AP National Sports

By PETE IACOBELLI AP Sports Writer MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The South Carolina Gamecocks granted The Associated Press behind-the-scenes access to their Final Four experience. It was clear that there was a singular focus to the journey that started last year, almost immediately after a 66-65 loss in the national semifinals to eventual champion Stanford. The

By JOE REEDY AP Sports Writer LOS ANGELES (AP) — Marcus Morris Sr. scored 22 points, Ivica Zubac got his 22nd double-double of the season with 16 points and 14 rebounds, and the Los Angeles Clippers prevented the New Orleans Pelicans from clinching a spot in the play-in tournament with a 119-100 victory. Morris made

By MICHAEL WAGAMAN Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Andrew Wiggins scored 25 points, Jordan Poole added 22 and the Golden State Warriors held off the Sacramento Kings 109-90. Nemanja Bjelica had season-highs of 19 points and 12 rebounds to go with six assists. The Warriors won their second straight after not winning consecutive games

By DAN GREENSPAN Associated Press ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists to extend his point streak to 13 games, Leon Draisaitl scored his 50th goal of the season, and the Edmonton Oilers won their fourth straight game with a 6-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks. Edmonton’s Tyson Barrie and

By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Dawn Staley and South Carolina buttoned up on defense and won their second national championship, stifling UConn for a 64-49 victory that ended the Huskies’ undefeated streak in title games. Destanni Henderson scored a career-high 26 points, Aliyah Boston added 11 points and 16 rebounds, and

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Shea Theodore scored 2:05 into overtime, leading the Vegas Golden Knights to their fifth straight win with a 3-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks. Jonathan Marchessault had a goal and assist, and Alex Pietrangelo also scored in regulation for Vegas. Robin Lehner returned from a lower-body injury to make 26

By TIM CRONIN Associated Press CHICAGO (AP) — Shayne Gostisbehere scored on a deflection with 14.7 seconds left in overtime, Michael Carcone and Travis Boyd also scored, and the Arizona Coyotes beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. The win was only struggling Arizona’s second in the last nine games (2-6-1). The slumping Blackhawks lost their fifth

By TOM WITHERS AP Sports Writer CLEVELAND (AP) — Joel Embiid had 44 points and 17 rebounds, James Harden recorded his second triple-double with Philadelphia and the 76ers locked up a playoff spot with a 112-108 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Embiid was questionable coming into the game with a sore ankle. But not only

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Brittany Force beat out three other world champions to pick up her first NHRA win of the season at the Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 2017 world champion had a run of 3.718-seconds at 338.00 mph in the championship quad of Top Fuel, topping four-time

By IAN NICHOLAS QUILLEN Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Joel Eriksson Ek scored his career-best 20th and 21st goals of the season and added an assist, and the Minnesota Wild found the net on their first two shots on goal and cruised to a 5-1 victory over the Washington Capitals. Marcus Foligno built on one

By RAUL DOMINGUEZ Associated Press SAN ANTONIO (AP) — Keldon Johnson had 28 points and the San Antonio Spurs defeated the short-handed Portland Trail Blazers 113-92 on Sunday night to strengthen their bid for a play-in berth. Coupled with the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss to Denver, San Antonio’s magic number for clinching 10th in the

By IAN HARRISON Associated Press TORONTO (AP) — Kyle Lowry had 16 points and 10 assists against his former team, Max Strus scored all of his 23 points in the second half, and the Miami Heat beat the Toronto Raptors 114-109. Victor Oladipo scored 21 points, Tyler Herro had 18 and Bam Adebayo 16 as

By KRISTIE RIEKEN AP Sports Writer HOUSTON (AP) — Anthony Edwards scored 33 points and Karl-Anthony Towns added 28 as the Minnesota Timberwolves built a huge lead and held on for a 139-132 win over the Houston Rockets. It’s the second straight victory for Minnesota, which is in seventh place in the Western Conference with

By TONY SELLARS Associated Press OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Backup center Olivier Sarr scored a career-high 24 points and Aleksej Pokuveski recorded his first career triple-double to lead the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 117-96 victory over the NBA-leading Phoenix Suns. Sarr came off the bench to shoot 9 of 12 from the field, including