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PATTERSON SETS RECORDS
FAIRMONT, W.Va. -- West Liberty University running back Hunter Patterson, an Oak Glen High School graduate, made program history twice Saturday afternoon, breaking the career rushing touchdown record and setting a new single-season rushing mark in the Hilltoppers’ 34-17 loss to Fairmont State at Duvall-Rosier Field.
With his rushing touchdown, Patterson reached 44 career scores on the ground, breaking the previous school record of 43 held by Kevon Calhoun, who played at West Liberty from 2007-10. Patterson also rushed for 78 yards on 23 carries, bringing his season total to 1,592 yards and surpassing Calhoun’s previous single-season record of 1,529 yards, set in 2009.
The loss dropped the Hilltoppers to 7-2 overall and 5-1 in Mountain East Conference play, while Fairmont State improved to 3-6 overall and 3-3 in the MEC.
WVU STOPS NIAGARA
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- Freshman Miles Sadler scored 16 points to go with nine assists and led six in double-figure scoring as West Virginia rolled to a 91-46 victory over Niagara on Monday night in the season opener for both teams.
Sadler, a 6-foot guard who attended Bella Vista Prep in Scottsdale, Arizona, was 6 of 14 from the field with one 3-pointer, and matched a team-high with three steals.
Brenen Lorient scored 13 points for West Virginia. Finley Bizjack and Javan Buchanan added 11 points each, and Mouhamed Sylla chipped in with 10 points, seven rebounds and three steals.
Logan Woods led Niagrara with 12 points.
Coming off a 21-win season, coach Ross Hodge returns for his second season at the helm at West Virginia. Hodge is the fourth WVU coach to win 20 games in his first season with the Mountaineers, joining Bob Huggins, George King and Lee Patton.
West Virginia is 102-16 in season openers, including 108-10 in home openers.
BUCKEYE WOMEN ROLL
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Jaloni Cambridge had 22 points and nine rebounds, Elsa Lemmila added 15 points and 11 boards, and No. 18 Ohio State beat UIC 81-34 on Monday night in a season opener for both teams.
The Buckeyes have eight returning players, including five who started at least 16 games apiece last season and 75% of the team’s total scoring. The group is led by Cambridge, who became the second player in program history to score 800 points in a season in 2025-26.
The game was tied at 7-all with 5:33 left in the first quarter before Ohio State closed on a 20-0 run. Then, the Buckeyes had runs of 11-0 and 12-0 in the second for a 50-13 lead at halftime.
Sydney Mobley scored 14 points off the bench and Kennedy Cambridge had 10 points and three steals for Ohio State. Cambridge broke the program record for steals in a single season with 130 in 2025-26.
THUNDER SINK CAVS
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored a season-high 43 points and made a go-ahead 3-pointer with 32.6 seconds remaining as the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 117-112 on Monday night in the first of a two-game set.
Gilgeous-Alexander attempted 35 shots, the most in the NBA during the first two weeks of the season, and made 14. He was 11 of 12 from the free-throw line in 38 minutes as the injury-depleted Thunder bounced back after two straight road losses by 20-plus points.
The fourth quarter saw eight ties and eight lead changes before Gilgeous-Alexander drilled his fourth 3-pointer. Cleveland’s Sam Merrill missed a perimeter shot from the corner before Ajay Mitchell made it a two-possession game by sinking two free throws with 15.4 seconds remaining.
Oklahoma City has been reeling since the loss of three starters to long-term injuries. Mitchell scored 20 and Isaiah Hartenstein pulled down 14 rebounds.
Gilgeous-Alexander matched his highest scoring total in 17 games against the Cavaliers.
Rookie Meleek Thomas, making his first NBA start, and Donovan Mitchell led Cleveland with 17 points apiece. Mitchell also had 11 assists and Evan Mobley had 16 points.
It was the Cavaliers’ first loss at home in four games this season.
The first half had 15 lead changes and two ties before the Thunder went on a 16-6 run over the last five minutes of the second quarter to take a 59-48 lead at halftime.
