South Florida Local News

GAINESVILLE — Florida leading scorer Walter Clayton Jr. will explore whether to enter the NBA Draft before deciding whether to return to the Gators for his senior season.

The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Clayton, a junior from Lake Wales, announced his decision Monday on his social media accounts.

“I am grateful for being able to come back this past year and be a part of something special being built her in Gainesville,” the 21-year-old wrote.

Clayton transferred from St. John’s in 2023 to join the Gators, who finished 24-12 and reached the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2021.

UF guard Walter Clayton Jr. tied a Florida record with 42 consecutive free throws made and had a top-10 single-season UF free throw percentage at .877. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

He led the team with a 17.6 scoring average, the most since Anthony Roberson averaged 17.9 in 2003-04. Clayton closed with season-high 33 points during a 102-100 loss to Colorado March 22 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. He scored UF’s final 16 points in the game during a furious comeback bid.

Clayton finished the season with team-high 93 3-pointers and 87.7% free-throw percentage, but also led the Gators with 80 turnovers against 93 assists.

He has until June 16 to decide whether to remain eligible for the draft, scheduled for 10 days later in Brooklyn, N.Y. Clayton wrote he’d play the 2024-25 season for “no other [school] than the University of Florida,” if he withdraws his name from draft consideration.

Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. #1 of the Florida Gators shoots the ball against the Alabama Crimson Tide during the quarterfinals of the SEC Basketball Tournament at Bridgestone Arena on March 15, 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

Clayton is the next in line of one-time UF stars to consider their professional opportunities before returning to school, joining Tre Mann in 2020, Colin Castleton in 2022 and Riley Kugel in 2023. Each returned to UF for another season. Mann developed into a lottery pick in 2021, Castleton is currently with the Los Angeles Lakers and Kugel transferred last week to Kansas after a disappointing sophomore season.

The Gators lose point guard Zyon Pullin, who led the SEC in assist-to-turnover ratio, and power forward Tyrese Samuel, who recorded a team-high 11 double-doubles. Big man Micah Handlogten suffered a compound fracture of his lower left leg during the opening minutes of a loss to Auburn in the SEC tournament final, leaving the 7-foot-1 sophomore to face a long road to recovery.

Wing Will Richard is expected to return for his senior season while post players Alex Condon Jr. and Thomas Haugh made major contributions as true freshmen.

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com.

The Miami Hurricanes added a top tight end to their 2025 recruiting class Monday evening.

Four-star prospect Luka Gilbert committed to Miami, announcing his decision on social media. He committed to the Hurricanes over offers from Kentucky, Michigan, Penn State and Ohio State, among others.

“It’s all about the (U)!” Gilbert wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “Go ‘Canes.”

Gilbert, who is listed as the No. 12 tight end and the No. 254 player in the class by 247Sports’ composite rankings, is the first tight end in UM’s current recruiting class.

An Ohio native who plays for Lakota West High, Gilbert had 15 catches for 171 yards and two touchdowns last year.

Gilbert has the prototypical size to play tight end, measuring in at 6 foot 7 and 233 pounds. Miami’s staff likes Gilbert’s football IQ, hands, range and body control, a source told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

The Hurricanes have a deep tight end room, most of whom will likely be on the team next year, too. Miami has veteran tight ends Elijah Arroyo and Cam McCormick, rising second-year tight ends Riley Williams and Jackson Carver and standout freshman Elija Lofton.

Miami currently has six commits in the 2025 class.

While the overriding factor for the Miami Heat’s 117-115 road loss Sunday to the Indiana Pacers was an early 22-point deficit, the NBA on Monday cited a pair of officiating errors that went against the Heat in the league’s Last Two Minute officiating report.

—  The report said Heat guard Tyler Herro should have gone to line for three free throws with Heat down five with 55.1 seconds to play, with, instead, no call made on Herro’s errant 3-point attempt.

According to the NBA report, “(T.J.) McConnell (IND) makes contact with the part of Herro’s (MIA) hand that is not on the ball during his release and affects his jump shot attempt.”

— When the Heat trapped Pacers center Myles Turner and forced a turnover with 17.1 seconds left and down two, the officiating report said a foul should not have been called on the Heat, with Heat forward Haywood Highsmith coming up with the ball. Turner instead converted a pair of free throws for a four-point Indiana lead.

According to the NBA report, “(Bam) Adebayo (MIA) makes clean contact with the ball, simultaneous to Herro (MIA) making incidental hand-on-ball contact to dislodge it from Turner (IND).”

The NBA, however, confirmed the call of a lane violation on Herro on intentional free-throw miss with 3.5 seconds left and Heat down two.

According to the report, “Herro (MIA) extends beyond the plane of the free throw line before his free throw shot attempt touches the basket.”

The NBA only offers reports for the final two minutes of games that stand without three points at any point of the final two minutes. The report on Heat-Pacers cited 18 correct calls and the two calls deemed incorrect, a ratio that is not atypical.

By BRIAN WITTE (Associated Press)

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said Monday he plans to meet with members of Congress this week to discuss support for rebuilding the collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, which has blocked the main shipping channel at Baltimore’s port for nearly two weeks.

“I’m going to be spending part of this week with our delegation going down and meeting with leaders and ranking members in the Congress and letting them know that this issue is not partisan. This is a patriotic responsibility to be able to support one of this country’s great economic engines,” Moore said in an interview with The Associated Press. “This is an opportunity to support a port that is directly responsible for the hiring of tens of thousands of people.”

As Maryland lawmakers reached the end of their legislative session Monday, a measure authorizing use of the state’s rainy day fund to help port employees had strong support and was expected to pass.

The bridge collapsed March 26 after being struck by the cargo ship Dali, which lost power shortly after leaving Baltimore, bound for Sri Lanka. The ship issued a mayday alert with just enough time for police to stop traffic, but not enough to save a roadwork crew filling potholes on the bridge.

Authorities believe six workers — immigrants from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador — plunged to their deaths in the Patapsco River. Two others survived. The bodies of three workers have been recovered, but the search for the other victims continues.

Moore said the state remains focused on supporting the families of the six workers and bringing them closure.

“We are still very much focused on bringing closure and comfort to these families, and the operations to be able to bring that closure to these families,” Moore said. “It has not stopped. It continues to be a 24/7 operation.”

Temporary, alternate channels have been cleared, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said last week that it expects to open a limited-access channel for barge container ships and some vessels moving cars and farm equipment by the end of April. Officials are aiming to restore normal capacity to Baltimore’s port by the end of May.

Moore was upbeat about progress in reopening channels.

He said that if he had been told the morning of the collapse that there would be two channels open in two weeks, “I would have said that sounds really ambitious, considering what we saw, but that’s where we are.”

The governor also spoke of progress in removing debris, saying that crews were able to pull 350 tons (318 metric tons) of steel from the Patapsco River on Sunday.

More than 50 salvage divers and 12 cranes are on site to help cut out sections of the bridge and remove them from the key waterway. Crews began removing containers from the deck over the weekend, and they’re making progress toward removing sections of the bridge that lie across the ship’s bow so it can eventually move, according to the Key Bridge Response Unified Command.

The two men who were killed in a multi-car crash in West Park on Saturday afternoon have been identified as Juan Perez and Jose Perez Domingo.

Juan Perez was driving a 2006 Nissan Altima south near the 2500 block of South State Road 7 shortly after 2 p.m. and entered the path of another driver in a 2015 Audi S4 while turning left onto Southwest 25th Street, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said Monday.

The front of the Audi crashed into the passenger side of the Nissan, forcing the Nissan into a concrete utility pole, the Sheriff’s Office said. Miramar Fire Rescue pronounced Juan Perez and his passenger, Jose Perez Domingo, dead at the scene.

The man driving the Audio had two passengers, both children. The Sheriff’s Office did not release their ages. All three were taken to the hospital but were expected to recover.

Traffic Homicide detectives are investigating. They do not believe impairment was a factor in the crash.

Two dead, three hospitalized after multi-vehicle crash in West Park

Adam Van Brimmer | (TNS) The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

SAVANNAH, Ga. — For years, the face of travel in this antebellum town tended to be sun-kissed pink and slightly sweaty, peering from the open-air window of a fully loaded tourist trolley.

Not anymore.

The luxury traveler is an increasing presence in Savannah, and the more discerning visitors are spurring rapid expansion of high-end hotels. The fourth such property to open in the last six years began operations last month, and two more luxury offerings, including a Ritz-Carlton, are in development.

Demand is high: the occupancy rate for Savannah’s luxury hotels topped 77% in 2023, higher than the upscale, mid-price, economy and even budget segments. The average rate was $265.71, and revenue per available room, a key industry metric, eclipsed $200.

Room rates at the city’s three premier properties — the J.W. Marriott Plant Riverside District, the Perry Lane Hotel and the Hotel Bardo, with a combined 700-plus rooms — often top $400 a night.

According to Michael Owens, a longtime hotelier who now heads an industry advocacy group, the Savannah Tourism Leadership Council, Savannah is “having a moment” with the luxury traveler — but one that’s built to last.

“The success reflects a concerted effort by the industry leaders in this town to seek the guest who buys by the bottle instead of by the glass,” Owens said. “We’ve arrived.”

Game-changing properties

Savannah has rapidly evolved as a visitor destination over the last three decades.

The Hotel Bardo is located in a 19th-century mansion in the historic district of Savannah, Georgia. The hotel, which just opened in February 2024, is the latest example of luxury accommodations in the city. (Left Lane/Hotel Bardo/TNS)

The city’s historic district often doubles as a movie set and a now 70-year-long historic preservation movement has brought notoriety. Add in a well-executed marketing strategy over the last two decades and the city’s tourism appeal has never been higher. According to an annual visitation study, Savannah attracted about 10 million overnight visitors last year, nearly double the volume from the pre-Great Recession years.

But until 15 years ago, luxury travelers made up a small percentage of those come-and-stay visitors. Prior to the Great Recession, those tourists had to choose between a well-appointed bed-and-breakfast or historic inn such as the Marshall House, or a suite at the Westin, Marriott, Hyatt Regency or Hilton.

Many decided instead to treat Savannah as a day trip during a visit to nearby Charleston or Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, two well-established luxury travel markets. Not until the 2009 opening of the Avia, a 150-room hotel on Ellis Square now known as the Andaz, did Savannah boast a large-scale, high-end property on par with what could be found up the coast.

“The Avia got more of those luxury travelers to stay the night here,” said Joe Marinelli, president of Visit Savannah, the local convention and visitors bureau. “Once it started happening, the others followed.”

The J.W. Marriott Plant Riverside District and the Perry Lane Hotel, another Marriott luxury property, were the “game-changers” for Savannah, Marinelli said.

Plant Riverside is a $400 million redevelopment of a century-old electricity-generating facility located along the Savannah River. The property opened in 2020 and is as much a natural history museum as a hotel, complete with a 135-foot-long, chrome-plated dinosaur skeleton that hangs from the lobby’s roof.

The Perry Lane, meanwhile, is tastefully elegant and has elevated expectations for service levels. Upon its 2018 opening, the hotel’s staff-to-guest ratio was the lowest in the city and included a butler on each floor. Conde Nast named the Perry Lane to its 2019 “Best New Hotels in the World” list, and TripAdvisor ranked it “Best Hotel in the U.S.” in 2023.

The courtyard of the Hotel Bardo includes an expansive seating area for guests to relax in. The hotel, which opened in February 2024, is the latest example of luxury accommodations in Savannah, Georgia. (Left Lane/Hotel Bardo/TNS)

The Perry Lane sold in 2021, but the original operators saw tremendous potential for luxury travel business in Savannah. The group, Left Lane, is behind the Hotel Bardo and is developing another high-end property in a historic building located on Johnson Square in downtown.

“We always believed in the depths of the luxury market here,” said Pritpal Singh, Left Lane’s chief operating officer and the firm’s frontman in Savannah. “At first, we went with anecdotal data, with gut feel, at the Perry Lane. Running that hotel for three years gave us hard data, and by the time we’d sold, we’d fallen in love with this city. We know we can do more here.”

Richard Kessler, a hotel business legend and the owner at Plant Riverside, feels likewise, albeit for different reasons. He grew up in the Savannah area and it was during his formative professional years with another local hotelier, Cecil Day of Days Inn fame, that he says he recognized the potential for luxury travel in Savannah.

He opened what is considered Savannah’s first large high-end hotel, the Mulberry Inn on Bay Street, in 1982. At the time, downtown Savannah’s renaissance was in its infancy — the transformation of River Street from rundown to respectable happened in the late 1970s — and the Mulberry remained an outlier.

Kessler left Days Inn in 1984 and started his own company, best known for the Grand Bohemian line of hotels. He didn’t invest heavily in Savannah again until 2005, when he opened The Mansion at Forsyth Park, the property recently redeveloped by Singh and Left Lane as the Hotel Bardo.

He added the 75-room Grand Bohemian Savannah Riverfront in 2009 – a hotel fondly known as a “rooftop nightclub with rooms beneath it — and started work on Plant Riverside a few years later.

“People with money can go anywhere, and there are a lot of places to go in this world for luxury,” Kessler said. “What we’re see in Savannah now is a destination that is stepping up to the line to offer quality in many areas.”

The lobby of the J.W. Marriott Plant Riverside District includes a chrome-plated dinosaur skeleton and other natural history artifacts. The $400 million project opened in 2020. (The Kessler Collection/TNS)

The luxury hotel boom and the steady demand for rooms have resulted in other properties in Savannah elevating their guest experiences, particularly those located downtown that carry the international name brands. The Marriott Savannah Riverfront, the Hyatt Regency and the DeSoto Hotel, long a Hilton property until going independent in 2017, have undergone extensive renovations in the last decade.

But the biggest difference, say industry leaders Marinelli and Owens, is in the quality of the workforce. The Perry Lane set a new standard for guest service, leading rival properties to embrace more extensive training programs. And because the hotel industry is transient by nature, many top-level employees at the luxury hotels have been lured away to other spots in town and have brought their expertise — and expectations — with them.

“Labor is the key ingredient,” Owens said. “So many of the leaders in this industry started at the very bottom, washing dishes or cleaning rooms. They’re used to competition, and that’s what success is all about.”

Boosted by Bardo?

