December 22, 2021 4:00 am
UNDATED (AP) – Lucas Johnson passed for a career-best 333 yards and three touchdowns, and ran for another score as San Diego State beat No. 24 UTSA 38-24 in the Frisco Bowl for the Aztecs’ program-record 12th win of the season. Jesse Matthews caught touchdown passes of 11 and 20 yards and set career marks with 11 catches and 175 yards receiving. Tyrell Shavers caught the other touchdown pass, a 24-yarder. Greg Bell also scored on a 1-yard run for San Diego State. Frank Harris threw touchdown passes of 12 yards to De’Corian Clark and 4 yards to Zakhari Franklin, and Brenden Brady scored on a 2-yard run for UTSA.
December 22, 2021 3:59 am
UNDATED (AP) – NHL players will not take part in the Winter Olympics after all. A person with direct knowledge of the decision tells The Associated Press the league is going to withdraw from the Beijing Olympics after its regular-season schedule was disrupted by coronavirus outbreaks.
December 21, 2021 4:03 am
Kirk Cousins passed for two touchdowns and the Vikings evened their record at 7-7 with a 17-9 victory over the Bears. The two-time Pro Bowler also connected with Justin Jefferson for a 12-yard touchdown in the first quarter and threw a 7-yarder to Ihmir Smith-Marsette in the third. However, Cousins threw for just 87 yards, was picked off once and sacked four times. Dalvin Cook ran for 89 yards D.J. Wonnum had three sacks and the Vikings recovered three fumbles. Minnesota was in line for its easiest win of the season until Justin Fields threw a touchdown pass to Jesper Horsted on the final play. The Bears are 4-10.
December 21, 2021 4:01 am
UNDATED (AP) – Daniel Carlson’s 48-yard field goal as time expired sent the Las Vegas Raiders to a 16-14 win on Monday night over the COVID-19-depleted Cleveland Browns in a game pushed back two days by the NFL amid an uptick of virus cases across the league. Down by a point, quarterback Derek Carr patiently drove the 7-7 Raiders into Cleveland territory in the final two minutes. Then Carlson shrugged off being iced by the Browns to boot his winner, keeping Las Vegas in the playoff mix. The Raiders, who weren’t happy when the league delayed their visit, danced off their sideline when the kick went through. The loss was devastating for the 7-7 Browns, who would have vaulted into first place in the AFC North with a win. Instead, they fell into last place in the tightly packed division with three games remaining. Due to a virus outbreak, the Browns were without quarterback Baker Mayfield, coach Kevin Stefanski and several other prominent players.
December 21, 2021 3:59 am
UNDATED (AP) – The NHL is putting all teams on pause from Wednesday through Saturday. The move postpones five additional games scheduled for Thursday to make it a total of 49 this season. An increase of positive COVID-19 test results among players around the league led to 10 teams closing practice facilities. An early start to the Christmas break also comes with teams being allowed to gather Sunday for testing and other activities. The season is set to resume with games next Monday.
December 21, 2021 3:57 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Steelers keep finding ugly ways to win. Their 19-13 victory over Tennessee kept the Steelers in the AFC North mix even though they managed just 168 yards of offense. Pittsburgh improved to 7-6-1 by forcing the Titans into four turnovers and getting a fourth-down stop in the final minute. Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin says his team is still dealing with a lot of “issues” they need to work on. The Steelers travel to red-hot Kansas City next week.
December 20, 2021 3:54 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Ben Roethlisberger ran for his first touchdown in three years, Chris Boswell kicked four field goals and the Pittsburgh Steelers kept their playoff hopes alive with a 19-13 win over Tennessee. The Steelers forced the Titans into four turnovers and needed every single one of them to win for the second time in three games. Despite the miscues, Tennessee drove deep into Pittsburgh territory in the final moments but wide receiver Nick Westbrook-Ikhine was tackled inches short of the first down at the Steelers 11 with 27 seconds to go.
December 20, 2021 3:56 am
UNDATED (AP) – The Packers became the first team this season to clinch a division title, wrapping up the NFC North with a 31-30 win over Baltimore after the Ravens missed another big 2-point conversion in the final minute. With Lamar Jackson out with a sprained ankle, Tyler Huntley nearly led Baltimore all the way back from a 31-17 deficit. His 8-yard touchdown run with 42 seconds left pulled the Ravens within one, but Huntley’s 2-point conversion pass was incomplete. It was the third consecutive loss for Baltimore, which also lost to Pittsburgh two weekends ago on a missed 2-point conversion in the final seconds. Aaron Rodgers threw three touchdown passes – tying Brett Favre on Green Bay’s career list with 442.
December 20, 2021 3:51 am
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – Danton Heinen, Teddy Blueger and Mike Matheson scored in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ seventh straight win, beating the New Jersey Devils 3-2 on Sunday night. Tristan Jarry made 17 saves for Pittsburgh, and Dominik Simon, Chad Ruhwedel, Marcus Pettersson and Jason Zucker each had assists. Forwards Janne Kuokkanen and Nathan Bastian scored for New Jersey, and Jon Gillies stopped 19 shots in his first start for the Devils since being acquired from the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday.
December 19, 2021 6:48 am
NEW YORK — Jamarius Burton’s runner with 0.4 seconds left lifted Pittsburgh over St. John’s 59-57 in the showcase game of the Gotham Classic Saturday. After St. John’s (8-3) had tied the game on two Dylan Addae-Wusu free throws, Burton took the inbounds pass and stormed down the court before lifting the game-winning shot from the left side. Burton led all scorers with 20 points. Mouhamadou Gueye added 15 for Pitt (4-7). Despite having three players finish in double-figure scoring, St. John’s had its three-game winning streak snapped. Addae-Wusu led the Red Storm with 12. Posh Alexander added 11, and Joel Soriano had 10 points. St. John’s played without that star swingman Julian Champagnie, who was out after testing positive for COVID-19. What transpired on the Madison Square Garden court in the matinee was an ode to Big East Conference basketball. Which was fitting since St. John’s was among the conference’s founding members and Pitt was a member from the 1992-93 season through 2012-13.
