Tebow to Murray: Follow your heart

Before picking football over baseball, Kyler Murray got some advice from another famous two-sport star.

Tim Tebow says he told Murray to follow his heart when deciding between the Oakland Athletics and pursuing an NFL career. Murray, who won the Heisman Trophy last year in his lone season as Oklahoma’s starting quarterback, announced Feb. 11 he was fully committing to the gridiron despite being selected ninth overall in the 2018 amateur baseball draft.

After arriving Feb. 16 at the New York Mets’ spring training camp, Tebow said he interviewed Murray a few months ago in his job as a college football television analyst and the two have gotten to know each other. Tebow, the former NFL quarterback who won the 2007 Heisman Trophy at Florida, said he can relate to Murray’s love for two sports and thinks it was a very difficult decision for him.

Tebow, now an outfielder in the Mets’ farm system, is ticketed for Triple-A Syracuse to begin his third full season of professional baseball. BREWERS, MOUSTAKAS NEAR DEAL >> Mike Moustakas and the Brewers are nearing a deal that would keep the third baseman in Milwaukee for a guarantee of $10 million, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press.

The person spoke Feb. 17 on condition of anonymity because the agreement will be subject to a successful physical. The sides were negotiating a deal that would include a mutual option for 2020, the person said.

Talks toward a deal were first reported by The Athletic.

Moustakas’ deal would be his second in a row for one guaranteed year on the free-agent market. He rejected a $17.4 million qualifying offer from Kansas City after the 2017 season and returned to the Royals in mid-March for a one-year contract that included a guaranteed $6.5 million: a $5.5 million salary and $1 million option buyout. Moustakas earned an additional $2.2 million in performance bonuses based on plate appearances, raising his total earnings in the deal to $8.7 million.

Moustakas hit .256 with eight homers and 33 RBIs in 54 games for Milwaukee, which acquired him from the lastplace Royals on July 27. A 30-year-old left-handed hitter, Moustakas had a .251 average overall with 28 homers and 95 RBIs last year.

Part of the core that led the 2015 Royals to the team’s first World Series title in 30 years, Moustakas hit a franchise-record 38 home runs in 2017. After re-signing last March, he hit 20 home runs in 98 games and then was dealt to the Brewers for outfielder Brett Phillips and righthanded pitcher Jorge Lopez.

College basketball

ST. JOHN’S UPSETS VILLANOVA >> A 70-foot shot just before halftime gave St. John’s momentum, and LJ Figueroa and the Red Storm used a strong defensive effort in the second half to surprise No. 13 Villanova.

Figueroa scored 22 points and St. John’s rallied to beat the Wildcats 71-65 on Feb. 17. It was the first win for the Red Storm at Madison Square Garden against Villanova in 17 years, and they accomplished the feat in front of an energetic sellout crowd of nearly 20,000 fans.

“It was as loud as I can remember, maybe louder,” St. John’s coach Chris Mullin said. “I’m happy for them they got to experience that too. There’s nothing like that. There are some great places to play college basketball, but when you get a full Madison Square Garden against a championship team like Villanova there’s nothing like that. It’s awesome. It helped us. It kept us in the game and took us to another level.”

Trailing by 17 late in the first half, the Red Storm scored the final six points, including Justin Simon’s shot from the opposite 3-point line that banked in just before the buzzer and made it 37-26. The Red Storm (19-7, 7-6 Big East) were down 4834 with 12:30 left. They scored 20 of the next 25 points to take their first lead.