The Hotel Bardo seeks to once again redefine Savannah luxury travel.

The property is unique. Built in the late 1800s across Drayton Street from Savannah’s famed Forsyth Park, the Romanesque Revival-style mansion was originally a personal residence for one of Savannah’s most successful Reconstruction-era businessman, Lewis Kayton.

Left Lane bought the property for $52.5 million in 2022 and spent more than a year renovating it into what Singh calls an “urban resort” and wellness retreat, with a spa, fitness center and expansive pool deck. The Bardo received a “Leading Hotels of the World” designation upon its opening, and speculation is it could become Savannah’s first five-star hotel.

According to Singh, the Bardo brings experiences found in other luxury markets but missing in Savannah, such as a club for local residents that allows access to the hotel’s wellness offerings. This environment enhances the visitor experience because it encourages mingling with Savannahians on the property.

“The one responsibility we have is to not allow gravity to set in — you can’t take your foot off the gas when you’re doing something new and innovative,” Singh said. “We have to propel ourselves and the rest of this market in the direction of providing better experiences for the luxury traveler.”

______

©2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A cold case that Miramar Police considered the oldest one in the city’s history to be “solved” came to an end Monday with Ronald Eugene Richards pleading no contest and accepting a 12-year sentence in the 1980 murder and sexual assault of Evelyn Marie Fisher-Bamforth.

Richards, 76, was indicted on charges of first-degree murder and sexual battery in December 2022, over 40 years after Fisher-Bamforth went to sleep at her Miramar home on Jan. 22, 1980, and was assaulted and bludgeoned to death during the night.

Miramar Police considered Richards a person of interest as soon as three months after her murder, but there was not enough evidence at the time to build a case against him, Det. Jonathan Zeller said at a 2022 news conference announcing his indictment. Police re-tested DNA evidence multiple times over the years, and with advancements in technology were able to bring charges.

Defense attorney Gabe Ermine said Richards will serve his 12-year sentence in Ohio concurrently with a separate sentence he has been serving in that state. Had Richards been convicted at trial, he could have received a life sentence for the sexual battery charge, Ermine said.

‘I think this is a serial killer’: Man indicted in 40-year-old Miramar cold case had previous manslaughter conviction

Richards could serve less than the 12-year sentence due to gain time under Florida law, which would shorten the sentence, his attorney said. Ohio Department of Corrections records show the earliest he is eligible for parole is in July 2027.

The State Attorney’s Office said in an email Monday afternoon that the earliest Richards could be released is in 2039.

“We are thankful that — with Miramar Police’s hard work on this cold case from 1980 — that we were able to deliver justice for the victim’s family and ensure that the defendant will likely spend the rest of his life in prison,” the State Attorney’s Office statement said.

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Richards became a person of interest in Fisher-Bamforth’s murder in March 1980 when law enforcement officials in Volusia County contacted Miramar Police for assistance arresting Richards in a separate assault and attempted murder of a woman they were investigating in that county.

In the Volusia County case, Richards was convicted in 1981 and spent 39 years in prison. He was released in May 2020, Florida Department of Corrections records show, however the conviction was a violation of his parole in Ohio, where he was convicted of manslaughter against his girlfriend in 1975, leading to his current re-incarceration there.

Amy Beth Bennett/South Florida Sun SentinelInformation about Evelyn Marie Fisher-Bamforth is displayed during a news conference at the Miramar Police Department on Thursday, Dec. 1, 2022. Ronald Eugene Richards is accused of raping and killing Fisher-Bamforth in 1980.

Richards served four years in prison in Ohio for the manslaughter charge and came to Florida after he was released on parole in 1979. He lived in a home nearby Fisher-Bamforth and her husband, John Bamforth, in the Haven Lakes Estates Mobile Home Park and was known to jog at night, Zeller said.

Fisher-Bamforth’s husband, who lives in England, spoke briefly at Monday’s hearing by Zoom and thanked Miramar Police for their continued work, and thanked Richards for resolving the case, Ermine said.

Information from the Sun Sentinel archives was used in this report. 

Angela Ajayi | (TNS) Star Tribune

Everyone should know the name Percival Everett by now. His “Also by Percival Everett” lists read like discographies, revealing more than 30 novels with resonant, sometimes playful titles such as “The Trees,” a Booker Prize contender, or “Dr. No,” published by Graywolf Press. Movie “American Fiction,” which just won a screenplay Oscar, is based on his 2001 satire “Erasure.”

His latest, “James,” also playful and resonant, is a rewrite of a deeply controversial classic, Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.” Today, the novel’s use of racially charged language rattles us. One epithet appears more than 200 times in the unsanitized text. (At some point, an attempt was made to replace the word with “slave.”)

Among other offenses are its derogatory depictions of the enslaved Jim, who is rendered illiterate and mostly unintelligible in colloquial speech. Accusations of minstrelsy have also been rightly lobbed at Twain. Where others might see an exercise in humiliation and vexation, Everett, who is Black, sees an opportunity for re-education and redress.

In his straightforward, easy-prose rewrite of “Finn,” Everett grants us immediate access to that familiar time and place, right before the Civil War, when it was terrifying to be a Black person in Missouri, racially offensive language and all.

As soon as Jim learns he is to be sold, he flees, leaving behind his wife and daughter. Hiding out on nearby Jackson Island, along the Mississippi River, Jim is joined by Huck, who, having faked his death, is on the run from a violent father. Eventually, as fugitives, they cast off downstream toward New Orleans in that rickety canoe – and thus that action-filled adventure story begins.

But there are twists to this new, century-old tale, in which Huck’s own story is mostly secondary. (Some readers who haven’t read the original might wish for more backstory, to help flesh out some scenes.) Our sole protagonist Jim – or James, as he will name himself – harbors a dangerous secret for a slave at that time.

“I am” he confesses, “a man who can read and write, a man who will not let his story be self-related, but self-written.” He also knows how to wield his excellent grasp of language to his benefit, using a “slave filter” – a kind of code switching – when it serves him.

Down river, Jim manages to grab a notebook, some weighty books, among them, Rousseau’s “Discourse in Equality,” as well as a stolen pencil – which, in a shocking lynching scene, ends up costing another man his life.

A fast-paced plot reveals the high stakes. Jim’s path to freedom for himself and his family is riddled with tricksters, hideous danger, an unbelievable revelation and some tragicomedy, including being forced to become part of a traveling minstrel group, performing in black face. (Everett has plenty of derisive fun here, dissecting and subverting damaging stereotypes.)

Ultimately, in Everett’s “James,” we discover a man whose smarts and agency upend the unimaginable indignities of a racist past to help him secure freedom. Ironically, humor and magnanimity, especially toward Huck, also pulse throughout. And, not so ironically, so does Jim’s anger.

For a writer who often plays by few rules, Everett has drawn on what he knows best here – that freedom can be won, one word at a time. Add levity and serious intent and you have a novel that’s a class act.

____

James

By: Percival Everett.

Publisher: Doubleday, 320 pages, $28.

©2024 StarTribune. Visit at startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

INDIANAPOLIS — Observations and other notes of interest from Sunday night’s 117-115 loss to the Indiana Pacers:

– So a play-in opener against Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and the 76ers?

– Or a play-in opener against Tyrese Haliburton, Heat killer T.J. McConnell and the Pacers?

