A Sports Filled Weekend

The road to Super Bowl 50 will include one more visit to the Peyton Manning-Tom Brady rivalry.

The Denver Broncos’ 23-16 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers puts them in the AFC Championship Game against the New England Patriots on Sunday in Denver. The Patriots beat the Kansas City Chiefs 27-20 to reach the AFC title game for a fifth consecutive season. Brady is 11-5 in playoff meetings with Manning.

The NFC Championship Game will be held in Charlotte, N.C., for the first time. The Carolina Panthers, after building a 31-0 lead over the Seattle Seahawks, had to hold on for a 31-24 victory in their divisional playoff meeting. They will play the Arizona Cardinals, 26-20 winners in overtime over the Green Bay Packers. Neither the Panthers nor Cardinals has ever won a Super Bowl.

Super Bowl 50 will be played Feb. 7 at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

No. 11 West Virginia, which had just upset No. 1 Kansas, nearly did the same to No. 2 Oklahoma but came up short in a 70-68 loss on Khadeem Lattin’s tip-in with one second left. … No. 3 Maryland eviscerated Ohio State, 100-65. … No. 9 Duke lost a second consecutive game, this one at home, falling 95-91 to Notre Dame. … Auburn dumped No. 14 Kentucky 75-70. All of these games were on Saturday.

NBA

Russell Westbrook recorded his second consecutive triple-double to drive the Oklahoma City Thunder past the Miami Heat 99-74 on Sunday. The fiery point guard finished with 13 points, 15 assists and 10 rebounds. It was his fifth triple-double of the season and 24th of his career. The Thunder are 20-4 in Westbrook’s career when he gets a triple-double, 5-0 this season. … In honor of Martin Luther King Day, the NBA stages 10 games on Monday, with five of them in the afternoon. The highlight is the Golden State Warriors at Cleveland Cavaliers at 8 p.m. ET, in a rematch of the 2015 NBA Finals. TNT does the TV honors.
 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman