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Smith hits late 3-pointer, Rockets beat Pelicans 114-112

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:18:43 GMT

HOUSTON (AP) — Rookie Jabari Smith Jr. hit a 3-pointer with less than a second remaining to give the Houston Rockets a 114-112 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night in the first of straight games between the teams.Smith hit the shot over defender Naji Marshall from slightly right of straightaway and immediately turned to his coach Stephen Silas, who was pointing at Smith in celebration.Smith had 11 points and eight rebounds in 29 minutes. It was his only 3-pointer in three attempts.Jalen Green led Houston with 25 points and had seven rebounds and six assists. Kevin Porter Jr. added 20 points and six assists.Brandon Ingram led New Orleans with 31 points. Jonas Valanciunas added 22 points and 17 rebounds, one shy of his season high. Valanciunas had his first 20-point game since Jan. 20, bullying the Rockets in the paint and going 10 for 16 from the field with four blocks on the defensive end.The teams will meet again Sunday night in Houston.The Rockets entered the four...

March Madness: Miami gets 21 from Pack to rally past Drake

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:18:43 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — Nijel Pack scored 21 points — including the go-ahead jumper and a pair of free throws in the final minute — to rally No. 5 seeded Miami past Drake 63-56 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday night.The Hurricanes (26-7) scored the final 10 points in just barely getting past 12th-seeded Drake only a year after reaching the Elite Eight.Norchad Omier added 12 points and 14 rebounds for the Hurricanes, who won despite being held to a season-low 63 points. Wooga Poplar had 15 points.Darnell Brodie had 20 points and nine rebounds to lead Drake (27-8). The Missouri Valley Conference tournament champions were outscored 16-1 over the final 4:29 and 10-0 in the last 2:28. The Bulldogs missed their last seven shots from the field and were scoreless the final 3:24.Mo Valley Player of the Year Tucker DeVries, whose father is the coach, scored three points on 1 of 13 shooting.Miami will face the winner of the game between fourth-seeded Indiana (22-11) and 13th seeded...

Gonzaga wears down Grand Canyon 82-70 in March Madness

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:18:43 GMT

DENVER (AP) — Slow-starting Gonzaga finally shook off the first-round jitters, then wore out Grand Canyon 82-70 behind 28 points and 10 rebounds from Julian Strawther in the NCAA Tournament on Friday.Zags senior Drew Timme brought his sweatband and handlebar moustache back to March Madness and finished with 21 points, six rebounds and three blocks for the third-seeded Bulldogs (29-5), who haven’t lost a first-round game in the tournament since 2008.Next up for Gonzaga is a game Sunday against the winner of a later West Region contest between TCU and Arizona State.Like almost every Zag outside of Strawther, Timme was bottled up and frustrated in the first half, then came out of halftime and looked like a different player. After trailing by as many as seven, Timme’s three-point play gave Gonzaga a 48-40 lead early in the second half. “As I walked into the locker room, Drew was talking to guys about ‘Hey, now the jitters are out of the way and now we’ve got to play,’” coach...

Rybakina routs Swiatek 6-2, 6-2 to reach Indian Wells final

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:18:43 GMT

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP) — Elena Rybakina fired seven aces in routing top-ranked Iga Swiatek 6-2, 6-2 on Friday to advance to the BNP Paribas Open final.Rybakina will play second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, who beat Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-3, in Sunday’s final in the Southern California desert.“It’s going to be huge,” said Sabalenka, who won the doubles title in 2019. “This tournament feels like a Grand Slam. I really want to hold this trophy as a singles champion.”Rybakina needed just 76 minutes to finish off Swiatek, the defending champion. She won 82% of her first serve points. Rybakina also beat the Polish star at the Australian Open in January on her way to finishing runner-up.Swiatek had won 10 straight matches in the desert until being stopped Friday.Sabalenka, the Australian Open champion, improved to 17-1 this year. Sabalenka took control against Sakkari, seeded seventh, from the start. She attacked the Greek’s second serve, winning 20 of 26 points off it. Sakkari, ru...

16 seed Fairleigh Dickinson topples No. 1 seed Purdue

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:18:43 GMT

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Fairleigh Dickinson became the second No. 16 seed in history to win an NCAA Tournament game, stunning top-seeded Purdue 63-58 behind 19 points from Sean Moore and a relentless, hustling defense on Friday night.The shortest team in the tourney, the Knights (21-15) showed no fear in swarming 7-foot-4 All-America center Zach Edey from the start. FDU’s players were quicker and more composed than the Big Ten champion Boilermakers (29-6).Five years ago, UMBC showed the way for the little guys by overwhelming Virginia in the first 16-over-1 victory after numerous close calls over the years. Still, No. 16s had a 1-150 record against No. 1s and were 1-151 overall before FDU’s shocker.The Knights will now meet Memphis or Florida Atlantic on Sunday for a Sweet 16 berth in the East Region and a trip next week to play at Madison Square Garden in New York — just a short drive from the private school’s campus in Teaneck, New Jersey.Fairleigh Dickinson didn’t even win the No...

