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NEW CANEY — The Kilgore Bulldogs brought their strong defense to H-Town Friday night, taking down the La Vernia Bears 38-13 in the 4A-D1 state semifinals according to out news partner KETK.

With the win, Kilgore advances to the 4A-D1 state championship game for the first time since 2013 and the Bulldogs will face undefeated Celina Friday, December 20 at 3 p.m. at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Kilgore will look to knock off the Bobcats and win its first state title since 2004.

MCKINNEY — According to our news partner KETK, the Carthage Bulldogs flexed their muscles on Brock, beating the Eagles 45-17 in the 4A-D2 state semifinals.

With the win, Carthage punches its ticket to the 4A-D2 state championship game where the Bulldogs will look to win their 10th state title under head coach Scott Surratt.

Carthage plays Waco La Vega Friday, December 20 at 11 a.m. at AT&T Stadium in Arlington in the 4A-D2 state championship.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Dallas put one shot after another on goal in the third period of a game at Vegas last week — exactly what the Golden Knights expected and wanted.

The Stars finished with 18 shots on goals in the third, but only one got through because the Golden Knights forced most of them from the perimeter to put goalie Adin Hill in position to make 17 saves in the 3-2 victory.

That defense was a hallmark of the Golden Knights’ Stanley Cup championship run two seasons ago under coach Bruce Cassidy, and it’s a key reason they’re surging again.

Vegas opened a three-game road trip Thursday night with a 3-2 overtime victory at Winnipeg for the team’s fourth consecutive victory. The Jets were held to 20 shots on goal as the Golden Knights increased their lead in the Pacific Division to four points over the Los Angeles Kings.

The Golden Knights are playing with a confidence in their defense that didn’t exist most of the season as their potent offense led by Jack Eichel, who has put himself in the argument for the Hart Memorial Trophy, more than made up the difference.

“I think we’ve played better in general,” Cassidy said of the defense. “That’s been an attention to detail by the players. We couldn’t keep going where we were giving up that many opportunities, and some of it is people returning to the lineup.”

Cassidy, in particular, pointed to the returns of defenseman Alex Pietrangelo as well as forwards Mark Stone and William Karlsson because “your lines are a little more set.” The Golden Knights also got back defenseman Zach Whitecould for the game at Winnipeg.

It doesn’t hurt that Hill has found his Stanley Cup form after struggles late last season and a slow start this one. He is 7-1-1 over his past nine starts with a .939 save percentage and a 1.78 goals-against average.

Vegas’ improved defense certainly has helped Hill put up those kinds of numbers, but his play also has provided a sense of peace with the blue liners that a breakdown in their end still likely won’t result in a goal for the opposition.

“What we’ve given up, Hillsy’s been there and made the big stops,” defenseman Shea Theodore said.

The play on the back end affects the offense because the forwards believe they don’t necessarily need to score four of five goals to win. Sometimes even just one is enough as was the case in last week’s 1-0 shutout of the usually dangerous Edmonton Oilers.

That was the first game in 80 years with no penalty minutes and just one goal. It’s not as if the Oilers didn’t try. They outshot the Golden Knights 16-2 in the third period.

Then three nights later against the Stars, the Golden Knights again were pushed in the third and gave up 40 shots on goal overall. That typically wouldn’t qualify for a strong defensive effort, but Dallas didn’t have a lot of quality looks.

At least not enough to make a difference.

“We’ve just got to let our goaltender make the saves, and he did a great job of that,” Stone said. “If they get 40 shots from the outside, so be it. It’s all about limiting those high dangers, and I thought we did a pretty good job of that.”

It’s a little early to talk about playoff positioning, and certainly injuries or a stretch or two of poor play could derail an otherwise promising season.

But the way the defense is playing is reminiscent of that championship team.

“You’re not going to be 60 minutes every night this time of year,” Cassidy said, “but we’re inching towards it.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL

SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) — San Francisco linebacker De’Vondre Campbell refused to enter Thursday night’s game in the third quarter after losing his starting job when Dre Greenlaw returned from an injury.

Campbell had started 12 of the first 13 games of the season and played 90% of defensive snaps for the 49ers but was benched for San Francisco’s 12-6 loss to the Los Angeles Rams after Greenlaw came back for his first game since tearing his left Achilles tendon in last season’s Super Bowl.

Greenlaw had eight tackles in the first half but left the game in the third quarter with soreness in his Achilles tendon. That’s when Campbell refused to enter the game.