– Either possibly on the road.

– No, Sunday did not produce the type of clarity the Heat wanted and needed.

– Even while fighting the good fight to the finish.

– Instead, Erik Spoelstra’s unit is looking like a team that even might require a second play-in game to make the playoffs.

– Which would be either against DeMar DeRozan and the Bulls.

– Or against Dejounte Murray and the Hawks.

– Even more significant, the play-in, if again escaped, would mean no five-day break heading into the playoffs.

– Hardly what an older roster needs.

– Yes, perhaps Jimmy Butler can conjure the magic again.

– As he almost did Sunday.

– Perhaps Tyler Herro can regain form.

– As he began to Sunday.

– But remember, it took Max Strus to get the Heat out of last season’s play-in.

– And he’s not here anymore.

– The possibility of a top-six seed and direct entry to the playoffs still remains.

– But now it is a long shot.

– A long long shot based on the closing schedules of the Pacers and 76ers.

– It was there for the taking Sunday.

– And the Heat couldn’t take it.

– Coming up heartbreakingly short.

– Although he was listed as questionable an hour before tipoff due to a neck strain, Terry Rozier was back in the Heat lineup, again starting alongside Butler, Bam Adebayo, Nikola Jovic, and Duncan Robinson.

– That lineup is now 7-7.

– But this certainly was a stride forward for Jovic.

– The Pacers opened with Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, Aaron Nesmith, Pascal Siakam, Myles Turner.

– Caleb Martin and Herro entered together in Heat’s first substitution.

– Kevin Love followed.

– With Haywood Highsmith then making it nine deep.

– For the second consecutive game the rotation reached 10 when Jaime Jaquez Jr. entered at the start of the second period.

– Spoelstra said he did not necessarily sense a big-game outlook at the morning walkthrough.

– “I don’t really try to read like feelings,” he said pregame. “I know our locker room. We have a locker room full of competitors that love these kind of moments.”

– But he also said, “This is why we do what we do, for games that feel like this.”

– Spoelstra said there was no need to attempt to conjure more.

– “Our habits are what they are, at this point of year,” he said.

– It was the first time the Heat played the Pacers since Indiana acquired Siakam.

– “Their roster is different with Siakam,” he said.

– It also was the first time the Heat played the Pacers with Rozier on Miami’s roster.

– Of the notion of the Pacers being an offense-first opponent, Spoelstra said, “They have an underrated toughness to them.”

– Adebayo now has a career-high 40 double-doubles this season.

– Jovic extended his career-best streak of games with at least one 3-pointer to 14.

INDIANAPOLIS — To review how the NBA play-in tournament works …

No, this was not the result the Miami Heat needed or even could endure, Sunday night’s 117-115 loss to the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, making it likely that they will have to attempt to earn their way into the playoffs through the treacherous play-in round, where a pair of losses would end their season.

Granted, that would be the same path the Heat took last season in advancing to the NBA Finals, but that was when the Heat played both their play-in games at Kaseya Center, after finishing in seventh place in the East.

Now, with Sunday’s loss, there is the increasing chance of an eighth-place finish, which would put the Heat on the road for their play-in opener, potentially against the 76ers and Joel Embiid in Philadelphia or possibly back in Indiana against these Pacers.

“We’ve never made it easy on ourselves,” forward Jimmy Butler said. “So why make it easy now?”

Unable to hit a shot early and unable to contain the Pacers’ high-octane offense throughout, the Heat’s deficit reached the 20s by the midpoint of the second period.

“They were definitely the assertive ones, the ones that were playing on their terms in the first half, and that certainly got us in a hole,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “In the first half they basically were getting everything.”

Save for a late push, it was a mostly flat performance on a night when a victory would have exponentially improved the Heat’s chances of at least a sixth-place finish and direct path to the best-of-seven opening round of the playoffs.

While Butler came to play, closing with 27 points, the Heat’s shooters did not, with the Heat opening 1 of 14 on 3-pointers. The Heat also got 20 points and 12 rebounds from center Bam Adebayo, 21 points from Tyler Herro, 20 from Caleb Martin and 18 from forward Nikola Jovic.

The Pacers were led by 22 points from reserved guard T.J. McConnell and 22 points and 18 rebounds from Myles Turner.

Five Degrees of Heat from Sunday night’s game:

1. Playoff race: With the loss, the Heat dropped to 43-35, while the victory lifted the Pacers to 45-34. In addition, the victory clinched the season-series tiebreaker 2-1 for the Pacers, and also clinched a potential three-way tiebreaker for the Pacers with the Heat and Philadelphia 76ers.

Even if the Heat win their four remaining regular-season games, Indiana still would finish ahead by going 2-1 in their final three regular-season games. Should the Heat go 3-1, Indiana merely would have to close 1-2 to finish ahead.

The Heat’s remaining games are Tuesday night at the Atlanta Hawks, Wednesday night at home against the Dallas Mavericks, and then a pair of home games to close out the season against the Toronto Raptors, on Friday and Sunday at Kaseya Center. Of those opponents, only the Mavericks have a winning record.

The Pacers close their schedule Tuesday at the Raptors, Friday night at the Cleveland Cavaliers and next Sunday at home against the Hawks.

The teams at Nos. 7-8 meet in a game to determine the No. 7 playoff seed and the right to face the No. 2 seed in the opening round.

The loser of the Nos. 7-8 game then hosts the winner of the Nos. 9-10 game (Chicago Bulls-Hawks) for the right to face the No. 1-seeded Boston Celtics in the opening round, with the loser of that game out of the playoffs and in the draft lottery.

The play-in round begins April 16, two days after the close of the regular season. The playoffs open April 20.

“You want to play games with meaning,” Spoelstra said. “When you say games with meaning, that means there’s also games with consequences.

“The discipline is to rally around each other, focus on the task at hand.”

2. Closing time: The Pacers led 38-24 after the first period and 63-46 at halftime, when the Heat stood 2 of 16 on 3-pointers. The Pacers shot .556 from the field in the first half.

“We just started off bad as a whole.” Butler said.

“That cannot happen,” Adebayo said.

The Heat got within eight late in the third period, before the Pacers took a 91-78 lead into the fourth.

Then, with 5:53 to play, Heat forward Nikola Jovic drew a three-shot foul at the expiration of the shot clock, making all three attempts to get the Heat within 99-92. A Jovic 3-pointer drew the Heat within 103-97 on the way to the Heat making it a 103-101 game with 3:21 to play.

Later, with 23 seconds left, Herro drew a three-shot foul with the Heat down 113-108, making all three attempts to make it 113-111.

Turner then was fouled with 17.1 seconds to play, making both. But Herro responded with a 3-pointer with 11.4 seconds left to make it a 115-114 game.

A pair of Aaron Nesmith free throws put Indiana up 117-114, with the Heat then calling their final timeout.

The Pacers then intentionally fouled Herro with 3.6 seconds left. He made the first free throw to make it 117-115. But the Heat then were called for a lane violation on an intentional miss, effectively ending it.

“We gave ourselves a chance.,” Herro.

The lane violation was cited by Kevin Love on the play-by-play stats transcript, but it appeared it was called on Herro.

“I didn’t think it was a lane violation, at all,” he said.

