GIRLS
Benton 43 (19-2, 4-0 MEC)
Lafayette 28 (14-6, 3-1 MEC)
Bishop LeBlond 46 (14-8, 3-1 MEC)
Cameron 39
St. Joseph Christian 63 (4-13)
Nodaway-Holt 61
BOYS
Central 72 (7-12, 2-3 Suburban)
Ruskin 59
Bishop LeBlond 55 (14-8)
Pembroke Hill 37
St. Joseph Christian 45 (9-8)
Nodaway-Holt 34
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – Sindarius Thornwell scored 14 points and Laimonas Chatkevicius added 13 points and eight rebounds to lead South Carolina to a 65-60 win over Missouri in a game between the Southeastern Conference’s bottom two teams.
The Gamecocks (12-11, 3-8 SEC) led by 10 in both the first and second halves, but couldn’t put the Tigers (7-17, 1-10) away until late.
Missouri had cut South Carolina’s lead to 54-51 with less than three minutes to go when Thornwell hit his second 3-pointer of the game.
The Gamecocks would stretch the lead to 10 again before the Tigers hit a couple of late 3-pointers.
Missouri’s bad season took a turn for the worse. The Tigers had only nine players in uniform and lost sophomore guard Wes Clark to a gruesome arm injury in the second half.
The Tigers have lost 10 in a row.
— Associated Press —
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) — Wayne Selden Jr. scored 16 points and No. 8 Kansas shot well from 3-point range, beating Texas Tech 73-51 on Tuesday night.
The Jayhawks (20-4, 9-2 Big 12) hit 11 of 20 on 3s, with Selden going 4 of 7. Kansas reached the 20-win mark for the 26th straight season.
Kansas sped up play in the second half and the Red Raiders couldn’t keep pace. Perry Ellis scored 14 points, and Frank Mason III, Brannen Greene and Cliff Alexander each added 10 in the win.
Norense Odiase scored 13 points and Devaughtah Williams added 11 for the Red Raiders (12-13, 2-10).
Kansas, which lost 67-62 at Oklahoma State on Saturday, came out after halftime with more zip on its passes. That allowed them to get open for more 3-pointers and they hit six after the break.
Ellis, a junior, needs three more points to reach 1,000 for his career. He left the game in the second half just shy of becoming the 56th Kansas player in program history to get to the milestone.
TIP-INS:
Kansas: The Jayhawks were coming off their second Big 12 road loss of the season, which ended their five-game winning streak.
Texas Tech: The Red Raiders have beaten a Top 10 Kansas team in Lubbock three times in the past 10 seasons. Texas Tech won in double overtime in 2005 when the Jayhawks were No. 2 and again in 2007 when Kansas was No. 5 — both under Bob Knight. In 2009, No. 9 Kansas fell to Pat Knight’s Red Raiders.
UP NEXT:
Kansas plays host to No. 16 Baylor on Saturday.
Texas Tech travels to Texas on Saturday night.
— Associated Press —
It didn’t take Shyanne Saladino long to make an impact on the Missouri Western softball team. The junior transfer has been named the MIAA/AstroTurf Pitcher of the Week after her first action in a Griffon uniform.
Saladino went 2-0 over the weekend in Arkansas without giving up a run. The Davenport, Iowa native went the distance in both of her starts, pitching 12 innings, while allowing 10 hits and striking out five batters. She pitched seven innings in the Griffons 2-0 win over Henderson State on Saturday and needed only five on Sunday as MWSU scored 14 in a win over Arkansas-Monticello.
Saladino was a first team NFCA All-American and second team NJCAA All-American at Kirkwood Community College, where she went 25-2 with a 1.28 ERA.
— MWSU Sports Information —
EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) — D.J. Balentine scored 20 points and Evansville pulled away in the second half to beat Missouri State 73-66 on Tuesday.
Adam Wing added 17 points and the Purple Aces (17-8, 7-6 Missouri Valley Conference) snapped a three-game losing streak.
