Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Ochai Agbaji scored 22 points, two of them coming on a jaw-dropping ally-oop dunk midway through the second half, and sixth-ranked Kansas cruised to a 75-62 victory over TCU and into the Big 12 Tournament title game. Mitch Lightfoot added 15 points while playing extended minutes in place of injured big man David McCormack, and Remy Martin finished with 10 as the top-seeded Jayhawks advanced to play Texas Tech on Saturday night. Chuck O'Bannon had 15 points to lead TCU. Mike Miles shook off a shooting slump to add 14.
NEW YORK (AP) — Arthur Kaluma scored 17 points and keyed an overwhelming blitz that sent Creighton into the Big East championship game with a stunning 85-58 blowout of No. 11 Providence in the semifinals. Alex O'Connell had 18 points and Ryan Kalkbrenner added 15 points and nine rebounds as the fourth-seeded Bluejays reached their fourth conference final since joining the league before the 2013-14 season. They're still looking for their first Big East Tournament title. The surprising Bluejays will play eighth-ranked and second-seeded Villanova for the championship Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. Al Durham had 21 points on a rare miserable night this season for the top-seeded Friars.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Missouri has fired basketball coach Cuonzo Martin one day after the Tigers finished a 12-21 season with a 76-68 loss to LSU in the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament. Tigers athletic director Desiree Reed-Francois said in a statement on Friday that the search for a new coach would begin immediately, and that longtime coach and administrator Eddie Fogler would assist in the process. It will be the first major coaching hire at Missouri for Reed-Francois, who was hired by by the school in August. Martin had a record of 78-77 in five seasons in Columbia.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Keegan Murray had 26 points and eight rebounds to lead No. 24 Iowa to an 84-74 victory over Rutgers in the Big Ten Tournament quarterfinals. Fifth-seeded Iowa will meet ninth-seeded Indiana in Saturday's semifinals. Jordan Bohannon and Tony Perkins each scored 16 points for the Hawkeyes. Kris Murray added nine points and five rebounds. Geo Baker led fourth-seeded Rutgers with 23 points. Clifford Omoruyi had 17 points, and Ron Harper Jr. and Paul Mulchay each scored 13. The Hawkeyes led by as many as 18 points midway through the second half.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — The St. Louis Cardinals have signed right-hander Drew VerHagen to a two-year contract for $5.5 million. VerHagen was a fourth-round pick of the Tigers in 2012 who went 10-10 over parts of six seasons in Detroit. He appeared in 127 games, starting eight of them, and will compete for a spot in the Cardinals bullpen during spring camp. The 31-year-old VerHagen spent the past two seasons with the Nippon Ham Fighters of the Japan Pacific League, going 13-14 with a 3.49 ERA in 39 games.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Lauren Ebo tied a career-high 17 points, and No. 7 Texas beat Kansas State 72-65 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament. Rori Harmon had 16, Aliyah Matharu scored 15 and Joanne Allen-Taylor added 12 for the Longhorns, who will play No. 10 Iowa State in the semifinals. Ayoka Lee led Kansas State with 16, going 7 of 8 from the field, while Emilee Ebert had 15 and Serena Sundell added 11.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Emily Ryan and Lexi Donarski each scored 14 points to help No. 10 Iowa State hold off West Virginia 66-60 in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament. Down by as many as 21 in the third quarter, the Mountaineers trailed by four with 16 seconds to play when Esmery Martinez hit a long 3-pointer. Donarski made three free throws in the final minute to thwart any West Virginia comeback hopes. Ashley Joens had 13 points and 14 rebounds for Iowa State. Martinez had 18 points and 11 rebounds for West Virginia, Ja'Naiya Quinerly added 15 and Savannah Samuel scored 10.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Big 12 player of the year NaLyssa Smith scored 15 points, Baylor shut out Oklahoma State into the second quarter and the No. 4 Bears rolled the rest of the way to a 76-36 victory in the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. Ja'Mee Asberry scored 16 points for the top-seeded Bears, who advanced to play No. 21 Oklahoma in the semifinals on Saturday. The Cowgirls were playing their final game under longtime coach Jim Littell. Their leading scorer, Lauren Fields, went 0-for-11 from the field and finished without a point. Kassidy De Lapp scored a team-best nine points for the Cowgirls.
Update on the latest sports
T25-MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Surging Texas A&M stuns No. 4 Auburn
UNDATED (AP) — Auburn's shot at a No. 1 seed in the NCAA men's basketball tournament has been severely damaged yesterday.
Tyrece Radford scored 19 points and Quenton Jackson made five throws in the final minute Friday as Texas A&M beat the fourth-ranked Tigers, 67-62 in the SEC quarterfinals. Jackson finished with 17 points to for the Aggies, who led 37-21 at halftime and improved to 22-11. The win like puts A&M in the NCAA Tournament.
Jabari Smith had a team-high 17 points for the Tigers, who are 27-5 following their third loss in six games.
Also in the SEC quarters, TyTy Washington scored 25 points and Oscar Tshiebwe (SHEEB'-way) tied a half-century-old school record in leading fifth-ranked Kentucky past Vanderbilt, 77-71. Tshiebwe had 12 points and 14 rebounds in his his 26th double-double of the season, tying the Wildcats record set by Dan Issel (IH'-sul) in 1969-70.
Au'Diese Toney scored 22 points and JD Notae (NOH'-tay) added 19 as No. 15 Arkansas beat LSU, 79-67. Chris Lykes chipped in 18 points as the Razorbacks (25-7) won for the 15th time in their last 17 games to set up a semifinal meeting with Texas A&M.
Josiah-Jordan James led five players in double figures 16 points, 14 of them during a six-minute stretch in which ninth-ranked Tennessee pulled away to a 72-59 victory over Mississippi State. Kennedy Chandler had 11 points in the Vols' 10th win in 11 games.
In the Big Ten quarterfinals, Marcus Bingham Jr. matched his career high with 19 points and Tyson Walker scored nine of his 11 points in the final 90 seconds to send seventh-seeded Michigan State past No. 12 Wisconsin, 69-63. The Badgers led 40-36 before Bingham answered with all of the points in the Spartans' 11-2 run.
Also in the Big Ten, Trayce Jackson-Davis scored 21 points, including three free throws in the closing seconds of Indiana's 65-63 upset of 16th-ranked Illinois Jackson-Davis knocked down two free throws with 26.1 seconds left to put the Hoosiers ahead.
Jaden Ivey scored 17 points and Zach Edey had 15 to lead No. 9 Purdue past Penn State, 69-61. Brandon Newman added 12 points for the Boilermakers in his first action since Feb. 10.
Keegan Murray had 26 points and eight rebounds to lead No. 24 Iowa to a 84-74 victory over Rutgers. Jordan Bohannon and Tony Perkins each scored 16 points for the 24-9 Hawkeyes, who have a meeting with Indiana on Saturday.
The Big 12 title game will have Kansas against Texas Tech.
Ochai Agbaji (OH'-chy ahg-BY'-zhee) scored 22 points and sixth-ranked Kansas cruised to a 75-62 victory over TCU. Mitch Lightfoot added 15 points while playing extended minutes in place of injured big man David McCormack.
Clarence Nagolny made his only points of the night on go-ahead foul shots with less than a minute left and No. 14 Texas Tech escaped with a 56-55 victory over Oklahoma. Jacob Groves had a chance to force overtime before missing the second of two free throws for the Sooners.
In the ACC semifinals, Paolo Banchero (bahn-KEHR'-oh) had 18 points and 11 rebounds in seventh-ranked Duke's 80-76 victory over Miami in the ACC semifinals. AJ Griffin scored 21 points, including three free throws in the final 20 seconds to seal coach Mike Krzyzewski's (shuh-SHEHF'-skeez) 22nd appearance in the conference title game. Darius Maddox had a career-high 20 points as Virginia Tech defeated North Carolina, 72-59. Keve Aluma had 18 points for the Hokies.
It will be eighth-ranked Villanova against Creighton in the Big East title game on Saturday.
Jermaine Samuels had 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Wildcats in a 63-60 victory against No. 20 UConn. Brandon Slater had 15 points and a highlight-reel block for Villanova.
Arthur Kaluma scored 10 of his 17 points during a 12-0 run in the second half that sent Creighton to a stunning 85-58 rout of No. 11 Providence in the Big East semifinals. Alex O'Connell had 18 points and Ryan Kalkbrenner added 15 points and nine rebounds as the fourth-seeded Bluejays handed the Friars the most lopsided loss for a No. 1 seed in Big East tourney history.
Arizona and UCLA will battle for the Pac 12 championship.
Azoulas Tubelis had 20 points and 11 rebounds and No. 2 Arizona pulled away late to beat Colorado 82-72 in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals. The Wildcats played without point guard Kerr Kriisa (KREE'-sah), who sprained his right ankle in the closing seconds of Thursday's win against Stanford.
Jaime Jaquez Jr. scored 19 points, Jules Bernard added 15 and No. 13 UCLA beat No. 21 Southern California 69-59. Tyger Campbell added 14 points for the Bruins.
In the American Athletic Conference quarterfinals, Fabian White Jr. provided 18 points with eight rebounds for 18th-ranked Houston in a 69-56 win over Cincinnati. Jamal Shead had 15 points and seven assists for the Cougars, who trailed by 10 in the second half.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL-COACHING MOVES
Rhode Island, East Carolina dismiss coaches
The list of coaching vacancies in men's college basketball continues to grow.