“He said he didn’t want to play today,” coach Kyle Shanahan said after the loss, which left the 49ers (6-8) on the brink of playoff elimination.

Shanahan said he has never seen that before in his coaching career and said the team will “figure out something” on how to deal with it going forward.

Campbell walked to the locker room, leaving his teammates bewildered and angry.

“He’s a professional,” cornerback Charvarius Ward said. “He’s been playing for a long time. If he didn’t want to play he shouldn’t have dressed out. He could have told them that before the game. I feel like that was some selfish (stuff) that he did. It definitely hurt the team. Dre went down and we needed a linebacker. … For him to do that, that’s some selfish (stuff) to me in my opinion. He’s probably going get cut soon.”

The 31-year-old Campbell signed a one-year, $5 million deal in the offseason with San Francisco after being cut by Green Bay in March.

He had been an All-Pro in 2021 for the Packers but his play fell off the last two seasons in Green Bay. He had a few bright moments in San Francisco this season but struggled frequently with tackling and in coverage.

“It’s one person making a selfish decision,” tight end George Kittle said. “I’ve never been around anybody that’s ever done that and I hope I’m never around anybody who does that again.”

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/NFL

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — The Miami Dolphins released wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. on Friday, ending the former Pro Bowler’s short tenure with the team.

Beckham had missed the past two days of practice for what the team called personal reasons. Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel indicated Friday that the decision to part ways was mutual.

“Odell and I have been very communicative since he’s been here,” McDaniel said. “He had a tough start in terms of having to rehab his way into the season and then just looking at it as simple as, all right, what’s the best for both him and the team moving forward? And we just thought it was a good time to go that direction. That was the motivation behind it. That’s all.”

Beckham signed a one-year deal with the Dolphins in May, but started the season on the physically unable to perform list after offseason knee surgery.

Since his Dolphins debut in Week 5 against New England, Beckham had just nine catches for 55 yards in nine games.

Originally brought to Miami to be a third receiving option behind Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle, Beckham never seemed to fit into the Dolphins offense. With the emergence of rookie receiver Malik Washington and the increased usage of tight end Jonnu Smith, Beckham never assumed the role of third receiver.

After rising to stardom in his first five NFL seasons with the New York Giants, Beckham has spent time on four different teams, including three years with Cleveland and seasons with Baltimore and the Los Angeles Rams. He won a Super Bowl with the Rams during the 2021-22 season.

Beckham had 35 catches for 565 yards and three touchdowns with Baltimore last season but was cut by the Ravens in March.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump will huddle with allies and a Republican cause célèbre at Saturday’s Army-Navy football game, a chance to take in one of most storied rivalries in college sports while spotlighting his emerging national security team.

Trump is expected to be joined by Vice President-elect JD Vance, embattled Pentagon pick Pete Hegseth, potential backup defense option Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and others for the 125th matchup between service academies.

Also planning to attend is Daniel Penny, a military veteran who was acquitted of criminally negligent homicide this week in the chokehold death of an agitated subway rider in New York. Penny was invited by Vance, who accused prosecutors of trying to “ruin” Penny’s life by charging the Marine veteran in the death of Jordan Neely in 2023.

Trump, who attended Army-Navy games as president-elect in 2016 and during his first terms, has been making an increasing number of public appearances before his inauguration on Jan. 20, 2025. He was accompanied by his family and Vance on Thursday as he rang the opening bell for the New York Stock Exchange after being recognized as Time magazine’s person of the year.

Trump spent the weeks after the Nov. 5 election holed up at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida assembling a team to help lead his next administration. He and his aides have become bullish about Hegseth’s chances of winning Senate confirmation. The Army combat veteran and former Fox News host’s chances of becoming defense secretary had appeared in peril amid allegations of excessive drinking, sexual assault and his views on women in combat.

DeSantis, a former Navy lawyer who competed against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, is among the possible replacement candidates Trump has considered if Hegseth’s bid fizzles.

Trump senior adviser Jason Miller said Friday in a Newsmax interview that Hegseth has “made it through the gauntlet.” Miller predicted Hegseth will be confirmed.

“This is someone who’s literally been shot at on the battlefield,” Miller added. “That’s the type of person who I want leading the (Department of Defense) because as we make these decisions about whether or not to put American troops into harm’s way, I want someone who knows at a personal level what that’s like before you go and send some young man or young woman into battle.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is also expected to attend the game and bring with him a contingent of other GOP lawmakers vying for face time with the incoming president weeks before Republicans take control of the three branches of the federal government.

