Cassius Winston put Michigan State on his shoulders and carried the Spartans into the Final Four. The do-everything point guard took over the game when his team faced its biggest deficit and led second-seeded Michigan State to a 68-67 victory over overall No. 1 seed Duke on Sunday in the East Region final.
Duke boasted the biggest stars in Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett, but Winston shined brightest to put Michigan State in the Final Four for the first time since 2015. Winston had 20 points and 10 assists, made nine of his 23 shots and never shied away from shooting. Michigan State will play Texas Tech in one national semifinal Saturday in Minneapolis. Virginia faces Auburn in the other.
The Tigers continue to roar in the NCAA men's basketball tournament in a run that has now brought down the winningest program of all. Bryce Brown scored 24 points, Jared Harper and Anfernee McLemore made the plays that mattered in overtime, and the fifth-seeded Tigers rallied from a 10-point hole to beat second-seeded Kentucky 77-71 on Sunday to earn the Auburn program its first trip to the Final Four. Harper finished with 26 points for the Tigers, who roared through Kansas and North Carolina just to reach the finals of the Midwest Region.
In the Albany regional of the NCAA women's tournament last night, No. 2 UConn topped No. 1 Louisville, 80-73. Elsewhere, the tournament's Elite Eight continues tonight, as No. 2 Iowa challenges No. 1 Baylor at 7 p.m., and No. 2 Stanford plays No. 1 Duke at 9 p.m.
NBA
Trae Young grabbed a deflected inbounds pass and made a last-second jumper to lift the Atlanta Hawks to a 136-135 overtime win over the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday. Justin Anderson had 24 points and 12 rebounds for Atlanta, and John Collins finished with 23 points and 12 boards. Alex Len also scored 23 points. Sterling Brown scored 27 points for Milwaukee, including a go-ahead layup with 1.1 seconds remaining in overtime. The Bucks played without Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton due to injuries. Antetokounmpo, one of the favorites for the NBA MVP award, was held out due to right ankle sprain. Middleton has a sore groin.
Danilo Gallinari had 27 points and 15 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Clippers routed the Memphis Grizzlies 113-96 Sunday night for their league-leading 13th win in 15 games. The Clippers closed March with the NBA's best record at 13-2, tying the highest winning percentage in the month in team history (13-2 in 2013-14).
Stephen Curry scored 25 points with five 3-pointers and the Golden State Warriors beat Charlotte 137-90 to clinch their fifth straight Pacific Division title and hand the Hornets their worst loss of the season. Curry has now made five or more 3s in a career-best eight straight games. He has 335 so far, his second-most in a season behind the NBA-record 402 he hit in 2015-16.
Alex Caruso scored a career-high 23 points in just his 20th NBA game of the season and the Los Angeles Lakers beat the New Orleans Pelicans 130-102. JaVale McGee had 23 points and 16 rebounds and former Pelican Rajon Rondo added 24 points and 12 assists for Los Angeles. Both teams were without their biggest stars. The Lakers LeBron James has been shut down for the season and the Pelicans' Anthony Davis was scratched with back spasms.
Tony Brown Jr. scored 24 points, Thomas Bryant and Jabari Parker each had 20, and the Washington Wizards held Denver to just 28 points in the second half in a 95-90 win over the Nuggets on Sunday Night. Nikola Jokic had 23 points and 14 rebounds for Denver.
Buddy Hield scored 26 points and the Sacramento Kings snapped an 11-game skid in San Antonio, holding on in the fourth quarter and beating the Spurs 113-106 Sunday night. Willie Cauley-Stein added 17 points and all of Sacramento's starters scored in double figures. Bogdan Bogdanovic added 15 points off the bench.
Russel Westbrook's 30th triple-double wasn't enough as Trey Burke had 25 points and eight assists and Dwight Powell scored the winning basket on a dunk with 21 seconds left and the Dallas Mavericks, playing without star rookie Luka Doncic, stunned the Oklahoma City Thunder 106-103 on Sunday afternoon. Jalen Brunson had 18 points, Devin Harris added 15 and Dirk Nowitzki - playing perhaps his final game in Oklahoma City - grabbed a season-high 13 rebounds to go with seven points.
