St. Thomas falls in first round of NAIA
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — St. Thomas made a game of it, but the Celts could not overcome Carroll in the final minutes, losing 71-65 on Thursday in the first round of the NAIA men’s national basketball tournament.
St. Thomas (23-11), which was playing its last season in NAIA before transitioning to NCAA Division III competition, got as close as 66-65 with 1:56 remaining, but the Saints (27-7) got free throws from Matt Wyman and Shamrock Campbell along with a 3-pointer from Ife Kelejayie in the final seconds to hold off the Celts.
Paul Tauton and Orowo Eleyae each scored 14 points to lead St. Thomas. Paris Marquez added 13 points.
Snell, Rays agree to 5 years, $50M
American League Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell and the Tampa Bay Rays agreed to a five-year, $50 million contract that covers three seasons of arbitration eligibility plus one year after he could have become a free agent.
The team announced the deal less than two weeks after renewing the lefthander’s contract at a salary of $573,700 for the upcoming season. That would have been a raise of just $15,500 from 2018, when he led the league with 21 wins.
The 26-year-old went 21-5 with a 1.89 ERA last year, setting franchise records for wins and ERA. In other news:
• Veteran outfielder Hunter Pence is set to start the season with his hometown Texas Rangers after going to spring training on a minor league contract. Manager Chris Woodward told Pence that he will be on the 25-man roster as the team’s fourth outfielder when the Rangers open the regular season at home next Thursday against the Chicago Cubs. Pence, a three-time All-Star who turns 36 on April 13, is a .280 career hitter in 12 big league seasons with Houston, Philadelphia and San Francisco. Pence was hitting .333 with three homers and seven RBIs in 40 spring training at-bats through Thursday. He played at Arlington High School and then at the University of Texas-Arlington.
U.S. win makes Berhalter 3-0
Gregg Berhalter became the second American coach to win his first three games when Gyasi Zardes scored a bizarre goal that deflected off a defender, looped over goalkeeper Alexander Dominguez and ricocheted in off the crossbar in the 81st minute for a 1-0 exhibition victory over Ecuador at Orlando, Fla..
Christian Pulisic, Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams, a trio of 20-yearolds who have become regulars in the German Bundesliga, started together for the first time as Berhalter had the full American player pool available.
Zardes scored when his shot from about 22 yards hit bounded off Robert Arboleda. Dominguez, standing about 6 yards off his line, backpedaled slowly and despite his 6-5 frame was unable to tip the ball over the crossbar.
Berhalter matched Bob Bradley as the only U.S. coaches to start 3-0.
Dahmen, Straka share early lead
The PGA Tour event that doesn’t have Tiger Woods this year instead has the Leaping Cougar.
That is a childhood nickname for Joel Dahmen, who took advantage of gentle conditions on a tough Copperhead course for a 5-under-par 66 to share the lead with Austrian-born Sepp Straka in the Valspar Championship at Palm Harbor, Fla.
The tournament, trying to have a little fun during Spring Break in Florida, allowed players to put whatever name they wanted on the back of their caddie’s bib. Dahmen, a cancer survivor who keeps golf light, went with the name he was given as a boy in Washington state when he was part of a scouts group.
The group at 67 included Kevin Kisner and Luke Donald, a former world No. 1 who now is No. 919, largely the product of a back injury that has limited him to just six tournaments worldwide in the past year. In other news:
• Celine Boutier closed with a 4-foot birdie putt for an 8-under 64 and a onestroke lead in the Founders Cup at Phoenix.
Jermell Charlo wins acquittal
Former junior-middleweight boxing champion Jermell Charlo of Houston was acquitted Wednesday of assaulting a woman at his Dallas condominium complex in May.
Charlo (31-1, 15 knockouts) faced felony domestic assault and misdemeanor assault charges for allegedly choking and striking the woman on May 16, 2018. The woman testified at the trial, Arnold Joseph, Charlo’s attorney, said.
The boxer rejected a plea deal despite facing a three- to-10 year sentence if convicted.
Charlo, 28, successfully defended his World Boxing Council 154-pound belt for the third time last June by defeating former champion Austin Trout by majority decision at Staples Center in Los Angeles. In a Dec. 22 return match against Tony Harrison at Barclays Center in New York, Charlo suffered a unanimous decision loss on scorecards of 115-113 twice and 116-112.
Charlo, whose twin brother Jermall is an unbeaten middleweight, is planning a return fight in the early summer against Harrison.
Chen leads worlds after short routine
Defending champion Nathan Chen upstaged two-time Olympic champion Yuzuru Hanyu to lead the short program at the figure skating world championships at Saitama, Japan.
Skating to “Caravan” by Duke Ellington, Chen, 19, performed a lively program that featured a triple axel, a quad lutz and a quad toeloop-triple toeloop combination for a season-best score of 107.40 points.
American teammate Jason Brown was second with 96.81 points after a routine that included a triple flip, a triple axel and a triple lutz-triple toeloop.
Coming back from a four-month absence because of injury, Hanyu showed some rustiness in his opening jump, a double salchow instead of a planned quad salchow.
The Japanese skater quickly recovered with a triple axel and a quad toeloop-triple toeloop combination but finished third with 94.87 points.