Weekday Morning Sports Report – Wednesday 11/14/18

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sportsreport-538

NCAAFB – College Football – Week 12
Last Night
Ball State 42, Western Michigan 41 – OT

BSU 42, WMU 41 – OT – Ball State beats Western Michigan 42-41 in OT
Drew Plitt threw for 258 yards and three touchdowns, with only five incompletions, and Ball State beat Western Michigan 42-41 in overtime on Tuesday night. Plitt connected with Kyle Schrank for a 2-yard touchdown on the first possession of overtime. Freshman Kaleb Eleby answered with a 1-yard sneak, but WMU’s 2-point conversion attempt was no good when LeVante Bellamy was tripped up short of the end zone. James Gilbert had two rushing touchdowns for Ball State (4-7, 3-4 Mid-American Conference). Riley Miller, who entered with a touchdown catch in four straight games and five of six games, had 94 yards receiving and one touchdown. Morgan Hagee made six extra points to break Ball State’s program record of 122 by Ian McGarvey in 2010.  Ball State led 21-17 at halftime, led by Plitt’s 13-of-15 passing for 174 yards and two touchdowns.  Eleby, who made his debut on Oct. 25, was 20-of-29 passing for 187 yards and a touchdown for Western Michigan (6-5, 4-3), which is bowl eligible for a program-record fifth straight season. Bellamy carried it 35 times for 213 yards and a touchdown and Jamauri Bogan added 105 yards on 25 carries and two touchdowns.

Tonight
Buffalo at Ohio, 7:00 p.m.
Miami (OH) at Northern Illinois, 8:00 p.m.

NCAAFB – Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Michigan hold steady
The College Football Playoff rankings held steady at the top, with Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame and Michigan an unchanged first four from last week. The third rankings of the season were drama-free Tuesday night after every top-10 team won last weekend. In fact, the entire top 10 stayed the same, the first time that has happened in the five seasons since the CFP was born. With three weekends left until the final selections are made on Dec. 2, Georgia was fifth and Oklahoma was sixth. LSU, Washington State, West Virginia and Ohio State rounded out the top 10.  UCF moved up one spot to No. 11.

NFL – Chiefs-Rams game moved from Mexico City to LA due to field
The NFL has moved the Los Angeles Rams’ Monday night showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs from Mexico City to Los Angeles due to the poor condition of the field at Azteca Stadium. The league announced the extraordinary decision Tuesday, six days before one of the most-anticipated regular-season games of the year. In a news release, the league says it determined that the recently re-sodded field at Mexico City’s historic stadium “does not meet NFL standards for playability and consistency, and will not meet those standards by next Monday.”  Recent rains and several big events at Azteca combined to damage the field.  The Rams (9-1) will host the Chiefs (9-1) at the Coliseum instead.

NFL – Bell snubs tender
James Connor will serve as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ primary running back the remainder of the season. Le’Veon Bell has refused to sign his $14.4 million franchise tender before Tuesday’s deadline, making him ineligible to play for the AFC North leaders or anyone else this season. Bell declined to accept the offer after becoming one of only three players in recent NFL history to be franchise tagged in consecutive seasons, joining linebacker Karlos Dansby and quarterback Kirk Cousins.  Connor has been outstanding during Bell’s absence, ranking third in the NFL with 771 yards rushing.

NBA – National Basketball Association
Tonight
Detroit Pistons at Toronto Raptors, 7:30 p.m.
Chicago Bulls at Boston Celtics, 7:30 p.m.

NHL – National Hockey League
Last Night
Detroit Red Wings 6, Arizona Coyotes 1

Red Wings 6, Coyotes 1 – Green leads Red Wings to 6-1 win over Coyotes
Defenseman Mike Green had a goal and two assists and the Detroit Red Wings extended their winning streak to four games with a 6-1 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night. Andreas Athanasiou added a goal and an assist for the third straight game, and Anthony Mantha, defenseman Dennis Cholowski, Michael Rasmussen and Luke Glendening also scored for Detroit, which has won seven of its last eight to get back to .500 (8-8-2) after a 1-7-2 start. Jimmy Howard made 24 saves. The six goals are a season best for the Red Wings. Lawson Crouse scored for Arizona. Darcy Kuemper stopped 12 shots and rookie Hunter Miska made 8 saves in his NHL debut.

Tonight
St. Louis Blues at Chicago Blackhawks, 8:00 p.m.

NCAAMBB – Men’s College Basketball
Tonight
Western Michigan 85, Oakland 77 – OT

WMU 85, OU 77 – OT – Western Michigan needs overtime to escape Oakland, 85-77
Josh Davis converted a 3-point play with two minutes left in overtime to give Western Michigan an 85-77 win over Oakland on Tuesday night.  The Broncos (2-1) bounced back from a 90-64 loss at Ole Miss Saturday. Davis’ 3-point play made it 80-77, Kawanise Wilkins and Seth Dugan each scored 20 points and Dugan pulled down 10 rebounds for Western . Davis added 19 points and 10 boards and Michael Flowers added 14 points and a dozen rebounds.

Tonight
(18) Michigan at (8) Villanova, 6:30 p.m.                           95.7 & 1400 WSJM Sports 6:00
Louisiana Monroe at (11) Michigan State, 7:00 p.m.           Superhits 103.7 Cosy-FM 6:00
Eastern Michigan at (1) Duke, 7:00 p.m.
Radford at Notre Dame, 7:00 p.m.

NCAAWBB – Rutgers coach Stringer joins 1,000 career win club
Rutgers coach C. Vivian Stringer became the fifth Division I women’s basketball coach to win 1,000 games when the Scarlet Knights beat Central Connecticut State 73-44 on Tuesday night. Stringer joined Pat Summitt, Geno Auriemma, Tara VanDerveer and Sylvia Hatchell in the 1,000-victory club. Division II coach Barbara Stevens also has won over 1,000 games. The 70-year-old Stringer is the first African-American coach to reach that milestone. The Hall of Famer got her career started at Cheney State in 1971 before moving on to Iowa and finally Rutgers in 1995. Many of her former players from the three schools she led to Final Fours were on hand to witness the milestone win.

MLB – Snitker, Melvin top skippers
The Atlanta Braves and Oakland Athletics were among the top surprises in the majors this year. Their skippers have been awarded for it. Brian Snitker has been named the National League Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, which gave the American League’s top honor to A’s manager Bob Melvin. Snitker won 90 games and the NL East title with a club that lost 90 games in 2017. Melvin and the A’s won 97 games just a year after an 87-loss campaign, finishing second in the AL West before losing to the Yankees in the wild-card game. It’s the third time He has won the award, all with the Athletics. Melvin received 18 first-place votes

MCCAA – Junior College Sports
Last Night
Women’s Basketball
Lake Mich. College 73, Andrews University 56

Men’s Basketball
Andrews University 80, Lake Mich. College 71

AHL – American Hockey League
Tonight
Rockford at Grand Rapids, 11:00 a.m.

ECHL – ECHL Hockey
Yesterday
Toledo Walleye 2, Wheeling Nailers 1