d was within nine before the Buckeyes scored seven consecuti

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CHARLOTTE, N. .C. -- The Hornets have placed the teams future personnel decisions in the hands of Rich Cho after Rod Higgins has stepped down as the teams president of basketball operations on Friday. Higgins had been with the team for the last seven years. Hornets owner Michael Jordan thanked Higgins in a statement. "Rod has been a consummate professional throughout his time with the team," Jordan said. "Thanks to his hard work and commitment, we have an improved roster and we are poised for success in the future. Rod was of great help to me as I navigated my first four years as majority owner of this franchise. I wish him all the best." Cho will remain in his capacity as general manager and assume responsibility for the teams basketball operations, according to a press release issued by the team. Cho will report to Jordan and vice chairman Curtis Polk. Cho declined comment through team spokesman Mike Cristaldi. The move comes two weeks before the NBA draft and what is expected to be a busy off-season for the Hornets. The Hornets have the ninth, 24th and 45th overall picks and more than $13 million to spend under the salary cap. Jordan has already said the team hopes to make a "big difference" in upgrading the roster this off-season. Higgins declined comment on the matter via text message to The Associated Press. Coach Steve Clifford, entering his second season with the Hornets, said he had a great working relationship with Higgins. "He helped me a lot -- helped our staff a lot. He is a terrific basketball guy and a great person, and were going to miss him," Clifford said. "With that being said, you know change is a big part of this league. We need to quickly focus and move forward and continue to build the right culture, roster, so we can be a good team year in and year out." When Jordan took over as part owner in Charlotte in 2006, Higgins was one of his first hires the following year. Hes long been one of Jordans most trusted friends. Jordan was a rookie in the 1984 when he joined the Chicago Bulls and became teammates with Higgins, a veteran forward at the time. After a 13-year NBA career, Higgins went on to work with Jordan as an assistant general manager with the Washington Wizards. Higgins later left the Wizards to become general manager of the Golden State Warriors before joining Jordan again in Charlotte. Cho was hired by Jordan in 2011 as Charlottes new general manager and Higgins title became president of basketball operations. From that time, the two shared player personnel duties and regularly appeared together and press conference to discuss personnel moves with the media. Clifford said hes confident Cho will do a great job moving forward. "Rich is very organized, on top of things," Clifford said. "I know well be prepared, we will be prepared for the draft, for free agency and you know just like we have in the past. I dont see that part being an adjustment at all. Weve been working together for a year." ., will experience this week. A year in which the Canadian curling championship has been pushed forward a week to accommodate the Winter Olympics was deemed the perfect chance to stage the event in Montreal for the first time since 1979. . Keenum will make his first appearance in a regular-season game against the rugged defence of the undefeated Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium, where the fans just set a Guinness record as the noisiest outdoor stadium in the world. . Born in Berkeley and raised in Oakland, where he later pitched for the As, Ross beat the Giants for the first time in six career appearances by throwing eight scoreless innings to lead the San Diego Padres to a 2-1 victory Friday night.Columbus, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Ohio State continues to pile up wins at home. Thad Mattas Buckeyes and star freshman DAngelo Russell beat another ranked opponent at Value City Arena. Russell had 18 points, 14 rebounds and six assists as Ohio State easily knocked off No. 16 Maryland 80-56 on Thursday night for its 103rd win at home since 2009. Thats the most in the country by a healthy margin over national powerhouses Kentucky and Syracuse. Russell continued to impress, making half of his 12 shots and four 3-pointers on the heels of being named Big Ten Player of the Week after scoring 55 points in wins over Northwestern and nationally-ranked Indiana. Russell is pretty special, especially when hes making those tough shots over hands, said Maryland coach Mark Turgeon. Hes a special player and time will tell that as he moves on in his career. The Hoosiers were No. 23 when they came to Columbus and lost 82-70 on Sunday. Matta said he was surprised by the back-to-back wins over ranked opponents. But weve practiced well, he said. I thought we had a good energy the last couple days in practice. I thought today in shootaround, they were good. I wouldnt have predicted this size of a win tonight, but we got rolling, they were into the game and they did a nice job. Marc Loving led the Buckeyes (17-5, 6-3) with 19 points, making all five of his 3s, and JaeSean Tate scored 16. Dez Wells scored 12 points to lead Maryland (18-4, 66-3) and Jake Layman had 10. . The Terrapins beat Northwestern 68-67 on Sunday despite trailing by 11 points with less than 3 1/2 minutes remaining. Wells tip-in with 1.4 seconds left sealed the victory. There was no such rally against the Buckeyes, who led by double digits for almost the entire second half after Anthony Lees layup out of intermission made it a 10-point game. Maryland was within nine before the Buckeyes scored seven consecutive points in about a minute for a 48-32 lead. Later, Lovings fifth 3-pointer made it 54-38 and Russell banked in a 3 from the top of the arc for a 63-47 lead. Kam Williams missed a 3 on Ohio States next trip down the court, but Loving crashed into the lane for a two-handed putback dunk. It gave the Buckeyes an 18-point advantage with 6:42 remaining and Maryland was never closer than 17 the rest of the way. Terrapins freshman Melo Trimble missed all eight of his field goal attempts and scored three points. Game Notes The Buckeyes are 103-9 at home over the past six seasons. Kentucky and Syracuse have 96 home wins over the same span ... Ohio State is 5-2 in the all-time series. Thursday marked the first meeting between the teams since Maryland became a Big Ten member last year ... Maryland will host Penn State next Wednesday ... Ohio State is also off until Wednesday, when it faces Purdue on the road. ' ' '

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