No. 1 Gonzaga averts upset, rallies to win WCC tourney title
Jalen Suggs hit two late 3-pointers and scored 23 points, helping the top-ranked Gonzaga men survive their biggest test of an undefeated season to beat Brigham Young 88-78 in the West Coast Conference Tournament title game on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
The Bulldogs (26-0) had been unstoppable all season, winning all but one of their games by double digits as they advanced to the WCC title game for the 24th straight year.
The Cougars made the lopsided losses list twice, but exposed Gonzaga’s lone weakness in the first half at Orleans Arena: its defense.
BYU (20-6) shot confidently, using an early 11-0 run to build a 12-point halftime lead.
The Zags responded to their biggest halftime deficit in three years by locking down defensively and getting back to their efficient ways on offense.
Suggs took charge down the stretch, hitting consecutive 3-pointers to put Gonzaga up by nine with 1:28 left. Corey Kispert scored 14 of his 17 points in the second half.
Gonzaga has won a school-record 30 straight games over two seasons and will be the first team since Kentucky in 2015 and 16th overall to enter the NCAA Tournament undefeated. The Zags won their eighth WCC title in nine years and 17th under coach Mark Few.
Trevin Knell led the Cougars with 20 points.
BYU was the last team to beat Gonzaga, 91-78 on Feb. 22, 2020.
• No. 11 Kansas will be without starting center David McCormack for this week’s Big 12 Tournament due to COVID-19 protocols.
McCormack is averaging 13.4 points and 6.1 rebounds per game.
•Jill Townsend scored on a 15foot fadeaway jumper as time expired and No. 18 Gonzaga (23-3) rallied past second-seeded BYU (18-5) in the West Coast Conference women’s tournament championship game 43-42 to advance to the NCAA Tournament.
Townsend, one of three starters who did not start because of illness, came off a Jenn Wirth screen and just got the shot off over 6-foot-7 Sara Hamson for her only points of the game. 2020 season. It is the first decrease in the cap.
• The Buccaneers are bringing back inside linebacker Lavonte David on a two-year, $25 million deal, multiple outlets reported.
David has started 137 out of a possible 144 regular-season games since the Buccaneers drafted him in the second round in 2012.
He has registered at least 100 tackles in eight of his nine seasons, including 117 stops in 2020.
• Offensive tackle Trent Brown will head back to the New England Patriots two years after signing a lucrative deal to join the Raiders.
A person familiar with the trade says the Raiders agreed to send Brown to New England and that Brown will rework his contract, which had two non-guaranteed years for $29.25 million remaining, to an $11 million, oneyear deal.
NFL Network first reported the trade that also includes a swap of 2022 draft picks, with the Raiders getting a fifth-rounder from New England and sending a seventhround pick back to the Patriots.
Brown was a prominent part of an expensive 2019 free agent class that didn’t work out for the Raiders. He signed a $66 million, four-year contract but missed 16 of 32 games and was limited to less than 10 snaps in two others.
• The Tennessee Titans released cornerback Malcolm Butler three years into the five-year deal he signed in March 2018.
Butler signed for more than $60 million in March 2018 after leaving New England as a free agent. He was due $11 million in base salary this season and $11.2 million in 2022. But Butler had the team’s third-highest salary cap hit at $14.2 million for this season.
The seven-year veteran started all 16 games last season and tied for the team lead with four interceptions. That tied his career high of four interceptions in 2016 with New England, and his most famous pick clinched the 2015 Super Bowl for the Patriots over Seattle.
• The Minnesota Vikings cleared more salary cap space by cutting veteran kicker Dan Bailey.
Bailey ranked last in the league in 2020 in field goals (68.2 percent) and extra points (86.0 percent), among kickers who appeared in 10 or more games. The 10-year veteran missed five field goals and five extra points over the final five games. season. He filled in as closer when Aroldis Chapman was recovering from COVID-19.
Britton is entering his fourth full season with the Yankees and is starting the third season of a contract now worth $52 million over four years.
• Cleveland Indians third baseman José Ramírez and slugger Franmil Reyes rejoined their teammates at training camp after being banned for breaking COVID-19 protocols.
The players tested negative for the coronavirus and were back at the team’s facility in Goodyear, Arizona.
Ramírez and Reyes had been isolated at their temporary spring training homes since Saturday after they went out to dinner indoors, which violated virus guidelines set by Major League Baseball and the players’ union.