Brown hits hole-in-one

BELOIT — Gig Brown of East Liverpool hit his first hole-in-one Saturday during the West Branch Alumni Association Chili Open at Westville Lake Country Club

He used a 9-iron to ace the 130-yard sixth hole.

Witnesses were Jeff Wallace and Whitney Wallace of Salem and Clyde Davis of East Liverpool.

It was the first hole-in-one at the course this year.

West Branch Chili Open winners

BELOIT — The team of Gary Allison, Lane Allison, Reed Williams and Kaleb Votaw shot a 29 to win the West Branch Alumni Association Chili Open at the Westville Lake Country Club on Saturday.

The team of Zach Ruggles, Corey Snyder, Zach Milat and Andrew Hrusovski was second with a 31.

Finishing third with a 32 was the team of Jack Steele, Hunter Steele, Mike Lyons and Jim Caserta.

HOLE WINNERS: Closest to pin No. 3, Debbie Martig; Long drive No. 4, Andrew Hrusovski; Closest to pin No. 6, Gig Brown (hole-in-one); Long putt No. 9, Mike Lyons.

Cavs will open against Raptors

CLEVELAND (AP) — Nae’Qwan Tomlin scored a career-high 26 points and the Cleveland Cavaliers led wire-to-wire, defeating the Washington Wizards 130-117 Sunday in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Rookie Jaylon Tyson was two assists shy of a triple double with 22 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists as the Cavaliers rested most of their key players because they were locked into the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference. Max Strus — who missed the first 67 games due to a broken left foot — played 18 minutes in the first half and had 10 points and five rebounds.

The Cavaliers (52-30)– who will face Toronto in the first round — have won 11 of their last 14 games and are 35-14 since Dec. 29. They have 15 straight wins over Washington, the second-longest winning streak against any team in franchise history.

The Raptors and Atlanta Hawks both finished 46-36 but Toronto swept the season series 4-0.

Washington’s Jamir Watkins had a career-high 24 points, while Sharife Cooper and Bub Carrington scored 20 apiece. Carrington is the first NBA player since Karl Anthony Towns in 2016-17 to appear in all 82 games in each of his first two seasons.

The Wizards (17-65) ended the season on a 10-game losing streak and dropped 26 of their last 27. Their only win during that stretch was on March 25 against Utah.

Cleveland scored a season-high 43 points in the first quarter. Tomlin’s 3-pointer put the Cavaliers up 55-31 with 6:41 remaining in the second quarter before the Wizards started rallying back. They went on a 16-5 run over the last four minutes of the first half to get within 65-55 at halftime.

The Wizards pulled within 99-97 early in the fourth quarter on a driving layup by Cooper but could not tie or take the lead.

Jacksonville State regains NCAA bowling title

PARMA HEIGHTS — The Jacksonville State women’s bowling team captured its second NCAA national title in two years.

The top-seeded Gamecocks defeated fourth-seeded Wichita State, 4-1, in the baker best-of-seven national championship match Saturday night at Yorktown Lanes. The Gamecocks lost to Youngstown State in the championship match last year.

After Wichita State closed the first game with six straight strikes for a 216-208 win, Jacksonville State took over by winning the final four games, 246-213, 240-196, 185-169 and 191-184.

Jacksonville State sophomore Erin Klemencic was named the most outstanding bowler with a 266 baker average during Friday’s first two rounds and she had five strikes during the championship match. The Gamecocks roster also includes sophomore Emma Yoder, who led Wooster Triway to its first state championhip in 2022 when she also was the Ohio Division II individual champion, and junior Abbie Leiendecker, a Wooster High School graduate.

The Gamecocks will compete for another national championship this week in Green Bay, Wisconsin, during the USBC’s Intercollegiate Team Championship and Intercollegiate Singles Championship.

Denver gets 11th title

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Denver has thrived in the uncomfortable, refusing to panic even when the opponent is dominating play.

Much of that is because of the freshman in the Pioneers’ net.

No goalie has been better than Johnny Hicks, and he is the main reason Denver is yet again the best team in college hockey.

Kyle Chyzowski tipped in a shot from the point with 5:52 left to back up another sensational performance from Hicks and rally Denver to a 2-1 victory over Wisconsin on Saturday for the Pioneers’ third national championship in five years.

The victory also extended the Pioneers’ record to 11 national titles overall and denied the Badgers their seventh overall and first since 2006.

Garner starred for 1979 Pirates

HOUSTON (AP) — Phil Garner, the starting second baseman on the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 1979 World Series championship team who went on to manage the Houston Astros to their first World Series appearance, has died. He was 76.

Garner’s family issued a statement Sunday saying Garner died Saturday after a two-plus-year battle with pancreatic cancer.

“Phil never lost his signature spark of life,” Garner’s son, Ty, said in a statement. “He was so well known for his love for baseball, which was with him until the end.”

Nicknamed “Scrap Iron” for his blue-collar approach to the game, Garner had a 16-year playing career with the Oakland Athletics (1973-76), Pittsburgh Pirates (1977-81), Astros (1981-87), Los Angeles Dodgers (1987) and San Francisco Giants (1988).