Continental Europe claims Hero Cup title

Continental Europe won the Hero Cup by beating Britain & Ireland 14 ½-10 ½ on Sunday in Abu Dhabi, with Italians Francesco Molinari and Guido Migliozzi among those to star for the victorious team and push their credentials for this year’s Ryder Cup in Rome.

Adrian Meronk holed a 25-foot putt at No. 18 to claim the clinching point in the singles matches, which were won 6-4 by Continental Europe to complete a dominant week by the team captained by Molinari.

It won all four sessions in Abu Dhabi, with Molinari, Migliozzi, Victor Perez and Nicolai Hojgaard all earning 3 ½ points to tie as the top scorers of the week.

The renewal of the competition — formerly called The Seve Trophy — gave European Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald a chance to assess players under match-play pressure ahead of the contest with the United States in September.

Argentina’s Mateo Fernandez de Oliveira, a senior at Arkansas, won the Latin America Amateur Championship in Puerto Rico and earned a spot in this year’s Masters, U.S. Open and British Open.

Joel Soriano scored 19 points and grabbed 13 boards as St. John’s beat No. 6 UConn 85-74 to win in Hartford for the first time since 1988. Jordan Hawkins led all scorers with 31 for UConn (15-4 Big East, 4-4), which has lost four of its last five games after starting the season 14-0. The Red Storm improved to 13-6, 3-5.

College basketball:

NBA: Clippers G John Wall will be out at least two weeks with an abdominal injury. Wall is averaging 11.4 points, and 5.2 assists in 22.2 minutes per game this season.

WNBA: The Liberty was set to acquire four-time All-Star and 2021 league MVP Jonquel Jones in a trade with the Sun, ESPN reported. The 6-6 forward/center averaged 14.6 points, 8.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game last season.