Nov 25, 2017 4 min read

Robert Morris wins 3rd straight

Dachon Burke score 17 points and Koby Thomas and Matty McConnell each scored 15 points and Robert Morris cruised to a 78-64 win against host Little Rock on Saturday for its third straight win.

Robert Morris (3-3) extended its 35-29 halftime lead with a 17-7 run within the first five minutes of the second half to make it 52-36. The lead remained in double figures the rest of the way. Leondre Washington added 12 points for the Colonials and Malik Petteway finished with 10 rebounds.

Little Rock dominated in the paint, doubling up Robert Morris 36-18, but the Colonials held a 35-15 edge in points off turnovers, aided by a season-high 22 giveaways by the Trojans.

Andre Jones led Little Rock (0-5) with a career-high 15 points and Oliver Black grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds for the Trojans.

Jets’ Chiarot fined for butt-ending Perry

Winnipeg Jets defenseman Ben Chiarot was fined $3,763 by the NHL on Saturday for butt-ending Anaheim Ducks forward Corey Perry.

Chiarot brought the butt-end of his stick up into Perry’s jaw as the two battled for a puck in front of Winnipeg’s net in the second period of the Jets’ 4-1 road victory Friday. The hit drew blood and Perry required stitches.

Bowls will be filled

There will be enough bowl eligible college football teams to fill all the spots this year.

Temple’s 43-22 victory over Tulsa on Saturday made the Owls the 77th eligible team. There are spots for 78 FBS teams in bowls this season, and the winner of Saturday night’s game between Colorado (5-6) and Utah (5-6) will also become eligible.

In fact, there will probably be more eligible teams than there’s room for. Florida State (5-6) and New Mexico State (5-6) can become bowl eligible by winning next week, and there are a couple other teams still with chances to reach six wins in games Saturday.

So assuming no eligible team turns down a bowl bid, there will be no five-win teams going to bowls this season.

France leads Davis Cup final

Yannick Noah took a big gamble in the Davis Cup final and it paid off.

When the France captain fielded an inexperienced pair for the doubles, many were perplexed. He was rewarded by a victory that put France one point away from a 10th Davis Cup title.

“It was a tough decision,” Noah said after Richard Gasquet and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who had never played together before, defeated Ruben Bemelmans and Joris De Loore 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 Saturday.

France leads Belgium 2-1.

Gasquet replaced doubles specialist Nicolas Mahut for the final.

Herbert and Mahut, who won two Grand Slams together and were paired in the Davis Cup semifinal win against Serbia, were an obvious choice, “the politically correct decision,” Noah said.

“To me, from a personal standpoint, it’s very nice that they won that match,” he added. He would have been “in the hot seat” if they lost.

Noah said he made his mind up during training when Herbert shook off a back injury and Gasquet was in excellent form.

In the NBA

J.J. Redick hit eight 3-pointers and scored 29 points, and the Philadelphia 76ers cruised without the injured Ben Simmons to a 130-111 victory over the skidding Orlando Magic Saturday.

Joel Embiid shook off a cold to score 18 points and grab 14 rebounds and T.J. McConnell had 15 points and 13 assists filling in at point guard for Simmons, who missed his first game of the season with swelling in his left elbow.