CARBONDALE, Il. (AP) – Barret Benson and Eric McGill scored 18 points apiece and Southern Illinois cruised to a 66-49 victory over Drake. Benson established a career high in points and added 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season for the Salukis (9-10, 3-5 Missouri Valley Conference). Sophomore Liam Robbins paced the Bulldogs (13-6, 3-3) with 17 points and 10 rebounds for his third double-double of the season.

KANSAS CITY, MO. (AP) — Kansas City Chiefs advance to their first Super Bowl in 50 years, beating Tennessee Titans 35-24 in AFC title game. Patrick Mahomes tip-toed down the sideline for a game-turning touchdown, added three TD passes, and the Kansas City Chiefs made their first Super Bowl in a half-century by beating the Tennessee Titans 35-24 for the AFC championship.

In two weeks in Miami, they will play the winner of the NFC title game between Green Bay and San Francisco. Mahomes did his usual superb job passing, but it was his 27-yard tap dance down the left sideline late in the first half that gave the Chiefs their first lead. From there, they outran the run-oriented Titans and star back Derrick Henry.

LUBBOCK, Tx. (AP) – Kyler Edwards had 22 points coming off the highest-scoring game of his career and No. 23 Texas Tech pulled away from Iowa State in the second half of a 72-52 victory. The sophomore was 5 of 6 from 3-point range after scoring 24 points in a victory at Kansas State that stopped a two-game skid. Texas Tech went on an 18-2 run in the second half. The Cyclones missed their first 15 attempts from 3-point range and finished 3 of 22. Tyrese Haliburton led the Cyclones with 13 points.

PEORIA, Ill. (AP) – AJ Green scored 25 points and Northern Iowa rolled to an 86-71 victory over Bradley for its fifth straight win. Austin Phyfe added 15 points for the Panthers. Danya Kingsby scored a season-high 28 points and Darrell Brown had 18 points Bradley.

KJAN Sports Director Chris Parks talks Atlantic winter sports. Head Boys Basketball Coach Jeff Ebling joins the show this morning.

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CEDAR FALLS, Iowa – The UNI women’s basketball jumped opened and closed the game on big runs and picked up a 76-60 Missouri Valley Conference win over Evansville to move to 10-5 on the season and 2-2 in MVC play.

The Panthers opened the game on a 19-2 run and closed the game with a 17-2 streak, in between those two runs, it was back and forth battle.

UNI started the game shooting 5-6 from the three-point line, including three makes in a row from Nicole Kroeger to jump out to the big lead. Evansville cut the advantage to 21-8 at the quarter and 35-27 at the half.

The Panthers outscored Evansville 21-20 in the third quarter, but the Aces rallied in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 59-58 with 6:30 remaining in the game. The rest of the game was all Panthers and mostly Karli Rucker. She scored 15 of her 28 points in the final 6:06 of the game and UNI pulled away for the 16-point win.

Rucker tied her career high with 28 points. Nicole Kroeger added 14 and Kristina Cavey scored 10 and grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds. Cynthia Wolf had seven rebounds and a career-high seven assists in the win.

Luka Garza scored 33 points and four Iowa players scored in double figures as the Hawkeyes beat No. 19 Michigan 90-83. CJ Fredrick had 21 points, Joe Wieskamp 20, and Ryan Kriener came off the bench to score 14 for the Hawkeyes. Eli Brooks broke out of a shooting slump to lead Michigan with 25 points.

Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Luka Garza scored 33 points and four Iowa players scored in double figures as the Hawkeyes beat No. 19 Michigan 90-83. CJ Fredrick had 21 points, Joe Wieskamp 20, and Ryan Kriener came off the bench to score 14 for the Hawkeyes. Eli Brooks broke out of a shooting slump to lead Michigan with 25 points.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs will host the Tennessee Titans in the AFC championship game. For Chiefs coach Andy Reid it’s one more opportunity to return to the Super Bowl. That’s something he’s accomplished only once in his long career. For Titans counterpart Mike Vrabel it’s an opportunity to make it back as a coach after winning three Lombardi Trophies as a player in New England. The game features the power running of the Titans’ Derrick Henry and the aerial assault of the Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes in an intriguing matchup for a spot in Miami.

