NORMAL, Ill. (AP) — Milik Yarbrough had 21 points as Illinois State defeated Drake 67-60 on Sunday. Yarbrough also had seven turnovers but only four assists. Phil Fayne had 14 points and nine rebounds for Illinois State (15-14, 8-8 Missouri Valley Conference), which snapped its five-game losing streak. William Tinsley added 11 points. Keyshawn Evans had 10 points for the hosts.

Nick McGlynn had 18 points and nine rebounds for the Bulldogs (21-8, 10-6), whose four-game win streak ended with the loss. Tremell Murphy added 13 points. Brady Ellingson had 11 points. The Redbirds improve to 2-0 against the Bulldogs for the season. Illinois State defeated Drake 69-55 on Jan. 30. Illinois State plays Missouri State at home on Wednesday. Drake plays Indiana State at home on Wednesday.

The Exira-EHK Spartans (22-2) boys basketball team is set to take on the Sioux Central Rebels (21-2) in the Class 1A Substate 8 Final on Monday night. The game was pushed back from Saturday due to the weather and will now be played in Carroll on Monday at 7:00pm. We’ll have coverage on KJAN.

The Spartans will try to earn their way to the State tournament after picking up a long sought after win over Ar-We-Va in the District Final round on Thursday.Cole Burmeister dropped 30 points in that win over the Rockets and Dakota Rold had 13. The Spartans will need strong performances from both those guys again to get past the Rebels. The 6-7 Rold will certainly be a focus of the game plan with his size advantage. Sioux Central’s regular rotation doesn’t include anyone taller than 6-2.

The Rebels only have two losses, and they both came to teams in higher classes. The Rebels fell by 7 to 3A Spencer early in the year and by 6 to 2A South Central Calhoun to determine the conference crown. The Rebels have been led by Hunter Decker who is averaging 18.5 points per game and Prestan Samson who is putting in 11.3 points per contest. The Rebels average 61.7 points per game as a team.

The Spartans’ leading scorer is Rold who has averaged 17.2 points per game and Burmeister has put in 16.4 points per contest. The Spartans average 72.3 points per game on the team level.

Chris Parks will have the call of that Class 1A Substate 8 Final from Carroll on KJAN. Tune in on AM1220, FM101.1, and online at kjan.com. Pregame at 6:45pm with tip-off set for 7:00pm

Some Class 1A and 2A Boys Substate Final basketball games were played on Saturday. Many games were postponed to a later date. Our intended broadcast game in Class 1A Substate 8 between Exira-EHK and Sioux Central was postponed to Monday night at 7:00pm and will now be played in Carroll. Here’s a look at scores from games that were played.

Class 1A Substate 3

Prince of Peace Prep, Clinton 63, Dunkerton 60

Class 1A Substate 4

Alburnett 60, WACO, Wayland 54, OT

Class 1A Substate 5

Montezuma 64, Grundy Center 55

Class 1A Substate 6

Grand View Christian 87, Mormon Trail, Garden Grove 68

Class 2A Substate 2

South Hamilton, Jewell 63, New Hampton 31

Class 2A Substate 3

North Linn, Troy Mills 59, Cascade,Western Dubuque 47

Class 2A Substate 4

Regina, Iowa City 69, Camanche 44

Class 2A Substate 5

Van Meter 48, Pella Christian 46

Class 2A Substate 6

Dike-New Hartford 81, Madrid 53

AMES, Iowa (AP) — Top-ranked Baylor won’t have to share the Big 12 title with anyone.

The Lady Bears showed on Saturday why no one else deserves a piece of the crown.

Chloe Jackson scored 18 points, Juicy Landrum had 16 and Baylor never trailed in beating No. 20 Iowa State 73-60 to clinch the outright conference title.

Kalani Brown added 14 points and seven rebounds for the Lady Bears (25-1, 15-0). They won their 17th straight game and improved to 6-1 against ranked teams behind a stifling defensive effort.

“You’ve got to credit our defense. We’re not going to let them just spot up and shoot 3s all day,” said Baylor coach Kim Mulkey, whose team held Iowa State to 31.7 percent shooting.

Iowa State did give Baylor something of a late scare, using a 14-2 run to pull to 65-56 with just under five minutes to go. But Landrum drilled a 3 to push the lead back to 12, and the Bears held Iowa State scoreless for over three minutes.

