Henri Veesaar and KJ Lewis scored 19 points apiece and Arizona pulled away late to beat Kansas 88-77 in a Big 12 Conference Tournament quarterfinal at T-Mobile Center on Thursday night. Veesaar came off the bench to sink 7 of 11 shots with two 3-pointers for the third-seeded Wildcats (21-11), who move on to play second-seeded and ninth-ranked Texas Tech in a Friday semifinal. Veesaar scored 10, leading Arizona to a 45-37 advantage at halftime.
Hunter scores 21, No. 10 Clemson battles back to beat SMU 57-54 to reach ACC Tournament semifinals
Chase Hunter scored 21 points, Jaeden Zackery added 11 points and No. 10 Clemson battled back to beat SMU 57-54 on Thursday night for its ninth straight win to reach the Atlantic Coast Conference semifinals. Ian Schieffelin chipped in with nine points and 12 rebounds for the Tigers (27-5), who are seeking their first ACC Tournament title. Matt Cross led SMU (23-10) with 13 points, while Boopie Miller had 10.
Rangers left-hander Cody Bradford to open season on injured list with sore elbow
SURPRISE, Ariz. — Texas Rangers left-hander Cody Bradford will start the season on the injured list because of soreness in his throwing elbow.
Bradford had an MRI this week that came back clean, but Rangers manager Bruce Bochy told reporters on Thursday the club will shut him down for 10 days to see how he responds. Bradford was scratched from a scheduled start on Wednesday.
Bradford is the second Texas starter to get hurt this week after Tyler Mahle was scratched from a start with forearm soreness. The right-hander expected to start throwing again in a few days.
The 27-year-old Bradford went 6-3 with a 3.54 ERA in 13 starts last season after appearing eight times the year before. He also pitched in five playoff games during the Rangers’ 2023 World Series run.
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Devils Down Oilers, Win Third Consecutive Game
The New Jersey Devils have won three consecutive games for the first time since late December.
On Thursday night, the Devils defeated the Edmonton Oilers by a final score of 3-2. Goaltender Jake Allen made 31 saves on 33 shots. The team now has an eight-point lead over the Columbus Blue Jackets in the playoff race.
Defenseman Brett Pesce opened the scoring three minutes into the second period. Erik Haula won the draw against Adam Henrique. Jesper Bratt made a beeline to the blue line, allowing Pesce to skate toward the net. While Oilers' defenseman Troy Stecher was focused on Haula in front of his net, Pesce found a spot and shot the puck past opposing goaltender Stuart Skinner. Haula and Bratt were credited with the assists.
Halfway through the middle frame, The Oilers' most dangerous weapons tied the game. Leon Draisaitl scored his league-leading 47th goal, with Connor McDavid earning the primary helper.
Edmonton took a 2-1 lead early in the third period, but it would be short-lived. Bratt tied the game at the 6:50 mark. It was the winger's second shot on Skinner and his second point of the night.
Less than two minutes later, defenseman Simon Nemec scored his first goal of the season, giving his team a 3-2 lead. It was the youngster's first game back in the lineup after serving as a healthy scratch over the last two.
"I thought he played a good game," head coach Sheldon Keefe said of Nemec. "I thought he was assertive, moved the puck, killed some plays defensively and a great shot to finish a great sequence."
With his primary assist on Nemec's goal, Bratt earned back-to-back three-point games. It marked his 100th career multi-point game.
The Devils hit the road and play the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena.
Make sure you bookmark THN's New Jersey Devils site for THN's latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more.
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'Oh My God, He's Such A Stud': Senators' Ullmark Makes Diving Save Against Former Team
Ottawa Senators fans bowed to goaltender Linus Ullmark after he pulled off a save-of-the-year candidate against his former team.
With the Senators leading the Boston Bruins 5-3 late in the second period, Ullmark’s diving catch led to a stellar third frame in net that helped extend the team’s win streak to five games in a tight battle for the playoffs.
“Oh my God, he’s such a stud,” Senators defenseman Tyler Kleven told reporters after the 6-3 win.