3. Butler attacks: Butler stood with 13 points at halftime, at 4 of 8 from the field and 5 of 5 from the line. His teammates attempted only four free throws in the half.

Butler went over the 20-point mark with 4:59 to play, a jumper that drew the Heat within 77-68. He went into the fourth with 21 points, at 8 of 8 from the line at that stage, on the bench to start that final period.

Butler then returned with 8:14 left and the Heat down 95-85, with the Pacers smothering him in the paint, essentially daring any other Heat players to beat them.

Butler said he is not obsessing about the standings.

“If we end up in the play-in,” he said, “we end up in the play-in.”

4. Herro ball: Herro again played off the bench in his second game back after missing 20 due to a foot issue. He entered for Terry Rozier with 5:42 left in the opening period.

The Heat opened 0 for 10 on 3-pointers until Herro ended the drought with a conversion with 8:15 left in the second period.

Herro played 25:48 in Friday’s return in the victory over the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center.

Spoelstra said pregame there was not necessarily a minutes restriction on Herro, after returning Friday following a 20-game absence.

“It’s not like that kind of monitoring,” Spoelstra said of Herro’s right foot. “But it is a communication in monitoring between me, him and the training staff. He came out of (Friday’s) game very good.”

Herro scored 14 points in the fourth quarter.

“I’m happy for him,” Butler said. “But a little too late, obviously.”

Spoelstra called the night a net gain for Herro, who played 31:05, including all of the fourth quarter.

“We need his skill level. There’s no doubt about it,” Spoelstra said. “It’s a timely boost right now.

“It’s good to see him moving around and looking like himself.”

5. Rozier ailing: Rozier showed up on the Heat’s injury report earlier Sunday, listed as questionable due to neck stiffness, having taken several blows in recent games that left him prone on the court.

He nonetheless was in the starting lineup, along with Butler, Adebayo, Duncan Robinson and Nikola Jovic.

Rozier entered averaging 23.6 points on .494 percent from the field and .571 on 3-pointers over the previous five games.

Clearly not himself, Rozier closed with four points on 2-of-7 shooting in 22 minutes, a spectator at the finish.

“I should not have went today.” Rozier said of his performance. “I shouldn’t have played.”

Rozier said he said his neck went out while traveling or sleeping.

“I never felt like that,” he said.

Spoelstra said no apologies needed.

“We just appreciate him giving whatever it is,” Spoelstra said. “I just appreciate him being out there.”

By DAVID SOLOMON (Associated Press)

ST. LOUIS — The Miami Marlins ended their team-record nine-game losing streak starting the season when Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Nick Gordon hit three-run homers in a six-run first inning that lifted them over the St. Louis Cardinals 10-3 on Sunday.

“I’m just happy for the guys, they can actually smile and breathe a little bit,” Marlins manager Skip Schumaker said. “Celebrating in there after kind of a long week, long 10 days, two weeks whatever you want to call it. So it just feels really good to be able to smile in there.”

Schumaker would not comment on a report by USA Today that he and Miami had eliminated a 2025 team option from his contract during the offseason.

Miami had been the first team to start 0-9 since Atlanta and Minnesota in 2016. The Marlins avoided becoming the first team to lose its first 10 games since the 2002 Chicago White Sox began 0-11.

Max Meyer (1-0), a 25-year-old right-hander, got his first major league win in his fourth start and appearance. Meyer allowed one run and three hits in six innings, striking out three and walking one.

“Max was really the story today,” Schumaker said. “It’s exactly what we needed. He’s easy to root for. He’s just different out there. He’s a special kid that has this ninth inning mentality every pitch, and he has a bright future here.”

Meyer had Tommy John surgery on Aug. 9, 2022, and returned to a major league mound this April 1, when he pitched five innings without a decision against the Los Angeles Angels.

“It feels good.” Meyer said. “Obviously, I want to go out there and pitch five, six, seven innings every time, and this is just kind of the base. Now, I feel like for me and for all the starters to just go out there and start winning some ballgames.”

Meyer retired his first 13 batters before Nolan Gorman homered on a drive that bounced off the glove of a leaping Chisholm at the center-field wall. Gorman hit his first two home runs this season, adding a two-run drive in the ninth off Matt Andriese for his seventh career multi-homer game.

“After his first at-bat, he sat next to me and he said, ‘Man, I’m feeling better and better every swing, I feel like I’m getting really close,”’ Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. ”Then he hit his first homer and went back and hit his second one.”

Kyle Gibson (1-1) allowed seven runs and seven hits over six innings in his home debut for St. Louis.

“I felt like I executed a lot of pitches late in the game,” Gibson said. “I’ve been told you obviously can’t win the game in the first but you can lose it in the first.

”Unfortunately, I just didn’t give the team a chance to win.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Marlins: LHP Braxton Garrett (left shoulder impingement) allowed two runs on three hits and struck out five throwing 66 pitches in 4 1/3 innings in a rehabilitation start with Triple-A Jacksonville.

Cardinals: RHP Sonny Gray (right hamstring strain) will start Tuesday against Philadelphia. Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol says Gray will be held to a pitch count of approximately 65 pitches.

UP NEXT

Marlins: LHP Jesús Luzardo (0-1, 4.35 ERA) matches up against Yankees LHP Nester Cortes (0-1, 6.30 ERA) to start a three-game series in New York Monday night at 6:05 p.m.

One person is dead and another is critically injured after shooting in Lauderdale Lakes Sunday morning, according to the sheriff’s office.

The incident happened about 11:07 a.m. on the 3000 block of Northwest 41st Street, said Gerdy St. Louis, a spokeswoman for the Broward Sheriff’s Office. She said deputies and fire-rescue officials responded to the area and located two victims.

Paramedics pronounced one person dead at the scene, and the other was taken to a hospital with “life-threatening injuries,” she said.

Homicide detectives are investigating, St. Louis said.

 

On a warm and breezy April morning, Colton Boomer is back where he wants to be — a football field.

It’s midway through UCF’s spring camp, and Boomer is moments away from nailing another field-goal attempt, something he’s done hundreds if not thousands of times starting at Lake Mary High School.

For the first time in more than a year, Boomer is healthy, physically and mentally.

After a phenomenal freshman season in which he connected on 14 of 15 field goals (94%) and 42 of 43 extra points (97%), health issues contributed to a sophomore slump. Boomer’s accuracy dipped to 13 of 21 on field goals (62%) last season, making just 2 of his final 6.

Family atmosphere helps fortify UCF’s offensive line as it continues to evolve

Boomer spent much of last spring camp and summer break in a boot as he worked to get healthy for the fall. He admits he wasn’t 100% when the season started.

“It wasn’t ideal,” said Boomer, who initially hesitated to discuss it and didn’t go into specifics of the injury. “The week before fall camp, I was still in a boot. I just taped it up and said, ‘Let’s go.’ That’s just the type of guy that I am. I won’t sit on the sideline because I’m a little hurt. I wanted to be out there helping the team.”

Boomer connected on his first seven field goals, including a winning 40-yarder against Boise State in Week 2.

Yet, he continued to struggle with his health.

“I didn’t do a good job of knowing my body,” he said. “I feel sorry for what I did to the team for being selfish and putting myself out on the field when I should have said, ‘Hey, this is not good, and I’m not at my best.’