The Cyclones (20-7, 10-5) entered play with six wins in seven games and a 15-1 record at home, leading to speculation that Baylor’s unbeaten streak might be in jeopardy. But the Lady Bears were up to the challenge, grabbing their first 10-point lead less than five minutes into the first quarter.

Baylor then opened the second quarter on a 19-9 run, capped by NaLyssa Smith’s layup that pushed its lead to 42-22.

“They’re No. 1 in the country for a reason,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. “It’s a make shot, miss shot game, and we missed a lot of shots.”

Star Bridget Carleton did all she could to keep the Cyclones in the game, scoring 14 points in the third quarter alone to help Iowa State pull within 63-52 with 6:41 left. But Baylor flummoxed Carleton’s teammates, as Iowa State shot just 5 of 27 on 3s.

“Holding those guys to five 3s is just a tremendous effort. That was our focus,” Mulkey said.

Carleton finished with 28 points and eight rebounds.

UP NEXT
Baylor: Hosts Texas on Monday night.
Iowa State: At Texas Tech on Tuesday night.

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa (AP) — AJ Green had 22 points as Northern Iowa beat Valparaiso 64-53 on Saturday night.

Luke McDonnell had 13 points for Northern Iowa (14-15, 9-7 Missouri Valley Conference), which earned its fourth consecutive win.

Javon Freeman had 11 points for the Crusaders (14-15, 7-9). Derrik Smits added 10 points and three assists.

The Panthers leveled the season series against the Crusaders with the win. Valparaiso defeated Northern Iowa 75-66 on Jan. 19. Northern Iowa plays Loyola of Chicago at home on Wednesday. Valparaiso plays Bradley on the road on Wednesday.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — Kouat Noi had 20 points with 13 rebounds, Alex Robinson also had a double-double and TCU ended a three-game losing streak with a 75-72 win over No. 19 Iowa State on Saturday.
TCU, which had blown a 10-point lead it built before halftime, finally went ahead to stay when Desmond Bane hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with just under two minutes left to snap a 68-all tie. JD Miller later drove hard for a layup, knocking down one defender without a call and getting fouled by another to make it 73-70 in the final 41 seconds. He missed the free throw. Iowa State (19-8, 8-6 Big 12) was within 73-72 when Marial Shayok found a gap and drove for a layup with 22 seconds left. Noi added two free throws before the Cyclones got to attempt two 3-pointers in the final three seconds, the last after a TCU turnover while the buzzer sounded before a lengthy review that added .4 seconds on the clock.

The Frogs (18-9, 6-8) hadn’t won since a 92-83 victory at Iowa State two weeks ago, which was their first road win over a ranked team in 21 years. Miller finished with 17 points and nine rebounds, Bane had 16 points and Robinson tallied 12 points and 10 rebounds. Michael Jacobsen led Iowa State with 17 points, while Lindell Wigginton had 15. Talen Horton-Tucker had 14 points and nine rebounds. Shayok, who entered the game second in the Big 12 at 19.1 points per game, was held to four points on 2-of-5 shooting while playing only 16 minutes.

The Cyclones have lost three of their last four games, and likely ended any chance of winning the Big 12 regular season tournament. UP NEXT: Iowa State is back home, where it has uncharacteristically lost consecutive games, to play Oklahoma on Monday night.

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Jose Martinez’s teammates with the St. Louis Cardinals applauded his new contract Saturday, and the deal gave his family reason to cheer, too. The outfielder/first baseman signed a $3.25 million, two-year contract to remain with the Cardinals, who essentially bought out his first year of arbitration after this season. Martinez said he would send some of the money to relatives in his native Venezuela, which has been plagued by food and medical shortages and a political crisis. “It’s not even for me, just for my family,” Martinez said. “It’s a tough situation there. You have a little incentive for sure.”

The deal was announced before the Cardinals’ spring training opener against the Miami Marlins. Manager Mike Shildt said the popular Martinez received “two hearty rounds of applause” from teammates when they were told the news. “It was really an honor to be able to say that in the clubhouse,” Shildt said. “He’s an important part of what we’re doing.” The Cardinals also announced that right-hander Miles Mikolas will start opening day at Milwaukee on March 28. Mikolas returned to the major leagues last year after three seasons in Japan, became a first-time All-Star and went 18-4.

