November 18, 2019 3:56 am
HOMESTEAD, Fla. (AP) – Kyle Busch has emerged from the Joe Gibbs Racing juggernaut as NASCAR’s latest champion, winning his second title after teammates Denny Hamlin and Martin Truex Jr. were slowed by pit-road gaffes. Busch won the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway to snap a 21-race losing streak and beat Hamlin, Truex and rival Kevin Harvick for the Cup. Busch joined seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson as the only active drivers with multiple titles. Busch is the 16th driver in NASCAR history to win multiple championships, and one of only five to win titles in both the Cup Series and the second-tier Xfinity Series. Truex dominated early but fell a lap back after his crew put tires on the wrong side of his Toyota. Hamlin fell out of contention when a crew member placed a large piece of tape across the front of his car, causing his engine to overheat leading to an unscheduled pit stop. Truex recovered to finish second, but Hamlin didn’t have enough time to overcome the miscue and was a disappointing 10th. Harvick never seemed to be a solid contender despite his fourth-place finish.
November 16, 2019 3:45 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – West Virginia freshman forward Oscar Tshiebwe scored 20 points and grabbed 17 rebounds and the Mountaineers smothered Pittsburgh in the second half to pull away for a 68-53 victory. The 6-foot-9, 258-pound Tschibwe outmuscled and largely outhustled the Panthers inside as West Virginia (2-0) won its third straight over the Panthers (2-2) since the “Backyard Brawl” between the longtime rivals was renewed in 2017
November 15, 2019 3:51 am
CLEVELAND (AP) – Cleveland defense end Myles Garrett ripped off Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph’s helmet and hit him with it in the head in the final seconds as the Browns’ 21-7 win over the Steelers on Thursday night ended with a wild brawl between the rivals. Garrett faces a likely suspension for his actions, and Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey will likely be disciplined for kicking Garrett in the head. Players from both sidelines spilled on the field during the wild melee, which began after Garrett wrestled Rudolph to the ground after he threw the ball on a meaningless play. Garrett, Pouncey and Browns defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi were ejected. Before the ugly ending, Baker Mayfield threw two touchdown passes and scored on a 1-yard plunge as Cleveland held on to defeat the banged-up Steelers for just the fourth time in 10 years and improved to 2-0 in the AFC North for the first time. The Browns (4-6) have won two in a row after dropping four straight, a skid that put first-year coach Freddie Kitchens’ job in jeopardy.
November 15, 2019 3:50 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Kenny Pickett threw for 359 yards and a touchdown and ran for a pair of scores – including a 3-yard burst on the opening possession of overtime – as Pittsburgh held off North Carolina 34-27 on Thursday night to pick up its first win over the Tar Heels since joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2013. The Panthers (7-3, 4-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) kept their hopes of a second straight Coastal Division title alive when Pickett darted into the end zone to start overtime and the defense followed by forcing North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell to throw incomplete on fourth-and-16. Pickett completed 25 of 41 passes and ran 12 times for 53 yards as Pitt ended a six-game losing streak to the Tar Heels (4-6, 3-4). Sophomore wide receiver Shocky Jacques-Louis caught three passes for 96 yards and a touchdown. Howell finished 27 of 43 for 322 yards with three touchdowns and an interception for North Carolina as the Tar Heels rallied twice in the fourth quarter to force overtime. Antonio Williams ran for 107 yards and Dazz Newsome caught 11 passes for 170 and a touchdown.
November 15, 2019 3:45 am
CLEVELAND (AP) – Cleveland Browns defensive star Myles Garrett could be facing an unprecedented suspension from the NFL for his violent outburst in the final seconds of a win over the rival Pittsburgh Steelers. Garrett ripped off Pittsburgh quarterback Mason Rudolph’s helmet and clubbed him on the head during near the end of Cleveland’s 21-7 win Thursday night. Garrett’s shocking actions on national TV will come with a price. It’s possible the league could come down hard on the former No. 1 overall pick, who made strides in cleaning up his game after picking up some personal fouls earlier this season.
November 14, 2019 3:42 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Pittsburgh’s chances of winning a second straight ACC Coastal Division title could vanish if the Panthers don’t find a way to beat North Carolina. The Tar Heels are 6-0 against Pitt since the Panthers joined the ACC in 2013. The game Thursday night figures to be close. Eight of North Carolina’s nine games have been decided in the final 80 seconds while eight of Pitt’s nine games have been decided by 10 points or fewer.
