Buckeyes best Grambling

COLUMBUS (AP) — John Mobley Jr. had 20 points and Bruce Thornton scored 18 to propel Ohio State to an 89-63 victory over Grambling on Tuesday.

Mobley made 6 of 10 shots with five 3-pointers for the Buckeyes (9-3), who are 7-1 at home. Thornton shot 6 for 10 from the floor and 6 for 7 from the free-throw line.

Devin Royal scored 16 for Ohio State and Amare Bynum added 12 points and nine rebounds. Christoph Tilly had 10 points as all five starters reached double figures.

Antonio Munoz had 19 points to lead the Tigers (5-7), who are 1-7 on the road. Derrius Ward added 12 points, and Jamil Muttilib and Jimel Lane both scored 10.

All five Buckeyes’ starters scored in a 10-0 run for a 14-5 lead. Ward scored four and Rickey Ballard hit a 3-pointer in a 7-0 Tigers’ run that followed. Grambling hung with Ohio State until a 16-6 run over the final 4:23 gave the Buckeyes a 39-24 lead at halftime.

Ohio State made 13 of 14 shots from inside the arc but just 2 of 8 from outside before the break. Grambling shot 32% overall and missed 10 of 13 from distance in the first 20 minutes.

Ohio State upped its lead to 20 in the first five minutes of the second half. Grambling closed within 12 with 12:23 remaining, but Mobley hit back-to-back 3-pointers and the Buckeyes pulled away.

Ohio State will play at Rutgers on Jan. 2 in a Big Ten Conference matchup.

Cavs turn it on

CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points, Sam Merrill added 22 and the Cleveland Cavaliers pulled away in the second half for a 141-118 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night.

Nine of the 11 players used by the Cavaliers players scored in double figures as they won consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 21-23. Cleveland also evened its December record at 5-5.

The 23-point victory was the Cavaliers’ second-biggest margin this season.

It was the fifth time in the NBA this season and the second time in three days a team has had nine players score in double figures. According to Sportradar, it was only the second time in franchise history the Cavaliers had done it. The previous time was Nov. 10, 1992, against the Washington Bullets.

Cleveland scored at least 139 points for the second straight night and eighth time this season.

The Cavaliers got 57 points from their reserves as Jaylon Tyson scored 18 and Jaylon Tyson added a season-high 15.

Center Jarrett Allen had 14 points, including his first 3-pointer since Jan. 29, 2023.

Zion Williamson scored 26 points off the bench as New Orleans had a five-game winning streak snapped. Derik Queen added 21 points.

Merrill, who returned to the lineup Monday night after missing 14 games with a sprained right hand, was 7 of 12 from the field and 6 of 10 on 3-pointers in 26 minutes. It was the third time this season he scored at least 20 points.

Queen’s 3-pointer got the Pelicans within 76-70 before the Cavaliers blew it open with a 17-4 run. Mitchell had 13 points and made all six of his shots in the quarter as Cleveland was 17 of 26 from the field.

The Cavaliers will play at the New York Knicks on Christmas Day.

West Branch postponed

GREENFORD — The West Branch at South Range boys basketball game that was scheduled for Tuesday was postponed due to illness in the South Range program. The game will be rescheduled at a later date.

Penguins put on ice

TORONTO (AP) — Max Domi scored the winner with 8:25 remaining to snap a 23-game goalless streak and added an assist to end the Toronto Maple Leafs’ three-game slide with a 6-3 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday.

Domi danced around Pittsburgh newcomer Brett Kulak for the deciding goal, a few hours after Toronto general manager Brad Treliving gave coach Craig Berube a vote of confidence for the second time this season.

William Nylander scored twice and added two assists, and Matias Maccelli and Steven Lorentz also scored for Toronto. Bobby McMann added an empty-netter to give Toronto its third win this season against the Penguins.

Bryan Rust, Rutger McGroarty and Anthony Mantha scored for the Penguins, who have lost nine of their last 10.

Nylander scored the icebreaker for his first in 11 games, midway through the first period. But Rust drew the Penguins even 44 seconds later, getting behind Nicolas Roy and Chris Tanev for a successful breakaway.

