KC Medico, Staff 

Cover picture courtesy of ESPN

The Toronto Raptors walked into a hostile Philadelphia crowd and defeated the 76ers 103-88. This win makes the series 3-2 still favoring the 76ers. 

From the beginning, turnovers were a problem for the Sixers as in the first quarter they had six turnovers. Even with turnovers, they were able to keep the game close as the closing score of the first was 29-27 Raptors. 

It wasn’t until the second quarter when the Raptors blew the game out of the water. They started the quarter with a 12-0 run and the Sixers couldn’t recover. With Raptors All-Star Fred Van Fleet out with a left hip flexor strain they looked to this year’s Rookie of the Year winner Scottie Barnes as he scored eight points in the quarter. 

“We always kind of figure it out,” stated Raptors forward Pascal Siakim. 

The Sixers would miss their first nine shots of the quarter and didn’t score until the six minute mark. At halftime the Raptors were up 54-41. With boos raining in from the Wells Fargo, the Sixers would have to find a way to turn it around. 

With the Raptors tall lineup staying in for most of the game it was clear the Sixers were having a tough time offensively. The Sixers finished the game only making 38.8 percent of their shots from the field and only 27 percent of their three point shots. 76ers center and MVP finalist Joel Embiid stated in his post-game press conference “We all need to be better offensively. We missed a bunch of wide-open shots. At times, I just felt like we just invited, when I was getting doubled, we were not aggressive attacking the ball. We just kept moving the ball around the perimeter, and that gave them time to recover, and that’s why [we] were not able to get anything out of it.”

As it seems with most of the NBA at this point in the season, many stars are getting hurt including Embiid. Embiid has a torn ligament in his right thumb. Most players have surgery and sit out for six or more weeks, however Embiid is fighting through his injury and planning on playing until the season is over. Even with a bad hand Embiid was still the leading scorer for the Sixers putting up 20 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. 

The Raptors were able to capitalize on the Sixers mistakes and make plenty of shots. The Raptors shot 51.2 percent from the field. The Raptors would go on to win with ease. With momentum leaning towards Toronto, head coach for the Raptors Nick Nurse is not letting that distract him or his players.  “Maybe there is (momentum) but it doesn’t really matter… Ball goes up on Thursday, everybody’s gotta play like heck.”With a red hot Toronto Raptors team and a lackluster 76ers squad tensions are high going into game six which is sure to be a great matchup in Toronto. 

Mia Mattingly, Staff

In a string of home games, La Salle’s water polo team went two for three in play for the weekend, edging out teams such as Iona and Villanova, while losing to MAAC conference leader and nationally ranked Wagner. This weekend also allowed the Explorers to yet again start another winning streak this season, with their longest win streak being 12 games, a record for the program in its five year history.

The first game of the weekend was Saturday afternoon against nationally ranked  number 15 Wagner, where La Salle fell 21-11, but several Explorers saw goals throughout the four quarters, such as Shanna Zuanich, Jaycee Morris, Francesca Co, Kalista Hyham, Hannah Woren, Tatum Lomax, Sarah Defusco and Sophia Boettner. Both of the team’s goalies, Emma Gurasich and Caitlin Valentine, spent time in the goal and together totaled eight saves across the game. 

Later that evening, the team hopped back into Kirk pool to take on Iona, a team they had beaten twice before already that season, 14-11 and 15-14, respectively. La Salle pulled ahead at the beginning by two, but the game continued to go back and forth with both the Gaels and the Explorers, both trading leads on different occasions. It was Defusco’s goal on a man up for the Explorers in the last minute of the game that allowed the team to secure the lead for the rest of the game and Hyham’s goal in the last seconds of the game to ensure the win. The Gaels did have an impressive buzzer beater goal, but that was not enough in the end, with the final score being 17-16. 

The final game of the weekend was an early afternoon game against Villanova, who are not only rivals for the water polo team, but for the school as well. A win against Villanova is always a big deal on campus and the water polo team was able to pull it off successfully. The game was most definitely an intense one, with the scores being relatively close and only within two goals for a majority of the game. However, the Explorers going 4-1 in the last quarter solidified the final win of the weekend for the team against the Wildcats. In an impressive fashion, Co’ and Hyham both scored five goals apiece, meaning that the two combined totaled for 10 of the 12 goals, with the final score of the game being 12-9. 

It is also worth noting that this weekend helped Hyham reach a total of 16 points for the weekend and 13 goals, which was enough to earn her a nomination for the NovaCare student athlete of the week, while also breaking the season record for amount of goals scored by reaching 99 goals on the season.   

The team is now on a two game winning streak, which they look to extend this weekend when they play Philly rivals Villanova yet again at Villanova at 5 p.m. Friday and then Virginia Military Institute at 10 a.m. for the final home and conference game of the season. 

