Seton Hall’s Myles Powell and Marquette’s Markus Howard went head to head during the regular season in a pair of games befitting two of college basketball’s most dynamic players. The potential for a third meeting washed away with the cancellation of the Big East tournament, then NCAA Tournament. Fear of the coronavirus has taken grip on the nation. The NCAA Tournament, which was slated to start in full on Thursday, has been turned into March Sadness. All those matchups college basketball fans look forward to every year have been replaced by empty arenas and locked doors. “Here it is the middle of March and we should be playing games,” Howard said. “It’s pretty crazy.” Powell and Howard met for the first time this season on Jan. 11 in Newark, New Jersey. Howard outscored Powell 27-23, but Seton Hall used its depth to roll to a 69-55 win.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers enter free agency with expectations of signing Tom Brady and bolstering a defense that will be one of the keys to helping the six-time Super Bowl champion quarterback be successful with his new team. There’s been no official announcement on Brady joining the Bucs after 20 seasons with the New England Patriots. However, there’s already an increased demand for tickets.
On the weekend where the NIAA decided to suspend all high school sports, the Battle Mountain High School baseball and softball teams hosted West Wendover in three-game series’. The games do count in the standings, if the season resumes later this spring.
The Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association (NIAA) has announced the suspension of NIAA sanctioned sports for all of its member schools effective Monday, March 16 until further notice. Member schools and/or districts, as a local decision, may suspend sports at their school prior to March 16. The Legislative Commission of the NIAA consisting of the superintendents of the Nevada school districts with NIAA member schools, took action on Friday to suspend non-essential activities at schools which includes NIAA sanctioned sports.
Given the current status of COVID-19, the Mountain West Board of Directors has suspended all spring sport competitions indefinitely. The health and well-being of student-athletes, as well as the campus and general communities, is of utmost priority. Therefore, the Board has determined the most prudent course of action is to align with the recommendations of public health care and government officials to help limit the spread of the virus.
The Battle Mountain High School softball team opened its season with four wins at the Yerington tournament this past weekend. On Friday, Battle Mountain beat Dayton 12-0 and the Lowry JV 6-5. On Saturday, the Lady Longhorns cruised to victories over Yerington 16-0 and Bishop Union 12-0. In the four games, Battle Mountain outscored their opponents 45-6. In the win over Dayton, Battle Mountain scored 11 runs in the opening and cruised to the three-inning victory. Ashlynn Newkirk had three of the Lady Longhorns’ nine hits and Carlee Petersen added two hits. Regan Buller, Sierra Leavitt, Marena Fuller and Adriana Robles had one hit apiece. Buller’s hit was a home run.
As U.S. sports leagues weigh whether to bar fans from ballparks and stadiums to help stall the coronavirus outbreak, San Francisco Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija is one of the few players who can tell them exactly what that feels like. “It’s not very fun,” he said. Samardzija pitched for the Chicago White Sox in a 2015 game played without fans in Baltimore due to civil unrest in the city. It was a bizarre scene at Camden Yards — a sun-drenched stadium, empty except for the teams — but something that has already become common internationally and could happen in the U.S. if there’s no slowdown to the spread of the COVID-19 strain that has infected more than 100,000 people worldwide. The global virus outbreak has caused concern about cramming tens of thousands of fans in for games that technically can go on without them. Sports leagues in Europe, Asia and the Middle East have already locked supporters out of venues, and the NBA sent a memo to its franchises Friday warning them to prepare for the possibility that it may have to host games without fans.
Battle Mountain Raceway broke ground on Friday, Feb. 21, on what will bet an amazing impact in the community for families to embrace the dream of children's racing. Sunny Phillips QMA western Region President, Denise Smutny QMA National President and Santiago Villanueva, Battle Mountain Raceway Vice President, all came together and dug the first impact to begin this amazing track build. QMA has begun five new facilities here in Nevada with five amazing dirt tracks all having their own challenge and design. Angie Gonzales, Battle Mountain's President, is ecstatic to be able to reach out to the local families and surrounding areas to open up a new era of racing for children from 5-16.
The Battle Mountain Junior High wrestlers kicked off its season Saturday, Feb. 29, with its first tournament of the year in Lovelock. After beginning practice nearly three weeks ago, the team was eager for their first chance of competitive action against the other schools in the Tah-Neva tournament circuit.
Coming off back-to-back winning seasons and bowl game appearances, the University of Nevada has agreed to a new five-year contract with head football coach Jay Norvell. Norvell has guided the Wolf Pack to 15 wins over the past two seasons, including victories over a pair of Power 5 opponents. The Wolf Pack went 8-5 and beat Arkansas State in the NOVA Home Loans Arizona Bowl in 2018 before recording a seven-win regular season in 2019, which included Nevada’s first-ever road victory over a top-25 team with its win over San Diego State and an appearance in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.
Imagine an NCAA Tournament with no fans in the arenas. What normally would be thought an impossibility isn’t so far-fetched as the United States and the rest of the world attempt to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.
College football’s top players turned the NFL’s annual scouting combine into speed week. Running back Jonathan Taylor promised to run the 40-yard dash in under 4.4 seconds. He did. Receiver Henry Ruggs III came, literally, a few ticks away from matching the fastest time recorded in the event’s 35-year history. Linebacker Isaiah Simmons showed he had receiver-type speed on Saturday, and even the big men turned heads with their fleet feet.
A female wrestler has made history by winning a state high school wrestling championship in North Carolina. The North Carolina High School Athletic Association said on its website that junior Heaven Fitch of Uwharrie Charter became the first female to win one of the association’s individual state wrestling championships.
Jalen Harris had 23 points as Nevada edged past Wyoming 73-68 on Tuesday night.
Sparked by another standout game from Jalen Harris, who scored 26 with nine rebounds, Nevada beat New Mexico 88-74 on Tuesday night. It was a game that marked the first return to the Pit of former Lobos coaches Steve Alford, who left New Mexico to coach UCLA before ending up at Reno, Nev., and Craig Neal, who replaced Alford with the Lobos, before getting fired after four years and joining Alford with the Wolf Pack. Both were booed heartily at their entrance to the arena.