Johnson said he intends to discuss with Trump plans for a legislative package that could move through Congress next year with a simple majority in the face of expected Democratic opposition.

Vance said Friday that Penny, a fellow Marine veteran, had accepted his invitation to be in Trump’s suite on the Army side. Penny was cleared of criminally negligent homicide in Neely’s death after a judge had dismissed a more serious manslaughter charge last week because the jury deadlocked on that count.

The case was a flashpoint in the long-standing debates over racial justice and as well as failures by New York City to address homelessness and mental illness, both of which Neely had struggled with.

“Daniel’s a good guy, and New York’s mob district attorney tried to ruin his life for having a backbone,” Vance said in a post on X. “I’m grateful he accepted my invitation and hope he’s able to have fun and appreciate how much his fellow citizens admire his courage.”

Hegseth planned to be in a suite with some Medal of Honor recipients, according to a person familiar with Hegseth’s schedule.

Trump’s picks for Navy secretary, John Phelan, a businessman who never served in the military, and for Army secretary, Dan Driscoll, an Iraq War veteran and former senior adviser to Vance, also are expected to attend, said the person, who was not authorized to publicly discuss those details and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Kickoff is after 3 p.m. EST at Northwest Stadium, home to the NFL’s Washington Commanders, in Landover, Maryland.

Army (11-1) is ranked 19th in The Associated Press Top 25 after beating Tulane on Dec. 6 to win the American Athletic Conference — the first league title of any kind in the team’s 134-year history. Navy (8-3) was ranked earlier this season after starting with six straight victories

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Madhani reported from West Palm Beach, Florida. AP Sports Writer Noah Trister in Baltimore and Associated Press writer Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.

DALLAS (AP) — The championship vision that led Nathan Eovaldi to sign with Texas as a free agent two years ago is the same one that brought him back to the Rangers.

A World Series title in his first season was followed by a losing record this year.

“I believe in the guys in the group that we have. We were able to do it in ‘23. I don’t feel a lot has changed,” Eovaldi said Friday, a day after finalizing a $75 million, three-year contract. “We had a down year last year, but I’ve said it before, you learn a lot from losing seasons.”

Eovaldi had declined a $20 million player option to become a free agent again and reached an agreement during the winter meetings in Dallas. Texas also acquired slugging corner infielder Jake Burger in a swap with Miami.

Burger had fallen asleep before getting a call late Tuesday night that he had been traded to Texas, where his family is planning to move after the October birth of a daughter with Down syndrome.

“The other city that is really good other than Nashville in terms of children’s hospital and resources for her Downs is in Dallas,” Burger said. “Not just from the baseball spectrum, from the life aspect as well … I feel like it was meant to be, and we couldn’t be more more excited about that.”

In the Nashville area, Burger lives close to Rangers manager Bruce Bochy, whom he plans to visit with soon. His former Marlins manager, Skip Schumaker, was hired last month by the Rangers as a senior adviser for baseball operations, and Luis Urueta, Miami’s bench coach the past two seasons, recently joined Bochy’s on-field coaching staff for 2025. Burger and Rangers pitcher Dane Dunning were once roommates in the Chicago White Sox organization.

Burger hit .250 with 29 home runs and 76 RBIs in 137 games for the Marlins last season, when he started 59 games at third base and 50 starts at first. He was with the White Sox in Texas when he got traded to Miami on Aug. 1, 2023, and four days later hit his first homer with the Marlins at Globe Life Field.

When the Rangers made the title run in 2023, Eovaldi was 5-0 with a 2.95 ERA in six postseason starts. He was the winning pitcher in their World Series-clinching Game 5 at Arizona. He was also part of Boston’s 2018 title.

Eovaldi was 12-8 this year with a 3.80 ERA in 29 starts, the last seven scoreless innings in the regular-season finale. He is 24-13 with a 3.72 ERA in 54 starts for Texas the past two seasons.

The new deal for the Texas native, who who turns 35 in February, includes a $12 million signing bonus, half payable on Nov. 15, 2026, and the rest on Jan. 15, 2028, and salaries of $18 million next season, $25 million in 2026 and $20 million in 2027. He gets a full no-trade provision.

After being welcomed back by Chris Young, the team’s president of baseball operations, the pitcher said he never felt like he really left. The Rangers stayed in contact throughout the process after he declined his option Nov. 4.

“Kind of listening to the market and everything, I’m extremely happy to be back. I’m glad we were we were able to make it all work out,” Eovaldi said. “We had a lot of teams reach out right away and we were in contact with most them across the league. Ultimately we were able to make it back here.”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) — TCU leading scorer Frankie Collins will miss the rest of the season because of a broken bone in his left foot, the school said Friday.

