PITTSBURGH (AP) – Casey DeSmith made 19 saves after starter Tristan Jarry’s mysterious exit and the Pittsburgh Penguins held off the New York Islanders 2-1. Jarry left after the first period and DeSmith filled in by holding the Islanders at bay as Pittsburgh pulled even with New York in the East Division. Jared McCann scored his eighth goal of the season and Anthony Angello collected the first power-play goal of his career for the Penguins. Matt Martin scored his seventh of the season for the Islanders and Semyon Varlamov made 20 saves but couldn’t stop New York from getting swept during its final two-game set in Pittsburgh.
UNDATED (AP) – There are just six teams still alive in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. Top seed Baylor and No. 2 Houston are two of those teams after moving on to the national semifinals.
Baylor has reached the Final Four for the first time in 71 years by getting 22 points from MaCio Teague and a dominating defensive performance from Davion Mitchell in an 81-72 victory against Arkansas. The Bears watched an 18-point cushion shrink to four before Arkansas missed 12 straight shots and Teague hit a pair of 3-pointers to put it out of reach. The Razorbacks’ rally occurred while Mitchell was sitting on the bench after picking up his third foul with about eight minutes left. Jared Butler finished with 14 points, while Mitchell chipped in 12 points and six assists for Baylor.
JD Notae and Davonte Davis had 14 apiece for the Razorbacks, who came up one game short of their first Final Four in 26 years.
Houston has advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since the Guy Lewis-led Phi Slama Jama squad went to the 1984 title game. The second-seeded Cougars made things difficult on themselves by blowing a 17-point halftime lead before knocking off No. 12 Oregon State, 67-61. Quentin Grimes drained a 3-pointer with 3:21 left to break a 55-all tie before Houston hit enough free throws down the stretch to improve to 28-3. Grimes had 18 points and Marcus Sasser delivered a game-high 20 for the Cougars. Maurice Calloo scored a team-high 13 points for the Beavers, who were vying to become the worst-seeded team ever to make a Final Four.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) – UConn will be making a 13th consecutive Final Four trip in the women’s NCAA Tournament. The Huskies will be joined by a team making its first-ever appearance in the national semifinals. Paige Bueckers scored 28 points and the first overall seed used a huge run spanning the final two quarters to beat No. 2 Baylor, 69-67. The Huskies trailed 55-45 late in the third quarter before scoring 19 consecutive points, including 10 by Bueckers. Baylor got within one after Dijonai Carrington converted two free throws with 19.3 seconds left. Aari McDonald scored 33 points and third-seeded Arizona beat No. 4 Indiana 66-53 to earn its first trip to the Final Four. The Pac-12 player of the year briefly left the game with a twisted ankle with 2:35 left, but limped back on and scored six more points. Her three-point play with 34 seconds left put the exclamation point on the victory.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Gonzaga remains in line for an historic season after advancing in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The first overall seed continued its march toward perfection with a 83-65 rout of Creighton, putting the Bulldogs in the Elite Eight. The Zags improved to 29-0, won their 33rd in a row since last season and extended their Division record of double-digit wins to 26.
Drew Timme scored 22 points and Andrew Nembhard had 17 with eight assists for Gonzaga. The Bulldogs led 22-12 seven minutes in, carried a 43-33 lead into halftime and spent most of the second half pulling away. Marcus Zegarowski finished with 19 points to lead the Bluejays. Joining Gonzaga in the regional finals is fellow No. 1 seed Michigan, which had a surprisingly easy time knocking off No. 5 Florida State. The Wolverines scored their first 30 points of the second half from close range and coasted to a 76-58 rout of the Seminoles. Hunter Dickinson scored 14 points and Franz Wagner had 13 points and 10 rebounds for Michigan. The Wolverines improved to 23-4 and moved to the regional finals for the first time since 2018. The Seminoles committed 10 of their 14 turnovers by halftime and shot 5-for-20 from 3-point range for the game. FSU didn’t hit the 20-point mark until the waning moments of the first half and went 24 minutes without nailing a 3-pointer.