After Ottawa led 4-1 after the first period, the Bruins scored twice in the second period to reduce the deficit to two goals. Ullmark had a 0.786 save percentage up to that point in the game with 11 saves on 14 shots.
Boston controlled possession in the offensive zone with about 90 seconds to go in the middle frame. As newly acquired center Marat Khusnutdinov and defenseman Andrew Peeke passed the puck back and forth, blueliner Mason Lohrei found an open lane to the net on the far side of the ice.
Khusnutdinov turned toward the net, which led Ullmark to challenge him at the top right corner of the crease. But Khusnutdinov found Lohrei all alone with the setup for a one-timer.
Lohrei had a wide-open net to shoot at from the faceoff dot. Ullmark was nearly out of the crease when he saw the pass, and Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot could only stick out his stick and skate to try to block the chance.
As Lohrei connected with the puck, Ullmark pivoted to angle himself diagonally toward the left post and swung over. He stretched out his glove hand quickly enough to get in front of the biscuit right before it entered the crease.
By the time Ullmark completed the grab, he was almost standing on his head, his left leg sticking up over his body.
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) March 14, 2025
“I was laughing,” Ullmark told the media post-game, as reported by Graeme Nichols. “Sometimes I wonder, how did that happen?”
Ullmark stopped all eight shots after that as the Bruins outshot the Senators in the final 20 minutes. He even tried to score a goalie goal on the empty net but missed wide.
“He’s such a big part of this team, and he wins us a lot of games,” Kleven said. “I’m honestly not even surprised that that happened – I see it all the time. He’s an awesome guy off the ice and an even better teammate on the ice.”
It wasn’t a perfect game for the 31-year-old Ullmark, who finished with a .880 save percentage and minus-1.24 goals saved above expected, but the game’s second star beat the team that traded him last June for the second time this season.
His former tandem-mate, meanwhile, only lasted one period in net on Thursday.
Jeremy Swayman allowed four goals on 15 shots for a .733 SP as Shane Pinto, Kleven, Drake Batherson and Ridly Greig got on the board. Bruins interim coach Joe Sacco pulled him in favor of Joonas Korpisalo, who went the other way in the Ullmark trade with Ottawa. Korpisalo stopped 14 of 15 shots to keep his team in the game, but it wasn’t enough for the Bruins to complete the comeback.
The Bruins still sit two points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild-card spot, while the Senators are now five points ahead of Columbus for the first wild-card place.
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Nets blow another double-digit lead, fall to Bulls 116-110
CHICAGO (AP) — Coby White scored 31 points, and the Chicago Bulls beat the Brooklyn Nets 116-110 on Thursday night.
White extended his streak of 20-point games to a career-best seven, helping the Bulls rally to win their season-high fourth in a row.
Kevin Huerter added 18 points and nine rebounds. Tre Jones scored 18 points and Julian Phillips finished with 16. Chicago is 10th in the Eastern Conference at 28-38 and holds the final play-in spot.
Cam Thomas led Brooklyn with 24 points and a career-high 10 assists, and Nic Claxton added 18 points and 14 rebounds. Tyrese Martin scored 19 points and Cam Johnson had 16, but the Nets lost for the 10th time in 12 games.
Takeaways
Nets: The Nets once again couldn’t protect a lead, after Cleveland rallied from 18 down in the third to beat them on Tuesday night.
Bulls: Josh Giddey sat out this one after spraining his right ankle against Indiana on Monday. The Bulls hope to get him back during a season-high, six-game trip.
Key moment
The Nets led 92-80 in the closing minute of the third quarter, only to have the Bulls answer with a 17-3 run. Brooklyn then led 101-99 with 4 1/2 minutes remaining when Chicago reeled off eight straight points, with Jones’ reverse layup putting Chicago up by six with just under three minutes remaining.
Key stat
White is averaging 28.6 points in his past seven games.
Up next
Nets: Host Boston on Saturday.
Bulls: Open a season-high, six-game trip at Houston on Saturday.
Ottawa Senators Beat Boston 6-3, Powered By Ullmark's Save Of The Year
Make it five straight wins for the Ottawa Senators. Drake Batherson had two goals and an assist on Thursday night as the Senators defeated the Boston Bruins 5-3 at Canadian Tire Centre.
