February 19, 2020 3:52 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists to help the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2. Bryan Rust had a goal and two assists, and Jason Zucker, Teddy Blueger and Anthony Angello also scored as Pittsburgh moved past Washington into first place in the Metropolitan Division. Tristan Jarry stopped 34 shots while picking up his 13th win in his last 17 games. Auston Matthews scored his 43rd goal for the Maple Leafs and Kyle Clifford scored his seventh of the season and first since he was acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Kings. Frederik Andersen stopped 19 shots for Toronto.
February 18, 2020 10:36 pm
It took eight games, but Washington County finally has a winner in the WPIAL Basketball playoffs. Let the record show that it was the Avella girls convincing win over Propel Andrew Street that broke a seven-game losing streak for teams from the two-county area. Once that happened, Peters Township boys and California girls followed suit, advancing to the weekend’s quarterfinals. Peters Township got 28 points from Sam Petrarca to earn a shot at #1 Butler. #12 California trailed #5 Greensburg Central Catholic, 20-15, at the half, but turned the tables on the Centurions after intermission.
Now, on the final day of the opening rounds, Charleroi girls and Ringgold boys finally take the court. West Greene’s girls team is #2 in Class 1A. The Pioneers will meet Avella in Friday’s quarterfinals. The Trinity girls are the #3 seed in Class 5A. The Hillers have a bye to Saturday’s second round and a match-up with #6 Gateway.
Quarterfinals are this weekend (Thursday-Saturday) with semifinals set for next Monday-Wednesday. The WPIAL Basketball Championships are scheduled for Feb. 27-29 at the Petersen Events Center on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Games and broadcast plans are listed below along with WPIAL Bracket links.
Girls WPIAL Brackets — — Boys WPIAL Brackets
Wednesday, Feb. 19–First Round
3A Girls #10 Charleroi vs. #7 East Allegheny, 6:30 pm at Peters Township WJPA-FM (95.3)
4A Boys #9 Ringgold vs. #8 Ambridge, 8:00 pm at Peters Township WJPA-FM (95.3)
Friday, Feb. 21–Quarterfinals
1A Girls #2 West Greene vs. #7 Avella, 6:05 pm at Peters Township WJPA-FM (95.3)
1A Girls #12 California vs. #4 Clairton, 6:30 pm at Charleroi
5A Boys #4 Thomas Jefferson vs. #12 West Allegheny, 7:50 pm at Peters Township WJPA-FM (95.3)
Saturday, Feb. 22–Quarterfinals
6A Boys #9 Peters Township vs. #1 Butler, 12 noon at Mt. Lebanon
5A Girls #3 Trinity vs. #6 Gateway, 12:50 pm at Baldwin WJPA-FM (95.3)
February 18, 2020 2:36 am
The WPIAL approved new alignments for wrestling for the next two years. Like the football changes announced in January, geography played a large role in the new structure. Washington & Greene County teams are now all together in the same Double-A and Triple-A sections. After spending years split in different sections and subsections, Waynesburg and Canon-McMillan are both in Section 4A, along with Trinity, South Fayette and Chartiers Valley. Peters Township and Ringgold both move into Section 4B along with Bethel Park, Central Catholic, Mt. Lebanon and Upper St. Clair. There are 45 teams in the new Triple-A alignment with Beaver and Highlands moving up, Ambridge, Knoch and Montour moving down to Double-A which now includes 36 teams.
In Double-A, Burgettstown, Chartiers-Houston, Ft. Cherry, Washington and South Park remain in Section 1A. They’ll be joined by Keystone Oaks. Bentworth, Beth-Center, Jeff-Morgan, McGuffey and West Greene continue together in Section 1B. The League added Frazier to that group.
February 17, 2020 3:41 am
CHICAGO (AP) – Anthony Davis made a game-ending free throw to give Team LeBron a 157-155 win over Team Giannis in the revamped NBA All-Star Game. The game’s format was overhauled to put in elements for charity and ensure that someone was going to hit a shot to end the game. That someone was Davis, the Chicago native who missed the first free throw and made the second to end the NBA’s midseason showcase that went down as the closest All-Star Game since the Eastern Conference topped the Western Conference 141-139 in 2010.
February 16, 2020 7:34 am
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Penn State coach Patrick Chambers has watched his teams cough up enough leads late to know this squad is different. The No. 13 Nittany Lions are hanging on and closing games out. Lamar Stevens scored 23 points to lead Penn State over Northwestern 77-61 on Saturday. Myles Dread scored 16 and Jamari Wheeler and Mike Watkins added 11 apiece for the Nittany Lions, who led for all but 6:29 to win their eighth straight. They’ve arrived at 20 wins sooner than any other season in program history.
