Crosby returns, but Pens lose

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Sidney Crosby is back.

The Pittsburgh Penguins’ captain was productive almost immediately in his return to the lineup Wednesday night after missing nearly a month with a lower-body injury sustained while competing for Canada at the Milan Cortina Olympics.

Crosby had a goal and an assist, but it wasn’t enough as the Penguins lost 6-5 in overtime to the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes.

But, the game was a valuable step for the team’s scoring leader.

“Definitely some rust,” Crosby said. “You’ve just got to find a way to make sure you adapt as soon as possible. Every game is so big. To come back at this point in the year, you’ve got to find a way to get that timing and make sure my game is where it needs to be.”

The 38-year-old Crosby logged about 18 1/2 minutes. His team-high 28th goal tied the game at 1-1 midway through the second period. He assisted on Erik Karlsson’s tying goal in the third period, pushing his points total to 61 in 57 games.

Crosby was injured four weeks ago when his right leg buckled during a collision with Czechia’s Radko Gudas during Canada’s quarterfinal victory.

Penguins coach Dan Muse said Crosby found a good rhythm quickly.

“I thought that Sid’s line was good,” he said.

Crosby also spent time in the penalty box — in the second period for roughing and in the third for tripping.

The Penguins and Hurricanes combined for seven third-period goals.

“Some lead changes, things like that,” Crosby said. “But sometimes that’s what the game dictates and obviously it’s about winning at the end of the day, so we’ve got to find a way to win that game.”

The Penguins, eying their first playoff spot since 2022, went 5-3-3 during Crosby’s 11-game absence.

“It’s never easy watching, but I think you gain even more appreciation when you’re up top, and you just see on a nightly basis, the way we compete, the way we work,” Crosby said before the game.

The Penguins, who are second in the Metropolitan Division, completed a 2-1-2 trip. Crosby will play in a home game for the first time since Feb. 2 when the Penguins meet Winnipeg on Saturday.

Nastari 10th at nationals

FAYETTEVILLE, Arkansas — Penn State junior and former United High School state champion Kaleb Nastari raced in the NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships at the Randal Tyson Track Center last weekend.

Nastari joined Matt DeMatteo, Niko Schultz and Nick Sloff on the Nittany Lion men’s distance medley team that finished 10th in 9:32.87 for the 4,000-meter race Friday. It was the sixth-fastest time in program history. Northern Arizona won in 9:19.95.

On Saturday, Penn State senior Ryan Henry finished ninth in the men’s shot put (62-feet-11 1/2). Ole Miss senior Tarik Robinson-O’Hagan won his third straight NCAA indoor national title with a toss of 67-9.

Henry was a Horizon League champion at Youngstown State, a state champion at McDonald High School and a state qualifier at Western Reserve High School.

Miami (Ohio) makes a March Madness statement

DAYTON (AP) — Eian Elmer scored 22 points and Miami (Ohio) beat SMU 89-79 on Wednesday night in the First Four for its first NCAA Tournament victory in 27 years.

Elmer went 6 of 9 from 3-point range as the 11th-seeded RedHawks (32-1), undefeated during the regular season, advanced in the Midwest Region to play No. 6 seed Tennessee.

Brant Byers added 19 points, including four 3s, and Luke Skaljac had 17 points for Miami, making its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2007. The RedHawks finished 16 of 41 from 3-point range.

“The message I gave our guys before the game was they should leave no doubt with who the more attacking team was,” Miami (Ohio) coach Travis Steele said. “I thought that was very evident from the jump ball all the way to the end of the game.”

Jaden Toombs led SMU (20-14) with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Jaron Pierre Jr. scored 18 points and Boopie Miller had 15 for the Mustangs, who reached the NCAA Tournament for the first time in nine years. They’re still looking for their first victory in the event since 1988.

Miami went 31-0 during a captivating regular season — the only Division I team to go unbeaten in 2025-26 and just the nation’s eighth undefeated regular season in the past 50 years.

But the RedHawks lost their MAC Tournament opener to UMass, putting their NCAA Tournament hopes in jeopardy because of a schedule that ranked 339th in overall strength and featured no Quadrant 1 games.

Some analysts and critics questioned whether they belonged in the field with an at-large bid, but Miami silenced some skeptics Wednesday with a rousing victory over an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent.

“We’re not really focused on proving whether we belong, honestly,” Elmer said. “Everybody in the locker room thinks we do. I just think if anything we’re just going to go out there, play our hardest and have fun.”

Elmer had 14 points and went 4 of 6 from 3-point range in the first half. Byers hit back-to-back 3s to give Miami an 11-point lead.

“They put five guys on the court that can shoot the 3, so they’re hard to guard,” SMU coach Andy Enfield said. “We outscored them in the paint 46-20 tonight, which was our game plan to really try to score the ball in the lane.”

SMU missed its first seven 3-point attempts before Pierre connected with 7:02 remaining in the first half. The Mustangs went 5 of 19 from long distance.

