Sports

By KRISTIE RIEKEN AP Sports Writer HOUSTON (AP) — Texas Tech’s first-year coach had a great day. Joey McGuire got a new contract with a hefty raise before leading the Red Raiders to a 42-25 victory over Mississippi in the Texas Bowl on Wednesday night. “It’s a pretty awesome day,” McGuire said. “I really do

SYDNEY (AP) — Taylor Fritz and Madison Keys have given the United States a 2-0 lead over the Czech Republic at the new United Cup mixed teams tournament. Fritz broke Jiri Lehecka’s serve in the ninth game of the second set and went on to beat the Czech player 6-3, 6-4. Keys followed that up

By ROBBIE FAULK Associated Press STARKVILLE, Miss. (AP) — Mark Sears scored 20 points and No. 8 Alabama pulled away in the second half to beat No. 21 Mississippi State 78-67 on Wednesday night in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams. Freshman Brandon Miller added 19 points and 11 rebounds for the Crimson Tide

By GAVIN GOOD Associated Press EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) — Freshman Cotie McMahon scored 24 points, and No. 3 Ohio State pounded Northwestern 81-48. The Buckeyes led 35-24 at halftime. They pushed their lead to 20 after hitting five of six shots over the last five minutes of the third quarter, including a pair of 3s

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Led by Callum McRae’s 19 points, the Sacramento State Hornets defeated the Cal State-Stanislaus Warriors 72-51 on Wednesday. The Hornets are now 7-6 with the win and the Warriors dropped to 3-8.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — J’Wan Roberts scored 15 points, Tramon Mark and Emanuel Sharp added 14 each, and No. 3 Houston routed Tulsa 89-50 in the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams. The Cougars missed five of their first seven shots as Tulsa took an early 8-5 lead, but were deadly thereafter and finished

By MIKE FITZPATRICK AP Sports Writer NEW YORK (AP) — Jack Nunge had 23 points and 12 rebounds, and No. 22 Xavier won its seventh straight game by holding off St. John’s 84-79. The Musketeers built an 18-point cushion midway through the second half before fending off a late comeback attempt, setting up a showdown

By BERNIE WILSON AP Sports Writer SAN DIEGO (AP) — Bo Nix threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Chase Cota on fourth down with 19 seconds left and Camden Lewis’ PAT bounced off the left upright and went through to give No. 15 Oregon a wild 28-27 victory against North Carolina in the Holiday Bowl

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Led by Drew Friberg’s 21 points, the Belmont Bruins defeated the Bradley Braves 63-60 on Wednesday night. The Bruins are now 9-5 with the victory and the Braves fell to 9-5.

By BRYAN LAZARE Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — KJ Williams made a key steal and Adam Miller sank two free throws with 2 seconds left to lead LSU to a 60-57 victory over No. 9 Arkansas. The Tigers got a spinning layup from Trae Hannibal to go ahead 58-55 with 32 seconds remaining.

By BRETT MARTEL AP Sports Writer NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Zion Williamson scored a career-high 43 points, capping it with New Orleans’ final 14 points in the last 2:44 of the game, and the Pelicans narrowly outlasted the Minnesota Timberwolves 119-118 for their fourth straight victory. Anthony Edwards scored 27 for Minnesota. But he missed

By MARK DIDTLER Associated Press TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Andrei Vasilevskiy made 25 saves to beat Montreal for the 11th consecutive time, Brayden Point had two goals, and the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Canadiens 4-1. Vasilevskiy is the third goaltender in NHL history to earn a victory in 11 consecutive regular-season games against Montreal.

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Sports Writer MIAMI (AP) — The Miami Marlins have agreed with infielder Jean Segura on a two-year, $17 million contract. That’s according to a person with knowledge of the negotiations who spoke on condition of anonymity because the Marlins hadn’t announced the signing. The deal is contingent on Segura completing a

By ERIC OLSON AP Sports Writer OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Aaliyah Edwards had 23 points and a season-high 20 rebounds, and No. 8 UConn rode another fast start to a 72-47 victory over 21st-ranked Creighton. Dorka Juhasz had a season-high 22 points and a career-high 18 boards for the Huskies, who were down to seven

By IAN NICHOLAS QUILLEN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Rui Hachimura matched his career high with 30 points and converted a pivotal three-point play to help the Washington Wizards pull away for a 127-102 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night in a meeting of depleted teams. Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma each had

By DAN SCIFO Associated Press PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jake Walman scored at 2:13 of overtime and the Detroit Red Wings overcame an early four-goal deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 on Wednesday night. Walman, off the rush, tipped a rebound behind goaltender Casey DeSmith for his second goal of the season. Pittsburgh was coming

ORLANDO, Fla. — Led by Darius Johnson’s 15 points, the UCF Knights defeated the Wichita State Shockers 52-45 on Wednesday night. The Knights are now 10-3 with the win and the Shockers fell to 7-6 in the American Athletic Conference opener for both teams.

By PHIL STUKENBORG Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — KJ Jefferson passed to Rashod Dubinion for a 2-point conversion in the third overtime and Arkansas held off a furious second-half rally by Kansas for a 55-53 win the Liberty Bowl. The Jayhawks had rallied from 25 points down in the second half to force overtime,

DAYTON, Ohio — Led by Daron Holmes’ 22 points, the Dayton Flyers defeated the Duquesne Dukes 69-57 on Wednesday night. The Flyers improved to 9-5 with the victory and the Dukes fell to 10-4 after the Atlantic 10 opener for both teams.