SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Kansas got a kind whistle at the end and Nicolas Timberlake made both his free throws to help the Jayhawks hold off Samford for a 93-89 victory in the NCAA Tournament. The 13th-seeded Bulldogs were trapping after trimming a 22-point deficit to one when Timberlake got the ball as he was streaking alone toward the basket. Timberlake went to dunk and Samford’s A.J. Staton-McCray came from behind and blocked the shot, touching nothing but ball. The whistle blew and Timberlake calmly made both free throws to give KU a three-point lead. The Jayhawks will play Gonzaga on in the second round of the Midwest Regional.
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Thirteenth-seeded Portland will take on Kansas State at the home of the No. 4 seed Wildcats in the first round of the women’s NCAA Tournament, with a match between No. 5 seed Colorado and No. 12 seed Drake following Friday night. The Wildcats are confident they will be successful if they stick with what they’ve done this year. Portland won the West Coast Conference Tournament to make it into March Madness, beating top-seeded Gonzaga 67-66 in the conference championship game. Drake rides in on a high after winning the Missouri Valley Conference title game on a buzzer beater. Colorado enters having lost six of its last eight games.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ben Middlebrooks scored a career-high 21 points and 11th-seeded North Carolina State surged past sixth-seeded Texas Tech 80-67 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Wolfpack, who won five games in five days in the ACC Tournament, won their first March Madness game in nine years behind Middlebrooks’ boost off the bench and another bruising performance by center DJ Burns Jr. The 6-foot-9, 275-pound Burns finished with 16 points. Mo Diarra had 17 points and 12 rebounds for N.C. State, and DJ Horne also scored 16. The Wolfpack will face 14th-seeded Oakland in the South Region on Saturday. Joe Toussaint led the Red Raiders with 16 points.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Milan Momcilovic had 19 points, Tamin Lipsey added 17 with seven assists, and second-seeded Iowa State beat South Dakota State 82-65 in the NCAA Tournament. Big 12 tourney MVP Keshon Gilbert added 15 points for the Cyclones, who avenged a first-round loss to Pittsburgh last year and advanced to play seventh-seeded Washington State in the East Region. Zeke Mayo led the way with 19 points and William Kyle III had 14 for South Dakota State, the champs of the Summit League. They trailed just 40-33 at halftime but allowed Iowa State to go on a 14-5 run out of the locker room to put the game away.
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Dae Dae Grant scored 19 points to help No. 11 seed Duquesne keep retiring coach Keith Dambrot working a little bit longer with a 71-67 victory against sixth-seeded BYU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Grant made four free throws in the final 10 seconds to help hold on after Duquesne blew a 14-point lead in the second half. Jakub Necas added 12 points and Jimmy Clark III had 11 for the Atlantic 10 Tournament champs celebrated their return to the tourney after 47 years with their first win there since 1969. They will play No. 3 seed Illinois on Saturday after the Illini rolled past No. 14 seed Morehead State. Jaxson Robinson had 25 points for the Cougars, who have lost five straight in the NCAA tourney.
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jack Gohlke made 10 3-pointers and 14th-seeded Oakland delivered the first true shock of this year’s March Madness, beating third-seeded Kentucky 80-76 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The Grizzlies sent the Wildcats and coach John Calipari to another early March exit behind Gohlke and some late shot-making by his teammates. The graduate transfer finished with 32 points. Antonio Reeves led Kentucky with 27 points. The Wildcats fell to 1-4 in their last five NCAA Tournament games. Oakland picked up the second NCAA Tournament win in school history.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — DaRon Holmes II and seventh-seeded Dayton staged a huge March Madness rally, closing with a 24-4 run to erase a 17-point deficit and beat 10th-seeded Nevada 63-60 in the West Region. Holmes, the Atlantic 10 player of the year, finished with 18 points, including a three-point play with 2:01 remaining that gave Dayton its first lead since the first half. Koby Brea scored 15 points for the Flyers, including three 3-pointers during a 17-0 run that tied the game. Dayton won in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2015 and will face Arizona on Saturday. Jarrod Lucas scored 17 points for Nevada.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A judge says a federal lawsuit against the NFL’s disability plan can proceed to trial. The potential class action on behalf of retired players accuses the league of routinely denying valid injury claims so that it won’t have to make disability payments. The judge said the plan's six-member board will remain as defendants but she’s removed individual board members and Commissioner Roger Goodell. The lawsuit says the disability board favors doctors who are more likely to deny claims. It says one neuropsychologist who was paid more than $800,000 examined 29 former players and found none were disabled. An NFL spokesman didn’t immediately comment on Thursday.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Shohei Ohtani’s interpreter is being criminally investigated by the IRS, and the attorney for his alleged bookmaker said Thursday that the ex-Los Angeles Dodgers employee placed bets on international soccer — but not baseball. The IRS confirmed Thursday that interpreter Ippei Mizuhara and Mathew Bowyer, the alleged illegal bookmaker, are under criminal investigation through the agency’s Los Angeles Field Office. IRS Criminal Investigation spokesperson Scott Villiard said he could not provide additional details. Mizuhara, 39, was fired by the Dodgers on Wednesday following reports from the Los Angeles Times and ESPN about his alleged ties to an illegal bookmaker and debts well over $1 million.
THURSDAY SCORES
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Final Atlanta 5 N.Y. Yankees 2
Final Tampa Bay 6 Philadelphia 5
Final Houston 9 St. Louis 1
Final Washington 9 Minnesota 8
Final N.Y. Mets 10 Detroit 5
Final Toronto 3 Pittsburgh 2
Final Seattle 7 Cincinnati 6
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Final Cleveland 8 Kansas City 5
Final Chicago White Sox 3 Kansas City 3
Final Boston 3 Baltimore 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Final San Diego 15 L.A. Dodgers 11
Final Chicago Cubs 5 Colorado 2
Final San Francisco 7 Milwaukee 6
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Orlando 121 New Orleans 106
Final Washington 109 Sacramento 102
Final Milwaukee 115 Brooklyn 108
Final Houston 127 Chicago 117
Final Dallas 113 Utah 97
Final Denver 113 New York 100
Final Phoenix 128 Atlanta 115
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final St. Louis 5 Ottawa 2
Final N-Y Rangers 5 Boston 2
Final New Jersey 4 Winnipeg 1
Final Detroit 6 N-Y Islanders 3
Final OT Carolina 3 Philadelphia 2
Final Nashville 3 Florida 0
Final Edmonton 8 Buffalo 3
Final Vancouver 4 Montreal 1
Final Anaheim 4 Chicago 0
Final Tampa Bay 4 San Jose 1