BASKETBALL
Devon Dotson scored 27 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Windy City Bulls beat the Maine Celtics for the second straight day, winning 110-99 on Sunday in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
Marko Simonovic added 22 points and 12 rebounds for Windy City, while Ethan Thompson added 20 points and Kerwin Roach 13 points.
Brodric Thomas scored 23 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for Maine, which has lost three straight. Eric Demers, Deonte Burton and Deng Adel each had 17 points for the Celtics. Chris Clemons had 12 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds.
GOLF
PGA TOUR: Sepp Straka is going back to Georgia in a few weeks. He’s headed to the Masters, after pulling off a huge comeback to win the Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Straka, down by five shots entering the final round, tapped in for birdie in the rain on the final hole and ended up beating Shane Lowry by one shot to become the first Austrian winner in PGA Tour history. He shot a 4-under 66 to finish at 10 under and earn $1.44 million.
Lowry shot his third consecutive round of 67, his 9 under total for the week coming up one short. First-round leader Kurt Kitayama (68) was alone in third at 8 under, and Daniel Berger – who led by six shots with 19 holes left in the tournament – simply fell apart Sunday, his round of 74 leaving him 7 under for the week and three shots behind Straka.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Miguel Angel Jimenez had his second hole-in-one of the tournament and closed with a 7-under 65 to win the Cologuard Classic in Tuscon, Arizona.
Jimenez started the final round with a two-shot lead and got off to a birdie-eagle start at Tucson National. Reigning Charles Schwab Cup champion Bernhard Langer cut the lead to three with a birdie on the par-5 12th, but Jimenez followed with one of his own in the group behind.
The 58-year-old Spaniard ended any hope of a late rally with an ace on the 186-yard par-3 14th to match the one he had at No. 7 in the opening round. Jimenez closed with four straight pars to finish at 18-under 198 and win for the second time in three PGA Tour Champions starts this season.
Langer shot 65 to match Woody Austin (66) at 14 under. Jerry Kelly finished fourth after a 70 put him at 11 under.
AUTO RACING
INDYCAR: Scott McLaughlin led 49 of the 100 laps but had to hold off reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou over the closing laps to secure the victory in IndyCar’s season opener in St. Petersburg, Florida.
McLaughlin was held up by rookie Devlin DeFrancesco, the last car on the lap, on the final trip around the track, which gave Palou the chance to take one look at a pass for the lead. Palou couldn’t get close enough and McLaughlin followed DeFrancesco across the finish line for another win for Team Penske.
Palou finished second for Chip Ganassi Racing and Honda, and Will Power, who started alongside Penske teammate McLaughlin on the front row, was third to put a pair of Chevrolets on the podium.
SOCCER
WORLD CUP QUALIFYING: FIFA drew a swift backlash from European nations for not immediately expelling Russia from World Cup qualifying and only ordering the country to play without its flag and anthem at neutral venues under the name of its federation – the Football Union of Russia.
Protesting against FIFA’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Poland said it would still refuse to play the country in a World Cup playoff semifinal, which is scheduled for March 24.
“Today’s FIFA decision is totally unacceptable,” Polish football federation president Cezary Kulesza tweeted. “We are not interested in participating in this game of appearances. Our stance remains intact: Polish National Team will NOT PLAY with Russia, no matter what the name of the team is.”
The unanimous ruling by the FIFA Bureau, featuring the six regional football confederation presidents, said the Russian flag and anthem can’t be associated with the team playing as “Football Union of Russia (RFU).”
LEAGUE CUP: Liverpool won its first domestic final in a decade after beating Chelsea 11-10 on penalties to clinch the League Cup.
All 10 penalties had been scored before it was down to the goalkeepers to take their turn and Kepa Arrizabalaga missed after Liverpool counterpart Caoimhin Kelleher had netted.
The game ended 0-0 after 120 minutes at Wembley where there was a pre-match show of solidarity to the people of Ukraine after the invasion by Russia.
Liverpool’s last domestic cup final success was the 2012 League Cup under Kenny Dalglish. Liverpool has won the Champions League in 2019 and Premier League in 2020 under Juergen Klopp.
PREMIER LEAGUE: Marcelo Bielsa was fired as Leeds manager after another heavy loss dropped the team to within two points of the Premier League relegation zone.
Leeds said it aims to announce the Argentine coach’s successor on Monday.
A 4-0 loss at home to Tottenham came at the end of a seven-day stretch in which Leeds was also defeated 4-2 by Manchester United and thrashed 6-0 at Liverpool.
MLS: Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez scored in the 90th minute to give the LA Galaxy a 1-0 victory over defending MLS Cup champion New York City FC in Carson, California in the regular-season opener for both teams.
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