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SPORTS BRIEFING

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BOWLING RESULTS

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at Walnut Lanes

TEAM STANDINGS: Caliber Collision 43, Sparkle Market 42, Safelite and AK Nahas 36, Sanford Plumbing 31, Amato Law Office 27, Walnut Lanes and Historic Highlands 26, Hose before Bros and Jayden 24.

HIGH GAMES: Brian Rudibaugh 268, Mark Haustman 257, Rick Rudibaugh 256.

HIGH SERIES: Rick Rudibaugh 709, John Willis 680, Mark Haustman 649.

RHODES DEBUTS

FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- Former Crestview High School All-Ohioan Addison Rhodes is seeing playing time for the Fairfield University women’s basketball team.

Rhodes played 37 minutes in the first two games as the Stags beat Binghampton, 90-63, on Friday and Vermont, 74-50, on Sunday.

Rhodes made her collegiate debut in Friday’s season opener, shooting 2-of-7 from the field for five points with one rebound and one assist in 16 minutes.

Against Vermont, Rhodes shot 3-of-7 including both three-point attempts for eight points with two steals.

Fairfield will play at Seton Hall at 7 p.m. Thursday.

MICHIGAN RISES

(AP) -- Kim Barnes Arico and Michigan used the biggest regular-season win in program history to move up to No. 2 in the Associated Press Top 25 women’s basketball poll on Monday.

It’s the Wolverines’ best ranking ever and came after a 77-66 victory over then-No. 2 UConn last week. Michigan, which was ranked fifth in the preseason poll, surpassed its previous high of fourth on Feb. 7, 2022.

“To be in position today to beat Connecticut and be the No. 2 ranked team in the country, it’s just a credit to our players and credit to our staff,” Barnes Arico said in a phone interview. “To have an opportunity to be in the top five and beat the best program of all time this week was really special.”

The Wolverines were one of 10 Big Ten teams ranked this week, matching the record set by the Southeastern Conference last season.

South Carolina remained the No. 1 team in the Top 25 in the first regular-season poll after wins over Maryland and North Carolina, two ranked teams, to start the season. The Gamecocks received all but one of the first-place ballots from the national 33-member media panel.

USC was third, garnering the other first-place vote. UConn dropped two spots to fourth while Duke rounded out the first five.

UCLA CLIMBS

(AP) -- UCLA climbed into the top 10 in the first regular-season AP Top 25 men’s college basketball poll of the season on Monday while Florida remained No. 1 and the top four were unchanged.

The Gators, who began the season with wins over then-No. 14 Miami and Jacksonville, earned six more first place-votes and had 53 of the 60 from a national media panel. Duke earned the other seven first-place votes, Illinois held down No. 3 in the poll, and UConn was fourth after winning an NCAA championship game rematch with then-No. 16 Michigan on Friday night.

Next up for the Gators is a rivalry game against Florida State.

“I talked to the guys about Tuesday night. We’re going into enemy territory as the No. 1 team in America,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “We’re going to get their best shot, and they’re going to be well-prepared, and we have to bring our best effort.”

Michigan State rounded out the top five Monday, taking the place of Arizona, which lost its opener to the Bruins a week ago.

The former Pac-12 rivals met in Las Vegas, where the Bruins’ Trent Perry scored 21 points to help them overcome a career-best 38 from the Wildcats’ Ivan Kharchenkov. Arizona got within a point with 3:11 left before the Bruins held on for the 84-75 win.

It sent UCLA from No. 22 in the preseason poll to No. 9, its highest ranking since the final poll of the 2022-23 season.

NOTHING SPECIAL

COLUMBUS (AP) -- Robby Discher was fired as Ohio State’s special teams coach on Monday, marking the first time in Ryan Day’s eight years as head coach he has fired an assistant during the season.

Discher lasted less than a season after being hired from Illinois.

Special teams was an issue in all three of the Buckeyes’ losses this season. Kicker Connor Hawkins missed a 45-yard field goal in Ohio State’s 24-23 loss to Texas on Sept. 12.

USC had a 44-yard punt return and the Buckeyes committed three special teams penalties in an 30-18 loss at Southern California on Oct. 31.

The breaking point though came in last Saturday’s 41-28 loss to Oregon, when the Ducks ran a successful fake punt in the second quarter. That turned the momentum of the game when Ohio State had a 14-3 lead but then trailed 17-14 at halftime.

Ohio State would owe Discher more than $500,000 per the terms of his contract.

The 21st-ranked Buckeyes (6-3, 4-2 Big Ten), who have dropped consecutive regular-season games for the first time since 2011, host Northwestern on Saturday.

TEENAGE WINNER

LOS CABOS, Mexico (AP) -- Blades Brown is like several young players who can remember Tiger Woods making big putts and winning big tournaments and inspiring them to play. Only for Brown, it wasn’t all that long ago.

Two years after his surprising decision to turn pro while a junior in high school, the 19-year-old Brown became the youngest PGA Tour winner in 95 years when he closed with a 9-under 63 and beat Ben James on the second playoff hole in the World Wide Technology Championship.

“It hasn’t set in just yet, I guess, the magnitude of being a PGA Tour winner,” Brown said. “I just go back to 5-year-old Blades that was watching the TV and watching Tiger Woods and all those great players win major championships, and to think that I’m now in a similar spot with having won a PGA Tour event is mind-blowing.”

Brown is youngest winner since Charles Kocsis won the Michigan Open in 1931 when he was 18, a tournament that was considered a regional event in the early years of the PGA.

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