“I was just young and dumb.”

Boomer would miss his next three attempts, including a pair of kicks (32 and 59 yards) against Baylor. This setback, though disappointing, served as a valuable learning experience.

UCF receivers want to demonstrate physicality, swagger

“I definitely tried to play the tough guy,” said Boomer. “It was humbling, and I’m grateful, but I regret how it affected the team.”

Things had gotten so bad that Boomer could hardly walk during the bye week leading up to the Oklahoma game on Oct. 21. Yet he managed to connect on all three field goals (21, 48, 46) against the sixth-ranked Sooners, who held off a late rally to down the Knights, 31-29.

“Advil and Tylenol got me through it,” Boomer said of leading up to the game.

“We knew what he was going through,” said long snapper Gage King. “He did a great job of trying to go to a bunch of specialists to get treatment and rehab and tape it up.”

King, punter Mitch McCarthy and fellow kicker Grant Reddick supported their struggling teammate.

“On game day, he wanted to be out there so it was like, ‘Alright, you’ve got to go,’” added King, “especially when he had a couple of misses. We just tried to pick him up and tell him, ‘You’re good, you know how to do this and you just have to keep it rolling.’”

Said Reddick: “I remember having a one-on-one with each other before the Georgia Tech game, talking about going out there and doing what we could do.”

Eventually, the physical pain and the on-field struggles created mental stress for Boomer.

Energy, effort please Gus Malzahn in UCF’s first spring scrimmage

He readily admits that the pressure he felt at times was self-induced.

Boomer sought help and consulted several coaches before meeting Gio Valiante, a renowned sports psychologist who worked with golfer Tiger Woods.

“With everything I’ve learned now, I feel like a different person,” said Boomer. “It’s cool to see all the things I’ve learned being applied in practice. Going from a result-oriented mindset to a process-oriented mindset is game-changing.”

Now healthy, Boomer believes he’s the best he’s ever been. While his football story isn’t over, his experience this past season reminded him of the song “Hold on Loosely” by the rock band .38 Special.

“Just hold on loosely, but don’t let go. If you cling too tightly, you’re gonna lose control.”

“If you hold on too tight, it’s going to evaporate in front of your eyes,” said Boomer. “Having respect for the game, I thought I could control it. But now I understand it is its own beast. I’m going to try and tame it as much as I can, but I can’t do everything.”

Matt Murschel can be reached at mmurschel@orlandosentinel.com

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A man was charged Sunday with setting a fire outside the Vermont office of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, federal prosecutors said.

Shant Soghomonian, 35, who was previously of Northridge, California, entered the building on Friday and went to Sanders’ third-floor office where security video showed him spraying a liquid on the door and setting it afire, officials said.

The building’s interior suffered some damage from the fire and sprinklers that doused the area with water, but no one was hurt. Sanders, an independent, was not in the office at the time.

Soghomonian was arrested Sunday on a charge of using fire to damage a building used in interstate commerce, according to a statement from Nikolas Kerest, the U.S. attorney for Vermont.

The motive remained unclear. Soghomonian was detained Sunday and could not be reached for comment. It was not immediately known if had a lawyer, and an initial court appearance had not been set, officials said.

The crime carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

The case was investigated by police departments in Burlington, Shelburne and Williston; Vermont State Police; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and U.S. Capitol Police, officials said.

INDIANAPOLIS — Tyler Herro did not want to stop, did not want to appear that he was giving up or giving in to the medial tendinitis in his right foot.

But only when things came to a standstill did Herro regain his footing. Now back in the Miami Heat mix, the fifth-year guard appreciates how stepping back allowed him to step into this playoff race.

“It was just frustrating to just sit down and not be able to be active and traveling and doing my routine,” he said ahead of the middle stop of the Heat’s three-game trip on Sunday against the Indiana Pacers at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. “I’m a big workout guy. I love to work out and stay on top of my game, and it’s tough to do that when I just had to rest.”

So after being sidelined during the Heat’s Feb. 23 road victory over the New Orleans Pelicans, Herro first attempted what he thought would be a path of least resistance.

“I took a week off when we got back from the West Coast trip,” Herro said of the trip that started in New Orleans, “hoping that that was going to be enough for me to come back, and it wasn’t.

“I ramped up and then ultimately that’s what made us decide to get the PRP shot, because the rest wasn’t cutting it.”

As in a platelet-rich plasma injection.

“So the PRP shot was kind of bringing it some extra reinforcement, to kind of hopefully release some pressure on the tendon,” he said. “And I was able to do that with some weeks of rest after the PRP shot. And, ultimately, that’s what got me back on the floor.”

So, no, he neither planned nor opted for 20 games off. Instead, the initial haste might have proven counterproductive.

“I think trying to ramp up and get back every week, and then there’s like a setback and then eventually I just had to sit down and rest,” he said.

Teammate Bam Adebayo said Herro’s frustrations were apparent.

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“He was like a sad puppy when he couldn’t play,” Adebayo said with a smile. “So it’s good to have him over there smiling.”

And again in uniform.

“He stayed ready,” Heat forward Jimmy Butler said. “He stayed engaged and was still around the guys as often as he could be. And he came in and took off right where he left off.”

While there is not a specific minutes restriction in place, playing Herro off the bench in Friday’s return against the Houston Rockets provided the means to have Herro available when needed late.

Friday’s bench appearance was the first for Herro in 103 games, since being named the NBA’s 2022 Sixth Man of the Year.

“I can contribute in five minutes or 35 minutes. I just need to be on the court,” he said. “Just an excitement to be back on the floor doing what I love with my guys.

“It’s hard to just implement me into the starting lineup at this point.”

Coach Erik Spoelsta, of course, rarely tips his hand when it comes to lineups, rotations or certainly postseason plans.

“Whatever Spo decides to do is ultimately up to him,” Herro said. “It’s not an easy decision.

“Obviously, everyone knows I’m a starter in the league. But like I said, to come back with six games left, it’s tough to just implement me into the lineup like that.”

That said, Herro sees a compromise.

“Ultimately, I’m going to get starter minutes, and that’s all that matters,” he said “I’m a starter, but I’ll come off the bench for now.”

Sometimes, elected officials must make hard business decisions that are not necessarily embraced by their constituents but would serve well the taxpayers and voters who elected them.

Case in point: the Broward County school district’s declining enrollment. The county has lost 24,000 students in the last decade alone — amounting to a loss of more than $200 million in annual revenue.

School closures and consolidations must occur in order to be fiscally responsible. The School Board would be wise to engage the services of real estate professionals who can make sound business suggestions on closures and the sale of facilities, leases with charter schools and other unique real estate transactions.

No doubt, parents and children will be impacted by these decisions. But, like it or not, a school operating at below 70% of capacity simply makes no sense.

Transfer teachers to other schools, improve teacher-student ratios and use cost savings to enhance the education of the children who remain in our public schools.

Howard A. Tescher, Fort Lauderdale

Force Trump to tell the truth

Although Donald Trump eschewed primary debates in seeking his party’s nomination, he now says he wants to debate President Joe Biden during the upcoming campaign.

