Sports: Pistons Swat Hornets

Pistons

The Pistons beat Charlotte, 106-78.  Greg Monroe had 23 points and 12 rebounds.  Monroe, who had 14 double-doubles in January to tie a franchise record has recorded at least 20 points and 10 rebounds 48 times since the 2011-12 season, which is the most 20-10 games in the Eastern Conference during that span.  D.J. Augustin and Jodie Meeks added 18 points for the Pistons, and Anthony Tolliver each had 16 points.  The Pistons are 16-9 over their last 25 games.  Detroit will host San Antonio tonight at the Palace.

College Basketball

Michigan State beat Northwestern 68-44 in Evanston. Travis Trice had four of Michigan State's season-high 13 3-pointers and finished with 16 points, off the bench for only the second game this season.  Denzel Valentine scored 14 for the Spartans.   Bryn Forbes had 11 points, and Branden Dawson added seven points and 10 rebounds. It was Northwestern’s 10th straight loss. MSU will host Ohio State on Saturday.

The Kentucky Wildcats are still undefeated in college basketball, after just narrowly beating LSU...71-to-69. The purple and gold went on a 22-2 run and almost had the win with a three point jumpshot.

Michigan will visit Illinois tomorrow.
In the MAC …Bowling Green 65, WMU 49.  Thomas Wilder led Western Michigan (14-10, 5-6) with 16 points..

CMU 68, Ohio 57.

EMU beat Miami of Ohio 83-69.

Red Wings

The Red Wings have won 9 of their last 10 and finish a three-game road trip tonight in Pittsburgh against the Penguins. 

High School Boys Basketball

Battle Creek Central 49, Portage Northern 48.  Demetrius Craig and Julieon Cooper each had eight to lead Central.

St. Joseph 70, Lakeview 54

Harper Creek 66, Sturgis 54

Bellevue 82, Hillsdale Will Carleton Academy 53.  Dawson Morgan with a career-high 26 points.

Climax-Scotts 59, Galesburg-Augusta 51.  Dallas Froberg finished with 36.

Marshall 76, Homer 64.  Jacob  Brubaker had 25 points.

North Adams-Jerome  60, Tekonsha 40.

Marshall Academy 46, Burr Oak 40…Isaac Mead 16 points

Colon 52, Centreville 49

Niles 60, Gull Lake 40.

Girls Basketball

Battle Creek Central 57, Portage Northern 47.  Ka-Leah Ryan had 21 points, nine rebounds and five steals.

Harper Creek 66, Sturgis 54.  Charlie Andrews scored 21 and Macy Hancock had 18.

Lakeview 53, St. Joseph 37.  Ava Cook scored 17.

Mendon 37, St. Philip 19.

Athens 57, Jonesville 54. Ally Fuller had 26 points,

Galesburg-Augusta 43, Climax-Scotts 16

Gull Lake 54, Niles 30

Union City 45, Quincy 29
Burr Oak 32, Marshall Academy 27

Homer 44, Reading 36.

Tonight

Boys Basketball

Union City at Bronson

Quincy at Olivet

Michigan Corner gets Waiver

Michigan Wolverines cornerback Jabrill Peppers will officially have four more years with the team.  Peppers' medical hardship waiver from last season was officially cleared Tuesday, and the 6-foot-1, 205-pounder will have four more years of eligibility remaining at Michigan beginning in 2015 as a redshirt freshman.  The former five-star prospect appeared in parts of three games last season, and was sidelined with ankle and knee injuries.

Tigers-Surgery

Victor Martinez has undergone surgery on his left knee and is expected to be ready for the start of the season. The Tigers say their designated hitter should resume full activity in 4-6 weeks. Martinez injured the knee during offseason workouts.

Tigers TV

Tiger Fans will notice a big difference on the TV broadcasts this season, as Kirk Gibson and Jack Morris take turns with current color-commentator Rod Allen.  FOX Sports Detroit says it’s a rotation that will provide Tigers fans with an array of perspectives from hitting, pitching and management. Mario Impemba will continue to provide play-by-play. Spring training on FOX Sports Detroit begins on March 22.

Goodwill Sweater Possibly Vince Lombardi’s
A couple bought a West Point sweater in North Carolina for 58 cents only to find it is possibly football legend Vince Lombardi’s and worth $20,000. Sean and Nikki McEvoy bought the vintage sweater at Goodwill in June thinking it was “neat” and a steal. It wasn’t until McEvoy was watching a documentary about Vince Lombardi that he noticed the football great wearing a similar sweater. They looked inside the sweater and saw Lombardi’s name written on the tag. McEvoy called the Pro Football Hall of Fame but they wanted him to donate it. Instead, they contacted Heritage Auctions. McEvoy drove 18 hours to Dallas to have it authenticated by Mears, who used high-powered microscopes among other things to determine the sweater’s authenticity. The sweater is currently up for auction through February 21st, when it will be available for viewing at the Fletcher Sinclair Mansion in New York City during Heritage Auctions’ Platinum Night Auction.

Tigers Spring Training

Just 9 days until pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training in Lakeland.

Athlete of the Week

This week's WBCK/Meijer Athlete of the Week is Nikki Tucker of the Marshall Redhawks.  Nikki has been one of the leaders on one of the area's best girls basketball teams. The Marshall Redhawks are now 14-1 and have 13 straight wins. In their two victories last week, the Redhawks received back-to-back double-doubles from the junior forward.  Nikki scored 15 points and grabbed 11 rebounds against Pennfield and 17 points and 10 rebounds against Holt.

Go on line today to nominate our WBCK/Meijer athlete of the Week!   It’s easy to nominate someone you think is deserving of an award.  The winner will get mentioned on WBCK and wbckfm.com and also get a trophy from Recognition Inc. in Battle Creek. We’ll announce a new WBCK/Meijer athlete of the Week each Wednesday.

West Michigan Wolves

The West Michigan Wolves Jr. Hockey team play at home at The Rink this Friday night and Saturday afternoon against Chicago.   After that, they have 4 games remaining in the regular season, and then head to the playoffs.