The 6-foot-2 senior guard, in his first season at TCU after spending the past two at Arizona State, is scheduled to have surgery Tuesday in Dallas.

Collins leads the Horned Frogs (5-4) with 11.2 points and 4.4 assists per game. He also averages 4.4 rebounds per game.

TCU said Collins broke his foot in the first half of its 83-74 loss to Vanderbilt last Sunday. He still played 35 minutes, finishing with six points and seven assists.

Collins played 31 games as a freshman for Michigan’s NCAA Sweet 16 team in 2021-22 before transferring to Arizona State. He started all 32 games last season for the Sun Devils, averaging 13.6 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game.

He could potentially get another college season through a medical redshirt.

Arizona State is in its first Big 12 season. It will host TCU on Feb. 15.

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AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball and https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll

NEW YORK (AP) — If anybody knows Deion Sanders’ mind, it might be Travis Hunter.

And the two-way Colorado star says Coach Prime is indeed staying put with the Buffaloes.

“I got a lot of insight. He ain’t going nowhere. He’s going to be right where he’s at right now,” Hunter said Friday in Manhattan, where he’s a heavy favorite to win the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night.

In his second season at the school, Sanders coached No. 20 Colorado to a 9-3 record this year and its first bowl bid since 2020. Hunter, Sanders and the Buffaloes will face No. 17 BYU (10-2) in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 28.

Sanders’ success and popularity in Boulder has led to speculation the flashy and outspoken former NFL star might seek or accept a coaching job elsewhere this offseason. Sanders, however, has dismissed such talk himself.

Hunter followed Sanders from Jackson State, an HBCU that plays in the lower level FCS, to the Rocky Mountains and has already racked up a staggering string of individual accolades this week, including The Associated Press player of the year.

The junior wide receiver and cornerback plans to enter the 2025 NFL draft and is expected to be a top-five pick — perhaps even No. 1 overall. But he backed up assertions from Sanders and his son, star Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, that both will play in the Alamo Bowl rather than skip the game to prepare for the draft and prevent any possible injury.

“It’s definitely important because, you know, I started this thing with Coach Prime and Shedeur and most of the coaches on the coaching staff, so I want to finish it off right,” Hunter said. “I didn’t give them a full season my first year (because of injury), so I’m going to go ahead and end this thing off right. It’s going to be our last game together, so I’m going to go out there and dominate and show the loyalty that I have for him.

“Definitely looking forward to it. I’m just excited to go out there and play football one more time before the offseason.”

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Doug Meacham has returned to Oklahoma State as former teammate Mike Gundy’s offensive coordinator, the school announced Friday.

Meacham played offensive line for the Cowboys from 1983 to 1987 and worked with tight ends and inside receivers on Oklahoma State’s coaching staff from 2005 to 2012.

Meacham most recently was an offensive coordinator in 2021 at TCU, and he remained on the Horned Frogs’ staff through this season. He was an assistant coach for the TCU squad that reached the national championship game after the 2022 season. In 2014, during the first of his two stints as offensive coordinator there, he was finalist for the Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach.

Meacham also has been a college offensive coordinator at Kansas, Houston, Samford, Henderson State, Jacksonville State and Georgia Military and held the same position for the XFL’s St. Louis BattleHawks.

It’s the latest in a flurry of moves Oklahoma State has made as it tries to bounce back from a 3-9 season that ended the school’s 18-year bowl streak under coach Mike Gundy.

Meacham replaces Kasey Dunn. Earlier in the week, the school hired New Orleans Saints assistant Todd Grantham as defensive coordinator. He replaced Bryan Nardo.

They will join Gundy, who agreed to a restructured contract after the worst season in his 20 years at the school.

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CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Cubs acquired All-Star outfielder Kyle Tucker in a trade with the Houston Astros on Friday, paying a big price for one of baseball’s best hitters.

The Cubs sent third baseman Isaac Paredes, right-hander Hayden Wesneski and Cam Smith, one of their top infield prospects, to the Astros for Tucker, who is eligible for free agency after the 2025 season.

Tucker was limited to 78 games this year because of a fractured right shin, but he hit .289 with 23 homers and 49 RBIs for the AL West champions. He batted .284 with 29 homers, an AL-best 112 RBIs and 30 steals for Houston in 2023.

