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Rice leads Monmouth against No. 12 Oklahoma after 24-point game

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:51 GMT

Monmouth Hawks (7-5) at Oklahoma Sooners (11-1)Norman, Oklahoma; Sunday, 3 p.m. ESTFANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Sooners -22; over/under is 144.5BOTTOM LINE: Monmouth visits the No. 12 Oklahoma Sooners after Xander Rice scored 24 points in Monmouth’s 77-71 victory against the Manhattan Jaspers.The Sooners have gone 8-0 in home games. Oklahoma scores 83.4 points while outscoring opponents by 19.6 points per game.The Hawks are 1-4 on the road. Monmouth is 3-5 against opponents with a winning record.Oklahoma makes 50.2% of its shots from the field this season, which is 6.1 percentage points higher than Monmouth has allowed to its opponents (44.1%). Monmouth has shot at a 43.9% rate from the field this season, 5.1 percentage points higher than the 38.8% shooting opponents of Oklahoma have averaged.TOP PERFORMERS: Otega Oweh is averaging 15.7 points and 2.3 steals for the Sooners. Javian McCollum is averaging 15.8 points over the last 10 games for Oklahoma.Rice is averaging 19.3 points ...

Detroit Mercy plays Purdue Fort Wayne after Hurst’s 22-point game

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:51 GMT

Detroit Mercy Titans (0-14, 0-3 Horizon League) at Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons (12-2, 3-0 Horizon League)Fort Wayne, Indiana; Sunday, 2 p.m. ESTFANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Mastodons -14.5; over/under is 144.5BOTTOM LINE: Detroit Mercy visits the Purdue Fort Wayne Mastodons after Ryan Hurst scored 22 points in Detroit Mercy’s 67-55 loss to the IUPUI Jaguars.The Mastodons are 7-0 on their home court. Purdue Fort Wayne averages 83.0 points while outscoring opponents by 16.6 points per game.The Titans are 0-3 against Horizon League opponents. Detroit Mercy is 0-11 in games decided by 10 or more points.Purdue Fort Wayne averages 83.0 points, 5.9 more per game than the 77.1 Detroit Mercy allows. Detroit Mercy averages 5.2 made 3-pointers per game this season, 0.8 fewer makes per game than Purdue Fort Wayne gives up.The Mastodons and Titans square off Sunday for the first time in conference play this season.TOP PERFORMERS: Rasheed Bello is averaging 14.6 points, 4.4 assists and two ste...

Daniels leads New Hampshire against Iowa State after 27-point game

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:51 GMT

New Hampshire Wildcats (8-4) at Iowa State Cyclones (10-2)Ames, Iowa; Sunday, 1 p.m. ESTFANDUEL SPORTSBOOK LINE: Cyclones -26.5; over/under is 150BOTTOM LINE: New Hampshire visits the Iowa State Cyclones after Clarence O. Daniels II scored 27 points in New Hampshire’s 81-71 victory against the Rhode Island Rams.The Cyclones have gone 8-0 in home games. Iowa State averages 10.7 turnovers per game and is 10-1 when it wins the turnover battle.The Wildcats have gone 3-4 away from home. New Hampshire is the America East leader with 28.3 defensive rebounds per game led by Daniels averaging 7.5.Iowa State averages 86.3 points, 14.4 more per game than the 71.9 New Hampshire gives up. New Hampshire scores 20.7 more points per game (78.9) than Iowa State gives up to opponents (58.2).TOP PERFORMERS: Tamin Lipsey is averaging 15.5 points, six rebounds, 6.1 assists and 3.6 steals for the Cyclones. Keshon Gilbert is averaging 14.8 points over the last 10 games for Iowa State.Daniels is shoo...

Cold End to the Year

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:51 GMT

Happy New Year’s Eve! Following one of the hottest years on record for South Florida, 2023 will actually end on a chilly note with temperatures this morning in the 50s across most of the region, with even some areas waking up into the upper 40s.That’s following what was the third coldest day of the year on Saturday when highs were only in the 60s!Thankfully throughout today, it will be milder but still cool and below average courtesy of the sunshine returning. That will allow for temperatures to reach the low 70s in the afternoon.With clear skies and a light wind remaining in place tonight, that then will allow for temperatures to quickly fall again overnight, reaching the upper 50s across mainland South Florida and the low to mid 60s across the Florida Keys as we ring in the new year at midnight.That will give way to another cold start to the day on Monday to begin day 1 of 2024. Even though it will be cold in the morning through, high temperatures will gradually turn w...

