7+ min ago (576+ words) Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen understands the reality at hand. Buffalo (7-4) faces a tough test against the host Pittsburgh Steelers (6-5) on Sunday afternoon. The game carries significant implications for both teams as they try to boost their playoff hopes. Some players might deflect the importance of the matchup. Allen isn't one of them. "Extremely high sense of urgency," Allen said with the Bills three back of the Patriots in the AFC East. "We understand where we're at. We have full confidence in ourselves, but ultimately it comes down to executing on game days." Buffalo is coming off a 23-19 loss against the Houston Texans in a primetime Thursday night contest. It was the fourth loss in the past seven games for the Bills, who still have aspirations of competing for a championship but first must secure a postseason berth. Allen has…...

17+ min ago (383+ words) Pascal Siakam hit a 14-foot jumper at the buzzer and finished with 24 points and nine rebounds as the Indiana Pacers beat the Chicago Bulls 103-101 on Saturday in Indianapolis. Chicago's Tre Jones scored on a driving layup with 7.5 seconds left to tie the game. Indiana called a timeout to set up a play for Siakam, who shot over two defenders to help the Pacers win back-to-back games for the first time this season. Bennedict Mathurin had 19 points for Indiana, which won for the fourth time in its first 20 games. Isaiah Jackson, Jay Huff and Andrew Nembhard each scored 14 points. Chicago led 99-98 after Nikola Vucevic made two foul shots before Indiana moved ahead 100-99 on Siakam's turnaround jumper with 1:10 left. Nembhard converted one of two foul shots with 10.7 seconds remaining, and the Bulls' pulled even on Jones' layup. Siakam's game-winner capped a contest…...

32+ min ago (379+ words) Nino Niederreiter scored a pair of goals and the Winnipeg Jets jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period and never looked back, defeating the host Nashville Predators 5-2 on Saturday night to end a four-game losing streak. Gabriel Vilardi, Cole Perfetti and Kyle Connor were the other goal scorers for the Jets, while Dylan Samberg had three assists and fellow defenseman Luke Schenn two more. Eric Comrie made 20 stops to get the win. Nick Blankenburg and Luke Evangelista scored goals, with Erik Haula assisting on each, as the Predators tried to claw back from a 3-0 hole more than halfway through the game. Justus Annunen turned aside 20 pucks in the loss. The Jets struck early, taking a 1-0 lead just 47 seconds into the game when Vilardi finished off a give-and-go with Mark Scheifele, burying the rebound from Scheifele's initial shot. Despite…...

32+ min ago (389+ words) Owen Tippett had two goals and an assist and the Philadelphia Flyers hung on for a 5-3 win over the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night in Newark, N.J. Travis Konecny and Trevor Zegras contributed a goal and an assist each and Matvei Michkov also scored for the Flyers, who have won five of their last six games. Defenseman Travis Sanheim had two assists and Dan Vladar made 29 saves. Dawson Mercer had a goal and an assist and Timo Meier and defenseman Simon Nemec scored for the Devils, who had their three-game winning streak snapped. Jesper Bratt had two assists and Jacob Markstrom stopped 27 shots. Mercer closed New Jersey's deficit to 4-3 at the 6:28 mark of the third period. After stealing the puck, he moved from the outside of the right circle to the slot, where he slid a backhand slot through Vladar's…...

37+ min ago (413+ words) The visiting Toronto Maple Leafs salvaged their Thanksgiving weekend with a 7-2 thrashing of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night. Each player on Toronto's goal-starved third line snapped lengthy droughts in a dominant second period. Bobby McMann and Nicolas Roy each recorded a goal and an assist. Auston Matthews, Matthew Knies, Max Domi, Morgan Rielly and Oliver Ekman-Larsson also had multi-point games for Toronto. Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby has three multi-point games in four after notching a goal and an assist. Toronto's Dennis Hildeby earned his first NHL win since January, turning away 33 of 35 shots. Arturs Silovs allowed four goals on 10 shots before being replaced by Tristan Jarry, who stopped 10 of 13. The Leafs opened the scoring on their first shot. Ekman-Larsson was fortunate to retrieve his own blocked shot off an unsuspecting Parker Wotherspoon, wristing his fourth goal of the season…...

