Sports
No. 6 UConn dismantles No. 15 St. John's in battle of Big East's best
Feb 25, 2026; Hartford, Connecticut, USA; UConn Huskies forward Tarris Reed Jr. (5) drives the ball to the basket against the St. John’s Red Storm in the first half at PeoplesBank Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Butler II-Imagn Images Tarris Reed Jr. totaled 20 points and 11 rebounds as No. 6 UConn used a pair of big runs in both halves and rolled to a dominating 72-40 win over 15th-ranked St. John’s Wednesday night Hartford, Conn. in a possible preview of the Big East tournament championship game.
After being listed as a No. 1 seed in the NCAA’s first bracket reveal over the weekend, UConn (26-3, 16-2 Big East) moved a game ahead of St. John’s for the conference lead.
The Huskies won their 27th straight in Hartford, led by as many as 36 in the second half and earned their largest margin of victory over St. John’s, eclipsing a 29-point win in Feb. 1998.
Reed made 9 of 14 shots and contributed a dunk to the 18-0 run in the first half along with a layup in the 16-0 run in the second half. He finished two shy of his season high and posted his seventh double-double this season.
Alex Karaban added 14 by hitting a 3-pointer and converting a dunk during the first half run and a pair of baskets in the second half outburst.
Solo Ball contributed a 3 during the second half and finished with 11. Braylon Mullins scored all nine of his points by hitting 3 3-pointers in the two runs.
Silas DeMary Jr contributed seven points, eight rebounds and five of UConn’s 20 assists.
St. John’s (22-6, 15-2) saw a 13-game winning streak stopped and had a 11-game Big East road winning streak halted. The Red Storm played their worst game under coach Rick Pitino and were held under 45 points for the first time since scoring 40 at Notre Dame on March 5, 2013.
The Red Storm missed their final 24 shots, shot 2-of-28 (7.1%) in the second half and 19.6% overall. It was their lowest field goal percentage in any game since 1938-1939.
Joson Sanon (10 points) was the lone double-figure scorer for the Red Storm, who also shot 5-of-20 from 3. Bryce Hopkins shot 3-of-14 while Zuby Ejiofor was held to six points, including the Red Storm’s last basket with 17:28 left in the second half.
UConn took a 31-11 lead on a 3 by Mullins with 6:37 lead and led 41-26 at halftime as St. John’s missed 16 straight shots at one point in the opening 20 minutes.
UConn continued dominating and officially put things away by scoring 16 straight points for a 61-31 lead on Ball’s corner 3 with 10:10 left. The lead reached 33 on two free throws by DeMary with 5:11 left and a few minutes later, UConn pulled its starters.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Surge, Gentle Mates unbeaten in CDL Stage 3 Major qualifying
A backlit keyboard is part of the gear online video game streamer Jordan Woodruff uses in his Gilbert home.
Jordan Woodruff
The Paris Gentle Mates and Vancouver Surge are atop the standings at 2-0 after Saturday, the second day of qualifying for the Call of Duty League’s Stage 3.
The Surge outlasted the Carolina Royal Ravens 3-2, while Paris topped G2 Minnesota 3-1.
FaZe Vegas swept Boston Breach 3-0 to open play, and Toronto KOI got the better of the Riyadh Falcons 3-1 in the other match of the day.
The 12 Call of Duty League teams are playing a full qualifying round robin to determine seeding for the third major of the season, to be held May 15-17 as part of the DreamHack Atlanta event.
On Saturday, FaZe Vegas dominated Boston Breach, winning 250-98 on Sake Hardpoint, 6-3 on Fringe Search and Destroy and 3-2 on Scar Overload.
Toronto KOI started strong, winning 250-183 on Den Hardpoint and 6-2 on Plaza Search and Destroy before the Riyadh Falcons notched a 4-3 decision on Exposure Overload. Toronto closed out the match with a 250-179 victory on Sake Hardpoint.
The Paris Gentle Mates opened with a narrow 250-230 win on Sake Hardpoint before G2 Minnesota responded with a 6-4 win on Scar Search and Destroy. Paris edged Minnesota 6-5 on Den Overload before taking Colossus Hardpoint 250-157.
The Vancouver Surge emerged from a back-and-forth battle with the Carolina Royal Ravens. The Surge won on Sake Hardpoint (250-233) and Fringe Search and Destroy (6-1), then the Royal Ravens drew even with victories on Scar Overload (3-2) and Gridlock Hardpoint (250-223). Vancouver secured the victory with a 6-1 triumph on Plaza Search and Destroy.
Sunday’s schedule:
–Toronto KOI vs. Boston Breach
–Riyadh Falcons vs. FaZe Vegas
–OpTic Texas vs. Cloud9 New York
Call of Duty League Stage 3 Major qualifying, with match record and map differential
T1. Paris Gentle Mates, 2-0, 6-2
T1. Vancouver Surge, 2-0, 6-2
3. FaZe Vegas, 1-0, 3-0
T4. Los Angeles Thieves, 1-0, 3-1
T4. Toronto KOI, 1-0, 3-1
T6. Cloud9 New York, 0-0, 0-0
T6. OpTic Texas, 0-0, 0-0
T8. Miami Heretics, 0-1, 1-3
T8. Riyadh Falcons, 0-1, 1-3
T10. Boston Breach, 0-1, 0-3
11. Carolina Royal Ravens, 0-2, 3-6
12. G2 Minnesota, 0-2, 1-6
–Field Level Media
Sports
Cloud9 remains unbeaten in Week 3 opener of LCS Spring
YMCA member Austin Manengu works the keyboard as he plays a game of Fortnite during the unveiling of the new gaming lab at the Maplewood Family YMCA in Rochester Thursday, June 20, 2024. YMCA of Greater Rochester in partnership with Metro Sports & Entertainment Group will open two gaming labs for youth and teens this year. Cloud9 improved to 3-0 and Sentinels earned their first win to kick off Week 3 of the regular season of the LCS Spring event on Saturday.
