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Penn State-Texas 2nd-round matchup carries plenty of meaning

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:53 GMT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Penn State has been historically more likely to play Texas on a national stage in a football bowl game than the NCAA Tournament. On Saturday night, the Midwest Region matchup between two gridiron giants will be on the hardcourt for the first meeting in men’s basketball.It just may present one of the most intriguing — and meaningful — second round games. The teams are coming off sharp debuts in Des Moines, particularly on defense and from the 3-point line. Both programs, in their own way, would experience a sense of satisfaction from reaching the second weekend of the tournament. Then there are their beloved head coaches. Penn State (23-13) took a big step forward in Micah Shrewsberry’s second season, reaching the Big Ten Tournament championship game and posting the first NCAA Tournament win in 20 years by disposing of Texas A&M on Thursday night. Shrewsberry has been mentioned as a candidate for high-profile openings at Georgetown and Notre Dame, bu...

Nunge’s block helps No. 3 seed Xavier beat Kennesaw State

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:53 GMT

GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) — Jack Nunge blocked Terrell Burden’s driving attempt at a go-ahead layup in the final seconds, and Xavier dug out of a 13-point hole against surprising Kennesaw State to escape with a 72-67 victory in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday.Souley Boum hit four clinching free throws in the final 2.6 seconds for the third-seeded Musketeers (26-9), who ran off 15 unanswered points as part of a game-ending 24-6 run. That was enough to turn away the 14th-seeded Owls (26-9) in the program’s first-ever March Madness game.Xavier moves on to face Pittsburgh on Sunday in the Midwest Region.Xavier led 68-67 when Burden — who’d been successful all day with dribble penetration — turned into the paint past Jerome Hunter and appeared to have a path to the rim. The 7-foot Nunge moved over and swatted the ball into the backboard.Jerome Hunter scored 24 points to lead the Musketeers, while Boum had 17. Nunge had 10 points, 11 rebounds, two steals and two blocks.Burden...

Kalkbrenner leads Creighton past NC State in March Madness

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:53 GMT

DENVER (AP) — The Creighton Bluejays couldn’t hit anything from outside. No worries — OK, maybe a little — they simply went inside to their big man.Ryan Kalkbrenner scored a career-high 31 points and sixth-seeded Creighton overcame a rough 3-point shooting day to fend off No. 11 seed North Carolina State 72-63 on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.The 7-foot-1 Kalkbrenner did a little bit of everything for the Bluejays, which included hitting a big 3-pointer on a day the team finished 3 of 20 from long range.The slender Kalkbrenner had six dunks and seven rebounds, and N.C. State big men D.J. Burns Jr. and Ebenezer Dowuona were hampered by foul trouble.“Nothing surprises me from Kalk,” Creighton coach Greg McDermott said. “He’s just improved in every facet of the game, and he was able to score on Burns. But then when they had to go small, we did a good job of executing some offense to get him the ball around the rim, and then he did the rest.”Next up ...

Russia will extend Ukraine grain deal for 60 days — not 120

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:53 GMT

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — On the eve of the expiration of a deal enabling Ukraine to export grain, the United Nations’ humanitarian chief on Friday called its extension crucial to ensuring global food supplies and keeping prices from spiraling as they did after Russia’s invasion of its smaller neighbor. Russia’s U.N. ambassador reiterated that Moscow is ready to extend the deal — but only for 60 days, just half the 120 days in the agreement.Russian envoy Vassily Nebenzia’s briefing to the U.N. Security Council, reiterating what a Russian delegation told senior U.N. officials at a meeting in Geneva on Monday, reinforced the Kremlin’s insistence on reducing the duration of the deal to hold out for changes on how the package is working.The U.N. and Turkey brokered the deal between the warring countries last July that allows Ukraine — one of the world’s key breadbaskets — to ship food and fertilizer from three of its Black Sea ports. A separate memorandum of understanding between the United...

Sanogo, UConn send Pitino, Iona packing from March Madness

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:53 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — With a dominant performance from its best player in the second half, UConn took the next step toward returning to its championship past.Adama Sanogo scored 10 of his season-high 28 points in the first five minutes of the second half as the fourth-seeded Huskies seized control and beat Rick Pitino’s Iona Gaels 87-63 Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.UConn (26-8) advanced to play fifth-seeded Saint Mary’s on Sunday in the West Region after losing in the first round under coach Dan Hurley the last two seasons.“We grabbed him at halftime because he was pressing in the first half,” Hurley said of Sanogo. “He was hesitant. I think he carried the weight of getting us out of the first round, I think, a little bit too much in the first half.”Iona (27-8) had its 14-game winning streak snapped as the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champion didn’t have the depth to keep up with one of the Big East’s best for 40 minutes.“The played a great...

