Landess rolls 277 game for Wellsville

EAST LIVERPOOL — Wellsville avenged its only loss of the season as junior Madelyn Landess chased perfection Wednesday.

The Tigers won their 10th straight match by downing Heartland Christian, 2324-2147, at Walnut Lanes.

Madelyn Landess had season highs with a 277 game and 469 two-game series. She rolled nine straight strikes to open her 277 game, but started the 10th frame with a spare and finished it off with another strike.

Makayla Landess followed with a 212 game and 403 series, Cameron Taylor with a 225 game and 332 series and William Lockhart with a 179 game and 337 series. Kaylee McKenzie also contributed to the victory with a personal-best 165 game.

For Heartland, Christian Hamilton had a 235 game and 373 series and Mason Sharo a 212 game and 375 series.

Wellsville improves to 10-1 and will host Maplewood today.

Ceresna leads United

United’s Abram Ceresna scored a game-high 15 points in a 48-36 win over Southern in boys basketball action Tuesday. He was incorrectly identified in Wednesday’s edition.

CFP quarterfinals viewership up 14%

(AP) — The College Football Playoff has some viewer momentum going into this week’s semifinals.

Last week’s quarterfinals had a 14% increase from last season. According to ESPN and Nielsen, the four matchups averaged 19.3 million viewers, including the three most-watched games of the season.

The CFP is averaging 14.4 million through the quarterfinals, which is up 3% from last year. Six of the eight games are in the top 10 of most-viewed this season.

Top-seeded Indiana’s 38-3 rout of No. 9 Alabama in the Rose Bowl averaged 24.9 million viewers, making it the most-watched College Football Playoff game since Michigan’s win over Washington in the 2024 title game drew 25 million.

Overall, it was the 12th highest-viewed game in the 12 years of the CFP and a 13% jump from last year’s Rose Bowl between Ohio State and Oregon. The audience for the Hoosiers’ first trip to the Rose Bowl since the 1967 season peaked at 25.6 million.

No. 10 Miami’s 24-14 victory over second-seeded Ohio State at the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve averaged 19 million and peaked at 21.6 million. It was a 37% jump between last season’s Dec. 31 quarterfinal between Penn State and Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl.

Sixth-seeded Mississippi’s 39-34 comeback win over No. 2 Georgia drew 18.7 million with a peak audience of 21.4 million. It was a 18% increase from last year, when the Notre Dame-Georgia game was moved to Jan. 2 after a deadly terror attack in New Orleans the morning of New Year’s Day.

No. 5 Oregon’s 23-0 shutout of No. 4 Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl averaged 15.9 million, an 8% drop from last season’s first quarterfinal of New Year’s Day between Texas and Arizona State in the Peach Bowl. The Orange Bowl, though, was the eighth most-watched game of the season.

This is the last year ESPN will have all the quarterfinal games. The Warner Bros. Discovery channels — TBS, TNT and truTV — will have two quarterfinals beginning next year as well as a semifinal game.

How much of an impact last week’s losses by Alabama, Georgia and Ohio State will have on the ratings remains to be seen. According to Nielsen, the Crimson Tide were college football’s most-watched team in the regular season, averaging 8.49 million. The regular-season averages did not include conference championship games.

Georgia was third (7.48 million) and Ohio State was fourth (6.57 million). Texas, which didn’t make the 12-team field, was the second most-watched (7.55 million).

Ole Miss is the most-viewed team remaining in the field. It was 12th during the regular season, averaging 4.48 million. The SEC had 13 of their 16 schools ranked in the top 20. Miami was 19th (3.43 million).

Oregon was 20th (3.29 million) and Indiana 24th (2.70). The two teams meet on Friday at the Peach Bowl.

Heat guarantee final $1.7M of Rozier’s contract

MIAMI (AP) — The Miami Heat did not waive Terry Rozier before a Wednesday afternoon deadline, keeping the embattled point guard who faces federal gambling-related charges on their roster in an indication that they may try to trade him.

That decision comes at a cost for Miami: Not waiving Rozier guarantees the remaining $1.7 million of his salary for this season, which means the full $26.6 million will count against the Heat’s salary cap. Rozier is not receiving any of his salary while on leave because of his October arrest by federal authorities.

Miami has about $1.6 million in salary cap space. The Heat had to make the roster decision by 5 p.m. Wednesday.

The ideal move for Miami would seem to be trading Rozier before the NBA’s Feb. 5 deadline to a team interesting in acquiring an expiring contract. It is still unclear if the NBA would allow Rozier’s contract to be moved, but Commissioner Adam Silver said last month that the league is willing to work with the Heat on a resolution.

“This is an unprecedented situation,” Silver said at the NBA Cup final in Las Vegas. “I think I’m incredibly sympathetic to the Heat and to their fans. But I think we’re going to try to work something through, work this out with them. But there’s no obvious solution here. … Sometimes there’s unique events and maybe sometimes they require unique solutions.”

Rozier was born in Youngstown and starred at Shaker Heights High School.