NBA
Sandro Mamukelashvili scored 34 points on 13-for-14 shooting in 19 minutes to become the first player in NBA history to score 34 points while playing less than 20 minutes as the San Antonio Spurs upended the New York Knicks 120-105. Mamukelashvili, who was 7 for 7 from 3-point range, had 13 points in the first half as San Antonio rolled to a 28-point lead. He had 21 points in the final quarter. Stephon Castle added 22 points as San Antonio won for the third time in eight games. Karl-Anthony Towns had 32 points and nine rebounds to lead New York while OG Anunoby and Mikal Bridges added 14 points each.
Jaylin Williams scored a career-high 19 points and had 17 rebounds and 11 assists for his second career triple-double, and the Oklahoma City Thunder cruised past the injury-depleted Philadelphia 76ers 133-100. NBA scoring leader Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and three other starters were sidelined for the Thunder, who lead the Western Conference. Aaron Wiggins scored 26 points, Isaiah Joe added 21 and Chet Holmgren had 19. Oklahoma City led 70-56 at halftime and 103-74 after three quarters. Quentin Grimes scored 28 points and Justin Edwards added 19 for Philadelphia.
Jalen Green scored 26 points, Alperen Sengun had 22 points and 12 rebounds, and the Houston Rockets extended their winning streak to a season-best eight games, beating the Orlando Magic 116-108. Fred VanVleet added 19 points for the Rockets, who maintained their second-place position in the Western Conference, ahead of — among others — the surging Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors. Paolo Banchero led Orlando with 31 points. Franz Wagner added 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Magic, and reserve Goga Bitadze had 19 points and eight rebounds.
Pascal Siakam scored 29 points, Bennedict Mathurin scored 16 of his 23 in the fourth quarter and the Indiana Pacers rallied from an 11-point deficit in the final six minutes to beat the short-handed Dallas Mavericks 135-131. The Pacers retook the lead with 14.7 seconds left when Siakam stole the ball and a wide-open Andrew Nembhard knocked down a 3-pointer to make it 131-130. Indiana sealed the win with free throws. P.J. Washington Jr. finished with 26 points to lead the Mavericks, who had six of their eight available players score in double figures. Dallas has lost nine of 10.
Cade Cunningham banked in a 3-pointer with less than a second remaining, giving the Detroit Pistons a 116-113 win over Miami and sending the Heat to their ninth consecutive loss. Cunningham had his ninth triple-double of the season — 25 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists for the Pistons, who trailed for most of the second half and never led by more than two until the final second. Bam Adebayo finished with 30 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Heat, who are stuck in their longest losing streak since an 11-game slide during the 2007-08 season.
Zion Williamson scored 29 points and CJ McCollum added 18 for New Orleans as the Pelicans surprised the Minnesota Timberwolves with a 119-115 win on Wednesday night. The Timberwolves have lost two straight after winning eight in a row. Minnesota is in a battle with Golden State for the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference. Wednesday’s loss drops Minnesota a full game behind the Warriors. Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 29 points. Julius Randle added 17 and Mike Conley scored 16.
Kyle Filipowski scored 21 points, Keyonte George added 20 and the Utah Jazz snapped a season-worst 10-game skid with a 128-112 victory over the Washington Wizards. Collin Sexton had 18 points and Brice Sensabaugh scored 17 for the Jazz in this matchup of the worst teams in each conference. The Wizards entered having won six of 11 to leave the Jazz with the league’s worst record. Colby Jones scored a career-high 24 points in his third game for the Wizards after being acquired from Sacramento, where the second-year player out of Xavier was a little-used reserve.
Devin Booker scored 41 points, including 20 in the fourth quarter, and the Phoenix Suns held off the Chicago Bulls 127-121. Kevin Durant had 26 points and eight assists and Nick Richards had 18 points, nine rebounds and three blocks as the Suns won for the third time in their last four games. Coby White and Nikola Vucevic led the Bulls with 24 points each and Josh Giddey had 22. The win moved the Suns into 10th place in the Western Conference standings and into the play-in tournament picture.
