IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Luka Garza missed his first five shots in the first six minutes. But the Iowa junior center knew it was still early, and he could find spots in and around North Florida’s zone defense. Garza then scored 29 points as Iowa beat North Florida 83-68 in a Las Vegas Invitational preliminary game on Thursday night. Two of Garza’s first shots were blocked by North Florida forward Wajid Aminu, who is four inches shorter than the 6-foot-11 Garza.
The Hawkeyes (3-1) led just 39-35 at halftime, then opened the second half with a 17-4 run. Garza finished 12 of 18 from the field, including 2 of 2 in 3-pointers. He also had 12 rebounds for his third double-double of the season and the eighth of his career. Garza came into the game averaging 21.3 points and 10 rebounds, with 59 points and 22 rebounds in the last two games.
The Ospreys, who made 21 3-pointers in a 115-39 win over Trinity Baptist on Monday, made just 12 in this game. The final 24 minutes of the game were played with two officials. Lamont Simpson injured his left leg and left the arena on crutches. Officials Rob Riley and Kelly Pfeifer finished the game.
UP NEXT
Iowa hosts Cal Poly in a Las Vegas Invitational preliminary game on Sunday.
North Florida plays at Creighton in a Las Vegas Invitational preliminary game on Sunday.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Roman Penn had 18 points and nine assists as Drake defeated Lehigh 74-58 on Thursday night. Liam Robbins had 13 points and four blocks for Drake (4-1), which earned its fourth consecutive home victory. D.J. Wilkins added 13 points and Noah Thomas had 11.
Anthony Murphy, who was second on the Bulldogs in scoring coming into the contest with 12 points per game, was held to four points, and missed all four of his 3-point shots. James Karnik had 14 points for the Mountain Hawks (3-3).
Drake takes on Miami (Ohio) on Monday. Lehigh takes on Saint Mary’s on the road on Saturday.
Here is the latest Mid-America sports news from The Associated Press
UNDATED (AP) — Chris Klieman gets an extra game in his first season at Kansas State. There are two more first-year Big 12 coaches that can also still get into bowls. But Texas Tech and West Virginia will both have to win their last two games to get the six wins needed for bowl eligibility. It has been 10 years since the Big 12 didn’t send a bowl-eligible team to a postseason game.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been dealing with a sore ankle and knee injury for most of this season. It hasn’t affected his production too much, and the Chiefs are 7-4 and in control of the AFC West heading into their bye week. It’s a much-needed break for Mahomes, who is hoping to get healthy for the stretch run.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — John Sherman has been approved as the new controlling owner of the Kansas City Royals, and his group plans to close its deal to purchase the team from David Glass and his family next week. Major League Baseball owners voted unanimously to approve the deal. The proposed sale was announced Aug. 30 and was expected to be worth about $1 billion. Sherman and his local co-investors will become only the third owners since Ewing Kauffman founded the club ahead of the 1969 season.
PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) — KJ Robinson scored 18 of his 20 points in the second half, JT Gibson finished with 18 points, and Omaha beat Washington State 85-77. Robinson was 6-of-12 shooting, including two 3-pointers, and made 6 of 6 from the free-throw line.
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Dejan Vasiljevic had a career-high 25 points and Miami continued a perfect run at the Charleston Classic with a 74-70 victory over Missouri State. The Hurricanes are the event’s only two-time champions and improved to 8-0 here. Not that it was easy. Missouri State cut an 18-point second-half deficit to 72-70 with 1.8 seconds left. But Vasiljevic hit a pair of foul shots to secure the win.
UNDATED (AP) — Scott Frost received a two-year contract extension that will keep him at Nebraska through 2026. Frost is now 8-14 in Lincoln. For comparison’s sake, Willie Taggart, who was named Florida State’s coach three days after Frost was hired at Nebraska, went 9-12 in Tallahassee before getting fired. Despite the slow start, Frost has the support of his administration and players. That support is a trend in the Big Ten West, as all of the division’s coaches are under lengthy contracts.
