Thursday's Report: Central Georgia Tech, Mercer; Falcons, Hawks, UGA, United, Georgia Tech; NCAA hoops, NBA, MLB, colleges, NFL, NASCAR golf, tennis, NHL, soccer, WNBA
📰S📰C📰O📰R📰E📰B📰O📰A📰R📰D
High Schools
(Teams: Please post first and last names, and names are preferred over social media handles (they know who they are, most people don’t) and post team names, not mascots)
⚾ ⚾ ⚾ Baseball ⚾ ⚾ ⚾
Aquinas 15, Baldwin 0
Bleckley County 9, West Laurens 7
Callaway 18, Westside 6
East Laurens 14, Jefferson County 5
Jasper County 4, Crawford County 2
Mary Persons 19, Luella 1
Ola 8, Jones County 0
Wilcox County 10, Dublin 3
⚽ ⚽ ⚽ Soccer ⚽ ⚽ ⚽
Girls
GMC Prep 3, Dooly County 1
Mary Persons 3, Northside 2
Boys
GMC Prep 7, Montgomery County 0
Mary Persons 5, Northside 0
🎾 🎾 🎾Tennis 🎾 🎾 🎾
G-FPD 3, Bleckley County 2
B-FPD 4, Bleckley County 1
G-Stratford 4, Bethlehem Christian 1
B-Stratford 5, Bethlehem Christian 0
🏫🏫🏫College🏫🏫🏫
(Colleges: Please post links to stories with social media posts, and team names instead of logos in graphics)
🥎🥎🥎Softball🥎🥎🥎
Middle Georgia State 3, Brewton-Parker 2; Brewton-Parker 10, MGSU 4
Pro
🏀🏀🏀NBA🏀🏀🏀
📰C📰O📰V📰E📰R📰A📰G📰E📰
Around/About Central Georgia
Central Georgia Tech falls in national tourney debut
Laterria Green scored Central Georgia Tech’s first national tournament points and gave the Titans a lead.
But a 2-0 lead turned into a quick deficit, and then a drought of nearly five minutes put the Titans in a hole they couldn’t escape – despite an impressive fourth-quarter rally - in an 80-73 loss to State Fair (Mo.) in the first round of the National Junior College Athletic Association tournament.
CGTC historic season ended at 21-8.
The Titans trailed 23-14 after one and went down 22 points in the second quarter, heading into the locker room with a 44-27 score staring at them.
CGTC outscored State Fair 23-17 in the third quarter, getting within 12 on Amira Walters-Smith’s 3-pointer at the 5:15 mark. Her two free throws with three seconds left cut it to 61-50 entering the fourth quarter.
The Titans got the margin to seven on Aven Sasser’s 3-pointer with 8:35 left. They cut a point off of that when Green (Dodge County) scored with 5:32 left.
State Fair kept finding an answer when the margin reached six, until another Walters-Smith 3 improbably pulled the Titans within five with 1:12 left.
State Fair turned it over, but CGTC gave it back twice and missed a shot. The RoadRunners got two buckets for a nine-point lead, and sealed it.
CGTC won the second half 46-36.
Walters-Smith led the Titans with 22 points, with 16 from Green (12 rebounds), 15 from Sasser, and 11 from Aryana Thomas. Only six Titans scored, compared to seven for the RoadRunners, who got 26 points from Ellie Buscher (15 rebounds) and a 10-3 bench scoring advantage.
SB-No. 11 Georgia records season-high total in win over Mercer
Around/About Georgia
Tagovailoa embracing competition: 5 takeaways from Falcons QB's press conference
Atlanta adds depth at QB behind Penix and Tagovailoa by signing veteran Siemian
Surging Hawks snap the East-leading Pistons’ 4-game winning streak with a 130-129 win in overtime
‘He’s made strides big time’: KJ Bolden embraces championship goals for Georgia secondary
Culebro selected as president of soccer for Atlanta United and Atlanta’s new NWSL team
State college baseball/softball
SB-Tech gets past Georgia State
NCAA Tournament/Women
March Madness: An eighth grader from Pittsburgh is all alone with a perfect women’s NCAA bracket
Tournament gives Michigan’s Mila Holloway a chance to step out of the shadow of star teammates
NCAA Tournament/Men
NCAA Tournament has best opening week on record, averaging 10.1 million viewers
In land of tall corn, is it a tall order to ask Cyclones and Hawkeyes fans to unite for Sweet 16?
