FIU Michigan St. stuns No. 6 Baylor; Kansas rallies past Indiana
ton’s Palmetto High, Dees followed him.
As a senior, Dees completed 55.7 percent of his passes for an average of 203 yards per game. He had 14 touchdown passes and four interceptions.
West believes Dees has tremendous potential because he has been playing football just two years.
“Clayton has the ability to process things, and has a natural ability to throw the ball,” West said. “He’s a dual-threat quarterback who can extend plays with his legs.”
West, who formerly coached in Broward County at Western and Coral Springs, got Dees noticed by colleges when he sent out his junior-year video.
FIU was the first school to respond.
Tyson Walker scored a game-high 25 points Saturday and Michigan State opened up a 30-point lead in the first half en route to a stunning 88-64 rout of No. 6 Baylor in Detroit.
A.J. Hoggard added 14 points and Tre Holloman contributed 11 off the bench for the Spartans (5-5), which resembled the No. 4 ranked team they were prior to starting 4-5 and falling out of the Top 25. Michigan State sank 63.3 percent of its field goal attempts and earned a 29-20 advantage on the boards.
RayJ Dennis Missi
and Yves each scored 11 points for the Bears (9-1), but it
Beyond his football skill, Dees is a high-character person, according to West.
“Clayton has a very engaging personality,” West said of Dees, who plans to study business. “Whenever he’s done playing football, he has a future in sales.”
Dees won’t disagree with that, saying: “I like connecting with people.”
Starting next season, those connections could include the ones he makes with FIU receivers.
THIS AND THAT
Including Dees, FIU
A has commitments from 12 recruits who are expected to make it official on Wednesday when the early-signing period begins.
Notably, FIU has commitments from a pair of defensive tackles who played in state finals earlier this month: 6-3, 270pound Robert Williams, who won a title with Columbus; and 6-1, 260pound wasn’t nearly enough to even attain respectability. Baylor entered the day fourth in scoring average at more than 91 points per game but was overwhelmed at both ends of the court all day long.
The Bears’ only decent run came to start the second half as they outscored the Spartans 12-4 in the first 2:44.
Elsewhere: Kevin
A
McCullar Jr. scored 13 of his team-high 21 points as No. 2 Kansas came back from a 13-point second-half deficit to defeat host Indiana 75-71. Kansas won for the first time in four attempts in Assembly Hall, which opened in 1971, in this matchup of two of the 10 winningest programs in college basketball history.
Germain Carter, who came in second with Norland.
Columbus coach Dave Dunn said Williams is a high-character person.
“We won state because of our defensive line, and ... David Jones scored 16 of his 22 points after halftime as host Memphis knocked No. 13 Clemson from the ranks of the unbeaten by holding on for a 79-77 victory. Jahvon Quinerly scored 17 points as Memphis (8-2) erased a seven-point halftime deficit and overcame missing 22 of 26 3-point tries. Nick Jourdain added 11 and Jaykwon Walton chipped in 10 as Memphis shot 43.3 percent from the floor. PJ Hall scored 21 for Clemson (9-1) but missed a potential tying 3 in the final seconds. ... Emanuel Sharp’s 21 points included a 3-pointer and two key free throws in the final 30 seconds as No. 4 Houston outlasted gritty Texas A&M 70-66 in the Halal Guys Showcase in
Robert was a big part of that as well as our team captain,” Dunn said. “Robert walks around school with a big smile on his face — as if he has a million dollars in the bank, and he does not.
Houston. The Cougars (11-0) led by 15 points at halftime and by 21 with four and a half minutes gone in the second half.
ETC.
Golf: Matt Kuchar and A son Cameron shot a scramble-style 57 to lead by three strokes after the first round of the PNC Championship in Orlando. After rounds of 60, Team Langer, Team Singh, Team Goosen and Team Duval tied for second place in the tournament, which features pairings of a winner of a men’s or women’s major tournament or the Players Championship and a family member. Playing their fourth PNC event, Tiger Woods and his 14-year-old son, Charlie, finished with
“FIU was at our practices a lot, recruiting our kids. They have done a better job than their previous staff in terms of making their presence known.”
Dunn said he’s happy Williams will be joined at FIU by two other ex-Columbus players: defensive end Jeramy Passmore and St. Thomas University transfer Alejandro Prado, who is a kicker.
“Jeramy is a mature individual,” Dunn said. “He will be the right kind of mentor for Robert.”
Carter, meanwhile, has a nonstop motor, which propelled him to doubledigit sacks this year, according to Norland coach Daryle Heidelburg.
“He played running back in Little League,” Heidelburg said. “That’s what makes him so agile.
“If [Carter] were two inches taller, he’s be getting offers from Power Five schools. He’s not the back-to-back birdies to shoot an 8-under 64 at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club, which left them in a tie for 11th place. It was a special day for the Kuchars, too, who endured the rainy conditions to tie for the lowest score in the opening round of the two-day tournament. Their three-stroke lead is the largest after 18 holes in tournament history.
NBA: Kareem AbdulJabbar A was hospitalized after breaking his hip in a fall at a concert Friday night in Los Angeles, his business partner said Saturday. Abdul-Jabbar, 76, was expected to have hip surgery on Saturday at UCLA Hospital, Deborah Morales said in a statement . ... prototype in terms of size, but he’s still one of the best linemen in South Florida.”
FIU 2024 FOOTBALL COMMITMENTS
QB: Clayton Dees, 6-2, 190, Bradenton Palmetto
WR: Nicholas Smith,
6-1, 170, Stranahan
WR: Eric Nelson Jr., 6-3, 170, Miramar
C/G: Jonathan Rodriguez, 6-5, 280, Cardinal Gibbons
C/G: Knajee Saffold, 6-4, 300, Port St. Lucie/ Treasure Coast
DL: Robert Williams, 6-3, 270, Columbus
DL: Germaine Carter, 6-1, 260, Norland
LB: Josiah Taylor, 6-0, 210, Sebring
CB: Raheim Sexil, 6-1, 175, Riverview Sumner
S: Sadonnie Gay, 6-1, 185, Miami Northwestern
S: Ashton Levells, 6-0, 165, Butler C.C.
S: Jaden Williams, 6-2, 185, Plantation scored a career-high 36 points to help lift San Antonio to a 129-115 win over the visiting, short-handed Los Angeles Lakers on Friday that snapped the Spurs’ franchise-record 18-game losing streak.
Boxing: Jake Paul
A
made quick work of veteran boxer Andre August
with a first-round knockout Friday night at Caribe Royale Resort in Orlando. Paul, 26, (8-1, five KOs) fought at cruiserweight to increase his credibility as a title contender after facing former MMA fighters in his first six bouts. August, 35, (10-2-1, five KOs) is a career professional boxer who last fought in August after a nearly four-year layoff and had a five-bout winning streak.