The Audubon Wheelers lost a hard fought game in the 8-Player Football Championship on Thursday to Don Bosco 35-19. The Wheelers end an incredible season at 12-2 and their first State Championship appearance since 1977.
The game started off strong for both teams with opening possession scores. Kaiden Smith hooked up with Ethan Klocke on a 7-yard scoring strike to open the game up. Don Bosco would answer with a Thomas Even 6 yard TD run.
After three straight possession that ended with turnover on downs, the Dons grabbed the lead with a 7-play 43 yard drive that ended with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Cael Frost to Thomas Havel. After forcing a punt and getting a short field Don Bosco scored again with another Even run to take a 20-6 lead.
Audubon would get within a score before the half. Tanner Petersen blocked a punt to set the Wheelers up at the Dons 14-yard line. Two plays later Skyler Schultes hit Joel Klocke for a score to make it 20-13 at half.
Don Bosco opened up the second half with a 7-play, 54 yard drive to push ahead 27-13. After a couple of punts the Wheelers climbed back within a score on a 1-yard touchdown plunge by Kaiden Smith, making the score 27-19.
Audubon forced a punt by the Dons and then built some momentum with a big play on the next drive. The Wheelers went for it on 4th and 2 on their own 15-yard line. Kaiden Smith hit Ethan Klocke on a pass to midfield to convert. Unfortunately the drive halted on the next play with the first of back to back interceptions by Dillon Welter for the Dons.
In between those two picks the Dons pushed the game back to two possessions with a big 9-play, 64 yard drive capped off by Thomas Even’s 4th touchdown run of the game. Even grabbed an interception of his own later in the 4th to help seal the win.
Don Bosco outgained Audubon 284-195 in the contest. Thomas Even ran for 62 yards and 4 scores, putting him at 2,002 yards on the year. Cael Frost threw for 124 yards and 1 score and and for 97 yards. Audubon was led by Skyler Schultes with 105 yards and 1 score passing to go with 31 yards on the ground. Ethan Klocke finished with 6 catches for 53 yards and 1 score.
After the game Audubon Head Coach Sean Birks talked about the standard this Wheeler team set for the program.
Coach Birks is proud of the team-first mentality this team showed all year long.
Tanner Petersen also gushed with pride when talking about the bond the team shared this year.
Skyler Schultes was grateful for the journey this season.
A huge turnout of Wheeler red was in the stands on Thursday morning at the UNI-Dome to support their team, and they can all be very proud of a Wheeler squad to remember.
LENOX – Responding to a complaint about manure application, Iowa DNR staff found manure running into a stream about four miles south of Lenox Thursday morning. Manure was flowing from multiple locations into an unnamed tributary of the East River. Staff collected water samples for analysis, but did not see any dead fish in the stream.
DNR staff learned manure from the Utah North facility was applied by Larabee Applicators Wednesday evening prior to rainfall. Manure reached the stream due to improper injection. Kristi Burg of the DNR’s Atlantic field office, said “We know the weather and field conditions have been challenging this fall, but I’d like to remind people to check the weather forecast before land applying manure to reduce the potential for runoff.”
DNR will consider appropriate enforcement. As a reminder, manure spills and releases must be reported to the DNR field offices or called in to the spill line at 515-725-8694 within 6 hours of occurrence or discovery.
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s auditor says the state budget is in good shape with surpluses but that beneficial federal tax policies will end in a few years, potentially causing problems.
In his annual review of the state budget, Auditor Rob Sand said Thursday that federal tax changes made in 2017 gave Iowa’s budget a $188 million windfall for the 2019 fiscal year that ended June 30. He says the federal windfall accounts for about two-thirds of the estimated surplus for the current fiscal year.
He’s reminding lawmakers that by the 2025-2026 budget year the portion of the federal tax break that benefits Iowa will end. Iowa will need to have built a significant surplus to avoid problems.
He also says the state is not following best budget practices by underfunding its portion of Medicaid costs. For the last several years lawmakers have had to provide additional money to fill the void. Sand says it’s more accurate, transparent, and responsible to budget enough from the beginning.
