Heartland plays tonight

BARBERTON — The third time was the charm for the Heartland Chrisitian boys basketball team.

The Lions captured their first district title after a third straight trip to the district finals.

Fourth-seeded Heartland (21-4) opens regional play against second-seeded Fairport Harding (22-2) at 6 p.m. today at Barberton High School.

Tickets are $12 for adults and $5 for students.

Heartland beat Fairport Harding, 69-66, in a district semifinal last season before losing to Jeromesville Hillsdale, 73-54.

In today’s nightcap, fifth-seeded Jeromesville Hillsdale (18-7) meets Tiffin Calvert (17-7), a top seed from the Northwest district, at 8 p.m.

The winners will meet at 7 p.m. Friday at Barberton High School for a state berth.

County basketball scholarships

LISBON — The Columbiana County Basketball Coaches Association awarded $12,000 in scholarships to county seniors at the 39th Columbiana County Classic on Sunday night.

Receiving $500 scholarships were Beaver Local’s Nicolas McKenzie, Luke Rettos and Bella McLevey; Columbiana’s Trey Snyder and Megan Moser; Crestview’s Tyler Savage and Ava Bucey; East Liverpool’s Elliottt Fitch; East Palestine’s Amara Wilson; Heartland Christian’s Isaiah Matthews and Kelleigh Shodd; Leetoni’a Ethan Mathia and Kasey Williams; Lisbon’s Ashton Hinchliffe, AJ Ramgeet and Jayden Smyth; Salem’s Braydon Fennema, Maddy Andres and Garyn Rohm; Southern’s Jacob McCurdy and Maddy Jones; United’s Kadin Schonauer and Marin Stryffeler; and Wellsville’s Austin Adkins.

Hornets, Mustangs win Salem district titles

SALEM — The top-seeded Kirtland and second-seeded Orwell Grand Valley boys basketball teams captured Salem Division VI district at Cabas Gymnasium on Saturday.

Kirtland scored the first seven points and beat 10th-seeded Oberlin, 63-43, as the Hornets make a run at a second straight state berth.

Lucas Renfro totaled 20 points and five rebounds and Ben DiFranco had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Hornets. Jake LaVerde added eight points, eight rebounds, six assists and two steals.

In the opener, Grand Valley topped 24th-seeded Warren JFK, 71-57.

Carter Turk scored 27 points and Solomon Schultz 22 to lead the Mustangs. For Warren JFK, Henry Phillips scored 19 points and Preston Geracitano finished with 17, including his 1,000th career point.

Kirtland (22-3) and Grand Valley (21-4) will meet in a regional semifinal at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Canton Fieldhouse.

YSU in Horizon League title game

INDIANAPOLIS — The Youngstown State women’s basketball team is heading to the Horizon League championship game for the first time.

The second-seeded Penguins rallied past third-seeded Cleveland State for a 60-55 win in Monday’s semifinal.

Sophia Gregory passed to a wide-open Danielle Cameron for a 3-pointer from the corner with 22.3 seconds left for a 57-55 lead and what turned out to be the game winner.

Gregory, who was an All-Ohioan at West Branch High School, collected 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting with a team-high nine rebounds, four assists, two blocks and one steal in 37 minutes.

Youngstown State (24-8) advances to the championship game against top-seeded Green Bay (24-8) at noon today at Certeva Coliseum. The game will be televised live on ESPN2.

The winner gets the confence’s automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament.

Harden joins 29,000-point club

CLEVELAND (AP) — James Harden scored 21 points to become the ninth player in NBA history with more than 29,000 career points, Keon Ellis added 19 off the bench, and the Cleveland Cavaliers cruised to a 115-101 victory over the short-handed Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night.

Donovan Mitchell had 17 points and six assists, and Evan Mobley had 15 points and eight rebounds for the Cavaliers. Harden reached the milestone with a free throw in the first quarter, finishing the game with 29,017 points in 17 pro seasons.

Cleveland is 8-1 at home since Jan. 23, with its lone loss Sunday to surging Boston, and has won 18 of its last 24 overall. The Cavaliers are in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, one game behind New York.

Quentin Grimes scored 17 points and Cameron Payne had 12 points for Philadelphia, which has lost two in a row and four of its last five to slip into eighth in the East. Justin Edwards added 14 points.

The 76ers were without their top four scorers in All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey (right finger sprain), Joel Embiid (right oblique strain), Paul George (league suspension) and VJ Edgecombe (lumbar contusion). They are averaging 86.9 points per game combined.

Harden scored nine points in the third quarter when the Cavaliers extended their advantage to 84-59 en route to sweeping their four-game season series with Philadelphia. They scored 497 points combined in those contests.

Ellis had 14 points and made four 3-pointers in the first half, helping Cleveland build multiple 17-point leads after going in front for the first time at 19-18. Grimes scored 14 for the 76ers, who trailed 56-44 at the break.

Cavaliers center Jarrett Allen missed his second straight game with right knee tendinitis.

The Cavaliers will visit Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

Steelers get four compensatory picks

(AP) — Baltimore, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh each were awarded a league-high four compensatory picks in next month’s NFL draft based on their losses and signings in last year’s free agency.

The NFL announced on Monday the 33 compensatory picks for the draft that will be held in Pittsburgh on April 23-25, including a third-rounder for Minnesota after losing Super Bowl-winning quarterback Sam Darnold to Seattle in free agency last offseason.

Picks are awarded to teams in the third through seventh rounds with 32 of the picks based on teams losing more or better free agents than they acquired last offseason and the other given for minorities hired as head coaches or general managers for other organizations.

Detroit was awarded a third-round pick for Aaron Glenn being hired as head coach last year by the New York Jets. That pick, which will be the final one in the third round at No. 100 overall, has been subsequently traded to Jacksonville.

There were three third-round picks handed out with Minnesota getting the 97th overall pick for losing Darnold, Philadelphia getting the 98th pick for losing defensive tackle Milton Williams to New England and Pittsburgh getting the 99th pick for losing Dan Moore to Tennessee.

The Eagles also got picks in the fourth, fifth and sixth rounds. Pittsburgh got an additional fourth-round pick and two sixths. Baltimore got two picks in the fifth round and two in the seventh.

The Ravens have received a league-high 64 comp picks through free agency since the program started in 1994.

The San Francisco 49ers got three picks — all in the fourth round — while Dallas, Denver, Indianapolis, Las Vegas, the Los Angeles Rams and the New York Jets each got two picks.

Compensatory free agents are determined by a formula based on salary, playing time and postseason honors. Not every free agent lost or signed by a club is covered by this formula.

Super Bowl MVP joins Chiefs

(AP) — Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker III is the new running back for Patrick Mahomes in Kansas City, Miami settled on Malik Willis for a reset at quarterback and receiver Mike Evans is headed to San Francisco after 12 years in Tampa Bay.

People with knowledge of the agreements told The Associated Press on Monday, the opening day of NFL free agency, that Walker was leaving Seattle after winning a championship and the Dolphins reached a deal with Willis after announcing earlier in the day that they were releasing Tua Tagovailoa.

The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because contracts can’t be signed until Wednesday, the first day of the new league year.

The negotiating window opened with a flurry of significant deals, including the Indianapolis Colts keeping their top free agent in receiver Alec Pierce.

Edge rusher Jaelan Phillips and the Carolina Panthers agreed on a four-year, $120 million contract with $80 million guaranteed. Philadelphia was hoping to retain Phillips after sending a third-round pick to Miami for him at the trade deadline last season. Phillips had five sacks combined for the Dolphins and the Eagles.

Cleveland added guard Zion Johnson, a 2022 first-round pick who spent his first four seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers.