SPORTS digest

Hall’s hat trick leads Phantoms to sweep

MUSKEGON, MICH.

The first USHL hat trick for Curtis Hall helped the Youngstown Phantoms (5-4-2-1, 13 points) hang on to defeat the Muskegon Lumberjacks 5-4 Sunday at LC Walker Arena.

The Phantoms swept the two-game series with the Lumberjacks.

“You play three games in three nights, that’s a tough thing to do with travel,” Phantoms Head Coach Brad Patterson said. “The guys held to our gameplan for all three games and saw the results from it.”

Julian Kislin scored his first USHL goal, beating the glove of Adam Brizgala (27 saves) with a wrist shot from the right circle. Hall doubled the Phantoms’ lead at 15:51, converting a wrist shot from almost the exact same spot as Kislin.

Muskegon got on the board just under a minute later when Bobby Kaiser scored his second goal of the year, chipping a puck over a sprawled-out Ivan Prosvetov (31 saves).

Youngstown stretched the margin back to two at 12:48 of the second period on Hall’s second goal of the night. Tommy Parrottino gave Youngstown its first three-goal lead of the season at 1:31 of the third period.

Hall completed his hat trick, scoring goal number six of the season at 14:09.

All nine goals in the game were scored at even strength.

EOAC-MVAC volleyball all-star match on tap

LISBON

Senior volleyball players from high schools in the Eastern Ohio Athletic and the Mahoning Valley Athletic conferences will square off in an All-Star match Thursday at 7 p.m. at Lisbon High School.

No. 1 UConn rolls over No. 10 Stanford

COLUMBUS

Crystal Dangerfield scored 24 points and Katie Lou Samuelson added 21 to help top-ranked UConn rout Stanford 78-53 at Nationwide Arena.

In her seventh career start Dangerfield ran the offense with a sharpshooter’s mentality. The sophomore knocked down 6-of-7 3-pointers and recorded four steals.

Stanford (0-2) struggled making shots around the rim for a second straight game. The Cardinal made just 5-of-31 shots in the first half and committed 15 turnovers.

Gabby Williams and Napheesa Collier added 11 and eight points, respectively, for UConn (1-0).

DiJonai Carrington led Stanford with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting, despite coming off the bench.

Ewing wins debut for Georgetown

WASHINGTON

Patrick Ewing led Georgetown to the pinnacle of college basketball, then had a Hall of Fame career in the NBA. His first game back at his alma mater as coach, though, provided him an entirely new experience.

“As a player, I never really got nervous,” Ewing said. “As a coach, I got nervous. The biggest difference is I’m counting on these guys. As a player, I’m counting on myself.”

Cheered loudly in his return to Georgetown, Ewing led the Hoyas to a 73-57 win over Jacksonville on Sunday in his sideline debut.

With playing rival Michael Jordan and fellow Georgetown alumni Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo and Otto Porter Jr. in the arena, along with his former New York Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy, Ewing began his first head coaching job at any level.

“I had a lot of friends here,” Ewing said. “It meant a lot to me, too, because they showed up to support me.”

It also was a sign of how deep Ewing’s influence runs at his alma mater more than three decades since he last played for the Hoyas.

“I always tell people I would not have been in the NBA if it wasn’t for Patrick Ewing,” Mutombo said. “He took Alonzo Mourning and I and told us what it takes to get to the next level. I told him I’m one phone call away. If I have to jump on a flight to D.C., I’ll be here.”

Staff/wire report