With 22 saves against his old team, Linus Ullmark wasn't all that busy on the night, at least not compared to his 48-save performance on Monday against the Detroit Red Wings.
But his save on Boston's Mason Lohrei won't soon be forgotten.
LINUS ULLMARK OH MY GOODNESS!!! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/KXWTIC1eQf
— NHL (@NHL) March 14, 2025
It didn't go quite as well for Ullmark's old running mate, Jeremy Swayman, who was yanked in favour of former Senator Joonas Korpisalo after the first period.
The Senators were good and ready for this contest, jumping out to a 4-1 lead in the first on goals by Shane Pinto, Tyler Kleven, Drake Batherson, and Ridly Greig.
Batherson got another one in the second period, sandwiched between a pair of Bruins' goals from David Pastrnak and Marat Khusnutdinov.
Claude Giroux put the game away with a late empty-net goal, making a winner of head coach Travis Green in his 400th game as an NHL head coach.
The victory expands the Senators' lead in the Eastern Conference Wild Card race. They hold the first wild card spot, five points up on the Columbus Blue Jackets, who lost 4-0 to the Vegas Golden Knights.
With another victory, the Sens are 6-0-1 in their last seven games, 10 games above .500. That's prompted some fans to start looking up in the standings instead of down. Ottawa now trails third-place Tampa Bay by four points after the Lightning lost to the Philadelphia Flyers 4-3 in a shootout on Thursday.
The Senators now get ready for a couple of road games against old familiar rivals. They're in Toronto on Saturday and in Montreal on Tuesday.
By Steve Warne
The Hockey News Ottawa
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Ryan Kalkbrenner rallies Creighton past DePaul 85-81 in 2OT in Big East Tournament quarterfinal
Ryan Kalkbrenner had 32 points and scored the go-ahead basket in the second overtime after Creighton scored the final 11 points in regulation, and the Bluejays held on for an 85-81 victory over DePaul in a Big East Tournament quarterfinal at Madison Square Garden on Thursday night. Kalkbrenner scored in the paint to give No. 2 seed Creighton a 77-76 lead and the Bluejays (23-9) never trailed over the final 2:12 against the 10th-seeded Blue Demons (14-19). Creighton advances to play in a Friday semifinal against the winner of the final quarterfinal matchup between No. 3 seed Connecticut and No. 6 Villanova.
Don't Forget The Top Two 2024 NHL Draft Picks Play In Sharks v. Blackhawks Matchup
The hockey world will be interested in Macklin Celebrini vs. Connor Bedard when the San Jose Sharks host the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday.
Celebrini vs. 2024 NHL Draft No. 2 overall pick Artyom Levshunov is an underrated storyline that isn’t being talked about.
Unlike Celebrini, Levshunov didn’t start with his NHL team and only recently made his debut for the Blackhawks on March 10th against the Colorado Avalanche.
Rookie solo lap for Chicago's No. 2 overall pick Artyom Levshunov ahead of his NHL debut in Colorado. #Blackhawkspic.twitter.com/gcUe0bw3rj
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) March 11, 2025
Celebrini and Levshunov both went the NCAA route for their draft seasons. Levshunov attended and played for Michigan State University. The d-man wasn’t nominated in the 2024 top ten for the Hobey Baker award as the NCAA’s best player.
That season, the nominees included Celebrini, Will Smith, and Collin Graf. Celebrini won the award and became the youngest player to win it at 17.
Read the full story on Sharks Hockey Digest
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Lakers drop third in a row despite Luka Doncic's 45 points
When the Lakers were playing their best basketball in February, they were fueled by the energizing power of belief, the knowledge that they could win on any night. Even when they weren’t at their best, a mixture of pace, toughness and execution got the Lakers through the finish line.
Now, as they’re slogging through March, the bulk of their frontcourt back in Los Angeles resting and rehabbing injuries, the tank looks much emptier, the joy much more fleeting and the belief, at least temporarily, disappearing in a 126-106 loss.
