FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – Mookie Betts hit his fourth home run of the spring and Pablo Sandoval hit a two-run shot as the Boston Red Sox beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-1 on Saturday. The game was called after five innings because of rain. Joe Kelly pitched 4 2/3 innings for the Red Sox, giving up five hits and striking out five. Carlos Peguero homered for the Cardinals with two outs in the fourth.

Michael Wacha went four innings for the Cardinals, allowing seven hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Of Wacha’s 30 starts in 2015, eight had weather-related delays totaling 7 hours and 15 minutes.

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Ric Hanson.

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OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Paul Jesperson banked in a halfcourt shot at the buzzer to give 11th seeded Northern Iowa a 75-72 win over Number 6 seed Texas Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament’s West Region. Northern Iowa passed the ball in under its basket after Isaiah Taylor tied the game on a layup with 2.7 seconds to play. Jesperson caught the ball, took a few dribbles and heaved.

Wes Washpun scored 17 points, Jeremy Morgan scored 16 and Jesperson added 14 for the Panthers (23-12), who claimed their fifth NCAA Tournament win in school history. Taylor scored 22 points, Eric Davis Junior scored 13 and Javan Felix added 12 for the Longhorns (20-13).

Jesperson’s shot came in the same building where Golden State’s Stephen Curry hit a dramatic game-winner against the Oklahoma City Thunder last month.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The Kansas City Chiefs signed Mississippi State track and field standout Tautvydas Kieras on Friday, even though the projected linebacker never played football for the Bulldogs. The 6-foot-3, 271-pound Lithuanian set the school record in the discus and was accomplished in the shot put. But with his college career wrapping up, Kieras decided to give football a try.

After training in Las Vegas for Mississippi State’s pro day, he pushed 225 pounds 24 times on the bench press, jumped 35 inches in the vertical and posted a sub-4.7-second 40-yard dash.

The Chiefs have a history of signing players without much football experience. Tight end Demetrius Harris played basketball for Wisconsin-Milwaukee before catching on with the team.

NEW YORK (AP) — Adam Woodberry put back a missed shot at the overtime buzzer to give Iowa a 72-70 victory over Temple on Friday in the first round of the South Regional at Barclays Center. With the game tied at 70, Mike Gesell worked his way to the baseline and put up about a 10-foot jumper that missed the rim and went right to Woodberry, who put it in as the red lights around the backboard lit up.

Iowa (22-10) will play second-seeded Villanova in the second round on Sunday. The Wildcats beat UNC-Asheville 86-56. The Hawkeyes got the chance at the game-winner when Daniel Dingle of Temple, who played just 6 minutes and was in the game because Devin Coleman had fouled out a minute earlier, missed the front end of a 1-and-1.

Jarrod Uthoff led Iowa with 23 points, while Peter Jok had 16 and Woodberry finished with 10. Quenton DeCosey, who made three free throws with 2.1 seconds left in regulation to tie the game, had 26 points for the Owls (21-12).

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast w/Jim Field.

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Northern Iowa plays in the late game in Oklahoma City tonight (Friday) at 8:50 against Texas in the N-C-A-A Tournament. Panther coach Ben Jacobson expects Longhorns coach Shaka Smart to use a lot of pressure defense. “I watched their game at Iowa State…in that game they pressed quite a bit. They don’t press nearly as much as they did when he was at V-C-U,” Jacobson says. “Now in saying that, in the Iowa State game they full court pressed, did some trapping, we’ve seen that as well, so that is going to be part of their game.”

He says the pressure will come in both the full court and half court. Jacobson says Smart likes an up-tempo game. “They are going to get the ball — made shot or missed shot — they are going to push it at you, so your transition defense has to be good. They go hard and to the boards and rebound. That system, his personality, you see it. Everything they do is coming at you,” Jacobson says.

The Panthers like to control the tempo of games and Jacobson says they haven’t tried add anything new as they’ve prepared. “I don’t know that either team is going to change much. We are both going to work hard to get our team to do what we do,”according to Jacobson. That philosophy is based on past tourney experience.

“”I guess what I’ve learned is, now is not the time to be messing around. The key is that your guys play with a lot of confidence and that they play loose,” Jacobson explains. “And the only way to do that is to do the things that you’ve been doing awhile. And that’s really become our approach.” The 11th seeded Panthers come into the game with a 22-12 record, while the sixth seeded Longhorns are 20-12.

(Learfield Sports)

Iowa is in fourth place after the first session of the NCAA Wrestling Tournament in New York.  The Hawkeyes moved six of their nine wrestlers into the round of 16. Thomas Gilman at 125 and Sammy Brooks at 184 both scored technical falls. Defending champion Ohio State has the team lead with 16.5 points. Penn State is second with 16, Nebraska is third with 13, and Iowa fourth with 11 points.

Iowa State is tied for 12th in the team race after advancing four wrestlers. Cyclone 174-pounder Lelund Weatherspoon posted one of the biggest upsets of the rounding round, beating the number-two seeded wrestler from Cornell. Northern Iowa has five wrestlers in the tournament and three posted first-round wins.

(Radio Iowa)

The University of Iowa women’s basketball team’s comeback bid fell short in a 77-72 loss to Ball State on Thursday night in the opening round of the WNIT. HawkeyeSports.com reports the Hawkeyes trailed by as many as 16 points early in the third quarter and by 13 (59-46) with 1:24 left before building some momentum with the quarter’s final five points. Freshman Megan Gustafson’s layup cut the lead to 11 and sophomore Whitney Jennings hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to get Iowa to within single digits at 59-51.

Iowa finished with a 42.6 field goal percentage; Ball State shot 42.9 percent. The Cardinals made 5-of-12 3-pointers, four coming in the first half, and finished 18-of-24 from the free throw stripe. Iowa was 7-of-18 from 3-point range and 13-of-19 from the free throw line.

The Hawkeyes committed just two more turnovers (12-10), but Ball State turned the Iowa miscues into 15 points. Iowa had four players finish in double figures with Gustafson leading the way with 22 points and 12 rebounds for her ninth double-double of the season. She made 9-of-15 field goals and eight of her rebounds came on the offensive glass. Ally Disterhoft finished with 19 points, seven rebounds, and six assists, while Jennings and Davis had 13 and 12 points, respectively.

Iowa finishes the 2015-16 season with a 19-14 overall record.