(Radio Iowa) — Republican Senator Joni Ernst and the top Democrat in the senate are hurling accusations at one another over a bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. Ernst accuses New York Senator Chuck Schumer of blocking Democrats from supporting the bill to hurt her bid for re-election. Schumer accuses Ernst of blocking gun-related provisions because she’s afraid of the National Rifle Association. Ernst was with some of her staffers as she spoke with Iowa reporters today (Thursday) from a booth in Washington, D.C. “I do not need to be mansplained by Chuck Schumer,” Ernst said and a member of her staff yelled: “Woo!” Ernst continued: “Yeah, I heard that little woo. Thank you very much. I am a survivor. I’m not afraid of anyone, folks. I’ve been through the worst of the worst and I’m here today.”
Ernst and her husband divorced last year and Ernst said this past January that in addition to an abusive spouse, she was raped in college by someone else. “Going through these situations is already extremely trying for anyone, but having that lifeline of support was so important to me and it helped me find my way through dark and difficult times,” Ernst said. “That’s why this bill, the Violence Against Women Act, has been a priority for me this year.” The bill passed by Democrats in the U.S. HOUSE prohibits people convicted of domestic violence or stalking from owning a firearm. Ernst says the House made that retroactive and she says that’s not what the law said at the time of those convictions — and the move could violate plea agreements of the past.
“That would be someone who was guilty of assault 30, 40 years ago, but has since been, you know, having good behavior,” Ernst told reporters today. “…What we can’t do is go back, change the law as it existed in 1975 and expect that is due process. It is not.” Ernst says she plans to continue working with the top Democrat on a key committee in hopes of coming up with a bipartisan solution to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.
(Radio Iowa) — Three men are charged with illegally shooting a trumpeter swan at the Cedar Bottoms Wildlife Management Area in Muscatine County. Conservation officer, Derrick Slutts, says he investigated after getting a tip that the swan had been shot Sunday. “I was able to collect some evidence at the scene — shell casings and what not — which led me to a potential suspect. We went and interviewed the suspect and he confessed that he believed the swan was a snow goose and his two other friends had believed the same,” Slutts says. Twenty-seven-year-old Austin McMillan of West Branch, 26-year-old Daniel Solorio-Oldenburg of Cedar Rapids and 28-year-old Mitchell Kesterson of Van Horne were each charged with one count of attempt to take wildlife and one count of abandonment of wildlife. The men were hunting ducks and Slutts says it’s mistake that should not have happened.
“They should be able to distinctly know the difference between a snow goose and a trumpeter swan. A trumpeter swan can be upwards of eight to ten feet wingspan — where a snow goose is only going to be maybe that five feet range at max. And a majority of them are only three to four foot wingspan,” according to Sluttes. “There’s a large size difference.” He says it’s a reminder to hunters to remain calm and see the target before shooting during any type of hunt. “It’s important to know what your target is in front of you before you pull that trigger,” he says. “You just need to wait and make sure you properly identify that target. Once you determine it’s a snow goose or not a snow goose, you pull that trigger — and don’t get too excited just thinking that there’s birds coming at you.” Slutts says they recovered the swan and have a use for it.
He says they are going to try and get it mounted and have offered it to county conservation boards to use for educational purposes. Trumpeter swans were very common in Iowa around the time the state was being settled, but they vanished over the decades due to excessive hunting. Conservationists began working to restore the swans in Iowa in the 1990s. Slutts says there aren’t as many trumpeter swans out there as other species of birds — but hunters need to be aware they do fly in the same areas.
The Page County Sheriff’s Office reports a traffic stop Tuesday, in College Springs, resulted in the arrest of a central Iowa man. The stop occurred near the intersection of School and Iowa Streets. Authorities say during the traffic stop, 54-year old Roger Gene James, of Des Moines, was arrested for Driving while license barred and OWI 1st Offense. James was transported to the Page County Sheriff’s Office where he was being held held on a $3,000 bond.
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