MLB
Bryce Harper homered for the second straight game to cap a fantastic debut weekend and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves 5-1 to complete a three-game sweep. Harper connected on a solo shot to right off Shane Carle in the seventh inning. He heads back to Washington this week to face the Nationals.
Omar Narvaez hit a three-run homer off Rick Porcello in Seattle's seven-run third inning, and the Mariners beat the Boston Red Sox 10-8. The Mariners scored 34 times while taking three of four from the defending World Series champions in their first series at home.
Trea Turner homered twice, including a game-ending solo shot in the ninth inning, and the Washington Nationals beat the New York Mets 6-5 on Sunday for their first win of the season. Turner earlier hit a three-run homer and also scored in the fifth to put Washington up 4-1. The Nationals let a 5-2 lead evaporate in the eighth before Turner ended it with a drive off Justin Wilson (0-1) that landed in the second row of the left-field seats.
Renato Nunez, Trey Mancini and Joey Rickard hit Baltimore's first home runs of the year and the Orioles started strong at Yankee Stadium, beating New York 7-5 in a game delayed more than three hours by rain.
In other MLB action, Yonny Chirinos covered splendidly for Tampa Bay's taxed bullpen, Austin Meadows hit his second homer and the Rays took three of four games from the Houston Astros with a 3-1 victory Sunday. The Rays had planned to use an opener for the first time this season, but manager Kevin Cash instead turned to the 25-year-old Chirinos rather than push his fatigued relievers. Chirinos pitched seven innings, allowing one run, two hits and no walks while striking out six. The only run came on Jake Marisnick's homer in the sixth.
Manny Machado brought in the go-ahead run with a bases-loaded grounder in the seventh inning, Chris Paddack struck out seven in five impressive innings in his major league debut and the San Diego Padres beat the San Francisco Giants 3-1. Four pitchers combined on a two-hitter for the Padres, who took three of four from the Giants.
A.J. Pollock hit a key two-run double during an eighth-inning rally to help the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-7. Pollock tied it at 7 with a shot down the line against Yoshihisa Hirano and advanced to third when right fielder Adam Jones misplayed it.
Khris Davis homered for the fourth time in six games, Frankie Montas pitched into the seventh inning and the Oakland Athletics beat the Los Angeles Angels 2-1. Marcus Semien and Matt Chapman had two hits apiece for the A's, who took three of four from the Angels after getting swept by Seattle in a two-game series in Tokyo to start the season.
Joey Gallo scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth inning and the Texas Rangers outscored the Chicago Cubs 11-10 after falling behind one of their former aces for the second straight day. Gallo raced home from third base when Pedro Strop's pitch to Nomar Mazara bounced past Willson Contreras. The Rangers won their first series of the season after the Cubs rolled on opening day.
Sandy Alcantara pitched eight crisp innings, Jorge Alfaro drove in two runs and the Miami Marlins beat the Colorado Rockies 3-0 on Sunday. Alcantara allowed four hits, struck out six and walked none in his longest outing in 15 major league appearances.
After being blanked in back-to-back losses in Toronto, the Detroit Tigers scored just enough runs to leave Canada on a winning note. Nicholas Castellanos singled home the go-ahead run in the 11th inning, Jeimer Candelario had five hits and the Tigers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 on Sunday after blowing a late lead.
Nelson Cruz hit his first homer with Minnesota, Michael Pineda was stellar in his first pitching appearance since 2017 and the Twins beat the Cleveland Indians 9-3 on Sunday. Pineda had Tommy John surgery after his previous start in July 5, 2017 while with the New York Yankees, and this was his first time back on a big league mound. Cruz, Byron Buxton and Willians Astudillo each drove in two runs for the Twins.
