NCAA MARCH MADNESS
LSU won its first NCAA basketball title in school history, overcoming Caitlin Clark and Iowa 102-85 in the national championship game. The victory made Kim Mulkey the first women’s coach to win national championships at two different schools. She won three at Baylor before leaving for LSU two years ago. Her four titles gave her the third most all-time behind Geno Auriemma’s 11 and Pat Summitt’s eight. Mulkey has never lost in a championship game. Angel Reese had 15 points and 10 rebounds for LSU and was honored as the Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four. Clark scored 30 points to finish the tournament with 191, breaking Sheryl Swoopes' record of 177 set in 1993.
On the men’s side, the once semipredictable ground that underpinned college basketball has been changing at lightning speed over the past 24 months. It's leaving coaches and their bosses scrambling to adjust to whatever comes next. The NCAA Tournament closes out today when UConn plays San Diego State in the national championship game tonight at 9:20), and will go down as one of the most unpredictable ever. Unanswered is the question of whether the shifting landscape in college sports was the reason for all bracket madness or simply background noise for an event that is always hard to handicap. Either way, things are changing and coaches are trying to adjust on the fly.
NBA
Jalen Brunson and Quentin Grimes each scored 27 points, and the New York Knicks clinched a playoff berth with a 118-109 victory over the Washington Wizards. Immanuel Quickley added 22 points and Obi Toppin had 21 for the Knicks, who won their fourth in a row and will be in the postseason for the second time in three years. They had missed the playoffs the previous seven seasons. Mitchell Robinson contributed eight points and 11 rebounds as the Knicks, who have won both games since losing All-Star forward Julius Randle to a sprained left ankle.
Mikal Bridges had 30 points and seven rebounds, helping the Brooklyn Nets move closer to clinching a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference by holding off the Utah Jazz 111-110. Spencer Dinwiddie had 17 points and 12 assists, his eighth double-double in 23 games for Brooklyn, and Cam Johnson had 18 points. The Nets won their third straight, and fourth in their past five games, opening a two-game lead over Miami for the No. 6 seed and dipping their magic number to two to clinch the last guaranteed playoff spot in the East. Talen Horton-Tucker scored 32 points and Lauri Markkanen had 23 points and nine rebounds for the Jazz.
Milwaukee 117 Philadelphia 104
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 33 points, 14 rebounds and six assists and the Milwaukee Bucks beat the Philadelphia 76ers 117-104 on Sunday night to move a step closer to the top playoff seed in the Eastern Conference. The Bucks have a two-game lead over Boston with four games left. Boston won the season series with Milwaukee and has the tiebreaker. Philadelphia is third in the East. Brook Lopez scored 21 points, Khris Middleton had 19 and Jrue Holiday and Bobby Portis each added 18 as the Bucks shot 57.5%. Middleton also had nine assists. Tyrese Maxey had 29 points and Joel Embiid 28 for the 76ers.
NHL
Alexis Lafrenière and Kaapo Kakko scored to help the New York Rangers beat the Washington Capitals 5-2. The playoff-bound Rangers with the win snapped a two-game skid. Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves to pick up his 35th win of the season. Defenseman K'Andre Miller, Vladimir Tarasenko and Mika Zibanejad also scored for New York. Dylan Strome and Aliaksei Protas scored for Washington. The Capitals inched closer to being eliminated from contention with their seventh loss in eight games.
Jordan Martinook scored for the first time in more than two months to break a third-period tie as the Carolina Hurricanes beat the New York Islanders 2-1. Jesperi Kotkaniemi also scored and Frederik Andersen made 21 saves for the Hurricanes, who’ve won back-to-back games following a stretch of four losses in five games to maintain first place in the Metropolitan Division. Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored first for the Islanders, who’ve lost two games in a row and three of their last five. New York is in playoff position, but only has four games remaining in a tight competition with multiple teams for the final two spots in the Eastern Conference. Ilya Sorokin stopped 33 shots for New York.
Charlie Coyle scored the game-winning shootout goal as the Boston Bruins recovered from blowing a three-goal lead to beat the St. Louis Blues 4-3 for its 60th win of the season. Linus Ullmark made 35 saves and stopped all three St. Louis shootout attempts. Jake DeBrusk, Tyler Bertuzzi and Oskar Steen all scored in regulation for Boston. Jordan Kyrou scored a pair of goals, and Torey Krug also scored for St. Louis. Jordan Binnington made 28 saves for St. Louis which lost its second straight game.
Nikolaj Ehlers scored twice and Morgan Barron converted a penalty shot as the Winnipeg Jets beat the New Jersey Devils 6-1. Pierre-Luc Dubois had a goal and assist, while Kyle Connor and Nino Niederreiter also scored for the Jets. Blake Wheeler had two assists. Connor Hellebuyck stopped 31 shots in his 60th start of the season. Nico Hischier spoiled Connor Hellebuyck’s shutout bid when he scored on the power play with 13.9 seconds left. Vitek Vanacek finished with 17 saves for New Jersey before he was replaced by Mackenzie Blackwood to start the third period. Blackwood made four saves in relief. Winnipeg pulled one point behind Seattle for the first Western Conference wild card, though the Kraken have two games in hand.