February 14, 2020 3:50 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Free agent outfielder Jarrod Dyson finalized a $2 million deal with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pittsburgh hopes he can fill the void in center ácreated by Starling Marte’s trade to Arizona. Dyson hit .230 with seven home runs and 27 RBIs in 130 games with the Diamondbacks last season. The 35-year-old also stole 30 bases for the fifth time in his 10-year career. The Pirates are retooling following a last-place finish in 2019 that led to a massive overhaul of the club’s leadership staff. New general manager Ben Cherington sent Marte to Arizona last month in exchange for two 19-year-old prospects.
February 13, 2020 3:45 am
UNDATED (AP) – St. Louis Blues defenseman Jay Bouwmeester remains hospitalized and is undergoing tests a day after suffering a cardiac episode and collapsing on the bench during a game in Anaheim. General manager Doug Armstrong says the 36-year old defenseman was unresponsive and a defibrillator was used Tuesday night. He says Bouwmeester regained consciousness immediately before being taken to an Anaheim hospital. The team stayed overnight in Southern California before taking a chartered flight to Las Vegas, where they will play the Golden Knights on Thursday.
February 12, 2020 3:53 am
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – Ron Roenicke is the Boston Red Sox’s new field general. The Red Sox have promoted the bench coach to interim manager on the day pitchers and catchers reported to the team’s spring training camp. Roenicke replaces Alex Cora, who was let go for his role in the Astros’ sign-stealing scandal while serving as Houston’s bench coach during the team’s 2017 World Series run. The interim tag will stay until Major League Baseball completes its investigation into whether the Red Sox engaged in illegal sign-stealing during their 2018 World Series championship season. Roenicke has denied being part of any rules violation and is expected to become permanent manager if the probe clears him.
February 12, 2020 3:45 am
UNDATED (AP) – The standings have separated out a handful of notable sellers ahead of the NHL trade deadline. The New York Rangers, New Jersey, Ottawa, Detroit and Los Angeles Kings are among those expected to have varying degrees of fire sales. Rangers forward Chris Kreider is the biggest name available. But there’s no shortage of talent available among forwards and defensemen. Interested contenders can also look for someone like Senators forward Anthony Duclair or Kings defenseman Alec Martinez. L.A.’s Trevor Lewis could also be the prototypical deadline pickup as a low-risk move. The trade deadline is Feb. 24.
February 12, 2020 2:31 am
The WPIAL Basketball Playoff brackets are set, including the paths for a dozen Washington County teams. California and Charleroi advanced both their boys and girls teams to the post-season. Girls squads from Avella, Burgettstown, Chartiers-Houston and Trinity plus boys teams from McGuffey, Peters Township, Ringgold and Wash High have also made it to the playoffs. West Greene (boys & girls) is the only Greene County school to qualify. First-round games (Sweet 16) will be played Friday through Wednesday with quarterfinals scheduled for Feb. 20-22. The WPIAL Basketball Championship games are scheduled for Feb. 27-29 at the Petersen Events Center on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Opening round games for teams from the two-county area are listed below along with WPIAL Bracket links.
Girls WPIAL Brackets — — Boys WPIAL Brackets
Friday, Feb. 14–First Round
2A Girls #7 Burgettstown vs. #10 Riverview, 6:30 pm at Northgate
2A Girls #8 Chartiers-Houston vs. #9 Winchester Thurston, 6:30 pm at Peters Township
3A Boys #8 Wash High vs. #9 Neshannock, 6:30 pm at West Allegheny WJPA-FM (95.3)
3A Boys #13 McGuffey vs. #4 Seton-La Salle, 8:00 pm at Trinity WJPA-FM (95.3)
3A Boys #7 Charleroi vs. #10 Carlynton, 8:00 pm at Peters Township
Saturday, Feb. 15–First Round
1A Boys #11 West Greene vs. #6 Imani Christian, 1:00 pm at Peters Township
2A Boys #11 California vs. #6 Shenango, 2:30 pm at North Hills
Tuesday, Feb. 18–First Round
1A Girls #7 Avella vs. #10 Propel Andrew Street, 6:30 pm at Peters Township WJPA-AM (1450)
1A Girls #12 California vs. #5 Greensburg Central Catholic, 8:00 pm at Peters Township WJPA-AM (1450)
6A Boys #9 Peters Township vs. #8 Hempfield, Class 6A Sweet 16, Tuesday, 8 pm, at Mt. Lebanon WJPA-FM (95.3)
Wednesday, Feb. 19–First Round
3A Girls #10 Charleroi vs. #7 East Allegheny, 6:30 pm at Peters Township WJPA-FM (95.3)
4A Boys #9 Ringgold vs. #8 Ambridge, 8:00 pm at Peters Township WJPA-FM (95.3)
Friday, Feb. 21–Quarterfinals
1A Girls #2 West Greene vs. Avella/Propel Andrew Street winner, site/time to be determined
Saturday, Feb. 22–Quarterfinals
5A Girls #3 Trinity vs. Gateway/Penn-Trafford winners, site/time to be determined
