SPORTS DIGEST || Scrappers’ Thompson to speak at Curbstone

Scrappers’ Thompson to speak at Curbstone

BEAVER TOWNSHIP

Mahoning Valley Scrappers assistant general manager Matt Thompson will be the guest speaker at Monday’s luncheon meeting of The Curbstone Coaches at The Avion Banquet Center on Western Reserve Road in Beaver Township. The event begins at noon is open to the public.

Also, today is the annual Curbstone Coaches Hall of Fame Banquet at Mr. Anthony’s in Boardman. The speaker is former Oakland Raiders offensive lineman and local businessman Ed Muransky.

Tickets are now available by contacting Mariel Sallee at 330-519-6819. Tickets are also available for $50 for any inductee over the last 50 years in honor of The Curbstone Coaches 50th anniversary.

Poland Stadium closes for AAC Championship

POLAND

The Poland athletic department will be closing Poland Stadium all day on Monday in preparation for All-American Conference Track and Field Championship being held that day. The stadium will reopen on Tuesday.

Wizards’ Oubre suspended for Game 4

WASHINGTON

Wizards forward Kelly Oubre Jr. has been suspended for Game 4 for charging and knocking over Boston Celtics big man Kelly Olynyk.

The NBA on Saturday announced the suspension without pay for “charging and making forceful and unwarranted contact.” Game 4 is tonight in Washington.

Oubre’s outburst in the second quarter of Game 3 on Thursday resulted in a flagrant 2 foul and an ejection. Olynyk knocked him to the ground on an illegal screen, and Oubre leapt to his feet, sprinted at him and bowled him over.

The Wizards won 116-89 to cut the Celtics’ lead to 2-1 in the second round. That game featured two other ejections and eight technical fouls.

85-year-old attempting to climb Everest dies

KATHMANDU, NEPAL

Officials say an 85-year-old Nepali who was attempting to scale Mount Everest to regain his title as the oldest person to climb the world’s highest peak has died.

Nepal’s Tourism Department chief Dinesh Bhattarai says Min Bahadur Sherchan died at the base camp on Saturday evening. The cause of death was not immediately clear.

It was not possible to reach the base camp because of poor communication.

The grandfather of 17 and great-grandfather of six first scaled Everest in May 2008, when he was 76 and at the time declared the oldest climber.

His record was broken by then 80-year-old Japanese Yuichiro Miura in 2013.

Almirola wins Xfinity race at Talladega

TALLADEGA, Ala.

Aric Almirola earned the third Xfinity Series victory of his career Saturday by holding off a hard-charging pack in the closing laps at Talladega Superspeedway.

He knew just minutes into practice at Talladega that he had a Ford capable of winning.

“We ran about 10 laps in practice and I said, ‘Put it on jack stands. We’re ready to go. This thing is fast,”’ Almirola said.

The car was indeed fast, and Almirola used a fuel-only stop to earn his first series victory since Daytona last year.

Kenyan fails to run sub-hour marathon

MONZA, ITALY

Eliud Kipchoge was 26 seconds from making history on Saturday but the Olympic champion finished just short of becoming the first person to run a marathon in less than two hours.

Kipchoge ran the 26.2 miles (42.2 kilometers) in 2 hours, 26 seconds, beating Dennis Kimetto’s world mark of 2:02:57.

The 32-year-old Kenyan did break his personal best time of 2:03:05, which was set at the London Marathon last year.

Staff and wire reports