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YSU's Hillspeaks Monday
BOARDMAN -- Youngstown State University women's basketball coach Tisha Hill will be the guest speaker at the Curbstone Coaches' noon luncheon on Monday at the Lockwood House.
The public is invited.
Region 8 coachesgather in Canfield
CANFIELD -- The Region 8 football coaches meeting is set Monday at 7 p.m. at Canfield High School.
The meeting is to nominate players for the 61st North-South Grange All Star football game which will played in June in Columbus.
Marsco acesMill Creek hole
YOUNGSTOWN -- John Marsco of Poland aced the 175-yard No. 14 hole on the Mill Creek North course.
He used a 6-iron and witnesses were George Economus, Chuck Moorem and Joe Italiano.
Canfield hoopsevent planned
CANFIELD -- Canfield Boys Basketball Boosters will hold a "Meet the Team Night" Monday at 7 p.m. at Canfield High School.
Seventh, eighth, freshmen, junior varsity and varsity scrimmages will be played.
Vicarel runsNYC Marathon
YOUNGSTOWN -- John Vicarel, a Ohio High School football offical, ran in the New York Marathon earlier this month and finished in the top third of his age group.
Vicarel has worked high school playoff games.
Ursuline dinnerlands Jim Kelly
YOUNGSTOWN -- Former Buffalo Bills quarterback Jim Kelly will be the guest speaker for the 19th annual Nick Johnson Scholarship Dinner at Mr. Anthony's on Dec. 6.
Tickets are $75 per person for the event which is the creation of Paul Maguire, an ESPN analyst and former Ursuline High School player under Johnson. Proceeds from past dinners have helped raise nearly $500,000 in scholarship monies for students attending the high school.
The affair doubles as the school's all-sports hall of fame function. Scheduled inductees are: Al Fleming, John Gallagher, Sam Mosca, Pat Narduzzi, Ed Ramm, John Barrett and Paul Harris.
REGION
Pens rookiequestionable
TAMPA, Fla. -- Pittsburgh Penguins rookie center Sidney Crosby could miss today's game at Tampa Bay with a bruised left foot.
Crosby was hit in the foot by a shot during the third period of the Penguins' 6-3 loss Friday night at Florida. He did not take part in practice Saturday and is listed as questionable by the team.
Crosby said Saturday the foot was better, but still a little stiff.
"We'll see ... I think it depends on the swelling," Crosby said of whether he will play against the defending Stanley Cup champion Lightning. "If it's swollen like this, we'll probably just wait. If it's still swollen, and because it's swollen, the left foot probably doesn't fit in a skate."
X-rays found no fractures. The primary treatment for the injury has been icing the foot.
Crosby has 12 goals and 28 points in 23 games this season. He has scored a goal in each of his last five games.
Kent State wins
SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, Texas -- Jay Youngblood scored a game-high 26 points for Kent State, which beat Texas-Pan American 82-70 on Saturday at the South Padre Island Invitational.
Youngblood, who also had seven rebounds, four assists and one block, shot 50 percent from the free throw line and made 11 out of his 18 field goal attempts.
The Golden Flashes (2-2) took an early lead and were ahead by as many as 12 points, but Texas-Pan American (2-3) outscored them 24-10 in the final 8:38 of the first half.
Texas-Pan American held a 35-33 advantage at halftime.
Armon Gates hit a 3-pointer at the 15:47 mark to put Kent State ahead for good, 41-39.
Derrick East finished with 16 points for Texas-Pan American.
NATION
Magic triumphs
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Dwight Howard had 15 points and 16 rebounds, and the Orlando Magic ended an eight-game losing streak against the Miami Heat with an 80-77 victory Saturday night.
Jameer Nelson and Steve Francis went 4-for-4 from the free throw line in the final 12 seconds to help Orlando win its season-high third straight game.
Dwyane Wade led Miami with 21 points and four assists, but the Heat shot a season-low 32 percent in losing for the third time in four games. Alonzo Mourning added 15 points and 21 rebounds, and Jason Williams was the only other Heat player in double figures with 14 points.
Hedo Turkoglu scored 18 points for Orlando. DeShawn Stevenson added 12 and Steve Francis had 10 points and four assists.