Houston embraces a ‘home’ Sweet 16 game at Toyota Center as Illinois arrives unfazed
Cluff left Australia to play at a US junior college. Now he’s in the Sweet 16 with Purdue
Arizona and Arkansas Sweet 16 matchup will be 1st with freshmen as both team’s top 2 scorers
Big Red bandwagon cranks up the RVs for Nebraska’s Sweet 16 showdown with Iowa in Houston
One thing you need to know about each of the 16 teams remaining in men’s field
Postseason/Men
Jovic has 18 in Auburn’s 75-69 victory against Nevada in the NIT quarterfinals
Kinziger’s 16 help Illinois State take down Dayton 61-55 in NIT quarterfinals
College Basketball/Women
Roberts explains the making of new Hulu film on Pat Summitt: ‘never felt more pressure’
Is Audi Crooks leaving Iowa State? Cyclones star undecided about transfer portal
College Basketball/Men
Charles Barkley suggests NIL, stress could force Bill Self into early retirement
Kansas coach Bill Self denies retirement rumors as 'bad info'
College Basketball/Coaching carousel and awards/teams
South Florida hires Chris Mack as basketball coach after Bryan Hodgson’s exit
Northwestern hires former UConn star Carla Berube as women’s hoops coach
Butler hires former player Ronald Nored as men's basketball coach
NBA/Basketball
Tanking remains a problem in the NBA and the league is going to take action, again
76ers’ Paul George apologizes for flunking drug test, ready to return for late-season playoff push
NBA approves vote to explore expansion teams in Seattle and Las Vegas
Doncic scores 43 as Lakers beat Pacers
Brown scores 31 as Celtics rally to beat Thunder 119-109, snapping OKC’s 12-game win streak
MLB season previews
NL East Preview: Phillies bring back core as they try to hold off new-look Mets, banged-up Braves
NL Central Preview: Loaded Cubs going for the division title, but Brewers and Reds are lurking
NL West Preview: Everyone is still chasing the Dodgers
AL East Preview: Yankees and Blue Jays eye something more after recent AL pennants
AL West Preview: Cal Raleigh and Mariners look to defend their first division title since 2001
AL Central Preview: Tigers open as favorites while the White Sox try to climb out of the basement
Baseball/MLB
Even with robot umpires, MLB managers will find reasons to argue and get ejected
Sánchez guaranteed $104 million from Phillies in 6-year contract for 2027-32
Paul Skenes thinking playoffs for Pirates on eve of opener vs. Freddy Peralta and new-look Mets
Winquest becomes rare Yankees’ Rule 5 draft selection to make opening day roster
Vitello experiment could shape MLB's future: 'Ready or not, here we come'
Guardians add 1B Rhys Hoskins to active roster ahead of season opener against Mariners
Judge goes hitless on opening day for first time, Yankees top Giants 7-0 as robot umpire debuts
Yankees’ José Caballero loses first robot challenge of ball/strike call
College Football
Respect for Ryan Day helped Arthur Smith land at Ohio State
Dykes rips Josh Hoover but Cignetti may get last laugh
College Sports
Ahmed Jaouadi breaks a NCAA record and Florida, Indiana share Day 1 lead at swimming championships
NFL/NFC
Rams' Puka Nacua sued over alleged antisemitic remark, bite
Seahawks keep key part of offense with Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s record-setting extension
NFL/AFC
Titans’ new enclosed stadium on track for February 2027 completion
Auto Racing
Reddick stays hot with 4th win and NASCAR drivers eye Martinsville’s iconic clock trophy
Golf
Hannah Green gets in her punches in the boxing ring and on the golf course
Tennis
Rybakina battles past Pegula to reach Miami semis
Gauff explains what left her ‘really upset’ during Miami Open quarterfinal win
Sinner breaks one of Roger Federer’s career records after latest Miami win
Fils defeats Tommy Paul in epic Miami Open slugfest
Nadal wants fans to ‘congratulate’ Carlos Alcaraz after Miami Open upset
Hockey
Hedman is taking a temporary leave of absence from the Lightning for personal reasons
NHL playoff chase in the East is ‘a fight for your life’ down the stretch as postseason looms
Pavel Zacha scores 38 seconds into OT to give the Bruins a 4-3 win over the Sabres
Maple Leafs beat Rangers 4-3, eliminating New York from playoff contention
Soccer
Mbappé says his left knee injury is ‘all gone’ as France ramps up for the World Cup
'Good riddance': Landon Donovan slams Noahkai Banks for declining USMNT call-up
WNBA/Women’s basketball
Inside the WNBA’s 8-day, 100-hour CBA marathon negotiations that forged a transformational deal
Scoreboards