Monday’s Sports In Brief – The Associated Press – en Español

NFL

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Benny Snell Jr.’s 2-yard touchdown run with 9:55 left gave Pittsburgh the lead and the Steelers fended off a last-minute comeback bid to beat the Indianapolis Colts 24-17.

Snell had 12 carries for a season-high 62 yards after replacing the injured Najee Harris in the third quarter. Harris was ruled out at halftime with an abdominal injury.

Pittsburgh (4-7) won its eighth straight in the series and matched San Francisco for the most Monday night victories in league history (52). The 49ers had edged in front with last week’s victory over Arizona in Mexico City.

Matt Ryan drove the Colts (4-7-1) into position to score, but Indy let a minute run off the clock in a span of three plays in Steelers territory, finally using its first timeout on fourth down with 30 seconds remaining. Ryan then threw incomplete to Parris Campbell on fourth-and-3 from the Steelers 26 and Indy fell to 1-2 under interim coach Jeff Saturday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs are signing two-time Pro Bowl running back Melvin Gordon to their practice squad, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press, adding some much-needed depth with a player that was recently released from the AFC West rival Denver Broncos.

The person spoke on condition of anonymity Monday because the signing was not yet official.

Gordon was cut by the Broncos last week amid fumble problems that plagued the 2015 first-round pick during his time in Denver. While he ran for 318 yards and caught 25 passes for 223 yards in 10 starts, averaging 3.5 yards per carry, Gordon also fumbled five times in 10 games, including a costly one in a loss to the Las Vegas Raiders.

The fumble issues are not new. Gordon has lost the ball 26 times in 108 games, or about once in every four games.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Baltimore coach John Harbaugh said he spoke with Lamar Jackson on Monday about the star quarterback’s profane postgame tweet directed at a fan a day earlier, saying the language Jackson used was out of character.

Jackson, meanwhile, insisted on Twitter that he did not intend to disrespect anyone’s sexual orientation and has never done so.

After the Ravens lost 28-27 to Jacksonville on Sunday, a fan suggested Baltimore let Jackson leave via free agency. Jackson responded — in a tweet that was later deleted — by saying the person “never smelt a football field” and using vulgar language that members of the gay community said was offensive.

Jackson shot back at the idea that his tweet was anti-gay by tweeting Monday: “Not once have I ever mentioned or disrespect anyone’s Sexuality, sexual orientation, gender, Religion or Race.”

Harbaugh said he heard about Jackson’s tweet Sunday night and talked to him Monday morning.

NBA

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Devin Booker had 44 points, eight rebounds and six steals, and the Phoenix Suns extended their winning streak to five with a 122-117 victory over the Sacramento Kings.

Deandre Ayton added 17 points and 12 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season for Phoenix, which has won six of seven.

Booker closed out his second-highest point total of the season by knocking down a pair of free throws with 6.8 seconds left after Torrey Craig secured an offensive rebound. He scored 49 points in a loss to Utah earlier in the month.

Damion Lee scored 15 points off the bench, hitting three 3-pointers. Mikal Bridges finished with 13 points, eight rebounds and seven assists. He hit a three-pointer with just over a minute left to stretch the lead to 10.

DENVER (AP) — Nikola Jokic had 32 points and 12 rebounds, Jamal Murray scored a season-high 31 and the Denver Nuggets defeated the Houston Rockets 129-113.

The win was the Nuggets’ third in a row following a home loss last Tuesday against lowly Detroit.

Jokic and Murray combined to shoot 64.7% from the field. It marked the third time in the past four games Jokic scored more than 30 points. He finished two assists shy of his fourth triple-double this season.

Murray, one of the NBA’s best outside shooters, was 11 of 17 from the floor and drained four of his eight 3-pointers after knocking down just 12 of 33 field goal attempts in two games since returning from health and safety protocols last Tuesday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — An uneven start to the season for the Minnesota Timberwolves turned even worse when Karl-Anthony Towns had to be helped off the court in the third quarter at Washington. He wasn’t putting any weight on his right leg.

The team now hopes the injury isn’t too serious.

Towns exited in the third quarter of Monday night’s 142-127 loss to the Wizards with what the Timberwolves called a right calf strain.

Towns has started all 21 games for Minnesota this season and entered Monday averaging 21.4 points.

Towns was well behind the play during a Washington break and grabbed his right leg. After a 3-pointer by Kyle Kuzma, play stopped with Towns down on the floor near midcourt. He was immediately helped toward the locker room.

NHL

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Evan Bouchard scored the tying goal with 5 seconds remaining in the third period and Leon Draisaitl got the winner 22 seconds into overtime as the Edmonton Oilers beat the Florida Panthers 4-3.

The 27-second gap marked the shortest time between a team scoring a regulation goal and an OT goal in NHL history.

Connor McDavid had a goal and two assists, Tyson Barrie also scored and Zach Hyman had three assists for the Oilers. Stuart Skinner stopped 25 shots.

Edmonton has rallied to win two straight, including a 4-3 win at the New York Rangers on Saturday in which the Oilers trailed 3-0 before scoring four times in the third period.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

NEW YORK (AP) — Make some room, Phi Slama Jama. Another Houston team has reached the top of men’s college basketball.

Nearly four decades after Clyde Drexler and Akeem Olajuwon took the Cougars to No. 1, the latest bunch led by Marcus Sasser and star freshman Jarace Walker took over the top spot in the AP Top 25 on Monday. They received 45 of 63 first-place votes from the national media panel, easily outdistancing second-place Texas and third-place Virginia.

North Carolina had been No. 1 all season, but the Tar Heels lost to Iowa State and in a four-overtime thriller to Alabama at the Phil Knight Invitational and dropped all the way to No. xx.

The last time the Cougars ascended to No. 1 was the final poll of the 1982-83 season, when “The Glide” and “The Dream” along with coach Guy Lewis were the favorites to win it all. They rolled through the NCAA Tournament before falling to Jim Valvano and North Carolina State in an iconic championship game in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Texas received eight first-place votes and Virginia received two. Arizona climbed from 14th to fourth after emerging from a stacked field to win the Maui Invitational. Purdue jumped from 24th all the way to fifth and scooped up eight first-place votes after beating West Virginia, Gonzaga and Duke at the Phil Knight Legacy tourney.

Baylor was sixth, Creighton seventh and UConn climbed from 20th to eighth. Kansas fell from third to ninth after losing to Tennessee in the championship game of the Battle 4 Atlantis, while Indiana rounded out the top 10.

NEW YORK (AP) — South Carolina remained the unanimous No. 1 choice in The Associated Press women’s basketball poll released Monday as the Gamecocks keep close watch on the foot injury of reigning Player of the Year Aliyah Boston.

The Gamecocks received all 29 first-place votes in the poll released a day after Boston left a game with her injury. Coach Dawn Staley said Boston was “questionable” going forward but added that the “team doctor wasn’t too, too concerned.”

South Carolina’s next game is Tuesday at home against No. 15 UCLA.

Stanford remained No. 2 after cruising through a tournament in Hawaii. It’s the 618th appearance for Cardinal coach Tara VanDerveer, tying the late Pat Summitt for most all-time.

UConn, Ohio State and Indiana rounded out the top five.

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