Almar Atlason hit a pair of 3s to give the RedHawks a 63-50 advantage early in the second half. He scored 12 points.

Skaljac’s transition 3 extended Miami’s lead to 71-57.

SMU had a size advantage, but foul trouble negated some of that. Mustangs 7-foot-2 center Samet Yigitoglu fouled out with 1:31 remaining. He finished with eight points and six rebounds.

The undersized RedHawks matched SMU with 35 rebounds and 17 second-chance points.

“Listen, our group is uber-confident,” Steele said. “We know we belong. I told our guys afterwards, man, I’m happy, but the job is not finished. We want to continue to advance in this thing.”

Magic man

Peter Suder had the assist of the night when he gathered an outlet pass from Skaljac and bounced a pass across the paint to Elmer, who caught it and scored with one hand to put the RedHawks ahead 20-13.

“That’s like some March magic,” Skaljac said.

Suder had six assists, but that one caught Elmer by surprise.

“I was expecting a lob,” he said. “Peter was running full speed so I was just trailing. He made an amazing pass, and I got lucky, honestly.”

Respect

Steele hopes the RedHawks’ victory will earn more respect for mid-major programs.

“I mean, we had to basically be perfect in the whole regular season to get an at-large,” he said. “There’s a lot of good teams. Those teams can compete with anybody, but they don’t get the opportunities in the regular season to put them in a position to where they can get an at-large bid.”

Home sweet home

With the First Four in Dayton, fewer than 50 miles from Miami’s campus, the crowd was decidedly in the RedHawks’ favor.

“Home game for Miami,” Enfield said. “They probably had 12,000 fans here, it felt like. So they were loud and they fed off the energy.”

Up next

Miami (Ohio) plays Tennessee on Friday in Philadelphia.

Prairie View A&M surprises

DAYTON (AP) — Dontae Horne scored 25 points and Cory Wells had 19 points and 11 rebounds as Prairie View A&M earned its first NCAA Tournament victory, 67-55 over Lehigh on Wednesday night in the First Four.

“Definitely gratifying,” coach Bryan Smith said. “A heck of a basketball game. We’re definitely excited to survive and advance and move on to the first round on Friday night.”

Lance Williams added 10 points for the Panthers (19-17), making their third tournament appearance after going 5-27 last season. They advance as the No. 16 seed in the South Region to face top seed and defending national champion Florida.

“As basketball players you watch every NCAA Tournament, and just to think that you’re here now and you’ll be playing the team who just won last year,” Wells said. “We’re going to go out there and compete regardless.”

Horne also had seven rebounds and four steals. Horne, Wells and Williams each played all 40 minutes.

Lehigh leading scorer Nasir Whitlock, the Patriot League Tournament MVP, went scoreless for more than 26 minutes and finished with five points. He was 2-of-15 shooting.

The last time Whitlock did not reach double figures was Nov. 9, when he had two points in a 69-47 loss at West Virginia.

“Definitely not the way I think anybody up here thought it was going to go,” Whitlock said. “But that’s just basketball. Sometimes it goes your way, sometimes it doesn’t. Today is one of those days where I thought we couldn’t really get too much going.”

Hank Alvey led Lehigh (18-17) with 23 points and 15 rebounds. He was the only scorer in double digits for the Mountain Hawks.

Prairie View A&M has won eight straight, including a 72-66 victory over Southern in the SWAC championship game.

Lehigh, in the tournament for the sixth time, won the Patriot League Tournament by beating Boston University 74-60 in the title game. The lone NCAA Tournament victory for the Mountain Hawks was an upset of Duke in 2012.

Andrew Urosevic hit consecutive 3-pointers, the second benefiting from a kind bounce, to give Lehigh its largest lead at 23-15. But just when it appeared Lehigh might start to pull away, Wells scored five straight points — including a 3 — to help the Panthers get back into the game.

Lehigh led 29-27 at halftime despite Whitlock, who averages 21 points per game, being scoreless. The Mountain Hawks were 3 of 13 from 3-point range in the opening half.

Whitlock missed his first nine shots before connecting on a 3 with 13:12 remaining.

“We’ve got a great player in Nasir Whitlock, but he had somebody blanketed in front of him all night long,” Lehigh coach Brett Reed said. “It was harder for him to get angles and opportunities to really finish at the rim or get the separation that he needed.”

With the Mountain Hawks’ top scorer held in check, the Panthers extended their lead to 51-41 on a jumper by Wells with 8:34 left.

“I think the first time we were here in 2019, we got off to a great start,” Smith said. “I think we were up by 11 on Fairleigh Dickinson at halftime, but we didn’t finish. The main thing was to finish, and I think we did that. I think we defended. We flew around.”

The Panthers mostly credited Williams for shutting down Whitlock.

“We had to shout out to Lance Williams, our pit bull,” Horne said. “Lance don’t care about stats. He don’t care about scoring. He did his job tonight. He’s (Whitlock) averaging 21, so that says a lot about Lance’s defense.”

Prairie View A&M faces Florida on Friday night in Tampa, Florida.