November 13, 2019 3:46 am
NEW YORK (AP) – Kaapo Kakko scored his second goal of the game 2:36 into overtime to give the New York Rangers a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night. Adam Fox had a goal in regulation and set up Kakko’s winner as New York recovered after blowing a two-goal lead and improved to 5-1-1 in its last seven games. Alexandar Georgiev, getting the start after Henrik Lundqvist played the previous three games, finished with 30 saves. In the extra period, Fox brought the puck up the left side, skated toward the middle and sent a pass to the left doorstep, where the Finnish rookie redirected the puck past Penguins goalie Matt Murray for his sixth of the season. Justin Schultz and Jared McCann scored for the short-handed Penguins, who earned at least a point for the sixth time in seven games (4-1-2). Murray, making his seventh straight start and 15th in 18 games this season, stopped 24 shots. The Penguins were without star center Sidney Crosby due to a lower body injury. The two-time MVP did not travel with the team to New York after leaving in the third period of a 3-2 shootout win over Chicago on Saturday. Pittsburgh was also missing defenseman Kris Letang for the third straight game with a lower body injury and forward Patric Hornqvist (injured reserve) for the fourth in a row. With the score tied 2-all, both teams had chances in the third, with Georgiev and Murray making great stops on both ends. The Rangers went on their second power play with 4:10 left after Brian Dumoulin was whistled for tripping Greg McKegg, but managed just one shot on goal as Pittsburgh killed off its 16th straight penalty and 22nd in the last 23. In the closing seconds, Dumoulin had a shot blocked by Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba and his follow was stopped by Georgiev to send the game to overtime. The Penguins got off to another slow start, trailing 2-0 while getting outshot 11-8 in the first period. It marked the 12th time in 17 games Pittsburgh gave up the first goal of the game. And once again, the Penguins got going in the second. Schultz got Pittsburgh on the scoreboard at 1:13 on the team’s second shot of the period as he got a pass from Evgeni Malkin, skated through the left circle and fired it past Georgiev for is second. The Penguins tied it with 7:27 left in the second as Dominik Simon mishit the puck on a shot off his own skate and then passed to McCann, who fired it past Georgiev for his sixth. It ended Pittsburgh’s 11-game drought without a power-play goal, and snapped an 0-for-28 skid with the man advantage.
November 12, 2019 3:43 am
SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) – Jason Myers kicked a 42-yard field goal after Chase McLaughlin missed a kick earlier in overtime, and the Seattle Seahawks handed the San Francisco 49ers their first loss of the season with a 27-24 victory on Monday night. Myers gave Seattle (8-2) its second straight overtime win after Russell Wilson got the Seahawks into positon with an 18-yard scramble on third-and-3. After being iced by a timeout, Myers delivered one week after missing two field goals and an extra point, putting Seattle right in the thick of the NFC West race with San Francisco (8-1). The Seahawks blew a chance to win the game on the opening possession of overtime when Wilson was intercepted at the 4 by Dre Greenlaw. It was Wilson’s second interception of the season.
November 11, 2019 3:53 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Steelers defense spoiled Aaron Donald’s homecoming and derailed the Los Angeles Rams’ momentum in the process. The Steelers forced four turnovers – including a 43-yard fumble return for a touchdown by safety Minkah Fitzpatrick – in an ugly 17-12 victory on Sunday that pushed their winning streak to four games and dealt the Rams’ chances of chasing down Seattle and San Francisco in the NFC West a serious blow. Donald, a Pittsburgh native, sacked the Steelers’ Mason Rudolph for a safety in his first appearance in his hometown since the Rams took him in the first round of the 2014 draft. Linebacker Dante Fowler scored Los Angeles’ lone touchdown on a 26-yard fumble return on the second snap of the game. But the Rams’ offense did little against a Steelers defense that has become the team’s identity after losing Ben Roethlisberger to a season-ending right elbow injury in Week 2. Jared Goff completed 22 of 40 passes for 243 yards, none of them to leading receiver Cooper Kupp. The Rams (5-4) converted just 1 of 14 third downs and came up empty on a pair of last-gasp drives in the final two minutes. Goff’s fourth-down heave to the end zone intended for Josh Reynolds fell incomplete with 1:25 to go. Los Angeles got the ball back with 59 seconds to play but Goff’s pass to Robert Woods was tipped. Fitzpatrick ran underneath it for the game-sealing interception and seventh takeaway since the Steelers acquired him from Miami in September for a 2020 first-round pick. At the moment, it looks like draft capital well spent. Rudolph completed 22 of 38 passes for 242 yards with a touchdown, stats that would have been considerably better if not for a handful of drops that prevented the Steelers (5-4) from gaining any sort of traction for long stretches. Rudolph became the ninth quarterback since the 1970 merger to throw a touchdown in each of his first seven games when he found James Washington for a 3-yard score in the first quarter, but the Steelers once again relied on their defense to move over .500 for the first time this season. The Steelers managed just 15 turnovers in 2018. They have produced 26 through nine games in 2019, helping them stay afloat following a 1-4 start while Rudolph and the offense searches for solid footing.
November 10, 2019 7:58 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Jake Guentzel and Jared McCann scored in a shootout and the Pittsburgh Penguins ended a 10-game losing streak against the Chicago Blackhawks by rallying for a 3-2 victory. Pittsburgh beat the Blackhawks for the first time since March 30, 2014 by scrambling back from a two-goal deficit. Guentzel’s eighth of the season late in the second period gave the Penguins life and Rust’s fifth since his return from injured reserve tied it midway through the third period.
