Feb 21, 2018 3 min read

South Fayette rallies to beat Freeport

Noah Plack hit two free throws with 13 seconds to play and South Fayette survived a final onslaught to come away with a 48-45 victory over Freeport in a WPIAL Class AAA boys basketball playoff game at North Catholic.

South Fayette advances to the quarterfinals against New Castle at Geneva College. Tipoff is 6:30 p.m. Saturday.

South Fayette held the ball and Freeport chose not to foul for 44 seconds even though the Yellowjackets were trailing by one. Plack eventually was fouled and made the two attempts.

Freeport missed a shot then fouled. Both of the free throw attempts missed, giving the Yellowjackets one last attempt. But a try from midcourt missed at the buzzer.

The victory was the third consecutive three-point win for South Fayette over Freeport.

Connor Mislan led SF (16-7) with 12 points. Plack and Drew Franklin finished with 10 apiece and Tim Locher added nine.

Ben Beale scored a game-high 16 for Freeport (15-7) and Jalen Brown scored 12.

In the NHL

The Arizona Coyotes acquired goalie Darcy Kuemper from the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday for forward Tobias Rieder and goalie Scott Wedgewood.

The 27-year-old Kuemper was 10-1-3 with a 2.10 goals-against average in 19 games for the Kings this season. He’s 51-35-17 with a 2.52 GAA in 104 career games with Minnesota and Los Angeles.

The 6-foot-5 Kuemper will join Antti Raanta in goal for the Coyotes.

“Darcy is a big, talented goaltender who is having an excellent year,” general manager John Chayka said in a team statement. “You need great goaltending in this league in order to be successful and with Antti and Darcy, we are confident that we have an excellent tandem for the future.”

• The Montreal Canadiens traded defenseman Jakub Jerabek to the Washington Capitals on Wednesday for a 2019 fifth-round pick.

The 26-year-old Jerabek, from the Czech Republic, had a goal and three assists in 25 games this season with Montreal. He also had a goal and 10 assists in 17 games in the AHL for the Laval Rockets.

Jerabek signed a one-year deal with Montreal in May 2017.

Saints’ owner hospitalized

New Orleans Saints and Pelicans Owner Tom Benson has been hospitalized with flu symptoms.

A statement released Wednesday by the NFL and NBA clubs says their 90-year-old owner is resting comfortably at Ochsner Medical Center, a hospital which also serves as a major sponsor and which owns naming rights to the teams’ training headquarters.

Benson has owned the New Orleans Saints since 1985 and bought the New Orleans Pelicans in 2012.

In recent years, Benson has overhauled his estate plan so that his third wife, Gayle, would be first in line to inherit control of the two major professional franchises.

Cepeda critical after heart attack

The San Francisco Giants say Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda remains hospitalized in critical condition after a cardiac incident.

The Giants gave an update Wednesday on the condition of the 80-year-old Cepeda. He was taken to a Bay Area hospital late Monday.

Cepeda has been a regular at San Francisco home games. He played first base during his 17 seasons in the majors, beginning with the Giants. He also played for St. Louis, Atlanta, Oakland, Boston and Kansas City.

A seven-time All-Star who played in three World Series, Cepeda was the 1958 NL Rookie of the Year with San Francisco and NL MVP in 1967 with St. Louis.

In 1961, he led the NL with 46 homers and 142 RBIs.

Cepeda was a .297 career hitter with 379 home runs.