KC Medico, Staff 

The Philadelphia Phillies defeated their division rivals the New York Mets 5-4 in the first game of their series. Both teams are coming into this series with only one loss and are looking to get an early edge in the standings over their opponent. 

Many critics of the Phillies pointed out that they have two weaknesses: pitching and defense. Both were on display during the first three innings. In the first inning, the Phillies gave up three runs. Ranger Suarez, the starting pitcher for the Phillies, didn’t get much help from his defense, especially Alec Bohm. 

Alec Bohm had three errors during the game, a career high for him. His first error is what started the Mets to go on their 3-0 tear. 

After throwing 63 pitches, Suarez was pulled in the third inning for Nick Nelson. Nelson shined as he came in and pitched the next three innings without allowing a hit. Phillies manager Joe Giradi stated in his post-game interview “you know the guy that probably won’t get a ton of attention is Nick Nelson. The job that he did, I mean he saved our bullpen… He did a tremendous job.”

In the top of the seventh Nelson walked James McCann who would eventually steal second base, however, Nelson was able to get lineouts on the next two hitters. Giradi figured it was time for pitcher Seranthony Dominguez to take the mound as Nelson threw 45 total pitches. With a runner on second, shortstop Francisco Lindor would pull the ball into right field which would score McCann to put the Mets up 4-0. The Phillies needed a miracle and it would eventually come in the bottom eighth inning and started by none other than Alec Bohm. 

Bohm, who struggled early on defensively, would shine with the bat. Bohm was able to start the rally by getting walked to first. Bohm would finish the game with a double and two walks. Phillies subbed Johan Carmargo for Matt Vierling and would single to right to bring Bohm to third. With Schwarber bringing the top of the order to the plate he grounded to a fielder’s choice at second. The play would bring Bohm home to make the score 4-1. 

Up came J.T. Realmuto, and with a man on first, blasted one into left field for a two run shot cutting the deficit to one. Bryce Harper, after swinging out, would leave the Phillies with two outs. Nick Castellanos took a walk which left Rhys Hoskins to send a line drive down the left side which would bring Castellanos home and Hoskins to second. With a tie ballgame shortstop, Didi Gregorous would send a ball into the gap making the game 5-4 Phillies. With a fist-pump at second and the fans at Citizens Bank Park roaring, all the Phillies would have to do is rely on their defense and pitching. With Segura going out swinging, Brad Hand was brought in to save the Phillies. 

Brad Hand and the Phillies were able to put away the Mets with ease in the final innings of the game, winning the first game of their four game series. With such a heated rivalry, the rest of the series will be must watch TV.

Aidan Tyksinski, Staff

Header Image: NASCAR

Courtesy of Nascar

As I watched the Daytona 500 this weekend, the first and by far the biggest race of the NASCAR season, it made me remember the first NASCAR race that I was excited to watch. The race was Martinsville in 2020. Although I was excited, it was not just because it was the first time this historic track was being used at night, nor was it because it was the only live sport happening that night due to the pandemic. 

I was excited to watch because earlier that day, NASCAR officials announced that fans could no longer wave Confederate flags on race days. It was a move that no one expected, but in the wake of the George Floyd cases, the heads of NASCAR realized that it was an important step to highlight that they, as an organization, were dedicated to being a more inclusive group.

While the banning of the Confederate flag was huge news, NASCAR has been working on trying to diversify the sport for many years. For as long as anyone can remember, NASCAR had long been a sport dominated by white men, both on and off the track. Prior to 2020, only one black man (Wendell Scott Sr.) had ever won a NASCAR Cup race, which he did all the way back in  1964. In between Scott’s win to the turn of the century, there were no other permanent minority drivers in the Cup Series. Clearly, NASCAR had a diversity problem. So, in the early 2000s, they decided to fix it.

In 2004, NASCAR created Drive for Diversity, a program dedicated to getting more minority drivers to experience driving, owning and working for NASCAR teams. The program was also created to help those in lower-income families be able to get the resources to drive without having to put their own money into racing. After 18 years, the program has been largely a success. 

Three of the best racers for the NASCAR Cup Series today went through the Drive for Diversity program at some point in their career. Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr., who last season became the second African American racer to win a Cup Series race, was part of the program in 2010. Kyle Larson, whose mother is Japanese-American, participated in the program in 2012. Daniel Suarez, a Mexican-American racer, was part of Drive for Diversity in 2013 and 2014. Suarez has one top-five finish and four top-10 finishes in his Cup Series career, while Larson finished 2021 as the regular season and overall champion.

