Sports

By PAUL NEWBERRY AP Sports Writer BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — With All-American Marcus Sasser watching from the bench, top-seeded Houston shook off Northern Kentucky for a 63-52 victory to open the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night. Chants of “NKU!” and “Overrated!” filled Legacy Arena as the 16th-seeded Norse trailed by only three at halftime and

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Top-ranked Iga Swiatek breezed past Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 6-3 to reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open. Next up for Swiatek is 10th-seeded Elena Rybakina, who beat Karolina Muchova, 7-6 (4), 2-6, 6-4. Those two met at the Australian Open in January, with Rybakina winning. On the men’s side,

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Connor McDavid scored his NHL-leading 57th goal and added an assist in the Edmonton Oilers’ 4-1 victory over the Dallas Stars on Thursday night. McDavid pushed his NHL-best points total to 131 — 30 more than second-place linemate Leon Draisaitl. Draisaitl assisted on McDavid’s goal. Warren Foegele and Mattias Janmark scored

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Cornell’s Yianni Diakomihalis and Iowa’s Spencer Lee remain on track to win their fourth Division I wrestling titles, and Penn State leads the team race after the opening day of action at the national championships. Penn State sent seven wrestlers into Friday’s quarterfinals. The Nittany Lions lead Iowa 26-21.5. Missouri is

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Mikko Rantanen had a goal and two assists, Lars Eller scored a strange deciding goal and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Ottawa Senators 5-4 on Thursday night for their fourth straight victory. Colorado defenseman Cale Makar had a goal and an assist, and Lars Eller, Valeri Nichushkin and Evan Rodrigues also

By JOSH DUBOW AP Sports Writer SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Boo Buie scored 22 points to lead Northwestern to a win in the school’s second appearance ever in the NCAA Tournament, 75-67 over Boise State. The seventh-seeded Wildcats previously made it to the Big Dance in 2017, and just like that time, they made sure

By GEORGE RICHARDS Associated Press SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Carter Verhaeghe scored twice in Florida’s franchise-record, seven-goal first period and the Panthers beat the Montreal Canadiens 9-5 on Thursday night.c Florida scored six goals in the second period against Boston on April 5, 2000. Against Montreal, the Panthers came just shy of tying the franchise

By MATT SUGAM Associated Press NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Steven Stamkos had two goals and an assist in regulation, and Alex Killorn and Ross Colton each scored in the shootout to give the Tampa Bay Lightning a 4-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 26 saves for Tampa Bay, which won its

By JOHN ZENOR AP Sports Writer BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — When it comes to Auburn and the NCAA Tournament, the Tigers know how to make an opening statement. Johni Broome had 19 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots, and No. 9 seed Auburn beat Iowa 83-75 on Thursday for its 10th consecutive opening-round win

By DAVE CAMPBELL AP Sports Writer DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Sir’Jabari Rice scored 23 points and No. 2 seed Texas shut down sharpshooting Colgate for an 81-61 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night. Rice made five of his seven 3-pointers in the first half, helping the Longhorns get

By FRED GOODALL AP Sports Writer ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Jeremy Roach matched his career high with 23 points, and No. 5 seed Duke beat Oral Roberts 74-51 in the school’s first NCAA Tournament game since Jon Scheyer took over as Blue Devils coach. Dariq Whitehead added 13 points for the Blue Devils. Scheyer helped

By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer An independent law firm investigating a fatal shooting by a New Mexico State basketball player recommended the school enhance its weapons policy and “strengthen a culture that encourages student-athletes to adhere to the integrity and values of NMSU at all times.” The school released the report on the first

CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Blackhawks forward Cole Guttman had surgery on his right shoulder. The team says the operation was performed in Los Angeles. Team physician Michael Terry says the 23-year-old Guttman is expected “to be out of hockey activities for approximately four months.” Guttman had been a pleasant surprise for rebuilding Chicago. He made

By MARK ANDERSON AP Sports Writer From No. 13 seed Furman beating fourth-seeded Virginia to No. 15 Princeton defeating second-seeded Arizona, most NCAA Tournament brackets were busted Thursday before the sun went down. The NCAA March Madness Twitter account posted after Thursday’s late games concluded that only 787 brackets of unspecified millions remained perfect. Numbers

By KAREL JANICEK Associated Press Arsenal’s hopes for a European title ended when the Premier League leader was eliminated from the Europa League by Sporting Lisbon in a penalty shootout. Lisbon reached the quarterfinals by prevailing 5-3 in the shootout at the Emirates Stadium after a 1-1 draw in regulation in the second leg of

By JOHN ZENOR AP Sports Writer BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Alabama and star freshman Brandon Miller faced a new round of questions about connections between Crimson Tide players and a fatal shooting after Thursday’s victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Miller and teammate Jaden Bradley were at the

By MARK LONG AP Sports Writer ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Matt Bradley scored 17 points, including two free throws in the final minute, and No. 5 seed San Diego State held on to beat 12th-seeded College of Charleston 63-57 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Aztecs won their first game in the