“A year ago, saying Miles would be our opening day starter this year would have been a shock to everyone,” general manager Mike Girsch said. “He pitched amazing last year.” Mikolas will join a list of Cardinals opening day starters that includes Hall of Famers Bob Gibson, Dizzy Dean, Jesse Haines and Grover Cleveland Alexander. “It’s a huge, huge honor,” Mikolas said. “I’m very humbled by that.” Following the announcement, Mikolas pitched two perfect innings against Miami. “I might have missed a little bit in and out, but the ball was down, which was good,” he said. “As long as the fastball is down, good things are going to happen.”

Martinez, 30, led the Cardinals with a .305 average last year and had 17 homers and 83 RBIs. He played 887 games in the minors before reaching the big leagues, and has since hit .309 over parts of three seasons.
“He has had a unique career path and has been a huge part of our team the last couple of years,” Girsch said. “We felt the right thing to do was to give him some certainty.” Martinez said he was surprised by the contract offer, which included incentives. “If you are a good teammate, good things will happen to you,” Martinez said. “I’m just trying to get to that promised land — trying to win the World Series.”

He’ll compete with Dexter Fowler and Tyler O’Neill this spring for the right field job. He could also back up Marcell Ozuna in left. “Jose is going to get at-bats somewhere,” Girsch said. “We just don’t know how it’s going to work out. And I’m sure he’ll continue to hit.”
___
More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

The Boys 1A Substate 8 Final that was scheduled to be held on Saturday in Denison has been postponed. Further details on the date and time of the rescheduled game will be announced later. We plan on having coverage on KJAN and will let you know details on the broadcast later.

Also the Class 2A Substate 7 Final between Des Moines Christian and Treynor, at Harlan, has been postponed to Tuesday, February 26, site TBD.

The Class 1A Substate 7 Final between St. Albert and Ankeny Christian has been postponed until Monday, February 25th at 6:00pm in Adel.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast with Ric Hanson.

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

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Jordan Bohannon hit three 3s in overtime, including one with 20.2 seconds left, and 21st-ranked Iowa rallied to Indiana 76-70 in overtime for its fifth win in six games. Tyler Cook had 18 points and Bohannon added 17 for the Hawkeyes (21-6, 10-6 Big Ten) _ all of them in the second half and overtime.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Iowa play-by-play announcer Gary Dolphin has been suspended for the rest of the season for referring to Maryland’s Bruno Fernando as “King Kong” during the broadcast of a game against the Terrapins. Dolphin said the 6-foot-10, 240-pound African-American “was King Kong at the end of the game.” The Terrapins beat Iowa on Tuesday night and Fernando had 11 points and 11 rebounds.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Sara Rhine scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds and No. 24 Drake used a big third quarter to pull away from Evansville in a 66-39 victory. The Bulldogs (20-5, 12-1 Missouri Valley Conference) outscored the Purple Aces 25-3 in the third quarter with 10-of-17 shooting while Evansville (3-22, 1-13) was going 1 of 8 with seven turnovers, five coming off steals.

SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Adalberto Mondesi says he is ready to be the starting shortstop for the Kansas City Royals. Mondesi showed a glimpse the last two months of last season how good he can be. He stole 32 bases in 75 games. He is the fourth American League player since 1900 to steal at least 30 bases in 75 games or less. He says he tries not to put any pressure on himself and just focuses on playing.
JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Dexter Fowler is taking the best piece of hitting advice he’s ever received and applying it to his entire approach this spring. He says it is important to have a short memory and last season is definitely worth forgetting. A career .262 hitter with an on-base percentage of .360, Fowler hit only .180 with an on-base percentage below .300 while battling nagging injuries much of the year. Fowler is entering the third season of a five-year, $82 million contract.

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Kansas has spent the better part of the past 15 years presiding over the Big 12. Whether that streak continues could come down to 48 hours. The No. 12 Jayhawks and No. 14 Texas Tech are each a game behind Kansas State heading into a showdown Saturday in Lubbock, Texas. Should they win what essentially amounts to an elimination game in the conference race, Kansas welcomes the No. 23 Wildcats to Allen Fieldhouse on Monday night.