Sports Roundup: Pistons Lose 108-96

Pistons

The Detroit Pistons lost to the Charlotte Bobcats 108-96 at the Palace of Auburn Hills.  The Bobcats stay just ahead of Detroit in the race for the final playoff spot in the East.

Brandon Jennings led Detroit with 24 points; Greg Monroe added 18 and Andre Drummond had 16 points and 22 rebounds.  Al Jefferson had 32 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists to lead the Charlotte Bobcats.  The Pistons are at Charlotte tonight.

Olympics

Russia and the Netherlands top the medal count in Sochi, with  22, and the US has 21.  Norway has 20.

The Russian hockey team is out, after losing to Finland 3-1.  The U.S. men's hockey team takes the ice today in the quarterfinals against the Czech Republic. A win would match Team USA up with Canada or Latvia in the semis. The puck drops at Noon Eastern.

Ted Ligety won the giant slalom at the Sochi Games with a dominating performance Wednesday, becoming the first American man to win two Olympic gold medals in Alpine skiing. Bode Miller will skip the last Alpine race at the Sochi Olympics, the slalom, after tweaking his surgically repaired left knee during Wednesday's giant slalom.       Miller finished 20th in the giant slalom with a two-run time of 2 minutes, 47.82 seconds, more than 2 1/2 seconds slower than gold medalist Ted Ligety. Given that he'll be 40 during the 2018 Winter Games, the GS might have been Miller's last Olympic race.

Canada and Sweden will play off for the gold medal in women's Olympic curling after winning semifinal games that went to the final shot on Wednesday.

The women's hockey gold medal game between Canada and the United States, is tomorrow.

Figure skating competition resumes today with the ladies short program. Americans failed to medal for the first time since 1964 in Vancouver four years ago. The U.S team is led by Gracie Gold, Polina Edmunds and Ashley Wagner.

Snowboarder Sage Kotsenburg won the first gold medal of the Sochi Olympics, in the men's slopestyle . . . and then Tweeted that he wished his medal was made of BACON.  So an American meat company just created one for him.  It looks just like the Sochi medals, but it's made of turkey bacon.

College Basketball

Michigan State plays at Purdue tomorrow and then travel to Ann Arbor for Sunday’s showdown with Michigan.

In Mid American Conference, Central Michigan will host Ball State. Western Michigan will look to win their sixth-straight game tonight when they travel to take on Ohio University.

Boys Basketball

Pennfield beat Constantine 81-57.  Jake Grimes delivered 20-points, including four three’s.  The Panthers break a 4-game losing streak to go 9-8 on the season.  Read more at wbckfm.com and see the game photos by Art Frith.

Stevensville-Lakeshore 61, Lakeview 53

Portage Central 66, Harper Creek 46

Bellevue 58, Springport 53.  Ethan Bloch had 27 points and 10 rebounds.
Delton 47, Olivet 36
Galesburg-Augusta 54,  Kalamazoo Christian 47.
Homer goes to 15-1 on Alex Whites’ 25-footer with two seconds left to beat Marshall, 55-52.
Maple Valley 72,  Hackett 54  Austin Gonser had 18 points and 11 rebounds

Athens 50, Tekonsha 24.

Climax-Scotts 59, Camden-Frontier 56.  Ethan Vosburg scored 15 points with eight rebounds

Girls Basketball
Battle Creek Central 56, Mattawan 44 Ka-Leah Ryan led the Bearcats with 22 points to and 10 rebounds.

Harper Creek 38, Portage Central 27 Nicole Gilbert had 12.
Pennfield 55, Constantine 12.  Shelby Miller scored 25.

Benton Harbor 70, Lakeview 51.

Athens 30,. Reading 28.
Bellevue 57, Barry County Christian 21. Janelle Kuiper with 15 points and seven steals.

Olivet 61, Delton Kellogg 18

Gull Lake 38,  Loy Norrix 13 Kelsey Bower had 12
Hackett 41, Maple Valley 34
Marshall 61, Sturgis 29  Chelsea Tobias had 22
Homer 51, Union City 15

Tonight…

Boys Basketball
Holt vs. Battle Creek Central (BC Central 15-2) - Hear the game on WBCK!!!

Harper Creek vs. Coldwater

Athens vs. Quincy
Maple Valley vs. Galesburg-Augusta
Concord vs. Union City

Girls Basketball
Lakeview vs. Gull Lake
Coldwater vs. Harper Creek
Hackett vs. Pennfield

Tigers

Spring Training is now underway as the Detroit Tigers held their first full-squad workout in Lakeland, Florida yesterday.

Pitcher Justin Verlander, recovering from off-season core muscle surgery, threw 54 pitches from the mound and then took part in limited drills yesterday.  Verlander will face hitters latter this week, but his first appearance in Spring Training games is expected to be delayed.

Miguel Cabrera says he feels fine and doesn't plan to take any extra precautions this spring.

The Tigers will play their annual exhibition game against Florida Southern next Tuesday, and then begin Grapefruit League play against the Braves next Wednesday