BASKETBALL
Cooper Flagg and the United States advanced to the final at the U17 Basketball World Cup by dominating Lithuania in an 89-62 semifinal victory Saturday in Malaga, Spain.
Flagg, who led Nokomis High to the Class A state championship this past winter as a freshman, finished with five points, six rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot in 16 minutes. He was 2 for 6 from the field and made his only 3-point attempt.
Jeremy Fears Jr. led the U.S. with 18 points.
The U.S. will play for the title Sunday against Spain, a 68-53 winner over France.
BASEBALL
EASTERN LEAGUE: Alex Binelas hit a three-run homer and finished with four RBI as the Portland Sea Dogs extended their winning streak to six games with an 11-5 victory over the Binghamton Rumble Ponies in Binghamton, New York.
Izzy Wilson started the scoring with an RBI single in the first inning and added another RBI single in the sixth, stretching Portland’s lead to 8-1.
Ceddanne Rafaela went 4 for 6 and scored twice.
Bryan Mata pitched the first four innings for the Sea Dogs, giving up one hit and one unearned run. He walked five but struck out seven.
NECBL: Aidan Kane and Grant Knipp each drove in two runs for the Sanford Mainers, but their comeback bid fell short in an 8-6 loss to the Martha’s Vineyard Sharks at Goodall Park.
SOCCER
MLS: Valentin Castellanos scored in each half and New York City FC was awarded an MLS record three first-half penalty kicks in a 4-2 victory over the New England Revolution in New York.
Castellanos broke a 1-1 tie in the 44th minute with his league-leading 12th goal of the season, on a penalty kick. Talles Magno also scored on a penalty kick in the first half, and Gabriel Pereira made it 3-1 early in the second half.
Gustavo Bou got both goals for New England (6-6-7), which had a 10-game unbeaten streak snapped.
ENGLAND: Chelsea will be without N’Golo Kante and Ruben Loftus-Cheek for its preseason training camp and games in the United States because they do not meet vaccination requirements.
Foreign travelers to the U.S. have to show proof of vaccination to enter the country.
Chelsea flew to Los Angeles on Saturday ahead of games against Club America in Las Vegas, Charlotte FC in North Carolina, and Arsenal in Orlando.
GOLF
PGA/EUROPEAN TOURS: Xander Schauffele matched the low score on a windy day with a 4-under 66 despite bogeys on his last two holes, taking a two-stroke lead into the final round of the Scottish Open.
Schauffele was at 7-under 203, two ahead of Rafa Cabrera Bello of Spain, who had a 67 and boosted his hopes of getting one of three spots into the British Open next week at St. Andrews.
Jordan Spieth made two eagles on the back nine, one of them with a lob wedge from just over 100 yards on the 15th hole, and had a 66 that put him three shots behind in a group that included fellow Texan Ryan Palmer.
CHAMPIONS TOUR: Jerry Kelly shot a 5-under 65 for a share of the third-round lead with Alex Cejka in the Bridgestone Senior Players Championship in Akron, Ohio.
Kelly had six birdies and a bogey to match Cejka at 9-under 201 on Firestone Country Club’s South Course.
Cejka birdied four of the last five holes for a 67. The 51-year-old Czech-born German is chasing his third senior major title after winning the Regions Tradition and Senior PGA last year.
Defending champion Steve Stricker (68) and Steven Alker (69) were tied for third at 7 under.
AUTO RACING
FORMULA ONE: Max Verstappen was untroubled as he won the sprint race from the pole at the Austrian Grand Prix, his effort made easier by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. scrapping each other behind him as they battled for one meager point.
Leclerc and Sainz almost collided, with tensions appearing to carry over from last Sunday’s British GP, where Leclerc was unhappy with team decisions and Sainz won.
The positions from the sprint set the grid for Sunday’s race, so Verstappen starts at the front as he aims for a fifth win at his team’s home track in Spielberg.
XFINITY: Georgia native Austin Hill claimed his second win of the season, leading an eight-car train across the line at Atlanta Motor Speedway to set off a raucous celebration.
The 28-year-old Xfinity rookie is from Winston, a small town about an hour’s drive from the high-banked track that he considers home.
TRUCKS: Part-time driver Parker Kligerman held off points leader Zane Smith to win the NASCAR Truck Series race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.
Kligerman led 56 of the 67 laps on the 2.258-mile circuit, winning by 0.119 seconds. It was his third career win in the series and first in five years.
HOCKEY
NHL: The Nashville Predators re-signed Filip Forsberg to a $68 million, eight-year contract with an $8.5 million annual salary cap hit.
Forsberg, who turns 28 in August, is coming off the best season of his career. The native of Ostervala, Sweden, set career highs with 42 goals, 42 assists and 84 points in just 69 games.
CYCLING
TOUR DE FRANCE: Belgian rider Wout van Aert won the eighth stage and two-time defending champion Tadej Pogacar slightly increased his overall lead.
Van Aert edged Michael Matthews in the sprint to the line on the summit finish. Pogacar was third, with the Slovenian rider picking up more valuable bonus seconds at the end of the hilly 116-mile route from Dole in eastern France to Lausanne, Switzerland.
Pogacar, who won the previous two stages, extended his advantage to 39 seconds over Jonas Vingegaard and 1:14 over 2018 winner Geraint Thomas.
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