Rickard Rakell scored two goals and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Philadelphia Flyers 4-2. Penguins defenseman Kris Letang skated in his 1,000th career game and Bryan Rust scored in his 500th NHL game. Ryan Poehling added a late empty-net goal, and Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin each had two assists. Casey DeSmith stopped 31 shots. Crosby is three points from 1,500 in the NHL. He also tied Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux for the most career points against the Flyers in NHL history with 124. Travis Konecny scored his 29th of the season and Nicolas Deslauriers his sixth, both in the third period, but the Flyers couldn’t rally from their early three-goal deficit. Samuel Ersson finished with 27 saves as Philadelphia lost its third straight following a four-game win streak.
MLB
Giancarlo Stanton smashed a titanic home run, Aaron Judge also went deep and Jhony Brito won his major league debut as the New York Yankees beat the San Francisco Giants 6-0. Kyle Higashioka also homered off Ross Stripling, who served up all three long balls in his first start for San Francisco. New York took two of three in the initial series of the season. Brito yielded only two hits over five impressive innings. He struck out six and walked one, showcasing a polished changeup.
Kodai Senga struck out eight in his major league debut, wearing a glove with an image of a ghost and a pitchfork in reference to his “ghost forkball,” leading the New York Mets over the Miami Marlins 5-1. The 30-year-old left-hander agreed to a $75 million, five-year contract after 11 seasons with the Pacific League’s Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks. He allowed one run, three hits and three walks in 5 1/3 innings. Senga averaged 96.8 mph with 32 fastballs. Tommy Pham had three hits and three RBIs, finishing a triple shy of the cycle.
Adam Duvall had three more hits, including two doubles and a two-run single to break a fifth-inning tie as the Boston Red Sox beat the Baltimore Orioles 9-5. One day after Duvall went 4 for 5 with a walk-off homer, the free agent outfielder collected his sixth extra-base hit of the season. He’s the first player in franchise history with six in his first three games with the team. The Red Sox are the third team in baseball history to score at least nine runs in each of their first three games. The 1976 Reds and ’78 Brewers are the others. Kiké Hernández had two hits, including a solo homer. Rafael Devers, Masataka Yoshida and Alex Verdugo also had two hits apiece for Boston. Adam Frazier had three hits for Baltimore.
Marcus Semien drove in the go-ahead run with an RBI single in the fifth inning. Josh Jung homered and the Texas Rangers completed a season-opening series sweep of the defending NL champion Philadelphia Phillies with a 2-1 victory. Martin Perez allowed one run in 5 2/3 innings. Jonathan Hernandez got five outs and Will Smith pitched a perfect ninth inning to earn his first save of the season. Perez gave up eight hits, walked three and struck out seven to help the Rangers to their first 3--0 start since 2011 — when they won their second straight AL pennant. Bailey Falter gave up both runs by the Rangers on seven hits in 5 1/3 innings.
Graham Ashcraft pitched seven solid innings, Jason Vosler and TJ Friedl hit solo home runs and the Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-1 on Saturday. Ashcraft (1-0) overcame Brian Reynolds’ home run to last seven innings, allowing four hits and one run with a walk and six strikeouts. Tyler Stephenson also drove in a run and Vosler, Friedl and Jonathan India each had two hits for the Reds. Alexis Diaz pitched the ninth for his first save. Vince Velasquez (0-1), making his Pirates debut after signing in December as a free agent, lasted 4-2/3 innings, giving up five hits and three runs with one walk and three strikeouts.
GOLF
Corey Conners won the Valero Texas Open for the second time in five years Sunday for his second PGA Tour title, closing with a 4-under 68 for a one-stroke victory over rookie Sam Stevens. Also, the 2019 winner, Conners had a 15-under 273 total on TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course. The Canadian now heads to the Masters, where he tied sixth last year for his second straight top-10 finish at Augusta National. A shot behind Patrick Rodgers starting play, Conners had a three-shot lead after he birdied No. 15. Stevens eagled the 17th, but missed a 9-foot birdie putt at 18 that would have tied it. Connors ended it with a 3-foot par putt on 18. Stevens shot a 66.
Brooks Koepka is the first multiple winner on the Saudi-funded LIV Golf circuit. Koepka won LIV Golf-Orlando with a 68. That gave him a one-shot win over Sebastian Munoz of Colombia. Koepka also won last year in Saudi Arabia in a playoff. This one came down to the last hole. Munoz had a long birdie putt to force a playoff. But his Torque team had a one-shot lead over Koepka's team. Munoz says he didn't want to be too aggressive with the putt in case he went too far by the hole. He left it well short and made par.
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