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AROUND THE HORN

Kirtland falls at state DAYTON — Berlin Hiland held Kirtland scoreless for an 11-minute span midway through the game on the way to the Hawks’ 65-43 win in a Division VI state semifinal Friday at Wright State University’s Nutter Center. Hiland has won 20 games in a row to improve to 25-3 heading into the state championship game at 7:30 p.m Saturday at University of Dayton Arena. This is the Hawks’ 15th state appearance, including state titles in 1992, 2011 and 2012. Senior Caleb Yoder led the Hawks with a game-high 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting and 10 rebounds. Junior ...

Trump protects Army-Navy

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump issued an executive order Friday barring College Football Playoff and other postseason games from airing during the annual Army-Navy matchup in December. Trump directed the commerce secretary and the FCC chairman to coordinate with the playoff committee, the NCAA and media rights partners to ensure an exclusive broadcasting window for a storied rivalry played on the second Saturday each December. Trump’s order makes reference to potential expansion of the CFP, which likely would lead to an earlier start for the playoff. In the first two ...

Boom box student manager returns to March Madness

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The student manager with the highest Q rating in college basketball was back, this time for just one game. Amir “Aura” Khan turned into a social media star during last year’s March Madness for leading McNeese out of the locker room carrying his giant, yellow, thumping boom box. The exposure from McNeese’s two games in the tournament earned him more than a dozen name, image and likeness deals. Khan was back on the big stage this week, but his stay was shorter. The 12th-seeded Cowboys were knocked out of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday, losing 78-68 to ...

AROUND THE HORN

Branch flag football set to go BELOIT — West Branch’s flag football team will hold its first games on Sunday at Rayen Stadium in Youngstown. The Warriors will play Rootstown at 1 p.m. and Newton Falls at 3 p.m. West Branch will play 10 games on the season — all on the road — over five Sundays. Warriors on the roster include Tallie Muniz, Morgan Kurtz, Allison Kanagy, Abigail Janosik, Faith Hicks, Ciara Evans, Allie Brammer, Samantha Beatty, Erin Albert, Makenna Woost, Cambrie Nezbeth, Julia Egli, Nicole Deckard, Brianna Clark, Hayden Mulinix, Kaylee Hoops, Kelly Ewing, ...

AROUND THE HORN

Weir gets PAC honor A pair of former area standouts were named to the All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) men’s basketball team. Westminster College senior guard Drew Weir from Salem earned second-team honors, while Geneva College senior guard Jonathan Bertovich from Heartland Christian, Weir guided Westminster to a 19-9 record as he was 10th in the PAC in scoring (14.2), fifth in rebounding (a team-high 7.3) and fifth in field goal percentage (51.2%). He started all 28 games. Bertovich led Geneva in scoring (14.0) and assists (3.1) and added 4.9 rebounds a game. He also ...

Miami proves it belongs

DAYTON (AP) — Eian Elmer scored 22 points and Miami (Ohio) beat SMU 89-79 on Wednesday night in the First Four for its first NCAA Tournament victory in 27 years. Elmer went 6 of 9 from 3-point range as the 11th-seeded RedHawks (32-1), undefeated during the regular season, advanced in the Midwest Region to play No. 6 seed Tennessee. Brant Byers added 19 points, including four 3s, and Luke Skaljac had 17 points for Miami, making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2007. The RedHawks finished 16 of 41 from 3-point range. “The message I gave our guys before the game was they ...