HIGH SCHOOLS
BOYS’ HOCKEY: Joe Fischetto tipped in a shot from Andrew Belliveau with 31 seconds remaining to give Falmouth (3-3) a 2-1 win over Greely (5-1) in the annual Dudley Cup game at Family Ice Center in Falmouth.
Falmouth went ahead 1-0 on Theo Kowalzsky’s 35-foot wrister from the right side 6:34 into the game. John Carpenter assisted on the play.
The Rangers tied it with 4:55 remaining in the second period when Lucas Martin finished a pass in the slot from Sean Allen. Finn Murphy also assisted.
Brandon White made 19 saves for Falmouth, while Will Klein stopped 26 for Greely.
HOCKEY
ECHL: The Maine Mariners acquired forward William Provost on Monday, completing an ECHL future considerations trade with the Cincinnati Cyclones.
Provost comes from the Allen Americans, whose future consideration was dealt to the Mariners in the Tim Doherty trade on Nov. 22. In a separate move, defenseman Ethan Ritchie was reassigned to Maine from the Providence Bruins.
Provost started his career with Fort Wayne at the end of last season before being traded in November to Allen, where had four goals and six assists in 15 games.
BASEBALL
MLB: Tampa Bay shortstop Wander Franco was arrested in the Dominican Republic after being interviewed by prosecutors investigating him for an alleged relationship with a minor, according to an official in the Puerto Plata province prosecutor’s office.
Franco appeared before prosecutors while accompanied by two lawyers, days after not showing up for a meeting with prosecutor Olga Diná Llaverías, according to the official, who said the interview lasted nearly three hours.
Franco was placed on administrative leave by Major League Baseball in August under its the joint domestic violence, sexual assault and child abuse policy with the players’ association.
COLLEGES
MEN’S BASKETBALL: Purdue remained atop the AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll for the third straight week, while Gonzaga dropped to No. 24 after a loss to San Diego State but kept alive its streak of 142 consecutive weeks in the poll.
The Boilermakers picked up three more first-place votes and had 49 of 63 from the national media panel, easily outdistancing second-place Kansas, which received five first-place nods. Houston remained third despite keeping its perfect record intact with a victory over Penn and picking up the other nine first-place votes.
UConn and Tennessee each moved up one spot to round out the top five following Arizona’s loss to Stanford on Sunday.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: South Carolina started the new year where it finished off 2023 – atop The Associated Press women’s basketball poll with 34 of the 35 first-place votes from a national media panel. They had been unanimous the previous six weeks.
UCLA got the other No. 1 vote. The No. 2 Bruins have now defeated four top-25 teams this season, with two wins coming at neutral sites and one on the road. No. 3 North Carolina State and Iowa followed UCLA. Colorado moved up three spots to No. 5 after a win over then-No. 12 Utah.
Indiana, with Gorham native Mackenzie Holmes, rose two spots to No. 14.
FOOTBALL: Oregon’s Bo Nix finished his career as one of the most productive quarterbacks in NCAA history by completing 28 of 35 passes for 363 yards and five touchdowns for No. 8 Oregon in a 45-6 victory over No. 18 Liberty in the Fiesta Bowl.
The 23-year-old took advantage of a fifth year of eligibility that he gained because of the COVID-19 pandemic to make 61 career starts, the most ever in the Football Bowl Subdivision. He finishes with 15,352 career passing yards (fifth in FBS), trailing only Houston’s Case Keenum, Hawaii’s Timmy Chang, Oklahoma’s Landry Jones and Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell. His 16,965 total yards are second behind Keenum.
• Freshman quarterback Nico Iamaleava ran for three touchdowns and threw for one in his first career start, and No. 25 Tennessee (9-4) shut down the Division I-worst offense of No. 20 Iowa (10-4) to beat the Hawkeyes 35-0 in the Citrus Bowl.
• Garrett Nussmeier threw for 395 yards and three touchdowns, helping 13th-ranked LSU (10-3) launch its post-Jayden Daniels era with a come-from-behind 35-31 victory over Wisconsin (7-6) in the ReliaQuest Bowl on Monday.
TENNIS
UNITED CUP: Australia advanced to the quarterfinals of the United Cup in Perth, Australia, with a 2-1 victory over defending champion United States.
Matthew Ebden and Storm Hunter combined effectively in the decisive mixed doubles match to beat Jessica Pegula and Rajeev Ram 6-3, 6-1 and ensured that Australia finished top of Group C in the 18-country mixed-teams event with the Americans second.
BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL: In her first competitive match since September 2022, four-time major winner Naomi Osaka was broken while serving for the match and needed three match points in the tiebreaker before converting a 6-3, 7-6 (9) victory over Tamara Korpatsch at the Brisbane International.
Osaka didn’t play the Australian Open last year and later revealed she was pregnant. She and her partner, rapper Cordae, became parents to daughter Shai in Los Angeles in July.
“It’s a big change overnight,” former No. 1-ranked Osaka said of returning to the tour as a mom. “For me, I love it a lot because … in a way I would say (Shai) has helped me grow up so much so quickly. Off the court I’m more aware of people and I appreciate them a lot more – even my opponents and everything. On the court it’s just helping me be strong and staying in the moment more.”
KVITOVA PREGNANT: Two-time Grand Slam champion Petra Kvitova started the new year by announcing she is expecting her first child.
“On the first day of 2024 I wanted to wish you a happy new year and share the exciting news that Jiri and I will be welcoming a baby into our family this summer!” the Czech player wrote on social media.
Kvitova married Jiri Vanek, her longtime coach, in July 2023. The 33-year-old Kvitova, currently ranked 17th, won Wimbledon in 2011 and 2014.
RUNNING
SUSPECTS ARRESTED: Two men were arrested in Nairobi, Kenya in connection with the killing of Ugandan Olympic runner Benjamin Kiplagat, who was found fatally stabbed in a car in Kenya on New Year’s Eve, police said.
A knife suspected of being used in the killing of the 34-year-old Kiplagat was found on one of the suspects, Moiben sub county police commander Stephen Okal said. The motive for the killing appears to have been robbery, he said, because money and a cell phone had been taken from Kiplagat.
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