WEATHER FORECAST FOR MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11TH, 2019
TODAY – MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A MIXTURE OF RAIN AND
SNOW SHOWERS DEVELOPING DURING THE
AFTERNOON. AREAS OF FREEZING RAIN
POSSIBLE. HIGH – 38.
TONIGHT – RAIN. LOW – 35.
TUESDAY – PERIODS OF RAIN. HIGH – 45.
ALL games in high school basketball tonight are non-section.
BOYS
6:30pm
Erie vs. Lincoln Park (at Pine-Richland)
Western Beaver at Freedom
7:30pm
Hopewell at Ellwood City
New Brighton at OLSH
Highlands at Beaver
Quaker Valley at Summit Academy
Peters Township at Central Valley
Union at Riverside
8:00pm
Sewickley Academy at Pine-Richland
GIRLS
6:00pm
Union at Riverside
Quigley Catholic at Fort Cherry
7:30pm
Moon at South Side Beaver
Blackhawk at Neshannock
Central Valley at Mohawk
Rochester at Mars
Sewickley Academy at Avonworth
Quaker Valley at Shady Side Academy
West Allegheny at Peters Township
8:00pm
Lincoln Park at Freedom
For some, February means time for romance and chocolates. For others, it means a month of cars…whether it’s the start of the NASCAR season or the annual Pittsburgh International Auto Show.
The 2019 edition of the Auto Show is the 75th Anniversary edition, and John Putzier (CEO of Greater Pittsburgh Auto Dealers) called into A.M. Beaver County to talk about it with Matt Drzik. He spoke about how this year’s “Dancing With The Cars” falls on Valentine’s Day, the different kinds of exotic sports cars that will be on display, and how those looking to go could get in (including an announcement about a potential fee waiving for government workers; listen below for details).
For more information about the 2019 Pittsburgh International Auto Show, check out pittautoshow.com. Stay tuned to Beaver County Radio and our Facebook page for YOUR chance to snag tickets to this year’s show!
If you missed this morning’s interview or want to listen back to it, click on the player below!
Byron wins Daytona 500 pole, puts Hendrick up front again
By MARK LONG, AP Sports Writer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — William Byron put Hendrick Motorsports in a familiar position: on the pole for the Daytona 500. His bigger goal is to make the starting spot pay dividends for the NASCAR powerhouse.
The 21-year-old Byron and 25-year-old teammate Alex Bowman locked in the front row for “The Great American Race” during qualifying laps Sunday at Daytona International Speedway. They comprise the youngest front row in Daytona 500 history.
The coveted starting spot hasn’t meant much for NASCAR’s season opener over the last two decades, though. The last Daytona 500 pole-sitter to win the race was Dale Jarrett in 2000.
The last four — Hendrick’s Jeff Gordon, Chase Elliott (twice) and Bowman — have failed to notch a top-10 finish.
“To have them on top of each other means the organization did a heck of a job,” Hendrick said. “This is the deal to sit on the pole at Daytona.”
Byron and Bowman edged the other two Hendrick drivers: seven-time Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and fan favorite Chase Elliott.
“That’s a pretty amazing feat, I feel,” said longtime Hendrick crew chief Chad Knaus, who is entering his first season with Byron after 18 years with Johnson.
Knaus and Johnson landed the Daytona 500 pole in their first race together in 2002. After splitting with Johnson at the end of last season, Knaus essentially repeated the feat with Byron.
“I think it’s huge,” Knaus said. “We’ve had a lot of late nights, a lot of long hours. The last time I came here with a new driver, we sat on the pole. This is really special for me.”
Byron reached a top speed of 194.304 mph in the final round of qualifying, nearly two-tenths of a second faster than Bowman (194.153).
“I thought we were going to be somewhere in the hunt,” Byron said. “I was excited to get down here and see what we had. It’s really cool.”
The rest of the 40-car lineup will be set by two qualifying races Thursday. Thirty-six of those spots are already filled because of NASCAR’s charter system.
Former Hendrick driver Casey Mears and Tyler Reddick secured two of the remaining spots in the Daytona 500. They posted the top speeds of the six drivers vying for four open spots in NASCAR’s season opener.
“I really feel like we’ll be able to be competitive,” Mears said. “I can tell you this: I’ve been at Daytona with a lot less and ran inside the top five.”
Joey Gase, Ryan Truex, Parker Kligerman and Brandan Gaughan likely will have to race their way into the 500 during the qualifying races. Two of them will make it, and the other two won’t.
Byron and his teammates will spend the week being lauded as the Daytona 500 favorites. They also will try to stay out of trouble in the qualifying races.
“We want to take care of the cars for sure,” Hendrick said. “We don’t want to put the cars in any unnecessary harm’s way. It’s kind of a two-edge sword on the front row. You don’t want to take a chance of tearing up a really good car, but you’ve got to figure out what to race.”