Devin Booker scored 41 points, including 20 in the fourth quarter, and the Phoenix Suns held off the Chicago Bulls 127-121. Kevin Durant had 26 points and eight assists and Nick Richards had 18 points, nine rebounds and three blocks as the Suns won for the third time in their last four games. Coby White and Nikola Vucevic led the Bulls with 24 points each and Josh Giddey had 22. The win moved the Suns into 10th place in the Western Conference standings and into the play-in tournament picture.
Deni Avdija had 31 points, 16 rebounds and eight assists to lead the Portland Trail Blazers to a 115-99 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies. Anfernee Simons added 22 points for the Blazers, who led by 21 in the third quarter and never trailed. Desmond Bane led the Grizzlies with 20 points. Portland won its third straight to move within two games of 10th place in the Western Conference and the final spot in the play-in tournament. Dallas and Phoenix are tied for 10th at 33-37. Memphis is a game behind the Denver Nuggets for fourth place in the West and home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.
Luka Doncic had 31 points, nine rebounds and seven assists in just three quarters of work, and the Los Angeles Lakers routed the Denver Nuggets 120-108 in a matchup of injury-depleted Western Conference contenders. Austin Reaves scored 22 points for the Lakers, who have won nine consecutive home games and three straight since finishing their 0-4 road trip last Friday with a loss at Denver. Aaron Gordon scored 26 points for the Nuggets, who played without Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. The Lakers scored a season-high 46 points in the first quarter led by Doncic, who scorched Denver for 21.
NHL
Joseph Woll was outstanding in making 38 saves and Steven Lorentz scored short-handed early in the third period as the Toronto Maple Leafs topped the Colorado Avalanche 2-1 on Wednesday night. Auston Matthews, with his fourth in the last three games, had the other goal for Toronto. Valeri Nichushkin scored for Colorado, and Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 24 shots. The Leafs won their second straight after thumping the Calgary Flames 6-2 on Monday following an ugly 1-4-1 stretch.
Ryan Hartman, Matt Boldy and Liam Ohgren scored 1 minute, 42 seconds apart early in the first period and the Minnesota Wild beat the Seattle Kraken 4-0 on Wednesday night. Filip Gustavsson made 34 saves for his fifth shutout of the season, Boldy added an empty-net goal, and Minnesota moved within two points of third-place Colorado in the Central Division. Gustavsson is 4-1-1 in his last six home games with a 1.48 goals-against average, a .949 save percentage and two shutouts. Philipp Grubauer stopped 24 shots for Seattle.
MARCH MADNESS
MEN
Marcus Foster scored 22 points and Zach Freemantle added 15 while overcoming foul trouble as Xavier rallied past Texas 86-80 in a First Four game at Dayton. The Musketeers erased a 13-point deficit in their biggest comeback win this season and advanced into the main bracket of the NCAA Tournament to play No. 6 seed Illinois on Friday night in Milwaukee. Tre Johnson led the Longhorns with 23 points in a matchup of No. 11 seeds. Tramon Mark scored 16. Freemantle hit a turnaround jumper to break a 78-all tie with 1:48 remaining and his two free throws extended Xavier’s lead to 82-79 with 1:09 left. Dailyn Swain’s putback upped the margin to five with 20 seconds to play.
Dola Adebayo and Jedy Cordilla each scored 22 points as Mount St. Mary’s defeated American University 83-72 in an NCAA Tournament matchup of No. 16 seeds at the First Four in Dayton. The Mountaineers earned a date with No. 1 seed Duke on Friday in an East Region game at Raleigh, North Carolina. American lost its leading scorer, Matt Rogers, to a right knee injury in the first half. Rogers scored seven points in eight minutes. Geoff Sprouse led American with 18 points on six 3-pointers off the bench.