Missouri has fired basketball coach Cuonzo Martin a day after the Tigers finished a 12-21 season with a 76-68 loss to LSU. Mizzou was 78-77 under Martin.
David Cox has been dismissed by Rhode Island following a 15-16 season. Cox was 64-55 in four seasons with the Rams, including a 34-36 record in the Atlantic 10.
East Carolina fired basketball coach Joe Dooley after four seasons. Dooley was 44-67 in his second stint at the school.
Also in men's basketball, Rutgers has extended the contract of coach Steve Pikiell through the 2029-30 season. The Scarlet Knights are 18-13 this season after making the NCAA Tournament last year for the first time since 1991.
NBA-SCHEDULE
Heat knock off Cavs
UNDATED (AP) — The Miami Heat have increased their lead in the NBA's Eastern Conference standings, moving 2 1/2 games ahead of Milwaukee.
Bam Adebayo (ad-eh-BY'-oh) delivered 30 points and 17 rebounds as the Heat handed the Cavaliers their seventh loss in 10 games, 117-105. Jimmy Butler added 24 points and a pair of big third-quarter runs that helped Miami improve to 16-7 after losses.
Tyler Herro scored 22 points and Max Strus finished with 17 for the Heat, who scored 13 straight in the third quarter to go ahead to stay.
Also in the NBA, Gregg Popovich became the league's all-time winningest coach with his 1,336th, passing Don Nelson. Dejounte (deh-ZHAN'-tay) Murray had 27 points and nine rebounds to lead the Spurs past the Jazz, 104-102.
Checking out Friday's other NBA action:
— Gary Trent Jr. pumped in 42 points to lead the Raptors to a 117-112 win over the league-leading Suns. Pascal Siakam added 25 points and 10 assists for Toronto, and Scottie Barnes had 15 points.
— LeBron James erupted for 50 points for the 15th time in his career and helped rally the Lakers in the second half to a 122-109 victory over the Wizards. It is the second straight home game during which James has scored at least 50 and the third time he has done it with the Lakers.
— Ja (jah) Morant delivered 15 of his 37 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Grizzlies close out a 118-114 win over the Knicks. New York led 106-105 until Morant scored 10 straight Memphis points, putting the Grizzlies ahead by seven in the final minute.
— Jayson Tatum had 31 points and eight rebounds, while Jaylen Brown added 22 points and eight boards in the Celtics' fifth straight win, 114-103 versus teh Pistons. Marcus Smart added 20 points for Boston, which has won 18 of 21 since a Jan. 21 loss dropped them a game below .500.
— The Mavericks earned a 113-100 win over the Rockets as Luka Doncic (DAHN'-chihch) scored 30 points and Dwight Powell had 26. Spencer Dinwiddie added 16 points and seven assists to help the Mavericks win for the sixth time in seven games and move to a season-high-tying 15 games above .500 at 41-26.
— Trae Young scored 27 points to lead six Hawks scorers in double figures in a 112-106 downing of the Clippers. Atlanta led only 94-92 in the fourth when back-to-back three-point plays by Onyeka Okongwu stretched the advantage to eight points.
— The Hornets rolled to a 142-120 rout of the Pelicans as Terry Rozier highlighted his 27-point performance with seven 3-pointers. Miles Bridges had 27 points and nine assists for Charlotte, which hit 22 3s and shot 60% overall in snapping a two-game skid.
— Mo Bamba scored 27 points and the Magic went on a 23-4 burst in the second half to beat the Timberwolves, 118-110, ending Minnesota's winning streak at six games. Wendell Carter Jr. had 20 points and Mo Wagner came off the bench with 18 points in just 13 minutes for the Magic.
NFL NEWS
Grand jury declines to indict Texans' Watson
HOUSTON (AP) — A grand jury has declined to indict Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson. The decision followed a police investigation sparked by lawsuits filed by 22 women who have accused him of harassment and sexual assault.
The grand jury's decision came about a year after the women first filed their suits, accusing Watson of exposing himself, touching them with his penis or kissing them against their will during massage appointments. One woman alleged Watson forced her to perform oral sex.
Eight of the women who sued Watson filed criminal complaints against him with Houston police and appeared before the grand jury.
In other NFL news:
— The Raiders signed star defensive end Maxx Crosby to a four-year extension worth about $95 million, the first major personnel move made by the new regime of coach Josh McDaniels and general manager Dave Ziegler.
— The Jaguars have released veteran running back Carlos Hyde, who finished with just 253 yards rushing and a touchdown in his eighth NFL season.
