Sports Digest: Brady Fleurent scores winner as Admirals beat Mariners

HOCKEY

Brady Fleurent of Biddeford scored in the third period to lift the Norfolk Admirals to a 3-1 win over the Maine Mariners on Saturday night at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland.

Maine took a 1-0 lead 12 seconds into the game when Patrick Guay scored from Jake Willetts. Norfolk tied it late in the second period on a goal by Spencer Kennedy. Stepan Timofeyev added an insurance goal.

Maine and Norfolk finish their three-game series at 3 p.m. Sunday at Cross Insurance Arena.

BASKETBALL

NBA G LEAGUE: The Maine Celtics added guards Eric Gaines and London Johnson and center Kavion Pippen with their three selections in Saturday’s NBA G League Draft.

Picking ninth overall, the Celtics took Gaines, a 6-foot-2 rookie who averaged 12.3 points and 5.5 assists last season in college at UAB.

Johnson, a 6-3 guard who played for the G League Ignite the past two seasons, was chosen with the No. 21 pick later in the first round. He’s coming off a season in which he averaged 10.6 points and 5.5 assists.

The 6-10 Pippen, drafted in the second round with pick No. 54 overall, has career averages of 7.6 points and 4.5 rebounds in 68 G League games, most recently with Long Island in 2022-23. The nephew of Hall of Famer Scottie Pippen, he played in New Zealand last season.

WNBA: The Las Vegas Aces, whose two-time championship run ended in a semifinals loss to the New York Liberty, fired general manager Natalie Williams.

Williams was hired in 2022 as part of a new regime that included Becky Hammon as coach. The Aces won titles in 2022 and 2023 to become the first WNBA team to claim back-to-back championships since the Los Angeles Sparks in 2001-02.

However, the team president announced her contract will not be renewed as part of a “restructuring” of the front office.

Her tenure wasn’t without controversy. The Aces are being sued by former player Dearica Hamby and are under a league-directed investigation regarding potential salary-cap circumvention.

HOCKEY

NHL: Sean Couturier had a hat trick, assisted on the game-winner by Rasmus Ristolainen and the Flyers snapped a six-game losing streak with a 7-5 win over the Minnesota Wild in Philadelphia.

The loss was the first in regulation for Minnesota and snapped its seven-game point streak to start the season.

• Tage Thompson scored two goals and added an assist to help lead the Sabres to a 5-3 win against the Detroit Red Wings in Buffalo, New York.

Lucas Raymond had a short-handed goal, the first of his career, and an assist for the Red Wings in the loss.

FOOTBALL

NFL: The Dallas Cowboys are elevating running back Dalvin Cook from the practice squad, adding an option for the NFL’s worst rushing offense going into a prime-time meeting with rival San Francisco.

Cook signed with the Cowboys late in the preseason but was inactive through six games. Dallas’ running back by committee has been led by Rico Dowdle and Ezekiel Elliott, the Cowboys’ former two-time rushing champion who returned to his original team in the offseason.

MMA

UFC: Featherweight champion Ilia Topuria vowed to become the first man to knock out Max Holloway.

He made good on his promise at UFC 308 in Abu Dhabi.

Using a huge right hand to daze Holloway, Topuria (16-0) followed up moments later with a powerful left hook that dropped the 32-year-old. Topuria pounced on Holloway immediately for a ground-and-pound finish before referee Mark Goddard stopped the bout at the 1:34 mark of the third round.

AUTO RACING

NASCAR XFINITY SERIES: Austin Hill grabbed the second spot next month in the  championship finale, racing to his fourth victory of the season at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Hill drove the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet past Cole Custer with 12 laps to go, and held on to join AJ Allmendinger in the four-driver championship field at Phoenix. Allmendinger punched his ticket last week in Las Vegas.

Hill, who started the race fifth out of eight playoff drivers and below the cutline, swept the day and led for 79 laps. He beat Custer, who is still in title contention, by 3.045 seconds.

NASCAR TRUCK SERIES: Frankie Muniz finished 33rd in Homestead, Florida, in his first Truck Series race since the “Malcolm in the Middle” star announced he will become a full-time NASCAR racer next season.

Muniz, who is 38, recently made the jump from part-time racer to a full slate in the No. 33 Ford for Reaume Brothers Racing. He made two starts for Reaume Brothers this season in the Truck Series.

Muniz has said he is confident his team could be successful in this series, but Saturday’s race was marred by mechanical issues for his Toyota. He qualified 31st out of 34 cars.

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