January 18, 2021 4:03 am
COSTA MESA, Calif. (AP) – The Los Angeles Chargers have hired Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Brandon Staley to become the team’s head coach. The Chargers made the decision Sunday after having a second interview with Staley. The interview was held a day after the Rams were eliminated from the playoffs with a 32-18 loss to the Green Bay Packers. The 38-year old Staley was in demand with interviews also scheduled with the Houston Texans and Philadelphia Eagles. Staley has been an NFL assistant for only four years. He joined the Rams this past season after being a linebackers coach with the Chicago Bears and Denver Broncos.
January 18, 2021 3:57 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Jake Guentzel beat Ilya Samsonov in the fourth round of a shootout and the Pittsburgh Penguins picked up their first win of the season with a 4-3 victory over Washington. Casey DeSmith stopped 20 shots in regulation then turned aside T.J. Oshie, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Alex Ovechkin in the shootout as the Penguins avoided their first 0-3 start since 2015-16. Evan Rodrigues, Colton Sceviour and Marcus Pettersson all scored their first goals of the season for Pittsburgh. Ovechkin got his 707th career goal to move within one of Hall of Famer Mike Gartner for seventh on the all-time list.
January 18, 2021 4:05 am
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – An additional 25 tennis players have been forced into quarantine in Australia ahead of the season’s first tennis major after a fifth person tested positive for the coronavirus test after arriving on a charter flight. That takes the total number of competitors isolating in hotel rooms to 72 on Sunday. Australian Open organizers say the latest positive test came from a passenger on a flight from Doha, Qatar, who was not a member of the playing contingent. But all 58 passengers, including the 25 players, will be confined to their hotel rooms for two weeks. Organizers had previously announced that 47 players had to quarantine after four COVID-19 cases emerged from two other charter flights bringing players, staff, officials and media to Australia. No players are among the five people who have tested positive.
January 17, 2021 7:49 am
PITTSBURGH — Justin Champagnie had a big game after missing a month with an injury, Ithiel Horton hit five 3-pointers and Pittsburgh pulled away from Syracuse for a 96-76 win on Saturday. Champagnie, who injured a knee on Dec. 20th, had 24 points and 16 rebounds. Xavier Johnson added 23 points, going 13 for 13 from the foul line, with six rebounds and seven assists for Pitt (7-2, 3-1 ACC). Horton scored 20 points and Au’Diese Toney 18. Champagnie had 18 points and 10 rebounds in the second half as the Panthers took over in the last eight minutes. Johnson had 15 points and Horton 14 after the break. Champagnie was averaging 17.8 points, third in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and 12.3 rebounds, second in the nation but only missed two games because of coronavirus postponements. Alan Griffin scored 28 points for the Orange (7-4, 1-3), 20 after the break, and Quincy Guerrier 18 with 12 rebounds. Marek Dolezaj scored 14 and Buddy Boeheim 12. Pitt, which erased an 18-point first-half deficit to beat Syracuse 63-60 10 days ago, trailed 37-32 at the half. Pitt’s intervening two games had been postponed before facing Syracuse again Saturday.
January 17, 2021 7:46 am
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — In what was supposed to be a showdown between Buffalo’s Josh Allen and Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, Taron Johnson literally stole the show. If not for the wall separating the field from the stands in the back of the east end zone, the Bills cornerback might still be running after returning an interception 101 yards for a touchdown that propelled Buffalo to its first AFC championship game appearance in 27 years. Johnson’s pick-6 of Jackson’s pass with 41 seconds remaining in the third quarter helped secure a 17-3 win over the Ravens in a divisional-round playoff game Saturday night. Johnson’s return matched the longest in NFL history and punctuated a stellar defensive outing in which Buffalo (15-3) limited the NFL’s top running offense to 150 yards on 32 carries. Jackson, last season’s NFL MVP, was sacked three times and did not return after sustaining a concussion following the final play of the third quarter, and two plays after Johnson scored. He finished 14 of 24 for 162 yards passing, while being limited to 42 yards rushing on nine carries. Allen, an MVP candidate this year, finished 23 of 37 for 206 yards and a touchdown.
January 17, 2021 7:47 am
GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Don’t tell Aaron Rodgers the lack of capacity crowds in a pandemic will limit the Green Bay Packers’ home-field advantage in the NFC championship game. He’s been waiting too long for this moment to have any such negative thoughts. Rodgers threw two touchdown passes and also ran for a score as the top-seeded Green Bay Packers beat the Los Angeles Rams 32-18 in an NFC divisional playoff game Saturday. He will play a conference championship game at home for the first time since taking over as Green Bay’s starting quarterback in 2008. Rodgers threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adam s and a game-clinching 58-yarder to Allen Lazard with 6:52 left. Rodgers also had a 1-yard touchdown run, the first by a Packers quarterback in a playoff game at Lambeau Field since Bart Starr’s winning sneak in the Ice Bowl against Dallas on Dec. 31, 1967. The Packers (14-3) reached the NFC championship game for the fourth time in seven seasons as they chase their first Super Bowl berth in a decade.
January 16, 2021 4:03 am
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Travis Konecny had his first career hat trick to lead the Philadelphia Flyers past the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2. The Flyers did lose team MVP Sean Couturier to an unspecified injury. Couturier was plowed into the boards and may have hurt his left shoulder. He left after just two shifts and 45 seconds. He scored 22 goals last season and won the Selke Award as the NHL’s top defensive forward. Konecny scored the first goals of the game and another one late in the third to get the hat trick.
January 16, 2021 4:04 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Pirates have reached contract agreements for the 2021 season with pitcher Joe Musgrove and eight others. Musgrove, the team’s opening day starter in 2020, will make $4.45 million after going 1-5 with a 3.86 ERA last season. Catcher Jacob Stallings, a Gold Glove finalist in his first year as a starter, earned a raise to $1.3 million. First baseman Colin Moran, who hit a team-high 10 home runs last season, saw his salary jump to $2.8 million. The Pirates are in the middle of a rebuild and finished 2020 with the worst record in the majors.
January 16, 2021 4:05 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pittsburgh forward John Hugley has been suspended indefinitely by coach Jeff Capel after the freshman was charged with three felonies stemming from an incident last summer. Hugley, who is from Cleveland, Ohio, is facing two counts of felony criminal conspiracy and one felony count of receiving stolen property. Court documents allege Hugley was one of two men who entered a car without permission in the early hours of July 19 while the person responsible for the vehicle was sleeping. The car was reported stolen later in the day before being recovered on Aug. 4.
January 16, 2021 4:06 am
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. (AP) – Kyle Lofton had 28 points as Saint Bonaventure topped Duquesne 62-48. Michael Hughes led the Dukes with 14 points.
