San Diego State dominates Furman 75-52 to reach Sweet 16

Jordan Hawkins scored 20 points and UConn overwhelmed its fourth straight NCAA Tournament opponent, earning its first trip to the Final Four in nine years with an 82-54 blowout of Gonzaga. The Huskies have felt right at home in their first extended March Madness run since winning the 2014 national championship, playing their best basketball of what had been an up-and-down season. UConn controlled the usually efficient Bulldogs at both ends in the West Region final. These elite Huskies did what the UConn women couldn’t for once and are headed to Houston. Drew Timme had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Gonzaga in his final collegiate game.

Evgeni Malkin beat Darcy Kuemper on a breakaway with 1:20 left in regulation to lift the Pittsburgh Penguins over the Washington Capitals 4-3. Alex Ovechkin scored his 42nd goal of the season and 822nd of his career during a furious third-period rally by the Capitals. Washington drew even when Dylan Strome flipped the puck into an open net with 2:44 to go in regulation. Jake Guentzel scored his 32nd goal of the season for Pittsburgh. Casey DeSmith made 31 saves as the Penguins created a little breathing room in the chase for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Playing in front of a Madison Square Garden crowd that was riveted every time he touched the ball, Markquis Nowell did everything he could to carry Kansas State to its first Final Four since 1964. The 5-foot-8 Harlem native had 50 points, 31 assists and 10 steals in two games at the famous New York City arena and was named the East Region’s most outstanding player. But it wasn’t enough against a hard-driving Florida Atlantic team that beat Kansas State 79-76 in a nip-and-tuck game to earn a trip to the Final Four. Nowell finished with 30 points, 12 assists and five steals.

Mikal Bridges scored 27 points, and the Brooklyn Nets opened the third quarter on a 31-6 run on the way to rolling past Miami 129-100 on Saturday night and leapfrogging the Heat into the No. 6 spot in the Eastern Conference. Cam Johnson added 23 points and Spencer Dinwiddie scored 15 for the Nets (40-34), who snapped a five-game slide. They’re only a half-game up on Miami (40-35) in the race for the sixth and final guaranteed playoff berth, but swept the Heat 3-0 this season and would also own a head-to-head tiebreaker. Max Strus scored 23 for the Heat, all of them in the first half. Miami was outscored 64-31 after halftime.

Rafael Harvey-Pinard scored three goals for his first career hat trick and the Montreal Canadiens beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 8-2. Nick Suzuki had a goal and three assists, Mike Hoffman had a goal and two assists, Brendan Gallagher and Jesse Ylonen each added a goal and an assist, and Alex Belzile also scored for Montreal. Mike Matheson had three assists and Johnathan Kovacevic had two. Sam Montembault stopped 21 shots to help Montreal win for the third time in 13 games (3-8-2). Lane Pederson and Kirill Marchenko scored for the Blue Jackets, who snapped a two-game win streak and lost for the fourth time in six games. Elvis Merzlikins left with an apparent injury late in the second period after giving up six goals on 24 shots. Michael Hutchinson came on and finished with seven saves.

Celine Boutier of France had an eagle and six birdies in a round of 7-under 65 and moved atop the leaderboard when Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand stumbled down the stretch in Saturday’s third round of the LPGA Drive on Championship. Jutanugarn (69), American Alison Lee (67) and South Korea’s Hae Ran Ryu (64) were tied for second at 15 under. Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand and rookie Celine Borge of Norway are another stroke back after vaulting up the leaderboard with third round 63s.

Jack Hughes had a goal and an assist, Mackenzie Blackwood had 25 saves and New Jersey defeated Ottawa 5-3 and clinched a playoff berth on Saturday night. New Jersey could have clinched its first postseason berth since 2018 with a win, but it happened before their first intermission when the Florida Panthers lost to the New York Rangers in regulation.