February Madness | Sports Daily Newsletter

A doubleheader at the Palestra on Monday night gave us a good reminder of what makes sports great.

The Catholic League girls’ final went two overtimes before Archbishop Wood beat Archbishop Carroll, 54-52. Then came the boys’ championship, which will be remembered as a classic.

In overtime, Ryan Everett sank a corner three-pointer with six seconds left to put Archbishop Ryan in command. Then Roman Catholic’s Kabe Goss, all 5-foot-4 of him, took matters into his own hands. Goss sank a pull-up jumper at the buzzer to seal a 46-45 victory and set off Palestra pandemonium. Jay Wright was among many who weighed in on the game, calling it “A Philadelphia basketball dream!”

For Marc Jackson, the stress of the game was more like a nightmare as he watched his sons Shareef and Sammy play for Roman. Jackson, a Philadelphia basketball great and 76ers analyst, said he was “praying” the whole game.

His prayers were answered when Goss’ shot went in. Aaron Carter breaks down the game’s closing moments.

— Jim Swan, @phillysport, sports.daily@inquirer.com.

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The salary cap and Haason Reddick’s desire for a contract extension that pays him what his production has been worth are reasons that a trade works for both parties. And teams are reaching out to the Eagles about Reddick, sources tell Jeff McLane. While both sides have expressed wanting to continue on with Reddick notching sacks in Philly, we’ll just have to see if the business of football leads to a parting of the ways.

After Howie Roseman spoke about Reddick at the NFL scouting combine, Nick Sirianni talked about leadership. Sirianni backed the leadership styles of Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown while also discussing where he could improve.

Sirianni also endorsed his new-look coaching staff, which includes a large number of changes on the defensive side under Vic Fangio.

The tough times continue for the 76ers. Playing against the Boston Celtics, who own the NBA’s best record at 46-12, the Sixers had another rare night with the lion’s share of their roster. Still, they were clearly overmatched in the 117-99 loss at TD Garden. Tyrese Maxey scored 32 points but didn’t receive much help, which has become a common occurrence since Joel Embiid went down with a knee injury.

Next: The Sixers host the Charlotte Hornets at 7 p.m. Friday (NBCSP+).

The Flyers hosted the Lightning and the power went out at the Wells Fargo Center. OK, go ahead. Insert your best pun here. And yeah, seriously just 13 minutes, 39 seconds officially, the game was halted due to a blown transformer which left a large portion of the arena and its public address system in darkness.

Fortunately, the Flyers found light at the end of a dark tunnel at home propelled by a 6-2 victory which snapped a two-game losing streak, gave the Flyers their second win in six games, and staved off the teams trailing them in the standings.

After a mostly healthy season, injuries are starting to add up for the Flyers. Top scorer Travis Konecny missed his third straight game Tuesday night with an upper-body injury. Defenseman Jamie Drysdale sat out as well and is listed as week-to-week after appearing to hurt his shoulder Sunday against the Penguins. And Rasmus Ristolainen has landed on injured reserve, also with an upper-body injury.

Next: The Flyers visit the Washington Capitals at 7 p.m. Friday (NBCSP).

Can the Phillies finally unseat the Braves in the National League East this season? Three things need to go right for the Phillies, but that’s not all. There are also a lot of things that need to go wrong. David Murphy lays out the path for the Phillies.

Cristopher Sánchez, who is expected to open the season in the starting rotation, got off to a strong start to spring against the Twins.

Next: The Phillies host the Atlanta Braves in a Grapefruit League game at 1:05 p.m. Thursday (NBCSP+).

It was a much wilder night than it needed to be, but the Union did just enough to edge past Costa Rican club Deportivo Saprissa and advance to the round of 16 in the Concacaf Champions Cup.

Saprissa led 3-2 after 90 minutes in Tuesday’s series finale at Subaru Park, the same score that the Union won in Costa Rica last week. That meant 30 minutes of extra time, and Mikael Uhre scored what proved to be the series winner — 6-5 on aggregate — in the 94th minute. Next up, in the Champions Cup, the Union will host Pachuca in the first of two rounds next Tuesday along the Chester waterfront.

Next: The Union visit Sporting Kansas City at 8:30 p.m. Saturday (Apple TV).

Which pitcher is Aaron Nola likely to pass this season for fourth place on the Phillies’ career strikeout list? Nola has 1,582 strikeouts.

Answer: B) Chris Short had 1,585 career strikeouts for the Phillies. Tom G. was first with the correct answer.

UnCovering the Birds host Jeff McLane of The Inquirer joined two other Birds beat reporters, Zach Berman and Jimmy Kempski, for a roundtable discussion about the team’s offseason. From the leadership of Nick Sirianni to Jalen Hurts’ future to Howie Roseman’s roster strategies, they covered it all. Listen here.

We compiled today’s newsletter using reporting from Mike Sielski, Aaron Carter, Olivia Reiner, Jeff McLane, EJ Smith, David Murphy, Alex Coffey, Jackie Spiegel, Gina Mizell, Josh Verlin, Gabriela Carroll, Andrew Robinson, and Colin Beazley.

By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.

That’s all for today, sports fans. I’ll see you in Thursday’s newsletter.— Jim