Sports

By MARI YAMAGUCHI and STEPHEN WADE Associated Press TOKYO (AP) — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida threw out the first pitch for the World Baseball Classic game between Japan and South Korea. He bounced a ball that was scooped up by Japan manager Hideki Kuriyama as the designated catcher. Kishida had the credentials to make

ARE, Sweden (AP) — Mikaela Shiffrin made a strong start in her pursuit of a record-tying 86th World Cup victory on Friday by taking a big lead in the first run of a giant slalom. Shiffrin was more than half a second faster than her highest-ranked rivals with a smooth and fluent run in the

SYDNEY (AP) — Three-time Olympic champion Kaylee McKeown has broken the world record in the 200-meter backstroke at the New South Wales State Open swim championships. McKeown finished in 2 minutes, 03.14 seconds. She took 0.21 seconds off American swimmer Regan Smith’s mark from 2019. McKeown won 100 and 200 backstroke golds at the Tokyo

TOKYO (AP) — Martin Muzik hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning and the Czech Republic beat China 8-5 in the World Baseball Classic. The Czech Republic overcame a 5-4 deficit in the ninth with Filip Smola adding an RBI single in the team’s first game in Group A. Matej Mensik

By The Associated Press LAS VEGAS — The Utah State Aggies defeated the New Mexico Lobos 91-76 in the Mountain West Conference tournament quarterfinal

TOKYO (AP) — Martin Muzik hit a three-run homer in the top of the ninth inning and the Czech Republic beat China 8-5 on Friday in the World Baseball Classic. The Czech Republic overcame a 5-4 deficit in the ninth, with Filip Smola adding an RBI single in the team’s first game in Group A.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Desmond Cambridge Jr. hit six of Arizona State’s 14 3-pointers and scored 27 points as the sixth-seeded Sun Devils upset USC, the No. 3 seed, 77-72 in a Pac-12 Conference tournament quarterfinal. The Sun Devils (22-11) will face Arizona in the second of Friday’s semifinal. Arizona State stunned the Wildcats on

By The Associated Press LAS VEGAS — Jason Spurgin led the Southern Utah Thunderbirds with 19 points and sealed the victory with a layup with 53 seconds remaining as the Thunderbirds took down the Utah Tech Trailblazers in the Western Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinals

By The Associated Press HENDERSON, Nev. — Led by Zyon Pullin’s 19 points, the UC Riverside Highlanders defeated the UC Davis Aggies 68-52 in the Big West Conference tournament quarterfinal

CHICAGO (AP) — Bruce Thornton scored 17 points and Roddy Gayle Jr. had all nine of his points in the final six minutes to help give 13th-seeded Ohio State to a 73-69 win over fifth-seeded Iowa in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday. Brice Sensabaugh added 16 points, Justice Sueing 14

SEATTLE (AP) — Alex DeBrincat scored the tiebreaking goal with less than three minutes remaining in the third period to give the Ottawa Senators a 5-4 win over the Seattle Kraken. Shane Pinto, Jakob Chychrun, Claude Giroux and Patrick Brown also scored for Ottawa. Mads Sogaard made 29 saves. Jared McCann scored twice and Vince

By CAMERON SALERNO Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Domantas Sabonis had 24 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists for his ninth triple-double of the season, helping the Sacramento Kings hold off the New York Knicks 122-117 on Thursday night. The Kings are 7-1 since the NBA All-Star break to reach 39-26. Sabonis iced it,

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Noah Thomasson scored 18 points to lead Niagara to a 71-65 victory over Siena in the quarterfinal round of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament. Thomasson added five rebounds and five assists for the fifth-seeded Purple Eagles (16-14), who will play top-seeded Iona in Friday’s semifinals. Joe Kasperzyk had 16 points

By RALPH D. RUSSO AP College Sports Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Ryan Kalkbrenner scored 21 points, Ryan Nembhard added 17 and No. 24 Creighton defeated Villanova 87-74 at the Big East Tournament in a rematch of last season’s championship game. The third-seeded Bluejays advanced to the semifinals Friday night at Madison Square Garden to

By PAT GRAHAM AP Sports Writer DENVER (AP) — Adrian Kempe and Phillip Danault each scored twice as the Los Angeles Kings beat the Colorado Avalanche 5-2 for their fifth straight win. Gabriel Vilardi also added a goal and Anze Kopitar had three assists for the Kings who remain tied with Vegas for the top

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Led by Messiah Thompson’s 27 points, the Alabama A&M Bulldogs defeated the Southern Jaguars 77-63 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament.

By JOHN MARSHALL AP Sports Writer TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Rookie Ivan Prosvetov stopped 39 shots, Brett Ritchie scored in his Arizona debut and the Coyotes beat the Nashville Predators 4-1. The Coyotes recalled Prosvetov from Tucson of the AHL before the game to play in his seventh NHL game, first this season. The Russian

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Freshman Amiya Joyner converted the go-ahead three-point play with 1:30 to play and blocked a potential winning basket with 3.2 seconds left to give East Carolina a 46-44 win over Houston in the American Athletic Conference title game and the Pirates’ third NCAA Tournament berth. It was quite a struggle