Biden should debate on one condition: that Trump unequivocally and publicly, including on FOX and Truth Social, acknowledge that the 2020 election was not stolen and that Joe Biden is the duly elected and legitimate President of the United States.

Margery O’C. Resnick, Boca Raton

Enjoy vegan meats

As a Sarasota resident and longtime vegan, I’m relieved that the Sun Sentinel printed Dr. Neal Barnard’s essay (“A ban on lab-grown meat is no benefit to your health,” March 27). His Another Viewpoint column warned readers that Florida won’t benefit anyone by banning laboratory-grown meat.

I stopped eating meat and other animal-derived foods for ethical reasons, but I’m excited about the development of cultivated meat, or “clean meat,” as it’s also called. It would spare billions of animals from pain and suffering, and it requires only 1% of the land and 4% of the water that’s currently used for conventional meat production. It may also reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 96%.

Eating meat that’s humanely created in a sterile laboratory would surely be an appetizing option for everyone who insists on eating the flesh of animals who are confined to filthy farms and slaughtered on killing floors with vomit, feces and other bodily fluids.

Thankfully, Floridians can always enjoy the tasty and affordable vegan meats and other plant foods that are in supermarkets and restaurants today!

Heather Moore, Sarasota

A tribute to Joe Lieberman

We need for more of our Jewish lawmakers to speak out against the surge of antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiments within our own government as the late former Sen. Joe Lieberman recently did after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer spoke out against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Schumer suggested that Israel should hold a special election and vote Netanyahu out of office.)

Today’s Democrats don’t sufficiently recognize the rational thinking of Lieberman, who put America first. The former senator from Connecticut will be sorely missed.

JoAnn Lee Frank, Clearwater

Help those who help Ukraine

We need to support those in Congress, Rep. Don Bacon, Republican of Nebraska, and others, who have proposed legislation supporting military aid to our allies, including Ukraine.

We need to keep Russia from overwhelming Ukraine. If Germany had not been “allowed” to overwhelm Poland, and Japan had not been “allowed” to overwhelm China, we would not have experienced World War II.

What happened on Oct. 7, 2023, with the raping and murdering of innocent civilians, the elderly, women, children and babies, must never happen again.

Margie Rubin, Deerfield Beach

 

By MARIA SHERMAN (AP Music Writer)

The CMT Music Awards, celebrating the best in country music videos, are set to return on Sunday night live from Austin, Texas.

Hosted by Kelsea Ballerini, the fan-voted show begins at 8 p.m. Eastern and will be broadcast from the Moody Center on CBS and Paramount+.

This year, the awards are expected to feature a tribute to the late Toby Keith performed by Brooks & Dunn, Lainey Wilson and Sammy Hagar and backed by Keith’s longtime band.

Keith, a hit country crafter of pro-American anthems who riled up critics and was loved by millions of fans, died in February at 62 after being diagnosed with stomach cancer.

Ballerini, Wilson, Jelly Roll, Megan Moroney and Cody Johnson lead the nominations with three each.

All those artists, except for Moroney, are up for the night’s biggest honor: video of the year.

Scheduled performers include Bailey Zimmerman, Jelly Roll, Keith Urban, Dasha, Jason Aldean, Johnson and Moroney.

There are expected to be a few collaborative sets, as well: Little Big Town will perform with Sugarland, marking the first time the latter’s Jennifer Nettles and Kristian Bush will reunite on the CMT stage since 2011. Other scheduled joint performances include NEEDTOBREATHE and Jordan Davis and Sam Hunt and Trisha Yearwood.

Yearwood will receive the inaugural June Carter Cash Humanitarian Award, which honors musicians or industry veterans who demonstrate “an exceptional dedication to community and their fellow artists, embodying June’s spirit as a fierce advocate and initiator in paying it forward,” a statement said.

Yearwood also is expected to debut a new track, “Put It in a Song,” the first from a forthcoming album.

By TIM REYNOLDS (AP Sports Writer)

FORT LAUDERDALE — Lionel Messi returned and helped salvage a tie for Inter Miami.

Messi scored shortly after checking in to begin the second half and helped set up Leo Afonso’s go-ahead score two minutes later. But Cole Bassett scored in the 88th minute for the Colorado Rapids and the game ended in a 2-2 tie on Saturday night.

It was Messi’s first appearance for Inter Miami since a hamstring issue led to him getting subbed out early in the second half of a CONCACAF Champions Cup match against Nashville on March 13. He had missed four Inter Miami games since, plus two games with Argentina.

He wasted little time announcing his return Saturday. Messi’s fourth goal in as many MLS matches this season came in the 58th minute, beating Colorado keeper Zach Steffen with a low shot that hit the left goalpost, then skidded back across the goal mouth before settling into the next just inside of the right post.

Not long after play resumed, Messi sent a pass to David Ruiz, who found Afonso all alone in front. Afonso put it home for his first MLS goal, giving Inter Miami the lead.

It didn’t last. Bassett knotted things late in regulation and Inter Miami (3-2-3) had to settle for just one point instead of three. Rafael Navarro got the first goal for Colorado (2-2-3), scoring late in the first half on a penalty kick.

A pair of fans got onto the field in the final minutes in separate incidents, presumably to try to get a selfie with Messi. They were both quickly escorted off by security, and time expired shortly after the second fan got onto the pitch.

It was a costly night for Inter Miami, which has been besieged by injuries — going back all the way to the team’s seven-match, around-the-world preseason tour — and now has more of those to deal with. The team was without seven players Saturday, plus lost Leo Campana late in the first half with what appeared to be a hamstring issue and Afonso a few minutes after his second-half goal.

Messi and his three former standout Barcelona teammates — Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba — were all available Saturday, though none started. It’s a clear sign that Inter Miami is trying to be cautious with workloads for its four oldest players, all of them age 35 or older. Alba and Busquets entered in the second half.

Inter Miami is in a stretch where it will play five matches in a span of 15 days. The team had a 1-1 draw with New York City FC on March 30, lost the first leg of a CONCACAF Champions Cup matchup 2-1 to Monterrey at home on Wednesday and hosted the Rapids on Saturday. It then goes to Mexico for the second leg of the CONCACAF series this coming Wednesday before finishing the stretch at Kansas City on April 13.

Messi emerged from the bench area in the 35th minute to start warming up behind one of the end lines, the mere sight of him sending fans into a frenzy.

They almost missed a Miami goal at the other end.

Simultaneous to the initial Messi sighting, Julian Gressel found a bit of room and fired a 30-yarder from straightaway. The ball curled just left, keeping the match scoreless.

It didn’t stay that way. Colorado’s Kevin Cabral got taken down in the box — a few yards from where Messi was going through his warmup routine — and Navarro beat Inter Miami goalie Drake Callender with the penalty kick for a 1-0 lead.

___

AP MLS: https://apnews.com/hub/major-league-soccer

GAINESVILLE — Florida’s defense dominated the 2023 spring game, led a September upset of Tennessee and then fell off a cliff, dragging down the Gators with it.

Amid the offseason talk of Billy Napier maintaining play-calling duties, quarterback Graham Mertz’s improvement in attacking down the field and tailback Trevor Etienne’s transfer to Georgia, the Gators set out to fix the team’s biggest problem during a 5-7 finish.

