Schmidt to speak at Curbstone luncheon

January 25, 2015 at 12:00a.m.

Youngstown State University Assistant Athletic Director and Youngstown State men’s basketball radio announcer Robb Schmidt will be the guest speaker tomorrow at the weekly luncheon of The Curbstone Coaches at Lucianno’s Banquet Center in the Wedgewood Plaza in Austintown. The event begins at noon and is open to the public. Also, plans are underway for The Curbstone Coaches 48th annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony on May 3rd at Mr. Anthony’s in Boardman. Boxing Hall of Famer Ray “Boom Boom” Mancini will be the featured speaker. To order tickets, contact Mike Murray at 330-565-7820.

Phantoms hold off RoughRiders late

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa

Mat Alvaro scored what proved to be the game-wining goal in the second period as the Youngstown Phantoms held off the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders 3-2.

Maxim Letunov added a goal and Matt Miller also scored for the Phantoms. The RoughRiders outshot the Phantoms 19-7 in the third but could not tie the game. The Phantoms improve to 19-11-5. They play Friday against the RoughRiders at 7:05 at the Covelli Centre.

Sharapova beats Peng in 4th round

MELBOURNE, Australia

Second-seeded Maria Sharapova is through to the Australian Open quarterfinals after a 6-3, 6-0 win over China’s Peng Shuai on Sunday, setting up another Grand Slam meeting with Eugenie Bouchard.

Peng, playing with her usual two-handed forehand and backhand strokes, broke Sharapova’s serve on her fifth breakpoint chance in the seventh game. But Sharapova won the next two games to take the first set in 39 minutes before dominating the second.

Sharapova plays Bouchard in the quarterfinals, a replay of their French Open semifinal last year. Sharapova won that match, after dropped the opening set to the Canadian, on the way to winning the title.

Sharapova also beat Bouchard in the second round of the French in 2013, and has a 3-0 career record against her.

Wade hoping NBA can better police fans

MIAMI

Dwyane Wade knows making an obscene gesture toward fans was wrong, and merited the $15,000 fine that the NBA hit him with.

But the Miami Heat guard also wants the league to help players avoid those situations.

Wade says he’s asked the NBA “to do a better job of protecting players” from the most unruly of fans in arenas, doing so while acknowledging that what he did in Charlotte on Wednesday night — when he reacted to what he said was a steady stream of comments about his wife — was wrong.

It was the first time in Wade’s 12-year career that he was fined for gesturing at or interacting negatively with fans. He says he hit his “breaking point.”

O-coordinator Kiffin returning to Alabama

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.

Lane Kiffin says he’s coming back to Alabama for a second season as offensive coordinator.

Kiffin had reportedly been a candidate to become offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers.

He and coach Nick Saban issued statements announcing the news. Kiffin says he wanted “to reaffirm my commitment to the University of Alabama, coach Saban, and our team.”

The former head coach of the Oakland Raiders, Southern California and Tennessee led Alabama to a school-record for total yards in his first season with a new quarterback in Blake Sims. Alabama lost to Ohio State in a national semifinal game.

Kiffin and Saban initially seemed like a potentially combustible pairing. Saban calls him “one of the finest offensive coaches in the country.” He says he wants Kiffin to continue developing to when he does leave “he’ll be in a very good situation.”

Staff/wire reports