Red Claws fall at home to Fort Wayne, eliminated in 1st round

From Staff Reports

PORTLAND — The Maine Red Claws saw their playoff hopes come to an end Saturday afternoon at the Portland Expo, falling to the defending champion Fort Wayne Mad Ants, 121-111. Fort Wayne’s 121 points are the most the Red Claws have ever given up in the playoffs.

Maine (0-2 in playoffs) started strong, with Boston Celtics assignee Chris Babb burying a 3-pointer, Ralph Sampson and Davion Berry each scoring inside and Celtics assignee James Young converting to give the Red Claws a 9-5 lead.

But Matt Bouldin scoreed 11 points in the first quarter as Fort Wayne raced out to the 33-26 edge.

Fort Wayne charged out of the locker room in the third quarter, building the lead up to 16 as C.J. Fair took over, pouring in 17 in the period. Fort Wayne held an 89-79 advantage heading into the final frame.

Maine didn’t go quietly. Osby went on a stretch where he scored 13 of 15 points to cut the lead to nine, and Young followed with a 3 to cut it to six. A few defensive stops later and Berry and Osby cut the lead down to two with 2:26 to go. Jordan Crawford took over for the Mad Ants, however, draining a 3 on the next play, stealing the ball and getting it to Fair for a layup and sealing it down the stretch with a Bouldin layup and two free throws along with a pair of free throws from Xavier Thames.

Bruins lose to Lightning in SO, fall short of playoffs

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Victor Hedman scored the lone shootout goal, and playoff-bound Tampa Bay beat Boston.

The Bruins’ postseason hopes were dashed midway through the third when Pittsburgh claimed the final Eastern Conference wild card by beating Buffalo 2-0. Boston had made the playoffs in each of the previous seven seasons.

Jonathan Marchessault had a goal and an assist for the Lightning, who finished second behind Atlantic Division winner Montreal. Tampa Bay (50-24-8) reached 50 wins for the first time and will play Detroit in the first round of the postseason.

Loui Eriksson and Brad Marchand scored for the Bruins, who end the season with three straight losses. Tuukka Rask finished with 23 saves while tying a team goalie record by playing in his 70th game this season.

Gillies, Providence win 1st NCAA title

BOSTON (AP) — Boston University goalie Matt O’Connor gave up a tying own goal in the third period, then Brandon Tanev scored with 6:17 left and Providence beat the Terriers 4-3 on Saturday night for its first NCAA hockey title.

It was the third straight year the NCAA has crowned a first-time champion in hockey.

BU was seeking its sixth championship in a virtual home game when O’Connor easily gloved a puck that was lofted in by Tom Parisi from the red line. But he then lost track of the puck, dropping it and allowing it to fall underneath him. He slid backward to protect the net and wound up knocking it in with 8:36 to play.

Tanev scored off a faceoff to give the Friars the lead, and Jon Gillies helped protect it with a diving save against Nick Roberto in the final minutes. Gillies, selected the Most Outstanding Player of the Frozen Four, stopped 49 saves for PC.

Anthony Florentino and Mark Jankowski also scored for the Friars, who were the last school to be given an at-large berth in 16-team NCAA Tournament.

Jimmie Johnson wins at Texas

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Jimmie Johnson led 128 laps to get his fifth career NASCAR Sprint Cup victory at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday night.

Johnson also won in November at Texas, where all four of his previous wins had been in fall races.

Kevin Harvick, the series points leader who has already won twice this season, finished second.

The runner-up finish for Harvick comes after he finished eighth in Martinsville in the last Cup race two weeks ago. That ended his run of eight consecutive races finishing first or second, the longest such stretch since Richard Petty did it 11 times in a row in 1975.

Johnson held off Harvick and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. for his second victory this season ”“ and 72nd of his career.