Lucas Giolito took a no-hit bid into the seventh inning in his first start of the season, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Kansas City Royals 6-3 on Sunday to avoid a three-game sweep in the season-opening series. Giolito (1-0) walked Whit Merrifield on four pitches to begin the game, but then retired 19 straight before Alex Gordon's single with one out in the seventh.
Trevor Williams pitched six effective innings and drove in two runs, helping the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the sloppy Cincinnati Reds 5-0 on Sunday. Williams picked up where he left off last season, when he was the only major leaguer to make 10 starts of at least six innings without allowing a run. The right-hander gave up three hits, struck out six and walked one.
Christian Yelich hit his fourth homer in the first inning and a two-run double in the ninth, leading the Milwaukee Brewers to a dramatic 5-4 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday. Ben Gamel led off the ninth with a pinch-hit double and advanced on Lorenzo Cain's infield single off reliever Jordan Hicks' glove. Yelich then hit a liner into the gap in left-center, driving in Gamel and Cain.
NHL
Alexandar Georgiev had all the answers against the Philadelphia Flyers. Georgiev made 29 saves and Ryan Strome scored for the third consecutive game and the New York Rangers beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-0 on Sunday. Pavel Buchnevich, and Brady Skjei also scored for the Rangers and Brett Howden had two assists. Strome scored late in the first period to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead when he went top shelf on Flyers goalie Carter Hart, who had only one defenseman helping him defend an odd-man rush. It was the Flyers' first game since being eliminated from playoff contention.
Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 38 shots and the Columbus Blue Jackets won their fifth straight by beating the free-falling Buffalo Sabres 4-0. The Blue Jackets continued to close in on their third straight playoff berth while entering the final week of the season. With 94 points, they jumped into seventh-place in the Eastern Conference standings.
Taro Hirose scored his first NHL goal early in the third period just eight seconds after Anthony Mantha had a hat trick for the first time in the league and the Detroit Red Wings went on to beat Boston Bruins 6-3. Mantha scored twice in the opening period to give Detroit a 2-0 lead and scored again 1:17 into the third period to tie the game.
Matt Murray stopped 37 shots and the Pittsburgh Penguins inched closer to a playoff berth with a 3-1 win over Carolina. Matt Cullen, at 42 the NHL's oldest player, had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh. Garrett Wilson collected his first goal in nearly two months and Patric Hornqvist added his first even-strength score since early January. Murray did the rest while as the Penguins took a major step toward assuring itself of a spot in the postseason for the 13th consecutive year.
In other Sunday ice action, the Calgary Flames scored three times in less than two minutes in the first period on their way to clinching the top spots in the Western Conference and Pacific Division with a 5-3 victory over the San Jose Sharks. Sean Monahan, Mark Jankowski, Dalton Prout, Mikael Backlund and Michael Frolik all scored for Calgary, which won for the eighth time in 11 games. It's the first time in 13 years that the Flames have won their division.
Darcy Kuemper made 36 saves for his fifth shutout of the season, Josh Archibald scored two goals and the Arizona Coyotes kept their playoff push going with a 4-0 victory over Minnesota. It was Kuemper's second shutout in three games and the Coyotes moved within one point of Colorado for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference with three games to play.
NASCAR
Denny Hamlin overcame two penalties on pit road and won the NASCAR Cup race at Texas, where Kyle Busch missed out on the chance for a tripleheader weekend sweep and polesitter Jimmie Johnson's career-worst winless streak stretched to 66 races. Hamlin led the final 12 laps, and 45 of the 334 overall at the 1 1/2-mile track Sunday. He also won the Daytona 500 in his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. It was Hamlin's third win at Texas, his first since sweeping both races in 2010. Gibbs drivers have won four of the seven races this season, and Team Penske won the other three. Clint Bowyer finished second, followed by Daniel Suarez, Erik Jones and Johnson.Johnson, whose last win was at Dover in June 2017, led 61 laps. Busch finished 10th after leading six times for a race-high 66 laps before brushing the wall.
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