UCLA still hasn’t lost since being relegated to the First Four round. Jaime Jaquez Jr. hit two big jumpers early in overtime and finished with 17 points as the 11th-seeded Bruins downed No. 2 Alabama, 88-78. Jacquez and David Singleton took control in overtime after star guard Johnny Juzang fouled out. Singleton’s two free throws made it 79-70 with under a minute to go. The Bruins led by three until Alex Reese drained a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of regulation, giving the Crimson Tide new life. UCLA is in the Elite for the first time since 2008 and will take on Michigan. Sixth seed Southern Cal became the third Pac-12 team to reach the Elite Eight as the Trojans knocked off conference rival Oregon, 82-68. Isaiah White scored 22 points and the Trojans shot 10 of 17 from 3-point range to reach the regional finals for the first time since 2001. USC used an early 17-2 run to go up 14 before settling for a 41-26 halftime lead. Tahj Eaddy finished with 20 points and Evan Mobley added 10 with six assists and eight rebounds. Next up for the Trojans is another West Coast matchup at Indianapolis, this time against first overall seed Gonzaga.
Make it 10 wins in 11 games for the Capitals following a 5-4 win over the Rangers. Tom Wilson scored twice and Alex Ovechkin notched the 724th of his career. Ovechkin has 11 goals in his last 11 games, leaving him seven shy of tying Marcel Dionne for fifth on the all-time list.
The Devils are 4-0-1 against the Bruins this season after Kyle Palmieri’s first-period goal was just enough in a 1-0 win by New Jersey. Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 40 shots and was helped out when a late Bruins goal was waved off by video review because of goaltender interference.
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Billy Horschel didn’t find much to admire about his golf except that he was the last man standing in the Dell Technologies Match Play. Horschel won six out of his seven matches over 122 holes in the longest week in golf. He had just enough left in the tank in strong wind to hold off Scottie Scheffler, 2 and 1, in a sloppy championship match at Austin Country Club.
Horschel’s only birdie was a chip-in from 40 feet below the fifth green, yet he didn’t lose another hole.
Cardinal O’Hara jumped in front 10-0 and cruised to a 51-27 win over Chartiers Valley in the PIAA 5A championship game. The Lions outscored the Colts in every quarter and won their first-ever state basketball title. Chartiers Valley was trying to win back-to-back crowns.
Saturday
5A Girls Card. O’Hara 51, Chartiers Valley 27
Waynesburg won the PIAA AAA Team Championship Saturday afternoon, topping Central Dauphin, 42-3, in the final.
Get out your brackets and your highlighters! March Madness is underway.
WJPA-AM (1450) will bring you live broadcasts of the listed “feature games” as well as look-ins from across the tournament. Our coverage runs through the Women’s & Men’s National Championships April 4-5.
From each day’s first tip to the night’s final whistle, you can listen on-air and online Listen Here! Scores of each days games will be listed in the Scoreboard Section while our “Feature Games” will be listed below.
Sunday:
7:15 pm #11 UCLA vs. #2 Alabama
9:45 pm #7 Oregon vs. #6 USC
PITTSBURGH — Bryan Rust sat in the penalty box as the New York Islanders trimmed a three-goal deficit to two, then flirted with cutting it to one as the clock ticked down. When the Pittsburgh Penguins forward hopped out, however, he found another friendly bounce in a night full of them, pouncing on a clearing attempt and racing down the ice to finish off his fourth career hat trick as the Penguins cooled off New York 6-3 on Saturday night. The Penguins pulled within two points of New York and Washington for the top spot in the crowded East Division. Pittsburgh has won 10 of 13 despite a series of injuries that have decimated its forward group. The Penguins have kept plugging away anyway. Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist, Evan Rodrigues added his fourth and Frederick Gaudreau scored for the first time in more than two years as Pittsburgh improved to 5-2 against the Islanders. The Penguins can catch New York with another win when the teams meet again Monday for the eighth and final time during the regular season.
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pittsburgh Pirates top prospect Nick Gonzales is trying to absorb what he can during his first spring training. The Pirates grabbed Gonzales with the seventh overall pick in the 2020 first-year player draft with an eye toward making him their second baseman of the future. The 21-year-old Gonzales says he is in no rush to get to the majors and is simply happy to play games after last year’s minor league season was canceled. Gonzales hit his first home run of spring training earlier this week, a solo shot off Atlanta’s A.J. Minter.
