January 26, 2022 3:50 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Jamarius Burton scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half as Pittsburgh shot 50% after halftime to beat Syracuse 64-53. Pitt (8-12, 3-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) ended a two-game skid, using a 17-6 run that included three 3-pointers for a 56-46 lead with 3:52 remaining. Joe Girard made just one basket in the game, a 3-pointer, that pulled Syracuse to 60-53 with 36 seconds left. The Panthers were 13 of 26 from the floor and 6 of 12 from 3-point range in the second half. Buddy Boeheim scored 25 points, and was the only one to score in double figures for Syracuse (9-11, 3-6).
January 26, 2022 3:52 am
UNDATED (AP) – David Ortiz was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first turn on the ballot, while steroid-tainted stars Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were denied entry to Cooperstown in their final year under consideration by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Ortiz, a clutch slugger and 10-time All-Star over 20 seasons mostly with the Boston Red Sox, was named on 77.9% of ballots, clearing the 75% threshold needed for enshrinement. He’s the fourth primary designated hitter voted into the Hall. Bonds, Clemens, Curt Schilling and Sammy Sosa were all rejected in their 10th and final years on the BBWAA ballot.
January 26, 2022 3:53 am
UNDATED (AP) – New Orleans Saints coach Sean Payton, whose 15-year tenure with the club included its only Super Bowl championship and also a one-season suspension stemming from the NFL’s bounty investigation, is retiring from coaching. Payton informed the team today that he is leaving his first and only NFL head coaching job with a 152-89 regular-season record – and nine playoff appearances – in 15 seasons. The Saints won the NFL title in 2009.
January 25, 2022 3:54 am
Winning coach Andy Reid is among those questioning the NFL’s overtime setup, a day after his Chiefs won the OT coin toss, then marched downfield and beat Buffalo with a touchdown to advance to the AFC championship game. Reid says he expects the league to look at the rules that end the game if the team with the first possession of OT scores a touchdown. Those who support the current system say the defense needs to make a stop, and if it can’t then it gets what it deserves. The opposite viewpoint asks why shouldn’t both teams’ defenses be put in that position.
January 25, 2022 3:55 am
UNDATED (AP) – Locked-out Major League Baseball players removed the first of three major obstacles to a labor contract, withdrawing their proposal for more liberalized free agency when the sides met face-to-face for the first time since the management lockout began Dec. 1. The union also modified its revenue-sharing proposal, asking the amount shifted from big markets to smaller ones be cut by what it said was $30 million, a figure management disputed. Another meeting in the contentious talks is scheduled Tuesday, the first consecutive sessions since the bargaining collapse last fall that led to baseball’s ninth work stoppage, its first since 1995.
January 25, 2022 3:51 am
UNDATED (AP) – Pittsburgh Penguins forward Teddy Blueger will miss 6-to-8 weeks after having surgery to repair a fractured jaw. Blueger was injured when Winnipeg’s Brenden Dillon hit him into the glass on Sunday in the first period of Pittsburgh’s victory over the Jets. The 27-year-old Blueger has eight goals and nine assists in 40 games this season. He has been an important part of Pittsburgh’s NHL-best penalty-killing unit and centers the Penguins’ fourth line.
January 24, 2022 3:54 am
UNDATED (AP) – Patrick Mahomes found Travis Kelce in the corner of the end zone early in overtime to give the Chiefs a 42-36 triumph over the Bills. The lead changed hands three times in the final two minutes of regulation before Harrison Butker drilled a 49-yarder for Kansas City as time expired to force overtime. Mahomes finished with 378 yards passing and three touchdowns, including a 64-yarder to Tyreek Hill during the thrilling final minutes of regulation. It’s the second straight year the Bills’ season has ended in Kansas City. Josh Allen did everything in his power to prevent it by throwing two scoring strikes to Gabriel Davis in the last 1:54 of regulation. His last TD toss came with 13 seconds to play, just enough time for Mahomes to engineer the game-tying drive. Allen finished with 329 yards passing, and Davis with eight catches for 201 yards.
Meanwhile, Matt Gay drilled a 30-yard kick to bail out the Los Angeles Rams in a 30-27 win over Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Brady and the Bucs’ defense had engineered a comeback from a 27-3 deficit before Matthew Stafford connected on completions of 20 and 44 yards to Cooper Kupp, setting up the winning kick and putting the Rams in the NFC championship game against the visiting 49ers. Stafford coasted for three quarters, ran for a short TD and finished with 366 yards passing and two touchdowns. His primary target was Kupp, who had nine catches for 183 yards and a score. Brady took advantage of three Rams turnovers to rally the Bucs, whose offense was stagnant over the first 40 minutes. He was 30 of 54 for 329 yards, one touchdown and an interception. Leonard Fournette had a pair of rushing TDs for the defending Super Bowl champs. The question now is whether this was Brady’s final game. The seven-time Super Bowl is signed through next season and said in September he expected to play out the contract. But he has indicated several times since then that returning will be a family decision.
It will be the Kansas City Chiefs hosting the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC championship game next Sunday.
January 24, 2022 2:37 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kasperi Kapanen and Jeff Carter scored nine seconds apart in the third period to erase a two-goal deficit and Sidney Crosby scored the only goal of the shootout as the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied by road-weary Winnipeg 3-2. The Penguins trailed for more than 40 minutes after falling behind early in the first but recovered late to extend their winning streak to five. All-Star Tristan Jarry made 27 saves for the Penguins. Blake Wheeler and Kyle Connor scored for the Jets, who finished 3-3-2 during an eight-game, three-week road trip.
January 23, 2022 6:49 pm
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Matthew Stafford threw for 366 yards and two touchdowns and Matt Gay’s 30-yard field goal as time expired lifted the Los Angeles Rams to a 30-27 divisional playoff victory over the defending Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tom Brady rallied the Bucs from a 27-3 second-half deficit with help from three Los Angeles turnovers, tying the game with Leonard Fournette’s 9-yard run on fourth-and-inches with 42 seconds remaining. Stafford led the Rams downfield after the ensuing kickoff, using completions of 20 and 44 yards to league receiving leader Cooper Kupp to set up Gay’s winning field goal. The Rams advance to next week’s NFC championship game against the 49ers
January 23, 2022 1:29 am
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Robbie Gould continued his playoff perfection and moved the San Francisco 49ers one step away from their second Super Bowl appearance in three seasons. Gould kicked a 45-yard field goal as time expired on a field littered with snow flurries to give the 49ers a 13-10 victory over the top-seeded Green Bay Packers in an NFC divisional playoff game Saturday night. The 49ers (12-7) continued their postseason hex on Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers and advanced to an NFC championship game matchup Jan. 30 on the road against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (14-4) or Los Angeles Rams (13-5).
