MLB:
There will be a Major League Baseball season.
Players have voted to accept management’s latest offer for a new labor deal, paving the way to end a 99-day lockout and salvage a 162-game regular season.
Owners were unanimous in their approval of the package, which still needs ratification by all players.
MLB sent the players an offer Thursday and gave them until 3 p.m. to accept in order to play a full season.
The agreement calls for the luxury tax threshold to rise from $210 million last year to $230 million this season and gradually to $242 million in 2026. The minimum salary will increase from $570,500 to about $700,000 this year, with $20,000 annual increases. A new $50 million bonus pool was established for players not yet eligible for arbitration, a way to boost salaries for young stars.
The agreement will allow training camps to open this week in Florida and Arizona, more than three weeks after they were scheduled to on Feb. 16. Opening day is being planned for April 7, a little more than a week behind the original date on March 31.
The deal will also set off a rapid-fire round of free agency. Carlos Correa, Freddie Freeman and Kris Bryant are among 139 big leaguers still without a team, including some who might benefit from the adoption of a universal designated hitter.
NBA:
It was dubbed “Boo Ben” night in Philadelphia as former 76ers All-Star Ben Simmons returned for the first time since being traded last month. Instead, the Brooklyn Nets turned the fans on the 76ers.
Kevin Durant scored 18 of his 25 points in a dominating first half before the Nets completed a 129-100 blowout win over the Sixers. Seth Curry added 24 points, and Kyrie Irving had 22 for the Nets, who finally looked like the team expected to challenge for the NBA’s Eastern Conference title.
Simmons watched from the bench as he continues to recover from a back injury. He received plenty of vitriol from the crowd, but he had the last laugh.
Joel Embiid had 27 points and 12 rebounds for the 76ers, but James Harden finished with just 11 points.
Fans did much booing of the home team, which trailed 72-51 at halftime and were down by 32 in the third quarter.
In the other NBA game on Thursday, Steph Curry dropped in 34 points and the Warriors closed on a 13-0 run to beat the Nuggets, 113-102. Jordan Poole had 21 points, and Jonathan Kuminga and Klay Thompson added 18 each as Golden State salvaged the final of the four-game season series.
Denver’s Nikola Jokic had 23 points, 12 rebounds and nine assists, just missing his 19th triple double of the season.
With All-Star center Jarrett Allen sidelined indefinitely with a broken finger, the Cleveland Cavaliers signed big man Moses Brown to a 10-day contract.
The 7-foot-2 Brown appeared in 26 games for the Dallas Mavericks this season. The 22-year-old showed promise last season with Oklahoma City by averaging 8.6 points and 8.9 rebounds in 22 games.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL:
With Selection Sunday looming for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, most of the major conferences are days away from crowning a champion who will receive an automatic berth.
In the Big 12 quarterfinals, Umoja Gibson scored 14 points, including a crucial three-point play with less than a minute left in Oklahoma’s 72-67 victory over third-ranked Baylor. Jacob Groves added 15 points and Marvin Johnson made two foul shots with five seconds left to finish with 12 points.
Ochai Agbaji furnished 18 points and Christian Braun had a double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds in a 87-63 rout by sixth-ranked Kansas over West Virginia. The Jayhawks outscored the Mountaineers, 41-19 in a first half that saw WVU coach Bob Huggins ejected for receiving two technicals.
TCU rallied from a 20-point deficit to beat No. 22 Texas, 65-60 and earn the right to face Kansas. Damion Baugh led the Horned Frogs on a frantic second-half comeback in their fifth win over a ranked team this season.
Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 18 points and No. 14 Texas Tech rolled to a 72-41 rout of Iowa State. The Red Raiders built a 39-20 halftime lead and cruised into a semifinal showdown with No. 7 seed Oklahoma.
In Big East quarterfinal action, No. 8 Villanova overcame a 17-point deficit to beat St. John’s, 66-65. Caleb Daniels scored 19 points and Brandon Slater made the go-ahead free throws with 2.8 seconds left.