Tanev returned after a 23-game absence. He was stretchered off the ice after a collision on Nov. 1 in Philadelphia.

Toronto fired 31 shots on goal while the Penguins registered 32, with Joseph Woll picking up his sixth win in 11 starts. Pittsburgh goalie Stuart Skinner has yet to win in three starts, with 12 goals against since being traded by the Edmonton Oilers on Dec. 15.

A day after assistant coach Marc Savard was fired for steering the Maple Leafs to the NHL’s worst power play (12 for 90 with four short-handed goals against), Toronto went 0 for 2 against Pittsburgh. Assistant coach Derek Lalonde has been tasked with fixing the team’s power-play struggles.

The Penguins will visit Chicago on Sunday.

Toledo falls in Boca Raton Bowl

BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Miller Moss took a knee to run out the clock on Louisville’s season, then flipped the ball to an official.

The official had the presence of mind to flip it right back to Moss. After all, he earned the souvenir.

Moss closed his college career by throwing for 153 yards and two touchdowns, Isaac Brown ran for a pair of scores — including a 53-yarder in the final minutes — and Louisville topped Toledo 27-22 in the Boca Raton Bowl on Tuesday.

“Really happy for this group of guys that we were able to finish the season off the way that we did,” Moss said. “On to the next journey, but I’m really grateful for this chapter in my life.”

Keyjuan Brown rushed for 112 yards, Treyshun Hurry and Antonio Meeks had touchdown catches and Moss completed 16 of 24 passes for the Cardinals (9-4), who survived a wild fourth quarter to finish their season with back-to-back wins.

Toledo (8-5) got three points from its first eight possessions, then scored 17 points in three possessions in the fourth — nearly rallying from an 18-point deficit. Avery Smith ran a blocked extra point back for 2 points with 5:03 left, and Chip Trayanum scored on a 3-yard run on the ensuing possession to get the Rockets within 27-22.

“It’s been like that for us all year,” Moss said. “We’ve been in dogfights all year.”

Kalieb Osborne completed 17 of 28 passes for 167 yards and a touchdown for Toledo, which played under an interim coach, Robert Weiner, after Jason Candle — a 1998 graduate of West Branch High School– departed for UConn earlier this month.

The Toledo comeback bid started in the fourth. Jacob Peterson caught a 26-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-11; he made the catch around the Louisville 5 and took three defenders with him into the end zone with 10:42 left. The 2-point conversion got Toledo within 21-11.

A 50-yard field goal by Robert Hammond III got the Rockets within 21-14, but Louisville kept the lead the rest of the way.

“Proud of our team,” Louisville coach Jeff Brohm said. “We finished strong. We didn’t play perfect, but we played hard, we played tough, we played to the end.”

Osborne got his first start, with regular starter Tucker Gleason — who played for Weiner at Plant High School in Tampa — out with a pair of fractures in his back.

Gleason was with the Rockets as an assistant coach of sorts for the bowl trip.

“Any chance I can get to come to Florida, I’m going to come to Florida,” Gleason said. “I’ve been in college for six years. I feel like I’ve got so much knowledge that if I wasn’t at least going to try to pass down that knowledge to some of the younger guys in the room not only am I doing myself a disservice but I’m doing them a disservice.”

Takeaways

Louisville: The game had extra significance for the Cardinals. Florida Atlantic’s home stadium exists largely because Howard Schnellenberger — who resurrected the Miami program when he took over as coach 1979 and later coached at Louisville for 10 seasons — wanted it built. Schnellenberger was FAU’s initial coach and the field is named in his honor.

Toledo: Here’s an odd one: A pass 13 yards downfield became a 3-yard loss. Osborne threw a pass from the Louisville 23 to the 10, intended for Kenji Christian — but it was deflected and sailed back beyond the line of scrimmage. Toledo offensive lineman Cole Rhett caught the ball and advanced it about 3 yards before he was stopped 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage.

Up next

Louisville: The Cardinals’ 2026 opener is set for Sept. 5 or 6 against Mississippi, at the Tennessee Titans’ stadium in Nashville.

Toledo: The Rockets are set to open next season at Michigan State in the debut for new Toledo coach Mike Jacobs and new Spartans coach Pat Fitzgerald — the former Northwestern coach.