Sports
Seton Hall keeps NCAA Tournament hopes alive with Creighton win
Mar 12, 2026; New York, NY, USA; Seton Hall Pirates guard Adam Clark (0) is stopped by the Creighton Bluejays defense during the first half at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images Adam “Budd” Clark tallied 16 points, seven rebounds and six assists and Jacob Dar had an enormous second half to lift fourth-seeded Seton Hall to a 72-61 victory over fifth-seeded Creighton in the Big East tournament quarterfinals on Thursday in New York.
Dar, a lightly used reserve averaging 2.4 points per game, did not play in the first half before exploding for a season-high 16 points and five rebounds in 15 second-half minutes. Dar shot 5 for 6 from the field with two of Seton Hall’s four 3-pointers.
The Pirates (21-11) kept their faint NCAA Tournament hopes alive but must face top-seeded St. John’s in Friday’s first semifinal game.
Creighton (15-17) finished below .500 for the first time since 2014-15 and will miss the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019.
Josh Dix led all scorers with 22 points, Nik Graves had 15 points and five assists before fouling out and Austin Swartz added 10 points for the Bluejays, who were outshot 40.7% to 33.3%.
Seton Hall was down four with 14:02 left when Dar converted a three-point play. That started a 9-0 Pirates run, capped by Dar’s 3 from the left corner.
Dix stopped that run with a layup at 11:12, but the Pirates’ defense stymied the Bluejays, not allowing a field goal for the next 5:53. Dar willed his way to an offensive board and putback for a 54-47 lead inside seven minutes to go.
Creighton got to the line before Dix ended the field-goal drought with a triple, cutting it to 54-52. After Clark got himself a floater, Dar knocked down his second 3-pointer to restore the seven-point edge.
Seton Hall grew the lead to 66-56 when Dar threw down a baseline alley-oop dunk.
In a back-and-forth first half, Tajuan Simpkins and Mike Williams III hit 3-pointers to put Seton Hall up 15-10, only for Swartz and Graves to connect on treys for an 18-17 Creighton edge less than three minutes later.
Seton Hall responded with a 10-0 run, keeping the Bluejays off the scoreboard for the next 3:42 and holding them without a field goal for 5:21. Clark got two buckets for Seton Hall’s largest lead at 31-21 before it settled for a 33-26 halftime gap.
Creighton scored 10 of the first 12 points of the second half, moving back in front on Graves’ two free throws at the 17:37 mark. The lead grew to 42-38 some three minutes later on Fedor Zugic’s lay-in before Dar’s heroics.
–Field Level Media
Sports
No. 10 Virginia holds off NC State, advances to semifinals
Mar 12, 2026; Charlotte, NC, USA; Virginia Cavaliers guard Malik Thomas (1) on defense against NC State Wolfpack guard Tre Holloman (5) during the first half at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Malik Thomas provided clutch late-game production to finish with 16 points and Thijs De Ridder scored 15 points as No. 10 Virginia fended off North Carolina State for an 81-74 victory in an Atlantic Coast Conference tournament’s quarterfinal Thursday afternoon.
Reserve Jacari White posted 13 points and Sam Lewis delivered all 12 of his points on 3-pointers for the second-seeded Cavaliers (28-4), who meet the Louisville-Miami winner in Friday night’s first semifinal. Virginia center Ugonna Onyenso’s eight blocked shots matched the second most in a game in the league tournament’s history.
Virginia defeated NC State in three matchups this season, but this was by far the closest encounters.
Paul McNeil Jr. drilled six 3s on the way to 26 points for seventh-seeded NC State (20-13). Ven-Allen Lubin contributed 14 points and 10 rebounds and Matt Able came off the bench for 12 points.
The Wolfpack, who have landed safely within most projections for the NCAA Tournament field, have lost seven of their last nine games. NC State defeated Pitt in Wednesday’s second round, extending its tournament winning streak to six games — five to win the 2024 event before failing to qualify last year.
NC State used 21-for-24 free-throw shooting to outscore Virginia by 10 points at the foul line.
A 9-0 run gave the Cavaliers a 55-45 lead that eventually reached a 12-point margin.
The Wolfpack were within 68-61 with more than five minutes to play. McNeil hit a 3-pointer to trim the gap to 70-64 before Thomas answered with a jumper for the Cavaliers.
Quadir Copeland’s three-point play at the 1:24 gave the Wolfpack a chance, but De Ridder’s drive for a bucket pushed Virginia to a 76-69 edge with 1:11 remaining.
McNeil’s 3 made it 78-74 with 27 seconds left, and then he made a steal, but NC State missed two shots on the ensuing possession.
NC State produced much better stretches than the earlier meetings with Virginia, when it never led.
Virginia had a 33-32 halftime lead despite going the opening half without any second-chance points.
Virginia defeated NC State for only the fourth time in 19 all-time ACC tournament meetings.
