YSU

YSU
Volleyball teamdefeats St. Francis
LORETTO, Pa. -- Sophomore Annie Buschur sparked the Youngstown State University volleyball team with seven kills and seven blocks as the Penguins topped St. Francis 30-19, 30-18 and 30-28.
Sophomore Laura Svette had six kills and four blocks for the Penguins (7-1).
LOCAL
Fitch-Massillontime change
AUSTINTOWN -- The Fitch-Massillon high school football game Friday at Paul Brown Tiger Stadium in Massillon will start at 8 p.m. and not 7:30, as originally scheduled.
Springfield's Birchhas all-around game
NEW MIDDLETOWN -- Springfield quarterback/cornerback Pat Birch threw for 105 yards (4-of-6), ran for 41 more and intercepted a pass in the Tigers' 47-7 victory over Jackson-Milton last week. Birch was left off the all-purpose category of Weekend Leaders, listed Monday.
OHIO
Diop experiencingfoot problems
CLEVELAND -- The Cleveland Cavaliers' first draft choice, DeSagana Diop, who was selected to back up a veteran center with foot problems, is sidelined for two weeks with foot problems of his own.
Diop, an 18-year-old center from Senegal, has inflammation caused by overuse of his left foot, the team said Tuesday. The Cavaliers emphasized that Diop's injury is not a fracture, but a thickening of the second metatarsal bone in his foot.
The Cavaliers also said Diop's injury is unrelated to the fracture he suffered last year that led doctors to insert a screw in the same foot in February.
Diop will be fitted with a boot that will immobilize his foot for two weeks, and will be reevaluated at the end of that period. The team is expected to begin preseason practice in two weeks and it's not clear whether Diop will be ready to participate.
Coroner ruleson prep death
COLUMBUS -- A high school basketball player who collapsed during a pickup game died from cardiac arrest, the county coroner ruled.
Deandre Hillman, 17, who would have been a junior this fall at Whitehall-Yearling High School, died Aug. 8. He collapsed while playing basketball in 93-degree heat at a park in suburban Whitehall.
"It was electrical instability of the heart where the heart is unable to conduct the electrical nerve impulses that are needed to keep it beating," Franklin County Coroner Brad Lewis said.
Lewis said Hillman's death was not linked to any medical conditions.
He said toxicology results showed nothing unusual in Hillman except marijuana. Hillman also was slightly dehydrated, which could have made his heart more electrically unstable, Lewis said.
NATION
NFL looking intofull playoff format
NEW YORK -- The NFL will play a full 16-game schedule, making up last week's missed games in the first week of January.
And while it might still reduce the number of playoff teams from 12 to eight, commissioner Paul Tagliabue said full playoffs are still a possibility.
Tagliabue said the competition committee voted unanimously to keep the 16-game format, switching the games called off last weekend to Jan. 5-7, when wild-card games had been scheduled.
But he said the committee is still looking at ways to keep the normal complement of 12 playoff teams.
NFL officialsvote on plan
NEW YORK -- NFL referees began voting by e-mail on a plan that could end a lockout and have them back on the field when play resumes Sunday, two league sources said.
A source familiar with the labor dispute said the 10-member executive board of the NFL Referees Association agreed on the vote .
Vindicator staff/wire reports