Watkins, FSU beat Va. Tech in ACC tourney
Jamir Watkins scored a career-high 34 points as Florida State surged to an 86-76 victory over Virginia Tech in the second round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament on Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
Jalen Warley added 18 points on 8-of-10 shooting as the ninth-seeded Seminoles (17-15) advanced to a quarterfinal matchup with top-seeded and fourthranked North Carolina on Thursday. Watkins added 11 rebounds and four steals.
Florida State trailed 58-57 with 7 minutes left but the Seminoles followed with an 11-0 run to take command.
Florida State was the dominant team in the frontcourt as it scored 48 points in the paint compared to 32 for eighthseeded Virginia Tech. The Seminoles also outscored the Hokies on points off turnovers, 25-9.
Sean Pedulla tallied 24 points to pace Virginia Tech (18-14), which entered the tournament on a three-game winning streak.
Elsewhere: Fousseyni Traore tallied 14 points and 10 rebounds to lead No. 20 BYU to an 87-73 victory over UCF (17-15) in the second round of the
Big 12 tournament. Richie Saunders and Dallin
Hall scored 13 points apiece for the fifth-seeded Cougars. BYU (23-9) advances to face fourth seed Texas Tech in the Big 12 quarterfinals on Thursday after going 14 for 30 from 3-point range . ... Louisville informed Kenny Payne that he will not return as the men’s coach. The Cardinals concluded an 8-24 season (3-17 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) on Tuesday with an eighth straight loss, a 94-85 setback to North Carolina State in the first round of the ACC tournament . ...
Ole Miss head coach Chris Beard agreed to a new contract Wednesday, one day ahead of the Rebels’ second-round game against Texas A&M in the Southeastern Conference tournament. Terms of the deal were not disclosed by the university, however CBS Sports reported the contract is for six years and extends through the 2029-30 season.
ETC.
MLB: New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole will miss at least one to two months to start the season due to an injury to his pitching elbow, but a clearer picture will come after a visit with a noted specialist, the New York Post reported. Cole, 33, is set to meet with Los Angeles orthopedic surgeon Dr.
Neal ElAttrache for further consultation, per the report.
Golf: Rory McIlroy is five years removed from winning The Players Championship. Rory McIlroy will look to add his name to an exclusive list of multi-time winners of The Players Championship when he tees off at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday in Ponte Vedra Beach. The 2019 champion is bidding to join Jack Nicklaus (1974, 1976, 1978),
Hal Sutton (1983, 2000),
Fred Couples (1984, 1996), Steve Elkington (1991, 1997), Davis Love III (1992, 2003) and Tiger Woods (2001, 2013) as multi-time winners.
Tennis: Second-seeded
Carlos Alcaraz of Spain avenged an upset loss from last year while advancing to the quarterfinals of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.
Alcaraz, the reigning tournament champion, produced a 6-3, 6-3 victory over Hungary’s Fabian Marozsan in fourth-round action on Tuesday.
Marozsan topped Alcaraz 6-3, 7-6 (7-4) last year in the third round at
Rome.