SPORTS digest

Ex-YSU guard Morse signs G League contract

Former Youngstown State basketball standout Cam Morse signed a G League contract.

Since Morse didn’t enter the 2018 NBA Draft, he will be eligible for the 2019 draft in June.

Morse finished sixth in YSU history in career points (1,913), seventh in points per game (17.4) and tied Blake Allen’s record of 232 career 3-point field goals.

Pistons beat Cavs in final preseason game

East lansing, Mich.

Detroit’s big men dominated on their way to a 129-110 win over the Cleveland Cavaliers. Blake Griffin scored 29 points, Andre Drummond added 21 and the Pistons made 21 3-pointers at Michigan State’s Jack Breslin Student Events Center.

Rodney Hood led Cleveland with 21 points, 11 coming from the free-throw line.

Griffin and Reggie Jackson had eight points apiece in the first quarter as Detroit led 35-30. The Pistons extended it to 69-60 by halftime. Griffin had 19 points and five assists in 16 first-half minutes and Drummond added 16 points with six rebounds in 19 minutes.

George Hill added 14 points and Tristan Thompson had 13 points and nine rebounds.

Cleveland opens its season at Toronto on Wednesday.

Purdue, Painter agree on contract extension

WEST LAFAYETTE, IND.

Purdue and men’s basketball coach Matt Painter have agreed on a two-year contract extension through the 2023-24 season.

Athletic director Mike Bobinski said Friday that beginning July 2019, Painter’s contract will convert to a rolling five-year term with automatic one-year extensions that could extend the agreement beyond 2023-24. The school said Painter also will receive increased compensation, but did not offer details.

In 13 seasons at Purdue, the 48-year-old Painter has compiled a 295-149 record with 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, two Big Ten Conference championships and a Big Ten Tournament title.

YSU volleyball team swept by Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE

The Youngstown State volleyball team fell in straight sets at Milwaukee on Friday evening to begin its swing through Wisconsin. The set scores were 25-15, 25-13, 25-21.

Milwaukee hit .316 collectively, and it forced YSU into 17 errors over the first two sets. The Penguins made a lineup change in the third and rebounded to hit .333 in a competitive set.

Aleah Hughes led YSU (7-13, 1-6 Horizon League) with six kills, and Margaux Thompson and Giovanna Kuntze finished with nine digs. Thompson played libero the first two sets before switching to the left side. With that, along with switching to a 6-2 offense with Kuntze and Alexia Byrnes, the Penguins hit .333 with 13 kills with no errors in 39 attempts in the third set.

Carmen Heilemann had 11 kills in 15 attempts, and Milwaukee (4-16, 3-4) had four hitters finished with at least six kills and a .333 attack percentage.

YSU visits Green Bay at 5 p.m. today.

NHL criticizes ruling on Predators’ Watson

NEW YORK

The NHL is criticizing an arbitrator’s decision to reduce the suspension of Nashville Predators forward Austin Watson, who pleaded no contest in July to a domestic assault charge.

Watson received a 27-game suspension from NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman last month. The NHL and NHL Players’ Association announced Thursday that arbitrator Shyam Das had reduced it to 18 games.

The NHL doesn’t have a written domestic violence policy and takes each situation on a case by case basis.

Watson was arrested June 16 after a witness flagged down a police officer to a gas station in Franklin, Tennessee. Watson told police he and his girlfriend were arguing and that he pushed her. Officers said they found red marks on her chest, and she said Watson caused them. Watson pleaded no contest to domestic assault on July 24.

Staff/wire reports