NFL
The New Orleans Saints have control of the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs after putting the clamps on Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers.
Alvin Kamara had 103 yards from scrimmage and scored a go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter of the Saints' 12-9 win at Carolina. The Saints were held to a pair of Will Lutz field goals until Kamara ripped off a 16-yard scoring run with 12:12 remaining.
New Orleans held Newton to 132 yards passing, sacked him four times and forced turnovers. The Saints' defense didn't allow a point following Chris Manhertz's 50-yard scoring pass to Chris McCaffrey on a trick play in the first quarter.
The Saints are 12-2 and one game ahead of the Rams for the top seed in the NFC postseason.
The Panthers have played themselves out of playoff contention by losing six straight since a 6-2 start.
Source says Gore expected to miss rest of season:
The Dolphins likely will be without their top running back as they try to grab an AFC wild-card berth.
A person familiar with the situation says Frank Gore is expected to miss the rest of the season with a sprained foot. The NFL's all-time leading rusher among active players was hurt during Sunday's 41-17 loss at Minnesota.
Gore rushed for a team-high 722 yards this year and averaged 4.6 yards per carry.
Also in the NFL:
Titans’ cornerback Logan Ryan says he broke his left leg in Tennessee's victory over the Giants Sunday, posting on Twitter that he believes a player should release his own injury news. Ryan says he will miss the rest of the season, though he is proud he was able to walk off the field Sunday with a broken fibula.
NBA
Detroit Pistons forward Blake Griffin posted a triple-double on Monday, but it was his final two shots that allowed the Milwaukee Bucks to pull out a 107-104 victory.
Griffin missed two 3-point attempts in the final 14 seconds, the last coming just before the buzzer. Griffin finished with 19 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds, but he also had 10 turnovers for an unwanted quadruple-double.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had 32 points and 12 rebounds for the Bucks, who blew a 15-point lead in the second half before improving to 20-9. Antetokounmpo put Milwaukee up by three with a dunk, then added a three-point play and a driving layup to make it 107-100.
Khris Middleton finished with 22 points and Eric Bledsoe added 17 with a team-high nine assists in Milwaukee's second straight win.
Checking out Monday's other NBA action:
Kevin Durant dropped in 23 points and Stephen Curry reached another milestone while contributing 20 points and seven boards to the Warriors' 110-93 win against the Grizzlies. Curry is the fifth player in Golden State history with 15,000 regular-season points, joining Wilt Chamberlain, Rick Barry, Paul Arizin and Chris Mullin.
Damian Lillard was 6-for-7 from 3-point range while scoring 39 points as the Trail Blazers topped the Clippers, 131-127. Los Angeles dropped its fourth in a row despite 39 points and 11 rebounds from Gary Harris.
The Spurs hammered the 76ers as Rudy Gay delivered 21 points while LaMarcus Aldridge and DeMar DeRozan each added 20 in a 123-96 rout. San Antonio held an opponent under 100 points for the fifth straight game and took control by opening the third quarter on a 19-4 run.
The Rockets were 102-97 winners over the Jazz behind James Harden's 47 points. Chris Paul had 11 points and nine assists in Houston's fourth consecutive victory since a three-game slide.
Paul George scored 16 of his game-high 24 points in the final five minutes of the first half before the Thunder completed a 121-96 mauling of the Bulls. Russell Westbrook had 13 points, 16 rebounds and 11 steals for his 111th career triple-double.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 14 points and 14 assists in just 21 minutes of the Timberwolves' 132-105 dismantling of the Kings. Derrick Rose added 13 points and a season-high 11 assists for Minnesota, which led by 36 in the first half.
The Suns picked up their third straight win since a 4-24 start as Devin Booker tied his season high with 38 points to lead a 128-110 thumping of the Knicks in New York. T.J. Warren contributed 17 of his 26 points while Phoenix was outscoring the Knicks, 41-17 in the third quarter.
Tuesday on the Court:
The Brooklyn Nets host Los Angeles at 7:30 p.m.
NBA has its first female assistant GM:
The Indiana Pacers have made Kelly Krauskopf the first female assistant general manager in NBA history.