Cloud9, one of just two unbeaten teams left, swept Disguised 2-0 as Sentinels came away with a 2-1 win over FlyQuest.
Eight teams will compete in best-of-three matches in the round-robin regular season before advancing to the playoffs of the League of Legends event, which will be contested in best-of-five matches in a double-elimination format. The top two teams will qualify for the Mid-Season Invitational.
Cloud9 didn’t face much interference in its third straight victory, winning both games in 25 minutes over Disguised, which fell to 1-2. Robert “Blaber” Huang and Denmark’s Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen led the victory with very similar kill-death-assist ratios of 12-1-18 and 12-2-18, respectively.
Sentinels won the opener vs. FlyQuest in 30 minutes, lost the second game in 31 minutes and won the deciding third matchup in 39 minutes. Cho “Rahel” Min-seong of South Korea led the victory with a 20-4-13 K-D-A ratio.
Week 3 concludes Sunday with LYON facing Shopify Rebellion and Dignitas versus Team Liquid.
Regular season standings (Win-loss total, map differential)
1. Cloud9, 3-0, 6-2
2. Team Liquid, 2-0, 4-1
3. LYON, 1-1, 3-3
4. Shopify Rebellion, 1-1, 2-2
5. FlyQuest, 1-2, 4-4
6. Sentinels, 1-2, 4-5
7. Disguised, 1-2, 2-5
8. Dignitas, 0-2, 1-4
–Field Level Media
Sports
Yankees out to continue success vs. lefties, sweep Royals
Apr 18, 2026; Bronx, New York, USA; New York Yankees first baseman Ben Rice (22) and center fielder Cody Bellinger (35) celebrate after defeating the Kansas City Royals at Yankee Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images The New York Yankees struggled in most of their encounters against left-handed pitching until Saturday. Then they dominated Kansas City southpaw Noah Cameron and rolled to their most lopsided victory of the season.
After their best showing at the plate, the Yankees seek a three-game sweep Sunday afternoon when they host the Royals.
The Yankees will face another left-hander in Cole Ragans (0-3, 3.78 ERA) after going 7-for-20 with three homers off Cameron. New York raised its batting average against left-handed pitchers 19 points to .179 after Saturday’s 13-4 win.
Cody Bellinger, who entered Saturday 3-for-17 off lefties, hit a pair of two-run homers and drove in five runs. Bellinger also is 10-for-28 (.357) over his past seven games.
Ben Rice homered for the third straight game for the first time in his career and is 5-for-16 (.313) off lefties after hitting .208 against southpaws last season. Rice will remain in the lineup Sunday along with Paul Goldschmidt while Giancarlo Stanton gets a scheduled day off ahead of Monday’s off-day before the start of a three-game series at Boston.
The Yankees scored their most runs all season after their previous five wins were decided in the final at-bat. Amed Rosario hit a two-run homer, drove in three runs and is hitting .293 off lefties since the start of last season.
“We’re a talented team that can win in many different ways,” Bellinger said. “Obviously these games are more ideal but I like where we’re at.”
Since their 6-5 win over the Yankees in Game 2 of the 2024 ALDS, the Royals are on a 10-game losing streak against New York. Kansas City has lost six straight and nine of 11.
The Royals were blanked until Carter Jensen hit a two-run homer in the seventh and also scored on a two-run double by Michael Massey in the ninth. Bobby Witt Jr. had one of Kansas City’s seven hits and is 5-for-20 on the road trip.
The Royals are coming off their most lopsided loss of the first 21 games after 10 of their previous 11 games were decided by two runs or fewer.
“It looks bad when you get your butt kicked like today, but every game this week has been a really close game,” Kansas City manager Matt Quatraro said. “Guys are running hard, they’re playing hard, they’re preparing hard. It just hasn’t worked out.”
After getting seven sharp innings from Will Warren and not using any high-leverage relievers, the Yankees will send lefty Ryan Weathers (0-2, 4.29 ERA) to the mound.
Weathers, who struggled at times with his fastball command Tuesday in a 7-1 loss to the Los Angeles Angels, makes his first career start against Kansas City. Weathers is allowing a .268 average to opposing hitters and allowed three homers in a span of five pitches on fastballs to Mike Trout, Jo Adell and Jorge Soler.
Weathers also gave up a homer to Oswald Peraza on his changeup but wound up with 10 strikeouts in five-plus innings when he allowed five runs. He also became the first Yankee and 17th pitcher all-time to get at least 10 strikeouts and allow four homers.
In four starts, Ragans (0-3, 3.78) has received four runs from his offense and is coming off his best start this season. Ragans allowed one hit in six scoreless innings in a no-decision during Kansas City’s 2-1 loss at Detroit on Tuesday.
Ragans does not have a decision and a 2.57 ERA in a pair of appearances (one start) against the Yankees.
–Field Level Media
Surge, Gentle Mates unbeaten in CDL Stage 3 Major qualifying
Cloud9 remains unbeaten in Week 3 opener of LCS Spring
