Biden to mark nation crossing 500,000 COVID-19 deaths

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Stan Williams, fearsome pitcher for LA Dodgers, dies at 84

COLUMBUS, Ohio &mdash; In a virtually empty Value City Arena, the matchup between No. 3 Michigan and No. 4 Ohio State in February looked more like an intense NCAA Tournament game in March: good shooting, timely 3-pointers, fierce play under the rim, few mistakes and some late drama.
				After six ties in the second half, Michigan pulled away in the final minutes and then held off Ohio State 92-87 Sunday in a meeting that showcased two teams aiming for No. 1 seeds next month.
				&ldquo;It was like a boxing match,&rdquo; Michigan coach Juwan Howard said. &ldquo;One team delivered a blow. The other team delivered another blow. It went back and forth. Our guys showed their mental toughness through some of those ups and downs.&rdquo;
				The win also highlighted the importance of Michigan&rsquo;s 7-foot-1 freshman center Hunter Dickinson, who had several inches and considerable reach on Ohio State&rsquo;s big men. He led the Wolverines with 22 points and nine rebounds, hitting all six of his foul shots.
				&ldquo;I thought his length and size bothered us,&rdquo; Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann acknowledged.
				Michigan (16-1, 11-1 Big Ten) had pulled away and led by nine with 23 seconds left. But a pair of 3-pointers from Duane Washington Jr. around a layup by CJ Walker got the Buckeyes within three points with 3 seconds to go.
				Ohio State was forced to foul, and Eli Brooks hit both of his free throws to seal Michigan&rsquo;s fifth straight win, a run that came around a three-week break due to COVID-19 issues.
				Brooks had 17 points, Chaundee Brown Jr. came off the bench to score 15 and Isaiah Livers added 12 for Michigan, which snapped Ohio State&rsquo;s seven-game win streak.
				Washington had a career-high 30 points and went 5 for 10 on 3s for the Buckeyes (18-5, 12-5). E.J. Liddell had 23 to go along with 10 rebounds.
				&ldquo;It was a great game, man,&rdquo; Washington said. &ldquo; Two top 5 teams, and I thought we competed at a really high level. We were in a good position to bring it home. Basketball is a game of runs and they had theirs toward the end there, and we just got to be a little better in the closing stretch.&rdquo;
				Both teams shot 53% from the floor.
				Iowa 74, Penn State 68
				IOWA CITY, Iowa &mdash; The chase to become Iowa&rsquo;s all-time leading scorer got to Luka Garza only once during Sunday&rsquo;s game against Penn State.
				Garza looked at the scoreboard going into a media timeout in the second half and saw that he needed to make both of the free throws he was about to shoot to reach the record.
				The first one was good. The second? An air ball.
				Oops.
				&ldquo;Obviously, I was a little nervous on that free throw,&rdquo; Garza said, laughing.
				Garza eventually got the points he needed, and the 11th-ranked Hawkeyes came away with the win. He finished with 23 points as Iowa rallied in the second half to beat the Nittany Lions 74-68.
				Garza now has 2,126 points, breaking the record of 2,116 points set by Roy Marble from 1985-89. Garza scored 12 points in the first half to get within a point of Marble. After the free-throw mishap, he passed the mark with a layup off a pass from Jordan Bohannon at the 8:18 mark of the second half.
				&ldquo;Yeah, I&rsquo;ve never air-balled a free throw in my life,&rdquo; Garza said. &ldquo;When the first one went in of the two of them, I was very surprised. Neither of them felt good. I was just thinking about (the record) too much. They called the timeout, I looked up at the scoreboard and knew where I was at. I had the whole timeout to think about it.&rdquo;
				From that point, though, Garza settled in. Garza, who came into the game as the nation&rsquo;s leading scorer at 24.7 points per game, scored 10 consecutive points in Iowa&rsquo;s 13-2 second-half run after the game was tied at 54.
				&ldquo;The whole first half, I was fine,&rdquo; Garza said. &ldquo;After (the free throw), I was able to calm down and play the rest of the game.&rdquo;
				Garza also had 11 rebounds for his 10th double-double of the season.
				&ldquo;Every game, you become more and more impressed with how he goes about his business, and the example he sets for everybody in the locker room,&rdquo; Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said.
				It was the fourth consecutive win for Iowa (17-6, 11-5 Big Ten).
				&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t come here to win awards, to score points. That wasn&rsquo;t my goal,&rdquo; Garza said. &ldquo;I came here to win games.&rdquo;
				&ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think (Garza) would have wanted to talk about the record if we had lost the game,&rdquo; McCaffery said.
				Penn State (7-12, 4-11) went six minutes without a point in the second half. The Nittany Lions shot 6 of 28 from the field in the half.
				&ldquo;I didn&rsquo;t think we took bad shots (in the second half),&rdquo; Penn State interim coach Jim Ferry said. &ldquo;We just didn&rsquo;t make them. We even got to the rim a couple of times for layups and didn&rsquo;t make them.&rdquo;
				CJ Fredrick added 18 points for the Hawkeyes. Fredrick, who has missed four games since Jan. 21 because of a lower leg injury, had his first double-digit scoring game since he had 13 against Northwestern on Jan. 17.
				&ldquo;CJ was just really, really good tonight,&rdquo; Garza said.
				Izaiah Brockington and Myreon Jones each had 11 points to lead Penn State. Myles Dread had 10.
				 Houston 90, Cincinnati 52
				HOUSTON &mdash; Quentin Grimes had 20 points and eight rebounds, and Houston used a big first half to roll past Cincinnati.
				Tramon Mark scored 12 points, DeJon Jarreau added 11 points and five rebounds, and Fabian White Jr. had 10 points and nine rebounds for Houston (18-3, 12-3 American Athletic Conference). The Cougars shot 47% and hit 19 of 21 from the free throw line.
				Jeremiah Davenport scored 11 points and Tari Eason added 10 points for the Bearcats (7-8, 5-5), who saw their four-game winning streak snapped.
				Wisconsin 68, Northwestern 51
				EVANSTON, Ill. &mdash; Micah Potter scored 19 points, D&rsquo;Mitrik Trice had 13 and Wisconsin shut down lowly Northwestern.
				Jonathan Davis and Brad Davison added 12 points apiece, helping Wisconsin (16-8, 10-7 Big Ten) bounce back from consecutive losses to No. 3 Michigan and No. 11 Iowa. The balanced Badgers improved to 10-1 when they have at least four players score in double figures.
				With a matchup against No. 5 Illinois looming on Saturday, Wisconsin used its deep roster and stingy defense to avoid a three-g

Dickinson’s 22 lifts No. 3 Michigan over No. 4 Ohio St 92-87