NBA
The wins and accomplishments keep piling up for the NBA-leading Cleveland Cavaliers. They’ve been so frequent that players are having a hard time keeping track after their 109-104 victory over Brooklyn. Cleveland tied its franchise record for consecutive wins with 15 — after setting the mark in the first 15 games of the season — and is tied for the fifth-best start in NBA history at 55-10. Even with All-Star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell, sixth man De’Andre Hunter and sharpshooter Ty Jerome in street clothes on the bench, the Cavaliers rallied from an 18-point deficit in the second half against the Nets.
Cade Cunningham had 27 points and 10 assists, and the Detroit Pistons beat NBA-worst Washington 123-103 in a physical game that included two late flagrant fouls by the Wizards. Washington’s Richaun Holmes was ejected in the fourth quarter for throwing an elbow to the face of Detroit’s Ausar Thompson while securing a rebound. A few minutes later, the Wizards’ Marcus Smart was assessed a flagrant-1 foul for elbowing Tim Hardaway Jr. Jalen Duren added 15 points and 13 assists for the Pistons, who ended a two-game skid. Detroit entered the night in sixth place in the Eastern Conference. Smart led the Wizards with 16 points.
Tyrese Haliburton described it as “a football play” — and he converted the extra point, too. With the Indiana Pacers needing a 3-pointer to tie the Milwaukee Bucks in the closing seconds Tuesday night, a streaking Haliburton took a handoff-style inbound pass along the left sideline, elevated over Giannis Antetokounmpo while fading out of bounds, and buried the 3 while being fouled. Haliburton made the free throw for a stunning four-point play with 3.4 seconds left, and the Bucks held on for a 115-114 victory over the Bucks when Antetokounmpo missed a 3 at the buzzer.
Junior Bridgeman, a basketball standout who went on to an even more successful career in business, has died at the age of 71. Bridgeman led Louisville to a Final Four and played 12 seasons in the NBA, mostly with the Milwaukee Bucks. He then launched a business career with stakes in publishing, restaurants and the Bucks. He died Tuesday in Louisville, Kentucky. Bridgeman was a fixture in Louisville after his playing days. Mayor Craig Greenberg said the city had “lost a kind, generous and groundbreaking legend.”
Zion Williamson had 22 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds, and the New Orleans Pelicans snapped a four-game slide with a 127-120 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Williamson had 10 of his points, five rebounds and five assists in the fourth quarter to help New Orleans hold off the playoff-contending Clippers, invigorating the crowd with one clutch play after another. CJ McCollum had 23 points, Trey Murphy III added 21 points for New Orleans. Kawhi Leonard scored a game-high 29 points and James Harden added 25 points and 17 assist for the Clippers, who had won six of their previous seven but didn’t lead until Ivica Zubac dunked Harden’s lob with 5:08 left in the third quarter.
NHL
Phillip Danault and Quinton Byfield scored in the second period and the Los Angeles Kings beat the New York Islanders 4-1. Vladislav Gavrikov and Drew Doughty also scored for the Kings, who have won three straight after losing five in a row (0-3-2). Darcy Kuemper finished with 33 saves to get his 20th win of the season. Anders Lee scored and Ilya Sorokin had 28 saves for the Islanders, who had two goals disallowed for goalie interference. New York has lost two straight and three of the last five.
The New York Islanders had two goals wiped out on coach's challenges for goaltender interference in the second period of their game at the Los Angeles Kings. Anthony Duclair scoring midway through the second period was successfully taken off the board by LA's Jim Hiller when the NHL's situation room ruled that Simon Holmstrom impaired Kings goalie Darcy Kuemper's ability to play his position in the crease. Islanders captain Anders Lee's would-be goal with 2:05 left before intermission also came back for Lee impeding Kuemper. The rival New York Rangers were on the winning end of a coach's challenge for interference at Winnipeg but still lost 2-1 to the Jets.
David Pastrnak had one goal and assisted on Pavel Zacha's-winner as the Boston Bruins scored three times in the third period to overcome a two-goal deficit and beat the Florida Panthers 3-2. Four days after Bruins captain Brad Marchand was traded to the Panthers, his old team beat his new one. That snapped a six-game winning streak for the defending Stanley Cup champions. Boston had lost eight of nine heading into the trade deadline but has since won back-to-back games against likely playoff teams from Florida.
Jesper Bratt had a goal and two assists, Luke Hughes added a goal and an assist, and the New Jersey Devils beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3. Nico Hischier, Timo Meier and Paul Cotter also scored and Cody Glass had two assists to help the Devils win their second straight after losing four of five. Jacob Markstrom finished with 17 saves. Mathieu Olivier scored twice and Kirill Marchenko also had a goal for Columbus, which has lost three of their last four. Elvis Merzlikins had 22 saves.
Brady Tkachuk scored 24 seconds into the game, Michael Amadio scored the go-ahead goal and the Ottawa Senators beat the Philadelphia Flyers 5-2. Tyler Kleven, Dylan Cozens and Shane Pinto also scored for the Senators, who won their fourth straight game and have registered at least one point in all five games played in March, which has allowed them to surge into playoff position in the Eastern Conference. Jamie Drysdale and Rodrigo Abols scored for the Flyers, who lost their fifth straight game — all at home. Anton Forsberg had 20 saves for the Senators and Fedotov finished with 19.
Erik Karlsson scored 49 seconds into overtime to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins past the Vegas Golden Knights 3-2. Vegas had tied it late in regulation on a slapshot by Noah Hanifin with 6 seconds remaining. The Golden Knights never touched the puck in the extra period. Pittsburgh controlled the faceoff and held onto it until Karlsson ripped his ninth goal of the season from just above the right circle. Sidney Crosby scored twice for Pittsburgh. Tristan Jarry made 35 saves in his first home start in nearly two months. Jack Eichel had an assist for Vegas. He now has 78 points on the season, tying William Karlsson's single-season club record.
Seth Jarvis scored a short-handed goal, Pyotr Kochetkov stopped 23 shots, and the Carolina Hurricanes beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1. Jordan Martinook, Jack Roslovic and Sean Walker also scored for the Hurricanes, who won their fifth straight. Gage Goncalves had a goal for Tampa Bay, and Andrei Vasilevskiy made 27 saves. The Lightning lost for just the third time in their last 13 games.
Mats Zuccarello scored the winner in the shootout after also scoring in regulation to give the Minnesota Wild a 2-1 win over the Colorado Avalanche. Matt Boldy scored the second goal in the shootout for the Wild, while Filip Gustavsson made 27 saves. Joel Kiviranta scored for the Avalanche and Mackenzie Blackwood stopped 22 shots. Zuccarello opened the shootout with a goal, and Gustavsson stoned Nathan MacKinnon on the other end. After Boldy scored, Martin Necas’ rush trickled off the end of his stick to give Minnesota the win.
Aliaksei Protas had the first hat trick of his NHL career, Alex Ovechkin and Pierre-Luc Dubois each had three points and the Washington Capitals extended their winning streak to five, defeating the Anaheim Ducks 7-4 on Tuesday night. The game was tied at 4-all before the Capitals scored three times in the final 6:35. Anaheim’s Frank Vatrano, Drew Helleson and Pavel Mintyukov each had a goal and an assist.
Juraj Slafkovsky had a goal and two assists as the Montreal Canadiens beat the struggling Vancouver Canucks 4-2. Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield each had a goal and an assist, and Mike Matheson added an empty-netter in the final minute for the Canadiens. Sam Montembault finished with 29 saves to help Montreal win for the sixth time in eight games (6-1-1) and pull into tie with Boston and the New York Rangers, two points behind Columbus for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. Filip Hronek had a goal and an assist and Elias Pettersson also scored for the Canucks. Kevin Lankinen made 23 saves.
Kieffer Bellows scored his first NHL goal in nearly two years, and the Nashville Predators beat the San Jose Sharks 3-2. Filip Forsberg had a goal and an assist, and Steven Stamkos also scored for Nashville, which won its fourth straight. Juuse Saros stopped 25 shots. Patrick Giles and Collin Graf scored in the third period to tie it for San Jose, and Alexandar Georgiev had 16 saves. The Sharks have lost three straight.
NFL
The Buffalo Bills have turned to Joey Bosa to fill their pass-rush needs. The team and Bosa agreed on a one-year, $12.6 million contract. That's according to a person familiar with the deal who spoke to The Associated Press Tuesday night on condition of anonymity because the agreement won't be official until Wednesday. Bosa joins the Bills after the team cut Von Miller on Sunday to free up salary-cap space. He was the NFL's defensive rookie of the year in 2016 and has 72 career sacks. But his production has dwindled in recent years because of injuries.
