Briefs
Mighigan State to hire Tucker
Mel Tucker has agreed to lead Michigan State’s football program, according to two people familiar with the decision.
The people spoke Wednesday morning to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the hiring had not been announced. One person said the school’s governing board scheduled a meeting later in the day to approve the hire.
Tucker succeeds Mark Dantonio, the school’s all-time winningest coach, who retired less than two weeks ago.
Colorado hired Tucker in December 2018, and gave him a shot to run a program after he was Georgia defensive coordinator. He was given a five-year, $14.75 million contract to lead the Buffaloes and they were 5-7 last season.
Tucker has ties to Michigan State because he was a graduate assistant at the school under Nick Saban in the late 1990s.
Bouwmeester remains hospitalized
Jay Bouwmeester remains in Southern California, but the veteran St. Louis Blues defenseman was alert and talking with teammates one day after collapsing on the bench during a game.
“He was in good spirits with us, typical Jay, so I think it certainly made us all feel a lot better knowing that we had the opportunity to talk to him. Typical Jay is a very good Jay,” defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said.
The 36-year old Bouwmeester suffered a cardiac episode during the first period of Tuesday night’s game against the Anaheim Ducks. General manager Doug Armstrong said during a news conference in Las Vegas on Wednesday that Bouwmeester was unresponsive after collapsing on the bench. A defibrillator was used and he regained consciousness immediately before being taken to an Anaheim hospital.
“He is doing very well and is currently undergoing a battery of tests. Things are looking very positive,” Armstrong said.
Bouwmeester’s father was at the game as part of the team’s annual dads trip and accompanied his son to the hospital.
Canadiens lose captain
Montreal Canadiens captain Shea Weber will be out four to six weeks with a sprained left ankle.
The defenseman was injured during a game in New Jersey on Feb. 4.
Weber underwent an evaluation by orthopedic specialist Dr. Robert Anderson on Wednesday in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The Canadiens said the latest evaluation took place after the swelling in his ankle had decreased.
An All-Star this season, Weber has 13 goals and 21 assists in 55 games.
In the NBA
Tristan Thompson scored 27 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, Larry Nance Jr. had a career-high 23 points, and the Cleveland Cavaliers broke a 12-game home losing streak, defeating the Atlanta Hawks 127-105.
Cleveland, coming off the worst home loss in franchise history, went ahead midway through the first quarter and won at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse for the first time since beating the Hawks on Dec. 23.
Cleveland was routed 133-92 by the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday and had lost 13 of 14 overall.
Nance, starting in place of the injured Kevin Love, had 12 rebounds. Andre Drummond scored 14 points and had 15 rebounds.
- Aaron Gordon scored 25 points and Markelle Fultz added 21 as the Orlando Magic rallied to beat the Detroit Pistons 116-112 in overtime.
Gordon, who also had nine rebounds and nine assists, hit consecutive 3-point shots late in he fourth quarter to help Orlando erase a seven-point deficit.
A 3-pointer by Nikola Vucevic gave Orlando a three-point lead with 5.5 seconds left before Detroit’s Reggie Jackson hit a 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds left in regulation to send the game into overtime.
Christian Wood had 26 points and 12 rebounds for the Pistons, who rallied from a 22-point deficit but lost for the 11th time in 13 games.
- The Toronto Raptors had their franchise-record winning streak stopped at 15 games with a 101-91 loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
The defending NBA champions were hoping to keep rolling right into the All-Star break but couldn’t find the form that helped them average 121.2 points and shoot 50% over the previous 15 games.
This time, the Raptors hit only 37.8%, with Kyle Lowry’s triple-double coming on a night the All-Star point guard was just 4 for 13.
Caris LeVert scored 20 points for the Nets, who ended a six-game losing streak against the Raptors. That included a loss Saturday in Toronto, where LeVert scored a career-best 37 points.
Joe Harris added 19 points and Spencer Dinwiddie had 17 points and nine assists for the Nets, who head into the break 25-28 after having Kyrie Irving for just 20 games. He sat out again with a sprained right knee.