Hendrick has been outspoken about how difficult the 2018 season was on the organization, calling it one of the worst in team history.
The Hendrick cars were mediocre at best — Johnson failed to win for the first time in his Cup career — and it took 22 races for the organization to get its first victory. The final tally included three victories for Elliott and no drivers in the championship-deciding finale for the second consecutive year.
Hendrick responded by splitting up Johnson and Knaus, tasking Knaus with building another team around Byron. A new racing package in 2019 also should benefit Bowman and Byron because neither had much experience under the old rules.
For at least one day or maybe even a week, the moves are paying off.
“You work all these years coming down here and you want all the cars to run well,” Hendrick said. “And if you have one up front and a couple in the back, in the middle; but this is a tribute to our organization, the engine shop, the chassis, body shop, and the teams to come down here and run with four cars running that good. I can’t believe it.”
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More AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/apf-AutoRacing and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
NC State holds off Pitt 79-76 to snap 3-game skid
By WILL GRAVES, AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) — North Carolina State opted for modified shootaround late Friday night after arriving in Pittsburgh. No plays. Just shots. Lots and lots of shots, not the worst idea in the world less than a week removed from a record-setting loss to Virginia Tech in which the Wolfpack managed just nine baskets in 40 minutes.
Head coach Kevin Keatts jumped in the fray during the laidback session, pointing out he might have been the best shooter on the floor. While his players don’t quite remember it that way — guard Braxton Beverly claims Keatts was “extending the truth” — either way it created the desired effect. The Wolfpack walked onto the Petersen Events Center floor loose, kept their composure when the host Panthers made a second-half push and held on for a 79-76 win to snap a three-game losing streak.
“I think we played a complete game,” Keatts said. “We played through some adversity.”
The Wolfpack (17-7, 5-6 Atlantic Coast Conference) let a 14-point lead briefly get away in the middle of the second half before relying heavily on Beverly, C.J. Bryce and Markelle Johnson to pull through. Bryce scored 21 points, including three free throws in the final 10 seconds. Beverly added 17 behind five of N.C. State’s season-high 14 3-pointers and Johnson finished with 10 points and a season-high eight assists.
After being limited to just 24 points — the fewest ever by a team ranked in The AP Top 25 (the Wolfpack were 23rd last week) in the shot-clock era — last Saturday, N.C. State is averaging 87.5 points over its last two contests.
“We know we can score,” Bryce said. “We have very talented players. We have players who can go get buckets if we need it. We were just focused on playing as a team tonight and I think we did great at that.”
Bryce went to the line with the Wolfpack (17-7, 5-7 Atlantic Coast Conference) holding onto a 76-75 lead with 9.9 seconds left. He calmly drained both free throws in front of the blacked-out T-shirt student section.
N.C. State opted to foul ahead by three. Pitt’s Sidy N’Dir made just one of two with 7 seconds remaining. Bryce grabbed his seventh and final rebound and made one of two with 5.5 seconds left. N’Dir collected the rebound and weaved his way through traffic but his off-balance 3-pointer from outside the top of the key was left all the way as time expired.
“I wanted to make the last one to make it a four-point game but I felt like we did a really good job, once I missed it, getting back and forcing a tough shot,” Bryce said after N.C. State won its eighth straight over the Panthers.
Xavier Johnson led Pitt (12-12, 2-9) with 17 points to go with five rebounds and four assists. Jared Wilson-Frame hit 6 of 7 shots to finish with 16 points, N’Dir and Terrell Brown added 12 each and Trey McGowens finished with 11 points but the Panthers ran out of gas late.
Pitt missed its last seven shots, including potentially game-tying 3-point attempts by Johnson, N’Dir and Brown during an extended possession in the final 90 seconds. Johnson did make two free throws to get Pitt within 76-75 but the Panthers would get no closer. Pitt has dropped seven consecutive games, the last three by nine points or less.
“It’s frustrating because you’re always right there,” Wilson-Frame said.
N.C. State won each of last seven meetings, including an 86-80 victory at home on Jan. 12 thanks to 54 points off the bench. The Wolfpack built a slim 41-38 halftime lead, relying heavily on a massive advantage off the backboard and some sloppy ballhandling by the Panthers, who turned it over 11 times and struggled to keep N.C. State off the offensive glass.
N.C. State pushed the advantage to 14 early in the second half before Pitt responded with an 18-2 surge led by Wilson-Frame and N’Dir to go in front 61-59.
The momentum didn’t last. Dorn and Bryce knocked down 3-pointers on the Wolfpack’s next two trips and while Pitt managed to tie it a couple of times, the Panthers couldn’t quite sneak out in front.
“We’re on the ropes a little bit right now, but we have to fight our way off of it,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said.
