SPORTS DIGEST || East High to host fall athletic banquet

East High to host fall athletic banquet

Youngstown

The East Panthers will hold thier fall athletic banquet on Dec. 6 at 4 p.m at the high school. Tickets for adults are $20, $15 for students and $10 for ages 5-12.

Youngstown Fall Brawl 3 scheduled for tonight

Youngstown

St. Mary’s Assumption Center is hosting Youngstown Fall Brawl 3 today at 7:30 p.m. The event includes eight amateur mixed martial arts fights.

Tickets are $30 at the door. The door opens at 6 p.m.

Youngstown State sweeps Cleveland State

Rochester, Mich.

The Youngstown State volleyball team hit .319 and had three players finish with at least nine kills in a sweep of Cleveland State in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League tournament.

Freshman Sam Brown had a match-high 14 kills, and senior Shannon Watson had 12 with three blocks as YSU avenged a four-set loss to the Vikings a week ago in the regular-season finale. Lexi Egler added nine kills and 10 digs, and Val Jeffery had 36 assists and three kills.

The Penguins advance to the semifinals for the second straight season, will play top-seed and tournament host Oakland on Today at 2:30 p.m. at the Athletics O’rena.

Phantoms lose lead, win in overtime

Bloomington, IND.

The Youngstown Phantoms blew a 4-0 lead but came back to win 6-5 over the Bloomington Thunder at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum.

The Phantoms received two goals from forward Ryan Lomberg but the Thunder (4-9-3) came back and scored five unanswered goals in the second period.

Forward Max Letunov scored the winning-goal in overtime for the Phantoms (9-5-2). Letunov leads the Phantoms in points (19) this season. Josh Melnick tied the game in the third for the Phantoms. The two teams play again tonight at 7.

Hull leads Rice to win over UTEP

HOUSTON

Mario Hull had 150 yards receiving and a touchdown catch, Darik Dillard ran for two touchdowns and Rice solidified its 2014 bowl status by beating UTEP 31-13.

Dillard scored his second touchdown on a 3-yard run late in the third to give Rice (7-4, 5-2 Conference USA) a 24-13 lead. Hull caught Driphus Jackson’s 5-yard TD pass with 5:41 left to cap the scoring.

Jackson finished 10 of 22 for 227 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. He also ran for 53 yards on 11 carries.

Ian Hamilton led UTEP (6-5, 4-3) with four catches for 130 yards. Jameill Showers’ 5-yard touchdown run for the Miners cut the deficit to 17-13 with 3 minutes left in the third quarter.

The Owls went 82 yards on four plays on their opening drive of the second half, taking a 17-3 lead on Jackson’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Jordan Taylor.

Adam LaRoche agrees to deal with White Sox

CHICAGO

A person familiar with the situation says free agent first baseman Adam LaRoche has agreed to a contract with the Chicago White Sox.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on Friday night on condition of anonymity because the team had not announced the deal.

The White Sox have AL Rookie of the Year Jose Abreu entrenched at first base, so LaRoche is likely to see most of his time at designated hitter. He has spent almost his entire career in the National League, save for six games for Boston in 2009.

LaRoche gives the White Sox some sorely needed power from the left side. He hit .259 with 26 homers and 92 RBIs in 140 games this year for NL East champion Washington.

Staff/wire reports