ottawa, which won in Pittsburgh for the first time since 2014. Rickard Rakell scored his 21st of the season for the Penguins. Tristan Jarry made 19 saves but couldn’t stop Pittsburgh from falling behind Florida for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
March 21, 2023 3:51 am
MIAMI (AP) — Shohei Ohtani sparked a ninth-inning rally with a leadoff double, and Munetaka Murakami hit a walk-off, two-run double to lift Japan over Mexico 6-5 and into the World Baseball Classic final. Japan will face the defending champion United States in Tuesday night’s championship game. Ohtani went 2 for 4. The Los Angeles Angels star scored in the seventh when Masataka Yoshida hit a tying, three-run homer off reliever JoJo Romero.
March 21, 2023 3:50 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Rick Pitino is back in the Big East Conference. St. John’s has hired the Hall of Fame coach to boost a storied program that’s been mired in mediocrity for much of this century. The school posted the announcement on Twitter, and Pitino is expected to be formally introduced during a news conference Tuesday at Madison Square Garden. Following a successful run at nearby mid-major Iona, the 70-year-old Pitino was plucked away to replace Mike Anderson, who was fired March 10 after four seasons in charge of the Red Storm without making the NCAA Tournament.
March 19, 2023 1:33 am
WJPA-AM (1450) is your radio home for all the action, running right through the Men’s National Championship Game April 3 in Houston. You can also listen online through our partnership with Westwood One and the NCAA! Our coverage includes feature games each day with live ‘look-ins” for the 1st & 2nd Rounds, then expanded coverage through the national semifinals. And the Women’s Tournament comes back to WJPA starting March 24 with Sweet 16 action running through the Women’s National Championship Game Sunday, April 2 in Dallas. WJPA-AM (1450) Listen Here
Sunday, March 18, Second Round
#3 Xavier 84, #11 Pitt 73
#3 Kansas State 75, #6 Kentucky 69
#7 Michigan State 69, #2 Marquette 60
#4 UConnecticut 70, #5 St. Mary’s 55
#6 Creighton 85, #3 Baylor 76
#9 Florida Atlantic 78, #16 Fairleigh-Dickinson 70
#5 Miami 85, #4 Indiana 69
#3 Gonzaga 84, #6 TCU 81
March 20, 2023 4:05 am
GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Xavier spent the first half of its 84-73 NCAA Tournament win over Pittsburgh sharing the ball at an incredible rate. The Musketeers tallied 17 assists on their 19 first-half baskets. That amounted to a rate of better than 89%. And it helped them build a 48-34 margin at the break in the second-round matchup. They finished the game with 22 assists. Colby Jones finished with seven assists, Souley Boum had five, and Adam Kunkel and Jack Nunge each had three.
March 20, 2023 3:55 am
MIAMI (AP) — Trea Turner homered twice to give him a tournament-leading four, and the defending champion United States romped over Cuba 14-2 to reach its second straight World Baseball Classic final. Paul Goldschmidt and Cedric Mullins also homered for the Americans, who scored in seven of eight innings — putting up crooked numbers in five of them. Turner and Goldschmidt had four RBIs each. The U.S. plays Japan or Mexico in Tuesday night’s championship, trying to join the Samurai Warriors as the only nations to win the title twice. Turner, hitting No. 9 in the batting order, has a tournament-leading 10 RBIs.
March 20, 2023 3:55 am
HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — Joey Logano dominated early and then passed Brad Keselowski on the final lap to win NASCAR’s race at Atlanta and end the early season domination of Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports. Logano won the pole but Keselowski looked like the Ford driver to beat late in the race. Keselowski had help from Corey LaJoie but Logano got a push from Christopher Bell that proved decisive on the final lap. Logano’s win ended a streak of four consecutive victories by Chevrolet to open the NASCAR Cup season, including back-to-back wins by Hendrick’s William Byron.
March 19, 2023 7:52 am
NEW YORK (AP) — Mika Zibanejad had a goal and two assists, Artemi Panarin scored twice and Igor Shesterkin made 33 saves as the New York Rangers routed Pittsburgh 6-0 for their second win over the Penguins in three days. Vladimir Tarasenko, Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba also scored for the surging Rangers, who have won nine of their last 11 home games and are 12-4-0 in their past 16 at Madison Square Garden. Shesterkin won his fifth straight and posted his second shutout this season. He nimbly denied Pittsburgh forward Mikael Granland with a sprawling save five minutes into the third period to preserve the shutout, the 10th of his career.
March 19, 2023 7:53 am
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Dylan Disu had a season-high 28 points and Texas advanced to its first Sweet 16 in 15 years with a 71-66 victory over Penn State in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The second-seeded Longhorns made just one of 13 shots from 3-point land. Disu turned this one into a mid-range game. He went 5 for 5 over the final 4 1/2 minutes and grabbed 10 rebounds for good measure. Texas will play the Pittsburgh-Xavier winner on Friday in the Midwest Region semifinals. Camren Wynter scored 16 points for Penn State.