This isn’t to say NASCAR hasn’t had a few bumps in the road with their program. The sport has only ever had one full-time woman driver in the Cup Series (Danica Patrick), and in 2020 Kyle Larson was suspended for the entire season after using a racial slur during an E-Sports race while the actual season was shut down from the pandemic. However, the number of female drivers at the lower levels and NASCAR’s swift action against Larson shows that the sport is not messing around when it comes to diversity and racial sensitivity.

While leagues like the NHL and MLB are struggling to get more minority athletes into the sport and the NFL is facing heavy criticism over the lack of Black coaches in the league, NASCAR is showing the sports world that diversity can be accomplished without using affirmative action or making false promises to players about what they will do to make the league more diverse. While the Cup Series and NASCAR have a long way to go, the sport is making strides that no one thought was possible 20 years ago, and that is an accomplishment everyone can appreciate.   

KC Medico, Staff 

The Toronto Maple Leafs visited the Philadelphia Flyers in a star-studded battle. The Leafs come into this game second in the Atlantic Division and the Flyers fourth in the Metropolitan Division. What was sure to be a close offensive battle quickly turned into the Leafs dominating the Flyers for three consecutive periods. 

What started this domination was an extremely controversial goal scored by William Nylander in the second period to make the score 1-0. The play started in the neutral zone where Justin Holl intercepted the puck to stop the Flyers’ breakout. Holl passed the puck to Michael Bunting who quickly dished it to Auston Mathews waiting on the blue line. Mathews one-touch passes the puck to a speeding Jake Muzzin who was gaining the Flyers zone. Muzzin attempts to throw the puck to the net to create a chance for Nylander but takes a high awkward bounce off Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim. While in the air, it seemed to perfectly land at Nylander’s foot. It then appears as if Nylander kicks the puck in the net. The call was originally no goal. Upon further review, the refs indicated that he did not kick the puck in the net and it was a good goal. When asked about the goal Nylander stated he didn’t know if he kicked it in or not. 

“I didn’t really know if I kicked it in or not but when I got back to the bench they told me it was a goal. So I was pretty confident it was a goal,” said Nylander.

Nylander would go on to score another goal this time on the power play in the third period and Ondrej Kase would seal the deal-making it 3-0 with five minutes left to play. 

The Flyers struggled on the power play going 0-4. The Flyers’ power play this season has been below average as they are ranked 18 in the league in power-play percentage. During their power play, it seemed that they had a tough time possessing the puck as the Leafs had a very aggressive defense style. Head Coach for the Flyers Alain Vigneault stated in his post-game interview, “our power play drained us of a little bit of momentum and energy. We weren’t very efficient so we’ll be better next game.” 

The Flyers play their next game against the Carolina Hurricanes who have the 10th best penalty kill in the NHL. If the Flyers want to find success they will need to figure things out on the power play.

KC Medico, Staff 

The second place Philadelphia 76ers faced off against the third place Chicago Bulls in a showdown that came down to the wire. Seth Curry was the one to hit the dagger that would put the game on ice and Joel Embiid who saved their lead with a monster block resulting in the Sixers winning 103-98. 

Coming into this game, the Sixers were missing three of their starters: Ben Simmons who continues to sit out due to mental health issues, Danny Green out with a hamstring injury and Tobias Harris who tested positive for COVID-19 earlier this week. The 76ers needed to rely on their remaining starters Seth Curry and Joel Embiid to get the job done. 

Curry has been hot by  starting the season averaging 17.1 points and is second in the NBA in three point percentage shooting at 54.1 percent. His hot streak continued into this game where he finished with a statline of 22 points, went 9-for-14 from the field, and five rebounds. 

In a post-game interview, Doc Rivers stated, “You know what he’s doing better, everybody knows who he is now and last year I thought if you got physical with him, they could take him off the ball and deny the catches.” 

Rivers also added that, “Now he’s being relentless in getting open and once he gets open with Joel (Embiid) coming, it’s a tough cover for anyone so we put them in that coverage.”

Joel Embiid had a quiet game putting up 18 points. However, he got a crucial block in the final seconds of the game and with 10 seconds left, the Bulls had a chance to cut the deficit to a one score game. Lonzo Ball inbounded the ball to DeMar DeRozan at the top of the key. DeRozan got a block which allowed him to get a clear path to the basket. He went up for the dunk but out of nowhere Embiid came swooping in to block the dunk attempt to officially seal the game. The call on the floor was initially a foul but upon further review it was clear Embiid got nothing but the ball. 

There were a few headaches along the way to this win for the Sixers, as DeRozan had his third 30-point game in a row finishing with a total 37 points. With help from Zach Lavine who finished with 27 points, the two got on a hot streak to tie the game with six minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. If not for great plays from Curry and Embiid, the outcome of this game would have favored the Bulls. 

The Sixers will move on trying to continue their early push for the first place spot in the Eastern Conference as Curry and Embiid try to stay hot with their three other starters out to start the season.