NHL:
In the NHL, the Islanders topped Pittsburgh 5-3, Calgary won against Toronto 3-0, and it was San Jose over Los Angeles 4-1.
Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson has taken a leave of absence from the team as his wife battles a rare form of throat cancer. Nicholle Anderson is suffering from a cancer that starts in the upper part of the throat behind the nose and near the base of skull. She is undergoing treatment at the Memorial Sloane Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
NBA:
In the NBA, the Knicks beat Minnesota 106-104, Detroit won against Boston 121-114, the Lakers bested Chicago 96-90, San Antonio beat Dallas 94-87, Miami topped Denver 106-98, Phoenix beat Atlanta 109-107, Toronto bested Memphis 120-105, and it was Portland over Indiana 131-109. The Sacramento at Philadelphia game was postponed.
NCAA:
In college men’s basketball, St. Bonaventure beat Siena 81-74, Holy Cross won against UAlbany 55-49, and Connecticut managed to beat out Boston University 51-49.
Alexis Peterson had 27 points, six rebounds and five steals to help No. 20 Syracuse beat Michigan State 75-64 in a ACC/Big Ten Challenge game on Wednesday night.
Reserves C.J. Anderson and Malik Hines combined for 33 points and UMass beat Wagner 62-55 Wednesday night. UMass outscored the Seahawks 40-7 on bench points in Amherst.
Bobby Ahearn had 19 points and 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and Binghamton beat Division II Mansfield 91-71 on Wednesday night.
Matt Morgan scored 34 points, including what turned out to be the game winning layup, and Cornell came back in the final minute to beat Northeastern 80-77 on Wednesday night.
OG Anunoby scored 16 points, James Blackmon Jr. had 14 and Robert Johnson added 11 in leading No. 13 Indiana past No. 3 North Carolina 76-67 in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge. The 5-1 Hoosiers have won two straight since last week's stunning loss to little-known IPFW. North Carolina, which trailed for a total of 16 seconds during its four-game trip to Hawaii, never led and spent most of the game trailing by double digits. The Tar Heels fell to 7-1.
In other AP Top-25 hoops:
— London Perrantes scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half for No. 6 Virginia in the Cavaliers' 63-61 win over Ohio State in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
— Reserve King McClure scored 14 points and No. 9 Baylor remained unbeaten with a 79-45 victory over Sam Houston State. The Bears are 7-0.
— No. 11 UCLA trounced UC Riverside 98-56 to improve to 8-0. Isaac Hamilton scored 27 points, tying his career-high with seven 3-pointers.
__ The 12th-ranked St. Mary's Gaels topped Stanford 66-51. Calvin Hermanson scored a career-high 25 and knocked down a career-best seven 3-pointers.
— Ray Spalding and Mangok Mathiang each scored 11 points and Donovan Mitchell contributed seven critical points down the stretch to help No. 14 Louisville hold off No. 15 Purdue 71-64 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Cardinals rebounded from their second-half collapse against Baylor in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship when they lost a 22-point lead. They held Purdue to a season-low 36 percent shooting.
— Lauri Markkanen scored 19 points and hit five 3-pointers, helping No. 16 Arizona bounce back from its first loss of the season with an 85-63 rout of Texas Southern.
— Preseason All-America Dillon Brooks scored 21 points and Roman Sorkin had 15 for Oregon in the 23rd-ranked Ducks' 93-54 rout of Western Oregon.
Golf:
A year after Tiger Woods struggled just to get on his feet, he can't wait to get started in his return to golf.
Woods was a mixture of optimism and reality Tuesday when he spoke about coming back after a 15-month hiatus, the longest break of his career. He says his goals haven't changed, but that it would be a tall order for him to post low scores after being gone for so long.
Woods says one year has made a massive difference. He says the reason he offered such a bleak outlook last year at this tournament was because he struggled to get out of bed, much less swing a club. He says no matter what he shoots, the week is a success because he's playing again.
MLB:
Baseball fans do not have to worry about a labor stoppage in Major League Baseball. The baseball players union and owners have a verbal agreement on a tentative five-year labor contract.
