— Jacksonville State 17, Troy State 13
Trojans led 13-7 at halftime- their only TD was scored by the defense.
Troy in second half: 31 plays, 81 yards, two turnovers.
WR Johnson caught six passes for 101 yards for Jax State.
Troy State had won their last 79 games when they led after the third quarter.
— Knicks 124, Spurs 113
Knicks outscored San Antonio 35-19 in fourth quarter.
OG Anunoby scored 28 points for New York.
Knicks win the third annual NBA Cup.
— Teams that won the first two NBA Cup tournaments:
2023- Lakers finished 47-35, lost in first round of the real playoffs
2024- Bucks finished 48-34, lost in first round of the real playoffs
— St John’s 79, DePaul 66
Red Storm shot 10-22 on arc, DePaul 7-25
Blue Demons are 8-4 this year, 1-3 vs top 100 teams, but…….
…..since 2008, DePaul is 56-264 in Big East conference games.
— UConn 79, Butler 60
UConn lead 39-25 at halftime.
Huskies out-rebounded Butler, 47-29
UConn has won 7 in a row, is 11-1 (lost 71-67 to Arizona)
— Tennessee 83, Louisville 62
Louisville’s PG Brown didn’t play, and it showed.
Tennessee shot 62.9% inside the arc, snapped 3-game skid.
Louisville is 9-2, losing road games at Arkansas/Tennessee.
— Dayton 97, Florida State 69
Dayton was 40-47 on foul line; they shot 64.3% inside arc.
Flyers are forcing turnovers 24.4% of time (#3 in country)
Seminoles have lost five in a row, giving up 96.8 ppg.
— Clemson 68, South Carolina 61
Teams combined to shoot 9-40 on the arc.
Clemson is 9-3, 3-1 vs top 100 teams.
Gamecocks are 0-4 vs top 100 teams (all four losses by 7 or less points)
— Missouri State 63, Oral R0berts 62
Missouri State shot 57.7% inside the arc.
Oral Roberts shot 33.3% inside the arc.
Just second win for Bears, in their 7th game vs D-I teams. (5-5 overall)
— Former Alabama football coach Nick Saban is now a part-owner of the NHL’s Nashville Predators.
— Famous birthdays, December 17th:
Ernie Hudson, 80
Eugene Levy, 79
Bill Pullman, 72
Bob Ojeda, 68
Albert King, 66
Claire Forlani, 54
Chase Utley, 47
Buddy Hield, 33
Daniel Vogelbach, 33
Caden Dana, 22
— Washington Commanders QB Jayden Daniels (left elbow) is done for the year; he’s thrown for 1,262 yards in seven games this season, after leading Washington to a 12-5 record last year.
— Colts QB, 44-year old Philip Rivers has 10 kids (ten!!!); by playing this month, he’s extended his family’s NFL-paid for health insurance thru August 2031.
— When the NFL schedule came out last spring, wonder if the Dolphins howled about having to play a night game in Pittsburgh on December 14th?
— Texas Longhorns QB Arch Manning will be back in Austin next fall; he’s thrown for 2,553 yards this year for the 9-3 Longhorns, with 20 TD’s, 7 INTs.
— Minimum salary in major league baseball? $760,000.
— Major league players have a pension plan:
Full pensions comes with 10 years of service; if it isn’t claimed until age 62, it is worth $265,000 a year. Players can start collecting at age 45, but those payoffs would be lower.
Every 43 days spent on a big league roster earns a player credit.
The plan bumps up every year with a 1.8% cost of living increase.
— San Francisco Giants signed P Adrian Houser for two years, $22M. Houser was 8-5, 3.31 in 21 starts last year, for the White Sox/Rays.
— World Baseball Classic will happen in couple months; Dominican Republic has a very impressive lineup:
OF- Juan Soto, Julio Rodriguez, Fernando Tatis
1B- Vladimir Gurerrero
2B- Ketel Marte
SS- Geraldo Perdomo
3B- Jose Ramirez
C- Manier Diaz
DH- Junior Caminero
P- Sandy Alcantara
