It’s time to party like it’s 1985, Villanova Wildcats fans. The Wildcats won their second men’s basketball national championship Monday night with a 77-74 win over the North Carolina Tar Heels, but that only came after an incredible ending you need to see to believe. Villanova, the No. 2 seed in the South Region, had just lost all the momentum after a Marcus Paige 3-pointer, and overtime seemed inevitable. But Kris Jenkins clinched the title for the Wildcats with an incredible 3-pointer of his own at the buzzer. That. Just. Happened! And now Paige’s miraculous shot for the East Region’s No. 1 seed will just be a footnote in V...
Sports
Kobe Bryant Makes Presence Felt In Epic Final Chapter Vs. Celtics
For an arena housing the second-worst team in the NBA, the Staples Center sure had plenty of buzz Sunday night. Such is the larger-than-life presence of Kobe Bryant. Running on fumes as he nears the end of his illustrious 20-year NBA career, the Los Angeles Lakers legend turned back the clock one more time against the Boston Celtics, dropping a game-high 34 points in a 107-100 loss to his old foe. Never mind that Bryant entered the game shooting just 35 percent from the floor and had scored seven points total in his previous two games. Sunday night belonged to Kobe, a fact he established immediately by drilling an 18-foot jumper and deep 3-poin...
Report: Broncos, 49ers Don’t Have Deal For Colin Kaepernick; Sides Still Talking
It looks as though the NFL rumor mill got a little ahead of itself on a potential Colin Kaepernick trade. ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported Saturday that the San Francisco 49ers had agreed in principle to trade the quarterback to the Denver Broncos, but ProFootballTalk’s Mike Florio reported that’s not entirely true. A source told Florio on Sunday that talk of a deal being close was overstated because “someone wanted it out there.” The original report stated the Broncos and Kaepernick were trying to work out a way to reduce the signal-caller’s $ 11.9 million base salary, which became guaranteed Friday, and that was the only thing holding the dea...
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Late Strike Lifts Real Madrid To El Clasico Triumph (Video)
The odds were stacked against Real Madrid in Saturday’s showdown with Barcelona. But in “El Clasico,” all bets are off, especially when two of the best players in the world are on the field. This time it was Cristiano Ronaldo, not Lionel Messi, who played the role of hero. With the two La Liga (Spanish first division) rivals tied at Nou Camp with under 10 minutes to play, the Real Madrid striker corralled a Gareth Bale cross and buried it into the net for the deciding goal in the 85th minute. Real Madrid’s 2-1 win snapped Barcelona’s 39-game home winning streak and helped keep its La Liga hopes alive, as the club now...
David Krejci’s Monster Game Helps Bruins Keep Pace In Playoff Race
by Zack Cox on Fri, Apr 1, 2016 at 11:36PM 1,923 The Boston Bruins’ offense broke out in a big way Friday night, beating the St. Louis Blues’ vaunted goaltending duo a half-dozen times to secure a win they desperately needed. Leading this charge was center David Krejci, who scored two of Boston’s goals and assisted on two others in the first regular-season four-point effort of his career. “He was extremely good — no doubt,” head coach Claude Julien told NESN’s Jack Edwards a...
Al-Farouq Aminu’s Unexpected Performance Foils Celtics’ Well-Laid Plans
Brad Stevens had a blueprint for success Thursday night, and the Boston Celtics all but executed it to perfection. With defensive maven Jae Crowder back in his lineup for the first time since March 11, Stevens tasked Crowder and Co. with shutting down the Portland Trail Blazers’ dynamic duo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum and forcing their teammates to beat Boston. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what happened. The Celtics held both Lillard (14 points on 3 of 16 shooting) and McCollum (17 points on 8 of 19 shooting) to relative off-nights, but unheralded Blazers swingman Al-Farouq Aminu poured in a career-high 28 points to lift Portlan...
Report: Patriots Host Free-Agent Quarterback Ricky Stanzi
The New England Patriots, in search of a third quarterback for the offseason workout program and training camp, hosted Ricky Stanzi on a free-agent visit Wednesday, ESPN’s Mike Reiss reported Wednesday. Stanzi was selected in the fifth round of the 2011 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs out of Iowa. The 6-foot-4, 228-pound quarterback has also spent time with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, New York Giants and Detroit Lions. He hasn’t attempted a regular-season NFL pass. The Patriots have quarterbacks Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo on their current roster. They typically carry a third quarterback until the final cutdown period af...