The league that wins baseball's Midsummer Classic no longer will get home-field advantage in the World Series, which instead will go to the pennant winner with the better regular-season record.
Yoenis Cespedes and the New York Mets have finalized a $110 million, four-year contract. A two-time All-Star, the 31-year-old Cespedes gets $22.5 million in 2017, $29 million in each of the following two seasons and $29.5 million in 2020.
In other Hot Stove League news:
— Free agent outfielder Matt Joyce has agreed to a two-year, $11 million contract with the Oakland Athletics. He has played in 140 games in each of three of the last four seasons, batting .242 with 13 home runs and 42 RBIs this year for Pittsburgh. Joyce will be playing for his fifth major league team as he begins his 10th season.
— Facing the possibility of getting cut by the Colorado Rockies later this week, right-hander Jordan Lyles has agreed to a one-year contract worth $3.175 million. Lyles was mostly used out of the bullpen by the Rockies last season and made 35 relief appearances.
— The Minnesota Twins have signed former Houston Astros catcher Jason Castro to a three-year contract worth $24.5 million. The left-handed batter hit .210 with 11 homers and 32 RBIs last year.
— The Atlanta Braves have finalized an $11.5 million, two-year contract with utility player Sean Rodriguez. The 31-year-old provides depth with major league starts at every position except catcher. He hit .270 with 18 homers and 56 RBIs — all career highs — for Pittsburgh in 2016.
Hall of Famers Nolan Ryan and Barry Larkin along with recently retired David Ortiz are among the investors in Dugout Ventures, a new private equity group that says it will support baseball-focused companies. Torii Hunter and Vernon Wells also were among the investors announced Wednesday.
NFL:
The Dallas Cowboys put their team-record 10-game winning streak on the line tonight when they visit Minnesota to play the 6-5 Vikings. Vikings coach Mike Zimmer, who spent 13 years with Cowboys from 1994-2006, had emergency eye surgery last night that put his status for game in question.
Elsewhere:
— Raiders quarterback Derek Carr says his injured pinkie won't hinder him during preparations to play against Buffalo this week. Carr dislocated the finger during Sunday's win over Carolina last weekend and was forced to miss a series.
— Atlanta has placed cornerback Desmond Trufant on injured reserve after he missed the last two games with a shoulder/pectoral injury. Defense end Adrian Clayborn will miss at least two weeks after having surgery on his left knee. He is second on the team with 4 1-2 sacks. Clayborn was injured in Sunday's win over Arizona.
— Bills receiver Sammy Watkins was a late scratch from practice after complaining about soreness in his surgically repaired left foot. He missed nine weeks with the injury before returning to play against Jacksonville last week. Wadkins had three catches for 80 yards.
Soccer:
A hotline set up in response to sex abuse claims in British soccer has taken more than 860 calls in its first week. The NSPCC children's charity says it made 60 referrals to the police or children's services within the first three days of the hotline's launch.
NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless says "we have had a staggering surge in calls to our football hotline, which reveals the worrying extent of abuse that had been going on within the sport."
Former professional players have been speaking publicly over the last two weeks about the ordeals they went through as youngsters at the hands of coaches. Fifteen police forces are investigating allegations of child sex abuse in soccer.
MLS:
Benoit Cheyrou and Tosaint Ricketts scored 2 minutes apart in extra time and Toronto FC advanced to the MLS Cup final, outlasting the Montreal Impact 5-2 in the rain Wednesday night for a 7-5 aggregate victory. It took extra time and 12 goals to decide the two-leg Eastern Conference final. Toronto will host the Seattle Sounders on Dec. 10 in the MLS championship game, becoming the first Canadian team to play for the title.
Toronto trailed 3-2 after Game 1 in Montreal and fell further behind after the Impact scored first. Only once before in MLS playoff history had a club trailed by as many as three goals in a two-leg aggregate series and come back to wine. The San Jose Earthquakes were down 4-0 in 2003 before rallying to beat the Los Angeles Galaxy 5-4.
©2016 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.