Gilgeous-Alexander made a pair of free throws to give Oklahoma City a 69-55 advantage with 9:26 remaining in the third. The Cavaliers battled back by going 9 of 17 from beyond the arc in the quarter.
Cleveland opened the fourth on an 18-9 run but could not sustain its momentum.
GARRET GETS BACK TO PRACTICE
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Myles Garrett will return to practice this week with the Los Angeles Rams after missing the past seven games with a knee injury.
Rams coach Sean McVay said Monday that the team is opening Garrett’s 21-day practice window to return from injured reserve. The defensive end won the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year award last season with Cleveland before he joined the Rams last June in a blockbuster trade.
McVay wouldn’t predict how long Garrett would need to prepare for his return to the lineup. The Rams (4-4) have won two straight for the first time in their up-and-down season as they head to Washington on Sunday.
“I want to be careful to (not) even set any sort of expectations,” McVay said. “I think just taking it a day at a time is going to be the best way that we can approach it. I think that’s the right thing for him, and really just to see how he responds. But I think it’s a real positive that we’re starting his clock.”
Garrett played in the Rams’ season opener in Australia two months ago but was ineffective and made no tackles. Afterward, he acknowledged the true significance of the knee injury that kept him out for long stretches of his first training camp with Los Angeles.
Garrett underwent knee surgery shortly after the Rams returned from Melbourne. The team had given no indication how quickly Garrett would return as his absence stretched to the midpoint of the season, but McVay is hopeful his prize offseason acquisition will be back on the field shortly.
LIONS LB HAS NECK INJURY
DETROIT (AP) -- Detroit Lions All-Pro linebacker Jack Campbell remained hospitalized Monday for evaluation and monitoring of a neck injury, the team said.
Campbell was placed on a backboard and carted off the field early in the fourth quarter of a 19-15 win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday. He was alert and breathing when he was taken to the hospital.
“Jack Campbell continues to rest and recover at a local hospital,” the Lions said in a statement Monday. “Preliminary indications are positive and out of respect for Jack and his family, we will not share further information at this time.”
Campbell was face down on the turf and not moving after hitting tight end T.J. Hockenson for his third tackle of the game. He was evaluated by medical personnel before being strapped to a board and carefully lifted onto the cart to a round of applause. Detroit’s entire team and most of the coaching staff surrounded the cart.
“We’re thinking about him,” coach Dan Campbell said after the game.
The former Iowa star was drafted by the Lions with the 18th overall pick in 2023. Last season, Campbell was an All-Pro selection after becoming the first NFL player in seven years to have 150-plus tackles and at least five sacks and three forced fumbles.
The Lions signed Campbell last May to a four-year contract extension that runs through the 2030 season.
WILBON STEPS AWAY FROM ESPN
Michael Wilbon is taking a break.
The longtime ESPN commentator and co-host of the network’s popular “Pardon the Interruption” talk show alongside good friend Tony Kornheiser announced Monday he is taking a leave of absence because of what he described as “multiple health issues.”
Wilbon, who turns 68 later this month, wrote in a post on X that he is taking a trip to “the injured list” but added he hopes it is “not an extended one.”
While Wilbon, who is also featured on ESPN’s NBA coverage, declined to go into detail about what he is facing, he added that there are people in his personal life who noticed “worrisome signs” in recent years that he largely ignored. Wilbon did make a point to note the issues are not alcohol or gambling-related.
“I have no idea how exactly this part of my journey will wind up,” Wilbon posted. “The goal is to come out of it feeling much better than I do now and ready to return to sparring with Tony.”
Wilbon’s last appearance on “PTI,” which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary and is credited with revolutionizing television’s “sports debate” format, was on Oct. 26.
The show, in part, is a byproduct of the friendship of Wilbon and Kornheiser, who became colleagues at the Washington Post in the 1980s.
“I have loved sparring and hosting PTI with Tony every single day these past 25 years,” Wilbon wrote. “And I’m incredibly grateful for the support and encouragement of my colleagues as I take this time away to concentrate on me, especially my well-being.”