Day of Decision » summer then certainly over the next cou

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- LaQuinton Ross scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half, hitting his first four 3-pointers, to lead No. 5 Ohio State to an early lead and a 76-60 victory over Maryland on Wednesday night in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. Sam Thompson added 14 points, including four rim-rattling dunks, and Lenzelle Smith Jr. had 12. Aaron Craft created havoc on defence and chipped in with 10 points as the Buckeyes (7-0) controlled the game at both ends. Ex-Xavier guard Dez Wells had 19 points, former Michigan swingman Evan Smotrycz scored 15 and Charles Mitchell added 12 points and 11 rebounds for Maryland (5-3), which had won four in a row after losing two of its first three. This is Marylands last ACC/Big Ten Challenge -- well, at least as an ACC team. Next year, the Terrapins join the Buckeyes in the new 14-team Big Ten. Down by 17 at halftime, Maryland stayed within shouting range of the Buckeyes for part of the second half before Ohio State pulled away behind a 9-0 burst that pushed the lead to 70-45 with just over 6 minutes left. The Terrapins have lost their last 13 road games against ranked opponents, while Ohio State has won its last 73 home games against unranked teams. Both teams were coming off their best offensive games of the season. Maryland shot 62 per cent from the field and had a season-best 26 assists, including six from freshman Roddy Peters, in an 89-62 win over Morgan State on Friday. The Buckeyes shot 69 per cent -- sixth-best in school history -- in a 99-64 win over North Florida on Saturday. Continuing that strong shooting, the Buckeyes made 60 per cent of their shots from the field in the opening half Wednesday while building a 43-26 lead. When they needed a bucket, they got it. When the Terrapins strung together a couple of baskets, the Buckeyes responded defensively and slammed the door. Ross was the difference early, making those first four shots from behind the arc. After Maryland became more aware of him on the perimeter, Thompson scored on two high-flying, alley-oop dunks that shook the arena. Behind Ross 12 points, the Buckeyes broke out to an 18-9 lead. The Terrapins regrouped to trade baskets and pull to 27-20 before Thompson had five points and Ross the other three in an 8-0 run. Hanging onto a 35-26 lead heading into the final 90 seconds of the half, Ohio State ran off eight more points in a row. Craft, who had three steals and three assists in the opening 20 minutes, stole the ball in a scrum and passed out of it while on the floor in the final seconds. Thompson got the ball, spun in the lane on a breakaway and then banked in a layup just as the buzzer sounded. The Buckeyes improved to 7-6 in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. They had won four in a row until blowing a big first-half lead to lose at No. 2 Duke 73-68 a year ago. It was the first meeting between the teams since 1985. Ohio State is 4-2 in the series, winning four of the last five. Maryland came in with 10 wins in the Challenge, including winning four of five on the road. The Terrapins won at Northwestern a year ago. The crowd booed loud and long early in the second half when during a "celebrity look-a-likes" fan-cam segment, an Ohio State booster was shown who looked a lot like the football coach at archrival Michigan, Brady Hoke. The Buckeyes football team plays Michigan State for the Big Ten title on Saturday. Custom Minnesota Twins Jerseys . It was the quickest three-goal sequence in Olympic history, with the latter two coming just eight seconds apart. Kessel, Lamoureux and Kendall Coyne all scored twice for the Americans, and Molly Schaus made 10 saves in her Sochi debut. Cheap Twins Jerseys . The Raptors (15-15) posted six road victories last month and have won seven of their last nine games overall. Toronto visits the Washington Wizards on Friday night. https://www.cheaptwins.com/1242t-gary-gaetti-jersey-twins.html . -- The top-seeded Alberta Pandas set up of an all-Canada West final against arch rival UBC at the CIS womens volleyball championship after a 3-0 win over the No. Nick Gordon Jersey . LOUIS -- Alexander Steen scored a power-play goal with 59. Martin Perez Twins Jersey . Spezza scored a power-play goal with 5 minutes left and Stephane Da Costa had the other two goals to lead the Ottawa Senators to a 3-2 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night.TSN Hockey Insiders Bob McKenzie, Darren Dreger and Pierre LeBrun have the latest on Brendan Shanahans new job in Toronto and its trickle-down effects, and the futures of Paul Maurice, George McPhee, and more. A day after Trevor Linden becomes president of hockey operation with the