GIRLS
6:30pm
Chartiers-Houston at New Brighton
7:30pm
Quigley Catholic at Rochester
Central Valley at Blackhawk
Lincoln Park at West Allegheny
Beaver at Quaker Valley
Beaver Falls at Mohawk
Aliquippa at Burgettstown
Sewickley Academy at Cornell
Riverside at Neshannock
Ambridge at New Castle
OLSH at Fort Cherry
Laurel at Ellwood City
No Boys games in the Beaver Valley tonight.
By AARON BEARD, AP Basketball Writer
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Luke Maye scored 26 points to help No. 19 North Carolina beat Pittsburgh 96-65 on Saturday night, ending its first three-game losing streak in four years.
The Tar Heels (17-7, 6-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) found themselves in a close game late in the first half with a team that had yet to win a league game, but they blew it open with a big run spanning halftime.
Graduate transfer Cameron Johnson scored eight points against his former team in UNC’s 14-3 half-ending flurry, which grew to 25-5 when Joel Berry II hit his fourth 3-pointer for a 56-37 lead with 16:48 left.
Freshman Marcus Carr scored 22 points for the Panthers (8-16, 0-11), who hit eight first-half 3s to hang around but made 2 of 16 after halftime as the Tar Heels’ lead ballooned.
That sent Pitt to its 11th straight loss, the longest skid in program history.
BIG PICTURE
Pittsburgh: Things just keep getting worse for the Panthers. They entered Chapel Hill ranked last in the league in major categories such as scoring offense, shooting percentage, rebounding margin and turnover margin. Now they’ve lost 15 straight regular-season ACC games and are approaching a year since their last win.
UNC: The Tar Heels were facing the possibility of their first four-game losing streak since February 2010, the only one of the Roy Williams era. And the past week in particular had been bumpy: There was an overtime home loss to North Carolina State last weekend, a loss at No. 20 Clemson on Tuesday and the suspension of freshman guard Jalek Felton from the university for unspecified reasons. This win — a relatively easy get-right cruise in front of a friendly home crowd — might have helped drain a bit of the tension that had built during the skid.
UP NEXT
Pittsburgh: The Panthers visit No. 20 Clemson on Thursday.
UNC: The Tar Heels host No. 4 Duke on Thursday night in the latest renewal of the fierce rivalry.
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More AP college basketball: https://collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25
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Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at https://twitter.com/aaronbeardap
By TOM CANAVAN, AP Sports Writer
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Travis Zajac scored two goals and set up another as the New Jersey Devils limited Pittsburgh to a season-low 16 shots in posting a 3-1 victory on Saturday night, ending the Penguins’ four-game winning streak.
Blake Coleman also scored and Stefan Noesen had two assists in helping the Devils win their third straight since returning from the All-Star break. Keith Kinkaid made 15 saves and benefited from a goaltender interference call that denied Sidney Crosby a third-period goal.
Evgeni Malkin, the NHL player of the month in January with 12 goals, scored in the third period. He now has eight goals in his last four games, 15 since Jan. 1, and 29 overall. Rookie goaltender Casey DeSmith made 35 saves for the Penguins, who looked sluggish after beating Washington on Friday night.
Sidney Crosby, who also missed an open net in the second period, had his 11-game point scoring streak stopped. The run is tied for the NHL best this season.
After a scoreless first period, Zajac gave the Devils the lead 30 seconds into the second period after a mistake by DeSmith. The rookie goaltender tried to pass or poke the puck toward the corner and Zajac intercepted it close to the net and stuffed it into the net for his first goal in 10 games.
Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta fanned on clearing attempt near the right circle a little more than two minutes later and Zajac collected the puck. He sent a pass to Noesen, who quickly found Coleman for a shot that got between DeSmith’s arm and body at 3:05.
Malkin got the Penguins on the board early in the third period with a great backhander past Kinkaid that was set up by defenseman Ian Cole.
Zajac got his seventh goal at 9:51, deflecting a point shot by defenseman Damon Severson past DeSmith.
Crosby lost his goal when it was ruled that Bryan Rust skated through the crease and hit Kinkaid in the mask. The blow knocked the goaltender down and allowed Crosby to bank a shot from the corner into the net off the goalie.
NOTES: Penguins F Zachary Ashton-Reese made his NHL debut. … The win ended the Devils’ five-game losing streak against the Penguins, all last season. …. This was Pittsburgh’s first loss in regulation against a Metropolitan Division opponent since Jan. 1 (5-1-1).
UP NEXT
Penguins: Host Vegas on Tuesday night.
Devils: at Ottawa on Tuesday night.
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More NHL hockey: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey
By WILL GRAVES, AP Sports Writer
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Phil Kessel scored twice and picked up assist, Evgeni Malkin added two goals and two assists, and the surging Pittsburgh Penguins rolled past the Washington Capitals 7-4 on Friday night.
Bryan Rust, Carl Hagelin and Patric Hornqvist also scored for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, who won their fourth straight to pull within four points of first-place Washington in the crowded Metropolitan Division. Sidney Crosby had two assists to push his scoring streak to 11 games, the longest active streak in the NHL.
Matt Murray stopped 29 shots for Pittsburgh, which won its seventh consecutive home game by jumping on the Capitals early then pulling away late.
Alex Ovechkin scored twice to push his season total to an NHL-best 32 and Dmitry Orlov and Evgeny Kuznetzov also scored for the Capitals, but Washington couldn’t keep pace with the Penguins. Braden Holtby finished with 27 saves but gave up three goals in the opening 8 minutes of the third period before being pulled in favor of Phillpp Grubauer as Pittsburgh broke open a tight game.
The Penguins came in rolling, ripping off an NHL-high nine wins in January to climb from 10th in the Eastern Conference to within striking distance of the division-leading Capitals with still two months to go before the postseason.
The prospect of another potential playoff showdown looms for the longtime rivals, even if the rivalry tends to be one-sided when they meet in the spring, when the series usually ends with the Penguins skating on to the next round and Washington left to wonder how it let it get away once again.
Pittsburgh never trailed and never wavered after the Capitals erased 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3 deficits. Kuznetzov tied it at 3 when he flipped a bouncing puck in the slot by Murray 11:57 into the second to give Washington a shot at picking up its seventh victory this season in a game in which it trailed by at least two goals.
Not this time. Malkin put in his own rebound 1:01 into the third to put the Penguins back in front. Ovechkin evened it just 49 seconds later after a slick cross-ice feed from Kuznetzov, but Pittsburgh simply kept on coming.
Rust picked up his third goal in his last two games to put the Penguins ahead to stay, Kessel followed with his second of the night and 23rd of the season to chase Holtby. Malkin finished the outburst with his team-leading 28th of the season, 14 of which have come since Jan. 1.
NOTES: Pittsburgh F Carter Rowney played 9:05 in his return after missing a month with an upper-body injury. … The Penguins scratched D Chad Ruhwedel, D Matt Hunwick and injured F Conor Sheary (lower-body). … Washington scratched D Taylor Chorney and F Jakub Vrana. … Pittsburgh went 3 for 4 on the power play. The Capitals were 0 for 3 with the man advantage.
UP NEXT
Capitals: Host Las Vegas on Sunday.
Penguins: Play at New Jersey on Saturday.
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More AP hockey: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey
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BOYS
7:00pm
Rochester at Western Beaver
Northgate at Sewickley Academy
7:30pm
Central Valley at Blackhawk (WBVP)
Mars at Moon (WMBA)
Beaver Falls at Beaver
Lincoln Park at Riverside
Quaker Valley at Hopewell
Aliquippa at Ellwood City
Ambridge at New Castle
Mohawk at New Brighton
OLSH at Neshannock
Freedom at Seton-LaSalle
South Side Beaver at Southmoreland
Holy Family Academy at Quigley Catholic
West Allegheny at Montour
GIRLS
Thursday’s Scores
Blackhawk 65, Hopewell 46
Riverside 41, Ellwood City 23
OLSH 62, Aliquippa 24
Central Valley 70, Quaker Valley 40
Quigley Catholic 46, Cornell 43
Neshannock 60, Freedom 36
Beaver 52, New Castle 38
Rochester 72, Union 21
South Side Beaver 32, South Allegheny 29
Montour 55, Lincoln Park 45
Burgettstown 62, New Brighton 30
Chartiers Valley 51, Moon 40
Sewickley Academy 57, Propel Andrew Street 18
7:45pm
West Allegheny at South Fayette
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Injured Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Ryan Shazier has been released from the hospital, nearly two months after suffering a spinal injury in a victory over Cincinnati. The Pro Bowler underwent spine stabilization on Dec. 6. The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center says Shazier will transition to an outpatient therapy program.
By BARRY WILNER, AP Pro Football Writer
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (AP) — Fox and the NFL have agreed to a five-year deal for Thursday night football games.
Those games previously were televised by CBS and NBC, two of the league’s other network partners. Fox announced Wednesday that it will televise 11 games between Weeks 4 and 15, with simulcasts on NFL Network and Fox Deportes.
Fox, which has the Sunday afternoon NFC package, will produce all of the games under the deal, which is worth a little more than $3 billion, according to a person with direct knowledge of the terms of the deal who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the league didn’t announce its value.
“This is a single partner deal, we are not splitting the package,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a conference call. “We had tremendous amount of interest from all the broadcast partners, all of whom wanted it exclusively. We felt this was the best opportunity for the NFL to grow the Thursday night package.”
Goodell added that the league is exploring partnerships with digital outlets, also in conjunction with Fox.
The NFL has broadcast deals “five years out” with its other partners — ESPN has the Monday night package — so five years on this agreement made sense.
“Fundamentally, Fox was built on football,” said Peter Rice, president of 21st Century Fox, nothing that 25 years ago, the NFC package “helped launch a fledgling network into what it is today.”
“These opportunities come along very, very infrequently,” he added. “You either have the rights to the most-watched content in media or you don’t. If you don’t take the opportunity, this won’t come up again for five years. We believe in buying the very best rights, and the best rights are the NFL.”
CBS and NBC each paid $450 million for the previous two-year package.
“We explored a responsible bid for Thursday Night Football but in the end are very pleased to return to entertainment programming on television’s biggest night,” CBS said in a statement. “At the same time, we look forward to continuing our terrific long-term partnership with the NFL on Sunday afternoons, with more than 100 games per season including next year’s Super Bowl 53.”
Fox could have a conflict if weather causes a World Series game to be postponed from Wednesday to Thursday. In recent years, Series Game 2 and 6 have been scheduled for Wednesday.
“In that hypothetical kind of a scenario, the World Series game would stay on Fox and our Thursday night game would become an FS1/NFL Network simulcast,” Fox spokesman Eddie Motl said.
Goodell noted that the Thursday night games are a place for innovation.
“One of the things we’ve taken into consideration with Thursday night in general is to evolve this package, to use it as an opportunity to learn, to understand where these various platforms are going, and what we can do to make it a more attractive experience for our fans,” he said. “We will look at that in that context, and the term will be consistent with what it will take to make sure that we continue to evolve that platform as well as the experience for our fans.”
That means streaming outlets, of course.
“We have accepted bids for digital partners,” Goodell said. “We have very healthy competition. In fact, I would say it’s unprecedented competition from a number of digital partners.
“As I say, we put our focus on the broadcast package first. … We are not required to go coterminous with the broadcasts. We can do any length of deal that we get to an agreement on with that digital partner. As I mentioned earlier, we will be doing this in cooperation with our Fox partners.”
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For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP_NFL
By STEVEN WINE, AP Sports Writer
CORAL GABLES, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Hurricanes showed they can win without star guard Bruce Brown Jr. — at least against woeful Pittsburgh.
And if they have Lonnie Walker IV.
The freshman guard scored 16 points Wednesday, and Miami regrouped after blowing a 13-point second-half lead to hand the Panthers their school record-tying 10th consecutive loss, 69-57.
Miami (16-5, 5-4) won in its first game since losing Brown , who is expected to be sidelined for about six weeks with a left foot injury that was diagnosed Monday.
“Not having him was a little bit of an upset moment,” Walker said. “He’s one of those players who gets everyone going. We’ve just got to get used to fighting without him.”
Walker did that, scoring on three consecutive possessions during a 7-0 run by the Hurricanes immediately after Pittsburgh had scored 14 consecutive points to go up 44-43. Pitt never led again.
“I don’t like losing at all,” Walker said. “I felt like I had to take over. I felt like I can do what I want to if I really put my mind into it.”
The Panthers (8-15, 0-10 Atlantic Coast Conference), off to their worst conference start ever, matched the longest losing streak in program history. Pitt also lost 10 in a row in 1968-69 and 1992-93.
Coach Kevin Stallings said his team played Miami much more competitively than in December, when the Hurricanes won by 14.
“Our team is getting better,” Stallings said. “We don’t have wins to show for it, and I feel horribly for my guys for that, because they’ve been as coachable as any group I’ve ever had. Hopefully we keep getting better and we’ll knock one off.”
The Panthers have lost 14 consecutive ACC regular-season games since last season under their second-year coach.
But Walker said Miami didn’t take Pitt lightly.
“We treat every team like they’re No. 1 in the country,” Walker said. “It was definitely a challenge for this game not having one of our key players.”
In Brown’s absence, freshman Chris Lykes played a season-high 33 minutes and totaled 13 points and five assists. Anthony Lawrence added 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Jared Wilson-Frame led Pitt with 17 points, including five 3-pointers, but was limited to 29 minutes because of foul trouble.
The Hurricanes, who were 16-point favorites, led 43-30 but then went nearly six minutes without a point as the Panthers rallied. Once the Hurricanes fell behind they switched to a zone, and that cooled Pitt off.
“At the end we missed a bunch of open shots,” Stallings said.
Miami rebuilt its advantage to 11 points with five minutes left. Walker’s run of seven consecutive points included two free throws, a layup and a long 3-pointer.
“That was pretty amazing,” Hurricanes coach Jim Larranaga said. “I was calling a play, and he was launching an NBA 3.”
BIG PICTURE
The Hurricanes have won five in row against Pittsburgh, including both meetings this season. Miami improved to 8-1 at home this season.
DISPARITY
Pitt went 3 for 3 at the free throw line, while Miami went 17 for 23. When asked about the disparity, Stallings said, “We shot our free throws well.”
INJURED GUARD
Brown watched from the bench and is scheduled to undergo surgery Thursday.
“I feel badly for the kid because he’s one of my favorite players in the league that doesn’t play on my team,” Stallings said. “He’s a difference-maker. They’re deep enough to absorb his loss for a while, but obviously any team would be better with him.”
UP NEXT
Pittsburgh: The Panthers play the second of three consecutive road games Saturday at No. 19 North Carolina.
Miami: The Hurricanes play at Virginia Tech on Saturday.
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For more AP college basketball coverage: http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://twitter.com/AP_Top25
(Bridgewater, PA) Fans from Ellwood City and South Side Area school Districts made their way to Robert’s Roadside Inn Wednesday Night as those two teams and their head basketball coaches were the guests of honor. Steve Antuono from Ellwood City and Bob Harrison from South Side each brought
a strong contingent of players and fans to the sports patio at Robert’s Roadside Inn for some great sports talk live on 1230 WBVP and 1460 WMBA, along with free pizza from Pizza Joe’s in Beaver and wings from Robert’s Roadside Inn.
Coaches Corner is hosted by Bob Barrickman, Tom Hays and Bruce Frey and airs every Wednesday from 7 to 8 P.M. on WBVP and WMBA
