Check out the scores and top performances from Wednesday’s high school basketball and flag football action.
National Finals Rodeo
Dedan Thomas Jr. made two big baskets late, and the UNLV men’s basketball team defeated No. 22-ranked Utah State on Wednesday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
The third-ranked Centennial boys basketball team won its 11th straight game Wednesday behind a huge night from junior Jayonni Durrough.
Take a look at some editorial cartoons from across the U.S. and world.
There’s never a dull moment during the 10-day run of the National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center. Trevor Brazile already has won his 11th all-around title and a record-breaking 19th world championship gold buckle.
To fully understand the mentality of a bull rider, one only has to listen to Trey Benton III talk for a few minutes about how things went at his last rodeo of the regular season, in Puyallup, Wash.
Well folks, we’re here again. On the precipice of history, with just one more round remaining at this year’s Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, only two hours of competition separate certain contestants from gold buckles and immortality.
There are many rodeo superstitions — from always shave before a performance (to clean yourself up for Lady Luck) to never compete with change in your pocket (because that might be all you will win) — but the biggest of them all is setting your hat on a bed.
Clay O’Brien Cooper is old enough to be the father of many of his team roping peers. Yet Father Time still hasn’t caught up to the 52-year-old, who is competing in his 27th National Finals Rodeo, his 23rd at the Thomas &Mack Center.
Defending champion Tuf Cooper came into the National Finals Rodeo with a big lead in tie-down roping, but he’s being challenged by five-time world champ Cody Ohl, all-around champ Trevor Brazile, Shane Hanchey and Scott Kourmos. Cooper is trying to become the first tie-down roper to win three straight world titles since his father, rodeo Hall of Famer Roy Cooper, won five in a row from 1980 to 1984.
Countless cowboys have been crowned world champions in Las Vegas since the city started hosting the National Finals Rodeo in 1985, but only four Nevada natives have won world titles in the 77-year history of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association.
Jule Hazen has been stellar so far in steer wrestling at the National Finals Rodeo and is challenging Casey Martin for the gold buckle. Martin had led the standings most of the year. Bray Armes, Dean Gorsuch and Dakota Eldridge, one of three Nevada cowboys in the NFR, also have shown well in Las Vegas.