SPORTS digest

YSU-Valpo women’s hoops game postponed

YOUNGSTOWN

Today’s Youngstown State women’s basketball team’s home game against Valparaiso was postponed because the Crusaders were unable to travel here because of inclement weather.

A men’s game between YSU and Wright State will be played as scheduled tonight at 7:45 at Beeghly Center.

Poland playoff tickets for sale on Friday

POLAND

Tickets to Poland’s Division II sectional playoff game against West Branch will only be sold at the door of the Poland Field House on Friday night. Prices are $6 for adults and $4 for students.

Doors will open at 6 p.m. No passes will be accepted.

Phantoms to host first Futures Camp in May

BOARDMAN

The USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms will host its first Futures Camp on May 20-22. The three-day exposure camp will be hosted at the Phantoms’ practice facility, the Ice Zone, located on 360 McClurg Road.

The 2016 Futures Camp is open to any interested player who was born in 2001 or 2002 only.

The camp will be a first come first served basis until all team positions are fulfilled. Registration is available online only on the team’s web site.

Forward Curtis Hall signed to USHL tender

YOUNGSTOWN

The Phantoms have signed forward Curtis Hall to a USHL tender, Youngstown’s first of two potential 2000 born tenders for the 2016-17 season.

Hall, a Chagrin Falls native, is the team’s first Ohio high school player. He is a sophomore and member of the Cleveland Barons U16 AAA program. In 32 regular-season games with the Barons, Hall has 34 points (10 goals, 24 assists). The 6-foot, 175-pound right-shot center is uncommitted to a NCAA program.

After signing Hall, Youngstown will forfeit its first round pick in the 2016 USHL Phase 1 Draft on May 2.

Hall is the fifth player to sign a USHL tender in Phantoms team history. Kyle Connor, the 2015 first-round NHL draft pick became Youngstown’s first tender in 2012. Another was JJ Piccinich, a fourth-round NHL Draft pick in 2014 (Toronto Maple Leafs).

Ex-Brown pleads not guilty to drug charges

CLEVELAND

Cleveland Browns player Armonty Bryant has pleaded not guilty to felony drug possession charges.

The 25-year-old Bryant and a former teammate, 23-year-old De’Ante Saunders, were arrested after a traffic stop in a Cleveland suburb on Christmas. Police say they found marijuana, two prescription pills and a loaded handgun in Saunders’ car.

The team cut Saunders after his arrest. He was a practice squad player. Bryant was suspended for the final two games.

Saunders pleaded not guilty Wednesday to improper handling of a firearm. A driving-under-the-influence charge is pending.

Both men remain free on $2,500 bonds. Their cases were randomly assigned to Judge Dick Ambrose, a former Cleveland Browns linebacker. Ambrose said that he will recuse himself.

Jets coach has tumor removed from throat

INDIANAPOLIS

New York Jets coach Todd Bowles says he had a non-cancerous, golf ball-sized tumor removed from his throat shortly after the team’s season concluded.

According to Newsday and NJ Advance Media, Bowles revealed the procedure to a few reporters after a news conference at the NFL scouting combine Wednesday.

Bowles says he felt the mass — “It was almost the size of a golf ball” — in the front of his neck last September. Tests revealed the growth was benign, but caused him some trouble swallowing because it was pressing against the artery in his neck.

Bowles was able to put off surgery until about two weeks after the end of his first season.

Staff and wire reports