Even with Luka Doncic scoring 45 points, his most since the Lakers acquired him from Dallas, the game never really looked within reach for Los Angeles. Instead, they played 48 minutes in sort of a futile chase, forced to double-team Giannis Antetokounmpo only to leave a shooter wide open at the three-point line.
“It has to be another night where we have to do both,” coach JJ Redick said of the Lakers’ challenge pregame. “We have to protect the paint and we have to close out and guard their lasers.”
They didn’t do either.
While it was clear that Redick’s diagnosis of the Lakers’ defensive responsibilities would be too much for them to handle, something else he said before the blowout loss was probably more important than anything that happened in the four quarters to follow.
Redick said LeBron James, Rui Hachimura and Jaxson Hayes were no longer with the Lakers on this trip, meaning none of them will be available Friday night in Denver against the Nuggets. But Redick also said that the trio of players, James included, would be considered “day-to-day” moving forward, meaning the Lakers have a good chance to get whole sooner than later.
Doncic’s 45 points came from the wild array of skills he possesses — deep threes, drives where he pulled the emergency brake for a pull-up jumper and trips to the line thanks to his physicality. Austin Reaves, who struggled in the Lakers’ loss to Brooklyn, scored 28.
But other than Doncic and Reaves, no other Lakers player ever provided much of an offensive threat.
Five Bucks scored at least 16 points, with plenty of Milwaukee’s 17 made threes coming off wide-open looks.
The Lakers, who have lost three in a row, close out the trip Friday in Denver — another tough game where the Lakers will be severely undermanned.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
JT Toppin leads No. 9 Texas Tech past Baylor 76-74 in Big 12 Tournament
JT Toppin had 26 points and 10 rebounds to lift No. 9 Texas Tech to a 76-74 victory over Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday night. Darrion Williams scored 14 points and Elijah Hawkins and Kerwin Walton had 12 each for Texas Tech (25-7), which will face either Kansas or Arizona in Friday's semifinals.
Bennett has big night as Panthers take down Toronto, retain top spot in Atlantic Division
The Florida Panthers got back on the winning track as their road trip continued north of the border on Thursday night.
After blowing a late two-goal lead on Tuesday in Boston, Florida held tight to a third period lead in Toronto, defeating the Maple Leafs 3-2 at Scotiabank Arena.
Exactly two minutes into the game, John Tavares one-timed a long cross-ice pass from William Nylander past a sliding Sergei Bobrovsky to give the Maple Leafs an early 1-0 lead.
Then with nearly two minutes to go in the opening period, Sam Bennett slammed home a Mackie Samoskevich rebound while Florida was on the power play to tie the game at one.
Florida took their first lead of the game about six minutes into the second period.
A.J. Greer dug the puck free in the corner and found a wide-open Niko Mikkola in the high slot. Mikkola wired a wrist shot past the blocker of Anthony Stolarz to put the Cats ahead 2-1.
Bennett’s second goal of the game was not that dissimilar from his first, putting the puck home from the doorstep to extend the Cats lead heading into the third.
Less than five minutes into the final frame, Max Domi caught Florida trying to change their defensive pairing and beat Sergei Bobrovsky glove side to bring Toronto back within one of the Cats.
That would be as close as the Leafs would get, thanks to some big stops by Bobrovsky down the stretch.
On to Montreal.
QUICK THOUGHTS
Bennett extended his point streak to four games, with three goals and five points during the run.
He’s also averaging more than a point per game dating back to late January.
Samoskevish has now accumulated six points over his past six games and eight points in 10 games since the start of February.
Sam Reinhart picked up a pair of assists, giving him six points over his past four games.
After going six straight games without a point, Greer now has four points over his past seven outings.
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Hepburn’s putback at the buzzer lifts No. 13 Louisville over Stanford 75-73 in ACC Tournament
Chucky Hepburn’s putback jumper at the buzzer helped No. 13 Louisville overcome a 15-point second-half deficit to beat Stanford 75-73 on Thursday night and advance to the semifinals of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. Terrence Edwards scored 25 points and Hepburn added 20 for the Cardinals (26-6), who’ve won 10 straight. Noah Waterman and James Scott each had 12.