March 6, 2022 1:18 am
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina ignored all the attention surrounding the final home game for retiring Hall of Fame coach Mike Krzyzewski, as well as the fourth-ranked Duke’s emotionally charged, rowdier-than-usual crowd. Instead, the rival Tar Heels walked into Cameron Indoor Stadium and fearlessly spoiled Coach K’s perfect send-off to the postseason. Armando Bacot scored 23 points and the Tar Heels shot 59% after halftime to upset the Blue Devils 94-81 on Saturday night, a major reversal from a blowout loss in the first meeting that raised questions about UNC’s ability to compete against the nation’s top teams. First-year coach Hubert Davis had shrugged off the “pageantry” from Krzyzewski’s final home game, saying the team needed to tune out all the extra emotion and do one thing: compete.
March 5, 2022 3:55 am
WPIAL AAA wrestling moves to Canon-McMillan this weekend as the top five place-winners from the League’s four sections gather, hoping to continue their seasons. At stake is a trip to the PIAA Championship tournament in Hershey next weekend. WJPA-AM (1450) has live, start-to-finish coverage.
Saturday — WPIAL AAA — WJPA-AM (1450) or Listen Here
9:50 am Semifinals, 2nd-3rd-4th Consolations
4:50 pm Championship & Consolation Finals (3rd/5th)
March 5, 2022 4:06 am
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – Andrei Svechnikov scored on a power play at 3:14 of overtime as the Carolina Hurricanes completed a rally from a two-goal deficit to defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on Friday night. Svechnikov’s 23rd goal of the season allowed the Hurricanes to snap a two-game skid. Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang went to the penalty box for slashing with 2:13 remaining in overtime. Jordan Staal scored two goals for the Hurricanes, who won for the fourth time in 16 chances (4-10-2) when trailing after two periods. Antti Raanta stopped 22 shots. Jake Guentzel and Sidney Crosby both had a goal and an assist for the Penguins, who fell to 23-1-2 when leading through two periods. Casey DeSmith made 38 saves.
March 5, 2022 4:08 am
(AP) – Fourth-ranked Duke plays its final home game under Mike Krzyzewski on Saturday against North Carolina to headline the schedule for the Atlantic Coast Conference’s final weekend. The Blue Devils won the first meeting by 20 points in Chapel Hill. Duke has already clinched the program’s first outright ACC regular-season title since 2006. The schedule also includes Virginia Tech continuing its push for an NCAA Tournament bid and North Carolina State flirting with the program’s first 20-loss season. The league is holding its women’s tournament this week in Greensboro, North Carolina. The men play their tournament next week in New York.
March 5, 2022 4:14 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A federal judge in Philadelphia has approved new rules that seek to eliminate racial bias in the testing and payout of NFL concussion claims. The revisions could allow Black retired football players who were denied payments for dementia in the NFL’s $1 billion concussion settlement to seek to be retested or have their claims rescored to eliminate racial bias. Outrage over the use of “race-norming” in the dementia testing forced the NFL and players’ lawyers back to the negotiating table last year. Race-norming assumed that Black people have a lower cognitive baseline score. The NFL has paid out more than $800 million to date, nearly half for dementia claims. The dementia awards average about $600,000.
March 4, 2022 3:51 am
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – Evgeni Malkin had a goal and two assists, Tristan Jarry made 20 saves and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-1. Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper was given a game misconduct for arguing with officials with 53.7 seconds remaining in the second period after the Lightning received an extra minor penalty stemming from a scrum. Sidney Crosby, Danton Heinen, Brock McGinn and Jake Guentzel had the other Pittsburgh goals as the Penguins improved to 19-6-3 on the road. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 35 shots and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare scored for the Lightning.
March 1, 2022 2:13 am
Fort Cherry hasn’t been to the WPIAL Basketball Final since shortly after John F. Kennedy was inaugurated. That changes Saturday when the Rangers travel to the Petersen Events Center to face defending WPIAL/PIAA champion Our Lady of the Sacred Heart with the Class 2A title on the line. To make that happen, Ft. Cherry downed Section 2 foe Carlynton for the second time in less than a month, beating the Cougars, 46-36, the widest margin in the teams’ three meetings this year.
Sophomore Derek Erret, who averages 4.1 points a game, led the way with 16 as Carlynton locked down Fort Cherry’s leading scorers. Owen Norman (18.8 ave.) was held to 14, Dylan Rogers (16.8) managed 10 while Maddox Truschel (10.1) was shutout. Coach Eugene Briggs challenged Erret to take advantage of the situation, and the 5-9 point guard did just that, including hit four straight free throws down the stretch. The Rangers’ defense held the Cougars off the board over the final 2:45 of the game to seal the win, Fort Cherry’s 14th straight, clinching a spot in the WPIAL Final for the first time in 61 years. The Rangers had already clinched a spot in the PIAA playoffs but will now host a first-round game on Wednesday.
Wash High boys, Waynesburg and West Greene girls are also in the PIAA playoffs but will open on the road. The two remaining bubble teams from Washington County await WPIAL championship games in their classifications to see if their seasons are extended. The Burgettstown girls qualify if #2 Neshannock beats #1 OLSH Friday afternoon in the WPIAL 2A title game. The Trinity girls get a spot if #2 South Fayette tops three-time defending WPIAL champion Chartiers Valley in Saturday evening’s WPIAL 5A final. We’ll have three WPIAL championship games on WJPA-FM (95.3) over the weekend. Click for WPIAL brackets.
WPIAL Basketball Championships — WJPA-FM (95.3) or Listen Here
Friday, Mar. 4
6:45 pm 6A Girls #1 Mt. Lebanon vs. #3 Upper St. Clair S
Saturday, Mar. 5
12:45 pm 2A Boys #2 Fort Cherry vs. #1 Our Lady of the Sacred Heart
4:45 pm 5A Girls #1 Chartiers Valley vs. #2 South Fayette
March 4, 2022 2:01 am
California University’s women’s basketball team jumped to a double-digit lead at the half and cruised past Edinboro in Wednesday’s PSAC quarterfinals. The West #1 Vulcans will face East #3 Shepherd Saturday at East top seed Kutztown.
PSAC Women’s Semifinals, Saturday (at Kutztown)
W1 California vs. E3 Shepherd
W2 Gannon vs. E1 Kutztown
The Cal U men trailed nearly the entire game, losing at West #1 Indiana. IUP will host the Men’s Final Four.
PSAC Men’s Semifinals, Saturday (at Indiana)
E1 Millersville vs. W2 Mercyhurst
E3 Shippensburg vs. W1 Indiana
March 4, 2022 3:54 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem and chief union negotiator Bruce Meyer met for 1 1/2 hours Thursday and discussed the major issues in the stalled talks to reach a deal that would end Major League Baseball’s lockout. Union general counsel Ian Penny and MLB Executive Vice President Morgan Sword also participated in the session. Negotiations broke off Tuesday after the ninth straight day of meetings in Jupiter, Florida. That led baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred to announce that opening day on March 31 and the first two series for each team this season had been canceled.
March 3, 2022 3:46 am
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – University of Pittsburgh’s Kenny Pickett is one of the top quarterback prospects at this year’s NFL scouting combine. But all the buzz isn’t about his accuracy, mobility or savvy. It’s about how big – or small – his hands are. Especially teams that play in cold weather often shy away from QBs who have smaller hands because of concerns about them fumbling the football. But there have been plenty of quarterbacks who proved size doesn’t matter all that much. That includes Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. And there’s a long list of large-handed QBs who never got the upper hand.
