Update on the latest sports

COLLEGE BASKETBALL-SEC CHAMPIONSHIP

No. 6 Alabama edges LSU to win SEC title

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Herbert Jones drove for a go-ahead layup with 19.5 seconds and No. 6 Alabama won the Southeastern Conference Tournament for the first time since 1991, holding off a late flurry to edge LSU 80-79.

Coach Nate Oats and the Crimson Tide added to their regular-season title with a victory that should help Alabama at least match its highest seed ever in the NCAA Tournament. That was No. 2 in both 1987 and 2002.

Alabama, the reigning national champion in football, won its seventh tournament title overall, second in the SEC only to Kentucky’s 31. The Crimson Tide hadn’t even reached this game since 2002.

Alabama is 24-6. LSU missed a couple of chances in the final seconds and fell to 18-9.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL-A10 CHAMPIONSHIP

St. Bonaventure wins A-10 tourney beating VCU for NCAA bid

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) — Kyle Lofton scored 23 points and Osun Osunniyi scored 14 points with 12 rebounds and St. Bonaventure beat VCU 74-65 in the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament to clinch an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The Bonnies’ Alejandro Vasquez buried a 3-pointer with 11:36 before halftime to break a tie at 12 and St. Bonaventure led the rest of the way.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL-PATRIOT CHAMPIONSHIP

Colgate wins Patriot League title, heads to NCAA Tournament

HAMILTON, N.Y. (AP) — Tucker Richardson scored 17 points and Jordan Burns and Jack Ferguson had 16 each to lead Colgate to a 85-72 win over Loyola of Maryland for the Patriot League tournament championship. Colgate advances to its fourth NCAA Tournament, where it has never won. Its last appearance came in 2019. The top-seeded Raiders, in their fourth straight Patriot title game, led the entire way in extending their program-record win streak to 13.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL-NCAA TOURNAMENT-SELECTION SUNDAY

Alabama, St. Bonaventure and Colgate have locked up automatic bids

UNDATED (AP) — Alabama, St. Bonaventure and Colgate have locked up automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament by wining conference championships a few hours before the field of 68 was revealed.

Selection Sunday featured five conference tournament title games as an undercard to the main event starting around 6 p.m. EDT: the unveiling of the NCAA bracket.

No. 6 Alabama won the Southeastern Conference by beating LSU, but the Tigers are in good shape to earn an at-large bid. The Crimson Tide closed its case for a No. 1 seed with an 80-79 victory.

St. Bonaventure beat VCU to win the Atlantic 10’s automatic bid as the top seed in the conference. The Rams went into the game expected to be on the right side of the bubble no matter the result, but they’ll have to wait a few hours to make it official.

Colgate earned the Patriots League’s automatic bid by beating Loyola, Maryland.

Still to be played are the Big Ten championship game between No. 3 Illinois and No. 9 Ohio State and the American Athletic Conference championship between No. 7 Houston and Cincinnati. The Bearcats need to win to get in the NCAA field.

There are 38 at-large selections available and the NCAA’s deadline for teams to inform the selection committee that they would not be able to compete in the tournament passed Saturday night with no schools dropping out.

VIRUS OUTBREAK-NBA

Pelicans say some players, staff received COVID-19 vaccine

UNDATED (AP) — Some players and other members of the New Orleans Pelicans organization have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccinations, following changes in the eligibility standards for Louisiana residents.

The Pelicans said the vaccines were administered Saturday, though they did not disclose who got them. They are the first NBA team to acknowledge a widescale receipt of the vaccine by members of a club.

State officials in Louisiana expanded the list of those who may receive the vaccine last week “to include people who have health conditions that may result in a higher risk of disease” and are over the age of 18. Among the higher risk groups: those with a body mass index of 25 or more, which would technically classify them as overweight. Many of the Pelicans’ players fall into that category, despite being NBA players and elite athletes.

The NBA has no issue with the Pelicans receiving the vaccine because state guidelines were followed. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said repeatedly that the league and its teams would not “jump the line” and get vaccines before they are eligible to do so.

NFL-TEXANS-DOLPHINS TRADE

LB swap: McKinney traded by Texans to Dolphins for Lawson

MIAMI (AP) — Benardrick McKinney was traded Sunday by the Houston Texans to the Miami Dolphins for Shaq Lawson in a swap of linebackers.

McKinney played in only four games last year because of a shoulder injury. But he missed just two starts with Houston from 2016 to 2019 while totaling at least 95 tackles each season, and made the Pro Bowl in 2018. He was a second-round pick by the Texans in 2015.

Lawson, a 2016 first-round pick by the Buffalo Bills, spent four seasons with them. He had four sacks in 14 games in his only season with Miami.

MLB-YANKEES-BOONE

Yanks manager Boone feels ‘awesome’ after getting pacemaker

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone is into his second full week on the bench after having a pacemaker inserted and says he’s feeling “awesome.”

The 48-year-old Boone had the procedure done at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa, Florida, on March 3 and was back on the job after missing just three games.

Boone had open heart surgery to correct a swelling of the aorta in 2009 while he was a player with the Houston Astros. The condition had been first discovered when he was in college. He underwent yearly checkups since but when he was monitored for several weeks, he was found to have a heart rate as low as 30-39 beats per minute, well below the 60-100 considered normal for adults.

TENNIS-CLIJSTERS

Clijsters withdraws from Miami and Charleston tournaments

MIAMI (AP) — Four-time Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters (KLY’-sturz) has withdrawn from upcoming tournaments in Miami and Charleston, a setback in her comeback following right knee surgery and a bout with COVID-19.

Clijsters’ return to the women’s tennis tour in 2020 after a seven-year hiatus was interrupted by the pandemic. She underwent knee surgery in October and came down with a mild case of the virus in January. Clijsters says she plans to undergo three to six weeks of pain management treatment and then make decisions regarding her schedule.