BIG PICTURE
N.C. State: The Wolfpack showed an ability to defend when they had to against Pitt, particularly after the sudden 3-point barrage that briefly gave the Panthers the lead. “We weren’t panicking,” Beverly said. “In this conference, every team has the capability of going on runs like that. To get through it you’ve got to stay solid and stay together.”
Pitt: The Panthers remain engaged under Capel but the losses are starting to pile up. Getting five players in double figures is a positive development for a group that’s become overly reliant on Johnson and Wilson-Frame to provide the offense of late.
UP NEXT
N.C. State: Hosts Syracuse on Wednesday at 8 p.m.
Pitt: Visits Boston College on Tuesday at 7.
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More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
Kohl lifts Central Connecticut over Robert Morris 77-68
Associated Press
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. (AP) — Tyler Kohl had 23 points as Central Connecticut beat Robert Morris 77-68 on Saturday.
Kohl also had seven turnovers but only five assists.
Joe Hugley had 15 points and seven rebounds for Central Connecticut (11-14, 5-7 Northeast Conference). Ian Krishnan added 14 points. Deion Bute had 11 points and 11 rebounds for the visiting team.
Malik Petteway had 16 points and seven rebounds for the Colonials (13-12, 8-4). Josh Williams added 12 points. Dante Treacy had 10 points.
The Blue Devils evened the season series against the Colonials with the win. Robert Morris defeated Central Connecticut 70-59 on Jan. 21. Central Connecticut matches up against Wagner on the road on Thursday. Robert Morris plays Mount St. Mary’s on the road on Thursday.
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For more AP college basketball coverage: https://apnews.com/Collegebasketball and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25
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This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com
Johnson has go-ahead goal, Lightning beat Penguins 5-4
By MARK DIDTLER, Associated Press
TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tyler Johnson had a key goal and a tussle with Sidney Crosby, too.
Johnson and J.T. Miller scored third-period goals as the Tampa Bay Lightning stopped a rare two-game skid with a 5-4 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night.
After Johnson got his first goal in 15 games just under five minutes into the period, Miller gave Tampa Bay a 5-3 lead with 5:57 remaining.
“I knew it was just a matter of time,” Johnson said of his 19th goal.
Tanner Pearson pulled the Penguins within 5-4 shortly after Miller’s goal off a steal and pass from behind the net by Crosby.
Crosby played in his 916th game, moving past Mario Lemieux for the most in Penguins history.
Johnson checked Crosby into the boards midway through the second period, and the Penguins star dropped his gloves during a scrum between the two. Both were given roughing penalties at 13:14.
The game also had two fighting majors and a pair of 10-minute misconducts.
“I just think it’s two quality teams,” Johnson said. “Very competitive. Both teams hate to lose, and both teams give it their all. Those things are going to happen.”
The Lightning have lost two in a row just twice this season.
Yanni Gourde, Erik Cernak and Anthony Cirelli also scored for the NHL-leading Lightning, who reached 40 wins for the sixth consecutive season. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 28 saves.
The Penguins also got goals from Garrett Wilson, Jared McCann and Bryan Rust, and Casey DeSmith stopped 29 shots.
Pittsburgh, 2-5-1 over its last eight games, tied it at 3-all on 4-on-4 second-period goals by McCann and Rust.
“I still think to a certain extent, the type of mistakes that we make, we beat ourselves,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought our fight was there all night long. We pushed back.”
Cirelli stopped a 21-game drought with his fourth short-handed goal to put Tampa Bay ahead 3-1 at 7:42 of the second.
The Penguins have allowed eight short-handed goals.
“I have nothing more to say about the power play,” Sullivan said.
Tampa Bay went up 2-1 on goals by Gourde and Cernak in the first. Brayden Point set up Gourde during a 2-man breakaway at 15:02, and Cernak scored 57 seconds later.
Wilson got his first NHL goal — coming in his 26th game this year and 60th overall — at 13:36 of the first.
Pittsburgh fell to 18-11-5 when scoring first.
Lightning right wing Nikita Kucherov, who entered with an NHL-best 81 points, was minus-four and had one shot. He has not scored a goal in 10 straight games.
“I don’t worry about Kuch,” Tampa Bay coach Jon Cooper said.
NOTES: Pittsburgh C Evgeni Malkin missed his fifth straight game but took part in the morning skate. … Cirelli became the third NHL player to have four short-handed goals this season. … Penguins G Matt Murray was the backup after missing the previous game with an upper-body injury. … Lightning D Braydon Coburn played in his 900th NHL game and had an assist.
UP NEXT
Penguins: Complete a three-game trip Monday night at Florida.
Lightning: Play Sunday at Florida.
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More AP NHL: https://apnews.com/NHL and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar expected to join 2020 Dem race
By SARA BURNETT, Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is set to join the 2020 presidential race Sunday, becoming the most prominent Midwestern candidate as the party tries to win back voters in a region that helped put Donald Trump in the White House.
Klobuchar said she would make a “big announcement” about her political plans at an event along the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. She already is scheduled to speak Feb. 21 in Iowa, site of the nation’s first caucuses on the nominating calendar.
Klobuchar, who easily won a third-term last year, has cited her broad appeal across Minnesota as she has discussed a potential campaign. She has drawn support from voters in urban, suburban and rural areas, including in dozens of counties Trump won in 2016.
She has said that success could translate to other Midwestern states such as Michigan and Wisconsin, reliably Democratic in presidential races for decades until Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton.
The list of Democrats already in the race features several better-known senators with the ability to raise huge amounts of money — Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.
The field soon could expand to include prominent Democrats such as former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
A Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom poll conducted by Selzer & Company in December found that Klobuchar was largely unfamiliar to likely Iowa caucus-goers, with 54 percent saying they didn’t know enough about her to have an opinion, while 38 percent had a favorable opinion and 8 percent had an unfavorable opinion.
“She starts out perhaps with a better understanding of Midwestern voters, but I think she faces the same hurdles every one of them face, which is: Are Iowans going to find them either the best candidate to defeat Donald Trump or the candidate that most aligns with their ideologies and issues?” said John Norris, a longtime Iowa-based Democratic strategist. “I don’t know that coming from Minnesota gives her any advantage with Iowans.”
Klobuchar, 58, is known as a straight-shooting, pragmatist willing to work with Republicans, making her one of the Senate’s most productive members at passing legislation.
The backdrop of Sunday’s event is the Interstate 35 bridge over the Mississippi. The span was built after the previous bridge collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people. Klobuchar had worked with then Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., to help fund the new bridge and get it completed at a faster-than-usual pace, and has cited it as an example of achieving results through bipartisan cooperation.
Klobuchar’s focus in recent months has included prescription drug prices, a new farm bill and election security. She supports the “Green New Deal,” a Democratic plan proposed this past week to combat climate change and create thousands of jobs in renewable energy.
But her legislative record has drawn criticism from both the GOP and some fellow Democrats. Some Republicans say Klobuchar is able to get things done because she pushes smaller issues. Some progressives say she lacks the kind of fire and bold ideas needed to bring significant change and excite voters.
Klobuchar, a lawyer and the former prosecutor in Minnesota’s largest county, raised her national profile during a Senate Judiciary Committee last fall for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of sexually assaulting a woman when they were both in high school.
When Klobuchar asked Kavanaugh whether he ever had had so much to drink that he didn’t remember what happened, he turned the question around. He asked Klobuchar, “Have you?”
Unruffled, Klobuchar continued as Kavanaugh asked again. Kavanaugh later apologized to Klobuchar, whose father is an alcoholic.
“When you have a parent who’s an alcoholic, you’re pretty careful about drinking,” she said. “I was truly trying to get to the bottom of the facts and the evidence.”
Among the other Midwestern lawmakers who could also seek the nomination are Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, who has been visiting early-voting states, and Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who established an exploratory committee last month.
Klobuchar campaigned with Democrats in Iowa last fall, and in December spoke to progressive farmers and activists about the importance of bridging the divide between urban and rural areas. She said the lesson learned after the 2016 election was “we are not going to leave the Midwest behind.”
“This is the moment for the Midwest,” she said, “and we don’t want to be forgotten again in a national election.”
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AP polling editor Emily Swanson in Washington contributed to this report.
The New Castle Red Hurricane held off a late Ambridge Bridger’s rally to hold on for a 56-48 victory which gave the Red Hurricane the Class 4A Section 2 Championship.
Beaver County Radio’s Bob Barrickman and Tom Hays carried live coverage of the game on 1230 WBVP, 1460 WMBA and e Trib-Live High School Sports Network.
New Castle held the lead through most of the game. Ambridge fought back in the 4th tying the game at one point. After the Bridger’s tied the game the Red Hurricane went a run and took the lead back and pulled away down the stretch winning the game by eight points.
New Castle finishes the season with a 10-2 section record and Ambridge falls into a second place tie with Quaker Valley at 9-3 in the section.
All WPIAL teams that have qualified for the playoffs will learn their playoff opponents on Tuesday night this week. Beaver County Radio will carry live coverage of the pairings meeting starting at 7 pm.
CCBC Players of the game are:
New Castle: Sheldon Cox
Ambridge: Aaron Hilzendeger
New Castle brought home the win tonight over Ambridge 56-48.
New Castle held the lead through most of the game. Ambridge fought back in the 4th tying the game at one point. That didn’t last long as New Castle took the lead back, winning the game by eight points.
CCBC Players of the game are:
New Castle: Sheldon Cox
Ambridge: Aaron Hilzendeger
