Patriots, Bengals Clinch Playoff Spots; Giants Out

Fast break Why the Buffs won: They kept their composure all night, especially through adversity in the second half. Down the stretch, they were exceptional on defense and hit timely shots. Three stars: 1. Jade Masogayo: Perhaps her best game as a Buff, she had 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting, tied her season high with seven rebounds and blocked two shots. 2.

Despite squandering a double-digit advantage in the second half, Colorado State men’s basketball regained the lead in the final minutes and held on to defeat Nevada, 66-64, and open conference play with a victory Saturday in Reno, Nev. With the win, the Rams improved to 7-5 overall and 1-0 in the Mountain West Conference. With 15 minutes, 27 seconds left in the second half, Kyan Evans hit a 3-pointer to give the Rams a 44-33 lead.

Around the AFC Allen on top: As great as Josh Allen has been over seven seasons in Buffalo, he’s almost always been in the shadow of at least one other quarterback in the league. In his one All-Pro season, it was Aaron Rodgers with the Packers. Since then, it’s been Patrick Mahomes with the Chiefs or Joe Burrow in Cincinnati.

SAN JOSE — It wasn’t a typical game day question, but Jared Bednar needed nanoseconds to offer his answer. Does the coach of the Colorado Avalanche ever have time to sit back and appreciate the guys this organization selected near the top of the draft and what they’ve become? “Every day,” he said. The Avalanche boasts three of the very best players in the world — Nathan MacKinnon, Cale Makar and Mikko Rantanen — all of whom were selected in the top of an NHL draft by Colorado.

In his last months of college wrestling, Andrew Alirez is more focused on performing well than worrying about results. If he wrestles to the best of his ability, without getting all hung up on the score or the match, he said, then he’ll do what he returned to Northern Colorado this year to do: win a second NCAA title. “I just feel in my heart nobody has seen the best version of me out there,” he said.

OAKLAND — Rickey Henderson, the Oakland kid who became the greatest leadoff hitter in baseball history and his hometown A’s biggest star, has died. Henderson would have turned 66 on Christmas Day. After a frenzy of social media speculation overnight, multiple sources confirmed to the Bay Area News Group on Saturday morning that Henderson had died on Friday.