. Sabres GM Tim Murray implied that hed be willing to accept expen

INDIANAPOLIS -- No. 8 Michigan ended 15 years of Big Ten tournament frustration Saturday. Theres still some work to do before it can really celebrate. After blowing a 12-point second-half lead against its most bitter rival, Michigan closed the game with a 7-1 run and survived a potential tying 3-pointer in the closing seconds for its first tourney win over No. 24 Ohio State, 72-69. "We werent thinking about winning the Big Ten Conference championship, the tournament," Big Ten player of the year Nik Stauskas said. "We were thinking about just beating Ohio State. This is a rivalry game." For the Big Ten regular-season champs, it was a big moment. Michigan (25-7) hadnt won a semifinal game since 1998, when it won the inaugural tourney title only to vacate it because of NCAA rules violations. Since then, the Wolverines hadnt even won two straight games in the league tourney and had lost all six times it played the dreaded Buckeyes in Indianapolis or Chicago. Not this time. The top-seeded Wolverines started the game with an offensive flurry and ended it with a stout defensive stretch that ended with Buckeyes guard Aaron Craft losing control of the ball as he tried a 3-pointer that could have forced overtime. Instead, the Wolverines came up with the loose ball to eliminate the conferences defending tourney champion. Stauskas finished with 18 points. Ohio native Caris LeVert had 17 points and seven rebounds and Glenn Robinson III wound up with 11 points, including two free throws that gave Michigan the lead for good with 2:55 to play. The Wolverines won their seventh straight in large part because they were 12 of 23 on 3-pointers against the Big Tens top-rated 3-point defence and didnt allow a basket over the final four minutes. The only thing sweeter than beating the Buckeyes would be winning Sundays title game against No. 22 Michigan State. The Wolverines won both games against the third-seeded Spartans this season. Michigan State advanced with an 85-73 win over second-seeded Wisconsin in the second semifinal. "Those are the three best defensive teams in our league. Theyre just really difficult to score points on," coach John Beilein said, referring to the Badgers, Buckeyes and Spartans. But getting to Sunday wasnt easy, either. Michigan blew a 13-point lead in Fridays quarterfinal victory, surviving a scare from ninth-seeded Illinois when Jordan Morgans layup rolled in with 7.9 seconds to go and Illinois guard Tracy Abrams missed a driving layup at the buzzer. It was more of the same Saturday. Michigan led by as much as 16 in the first half and 12 in the second and still needed another late miscue to seal the win. Ohio State (25-9) was led by LaQuinton Ross with 19 points and Shannon Scott with 18, nearly pulling off a second stunning comeback in two days. After digging out of an 18-point deficit to beat Nebraska in Fridays quarterfinals, the Buckeyes wound up losing for only the third time in 10 games. "I feel like as a team when our heads underwater, we start fighting more," Scott said. "We started doing that again today." Ohio State, which struggled to open both halves, just couldnt finish this one off. Michigan opened the game with three straight 3s and led 15-2 after its opening flurry. The Buckeyes clawed back late in the half, getting within 41-37. But Ohio State gave up three more 3s to open the second half, allowing the Spartans to push the lead to 54-42 with 16:02 left. Again the Buckeyes rallied, using a 10-2 spurt that ended with Sam Thompsons alley-oop dunk, giving Ohio State its first lead at 61-60. Thats when last years national runner-up buckled down defensively. Michigan cut the Ohio State lead to 68-67 on an 18-foot jumper from Stauskas and regained the lead when Robinson made the two free throws. The Buckeyes couldnt get anything to go over the final four minutes, missing five straight shots and three of four free throws before Craft said the ball slipped out of his hands at the end. "I feel so fortunate right now," Beilein said. "You look at so many of our games down the stretch here, theyve ended just like this and the ball keeps bouncing our way. You only can have that type of luck if you have guys like these guys sitting next to me. They make enough smart plays to keep you in the game, and some games the ball will just bounce your way." Rockies Jerseys 2019 .Y. -- The Buffalo Bills have fired receivers coach Ike Hilliard. Stitched Rockies Jerseys . 