FRIDAY SPORTS: Paladins lose in overtime

Tre Bussey poured in 26 points and Angel Matias and Jelani Hewitt netted 21 apiece to lead Georgia Southern to an 88-81 overtime victory over Furman in Southern Conference men’s basketball action on Thursday night at Hanner Fieldhouse in Statesboro, Ga. The defeat dropped the Paladins to 6-12 overall and 0-5 in the SoCon. They get another chance Saturday night at The Citadel. Airtime time along the network is 6:30 PM.

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South Carolina junior guard Tyrone Johnson, who suffered a right foot injury during the first half of Wednesday’s SEC contest at Texas A&M, has been diagnosed with a right foot fracture after further evaluation in Columbia on Thursday, Gamecock head coach Frank Martin announced. Johnson’s injury will require surgery and he will be out indefinitely.

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In the NBA Thursday, The Brooklyn Nets improved to 3-0 in regular season games in London with a 127-110 win over the Atlanta Hawks across the pond.

The Houston Rockets scored a whopping 73 points in the first half of their game Thursday night. But they wound up losing 104-92 to the Oklahoma City Thunder after then being held to just 19 points in the second half, tied for the second-fewest points in a second half in NBA history. Houston did set an NBA record for the largest scoring differential between two halves.

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Serena Williams advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open on Friday, beating 31st-seeded Daniela Hantuchova 6-3, 6-3 for a record 61st career victory at the Grand Slam tournament that she’s won five times. Margaret Court previously held the record with 60 Australian Open wins. Also winning on the fourth straight day of blistering temperatures were Li Na, Angelique Kerber and David Ferrer.

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Major League Baseball Thursday approved a huge expansion of instant replay, with owners, players and umpires all giving their okay. Each manager will be allowed to challenge at least one call per game, but not ball-and-strike calls, and if he’s right, he’ll get another challenge. After the seventh inning, a crew chief can request a review if the manager has used his challenges. All reviews will be done by umpires at a replay center in MLB’s New York office. Baseball began using replay in 2008, but only for close calls on home runs.