SPORTS DIGEST || Phantoms can’t keep early lead vs. Thunder

Phantoms can’t keep early lead vs. Thunder

BLOOMINGTON, IND.

Patrick Curry’s first hat trick of the season came at the worst possible time for the Youngstown Phantoms.

Curry scored twice on the power play and added an empty-net goal to lead the Bloomington Thunder to a 4-2 victory over the Phantoms on Thursday night at U.S. Cellular Coliseum.

The Thunder (30-17-3, 64 points) strengthened their hold on the fourth and final playoff spot in the USHL’s Eastern Division.

The Phantoms (24-17-4, 57 points) are in fifth place. The teams will meet again tonight at 8 p.m. in Bloomington.

Lucas Craggs and Ryan Shea scored first-period goals to stake Youngstown to a 2-0 lead. It stayed that way until Jake Slaker’s goal halfway through the second period made it 2-1.

Then Curry scored a power-play goal in the final minute of the second period to tie it. His second power-play goal, with less than five minutes to play, gave Bloomington a 3-2 lead.

Curry finished the hat trick on a clinching, empty-net goal with 27 seconds to play.

Phantoms goalie Ryan Bednard turned aside 44 of 47 Bloomington shot attempts.

The Thunder out-shot the Phantoms, 48-21. Youngstown was 0 for 6 in power-play opportunities.

PBA Hubbard Open set for March 18-20

HUBBARD

More than 100 professional and amateur bowlers from the PBA’s Central and East regions compete in the sixth PBA Hubbard Open March 18-20 at Bell-Wick Bowl.

High school and pro-am events will be held Friday. The takes place Saturday, followed by the championship round of 16 on Sunday. Proceeds benefit the Hubbard and Liberty bowling teams.

Admission is free. Visit: www.pbahubbardopen.com for more information.

MLS suspends Zubar, Bolanos for rough play

NEW YORK

New York Red Bulls defender Ronald Zubar and Vancouver Whitecaps defender Christian Bolanos have been suspended for one game each and fined for rough play.

The MLS Disciplinary Committee announced the sanctions Thursday.

Zubar was penalized for a serious foul play that endangered the safety of an opponent in the 47th minute of the Red Bulls’ 2-0 season-opening loss to Toronto FC on Sunday. Bolanos also was sanctioned for a serious foul play in the 62nd minute of the Whitecaps’ 3-2 loss to Montreal on Sunday.

LSU football team releases QB Jennings

BATON ROUGE, La.

LSU coach Les Miles says he has granted quarterback Anthony Jennings’ release to transfer to another school to finish his college football career.

Miles, who made the announcement on Thursday, says LSU wishes him “nothing but good fortune” and appreciates all he has done for the Tigers in his three seasons.

Jennings went 9-4 as LSU’s starter, mostly as a sophomore in 2014, when he led the Tigers’ offense during an Outback Bowl victory over Iowa.

Jennings has appeared in a total 24 games for LSU. He completed 124-of-256 passes for 1,792 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Coker accepts $650K settlement from UTSA

SAN ANTONIO

Larry Coker, who was fired in January as Texas-San Antonio football coach with three years left on his contract, has agreed to accept a $650,000 settlement from the university.

The San Antonio Express-News reports it obtained terms of the settlement through open-records requests. It says Coker, who built the Roadrunners program from scratch in 2009, could have received as much as $1.56 million under the buyout provision of his contract. However, he has agreed to accept a $550,000 lump-sum payment next month and another $100,000 by Oct. 15.

Coker had a 26-32 record at UTSA.

From staff and wire reports