Sports: Red Wings win, Spartans Lose, Beavers Advance

Red Wings

The Red Wings beat Columbus 5-0 last night. Tomas Jurco and Tomas Tatar tallied a goal and an assist each for the Wings.  Gustav Nyquist, Riley Sheahan and Darren Helm also lit the lamp in the victory.  Jimmy Howard made 28 saves for his first shutout of the season. The Wings visit the Jets in Winnipeg tomorrow night and the Maple Leafs on Saturday night in Toronto before returning home to play Ottawa on Monday.

College Basketball

The 19th-ranked Michigan State Spartans lost to number-three Duke 81-71 in their opening game of the State Farm Champions Classic in Indianapolis last night.  Branden Dawson led the Spartans with 18 points, Travis Trice added 15 and Denzel Valentine contributed 13. MSU, now 1-1 on the season, will host Loyola Chicago Friday night at the Breslin Center. Number-one Kentucky is living up to the hype as it crushed number-five Kansas, 72-40, at Bankers Life Fieldhouse as a part of the State Farm Champions Classic. Michigan tips off against the Detroit Titans tomorrow.

Volleyball

The Harper Creek volleyball team is a win away from playing for a State Championship.  The Beavers beat Class B sixth-ranked Ann Arbor Gabriel 3-1 last night at Parma Western. Olivia Leson had 24 kills and 10 digs  and Charley Andrews, had 24 kills with 11 digs.  Harper Creek plays Lake Odessa Lakewood in the State Semi-Finals on Thursday at Kellogg Arena.  -The Class D State quarterfinal between St. Philip and Mendon was postponed until tonight at Lakeview High School.

Detroit Pistons

The Pistons host the Phoenix Suns tonight.  Detroit has lost two straight and are in fifth place in the Central with a 3-8 record, five games behind the division leading Chicago Bulls.

Lions

The Lions are at New England on Sunday and host the Bears on Thanksgiving Day.

Peterson Suspended for the Season

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson has been suspended for at least the remainder of the 2014 season for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy.
The suspension, without pay, stems from the abusive discipline Peterson inflicted on his four-year-old son last May.

Blount Walks off Steelers

LeGarrette Blount is looking for work just hours after he reportedly walked off the field before the end of the Pittsburgh Steelers' "Monday Night Football" victory.

The team has released Blount despite signing him to a two-year deal worth nearly four-million-dollars in the offseason. He had no carries in the game and only played a few snaps in Pittsburgh's 27-24 win over the Tennessee Titans. If another team claims him off waivers, it will cost them just over 317-thousand-dollars.

Athlete of the Week

Our WBCK/Meijer Athlete of the Week is Lakeview junior running back Dre Kemp.  Kemp rushed for just short of 15-hundred yards on the season with 22 touchdowns leading the 9-2 Spartans to a district title and reaching the Regionals for the first time in more than 30 years.

Go on line today to nominate our WBCK/Meijer Athlete of the Week!   We want to salute local kids who are working hard both on and off the field, and it’s easy to nominate someone you think is deserving of an award.  The winner will get mentioned on WBCK and at 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.