March 12, 2020 3:45 am
UNDATED (AP) – March Madness is giving way to March Silence. NCAA President Mark Emmert says its Division I basketball tournament games will not be open to the general public because of concerns about the spread of coronavirus. Emmert said in a statement that he made the decision to conduct both the men’s and women’s tournaments with only essential staff and limited family in attendance. The decision comes after the NCAA’s COVID-19 advisory panel of medical experts recommended against playing sporting events open to the general public. Emmert says canceling the two tournaments was considered.
March 12, 2020 3:44 am
UNDATED (AP) – The NBA season has been suspended until further notice over concerns about the virus outbreak. The decision was announced after a Utah Jazz player tested positive Wednesday for the coronavirus, and only hours after the majority of the league’s owners were leaning toward playing games without fans in arenas. A person with knowledge of the situation said the player who tested positive was Jazz center Rudy Gobert. The Jazz released a statement saying a player – they did not identify Gobert – tested negative Wednesday morning for flu, strep throat and an upper respiratory infection. That player’s symptoms diminished as the day went along, but the decision was made to test for COVID-19. That test came back with a preliminary positive result.
The league says it will use the hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward regarding the pandemic.
March 11, 2020 3:47 am
CANTON, Ohio (AP) – The Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys will play in the Hall of Fame Game to honor their former coaches. Bill Cowher and Jimmy Johnson will be inducted this summer. The game in Canton, Ohio, opens the preseason schedule on Aug. 6. Cowher and Johnson enter the hall two days later. It will be the seventh appearance by each club in the annual preseason game — tied for the most by any team. They have each gone 3-3 in the game.
March 10, 2020 3:48 am
UNDATED (AP) – Kansas maintained its grip on the No. 1 ranking in The Associated Press men’s college basketball poll. The Jayhawks received all 65 first-place votes to remain at the top for a third straight week. The past two weeks they have been the unanimous choice ahead of Gonzaga and Dayton. Florida State climbed three spots to No. 4 after winning its first Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title. This is FSU’s highest ranking since sitting at No. 2 in December 1972. West Virginia and Butler were the week’s new additions. Michigan and Penn State fell out of the poll.
March 8, 2020 7:41 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) — The playoffs are still a month away. It just feels like they’ve already started for the Washington Capitals. Dominant at the start and disciplined at the finish, the Capitals pushed the Pittsburgh Penguins around 5-2 on Saturday to give them a little breathing room over their longtime rivals in the crowded race for the top spot in the Metropolitan Division. Nic Dowd scored early in the first period and again in the third to record the first multi-goal game of his career and Braden Holtby stopped 26 shots as first-place Washington built a 4-0 advantage en route to moving five points ahead of third-place Pittsburgh. Nicklas Backstrom and TJ Oshie also scored for the Capitals, who held the Penguins in check for long stretches while beating them for the second time in three tries this season. Washington captain Alexander Ovechkin failed to record a shot on goal in a regular season game against Pittsburgh for the first time in his long career but it hardly mattered. Dowd beat Matt Murray just 1:52 into the first period for his first goal in two months and added a shorthanded marker 34 seconds into the second to give the Capitals a commanding lead they never came close to squandering.
March 6, 2020 7:27 am
WPIAL AA advanced 11 wrestlers to the quarterfinals with another 10 still alive in the consolation rounds as the PIAA Wrestling Championships moves to day two. AAA wrestlers from the area delivered a spectacular effort, losing only one of the 56 entries, 34 of them alive in the championship half of the brackets.
AA action begins Friday morning at 9 am with quarterfinals and two consolation rounds, then resumes Friday evening at 7:30 pm with semifinals and two additional rounds of consolations. AAA wrestlers take the mats at 2:15 pm with their quarterfinals and consolation rounds. You can follow all the action on WJPA-AM (1450) or online through our High School Wrestling hub Click Here.
Riley Kemper (Burgettstown), the only Washington/Greene wrestler to make the AA quarterfinals lost in that round, then came back to win his first consolation bout. Kemper’s brother Shane and McGuffey’s Garrett Boone stayed alive with two consolation wins each. All three will bring home medals. Nate Yagle and Ethan Barr of McGuffey and Fort Cherry’s Robbie West lost consolation bouts and have been eliminated. Two local wrestlers were eliminated Thursday: Joey Sentipal (Burgettstown) and Jonathan Wolfe (Jeff-Morgan). WPIAL AA wrestlers claimed seven spots in the semifinals, seven more will medal from the consolation brackets.
Waynesburg advanced all five of its wrestlers to Friday’s quarterfinals, including Cole Homet who had to win a preliminary bout, then rallied off his back to top the Northwest Region champion in the first round. Homet is joined by Raiders teammates Mac Church, Rocco Welsh, Wyatt Henson and Luca Augustine. Gerrit Nijenhuis (Canon-McMillan) and Donovan McMillon (Peters Township) are also in the quarterfinals. WPIAL AAA wrestlers were 23-1 in the preliminary round, 34-21 in the first round.
March 6, 2020 3:44 am
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) – Patric Hornqvist scored twice in leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-2 win that extended the Buffalo Sabres’ skid to five straight. Sidney Crosby and Marcus Pettersson also scored and the Penguins won consecutive games after losing six in a row. Evgeni Malkin had two assists to follow a four-assist outing in a 7-3 win over Ottawa on Tuesday. Jake McCabe and Marcus Johansson scored for Buffalo and rookie Jonas Johansson stopped 28 shots. Sabres captain and leading scorer Jack Eichel was held without a point for a sixth-consecutive game to mark the longest drought of his five-year NHL career.
March 5, 2020 3:50 am
NEW YORK (AP) – The New York Islanders say defenseman Johnny Boychuk needed 90 stitches to his eyelid after being hit in the face with a skate but suffered no damage to his eye.
Boychuk was cut Tuesday night when he was hit by Artturi Lehkonen’s skate as the Montreal Canadiens left wing fell forward. Both players were in front of the Islanders’ net during the third period when Lehkonen fell, causing his legs to go into the air and his right skate to connect with Boychuk under the visor. Boychuk was down on the ice briefly before he got up and skated off the ice with his hand covering his face. There is no timetable for his return.
March 5, 2020 3:48 am
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Philadelphia Flyers extended their winning streak to seven by beating the Washington Capitals 5-2. Travis Konecny scored 71 seconds after a potential goal was disallowed to shift the momentum in a showdown of the top teams in the Metropolitan Division. Philadelphia now trails first-place Washington by just one point. The Flyers have won 10 of 12 games to vault up the standings, but suffered a big loss in Washington. Winger James van Riemsdyk left in the first period with a broken hand and is expected to miss some time. Winger Tom Wilson fought twice and had an assist for the Capitals. The Penguins are in third place in the division, three points back of Philly and four behind the Capitals.
March 3, 2020 3:42 am
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The Pittsburgh Penguins are attempting to stay upbeat despite their longest losing streak in eight years. The Penguins have dropped six consecutive games for the first time since the 2011-12 season heading into a visit by Ottawa. The slide includes a trip through California last week that featured losses to three teams well outside of the playoff picture. Pittsburgh has been outscored 24-8 during the skid. Captain Sidney Crosby says it’s hard to put a finger on what has gone wrong but he believes a couple of goals will spark a turnaround.