Balentine is tied for 25th in the nation in scoring and has notched double figures in all but two of Evansville’s games this season
Evansville led early but Shawn Roundtree put Missouri State up 24-22 with a layup. Wing hit two free throws to tie it at 30 at halftime.
The lead traded hands seven times until Jaylon Moore tied it at 51 with a free throw, sparking an 11-2 Evansville run, then Balentine hit back-to-back buckets and the Purple Aces pulled away 65-57 with 3:27 left.
Camyn Boone led Missouri State (9-16, 3-10) with a career-high 21 points, Chris Hendrix scored 13 and Gavin Thurman 12.
— Associated Press —
LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Sam Dekker matched his career high with 21 points, and No. 5 Wisconsin built a big lead early and then held off Nebraska’s late comeback bid for a 65-55 victory on Tuesday night.
The Badgers (22-2, 10-1 Big Ten) won their seventh straight game and extended their lead in the Big Ten to three games over the four teams tied for second place. The Cornhuskers (13-11, 5-7) lost for the fourth time in five games.
Wisconsin has its best 24-game record in program history and best 11-game record in Big Ten play since the 1913-14 squad went unbeaten.
Frank Kaminsky added 13 points and 12 rebounds and Bronson Koenig had 13 points for the Badgers.
Terran Petteway had 16 of his 21 points in the second half for Nebraska, and Shavon Shields finished with 12 points.
The Badgers were up 15 points in the last four minutes before Nebraska made one last run. Tai Webster’s three-point play and his layup after a turnover made it 52-42, and it was 58-53 with a minute left after Petteway converted a three-point play and made a 3-pointer.
Wisconsin went the last 4:53 without a field goal and was just 6 of 17 from the field in the second half. But the Badgers, who shot 39 percent for the game, made 24 of 31 free throws and 15 of their last 18 to improve their road record to 10-1.
The Badgers, who beat the Huskers 70-55 in Madison last month, swept the season series and avenged a 77-68 loss in Lincoln in last season’s final regular-season game. Last year’s upset of the then-No. 9 Badgers in Lincoln, played before an amped sellout crowd, clinched the Huskers’ first NCAA tournament berth since 1998.
Nebraska has looked like anything but an NCAA team this season and struggled again early Tuesday. Wisconsin had its first double-digit lead less than seven minutes into the game and led 27-13 at half. It was the second straight game Nebraska managed only 13 first-half points.
The Badgers had things going their way from the start. Leslee Smith blocked Kaminsky’s 3-point try from the top of the key after the tipoff. The ball came right back to Kaminsky, who fed Dekker for an easy basket.
Wisconsin shot just 42 percent and was 1 of 6 on 3-pointers in the first half, but that was enough to take control against a Nebraska team that shot 21.4 percent (6 of 28) in the first half and went scoreless for more than seven minutes.
Petteway, who scored 20 of his 27 points in the first half of the January loss at Wisconsin, had just five points on 2-of-11 shooting in the first 20 minutes.
TIP-INS
Wisconsin: The Badgers clinched a winning Big Ten record for the 15th straight year. … Wisconsin is 6-1 against Nebraska since the Huskers joined the Big Ten in 2010.
Nebraska: World lightweight boxing champion Terence “Bud” Crawford of Omaha gave a motivational speech to the Huskers this week and was introduced in the first half to big applause. Ex-Husker stars Will Shields (Pro Football Hall of Fame) and Alex Gordon (Kansas City Royals Gold Glove left fielder) also were in the crowd. … Shields made his 75th consecutive start. … The first 2,500 fans received the new state quarter, the Homestead Quarter, as part of a bank promotion.
UP NEXT
Wisconsin: hosts Illinois on Sunday.
Nebraska: visits Purdue on Sunday.
— Associated Press —
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Actor Vince Vaughn, who starred in the movies “Wedding Crashers,” ”Old School” and “Swingers,” will serve as grand marshal for the upcoming Daytona 500.
The 44-year-old Vaughn will give the command to start engines for NASCAR’s biggest race on Feb. 22, becoming the latest celebrity grand marshal at the season opener. The list includes fellow actors Ben Affleck, James Franco, John Travolta, Nicolas Cage and Matthew McConaughey. Actor Chris Evans was grand marshal in 2014.
