Gregory to play at Cincinnati

BELOIT — West Branch senior Gavin Gregory took a long winding road to finally land his college choice, but it’s now official.

The All-Ohioan announced on Thursday via X that he has committed to the University of Cincinnati to continue his academic and football careers.

Gregory, a 6-foot, 7-inch, 240-pound tight end, originally committed to the University of Toledo to play under coach Jason Candle but Candle left to take the head coaching job at UConn. Gregory reopened his recruitment after that and at one point had an offer from University of North Carolina and Bill Belichick but decided to stay closer to home.

For his career at West Branch, Gregory had 77 receptions for 1,369 yards and 15 touchdowns.

A second-team All-Ohio defensive lineman in his senior season, Gregory had 45 tackles with 22 solos, five for losses and two fumble recoveries in his final season.

Mitchell scores 33 in win

CLEVELAND (AP) — Donovan Mitchell scored 33 points, Evan Mobley matched a season high with 29 and the Cleveland Cavaliers showed some more encouraging signs in a 123-118 win over the Sacramento Kings on Friday night.

The Cavs, who have been streaky through much of this season, won for the fourth time in five games. They also improved to 16-5 against teams with losing records.

Cleveland coach Kenny Atkinson has been hoping to get more consistency from his team, which can look like title contenders one night and dismal the next. That trend continued against the Kings, who rallied from an 11-point deficit to take a 114-113 lead with four minutes left.

But Mitchell, who has carried the Cavs through several rough patches, dropped a big 3-pointer with 2:29 remaining to put Cleveland up 118-114.

The Kings had several chances to get closer, but they missed three straight 3-pointers in the last minute and Cavs guard Jaylon Tyson put them away by making a floater with 25.6 seconds to go.

Mobley added 13 rebounds and seven assists in one of the defensive-minded forward’s best all-around games.

Domantas Sabonis scored 24 points with 16 rebounds and six assists to pace Sacramento. He recently returned after missing 25 games with a knee injury.

Dennis Schroeder added 21 points and DeMar DeRozan 20 for the Kings, who dropped their fourth straight while opening a six-game road trip.

After the Cavs bolted to a 16-2 lead in the opening minutes, Kings coach Doug Christie pulled his five starters hoping for a spark. He got one as Schroeder and Sabonis combined for 31 points and Sacramento took a 71-68 lead at halftime.

Cleveland was again without starting point guard Darius Garland because of a sprained toe. He’s scheduled to be re-evaluated next week.

Browns interview Udinski again

CLEVELAND (AP) — Grant Udinski completed his second interview with the Cleveland Browns for their head coaching vacancy on Friday.

The 30-year old Jacksonville Jaguars offensive coordinator had his first interview with the team on Jan. 17.

Udinski just completed his first season with the Jaguars. Even though coach Liam Coen called the offensive plays, Udinski directed a unit that was sixth in the league in scoring (27.9 points per game) and 11th in total offense (337.4 points per game).

Quarterback Trevor Lawrence accounted for 38 touchdowns (29 passing, nine rushing) as Jacksonville went 13-4 in the regular season and won the AFC South for the first time since 2022. The Jaguars lost to Buffalo in the wild-card round last Sunday.

Udinski began his NFL career as a coaching assistant at Carolina (2020-21) before spending three seasons in Minnesota (2022-24). He was an assistant to the head coach/special projects in 2022 with the Vikings before being promoted to assistant offensive coordinator and assistant quarterbacks coach in 2024.

The Buffalo Bills have also requested an interview with Udinski.

Cleveland fired Kevin Stefanski on Jan. 5 following six seasons and a 46-58 record. Stefanski — who was hired as Atlanta’s coach last Saturday — was a two-time AP NFL Coach of the Year and led the Browns to the playoffs in 2020 and ’23.

The Browns were 5-12 this season and 8-26 the past two years.

Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz and Baltimore offensive coordinator Todd Monken have also had second interviews.

The Browns’ search is expected to go until at least early next week, since they will have to have an in-person interview with one more minority candidate to fulfill Rooney Rule requirements.

They also can’t interview Rams pass game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase until at least Monday since Los Angeles is still in the playoffs.

The five coaches hired by owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam since they bought the team in 2012 have a 73-139-1 regular-season record, the second-worst mark in the NFL.

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