No. 11 Providence barely got past pesky Butler, 65-61 as Nate Watson poured in 26 points for the Friars. Al Durham drained a go-ahead 3-pointer with 41 seconds left for his first basket of the game
R.J. Cole and Tyrese Martin each scored 17 points to lead No. 20 Connecticut into the Big East semifinals with a 62-52 win over Seton Hall. Seton Hall’s 18 points in the first half was its lowest total of any game this season.
Over to the Big Ten quarterfinals, where Keegan Murray provided 26 points and Jordan Bohannon had 17 in No. 24 Iowa’s record-setting win over Northwestern, 112-76. Murray was 11 of 16 from the field and had eight rebounds for the Hawkeyes, who set tourney records with 43 field goals and 19 3-pointers as well as for points.
Also in the Big Ten, Indiana closed on a 31-9 run to beat Michigan, 74-69. Freshman Max Christie scored 16 points and Michigan State nearly blew a 20-point, second-half lead before holding off Maryland, 76-72.
Checking out the ACC quarterfinals, seventh-ranked Duke trailed by four at halftime before pulling out a 88-79 win over Syracuse, which played without leading scorer Buddy Boeheim because of a suspension. Wendell Moore Jr. scored 26 points and Jeremy Roach had 17 in the second half for the Blue Devils, who closed the game on a 10-0 run.
The Tar Heels also reached the ACC semis as Brady Manek outscored Virginia in the first half on the way to 21 points, leading No. 25 North Carolina’s 63-43 victory.
Miami won on a last-second shot, putting the Hurricanes in the semifinals against Duke.
Keve Aluma tossed in 20 points and Virginia Tech hit eight straight free throws in the final 46 seconds to beat Notre Dame, 87-80.
The Pac-12 quarterfinals began with Christian Koloko scoring 24 points and Bennedict Mathurin adding 20 in second-ranked Arizona’s 84-80 victory against Stanford. Pelle Larsson made two free throws with 8.5 seconds left to secure the win for the top-seeded Wildcats.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 23 points and Jules Bernard added 19 as the duo helped No. 13 UCLA knock off Washington State 75-65. The Bruins went on a 19-2 run in building a 12-point halftime lead.
Evan Battey had 19 points and 12 rebounds, while Jabari Walker added 18 points and 16 rebounds to send Colorado past Oregon 80-69
No. 21 Southern Cal closed out Thursday’s Pac-12 action by overcoming 22 turnovers in a 65-61 win against Washington. Boogie Ellis finished with 17 points for the Trojans and Isaiah Mobley chipped in nine points, nine rebounds and six assists.
Chandler Jacobs banked in the winning basket with 1.8 seconds left to give No. 23 Colorado State a 53-51 triumph over Utah State in the Mountain West Conference quarterfinals. Isaiah Stevens had 14 points and seven boards for the Rams.
Georgia men’s basketball coach Tom Crean has been fired after a 26-loss season that ended with Wednesday’s 35-point setback against Vanderbilt in the first round of the SEC Tournament. Georgia set a school record for most losses in a season while losing its final 12 games. The Bulldogs won only one SEC game, setting another low for the program.
In other college basketball news:
Bruce Weber has resigned as head coach at Kansas State, one day after the struggling Wildcats lost to West Virginia in the opening round of the Big 12 Tournament to cap a third straight losing season. The Wildcats went 9-20 last season and 14-17 this season, leaving Weber with a 184–147 record at the school.
In men’s college basketball, Siena season ends in MAAC quarterfinals with a 77-71 loss to Quinnipiac. UMass topped GW in the Atlantic 10, 99-88. Siena’s women’s team also lost Niagara, 60-59. UAlbany’s women’s team plays tonight against Maine at 5 p.m..
NHL:
Two of the NHL’s best offenses combined for just two goals in Raleigh on Thursday.
The Hurricanes and Avalanche were scoreless before Ethan Bear tallied with 5:40 remaining to send Carolina to a 2-0 victory. The tiebreaking goal came after the Hurricanes and Avalanche had come up empty on a combined 68 shots to that point. Sebastian Aho added an empty-netter to secure the Canes’ eighth win in 10 games.
Antti Raanta had 36 saves for his second shutout this season. Darcy Kuemper (KEHM’-pur) finished with 35 saves for the Avs, who entered with a league-best 87 before losing for the fourth time in five games.
