Saturday, December 26, 2015
Lovejoy confident
Sullivan can succeed
PITTSBURGH
The Pittsburgh Penguins seem confident that Sullivan can — no, will — help them to salvage their season in the 49 games that remain.
“From the first time he opened his mouth in his first team meeting, he made an impact, he made an impression,” defenseman Ben Lovejoy said. “I can’t tell you how positive, yet demanding, he’s been, just in the short time he’s been here.
“It could be easy to be negative, with how things have gone, but he’s come in and he’s done it with motivation and discipline and attention to detail and staying positive with a group that maybe didn’t deserve it at all times.”
The Penguins lost third first four games under Sullivan before Monday’s 5-2 victory over Columbus.
Today, the Penguins fly to Minneapolis to play the Minnesota Wild tonight. Pittsburgh sits in 12th place in the Eastern Conference. The top eight teams in the conference qualify for the postseason.
Former Colt Tipton
is arrested
GREENWOOD, Ind.
Former Indianapolis Colts’ running back Zurlon Tipton Jr. was arrested early Christmas morning for allegedly firing a gun outside a suburban Indianapolis home, according to police.
The Indianapolis Star reports that Tipton was charged with criminal recklessness with a deadly weapon in connection with the incident, which occurred about 1 a.m. outside his girlfriend’s home, according to a news release from the Greenwood Police Department.
Tipton told police he was at a party when he received threatening text messages from his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend that indicated the woman was going to be harmed. Police said Tipton and another man drove to the woman’s home, and he fired one round from an AR-15 assault weapon while in the driveway, incorrectly believing the ex-boyfriend was in the home.
Tipton, who played for the Colts for two seasons before he was released this year, was released from the Johnson County Jail on a $3,000 bond following his arrest by Greenwood police.
Hawaii finishes third
in Diamond Head
HONOLULU
Roderick Bobbitt scored 22 of his 30 points in the second half and Hawaii beat Auburn 79-67 on Friday in the third-place game in the Diamond Head Classic.
Bobbitt was 6 of 7 from 3-point range, 8 of 13 overall and made all eight of his free throws. Stefan Jankovic added 21 points, hitting three 3-pointers, and had eight rebounds for the Rainbow Warriors (9-2).
Kareem Canty led Auburn (6-5) with 22 points and eight assists. Bryce Brown added 20 points, and Tyler Harris had 15 points and nine rebounds.
Auburn shot 12 of 29 from behind the arc and led by as nine with 9:29 remaining.
There were four ties and eight lead changes in the game.
Auburn led 30-29 at the half.
San Diego State
defeats Cincinnati
HONOLULU
Rashaad Penny returned the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown and San Diego State routed Cincinnati 42-7 in the Hawaii Bowl on Thursday.
The Aztecs (11-3) won their final 10 games to match the longest winning streak in school history.
Penny had his third kickoff return for a score this season — and second 100-yarder — and broke the Hawaii bowl record for the longest return before a sparse crowd of 14,537 at Aloha Stadium.
San Diego State rushed for 207 yards, topping the 200-yard mark for the 10th consecutive game, and finished with 336 yards of total offense.
Donnell Pumphrey, the Mountain West offensive player of the year, had 99 yards on 25 carries. He threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Dakota Gordon and had a 1-yard scoring run early in the fourth quarter. Gordon also had a 1-yard run and finished with four catches for 58 yards.
Cincinnati finished 7-5.
Combined dispatches