American University lost leading scorer Matt Rogers to a right knee injury during Wednesday night’s 83-72 loss to Mount St. Mary’s in the First Four of the NCAA Tournament. The injury ended a storybook final season for a player who chose to stay at the small school in the nation’s capital instead of transferring to a bigger program. Rogers initially tweaked his knee four minutes into the game between No. 16 seeds seeking to advance to a date with top-seeded Duke. He went to the locker room, got it wrapped and was able to return. But he seemingly made the injury worse while trying to defend the post.
The hopes of No. 1 seed Houston of cutting down the NCAA Tournament nets might rest on J’Wan Roberts’ ailing right ankle. Or Duke star Cooper Flagg’s left one. Or injuries to Texas Tech, Iowa State and other teams that could not only shape the tournament but should shape the brackets of millions of Americans on the eve of March Madness. In the case of Roberts, he is hoping to play against SIU-Edwardsville on Thursday, while the Blue Devils are hopeful Flagg can play against the American-Mount St. Mary's winner on Friday.
Perhaps the surest sign that artificial intelligence really is taking over the world will come the day it wins your favorite March Madness bracket pool. The day could be coming soon. A successful CEO-turned-disruptor is running a $1 million March Madness bracket challenge that pits his AI programmers’ picks against those belonging to one of the world’s best-known sports gamblers. 4C Predictions CEO Alan Levy says he's willing to wager the million because he's convinced the data crunching his AI programmers can do is better than what gambler Sean Perry can produce. Levy's AI program picks Houston to win it all. Perry is going with Duke.
The Trump administration has suspended approximately $175 million in federal funding for the University of Pennsylvania over a transgender swimmer who last competed for the school in 2022. That word comes Wednesday from the White House. The Ivy League university has been facing an Education Department investigation focusing on in its swimming program. That inquiry was announced last month immediately after President Donald Trump signed an executive order intended to ban transgender athletes from competing in girls and women’s sports. But the federal funding was suspended in a separate review of discretionary money going to universities.
WOMEN
Soniyah Reed came off the bench to score 19 of her 24 points in the first half when Southern U built a big lead that it was able to ride to a 68-56 NCAA Tournament First Four win over UC San Diego on Wednesday night. The 16th-seeded Jaguars (21-14) won for the first time in seven tournament appearances and go up against overall No. 1 seed UCLA in the round of 64 on Friday. Aniya Gourdine added 17 points and seven rebounds. Sumayah Sugapong led UCSD (20-16) with 19 points. The Tritons reached the tournament in their first year of eligibility, shot 34%.
Elsewhere, the Iowa State Cyclones beat the Princeton Tigers 68-63, and will face 6th seed Michigan tomorrow at 11:30 a.m.
NFL
The Minnesota Vikings have committed to moving forward with J.J. McCarthy as their starting quarterback this season after deciding not to offer Aaron Rodgers a contract, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the Vikings were not commenting publicly on their plans. Rodgers was released last week by the New York Jets. The departure of Sam Darnold left the Vikings ready to turn their offense over to McCarthy. He was the 10th pick in the 2024 draft whose rookie year was spent rehabilitating from knee surgery.
MLB
Shohei Ohtani hit a solo homer in his return to the Tokyo Dome, Roki Sasaki threw three eventful innings in his big-league debut and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Chicago Cubs 6-3 to sweep the two-game series in Japan. Kiké Hernández hit a two-run homer and Tommy Edman added a solo shot. Ohtani’s homer in the fifth barely cleared the right-center fence and the call was reviewed by umpires before being confirmed, giving the Dodgers a 6-2 lead. Sasaki gave up one run and one hit while striking out three, but also walked five batters, including a free pass that forced in a run.
A Department of Defense webpage describing baseball and civil rights icon Jackie Robinson’s military service has been restored. That's after it was missing earlier Wednesday. The development comes after a page honoring a Black Medal of Honor winner was momentarily taken down amid the department’s campaign to strip out content singling out the contributions by women and minority groups, which the Trump administration considers “DEI.” A Pentagon spokesman says when content is removed that is beyond the scope of the directive, that is corrected. The page on Robinson includes biographical information about his Army service during World War II.
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