Plenty Of Sports Updates Over The Weekend

The Olympic Games at PyeongChang, South Korea, came to a close with Norway the big winner in this winter competition.

Norway collected 39 medals (14 gold), primarily from skiing. Germany was second with 31 medals (14 gold). Canada was third (29, 11) and the United States fourth (23, 9). U.S. fans, however, got to enjoy a gold-medal performance by the women’s hockey team and the men’s curling team (a first).

Next up: Tokyo in 2020 for the Summer Games.

PGA TOUR: Justin Thomas sank a three-foot putt on the first playoff hole to defeat Luke List in the Honda Classic at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. It’s his second win of the season and seventh in his last 31 starts. “I feel very confident in pretty much every part of my game right now,” Thomas said. Tiger Woods played the course at even par to finish 12th.

NASCAR: Seventeen years ago, driving Dale Earnhardt’s car to victory just a few weeks after the legend’s death in a crash at Daytona, Kevin Harvick won at Atlanta Motor Speedway. This year, he not only won Saturday’s Xfinity race but Sunday’s rain-delayed QuikTrip 500 as well. He led 181 of the 325 laps to finish ahead of Brad Keselowski. Clint Bowyer was third. Harvick paid tribute to Earnhardt by holding up three fingers (Earnhardt drove the No. 3 car). “That was the first win in my career (in 2001), and to be able to do that and pay tribute to Dale was pretty cool. I’ve been waiting a long time to do that,” Harvick said.

ELSEWHERE: No. 3 Villanova lost Saturday, 89-83 in overtime to Creighton, in men’s college basketball. No. 1 Virginia held Pitt to seven first-half points in a 66-37 win. And Kansas, ranked No. 8, earned a piece of the Big 12 title for the 14th consecutive year by knocking off No. 6 Texas Tech 74-72. No 12 Auburn and No. 14 Arizona also lost and Wildcats coach Sean Miller was not on the bench due to an FBI wiretap of a phone call in which he appears involved with a payoff to a player. … In the NBA, James Harden scored 41 points and the Houston Rockets won their 12th straight, beating the Denver Nuggets 119-114. And the Washington Wizards snapped the Philadelphia 76ers’ seven-game win streak, beating them 109-94.

 
 
Post By: Larry Weisman, a longtime sportswriter for USA TODAY, blogs for Twistity.com. Follow him on Twitter @MrLarryWeisman