UNDATED (AP) — Of the coaches in the NFL’s Final Four, Andy Reid is the outlier. Only Kansas City’s coach has been the head man in a Super Bowl. Only Reid is close to having a Hall of Fame-worthy resume. Only Reid has been around for a couple of decades. So while Tennessee’s Mike Vrabel, Green Bay’s Matt LaFleur and San Francisco’s Kyle Shanahan might look up to Reid and his career achievements, they also recognize that whichever of them wins the NFL title will be doing so for the first time as a coach.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been among the best bargains in professional sports, leading his team to back-to-back AFC title games on his rookie contract. He’s largely flown under the radar this season, too, thanks to a series of injuries and the ascendance of Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson. But with the end of the season drawing near, all that is about to change. Mahomes is lining himself up for a payday unlike anything the NFL has ever seen.

UNDATED (AP) — Pro Picks is surprised. Consider that the NFC title game is a matchup of the conferences’s top two seeds. The spread favors host San Francisco over Green Bay by 7 1-2 points. In the AFC, it’s the sixth-seeded Titans at No. 2 seed Kansas City, which would seem to be more of a mismatch. Yet the spread is also 7 1-2.

UNDATED (AP) — Sunday’s game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tennessee Titans is the first AFC championship since 2002 that doesn’t feature Tom Brady or Peyton Manning or Ben Roethlisberger. Brady and the New England Patriots are missing from the conference championship weekend for the first time since 2010. Brady has been to 13 AFC title games and won nine of them. John Elway’s Denver Broncos defeated the Cleveland Browns in two of the most famous AFC title game showdowns and the Cincinnati Bengals beat the San Diego Chargers in 1982 in minus-59 degrees wind chill that left Dan Fouts with icicles hanging from his beard.

CARBONDALE, Ill. (AP) — Gabby Walker took a bounce pass at the baseline and, as the clock was winding down, put up a left-handed layup and Southern Illinois shocked No. 19 Missouri State women 70-68. The loss ended Missouri State’s five-game win streak, and also ended the Bears’ 13-game Missouri Valley Conference road winning streak, a school record. Kristen Nelson led the Salukis with 14 points and three steals. Alexa Willard scored 27 points for Missouri State on 11-for-21 shooting but was blanked in four tries from beyond the 3-point arc. The Bears made 1-of-9 from distance and committed 17 turnovers.

In a follow-up to our report earlier this month, with regard to a fund-raising effort for the addition of turf to the Trojan Bowl (in Atlantic), the Atlantic Schools Booster Club and the Facility Improvement Committee (FIC), announced today (Friday), that the Atlantic Bottling Company and the Tyler family, have offered a matching grant of up to $100,000, for renovations to the Trojan Bowl. The matching funds must be raised between now and the end of March, 2020.

Kirk Tyler has said that the Atlantic Bottling Company is excited to partner with the Booster Club and FIC because “Of the critically important role Atlantic’s school system is in attracting new residents and future employees.” For several decades, Atlantic has been home to Atlantic Bottling Company, and they appreciate the support the community has shown them throughout the years. The Booster Club/FIC says the bottling company views the fundraising project as their way to give back to the community.

The 9.5-million dollar bond issue passed last year to make major improvements to Atlantic’s current outdoor athletic facilities did not include the later addition of field turf at the Trojan Bowl. The Booster Club and Facilities Committee  have been working with private donors since that time, to offset the additional cost of field turf. To date, $115,000 has been collected or pledged. Officials say if Atlantic Bottling’s matching grant financial challenge if reach by the end of March, that would generate another $200,000 toward the project.

The Atlantic Schools Booster Club is a 501-3c non-profit organization. A dedicated account allowing persons to make tax-free donations toward the project, has been established at Rolling Hills Bank and Trust. Donations of any amount are welcome from individuals and businesses. Make checks payable to: Atlantic Schools Booster Club, and send to the Rolling Hills Bank and Trust, Attn.: Emily Freund, 1307 E. 7th Street, Atlantic, IA 50022.

As previously mentioned, there are five Booster Club donation recognition levels for a plaque at the Trojan Bowl: “Players” at $300-$999; Those who contribute $1,000 to $2,499 are at the “Black: level; The “Gold” level is for funds from $5,000 to $9,999; “Letter Winner” is $10,000 to $49,999; and, “Trojan Head” level donation recognition is for those donations of $50,000 and above. Scoreboard advertising panels are also available on a first-come, first-served basis, for area businesses. Contact Andy Mitchell, Asst. Principal/Athletic Director, at 712-243-5364, for more details.