Canucks, Brendan Shanahan one-ups him and become president - period, it looks like - of the Maple Leafs. Why this title, and why this guy? Bob McKenzie: I think thats the critical thing. Brendan Shanahan was not prepared to leave the NHLs Player Safety department if he was just going to be the president of hockey operations for a club in the NHL. It was important for him to be the president of the whole organization - both the hockey side and the business side. Now, hes expected to officially resign his position with the NHL on Friday, and its expected that the Leafs will put out a simple press release announcing his appointment of the entire team. It wont be until the beginning of next week that Shanahan will be introduced to the media, once the regular season is over. What does this mean to GM Dave Nonis and head coach Randy Carlyle? Darren Dreger: Well its "to be determined", were not sure. Shanahan is going to require some time. Dave Nonis was hoping to have some time to review the organization, to speak with Randy Carlyle and ultimately assess what his role might be moving forward. Now, he has a new boss, so Brendan Shanahan is going to want to get to know Nonis a little bit better, find out what his thoughts are on whether or not a coaching change is required, but I dont expect that there will be anything will be done in the near future. How is player discipline going to be handled with Shanahan gone? Pierre LeBrun: Really, the guys that were working with him are going to continue to do just that. The War Room, the player safety group in New York, is a well-oiled machine. It starts with Damian Etchavaretta, Stephane Quintal, Patrick Burke, and Brian Leetch - those guys will continue to do their work. Bill Daly, the NHL deputy governor, I think will have a more involved role when it comes to the final word on possible suspensions over the next couple of months. I dont believe there will be a successor in place for Brendan Shanahan or even a search for his replacement until the off-season. Its business as usual and Daly will meet with the player safety group on Friday to talk about how theyre going to move forward. Is former NHL on TSN panelist Paul Maurice going back to Winnipeg, or is he goinng to rejoin us? Dreger: Well, the safe bet would be that Maurice stays with the Winnipeg Jets.dddddddddddd He likes Winnipeg, he loves the organization, and the team very much wants him back. There will be an negotiation that will take place at the conclusion of the regular season when he has a little bit more time to spend with his family who he has been away from for quite some time. There is also an assignment coming that Maurice is going to have to consider, and thats being an assistant coach or a coach with Team Canada at the World Championship. Its believed that Hockey Canada has reached out to Paul Maurice, you could see Pete DeBoer on that bench and Dave Tippett if the Phoenix Coyotes dont make the playoffs. There has been lots of speculation about the future of George McPhee in Washington. What happens there? LeBrun: We dont believe that the owner, Ted Leonsis, has actually tipped his hand at this point but we do know that McPhees deal is up at the end of the year. There have not been any talks about an extension. So the betting money, the whispers coming out of Washington, are that there is a better chance than not that there is a change at the GM position. But again, no final call there. Now what does that mean for Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin? He is a lightning rod for that team - 50-goal scorer but almost minus-50 as well. There have been some whispers out of the KHL in Russia that would they try...one of the clubs over there try to approach Ovechkin like they did with Ilya Kovalchuk a year ago, if not this summer then certainly over the next couple of years. Has the future of Carolinas management been decided? McKenzie: There have been several days of meetings with Peter Karmanos, the owner of the Hurricanes, and general manager Jim Rutherford, and the expectation is that in the not-too-distant future, maybe a week or two or three down the road after the season has ended, Rutherford will move upstairs to a position and Ron Francis will take over as general manager. And amid great expectation that Kirk Muller is a slam dunk to be fired, dont say that necessarily. There is still plenty of consideration going on to keeping Muller as the head coach. Dreger: And keep an eye on the Florida Panthers as well. Dale Tallon has to meet with ownership in early May to talk about the future, including Peter Horachek as head coach. It sounds like the Panthers might go to an experienced coach, and if Randy Carlyle were to get fired by the Toronto Maple Leafs, he would be high on the list. ' ' '