1 Pete Sampras. Speaking ahead of an exhibition match against Andre Agassi in London on March 3, Sampras said on a conference call Wednesday that he is impressed by Federers longevity. https://www.cheaprockiesjerseys.us/ .Patterson marked his anniversary by proving his worth — once again.Lou Williams poured in 26 points, and Patterson drained two huge three-pointers late in the fourth quarter, as the Raptors topped the Denver Nuggets 112-107 in overtime Monday. Fake Rockies Jerseys . The Redskins announced Monday that the quarterback who led the team to the Super Bowl championship in the 1987 season will serve as a personnel executive. Rockies Jerseys 2020 . Louis, MO (SportsNetwork.PHILADELPHIA -- Trade talk mostly fizzled at the NHL draft. "It just seemed to me there were a lot of phone calls, a lot of talking, people interested, but nothing really happened," Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray said. Aside from Ryan Kesler getting dealt before proceedings got underway and then James Neal a few hours later, the weekend passed without much major action. One small trade -- the Calgary Flames getting Brandon Bollig from the Chicago Blackhawks for a third-round pick -- looked like a preview of many more to come as cap-strapped teams try to get under the US$69 million ceiling set for next season. "Its a puzzle to put together and try to make all the numbers work," Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said Saturday. "Thats clearly the biggest factor youre faced with when you have salary cap being what it is. Youre going to have some tough decisions. Were not the only team thats in that position. There will be other teams that face the same things." Without naming names, Bowman was describing the plight of the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers, along with his Blackhawks, who almost certainly have to make sacrifices just to be cap-compliant. In the Bruins case, it might mean saying goodbye to Jarome Iginla, a 61-point player and a major piece of their Presidents Trophy-winning season. "If we cant sign Jarome, were going to find a good player at that position," Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli said Friday night. "We feel all our young guys and our current players are going to get better." Its unclear what else the Bruins might have to do with forwards Reilly Smith, Jordan Caron and Justin Florek and defenceman Torrey Krug and Matt Bartkowski needing new deals as restricted free agents. According to CapGeek, Boston has just over $1.6 million to spend. The Flyers, technically over the cap by a couple hundred thousand dollars, have some room with defenceman Chris Pronger bound for long-term injured reserve. But theyre still reportedly shopping Vincent Lecavalier to rid themselves of at least part of his $4.5 million cap hit for the next four seasons. Chicago managed to part with Bolligs $1.25-million cap hit but might have to clear more salary to fiill out the roster.dddddddddddd Enter the likes of the Flames, Edmonton Oilers and Buffalo Sabres, teams with salary-cap space to take on salary. Oilers GM Craig MacTavish knows players wont be given away, but talent should be available. "Were in a pretty enviable position to be able to take on some of those contracts," MacTavish said Friday night. "Those are really the style of deals that weve looked to make over the last little while where we give up a few assets, take the contract and the cap space, so well be trying to do some of that." That was part of what went into the Flames trading for Bollig, who just signed a contract extension in March. When the cap was set at $69 million, it was at least $1 million, if not more, less than GMs were hoping for. "Weve been looking at situations with the cap where people that may have difficulty or be in a situation where they had to move money," Flames GM Brad Treliving said. Sabres GM Tim Murray implied that hed be willing to accept expensive contracts, but only if he gets an asset like a draft pick in return. "I tried to make a big trade today, a unique trade," Murray said Saturday. "I said, We got to do like the NBA. So I went to a team and said, You trade me your first pick from yesterday. He didnt want to be the first guy to do that. So Im not sure I did, either. But I thought it was a good idea." There could be a market for those NBA-style deals if GMs determine the cap space gained is worth it. More likely, teams up against the $69 million limit will be getting partial value on current players to clear room to manoeuvre when unrestricted free agency opens Tuesday. Plenty of money will get handed out then, and the teams that dont have the space to do it will be forced to rely on younger players to fill the void. Bowman, who has gone through this during two Stanley Cup runs, called it just the continuation of the development cycle. "Its a constant process of finding guys who will be able to fill those roles," he said. "Its a never-ending game. Thats the state of the game today. But you have to find players, whether theyre free agents or like today draft picks and work with making it to the point where they can be NHL contributors." ' ' '