Vaughn’s appearance coincides with the release of his next movie, “Unfinished Business,” which hits theaters March 6.
Vaughn, who was an honorary pace car driver at Texas Motor Speedway in 2007, says the Daytona 500 “is one of the biggest events in all of sports, and I feel honored to be able to be a part of it in it in such a major way.”
Tickets go on sale this week for Arrowhead Stadium’s first international soccer match in five years. The match will pit the Mexican National Team against Paraguay on March 31.
As part of a long-standing club policy, Jackson County residents will have an opportunity to purchase tickets before the general public with a special presale beginning at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10. As a benefit of year-long membership, Chiefs Season Ticket Members will also have a presale opportunity beginning at noon on Tuesday.
The match, set for 8 p.m. CT on Tuesday, March 31, will see the Mexican National Team face Paraguay as part of Mexico’s 13th annual U.S. Tour. Mexico will also play Ecuador on Saturday, March 28 at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
This contest marks the first time that Mexico will play in Kansas City. Ranked 20th in the latest rankings, Mexico finished the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil with a 2-1-1 record. They played in one of the most exciting matches of the entire tournament, a tightly contested 2-1 defeat vs. the Netherlands in the Round of 16.
The team also earned the gold medal in the 2012 Olympic Games in London and owns nine total CONCACAF Championships and Gold Cup titles.
Tickets for the match at Arrowhead Stadium start as low as $34 for Lower Level seats. Limited on-field seating will also be available. Tickets for the game will be available from Ticketmaster or by calling 1 (800) 745-3000. Group ticket purchases can be made through the Chiefs by calling 888-99-CHIEFS (24433). Luxury suites and other premium seating options are available for this match through the Chiefs by calling 816-920-4839.
General parking for the contest will be $27 if purchased in advance while Gold parking will be $45 if purchased in advance. On the day of the match, only General parking will be available and will be $30, payable in cash only at the gates.
This match marks the first soccer contest at Arrowhead Stadium since the Kansas City Wizards hosted Manchester United in 2010 in front of the largest soccer crowd in Kansas City history (52,424) and is the first competition between two international teams since El Clasico – Club Deportivo Guadalajara S.A. de C.V. (Chivas) vs. Club America in 2009.
SAN DIEGO (AP)- Pitcher James Shields has agreed to a $75 million, four-year contract with the San Diego Padres. The right-hander helped Kansas City reach the World Series last year, going 14-8 with a 3.21 ERA. He declined a $15.3 million qualifying offer from the Royals.
Shields was traded from Tampa Bay to Kansas City two years ago in a deal in which Myers, then the Royals’ top prospect, was acquired by the Rays.
He lost both of his World Series starts, outdueled each time by Madison Bumgarner.
The Lafayette boys’ basketball team led wire-to-wire Monday night against their crosstown rivals as they rolled to a 75-48 victory over Benton inside Lafayette High School.
The No. 1 The Fighting Irish have now won five consecutive games as they improve to 16-4 and 4-0 in the MEC. Benton had its five-game win streak snapped as they’re now 12-8 and 2-2 in league play.
Lafayette built a quick nine-point first quarter lead before leading 18-12 after one. The lead grew to as many as 13 in the first half before taking a 36-25 lead to the locker room.
The Cardinals never got closer than nine points in the second half and Lafayette outscored Benton 22-10 in the fourth quarter to blow the game wide open.
Freshman Diego Bernard led the Fighting Irish with 15 points, while Chester Goudeau added 14 and Caleb Bennett scored 12 points.
Fabian Smith and Saxton Thuston each had 15 points to lead Benton.
Lafayette is on the road Friday when they travel to Bishop LeBlond, while the Cardinals travel to Maryville Friday.
Elsewhere Monday night, the Central girls suffered their sixth consecutive loss as they fell at Ruskin, 43-42. The Indians drop to 5-14 and 1-5 in the Suburban League.
