Ohio St. stuns No. 2 Purdue behind 22 from Thornton
Jamison Battle scored all 19 of his points in the second half as Ohio State stunned No. 2 Purdue
73-69 on Sunday in Columbus, Ohio, giving Jake Diebler a successful debut as interim head coach for the Buckeyes.
Battle made a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds left for the final margin, ensuring the Buckeyes’ (15-11, 5-10 Big Ten) first win over a top-five team since beating then-No. 1 Duke on Nov. 30, 2021.
Bruce Thornton added 22 points for the Buckeyes.
Zach Edey scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and Lance Jones added 13 points for the Boilermakers (23-3, 12-3
Big Ten), who had a ninegame winning streak snapped.
Diebler replaced Chris Holtmann, who was fired Wednesday after seven seasons, as the Buckeyes are headed for a second straight season without making the NCAA Tournament. In the past two seasons under Holtmann they were 30-30 overall and 9-25 in conference play.
ETC.
Tennis: The first day of main-draw play was not a good one for seeded players at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Sunday in the United Arab Emirates. American teenager Ashlyn Krueger recovered from dropping the first set to oust No. 16 seed Caroline Garcia of France, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. No. 11 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil was eliminated by unseeded Jasmine Paolini of Italy, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0; and No. 14 seed
Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia lost to unseeded
Magdalena Frech of Poland in straight sets, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 . ... At the Delray Beach Open, the final between No. 1 seed Taylor Fritz and No. 3 seed Tommy Paul was postponed from Sunday to Monday afternoon due to inclement weather. The match will begin not before 12:30 local time Monday. Fritz is the defending champion, while Paul is on a seven-match winning streak . ... No. 1 seed Jannik Sinner of
Italy captured his second title of the young season when he beat Australian fifth seed Alex de Minaur 7-5, 6-4 to win the ABN AMRO Open on Sunday in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Sinner won his first career Grand Slam title last month at the Australian Open and has now won 15 straight tour-level matches. He will rise to No. 3 in the ATP rankings on Monday . ... At the IEB+ Argentina Open, Argentine wild card Facundo Diaz Acosta earned his first career ATP Tour title and got to celebrate on home soil, as he defeated third seed Nicolas Jarry of Chile 6-3, 6-4 in the final in Buenos Aires.
NBA: Chauncey Billups, Vince Carter and
Seimone Augustus were among the 14 finalists for the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of
2024. The list, which also features longtime Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan and
Jerry West in the contributor category, is a prelude to the official announcement of the class on April 6 at the men’s Final Four in Phoenix . ... Former Kansas standout and NBA player
Scot Pollard underwent heart transplant surgery Friday, his wife Dawn told FOX40.com in Sacramento. Pollard, who turned 49 on Monday, has been hospitalized since Feb. 7 when he was admitted to intensive care at Vanderbilt. He was diagnosed with heart disease in March 2021.
MLB: Bryce Harper wants to finish his career with the Philadelphia Phillies, and he doesn’t just mean playing out the remainder of the 13-year, $330 million contract he signed in 2019. Harper, 31, shared his vision of the future with reporters on Sunday in the Phillies’ spring training clubhouse in Clearwater, Fla., and that includes a contract extension . ... The New York
Yankees traded left-hander
Matt Krook to the Baltimore Orioles for cash considerations. The Yankees designated Krook for assignment on Tuesday in order to claim infielder
Jordan Groshans off waivers from Miami . ...
Also Sunday, the Los Angeles Angels claimed shortstop Livan Soto, 23, off waivers from Baltimore.
Golf: Stephen Ames was declared the winner of the Chubb Classic on Sunday morning after the PGA Tour Champions shortened the event to 36 holes due to inclement weather in Naples. The Canadian shot 13-under 131 through two rounds thanks to a 64 on Saturday. He was three shots ahead of Rocco Mediate. But with 2-3 inches of rain in the forecast for Sunday at Tiburon Golf Club, the tour initially announced Saturday that the final round would be shortened to nine holes, played in the morning. The golfers did not get to the first tee before the tour had to nix any attempt to play through the rain. A Monday finish would not have been possible because the tour’s next stop is in Africa, for a tournament that begins Thursday in Morocco.
Track and field: Noah Lyles took first place in the men’s 60 meters in 6.43 seconds on Saturday at the USA Track & Field Indoor Championships in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Christian Coleman finished second, with a time of 6.44. Lyles eclipsed his world lead by a hundredth of a second. He ran a 6.44 earlier this month in Boston. Coleman still owns the world record of 6.34, set in 2018. Aleia Hobbs took the women’s 60m with a time of 7.02. Alexis Holmes captured the women’s 400m with a time of 50.34, setting a meet record. Ryan Crouser set the meet record with a throw of 74 feet, 9 3/4 inches in the men’s shot put. Cole Hocker set a meet record with a time of 3:37.51 in the men’s 1500m.
NFL: Former Chicago Bears great and Hall of Fame selection Steve McMichael underwent is reportedly improving from a staph infection, and his family hopes he leave the hospital for home as soon as Tuesday, McMichael’s wife said in a statement to the Associated Press on Sunday. McMichael, 66, was rushed to the hospital Thursday with what was thought to be pneumonia. He was later diagnosed with a urinary tract infection and responded well to antibiotics.