Prince George’s Co. shelter to waive all pet adoption fees for a limited time

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:53 GMT

From now until the end of April, the Prince George’s County, Maryland, Animal Services Facility and Adoption Center will waive all adoption fees for dogs and cats.It’s all thanks to $50,000 grant from Utah-based Best Friends Animal Society, a nonprofit organization with a focus on animal welfare by providing resources to shelters across the country.More Prince George’s County NewsMore Local NewsMarlan Roberts, senior manager of operations at Best Friends, said the surrender rates are increasing at the shelter, and waving the fee was an incentive to get people’s attention.“It’s just a great time right now,” Roberts said in an interview with WTOP. “Our numbers are increasing … the amount of animals entering our shelter due to folks having hard times. Why not allow dogs at a few waived fees so we can get them into a forever home?”The grant will allow hundreds of pets in the Upper Marlboro shelter to receive vaccines and other routin...

Perfect March Madness brackets could be gone before weekend

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:53 GMT

The dwindling number of perfect NCAA Tournament brackets might reach zero before the weekend.The NCAA March Madness Twitter account posted after Friday’s early games that only 30 such brackets remained. That’s out of millions, though the account didn’t say how many exactly.In ESPN’s Tournament Challenge bracket game, only 22 perfect brackets out of more than 20 million filled out were still out there with eight first-round games left to play. ESPN had no perfect brackets entering the weekend last year.Victories by double-digit seeds Princeton, Penn State and Furman on Thursday did particular damage. Only 1.4% of ESPN’s brackets had all three teams making it out of the first round, and only 0.1% had them surviving the weekend.On CBS’ site, 0.0003% of brackets were perfect through the eight early Friday games, according to Jared Shanker, the network’s senior director of digital communications.___AP March Madness coverage: https://apnews.com/hu...

Mississippi State sends Creighton home from March Madness

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:53 GMT

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — Jerkaila Jordan scored 20 and led No. 11 seed Mississippi State to an 81-66 win against No. 6 Creighton in the women’s NCAA Tournament on Friday night.Jessika Carter, the 6-5 Bulldog center, took advantage of the Bluejays’ undersized front court, with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Anastasia Hayes chipped in 12 points and seven assists. Ahlana Smith and Asianae Johnson each added 10 points. Lauren Jensen scored 22 points to lead Creighton (22-9), which made a run to the regional final last season. Emma Ronsiek scored 21 points, hitting 3 of 6 shots from beyond the arc.The Bulldogs picked up their second NCAA Tournament victory in coach Sam Purcell’s inaugural season. Mississippi State defeated Illinois in a First Four matchup on Wednesday.Mississippi State (23-10) will face No. 3 Notre Dame (26-5) in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday. The Fighting Irish are hosting first and second-round NCAA games this weekend.TURNING POINTDebreasha Powe hit back...

Action on climate change excites community

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:53 GMT

DENVER (KDVR) — Environmental justice is making news in Colorado again. This time, The state is being praised for progressive action on climate change.The Environmental Protection Agency just announced $3 million in grant funding coming to the state to help Colorado with air pollution efforts. Leaders and climate activists say it is beyond time for action on climate change. They are happy about the state focusing on the issue now. Altitude lawsuit settled, but still no games on Comcast Friday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis was joined by the EPA and environmental advocates in celebrating the grant for planning strategies to reduce air pollution."We'll be able to update the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Reduction Roadmap, a number of supporting studies to make sure that the decisions and policies here in Colorado are science-based. The roadmap here in Colorado will now be able to include modeling of not only our current emissions trajectory but the impact of this enormous federal investment,...

John Martin’s Irish Pub, Wynwood Marketplace throw festive St. Patrick’s Day celebrations

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:44:53 GMT

St. Patrick’s Day is finally here. Not that you need an excuse to throw back a few green ones. If you want to celebrate big time, we know two great options. Deco’s Alex Miranda has the deets.The Irish are lucky.Alex Miranda: “St. Patrick’s Day is a holiday that is beloved by everybody. I mean, it doesn’t matter where you’re from.Emi Guerra: “The food is phenomenal, the drinks are great, the beer is flowing.”And now this 2-for-1 drink deal?Emi Guerra: “You buy a shot of Irish whiskey, and you get a free Harp beer with it.”Alex Miranda: “Now, is that dangerous to mix? Not that I haven’t done it before.”At John Martin’s Pub and Restaurant.Emi Guerra: “It’s rooted on tradition. It’s been around since 1989.”The Coral Gables institution is throwing a St. Patrick’s Day street fair for free.Emi Guerra: “Everything from entertainers, stage, live music.”Guest: “I...