Napier is confident the Gators’ retooled defense has the talent, experience and staff to chart a new course after two seasons of historically poor play during consecutive losing seasons.

One thing is certain: Florida’s embattled D has a lot to prove.

UF head coach Billy Napier gets pumped up before the start of the Gators’ spring game April 14, 2022 in the Swamp. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)

The Gators’ second spring scrimmage Saturday in the Swamp was another encouraging step. Defense won the day during the team’s final tuneup for the spring game, scheduled for 1 p.m. April 13 in the Swamp.

Florida’s offense needed time to get its bearings before putting up a fight.

“The defense started extremely fast,” Napier said. “We tackled extremely well; the coverage was tighter; the rush was effective. I think that affected the quarterback play. We had a couple of turnovers. We had some tipped balls.”

While the Gators’ attack certainly has work to do itself, Mertz and Co. were on point during Thursday’s practice  in instilling a sense of urgency on the other side of the ball.

“Today was a little bit of a reset button, ‘Hey look, let’s get our act together,’” Napier said. “They showed up and did that.”

Reason for optimism exists, given all the influx of talent and returners with plenty of mental scar tissue and chips on their shoulders.

Florida’s 5-star signee LJ McCray, the top nation’s top-rated defensive line prospect in the 2024 class, could step in and contribute during his first season with the Gators. (UF’s University Athletic Association Communications/Mallory Peak)

Napier also hired three new assistant coaches — defensive line coach Gerald Chatman, secondary coach Will Harris and veteran Ron Roberts to coach inside linebackers and lend a hand coordinating the unit with 30-year-old Austin Armstrong.

“I’m confident the staff changes have been a positive and, overall, you’ve got a bunch of veteran players,” Napier said.

The transfer portal yielded, among others, two safeties in their sixth college seasons (Asa Turner of Washington and DJ Douglas of Tulane), high-motor defensive tackle Joey Slackman (the 2023 Ivy League Player of the Year at Penn), and sophomore linebacker Grayson “Pup” Howard (a former UF recruit who signed with South Carolina).

The 6-foot-4, 235-pound Howard has the combination of size and range the Gators have lacked at the second level for some time. The Jacksonville native has stood out while veterans Shemar James (knee) and Derek Wingo (shoulder) recover from offseason surgery.

“He certainly looks the part,” Napier said. “He’s still a somewhat inexperienced player but he’s a mature young man and he’s taken advantage of the reps.”

Third-year cornerback Devin Moore looks like a different player following an injury-riddled season. The 6-foot-3, 197 pound native of Naples is a sure tackler after playing high school safety and could suffocate receivers on the opposite side from four-year starter Jason Marshall.

“He’s got presence out there,” Napier said of Moore.

Redshirt junior end Justus Boone is another looming presence back in the picture after he missed the entire 2023 season with a torn ACL suffered in fall camp. The 6-foot-3¾, 267-pound Boone’s loss was among many factors in last season’s defensive struggles.

Florida redshirt junior defensive end Justus Boone returns to solidify the Gators’ front after tearing his ACL during 2023 fall camp. (UF’s University Athletic Association Communications/ Tim Casey)

Another was an overreliance on youth, out of necessity but also with an eye on the future.

Sophomore linemen Kelby Collins, who moved inside to tackle, and TJ Searcy, who flashed coming off the edge, will have major roles in 2024. Meanwhile, sophomore safeties Jordan Castell and Bryce Thornton combined for 94 tackles as true freshmen, including a team-high 60 by Castell.

“A lot of players that played last year for the first time in their career are kind of going through that benefit of being a vet,” Napier said. “That’s the theme here. We’ve finally got a group that has some experience.”

Among first-year players, 6-foot-6, 274-pound freshmen LJ McCray, the nation’s top-rated defensive line prospect in 2024 out of Daytona Beach, is likely to be in the mix.

Whoever plays in 2024 needs to produce.

The Gators’ defensive collapse culminated with a five-game losing to close the season, with opponents averaging 38.2 points. Without significant improvement, Napier’s third season at Florida could be a long one.

Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com

By KEN POWTAK (Associated Press)

BOSTON (AP) — Jesper Boqvist scored 2:05 into overtime, Linus Ullmark stopped 28 shots and the Boston Bruins beat the Florida Panthers 3-2 on Saturday in a matchup of the top two teams in the Atlantic Division.

First-place Boston moved five points ahead of second-place Florida. Both teams have four games left in the regular season — with the Panthers’ all at home.

“It’s another big game, another playoff-type game against a team that’s going to be there and those games aren’t hard to get up for,” said Boston center Charlie Coyle, who had a power-play goal in the second period. “It makes you feel good. It gives you confidence to win those ones, first off, but just to do it and play the way we want to play and know how to play.”

Charlie McAvoy also scored for the Bruins, who improved to 5-1 since coach Jim Montgomery blasted the team during practice on March 25 for their lack of attention to details and not being prepared for the playoffs.

“I just think that was a wake-up call that our group needed that day,” Montgomery said. “I think why we’re 5-1 is because our team is growing and maturing, and we have great leaders.”

Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov scored for the Panthers, who lost for the fifth time in seven games. Sergei Bobrovsky made 26 saves.

The Bruins swept the four-game season series between the teams and moved a point behind the New York Rangers for the NHL’s best overall record.

The Panthers knocked out Boston in the opening-round of the Stanley Cup playoffs last spring after the Bruins set NHL records for wins (65) and points (135).

In the extra period, Boqvist skated down the left wing on a partial breakaway after taking a loose puck near center ice and fired a wrister inside the left post for the win.

With the Panthers trailing 2-1 and the teams skating 4-on-4 due to matching minor penalties, Barkov snapped a rebound past Ullmark 5:24 into the third period.

“I thought we got better in the third period,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “We had nothing in the tank to do it. They pushed through it. I was happy with the effort. I wasn’t happy with the result, but happy with the effort.”

With Tkachuk in the penalty box for interference, Brad Marchand sent a pass from the left wing to Coyle, who was hustling down the slot. He redirected it inside the left post for his 25th goal, making it 2-1 with 4:15 remaining in the second to end Boston’s 0-for-13 power-play drought.

Bobrovsky made a sprawling left-pad save on Marchand’s bid from in close with just under a minute left in regulation.

Florida outshot Boston 13-5 in the third period.

Ullmark made a glove stop on Evan Rodrigues at the end of a 2-on-1 break with just over six minutes left in the third.

“Linus was again really good,” Montgomery said. “He just continues a lot of impressive starts in a row here, making real desperation saves look easy.”

Tkachuk took advantage of a crazy bounce when Vladimir Tarasenko’s entry pass hit high off the back glass and directly to him in the slot, where he slipped a wrister past Ullmark to make it 1-0 just 37 seconds into the opening period.

McAvoy tied it at 5:42 of the first when he collected Danton Heinen’s backhand pass in the high slot before firing a wrister past Bobrovsky’s glove.

The teams showed a bit more intensity than a normal regular-season game, with tussles and scrums after whistles numerous times.

“It’s fun, it’s emotional,” McAvoy said. “I thought both teams played hard today and it was a really good hockey game.”

UP NEXT Panthers: Host Ottawa on Tuesday night to open a season-closing four-game homestand.

Bruins: Host Carolina on Tuesday night.

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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL