Dayton Daily News

College football:

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A year and a half after he broke his neck in a game, Arkansas running back Rawleigh Williams had another scare when he was taken away in an ambulance from practice Saturday. Williams fell after a light hit and remained on the ground. He moved his fingers before being loaded onto a stretcher and cart, and the university announced his injury as a “stinger.”

Chad Young, 21, died from injuries in a crash at the Tour of Gila in Tucson, Ariz., the first American rider to die in a prominent North American stage race in nearly two decades.

Cycling:

The opening LOS ANGELES — round of the NBA playoffs is down to the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers, the only series to be extended to seven games.

The Clippers can finish off the Jazz today and advance to the Western Conference semifinals against Golden State, which has been waiting since Wednesday to find out its next opponent.

Whoever wins won’t have much time to rest. The Warriors host the series opener Tuesday.

Now in his 12th season, nine-time Clippers All-Star Chris Paul has yet to play in a conference finals.

“He is as competitiv­e of a human being that I’ve ever been around,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “When you put that with the talent and will, that’s why he has performanc­es like this in big games.”

Paul had 28 points, eight assists, three rebounds and four turnovers in 38 minutes in a 98-93 victory late Friday.

“Doc said go out there and give yourself a chance,” Paul said.

During a timeout, he looked over at 39-year-old teammate Paul Pierce, who plans to retire at the end of the season, his 19th.

“I said, ‘You’re not ending your career in Utah,’” Paul said. “We just said we’re going to keep this thing going for him.”

With Paul doing the heavy lifting, Jamal Crawford, Luc Mbah a Moute and Austin Rivers combined to score 38 points while making up for the loss of Blake Griffin, who is out for the rest of the season with a toe injury.

Without Griffin, Paul has been forced into doing the majority of the ballhandli­ng, and he appeared tired near the end of the Clippers’ loss in Game 5. Doc Rivers changed things up in Game 6 and surrounded Paul with fellow guards Crawford, Austin Rivers and Raymond Felton.

“That helped a lot,” Paul said.

The first six games between the fourth-seeded Clippers and No. 5 Utah have been decided by eight points or less.

It’s been so close that the teams are averaging 98 points each. They had identical 51-31 records in the regular

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