Krauskopf spent 19 seasons as the top executive of the WNBA's Indiana Fever and helped oversee Indiana's new NBA2K league team. She also served as the WNBA's first director of basketball operations, as an assistant commissioner for the Southwest Conference and on USA Basketball's women's senior national team committee.
MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Eleventh-ranked Florida State got off to a slow start on Monday, and No. 18 Arizona State never hit its stride.
Trent Forrest scored a career high 23 points on 8 of 12 shooting in the Seminoles' 85-68 rout of Southeast Missouri. Forrest also had a team-high eight rebounds and four assists for Florida State, which trailed 47-41 with 14:46 remaining before scoring the next 12 points.
Freshman Devin Vassell added 16 points to help the 9-1 'Noles move to 9-1.
The Sun Devils were beaten on the road as Saben Lee scored 14 points and Aaron Nesmith added 13 off the bench to lead Vanderbilt to an 81-65 win against Arizona State. The Commodores improved to 7-2 and snapped an eight-game skid against ranked opponents that dated to an overtime win over Florida in the 2017 Southeastern Conference Tournament.
Syracuse takes on Buffalo at 8 p.m.
A 10:
Vermont goes against St. Bonaventure at 7 p.m.
America East:
UAlbany takes on Providence at 7 p.m.
American:
UConn faces Drexel at 7 p.m.
MAAC:
Siena takes on Charleston at 7 p.m.
T-25 Poll:
Kansas, Duke and Tennessee are atop the latest AP Top 25 men's college basketball poll for the second straight week.
The Jayhawks earned 56 of 65 first-place votes to stay at No. 1.
Michigan and Virginia each climbed a spot into the top 5. Gonzaga slid four spots to eighth after losing at North Carolina, which jumped three spots to ninth.
No. 25 Nebraska was the only addition to this week's poll, and Villanova fell out for the second time this season after losing to Kansas and Penn.
WOMEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Syracuse topped Niagara 94-45
America East:
South Florida defeated Vermont 102-55
MAAC:
Marist takes on Northeastern at 7 p.m.
NHL
One goal was enough for the Columbus Blue Jackets to defeat to NHL's defending Western Conference champions.
Sergei Bobrovsky made 14 of his 28 saves in the third period of the Jackets' 1-0 shutout of the Golden Knights. Nick Foligno snapped a scoreless tie by beating Malcolm Subban 40 seconds into the third period, allowing Columbus to improve to 2-3-0 on their six-game homestand.
Subban stopped 30 shots for Vegas, which entered the game on a 10-2-1 run before finishing 2-1-1 on its four-game road trip.
Elsewhere on NHL ice:
The Senators coughed up a 3-0 lead before Thomas Chabot tallied 21 seconds into overtime to send Ottawa past the Predators, 4-3. Maxime Lajoie, Brady Tkachuk and Ryan Dzingel scored as the Senators handed Nashville its first loss against an Eastern Conference opponent this season.
Mikko Rantanen's 14-game point streak ended as Thomas Greiss turned back 30 shots in the Islanders' 4-1 verdict over the Avalanche. Johnny Boychuk and Anders Lee scored power-play goals to help New York win the opener of a four-game road trip.
Ondrej Kase scored the tiebreaking goal while the Ducks were scoring three times in the second period to erase a 2-0 deficit in a 4-2 victory at Pittsburgh. Adam Henrique and Kiefer Sherwood also scored in the middle stanza, and Ryan Getzlaf had an assist on the game-winner before adding an empty-netter to secure Anaheim's fourth straight win and ninth in its last 10 contests.
The Bruins were 4-0 winners over the Canadiens as Jaroslav Halak stopped 22 shots in his third shutout of the season and 45th of his career. Colby Cave had a goal and an assist to help Boston stop a two-game skid.
Tuesday on the Ice:
The Buffalo Sabres host Florida at 7 p.m.
The New Jersey Devils take on Toronto at 7 p.m.
The New York Rangers take on The Ducks at 7 p.m.
Philadelphia goes against Detroit at 7 p.m.
The New York Islanders face off against Arizona at 9 p.m.
Flyers fire Hakstol:
The Philadelphia Flyers have fired head coach Dave Hakstol and replaced him with Scott Gordon on an interim basis.