Tucker, who turns 28 on Jan. 17, joins a crowded situation in Chicago’s outfield, but the Cubs are reportedly looking to trade Cody Bellinger, who also can play first base. They also have talked to Seiya Suzuki’s agent about the outfielder’s no-trade clause.

The Cubs have finished second in the NL Central with an 83-79 record in each of the past two years, and there is increased pressure on president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer to get the team back into the playoffs for the first time since 2020.

The Cubs announced later in the day that they had agreed to an $11.5 million, two-year contract with catcher Carson Kelly, a Chicago native. He played for Detroit and Texas this year, batting .238 with nine homers and 37 RBIs in 91 games.

The New York Yankees also were in the mix for Tucker before the trade was completed.

“We certainly had many conversations with the Astros.” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said. “At the end of the day I’m glad that Mr. Tucker is not in the American League East or the American League at all. But it’s a big get for the Chicago Cubs.”

Paredes is an option for Houston at third base if Alex Bregman departs in free agency. The 25-year-old Paredes hit .238 with 19 homers and 80 RBIs in 153 games this year. He made the AL All-Star team with Tampa Bay and then was traded to Chicago in July.

Paredes, who bats from the right side and is known for his pull power, chuckled as he talked about taking aim at the Crawford Boxes in left field at Minute Maid Park.

“I feel very happy. It’s not only a beautiful stadium, but it’s a stadium that benefits my hitting,” he said through a translator.

Even with the acquisition of Paredes, who also can play first, Astros general manager Dana Brown did not close the door on a reunion with Bregman.

“Pretty much Alex Bregman’s status is still the way it is,” Brown said. “Nothing has changed since the last time I’ve talked to you guys.”

Wesneski, a Houston native who played college ball for Sam Houston State, will compete for a spot in the Astros’ rotation.

The right-hander, who turned 27 on Dec. 5, went 3-6 with a 3.86 ERA over 21 relief appearances and seven starts this year. He was on the injured list from July 20 to Sept. 20 with a right forearm strain.

“It’s just a dream-come-true kind of thing,” Wesneski said. “I am excited to be an Astro.”

Houston is hoping the addition of Paredes and Wesneski will help the team continue its impressive run as one of baseball’s best teams. It has made the playoffs for eight straight years, winning the World Series in 2017 and 2022. It was swept by Detroit in the wild-card round this year.

“Look, make no mistake. We’re still going to compete,” Brown said, “and this is probably one of those moves that I think in the future people will see and understand like, yeah, wow, I understand it now, I get it. … I would say that this is more to strengthen our opportunities down the road without losing any footage in the current year.”

While Paredes and Wesneski could have an immediate impact, Smith also was a key component of the deal.

Smith, 21, was selected by Chicago with the No. 14 pick in this year’s draft out of Florida State University. He hit .313 with seven homers and 24 RBIs in 32 games over three minor league stops, finishing the year with Double-A Knoxville.

“It’s a really good first-round college bat with power, with a chance to hit, and he’s pretty athletic as well,” Brown said. “So we’re really excited about Cam Smith.”

Tucker was Houston’s first-round pick in 2015, taken No. 5 overall. He made his big league debut with the Astros in 2018.

Tucker had a breakout performance three years after his debut, hitting a career-best .294 with 30 homers and 92 RBIs in 140 games in 2021. He won a Gold Glove the following year.

The Tampa, Florida, native is a .274 hitter with 125 homers, 417 RBIs and an .869 OPS in 633 career games — all with Houston. He also has appeared in 64 postseason games, batting .229 with eight homers and 28 RBIs.

Kelly gets $5 million in each of the next two seasons, and his deal with Chicago includes a $7.5 million mutual option for 2027 with a $1.5 million buyout. He can earn $500,000 in performance bonuses during each of the three seasons; $250,000 each for 81 and 91 games started.

The Cubs were in need of more depth behind the plate. They also have Miguel Amaya, who played in a career-high 117 games this year, and Matt Thaiss, who was acquired in a trade with the Angels on Nov. 20.

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AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum contributed to this report.

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Winning the NBA Cup won’t bring a championship parade to Oklahoma City or Houston or Atlanta or Milwaukee. There’s a trophy. There’s some cash. There are bragging rights. And that’s about it.

The way the final four teams in the tournament see things, that’s enough.

The semifinals of the NBA Cup are Saturday: Atlanta takes on Milwaukee, and Houston faces Oklahoma City, those games in Las Vegas — as will the championship game Tuesday night.

“As a kid, you grow up, you watch Lakers versus Boston on TV. You watch Miami versus Cleveland. You watch marquee matchups and you watch big games, and you dream about getting there one day,” Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “To be in this position is special. You don’t take it for granted.”

