Nittany Lions wrap up title at NIT
NEW YORK — Flavor Flav had his red cap flipped backward as he pulled out his iPhone on the Madison Square Garden court. He held the camera steady and recorded cousin Shep Garner clipping the final strands of the championship net and waving it toward Penn State men’s basketball fans. Flav’s T-shirt at the National Invitation Tournament final said it all for the Nittany Lions: Believe the hype! Garner hit the 3-pointer that brought the rapper and reality star to his feet and helped send Penn State on its way to an 82-66 victory over Utah on Thursday night. The fourthseeded Nittany Lions (26-13) also knocked off No. 1 seed Notre Dame in the tournament en route to winning the NIT for the first time since 2009. Lamar Stevens scored 28 points, Josh Reaves had 18 and Tony Carr had 15 points and 14 assists for Penn State in the championship game. “I think we set the standard,” Garner said. “We preach defense and rebounding, but now we have something we can always go to. We won something. We’re champions.” Garner’s famous cousin, a member of the seminal 1980s rap group Public Enemy, sang along to “Fight the Power” as it blasted at MSG and had the Penn State student section chanting “Flav! Flav! Flav!” as the Nittany Lions pulled away for a program-defining championship under coach Pat Chambers. The clutch moment came in the third quarter when Garner — who became Penn State’s career 3-point leader in the tournament run — hit a 3 for his first basket of the game and a 49-41 lead that had the fans going wild. Sedrick Barefield hit six 3s and scored 22 points for secondseeded Utah (23-12).
› LOMBARD, Ill. — Daryl Thomas, a starter on Indiana University’s 1987 NCAA tournament championship team, has died. He was 52. Thomas had been the basketball coach at Montini Catholic High School in suburban Chicago since 2015. The school said Thomas died from a heart attack on Wednesday. Thomas was a Chicago-area high school star before going to Indiana, where he earned All-Big Ten first team recognition as the Hoosiers won their fifth national title during his senior season. The 6-foot-7 forward threw the pass to Keith Smart for the gamewinning jump shot against Syracuse in the title game.
HOCKEY
› NASHVILLE — Ryan Ellis scored the go-ahead goal with 9:54 left as the Nashville Predators beat the San Jose Sharks 5-3 Thursday night to set a franchise record with 111 points this season. With their 50th victory, the NHL leaders padded their advantage over Boston to four points in the chase for their first Presidents’ Trophy. Nashville topped the mark of 110 points set in 2006-07 on a night when the franchise also notched its 100th consecutive sellout, a streak that started April 7, 2016, against the Sharks. Nashville’s Viktor Arvidsson and Craig Smith each had a goal and an assist, Nick Bonino and Kyle Turris added a goal apiece, Filip Forsberg had three assists and Juuse Saros made 39 saves.
BASEBALL
› NEW YORK — Rusty Staub was a huge hit on both sides of the border. Instantly recognizable for his fiery orange hair and gregarious personality, the outfielder who charmed baseball fans in the United States and Canada during an All-Star career that spanned 23 major league seasons died Thursday. He was 73. Staub died after an illness in a hospital in West Palm Beach, Fla., hours before the start of a new MLB season, the New York Mets said in a release. Affectionately dubbed “Le Grand Orange,” Staub was a six-time All-Star and the only player in MLB history to have at least 500 hits with four teams. Popular with fans and teammates in two countries, he was most adored in New York and Montreal. A savvy, reliable slugger with left-handed power and a discerning eye, Staub played from 1963 to 1985 and finished 284 hits shy of 3,000.