Senior Jason Dunne scored 23 points and helped the Univeristy of Hartford men’s basketball team stun Boston College — for the second time in three years — when he hit three free throws to send the game to overtime tied at 69, before J.R. Lynch scored 7 of his 26 points in OT, carrying the Hawks to a 79-78 victory over their Atlantic Coast Conference hosts on Monday. Ky Bowman led the Eagles (9-3) with a career-high 44 points and also had 10 rebounds, but he committed seven turnovers. Two years ago at Conte Forum, Dunne nailed a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of Hartford’s first-ever win over an ACC opponent. On Monday, Nik Popovic had 13 points and 10 rebounds for BC before he fouled out in OT. The loss snapped BC’s three-game win streak.
‘‘It’s our team’s job to take ownership for it,’’ said BC coach Jim Christian. ‘‘This is basketball. They outplayed us. They probably got 30 loose balls that we didn’t get.’’ Lynch was fouled by Popovic on a driving basket and hit the free throw, giving the Hawks a 77-74 edge with 1:14 left in OT. He hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it 78-75 with 19.7 seconds left. Bowman then missed a last-gasp 3 before Travis Weatherington’s free throw made it a four-point lead.
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Alford out as UCLA’s basketball coach
Steve Alford was fired as UCLA men’s basketball coach after the Bruins (7-6) were mired in a four-game skid that included losses at home to Belmont (74-72) and Liberty (73-58), the latter of which Alford described as the most disappointing of his 28-year coaching career. Athletic director Dan Guerrero said assistant Murry Bartow will serve as interim coach through the end of the season . . . Duke remained atop the AP top 25 men’s poll with Michigan, Tennessee, Virginia, and Kansas rounding out the top five . . . In the AP women’s top 25 poll, UConn, Notre Dame, and Louisville remained the top three teams with Maryland and Oregon rounding out the top five.
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College football
Scarlett keys Stanford’s Sun Bowl win
Cameron Scarlett scored on a 1-yard run and recovered a fumble in the end zone for a second score to lead Stanford to a 14-13 victory over Pittsburgh in the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. The Cardinal (9-4) finished on a four-game winning streak, while the Panthers (7-7) lost their fourth straight bowl game and sixth in the past seven after falling to playoff championship finalist Clemson in the ACC title game . . . Michael Warren ran for a career-high 166 yards and scored the go-ahead touchdown for Cincinnati (11-2) with 1:29 left in a soggy 35-31 Military Bowl victory over Virginia Tech in Annapolis, Md., ending a run of 25 consecutive winning seasons for the Hokies (6-7) . . . Duke quarterback Daniel Jones and linebacker Joe Giles-Harris, and Florida defensive end Jachai Polite all announced they were skipping their senior seasons to enter the NFL Draft . . . Mississippi hired Rich Rodriguez, the former head coach at West Virginia, Michigan, and Arizona, as its next offensive coordinator . . . New Georgia Tech coach Geoff Collins announced he is bringing offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude and defensive coordinator Andrew Thacker from his previous Temple staff to Atlanta.
Hockey
Russia tops Canada in world juniors
Bruins drat pick Pavel Shen scored the go-ahead goal in the third period Monday night, and Russia held on to beat Canada, 2-1, in the round-robin Group A finale for both teams at the world junior hockey championship in Vancouver, British Columbia. The win gave Russia top spot in Group A, while Canada finished in second place.
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Sweden finished the round-robin phase first in Group B.
Miscellany
Iguodala fined $25k for heaving ball
Andre Iguodala of the Golden State Warriors was fined $25,000 by the NBA for his “hostile act” of heaving a ball into the stands at the end of the first half of Golden State’s 115-105 victory in Portland on Saturday night. Iguodala immediately received a technical foul for hurling the ball deep into the end zone seats . . . Fifth-ranked Juan Martin del Potro will miss the Australian Open as he continues his recovery from a knee injury. The 30-year-old Argentine, a US Open finalist, fractured his right kneecap after a fall at the Shanghai Masters in October . . . Fulham said it will take the ‘‘strongest possible action’’ after Aboubakar Kamara was racially abused on social media following his penalty miss on Saturday for the Premier League team . . . Russia missed an end-of-year deadline to turn over data on its athletes to the global regulator of drugs in sports, raising the specter of new penalties arising from a broad, state-supported cheating scandal.