For most of the players in these NBA Cup semifinals, this is their first time on such a stage. Only nine players currently on the Hawks, Thunder, Bucks and Rockets have ever been to the NBA Finals.

“We’re a group that’s trying to develop an identity,” Hawks coach Quin Snyder said. “Having some success can help that.”

It’s not a totally surprising final four: Oklahoma City was the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference for last season’s playoffs and if the season was over Friday the Thunder would have that seed again — just ahead of No. 2 Houston. And in the East, the Bucks (winners in 11 of their last 14) and Hawks (winners in seven of their last eight) are among the hottest teams right now.

“For a lot of guys that haven’t tasted the playoffs yet, it’s the closest thing to that as far as intensity and physicality and something on the line,” Rockets coach Ime Udoka said of the NBA Cup. “Meaningful basketball is really good for our young guys. They haven’t had a ton of those games.”

The Bucks have some players — Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton among them — who have been to the NBA Finals and won. But getting to Vegas is a huge accomplishment, even for those guys, considering Milwaukee started 2-8.

“It’s just a lot on the line,” Bucks guard Damian Lillard said. “It requires you to focus. You’ve got to come and get the job done. So, I think in that way it’s similar to a playoff experience, just that you’ve got to get the job done.”

It’s also a chance for teams that are considered small-market — there’s no Boston or New York or Los Angeles teams in this final four — to get more national TV games and maybe pick up a few more fans.

“At the end of the day, you just want to win,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “But it’s pretty sweet to be highlighted and showcased in a way. Yeah, it’s what dreams are all about, and for them to come true is special.”
Semifinal matchups

—Atlanta vs. Milwaukee, Saturday, 4:30 p.m. EST (TNT)

Season series: Hawks, 1-0.

BetMGM line: Bucks by 3.5 points.

Outlook: Both teams are clearly playing their best basketball of the season. If there’s one edge Milwaukee has, it’s that the Bucks were in the NBA Cup semifinals (before it was called the NBA Cup) last season.

—Houston vs. Oklahoma City, Saturday. 8:30 p.m. EST (ABC)

Season series: Split, 1-1.

Outlook: The Rockets had to rally late and hold off Golden State in the quarterfinals, and the Thunder — since losing to Houston on Dec. 1 — are 4-0 and winning those games by a margin of 22.3 points.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The woman who in 2006 falsely accused three Duke University lacrosse players of raping her — making national headlines that stirred tensions about race, class and the privilege of college athletes — has admitted publicly for the first time that she made up the story.

Crystal Mangum, who is Black, said in an interview with the “Let’s Talk with Kat” podcast that she “made up a story that wasn’t true” about the white players who attended a party where she was hired to perform as a stripper “because I wanted validation from people and not from God.”

“I testified falsely against them by saying that they raped me when they didn’t and that was wrong,” Mangum, 46, said in the interview, which was released Monday. The interview was recorded last month at the North Carolina Correctional Institution for Women, where Mangum is incarcerated for fatally stabbing her boyfriend in 2011.

The former Duke players were declared innocent in 2007 after Mangum’s story fell apart under legal scrutiny. The state attorney general’s office concluded there was no credible evidence an attack ever occurred, and its investigation found no DNA, witness or other evidence to confirm Mangum’s story.

Despite their names being cleared, Jim Cooney, one of the former players’ lawyers at the time, told The Associated Press that Mangum’s allegations caused an “enormous tornado of destruction” for countless people involved, including the accused men. They were wrongfully vilified nationally as “racially motivated rapists,” Cooney said.

The Durham prosecutor who championed Mangum’s case was disbarred for lying and misconduct. Prosecutors at the time declined to press charges against Mangum for the false accusations.

The former lacrosse players reached an undisclosed settlement with Duke University in 2007 after suing it for the handling of the rape allegations.

Mangum, who was convicted of second-degree murder in 2013 and is eligible to be released from prison as early as 2026, told the podcast interviewer that she hopes the three falsely accused men can forgive her.

“I want them to know that I love them and they didn’t deserve that,” she said.

Durham-based podcaster Kat DePasquale said she wrote to Mangum because she was curious about the case that got so much attention, and that Mangum wrote back saying she wanted to talk.

Mangum’s apology struck Cooney as sincere and “a good first step,” but he said the decision to forgive her is ultimately up to the three former lacrosse players.

“It’s going to be a part of their biography for the rest of their lives and part of their obituaries,” Cooney said of the three men.