—The Dolphins say they have placed a second-round tender on cornerback Nik Needham.
MLB-NEWS
Giants get FA Rodon
UNDATED (AP) — Free agent left-hander Carlos Rodón (roh-DAHN') has agreed to terms on a $44 million, two-year contract with the San Francisco Giants, according to a person with direct knowledge of the negotiations. The 29-year-old Rodón spent his first seven major league seasons with the Chicago White Sox. He is coming off a career-best season in which he set a high for wins in going 13-5 with a career-low 2.37 ERA over 24 starts.
In other baseball news:
— Clayton Kershaw is staying put with the Dodgers, pending a physical. According to multiple reports Friday, the 33-year-old free-agent pitcher agreed to a one-year contract to return to the only team he's ever played for.
— Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer's administrative leave has been extended through March 19 by MLB and the players' association. Bauer was placed on seven days' paid leave July 2 under the union and MLB's joint domestic violence and sexual assault policy. Los Angeles prosecutors last month decided not to charge Bauer for allegedly beating and sexually abusing the San Diego woman he met through social media.
— Veteran left-hander Martin (mahr-TEEN') Perez is set for a reunion with the Texas Rangers, according to a person familiar with the deal. Perez spent the last two seasons with the Red Sox and is 63-69 with a 4.71 ERA in 221 career games.
— Players who are not vaccinated against the coronavirus won't be allowed to travel into Canada to face the Blue Jays in Toronto and won't be paid for those games. Canada's government requires a person must have received a second vaccine dose — or one dose of Johnson & Johnson — at least 14 days prior to entry.
— The Cubs and manager David Ross have agreed to a contract extension through the 2024 season that includes a club option for 2025. Ross is 105-117 with one playoff appearance.
— A person familiar with the situation says the Cubs have agreed to a $4 million, one-year contract with slick-fielding shortstop Andrelton (AN'-drul-tuhn) Simmons. He batted just .223 with three homers for Minnesota last year and is a career .265 hitter over 10 seasons with Atlanta, Angels and Twins.
— The Cardinals signed Drew VerHagen to a two-year contract. The right-hander went 10-10 over parts of six seasons in Detroit.
NHL-SCHEDULE
Pens beat Knights
UNDATED (AP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins have hopped over the New York Rangers for second place in the NHL's Metropolitan Division, six points behind Carolina.
Mark Friedman's first goal in 10 months broke open a tie game early in the third period of the Pens' 5-2 win over the Golden Knights. Bryan Rust added his 20th goal of the season with about five minutes remaining, a power-play tally that made it 4-2.
Rust and Jeff Carter each had a goal and an assist to support Tristan Jarry, who turned back 40 shots.
Vegas entered the final 20 minutes tied 2-2 despite outshooting the Pens, 22-7 in the second period.
Elsewhere on NHL ice:
— The Capitals pulled out a 4-3 win over the Canucks on Lars Eller's overtime goal. Evgeny Kuznetsov scored three goals for his second career hat trick and Alex Ovechkin had two assists as Washington moved to 4-0-1 in its last five games.
— The Blue Jackets beat the Wild, 3-2 as Yegor Chinakhov (yeh-GOHR' CHIH-nah-kahv) scored the shootout winner after Zach Werenski tied the game with 30.4 seconds left in regulation. Chinakov also scored in the first period, and Elvis Merzlikins (murz-LEE'-kihns) stopped 36 shots for Columbus.
— Josh Bailey scored twice and Brock Nelson added a goal and an assist as the Islanders beat the Jets, 5-2. Anders Lee and Cal Clutterbuck also scored and Barry Trotz became the third coach in NHL history reach 900 wins, joining Scotty Bowman and Joel Quenneville (KWEHN-vihl).
NHL NEWS
Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen out indefinitely with mono
DALLAS (AP) — Dallas Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen (MEER'-oh HAY'-skih-nehn) is out indefinitely after being diagnosed with mononucleosis.
The loss of their top defender comes with the Stars moving up in the standings as they chase a wild-card spot in the Western Conference playoffs.
Heiskanen has missed the past three games with had been described as a non-COVID-19 illness.
Meanwhile, the Stars have signed forward Joe Pavelski to a $5.5 million, one-year contract extension for the 2022-23 season. The 37-year-old Pavelski leads the Stars with 37 assists and 59 points, and is third with 22 goals this season.
PGA-PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP
TPC Sawgrass all wet
PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Players Championship was halted again Friday after only four hours as puddles began to form on the putting surfaces and the TPC Sawgrass couldn't hold any more rain.
A Monday finish was looking inevitable, which would be the eighth since The Players Championship began in 1974, all of them in March.
Only 96 players from the 144-man field had finished the first round when play was stopped.
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