Sports briefs
Duquesne is 8-0 after rout of Columbia
Tavian Dunn-Martin scored 25 points and Duquesne extended its season-opening win streak to eight games, romping past Columbia 90-54 on Monday night at La Roche University.
The win marks the program’s best season start since the 1971-72 season. It also marked the longest win streak (11 games) for the Dukes since 2010-11.
Dunn-Martin shot 9 for 12 from the field. Maceo Austin scored had 18 points, Marcus Weathers and Baylee Steele.
Mike Smith had 22 points for the Lions (3-8).
Duquesne plays Radford on Saturday.
4 Heisman finalists
Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts and Ohio State teammates quarterback Justin Fields and defensive end Chase Young will join LSU quarterback Joe Burrow as Heisman Trophy finalists.
The top vote-getters for college football’s most famous player of the year award were announced Monday, and three of them were quarterbacks who transferred to their current schools.
Burrow is the clear front-runner to win the Heisman on Saturday night in New York after a record-breaking season, leading the Tigers (13-0) to the top seed in the College Football Playoff. He would be LSU’s second Heisman winner and first since running back Billy Cannon in 1959. The 60-year gap between Heisman winners would be the longest for any school with multiple recipients.
The other finalists were not so obvious even after all the games had been played. Ohio State had three players worthy of consideration in Fields, Young and running back J.K. Dobbins. Fields and Young are the first teammates to be finalists since Oklahoma had quarterback Baker Mayfield and receiver Dede Westbrook at the Heisman ceremony in 2016.
Hurts is the third Oklahoma quarterback in the last four seasons to be a Heisman finalist, including the last two winners in Kyler Murray and Mayfield.
Arkansas hires football coach
Sam Pittman backed away from the microphone and wiped his eyes, his emotions getting the better of him as he addressed a throng of Arkansas fans Monday afternoon.
Pittman was introduced as the 34th head football coach in program history, ending an almost one-month search for a new Razorbacks leader after former coach Chad Morris was fired after less than two full seasons and a 4-18 record.
Pittman, 58, is no stranger to Arkansas having served as an assistant coach under Bret Bielema from 2013-15 before taking a job as the offensive line coach at Georgia under Kirby Smart. Pittman also coached at North Carolina and Tennessee.
“I’m a wreck,” Pittman said as he tried to gather his emotions. “This means a lot to me.”
After regaining his composure, Pittman, who signed a 5-year, $15 million contract, said the team would put in the work to try and climb out of the cellar of the SEC West. Pittman inherits a program that has lost 19 consecutive conference games.
In the NFL
The Dallas Cowboys have waived struggling kicker Brett Maher and replaced him with eight-year veteran Kai Forbath.
Maher is the only kicker in NFL history with three field goals of at least 60 yards, but the Cowboys couldn’t count on him for the shorter ones that are often more critical.
In his second season, Maher was just 1 of 5 in the 40 to 49-yard range and had two more misses in the 30 to 39-yard range. The 30-year-old has an NFL-high 10 misses this season.
- The Chicago Bears played almost all of their 31-24 win Thursday over the Dallas Cowboys without injured linebacker Roquan Smith, and now they’ll have to finish the season without him.
Bears coach Matt Nagy said on Monday that Smith suffered a torn pectoral muscle in the win and will go on season-ending injured reserve.
In the NHL
Anthony Duclair had two goals and an assist and the Ottawa Senators beat the Boston Bruins 5-2 Monday night.
It was the Senators’ (13-17-1) first win over the Bruins (20-5-6) since April 6, 2017.
Chris Tierney, Artem Anisimov and Jean-Gabriel Pageau also scored for the Senators, who were playing their first home game following a five-game trip (1-4-0).
- Fresh off sweeping a four-game road trip, the NHL-leading Washington Capitals fell flat in a 5-2 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday night that snapped their winning streak at six.
Washington hadn’t lost in regulation since Nov. 20. The Capitals had their seven-game point streak end two days before facing the Boston Bruins in a showdown of the league’s top two teams.
Goaltender Braden Holtby made 19 first-period saves but allowed four goals on 37 shots. Alex Ovechkin scored his 21st of the season early in the third period, and Tom Wilson added a 6-on-5 goal in the waning minutes.