Former New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has agreed to a one-year, $14 million contract with the Indianapolis Colts, according to a person with knowledge of the deal. The person, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because free agents can’t sign until Wednesday, said Jones’ deal is worth up to $17.7 million. The No. 6 overall pick in 2019 by the Giants, Jones will get a chance to compete with Anthony Richardson in Indianapolis. Jones was 24-44-1 in New York with one playoff victory. He finished last season as a backup with the Vikings after the Giants released him.
The wheeling and dealing continued on the eve of the NFL's start of its new league year. A day after defensive tackle Milton Williams and edge rusher Josh Sweat agreed to leave Philadelphia via free agency, the Super Bowl champs agreed to send star safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson to the Houston Texans for guard Kenyon Green and a swap of late-round draft picks. The Minnesota Vikings made a splash by agreeing to terms on contracts with former Washington defensive tackle Jonathan Allen and former Indianapolis guard Will Fries, who follows center Ryan Kelly from the Colts to the Vikings.
GOLF
Tiger Woods is out with another injury. Woods says he ruptured his left Achilles tendon and had surgery Tuesday. He did not offer many details. But the injury will keep him out of the Masters and leaves in question whether he can play in any other major championship the rest of the year. Woods says he was ramping up his practice when he felt a pain in his left Achilles. He says it was determined to be a ruptured tendon. Woods says he had minimally invasive surgery. Those involve a smaller incision and lead to a shorter recovery time. But it's typically a month until someone can even put weight on their foot.
SOCCER
Paris Saint-Germain has defeated Liverpool in a penalty shootout to join Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Inter Milan in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. PSG beat Liverpool 1-0 on the night to level the aggregate score at 1-1. Gianluigi Donnarumma made two saves in the shootout to give PSG a 4-1 victory. Raphinha scored twice and Lamine Yamal once as Barcelona advanced to the quarterfinals past Benfica 4-1 on aggregate score. It won 3-1 in the second leg. Bayern Munich beat German rival Bayer Leverkusen 2-0 to advance 5-0 on aggregate. Inter Milan moved on past Feyenoord with a 2-1 win and a 4-1 global score.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Braden Huff scored 18 points and Gonzaga avenged two regular-season losses to Saint Mary’s to beat the 19th-ranked Gaels 58-51 in the West Coast Conference Tournament championship. The Bulldogs secured the WCC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. Both teams were safely in the field regardless of the outcome. The Zags got some measure of revenge for losing to the Gaels in last year’s title game. That ended Gonzaga’s run of four conference championships and 10 of 11. Gonzaga also extended its national record to 18 consecutive 25-win seasons. Mitchell Saxen led Saint Mary’s with 20 points.
The University at Albany men's basketball program fell to Bryant in the 2025 America East Men's Basketball Playoffs by a score of 91-78, ending the Danes' season at 17-16 overall and an even 8 and 8 in conference play.
Bryant advance to Saturday’s final against Maine, which beat Vermont 57-42 last night.
Coach Dwayne Killings said "Regarding the season, I think it was a season of growth. You look back, and I think we all would say to each other that there were some opportunities to get another win here or there, but you know, at the end of the day, we reached the semifinals in the conference tournament, which is a huge goal. One of our goals this year was to finish in the top 4 in the League… there's a lot of positive, and if you look in the grand scheme of it… in the second half of League play tells you a lot about the direction of the program."
The Siena College Men’s basketball season ended last night after their 78 to 76 loss to Rider in the MAAC Tournament.
Meanwhile, Syracuse advanced to the next round of the ACC tournament, topping Florida State 66 to 62.
Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark is in favor of expanding the men’s NCAA Tournament to 76 teams. He also indicated that a decision could come in the next few months, which opens the possibility of any proposed changes being implemented as soon as next year. Last year, the NCAA presented a plan to Division I commissioners that would expand the men’s and women’s tournaments by four or eight teams alongside an option to leave each field at 68. NCAA senior vice president of basketball Dan Gavitt said recently he doesn’t expect a vote in the near future, but he left open the possibility of a spring vote.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
On the women's side of the MAAC tournament, Iona won their first round game over St. Peter's 42 to 40. They advance to today's quarterfinals, where they'll play No. 2
Quinnipiac at 2:30 this afternoon.
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