Elsewhere on NHL ice:
Sam Reinhart recorded his sixth career hat trick in the Panthers’ fifth straight win, 6-3 over the Flyers. Carter Verhaeghe tallied twice against his former team and Florida scored three power-play goals to tie a season high.
Johnny Gaudreau also notched his sixth career hat trick and extended his point streak to seven games as the Flames won for the 15th time in 18 games, 4-1 against the Lightning. Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots for Calgary, which is 13-1-1 in its last 15 at home.
Jakob Chychrun notched his second goal of the game at 2:17 of overtime to give the Coyotes a 5-4 victory over the Maple Leafs. Alex Galchenyuk had a goal and an assist for Arizona, which won its fourth in a row after blowing a 4-1 lead in the third period.
The Bruins pulled out a 4-3 win over the Blackhawks on David Pastrnak’s goal with 17.2 seconds left in regulation. Pastrnak finished with two goals and an assist in Boston’s eighth win in 10 games.
The Blues’ four-game losing streak is over after Robert Thomas scored twice to lead a 6-2 romp over the Rangers. Ville Husso made 27 saves to improve to 14-4-3 on the season.
Matt Duchene had two goals and an assist in the Predators’ third win in a row, 4-1 over the Ducks. Filip Forsberg had a goal and two assists to back Juuse Saros, who handled 27 shots.
Craig Anderson stopped 30 shots and Victor Olofsson scored the go-ahead goal on the power play with 3:44 remaining in the Sabres’ 3-1 win over Jack Eichel and the Golden Knights. Eichel was mostly booed Thursday night in his first visit to his former home.
Shootout goals by Mats Zuccarello and Kevin Fiala pushed the Wild past the Red Wings, 6-5. Matt Boldy scored twice to help Minnesota withstand two-goal performances by Jakub Vrana and Lucas Raymond.
Anders Lee registered his first career hat trick and Ilya Sorokin collected his sixth shutout of the season to highlight the Islanders’ 6-0 assault on the Blue Jackets. Brock Nelson, Josh Bailey and Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored for New York in New York’s second win in three games.
Kyle Connor scored his team-leading 35th goal late in the second period to snap a tie and lead the Jets to a 2-1 victory over the Devils. Brenden Dillon also scored and Eric Comrie made 33 saves in Winnipeg’s fourth time in six games.
Tomas Hertl scored 1:13 into overtime to give the Sharks their first win in four games, 4-3 versus the Kings. Brent Burns and Nick Bonino supplied power-play goals to support Zach Sawchenko, who made 33 saves to get his first career win.
Ottawa wasted a 3-0 lead before Josh Norris scored his second of the night on the power play for a 4-3 victory over the Kraken. Brady Tkachuk and Parker Kelly also scored to help the Senators open a five-game homestand with a victory.
The Philadelphia Flyers have signed defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen to a five-year contract extension worth $25.5 million.
The 27-year-old Ristolainen is in his first season with the Flyers and has two goals with 11 assists in 49 games while averaging just over 21 minutes of ice time. He leads the team with 177 hits, which ranks third among NHL defensemen
Elsewhere in the NHL:
The Golden Knights sent home starting goalie Robin Lehner (LEH’-nur) to further evaluate a lower-body injury. Coach Pete DeBoer didn’t provide details on the injury except to say it’s not related to the upper-body injury which led to Lehner missing five games late last month.
The Maple Leafs will be without No. 1 goaltender Jack Campbell for at least the next two weeks because of a rib injury.
NFL:
The Los Angeles Chargers have agreed to acquire defensive end Khalil Mack from the Bears for two draft picks. That’s according to two people familiar with the negotiations who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The Chargers are expected to send a second-round pick this year and a 2023 sixth-round selection to the Bears for the three-time All-Pro defender.
PGA:
Tommy Fleetwood opened with a 6-under 66 to share the clubhouse lead with Tom Hoge in first-round play of The Players Championship.
Hoge had an eagle on the par-5 second hole, his 11th of the round, and shot 31 on the front nine to join him in the clubhouse at 66.
The PGA Tour’s premier event with a $20 million purse got off to a stop-and-go start because of storms Thursday and a dire forecast for Friday. Only 66 players finished the opening round. Twelve didn’t even hit their first tee shots.
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