37+ min ago (833+ words) No. 5 LSU eclipsed the 100-point mark for an NCAA-record eighth consecutive game as the Tigers rolled to a 112-35 victory over Washington State to claim the Paradise Jam's Reef Division championship in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Flau'jae Johnson scored 16 points in 22 minutes to pace seven players in double figures for LSU (8-0), which led 29-8 after one quarter and 54-17 at the half. Jada Richard provided 14 points while Amiya Joyner, ZaKiyah Johnson, Mikaylah Williams, Grace Knox and MiLaysia Fulwiley each added 12. The Tigers canned 56.3% of their shots. Charlotte Abraham led Washington State (1-7) with 10 points before fouling out. Malvina Haziri added nine points as the Cougars shot 27.1% from the field, committed 31 turnovers and lost the rebounding battle by a 52-15 count. No. 12 North Carolina 80, Columbia 63 The Tar Heels closed with a 23-14 fourth quarter to put away the pesky Lions at the Cancun Challenge on Saturday in…...

1+ hour, 2+ min ago (379+ words) Pablo Tamba had 14 points and seven rebounds on Saturday, leading LSU to a convincing 96-63 victory over DePaul in the Emerald Coast Classic final in Niceville, Fla. Mike Nwoko added 13 points and six rebounds, and freshman Jalen Reece chipped in 13 points and six assists for the Tigers (7-0), who led by 28 points at halftime. Max Mackinnon scored 13 points in the game, followed by Dedan Thomas Jr.'s 12 and Robert Miller III's 12. Reserve Rashad King had 11 in the win. Kruz McClure led the Blue Demons (5-3) with a game-high 22 points off the bench, followed by CJ Gunn and RJ Smith with nine points apiece. After leading 50-22 at halftime, LSU went ahead 57-24 with 17:34 left on Tamba and Nwoko's consecutive layups. DePaul scored back-to-back baskets for the first time without LSU scoring as McClure's layup and Kaleb Banks' 3-pointer pulled the Blue Demons within 30 with 12:37 remaining....

1+ hour, 7+ min ago (440+ words) Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl each recorded a goal and an assist and Stuart Skinner recorded his second shutout of the season, leading the visiting Edmonton Oilers to a 4-0 win over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday. Zach Hyman and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins contributed to the Oilers' balanced attack, also finishing with a goal and an assist. Skinner, who allowed 16 goals in his last four starts -- including getting benched after one period in his previous start -- made 26 saves, including 12 in the first period, helping the Oilers kill three early Kraken power plays. McDavid, who has 25 assists this season, scored the team's fourth and final goal midway through the third period. He has 12 multi-point games this season. McDavid recorded at least one point in 12 of the Oilers' 14 games in November. Nugent-Hopkins, who made his return against the Kraken after missing nine games with…...

1+ hour, 22+ min ago (345+ words) Miles Bridges scored 10 of his 35 points in overtime and the Charlotte Hornets, after a huge fourth-quarter run, knocked off visiting Toronto 118-111 in overtime on Saturday night, ending the Raptors' nine-game winning streak. Kon Knueppel poured in 20 points, Collin Sexton had 18 points and LaMelo Ball posted 14 points for the Hornets, who won their second game in a row following a seven-game losing streak. It was a long climb back for the Hornets, who trailed by 17 points in the first quarter. Scottie Barnes poured in 30 points for the Raptors, while teammates Brandon Ingram and Immanuel Quickley both scored 22 points. Sandro Mamukelashvili added 13 points off the bench. Bridges made 13 of 23 shots from the field. The Hornets were 10-for-39 on 3-point attempts, but benefitted from Toronto's 15 turnovers. Charlotte sank 26 of 29 free-throw attempts, scoring the Raptors by a dozen points on foul shots. The Raptors…...

1+ hour, 27+ min ago (525+ words) FaZe Clan, Natus Vincere, B8 and Ninjas in Pyjamas won two matches apiece on Saturday to get off to a strong start in Stage 2 of the StarLadder Budapest Major. Thirty-two teams began play in the $1.25 million Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event, which features three consecutive Swiss System stages ahead of the playoffs. Sixteen teams compete in each stage. Eight invited teams started in Stage 2, which runs through Tuesday, and eight more get a bye into Stage 3 (Dec. 4-7). The top eight teams in each stage move on. In each Swiss System stage, elimination and advancement matches are best-of-three and all others are best-of-one. The tournament concludes with a single-elimination playoff stage Dec. 11-14. All matches are best-of-three until the grand final, which is best-of-five. The winner will take home $500,000. FaZe Clan defeated Passion UA 13-10 in Round 1 before topping Aurora Gaming by the same score…...