Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) — Sammy Watkins was supposed to be an NFL star. That’s why the Buffalo Bills selected him in the first round of the draft. But after his incredible career at Clemson, the quirky wide receiver has struggled to live up to the expectations. The big culprit? Injuries. But now that he’s been healthy for most of the year, the Chiefs’ forgotten star is playing the best football of his career. He had 114 yards and a touchdown in the AFC championship game against Tennessee, and now the 26-year-old playmaker has an opportunity to silence his critics once and for all in the Super Bowl on Sunday.

MIAMI (AP) — Passing the family business onto the kids is a delicate chore, even when the whole world isn’t watching. When it plays out in the NFL, everyone gets to see the successes and failures unveiled in real time. This year’s Super Bowl features two of those stories. San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan learned a lot of what he knows from his dad, Mike, who has three Super Bowl rings of his own back at home. Clark Hunt of the Chiefs took over the team when his trailblazing father, Lamar, died in 2006. Both transitions are good examples of sons who navigated the potential pratfalls of taking over the family business.

MIAMI (AP) — Edward Lee Hubbard had no idea his beloved Kansas City Chiefs were playing in the Super Bowl the previous time they made it to the big stage, nor did he learn that they had won the 1970 championship until three years after the fact. Hubbard instead was living in a 6-by-6 prison cell as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. When NFL officials heard his story, they decided to make sure Hubbard wouldn’t miss the Chiefs in their return. So with a special invitation from Commissioner Roger Goodell, the 81-year-old Hubbard will be in Hard Rock Stadium on Sunday night to watch Kansas City play the San Francisco 49ers in its first Super Bowl appearance in 50 years.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Devon Dotson scored 21 points, Marcus Garrett added 15 points and No. 3 Kansas topped Texas Tech 78-75 on Saturday afternoon in Allen Fieldhouse.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Elijah Joiner caught an inbounds pass with 3.3 seconds left and raced from one key to the other, connecting on a 3-pointer as time expired to give Tulsa a 54-51 victory over No. 23 Wichita State on Saturday. Hundreds of fans in the near-sellout crowd of 8,089 stormed the court in a wild celebration after Tulsa toppled another ranked visitor. In its previous home game, the Hurricane routed then-No. 20 Memphis 80-40. Joiner shot 5-for-6 on 3s and scored 22 points as Tulsa won its sixth in a row. Jaime Enchinique scored 15 for Wichita State.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Derek Culver scored 19 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead No. 12 West Virginia to a 66-57 victory over Kansas State on Saturday. The win moved West Virginia’s Bob Huggins past Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp into seventh place all time in Division I with 877 career victories. The Mountaineers bounced back from a loss at Texas Tech on Wednesday. They improved to 11-0 at home and ended a three-game losing streak to Kansas State. Xavier Sneed scored 11 points to lead Kansas State. The Wildcats have lost five straight road games.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Bedford 60, Southeast Warren 44

Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 62, St. Albert, Council Bluffs 36

Des Moines Christian 59, Kuemper Catholic, Carroll 34

East Sac County 53, Ruthven-Ayrshire 48

Nodaway Valley 66, Earlham 36

BOYS BASKETBALL

Des Moines Lincoln 72, Atlantic 43

AHSTW 58, Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton 45

Council Bluffs, Abraham Lincoln 53, St. Albert, Council Bluffs 37

Des Moines Christian 85, Kuemper Catholic, Carroll 57

East Sac County 74, Ruthven-Ayrshire 53

Nodaway Valley 69, Earlham 59

Sioux City, East 68, Lewis Central 63

Western Christian 56, Bishop Heelan Catholic, Sioux City 45

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Marcus Domask hit five 3-pointers and scored a career-high 28 points and Southern Illinois used a big first half to defeat Drake 79-72 for its fifth-straight win. Eric McGill added 19 points and Barret Benson had 16 with six rebounds and five assists for the Salukis. Domask two 3-pointers and eighth-straight points, followed by a three-point play and 3 by Benson for a 14-0 run that made it 25-13. Southern Illinois went 8 of 12 from long range and shot 56% to take a 42-39 lead at the half. Garrett Sturtz had a career-high 18 points for Drake.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) – Courtney Ramey’s 3-pointer with 1:06 to play gave Texas the lead and Matt Coleman III’s two late free throws closed out a 72-68 win over Iowa State. Texas fought back from an eight-point deficit in the second half. Ramey led the charge, scoring eight of Texas’ 10 points in the run to take the lead. A 3-pointer by Ramey and a dunk by Jericho Sims got Texas within 65-63 before Ramey made his 3-pointer from the left win for the lead. Tyrese Haliburton and Rasir Bolton each scored 14 points for Iowa State.