–Bob Sutton, Field Level Media
Sports
Aaron Judge baseball card sells for modern-day record $5.2M
Feb 24, 2026; Dunedin, Florida, USA; New York Yankees right fielder Aaron Judge (99) looks on against the Toronto Blue Jays during the second inning at TD Ballpark. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement Neitzel-Imagn Images New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge’s value on the field extends to his baseball cards, with a unique 2013 card breaking the modern-day record by selling for $5.2 million.
Fanatics Collect announced Thursday that it had brokered the private sale of a 2013 Judge Bowman Chrome Draft Superfractor card that is signed and is one of one. The buyer and seller requested to remain private.
“We’re incredibly honored to have brokered this record-breaking deal and to be part of such a momentous moment in hobby history,” Fanatics Collect said in a statement.
The previous record for the publicly known sale of a modern-day baseball card was the 2020 purchase price of $3.936 million for a one-of-one card — the 2009 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Superfractor — signed by Los Angeles Angels star outfielder Mike Trout.
A Shohei Ohtani card featuring the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar slugger and pitcher sold for $3 million in December.
The Judge card — released four years before his official rookie cards — rocketed in value since it was last sold for $324,000 through a Fanatics Premier auction in 2022. The Yankees selected Judge in the first round (32nd overall) of the 2013 MLB Draft.
Judge, 33, made his major league debut in August 2016. He became the 2017 American League Rookie of the Year, a three-time AL MVP (2022, 2024, 2025) and a seven-time All-Star.
Last season, he led the majors with a .331 batting average, .457 on-base percentage and .668 slugging percentage and drew an AL-best 124 walks.
According to Card Ladder, the largest sale of all time was $12.9 million for a 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant dual NBA Logoman patch autograph card, also one of one, on Aug. 23, 2025 through Heritage auction.
The 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle SGC 9.5 grade, sold for $12.6 million on Aug. 28, 2022, is second overall as the top baseball card on the list.
The Judge card, tied for seventh overall, might not hold the honor of most expensive modern-day card for long. Fanatics Collect currently is auctioning the 2025 Topps Chrome Dual MVP Ohtani & Judge Gold MLB Logoman Auto 1/1. The auction closes March 19 and bids already have exceeded seven figures.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Iowa State tramples Texas Tech to reach Big 12 semifinals
Mar 12, 2026; Kansas City, MO, USA; Texas Tech Red Raiders guard Christian Anderson (4) protects the ball from Iowa State Cyclones forward Blake Buchanan (23) during the first half at T-Mobile Center. Mandatory Credit: William Purnell-Imagn Images Tamin Lipsey scored 20 points to help fifth-seeded Iowa State roll to a 75-53 victory over fourth-seeded Texas Tech on Thursday afternoon in Kansas City and advance to the Big 12 tournament semifinals.
Joshua Jefferson added 18 points, 13 rebounds and six assists as the No. 7-ranked Cyclones overcame an early 12-point deficit in the quarterfinal clash. Dominykas Pleta added 11 points off the bench as Iowa State (27-6) notched its second big performance in two days.
The Cyclones will face either top-seeded Arizona or eighth-seeded UCF in Friday’s semifinals.
LeJuan Watts had 12 points and seven rebounds and Christian Anderson scored 10 points for No. 16 Texas Tech (22-10).
The Red Raiders dropped to 3-3 since losing star big man J.T. Toppin to a season-ending ACL injury.
The Cyclones have won their two Big 12 tournament games by a combined 71 points. They were victorious by 49 points to set a Big 12 tournament record while routing Arizona State on Wednesday.
Iowa State shot 53.6% from the field, including 7 of 18 from 3-point range. The Cyclones held a 39-29 rebounding advantage.
The Red Raiders shot 33.9% and were 9 of 29 from the 3-point range.
In the second half, Iowa State shot 65.2% from the field, while Texas Tech made just 22.2%.
Iowa State turned the game into the blowout by making nine straight shots, eight coming during a 21-4 run to lead by 22.
Milan Momcilovic started the burst with a trey to give the Cyclones a 47-39 lead with 15:41 remaining. Jefferson followed with a putback, Lipsey converted a layup and Jefferson scored again to make it 53-39 with 12:31 remaining.
Jamarion Batemon and Lipsey followed with 3-pointers to push the margin to 20 with 10:39 to play.
After Texas Tech moved within 60-43, Lipsey drained a trey and Pleta added a fastbreak dunk to make it 65-43 with 8:37 to play.
Pleta later scored four straight points and Jefferson slammed home a fastbreak dunk to put the margin to 24 with 2:55 remaining.
Texas Tech was hot at the outset and a layup by Watts gave it a 17-5 lead just six-plus minutes into the game.
But the Cyclones quickly recovered with a 15-2 burst and Lipsey’s 3-pointer gave Iowa State a 20-19 edge with 9:57 left in the half.
Batemon drained a 3-pointer with three seconds left to give Iowa State a 36-33 halftime lead.
Lipsey had 10 points in the first half for the Cyclones. Watts scored 11 points for the Red Raiders and Anderson added 10.
–Field Level Media
No. 10 Virginia holds off NC State, advances to semifinals
Aaron Judge baseball card sells for modern-day record $5.2M
