College Basketball
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – It didn’t matter to TCU that it was playing just down the road from the Kansas campus in Lawrence, or that the Horned Frogs already had endured a taxing opening-round game in the Big 12 Tournament.
It probably mattered a great deal that the Jayhawks were missing star freshman Josh Jackson.
Regardless, the spunky underdogs from Fort Worth held on after squandering an 11-point second-half lead, and Desmond Bane’s three free throws with 2.5 seconds left gave the Horned Frogs an 85-82 victory over the nation’s top-ranked team in the quarterfinal round Thursday.
LAS VEGAS – Gian Clavell hit six 3-pointers and scored 30 points to help lead No. 2 seed Colorado State to an 81-55 drubbing of tenth-seeded Air Force in the Mountain West quarterfinals on Thursday night.
It is the fifth time in six years the Rams (22-10) have made the conference semifinals.
Prentiss Nixon finished with 15 points and Emmanuel Omogbo added 12 for the Rams, who shot 48.4 percent and 86.7 percent at the line.
Air Force (12-21) kept it close for 15 minutes but Colorado State pulled away over the final five of the first half and led 39-26 at the break.
Cycling
BOURG-DE-PEAGE, France – German cyclist Andre Greipel won the fifth stage of the Paris-Nice in a sprint finish on Thursday, while Julian Alaphilippe comfortably retained his lead.
Greipel positioned himself behind the wheel of Arnaud Demare of France and surged past him as they went for the line.
Alaphilippe remains 33 seconds ahead of French countryman Tony Gallopin, with Gorka Izaguirre of Spain .47 back in third spot with three stages of climbing ahead.
Golf
PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Tiger Woods won’t play the Arnold Palmer Invitational next week and still doesn’t know when he can compete again.
Woods announced on his website Thursday night that ongoing rest and rehabilitation on his back will keep him away from the tournament he has won eight times. Woods says he was particularly disappointed to miss Bay Hill because of celebration of the tournament host.
Palmer died in September.
PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Jim Herman was persuaded to play the Valspar Championship by an influential acquaintance and he made it pay off Thursday with a 9-under 62.
Herman was playing in the Seminole Pro-Member in Florida two weeks ago when former General Electric chief Jack Welch came along and told him he was playing well and that he should play at Innisbrook.
He played bogey-free, missed the course record by one shot and had a two-shot lead over British Open champion Henrik Stenson and Russell Henley.
Skiing
SAALBACH, Austria – Austrian skier Georg Streitberger has ended his career because of persistent knee problems.
A year ago, Streitberger crashed and severely damaged his right knee in the same downhill race in Kitzbuehel where then overall World Cup leader Aksel Lund Svindal suffered a season-ending injury. The race in bad weather conditions was called off after 30 starters.
Associated Press
