HURRICANES-CANADIENS
Galchenyuk’s hat trick lifts Canadiens over Canes
MONTREAL (AP) β Alex Galchenyuk scored a career-best three goals, and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-1 on Tuesday night for their third straight win.
Brandon Prust added a goal, and Carey Price stopped 25 shots for the Canadiens (20-10-2).
Victor Rask was the only goal scorer for Carolina (8-19-3), which has lost six in a row. Cam Ward made 25 saves. The Hurricanes have scored just one goal in each of the losses in their skid.
After losing three straight on the road, the Canadiens have won three consecutive on their homestand.
Montreal scored the eventual winning goal at 8:33 of the second period with a highlight-reel effort involving four players.
Galchenyuk scored off a tic-tac-toe pass from Max Pacioretty on a sequence initiated by Brendan Gallagher and Andrei Markov. Ward was far from the crease when the puck entered the net.
COLL OF CHARLESTON-CHARLOTTE
Charlotte surges past College of Charleston 90-85 in OT
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) β Pierria Henry scored 20 points, Torin Dorn 19 and Charlotte scored 10 of the final 11 as it rallied to defeat Charleston 90-85 in overtime Tuesday night.
Charleston (5-5) appeared ready to extend its three-game winning streak, leading in double digits much of the game until going scoreless for a four-minute stretch late, allowing Charlotte to surge ahead in the final 4:30 of regulation. Adjehi Baru hit the tying basket for Charleston.
In the OT, Charleston went up 84-80 on 3-pointers from Canyon Berry and Anthony Stitt, only to again go cold β scoring just one more point in the last 2:48.
Mike Thorne, Keyshawn Woods and Dorn scored a quick six points for the 49ers (5-4), playing their first game in nine days. Henry and Braxton Ogbueze closed it out at the line. Henry added eight boards and seven assists.
Charleston’s Joe Chealey scored a career-high 30 with seven 3-pointers.
SAMFORD-PRESBYTERIAN
Samford topped Presbyterian 83-69
CLINTON, S.C. (AP) β Tyler Hood scored 22 points, going 6 of 9 on 3-pointers, and Samford topped Presbyterian 83-69 on Tuesday.
Hood was 7 of 10 overall and the six 3-pointers matched a career-high. Darius Jones-Gibson had 12 points while Christen Cunningham and Brandon Roberts added 11 points apiece. The Bulldogs (4-8) made 14 of 30 (47 percent) from beyond the arc.
Presbyterian (4-7) led 29-23 with 4:18 left in the first, but Roberts hit a pair of 3-pointers inside 1:02 and the Blue Hose held a 34-33 advantage at intermission.
It was all Samford in the second half, as a 13-3 run coming out of the break gave them a nine-point lead. Presbyterian cut it back to four moments later, but a 6-0 Bulldog run pushed the lead back to 10 with 5:41 left. Presbyterian was forced to foul and Samford made 9 of 12 free throws down the stretch.
S CAROLINA-STRONG FINISH
South Carolina seeking strong defensive finish
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) β Defensive tackle J.T. Surratt hasn’t let go of South Carolina’s disappointing season and is eager for the Gamecocks to make one, final statement in their bowl game.
The Gamecocks (6-6) will face Miami (6-6) in the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana on Dec. 27. Surratt says it’s a chance to show the program’s once-dominant defense can find that performance level again.
Surratt was the lone returning starter on a defensive line that made South Carolina one of the Southeastern Conference’s leading defenses from 2011-2013. This year, the Gamecocks were 13th in yards allowed in the 14-team SEC.
South Carolina had memorable fourth-quarter meltdowns to lose games against Missouri, Kentucky and Tennessee to finish 3-5 in the SEC.
Surratt says players were enthusiastic when they returned to practice this week.
S CAROLINA-HOLBROOK
USC baseball coach receives 2-year extension
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) β South Carolina baseball coach Chad Holbrook has received a two-year contract extension.
The deal announced Tuesday was approved by the university’s Board of Trustees. The extension puts Holbrook under contract to the Gamecocks through 2019.
Holbrook starts his third season in February. His teams advanced to NCAA regional play in his first two seasons, falling to North Carolina in a super-regional series in 2013, but failing to get out of regional play last spring.
Holbrook came to the school as an assistant to head coach Ray Tanner before the 2009 season, then took over when Tanner became the school’s athletic director after the 2012 season.
The Gamecocks went 44-18 last season.
NASCAR-SPRINT-ENDING SPONSORSHIP
Sprint to end NASCAR sponsorship after 2016 season
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) β Sprint has informed NASCAR it will not extend title sponsorship of the top Sprint Cup Series beyond its current contract, which expires after the 2016 season.
Sprint has been the entitlement sponsor for NASCAR’s top series since 2004, when Nextel signed a 10-year agreement for the Nextel Cup Series. The name changed to the Sprint Cup Series in 2008 following the corporate merger between Nextel and Sprint corporate merger.
Sprint agreed to a three-year extension that took the contract through 2016.
Now, the company is citing “a need to focus more directly on its core business priorities,” in ending its relationship with NASCAR.
NASCAR chief communications officer Brett Jewkes says the series understands that significant changes within Sprint led to the decision.