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) – Austin Phyfe had 16 points on 6-of-6 shooting from the floor and Northern Iowa cruised past Evansville 80-68. Phyfe added three steals for the Panthers (19-3, 8-2 Missouri Valley Conference). K.J. Riley, Sam Cunliffe and Evan Kuhlman all scored 14 to pace the Purple Aces (9-14, 0-10), who have now lost 10 games in a row _ all in conference play.

w/ Chris Parks

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Atlantic senior Cale Roller announced on Friday night that he has committed to continue his academic and football career at Morningside College. Roller made his announcement via social media on Friday.

Roller has been a stalwart along the offensive and defensive lines for Atlantic throughout his career. He has also is in the midst of a strong season on the mat at heavyweight for the Atlantic-CAM squad.

The IHSAA released the substate basketball assignments for Class 3A and 4A boys on Friday. The official pairings will be released at a later date. Postseason play for those classes will begin on Monday, February 24th.

Atlantic is in Class 3A Substate 8 along with Clarke, Creston, Denison-Schleswig, Glenwood, Greene County, Harlan, and Winterset.

CLASS 4A SUBSTATE ASSIGNMENTS

CLASS 3A SUBSTATE ASSIGNMENTS

The St. Albert Saintes used some early outside shooting to grab a lead and pulled away from Atlantic 59-40 on Friday night in Council Bluffs. Keely Socha came off the bench to hit three 3’s in the opening quarter to give St. Albert a 15-8 lead by the end of the first quarter. They would increase that lead to 10 by halftime at 31-21. The Saintes then outscored the Trojans 13-7 in the third quarter to solidify the lead.

Allie Petry had a strong night for the Saintes with 22 points and Socha added 11. St. Albert improves to 9-6 on the season and will head down the street to play Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln on Saturday.

Haley Rasmussen was a bright spot for the Trojans, driving to the basket a number of times and finishing with 21 points. McKenzie Waters added 10 as the Trojans fell back under .500 at 8-9. Atlantic is set to face Harlan in a make-up game on Monday night.

You can hear from Atlantic Head Coach Dan Vargason on the Saturday Morning Coaches show at 8:30am on KJAN.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Hawkeye Ten Conference
St. Albert 59, Atlantic 40
Denison-Schleswig 58, Shenandoah 41
Harlan 48, Creston 45
Lewis Central 69, Kuemper Catholic 38
Red Oak 74, Clarinda 31

Western Iowa Conference
Audubon 56, Underwood 44
IKM-Manning 50, Treynor 42
Logan-Magnolia 54, AHSTW 41
Missouri Valley 52, Tri-Center 42

Rolling Valley Conference
Paton-Churdan 44, Woodbine 33

Corner Conference
East Mills 63, Riverside 16
Sidney 55, Fremont-Mills 22
Stanton 79, Essex 39

Pride of Iowa Conference
Central Decatur 45, SW Valley 22
Martensdale-St Marys 47, Bedford 29
Mount Ayr 69, East Union 34
Nodaway Valley 64, Southeast Warren 27
Wayne 46, Lenox 26

Other Scores
Des Moines Christian 52, West Central Valley 27
LeMars 44, Council Bluffs Jefferson 32
Ogden 45, Interstate-35 35
Panorama 63, Earlham 39
Pleasantville 48, Madrid 43
Sergeant Bluff-Luton 53, Council Bluffs Lincoln 39
Winterset 67, Carroll 54

BOYS BASKETBALL

Hawkeye Ten Conference
Denison-Schleswig 76, Shenandoah 36
Harlan 68, Creston 60 (Harlan coach Mitch Osborn reaches 700 career wins)
Lewis Central 70, Kuemper Catholic 51
Red Oak 57, Clarinda 56

Western Iowa Conference
AHSTW 61, Logan-Magnolia 48 (AHSTW coach GG Harris reaches 100 career wins)
Treynor 75, IKM-Manning 49
Tri-Center 69, Missouri Valley 32
Underwood 65, Audubon 39

Rolling Valley Conference
Boyer Valley 35, Coon Rapids-Bayard 25
Exira-EHK 53, West Harrison 45
Paton-Churdan 53, Woodbine 51

Corner Conference
East Mills 46, Riverside 28
Fremont-Mills 55, Sidney 49
Stanton 72, Essex 17

Pride of Iowa Conference
Central Decatur 63, Southwest Valley 46
Martensdale-St. Marys 67, Bedford 51
Nodaway Valley 87, SE Warren 39

Other Scores
Carroll 50, Winterset 44
DM Christian 80, West Central Valley 28