The Heat were with 66-63 with 8:15 left in the game on a steal and layup by Williams. The Magic scored seven straight to push the lead to 73-63 on a pair of free throws by Stevenson with 4:54 remaining.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Williams started another Miami rally, and a dunk by Wade made it 76-74 with 1:29 left. Wade missed a 20-footer with a chance to tie and Gary Payton stepped out of bounds with 13 seconds to play to prevent another attempt at a game-tying shot.
Nelson made two free throws with 12 seconds to go and Francis sank two more with 6 seconds left.
The Magic never trailed in the first half after one of their best defensive performances of the season. Orlando limited Miami to 29 percent shooting (11-of-38) but couldn't get more than 10 points ahead because of its own shooting problems.
The Magic shot 38 percent for the half, and Pat Garrity's baseline jumper with just under a minute left in the half gave them a 41-31 lead.
The Magic built the lead to 12 points twice late in the third quarter, but both teams still were plagued by poor shooting. Payton's 3-pointer with 4.2 seconds left cut Miami's deficit to 61-54 going into the fourth quarter.
Bobcats bounceWizards, 100-82
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Gerald Wallace scored 26 points and grabbed 14 rebounds, and the Charlotte Bobcats beat the Washington Wizards 100-82 for their first victory over their Southeast Division rivals.
The Wizards won all four meetings between the teams last season when Charlotte was an expansion franchise. But they followed Friday's 120-114 double-overtime victory at Detroit with a poor effort in Charlotte.
Gilbert Arenas, the NBA's third-leading scorer who had 39 points against the Pistons, had two points in the second half and finished with 11. He was scoreless in the third quarter, when the Bobcats took control and opened an 11-point lead.
Emeka Okafor also had a double-double with 10 points and 17 rebounds for Charlotte.
Antawn Jamison had 20 points and 12 rebounds for Washington.
The Bobcats used a 9-0 run in the third quarter to take a 69-58 lead with about a minute left in the third quarter. The Wizards closed with eight at the end of the period, but Charlotte quickly regained a double-figure lead in the fourth.
Charlotte led by 13 points with 6:11 to go in the first half, but the Wizards closed to 45-41 at the half.
Arenas had five points in the 15-6 run to close out the second quarter for Washington. Gerald Wallace had 18 for Charlotte in the first half.
Thrashers win
ATLANTA -- Marc Savard scored two goals, including one of Atlanta's three goals in the third period, and added two assists to help the Thrashers end a three-game losing streak with a 7-4 victory over the Florida Panthers.
Florida lost a night after the Panthers snapped a 12-game losing streak with a 6-3 victory over Pittsburgh.
Atlanta's Vyacheslav Kozlov broke a 4-4 tie early in the final period, scoring his sixth goal on a pass from Ilya Kovalchuk. Savard then clinched the victory with his ninth goal on a power play late in the period, beating goalie Roberto Luongo. Marian Hossa assisted on the goal, his third assist of the game.
Peter Bondra added Atlanta's final goal a minute later, his 13th.
Atlanta made it look easy in the closing minutes of the first period, scoring three times to go up 3-0, but Florida rallied in the second period, scoring three times in under 7 minutes to tie it.
The Vindicator/wire reports
Atlanta took a 4-3 lead late in the second period on Niclas Havelid's goal, but Panthers tied it on Martin Gelinas' power-play goal with 43 seconds remaining.
Thrashers right wing Scott Mellanby opened the scoring in the first period with his third goal, beating goalie Jamie McLennan with a slap shot from the blue line.
Two minutes later, Atlanta defenseman Greg de Vries made it 2-0 with a 10-foot shot over McLennan's left shoulder for his fourth goal. Then, Savard scored his eighth goal from in close on a nice pass from Hossa with less than a minute left in the period.
The Thrashers outshot the Panthers 17-10 in the opening 20 minutes. Atlanta rookie goalie Michael Garnett didn't have a tough save in upping his career record to 2-3.
Florida replaced McLennan after the period with Luongo.
The Panthers, however, made Garnett's night much more difficult in the second period, scoring on three of their first four shots in less than a 3-minute span early in the period.
Chris Gratton scored his second goal 3:48 into the period, Rostislav Olesz made it 3-2 with his second goal less than 2 minutes later and Gregory Campbell scored his second goal to tie it a minute later.
Vindicator staff/wire reports