Georgia ousts Florida State women from March Madness 66-54

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:18:43 GMT

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Georgia coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson said her first season as the Bulldogs’ head coach was an internal battle to find “stars.”“The star,” she said, “was our defense.”The Lady Bulldogs’ zone defense stifled Florida State in Friday’s 66-54 win in a women’s NCAA Tournament first-round game.Diamond Battles scored 21 points and Audrey Warren added 11 points as the 10th-seeded Lady Bulldogs (22-11) advanced to Sunday’s second round to face No. 2 seed Iowa.Georgia held the seventh-seeded Seminoles (23-10) to just 26.9% shooting from the field, including 22.9% in the second half.“They’re big, they’re physical,” Florida State coach Brooke Wyckoff said. “It’s not your typical stand-around zone. They’re very aggressive. They play 100% zone, and they know what they’re doing.”The Lady Bulldogs have embraced their defensive mentality. Asked why the zone works so well, Battles smiled and said, “I don’t want to g...

Tippett’s hat trick leads Flyers past Buffalo 5-2

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:18:43 GMT

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Owen Tippett had his first career hat trick, Carter Hart made 34 saves and the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the Buffalo Sabres 5-2 on Friday night.James van Riemsdyk and Joel Farabee also scored, and Kevin Hayes and Tony DeAngelo each had two assists for Philadelphia. The Flyers snapped a four-game skid while winning for just the fourth time in 14 games since the All-Star break.“It’s pretty cool,” Tippett said. “It’s nice to get rewarded.”Tippett, a promising 24-year-old acquired last season at the trade deadline from Florida for Claude Giroux, reached 21 goals on the season.“He steps on the ice, he’s dangerous,” Flyers coach John Tortorella said. “We knew he was a good player. I think he thinks he’s a good player. I think he has a lot to learn still, but he’s made tremendous strides.”Victor Olofsson scored both goals for the Sabres, who lost for the eighth time in 11 games to further hurt their playoff chances. Buffalo entered six points back of a wild-card spot...

Analysis: What Canada can learn from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:18:43 GMT

By: Yuhao Zhou, Western University and Cristián Bravo, Western UniversityThe sudden collapse of Silicon Valley Bank left its investors reeling, shocked and unsure of what had happened to their funds. SVB was one of the top 20 banks in the United States, and many had trusted their money with the bank, unaware of the crisis that was brewing.The U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) intervened to guarantee all deposits to customers, even those above the $250,000 limit. Silicon Valley Bank’s failure was technically due to a liquidity crisis — a lack of sufficient cash inflows to sustain it during a period of significant cash outflows.However, its downfall was also a culmination of several factors such as poor risk management, materialized interest rate risk, inadequate regulation and the aforementioned liquidity issues.The collapse of a medium-sized financial institution like Silicon Valley Bank serves as a reminder of the importance of robust risk management, sound regulato...

Evergreen woman pushes for more regulations after meth lab found in cabin 

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:18:43 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — It was the majestic view and the peace and quiet that made Kathi McCarty fall in love with her small Evergreen cabin. But in 2016, McCarty decided to move out of the mountains and rent the cabin after dealing with some health complications."To me, what seemed like a sensible solution turned into my worst nightmare," McCarty said.Former meth lab flipped for profitMcCarty hired a management company and later found out a tenant had been making and using methamphetamine in her home.“There was equipment outside and inside that was highly explosive,” she said. "It was devastating." ‘Just cause’ eviction bill passes Colorado House McCarty had the home tested multiple times, revealing extremely high levels of meth contamination in every room. She said some of those companies told her they would never be able to bring it to state standards and advised her to sell the home or demolish it. "I sold it fully disclosed, fully contaminated, to what I thought would be a builder to...

College basketball player arrested after punching Fort Lauderdale Police officer

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 10:18:43 GMT

Body camera footage has been released of a spring break party foul, as a college basketball player is seen allegedly punching a police officer outside of a popular bar in Fort Lauderdale Beach.Wednesday evening’s incident involved 22-year-old De’Sean Allen-Eikens, a student and shooting guard at California State University, Northridge, who was visiting South Florida for spring break.According to witnesses, Allen-Eikens had been drinking at the Rock Bar, located at 219 S Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., when he was asked to leave by a bouncer.A fight broke out between Allen-Eikens and the bouncer, with the bouncer throwing the 6-foot-6 customer to the ground and swinging his fist at him.When Allen-Eikens got back up, he refused to leave the area, and police were called.Bodycam footage showed a Fort Lauderdale Police officer attempting to calm Allen-Eikens down, but the suspect is seen pushing the officer’s hand down.Moments later, police said, Allen-Eikens decided to take a s...