SUPER BOWL:
Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald were two huge reasons why the Los Angeles Rams reached the Super Bowl, and they were responsible for the team’s win over the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Rams are Super Bowl champs for the second time in team history after Kupp grabbed a late touchdown pass and Donald came up with two big defensive plays in the waning moments of a 23-20 comeback win over the Bengals.
Cincinnati’s defense had been the story much of the game, keeping the Rams out of the end zone in the second half until Matthew Stafford engineered a 15-play, 79-yard TD drive that ended with Kupp’s one-yard TD reception with 1:25 remaining. Kupp had four receptions for 39 yards on the championship drive.
Donald closed out the win. On the Bengals’ final drive, he stopped Samaje Perine a yard short of a first down. Donald clinched it on the next play by wrapping up Joe Burrow on fourth down, forcing the Cincinnati quarterback to heave a soft, floating pass that fell incomplete.
Donald had two sacks and Kupp hauled in eight passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns to earn Super Bowl MVP honors. Stafford atoned for his two interceptions by throwing for three scores, completing 26 of his 40 passes for 283 yards.
Burrow was 22 of 33 for 263 yards, one TD and no interceptions. He also was sacked seven times, tying a Super Bowl record set by Roger Staubach in Super Bowl 10.
It’s the first Super Bowl championship for a Rams team based in Los Angeles. Their other Super Bowl win came as the St. Louis Rams in 2000.
The Bengals are now 0-3 in Super Bowls.
OLYMPICS:
Kamila Valieva is allowed to skate.
The Russian teenager and gold medal favorite has been cleared to compete in the women’s figure skating competition at the Winter Olympics despite failing a pre-Games drug test.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport released its ruling less than 12 hours after a hastily arranged hearing, deciding the 15-year-old does not need to be provisionally suspended ahead of a full investigation.
The court gave her a favorable decision in part because she was a minor or “protected person” and was subject to different rules from an adult athlete.
Valieva tested positive for a banned medication after winning the Russian national championship. She helped the Russia Olympic Committee take gold in the team competition before reports surfaced about her failed test.
Also at Beijing:
Kaillie Humphries has captured a third Olympic gold medal, and her first for the U.S. The former Canadian bobsledder was an easy winner of the inaugural women’s monobob event. It’s the first sliding medal for the U.S. in seven events so far at the Beijing Games. American Elana Meyers Taylor was second. It was the fourth medal of Meyers Taylor’s career, the most won by anyone in USA Bobsled history.
Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron of France broke their own ice dance world record while winning the Olympic gold medal that narrowly eluded them four years ago in Pyeongchang. The last figure skaters on the ice for the free dance, Papadakis and Cizeron scored 136.15 points for their performance on Monday. That gave them 226.98 points, beating their previous mark of 226.61 set at the 2019 NHK Trophy in Japan.
The longtime American ice dance duo of Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue claimed bronze in their final Olympics. Another set of Americans, Madison Chock and Evan Bates, finished just off the podium in fourth place.
US Slopestyle silver medalist Julia Marino has dropped out of the snowboard big air contest after a fall in practice. The 24-year-old Marino was set to jump 23rd in the 30-snowboarder field during qualifying Monday, just ahead of 2018 gold medalist Anna Gasser of Austria. Team USA snowboarding said in a statement that Marino fell during practice a few days ago and is “prioritizing her health.”
Canadian forward Melodie Daoust has returned to the lineup for the women’s hockey semifinal game against Switzerland. Daoust missed four games after being sidelined with an upper-body injury sustained in the second period of a 12-1 preliminary round-opening win over the Swiss.
NBA:
The Boston Celtics looked like a team in disarray 2 1/2 weeks ago. Not anymore.
It’s now an eight-game winning streak for the Celtics after Jayson Tatum furnished 38 points and 10 rebounds in a 105-95 victory over the Hawks.
The Celtics trailed by 10 until Tatum scored 16 points in the third quarter, helping Boston outscore Atlanta 43-23 in the period. The Celts were 13 of 18 during the quarter.
Robert Williams added 10 points and 14 boards, Jaylen Brown scored 17 points and Marcus Smart had 13.
Boston was a .500 team before the winning streak.
Trae Young had 30 points and 10 assists to lead Atlanta, which has lost four of five.
In the NBA’s only other game, Anthony Edwards scored 37 points in leading the Timberwolves to a 129-120 victory over the Pacers. Edwards became the fourth-youngest player in NBA history to reach the 2,500-point mark when he made his first basket of the game. Karl Anthony-Towns had 15 points and 13 rebounds for Minnesota, while D’Angelo Russell had 23 points and six assists.