Russia hammers Kharkiv with New Year’s Eve strikes after Ukraine’s attack on border city

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:51 GMT

Russia launched a fresh wave of missile attacks against Ukraine’s second-largest city on Sunday, just hours after Moscow accused Kyiv of pounding Russian border areas and killing civilians.At least 28 civilians were injured after Moscow hit Ukraine’s northeastern city of Kharkiv overnight with six missiles and Iranian-made Shahed drones, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Telegram. The attack, which officials said injured two children, hit cafés, residential buildings, offices and Kharkiv’s Palace hotel, according to footage circulated on social media and the city’s Mayor Ihor Terekhov.“On New Year’s Eve, the Russians want to intimidate our city, but we are not scared — we are invincible,” Terekhov said.Russia’s defense ministry said the strikes were aimed at “decision-making centers and military facilities” in Kharkiv, and claimed without evidence that Ukrainian military officials and 200 foreign mercenaries were ho...

Bulgaria, Romania get official green light for partial entry into Schengen area

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:51 GMT

EU member countries reached agreement Saturday on removing air and maritime internal border controls with Bulgaria and Romania, but the two countries’ full entry into the bloc’s passport-free Schengen zone remains subject to further discussions.Controls at sea and air borders with Romania and Bulgaria will be lifted as of March 31, the Council of the EU, which represents EU countries, said in a statement on Saturday. “A further decision should be taken by the Council to establish a date for the lifting of checks at internal land borders,” according to the statement.The European Commission said talks on removing controls at land borders will continue in 2024. “A decision by the Council on this matter is expected to be taken within a reasonable time frame,” the EU executive said in a statement. Romania and Bulgaria, both EU members since 2007, were passed over for entry into Schengen when Croatia was admitted on January 1, 2023. The Schengen area, w...

MLB Notes: Ohtani’s greatness, Rangers title highlight baseball’s best of 2023

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:51 GMT

The year 2023 won’t be remembered fondly among Red Sox fans, but across baseball as a whole this was a banner season that saw the game take big steps forward after years of stagnation and strife.With the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockout fully in the rearview mirror, baseball turned its focus to the future and embraced long-overdue changes that helped reinvigorate the sport. The result was one of the most exciting seasons in recent memory.Now as the calendar turns to 2024, here are some of baseball’s biggest and most important highlights of the past year.Pitch clock changes the gameEvery year it seemed like the games kept getting longer. There were more pitching changes, more stoppages and every pitch felt like an interminable slog. With apologies to Rob Bradford, baseball was getting boring, and even the sport’s most ardent diehards had to admit something needed to change.Enter the pitch clock, which immediately helped set the game back o...

Taliban say security forces killed dozens of Tajiks, Pakistanis involved in attacks in Afghanistan

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:51 GMT

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Security forces in Afghanistan killed a number of Tajik and Pakistani nationals and arrested scores others involved in attacks against religious clerics, the public, and mosques, a senior Taliban official said Sunday. Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid, Taliban’s appointed defense minister, during a press conference in the capital, Kabul, said dozens of Tajiks and more than 20 Pakistanis were killed in the past 12 months “in operations by security forces.”He said scores of Tajiks and hundreds of Pakistanis involved in various incidents were also arrested during that period.Mujahid called on neighboring and regional countries to strictly monitor their borders.Tensions between Kabul and Islamabad spiked as hundreds of thousands of Afghans left Pakistan after authorities started pursuing foreigners they said were in the country illegally, going door-to-door to check migrants’ documentation, following an Oct.31 deadline.Mujahid also said there has been a 90% decrease in attacks by...

More Rohingya refugees arrive in Indonesia despite rejection from locals

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:51 GMT

MEDAN, Indonesia (AP) — Some 170 likely Rohingya refugees, mostly hungry and weak women and children, were found on a beach in Indonesia’s North Sumatra province after weeks at sea, officials said on Sunday.The group arrived on a beach at Kuala Besar, a fishing village in Langkat district, late Saturday, said the village head, Muhammad Amiruddin.Villagers who saw the group of Rohingya Muslims helped them with food and water as they waited for further instructions from immigration and local officials in North Sumatra province, he said.However, residents around the beach hesitated over having the refugees in their villages, Amiruddin said.“We helped them as they look very weak from hunger and dehydration,” Amiruddin said, “But many residents cannot accept them to live in our village because they will only bring problems later.”A mob of students on Wednesday attacked the basement of a local community hall in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, where 137 Rohingya were taking shelt...

Canada’s heated political conflict over carbon pricing will continue into 2024

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 11:00:51 GMT

OTTAWA — Canada’s price on pollution is supposed to help battle global warming, but as it nears its fifth anniversary, nothing in Canadian politics is hotter.Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has so successfully convinced Canadians the carbon price is to blame for inflation that he even earned begrudging respect for his “axe the tax” campaign from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.Of course, Trudeau doesn’t agree with Poilievre’s sentiment. But he has acknowledged the Tory leader’s message is working in an atmosphere where the cost of living is dominating the discussion around most dinner tables, as it has for months, if not years.Trudeau was even convinced to upend his signature climate policy in October, removing it from heating oil for three years following relentless pressure from his Atlantic caucus and a nosedive in polling support on the East Cost.There are some arguments for the move. Heating oil costs four times more than natural gas, so w...