The Flyers have lost 11 of their last 14 games and are in last place in the Eastern Conference, prompting newly-hired general manager Chuck Fletcher to dismiss Hakstol.
Gordon was in his third season as head coach of the AHL's Lehigh Valley Phantoms and spent two-plus seasons as head coach of the New York Islanders.
Hakstol was originally hired by Ron Hextall, who was fired as GM two weeks ago. The 50-year-old Hakstol led the Flyers to the playoffs in two of his three full seasons at the helm and went 134-101-42.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Notre Dame's Brian Kelly is The Associated Press college football Coach of the Year, becoming the third multiple winner since it was established in 1998.
Kelly received 16 of 58 first-place votes from AP college football poll voters and 81 total points. Alabama's Nick Saban was second with 16 first-place votes and 66 points and Central Florida first-year coach Josh Heupel was third with 33 points.
Kelly joins Saban and TCU's Gary Patterson as two-time winners. Kelly was also coach of the year in 2012.
In other college football news:
Alabama coach Nick Saban says quarterback Tua Tagovailoa is "probably ahead of schedule" in recovering from ankle surgery. The Heisman Trophy runner-up injured the ankle when his own lineman came down on his right foot during the fourth quarter of the SEC title game against Georgia. Tagovailoa has been practicing for the top-ranked Crimson Tide in preparation for the College Football Semifinal matchup against Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl.
Stanford running back Bryce Love will skip the Sun Bowl to prepare for the NFL draft. Love was the Heisman Trophy runner-up last year after running for 2,118 yards and averaging 8.1 per carry. Injuries limited him to 739 yards on 166 carries this season.
Ohio State running back Mike Weber plans to declare for the NFL draft after the Rose Bowl, announcing on Twitter Sunday that he would forgo his senior season to pursue his childhood dream of playing pro football. He said he would play in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1 "to finish what my brothers and I started." Weber is one of four players in Ohio State history to rush for more than 1,000 yards as a freshman.
MLB
The New York Yankees spent Monday keeping one starting pitcher and rewarding another.
The Yanks have finalized their two-year, $34 million contract with lefty J.A. Happ, a package that includes a $17 million option for 2021 if he starts at least 27 games or throws at least 165 innings in 2020.
Meanwhile, the Yanks have given lefty CC Sabathia a $500,000 performance bonus for last season despite falling short of the innings quota.
The 38-year-old left-hander was ejected from his final regular-season start six outs shy of the 155 innings specified in his contract for the payment. Sabathia hit Tampa Bay's Jesus Sucre (SOO'-kray) starting the sixth inning on Sept. 27 with his 55th pitch of the night, retaliation for Andrew Kittredge throwing a pitch behind Austin Romine in the top half.
Also around the majors:
A person familiar with the negotiations tells The Associated Press the Houston Astros have agreed to a two-year deal with free agent outfielder Michael Brantley. The 31-year-old Bradley had spent his entire 10-year career with the Indians, batting .295 with a .351 on-base percentage. He hit .309 with 17 home runs, 36 doubles and 76 RBIs in 143 games for Cleveland last season.
The Rangers are bringing back reliever Matt Bush with a minor league contract as the right-hander recovers from elbow surgery. Bush isn't expected to be ready until the second half of the season after surgery in September to repair a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow.
Pitcher Jordan Lyles and the Pirates have finalized a $2.05 million, one-year contract. Lyles is 31-52 with a 5.28 ERA in 217 appearances for Houston, Colorado, San Diego and Milwaukee.
The Indians have acquired minor league infielder Andruw Monasterio from Washington to complete the trade that sent All-Star catcher Yan Gomes to the Nationals.
GYMNASTICS
The Michigan Court of Appeals has agreed to decide whether imprisoned former sports doctor Larry Nassar got an unfair hearing from an outspoken judge who sentenced him to at least 40 years in prison for sexually assaulting young gymnasts.
Lansing-area Judge Rosemarie Aquilina made many provocative remarks during Nassar's sentencing earlier this year, saying at one point that she had signed his "death warrant."
The appeals court last week rejected an appeal in a 40-year sentence that a different judge ordered for Nassar.
© 2018 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