The Milwaukee Bucks are optimistic that guard Pat Connaughton will return before the end of the regular season as he prepares to undergo surgery on his broken right hand.
Connaughton suffered the injury Thursday while fouling Chris Paul on a drive to the basket late in the third quarter of a 131-107 loss at Phoenix. The Bucks later confirmed he had a fourth metacarpal fracture on his right hand.
In other NBA news:
Newly acquired Norman Powell is out indefinitely for the Clippers with a broken bone in his left foot. The team said Sunday that he fractured the medial sesamoid bone in his foot in Thursday’s loss at Dallas. No surgery is planned at this time. Powell joins injured All-Stars Kawhi (kah-WY’) Leonard and Paul George on the sidelines.
NHL:
The Colorado Avalanche have run their team-record point streak to 19 games with a 4-0 win over the Dallas Stars.
Darcy Kuemper handled 23 shots for his second shutout of the season, helping Colorado improve to 17-0-2 during the point streak. Gabriel Landeskog scored twice for the Avs, who also received goals from Nazem Kadri and Nicolas Aube-Kubel. Cale Makar had two assists for the Avalanche, who lead the NHL with 72 points in 46 games. The Avs are three points ahead of the Panthers with a game in hand.
Elsewhere on NHL ice:
The Penguins picked up their third straight win by downing the Devils, 4-2. Brian Boyle scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period of Pittsburgh’s sixth consecutive road win. Mike Matheson, Bryan Rust and Jake Guentzel also scored for the Penguins, who are 7-1-3 in their last 11 games.
The Senators had dropped 10 straight to the Capitals before Sunday’s 4-1 victory in Washington. Brady Tkachuk and Connor Brown each had a goal and an assist to back Anton Forsberg, who stopped 33 shots in Ottawa’s first victory in Washington since January 2014. Alex Formenton and Adam Gaudette added early goals as the Senators jumped to a 2-0 lead after the first period.
Jeff Skinner notched his first career four-goal game as the Sabres downed the Canadiens, 5-3 to end a three-game skid. Tage (TAYJ’) Thompson also scored for Buffalo, his fourth goal of the season against the Habs. Montreal’s 10-game winless streak is its longest since 1926.
Ottawa Senators forward Austin Watson has been suspended two games for a hit on Boston’s Jack Ahcan.
Watson leveled Ahcan along the end boards midway through the first period of Ottawa’s 2-0 loss to the Bruins Saturday night. He was given a 2-minute minor penalty for interference.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL:
Third-ranked Purdue was able to avoid a major upset.
Trevion Williams blocked a layup try in the final seconds to secure the Boilermakers’ 62-61 victory over Maryland.
Maryland’s Donta Scott drove hard to the basket from the right baseline, but Williams rejected the shot with five seconds left. The Boilermakers corralled the loose ball, completing a rally from a 12-point deficit midway through the second half.
Purdue improved to 22-4.
Fatts Russell scored 24 points for the Terrapins, who fell to 11-14.
In other men’s top-25 action:
Kofi Cockburn had a double-double and 13th-ranked Illinois built a sizeable lead before fending off Northwestern, 73-66. Cockburn delivered 19 points and 15 rebounds to help the Illini move to 11-3 in the Big Ten. After the Wildcats cut an 18-point, second-half lead to one, Cockburn hit six straight points and also provided Illinois’ final three baskets.
Tyrese Martin scored all 17 of his points in the second half and No. 24 Connecticut rallied past St. John’s, 63-60. R.J. Cole added 14 points and Andre Jackson grabbed 16 rebounds to help the weary Huskies win despite shooting only 36% from the field. They moved into sole possession of third place in the Big East behind Villanova and first-place Providence.
In men’s college basketball, Siena squeaked by Rider, 76-75, Iona defeated Monmouth. 70-62, and UConn edged by St. John’s, 63-60. On the women’s side, Syracuse held off Pittsburgh, 67-65, UMass bested Duquesne, 89-59, and UConn bested Marquette, 72-58.
PGA:
Scottie Scheffler outlasted Ryder Cup teammate Patrick Cantlay on the third hole of a playoff in the WM Phoenix Open, making a 25-foot birdie putt that had just enough momentum to tumble in.
Cantlay missed an 11-foot birdie try after Scheffler holed his putt.
Scheffler birdied four of the final six holes for a 4-under 67 to match Cantlay at 16-under 268 at TPC Scottsdale.
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