Minerva topples Salem

MINERVA — Minerva’s boys wrestling team improved to 2-0 in the Eastern Buckeye Conference with a 54-24 win over Salem on Thursday.

106: Alex Wright (M) won by forfeit.

113: Tyler Phillips (M) won by forfeit.

120: Luke Bezilla (S) pin Kaidyn Miller, 3:05.

126: Tyler German (S) pin Shawn Weaver, 2:55.

132: Kolton Almasy (M) maj. dec. Jacob Dumont, 14-5.

138: Cole Sivy (M) pin Trevor Smith, 1:36.

144: Josh Mayhew (S) pin K’dyn Frazier, 1:07.

150: Colton Godsey (M) tech. fall Aldin Weber, 4:23.

157: Jason Sivy (M) pin Jacob Dumont, 1:20.

165: Lincoln Wallace (M) tech. fall Caden White, 4:00.

175: Ethan Weaver (M) major dec. Mackston Ellis, 15-4.

190: Timothy Kirkpatrick (M) pin Lucus Horan, 1:27.

215: Aiden Reagan (M) pin Lucas Mayhew, 0:17.

285: Colt Stockman (S) pin Draden Yost, 1:30.

Salem X-Tra Milers to meet

SALEM — The Salem X-Tra Mile Club will meet at 7 p.m. Monday in the high school cafeteria.

Warriors on a roll

BELOIT — West Branch’s freshman boys basketball team downed Marlington, 40-29, Thursday. Logan Hawk had 16 points for the Warriors, while Michael McCartney added 11 points.

West Branch (4-8) will play at Louisville on Monday.

T-wolves roll Cavaliers

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Julius Randle had 28 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists to help the Minnesota Timberwolves hang on to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 131-122 on Thursday night for their fourth consecutive victory.

Anthony Edwards added 25 points, nine assists and seven rebounds while becoming the third-youngest player in NBA history to reach 10,000 career points, following LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Edwards, who is 24 years and 156 days old, hit the five-digit mark with a 13-foot fadeaway jumper midway through the fourth quarter. Only seven players ever have hit the five-digit mark before 25.

Randle scored 13 points in the third quarter as the Timberwolves built a 20-point lead while outscoring the Cavaliers 43-22 to match the team’s season high for points in any period. Jaden McDaniels had 26 points on 11-for-14 shooting, and Donte DiVincenzo went 6 for 10 from 3-point range to finish with 22 points as Minnesota fended off a late Cavaliers surge.

The Timberwolves (25-13) improved to 15-5 since Thanksgiving Day, the best record in the NBA over that span. They started the game on a 17-5 run and finished with season highs in field goal shooting (51 for 89, 57%) and 3-point shooting (20 for 38, 53%) percentages.

Sam Merrill had 11 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, hitting a 3-pointer with 2:56 left for Cleveland that cut the deficit to four. Donovan Mitchell had 30 points and eight assists for the Cavaliers (21-18), who played without forward Dean Wade after he left their previous game with a bruised left knee.

The Timberwolves held a pregame moment of silence for Renee Good, the 37-year-old woman who was fatally shot in her car on Wednesday by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer.

Condensation cancels game

CHICAGO (AP) — The game between the Miami Heat and the Chicago Bulls at the United Center on Thursday night was postponed after a nearly two-hour delay due to condensation on the court.

The officials cited “court conditions” for the delay in starting the contest. There appeared to be moisture on the floor at the United Center, which is also home to the Chicago Blackhawks, who played Wednesday and will skate at the arena again Friday. Workers tried to dry the surface using mops and towels.

The game was officially postponed at 8:53 p.m., prompting boos from the crowd. A rescheduled date for the game was not immediately announced, although the Bulls said tickets from Thursday would be honored.

The Bulls entered at 17-20 and on a three-game losing streak. The contest was supposed to be the second in a four-game trip for the Heat (20-17).

“We always want to try to go,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “The players were complaining about it on both sides. So pretty much indeed we felt that it wasn’t playable.

“We have that in our practice facility and when there’s condensation it takes about 15 minutes for it to change. So we weren’t too optimistic it was going to change.”

Spoelstra added players could feel the slipperiness in pregame warmups.

“By the time I got out there, all the players were complaining,” he said.

Bulls guard Tre Jones told reporters that players kept awaiting a final word.

“They were just telling us, that pretty much, they were gonna’ keep waiting,” Jones said. “It was like 15-minute segments and every 15 minutes would go by and they’re just like trying to continue to work on it to make sure we had a safe playing field, but just couldn’t get it figured out.”

Jones, who was in the starting lineup on his 26th birthday, said he could feel the slipperiness.

“I think as more people got in the gym and everything it just got warmer,” he said. “So I think it continued to get a little bit worse, a little more slippery.”

About 40 minutes after the expected 7:05 p.m. tipoff time, an announcement was made that the expected start time would be after 8 p.m. local time.

Maintenance personnel pushed large mops across court while players from both teams milled about dribbling, shooting and chatting at the start of the delay. At about 7:50 p.m. players and coaches returned to their dressing rooms and the floor was cleared to allow workers to attempt to dry the the surface using mops and towels.

Game officials, then Heat players and coaches, started returning to the floor at 8:25 p.m. Bulls coaches and a handful of Chicago players led by Coby White followed minutes later and filtered about. Bulls head coach Billy Donovan and Miami’s Spoelstra were among those chatting.

The teams then exited the court at 8:45 p.m. without attempting to warm up.

Temperatures in Chicago reached the mid-50s on a rainy Thursday.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba