SAN ANTONIO — Dribbles bounced off hips, no-look passes went to no one and Florida’s talisman point guard couldn’t make a basket.

And when the Gators’ bench was assessed a technical foul early the second half, a frustrating night was hitting its peak.

But then the resilient Gators came alive as they fought back from a 12-point deficit in the second half to beat Houston 65-63 in the NCAA title game for the the school’s third national championship.

A blocked 3-pointer by Thomas Haugh led to his spinning layup and three-point play. Walter Clayton Jr., scoreless in the first half, tied the game three times in the second half.

And the Gators created their own version of Houston’s suffocating defense that had stifled them for so much of the first half.

As Houston looked for the winning 3-pointer in the final seconds, Clayton forced Houston’s Emmanuel Sharp to abandon the shot. Sharp had to let the ball go, creating a mad scramble as Florida’s 6-foot-11 Alex Condon fully extended, diving to the floor to get it.

The Gators had looked completely out of sync in the first half.

Nothing was working for Clayton, who had scored 30 and 34 points in the previous two games to carry his team to the final.

That meant other players had to step up.

“We have 20 minutes. Let’s set the tone!” Will Richard told his Florida teammates in a huddle just outside the locker room at halftime.

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Richard had kept Florida in the game with four first-half 3-pointers. Condon, who finished with 12 points and seven rebounds, did the work on the defensive end with a key role in holding Houston’s muscular J’Wan Roberts to eight points on 3-of-13 shooting.

And as usual, Clayton delivered the biggest moments in the rally as he tied the game three times, the first two on spinning layups for three-point plays and the last with a contested 3-pointer.

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Twins lost 4-2 to the Kansas City Royals in the opener of a four-game road trip to Kauffman Stadium on Monday night, dropping their record to 3-7. It’s the Twins worst start to a season since 2016, when they went 1-9.

Home plate umpire Nic Lentz ejected Twins manager Rocco Baldelli in the bottom of the sixth inning for arguing a pitch-clock violation call against right-hander Simeon Woods Richardson.

The Twins got a bit of much-needed length from Richardson, but he allowed four runs, eight hits and four walks in 5 2/3 innings. The Twins in the club’s previous two outings got just four innings from their starting pitchers, and they came into play last in the majors in innings pitched by starters, averaging about 4 1/2 per outing.

Baldelli was ejected for the 15th time in his career after Lentz called a pitch-clock violation that resulted in an automatic ball, which gave Jonathan India a walk.

With seven seconds to go, Woods Richardson stepped off the rubber and appeared to signal that he couldn’t hear the communications with catcher Christian Vázquez. When he couldn’t get a timeout called, Woods Richardson ascended the rubber and began his delivery with two seconds remaining. At this point, Lentz signed that Woods Richardson was in violation, giving a free base to India.

Baldelli burst from the dugout shaking his finger and arguing in obvious disagreement. He appeared to shout “You [messed] up” at Lentz, who let Baldelli blow off some steam, but the manager appeared intent on getting run. After he was, Baldelli kicked his foot across home plate, threw his lineup card and other items from the dugout. Coach Jayce Tingler took over managing duties the rest of the way.

Twins left fielder Harrison Bader made a pair of highlight reel catches in the seventh. The Twins offense couldn’t muster much offense against right-hander Michael Lorenzen or the Royals bullpen, aside from Willi Castro’s score-tying RBI double in the second.

India led off the bottom of the first inning with a double to left-center after outfielder Byron Buxton couldn’t hang on for the catch. Buxton appeared to protect himself by slowing down before crashing into the padded fence, and might have taken his eye off the ball.

After Bobby Witt flew out to right and failed to move the runner, India scored on a bloop double by Vinnie Pasquantino that Bader booted after a tough hop, though not for an error.

The Twins mounted a rally against closer Carlos Estévez in the ninth, with Bader lining an RBI single with two out, which also put the tying run at first base. Edouard Julien worked the count to 3-1, but grounded sharply to second for the final out.

The Royals improved to 5-5.

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BEIJING (AP) — China said Tuesday it would “fight to the end” and take countermeasures against the United States to safeguard its own interests after President Donald Trump threatened an additional 50% tariff on Chinese imports.

The Commerce Ministry said the U.S.‘s imposition of “so-called ‘reciprocal tariffs’” on China is “completely groundless and is a typical unilateral bullying practice.”

China, the world’s second-largest economy, has taken retaliatory tariffs and the ministry hinted in its latest statement that more may be coming.

“The countermeasures China has taken are aimed at safeguarding its sovereignty, security and development interests, and maintaining the normal international trade order. They are completely legitimate,” the ministry said.

“The U.S. threat to escalate tariffs on China is a mistake on top of a mistake and once again exposes the blackmailing nature of the US. China will never accept this. If the US insists on its own way, China will fight to the end,” it added.

Trump’s threat Monday of additional tariffs on China raised fresh concerns that his drive to rebalance the global economy could intensify a financially destructive trade war. Stock markets from Tokyo to New York have become more unstable as the tariff war worsens.

Trump’s threat came after China said it would retaliate against U.S. tariffs he announced last week.

“If China does not withdraw its 34% increase above their already long term trading abuses by tomorrow, April 8th, 2025, the United States will impose ADDITIONAL Tariffs on China of 50%, effective April 9th,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Additionally, all talks with China concerning their requested meetings with us will be terminated!”

If Trump implements his new tariffs on Chinese products, U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods would reach a combined 104%. The new taxes would be on top of the 20% tariffs announced as punishment for fentanyl trafficking and his separate 34% tariffs announced last week. Not only could that increase prices for American consumers, it could also give China an incentive to flood other countries with cheaper goods and seek deeper relationships with other trading partners, particularly the European Union.

Trump frequently bragged about stock market gains during his first term, and the threat of losses on Wall Street was viewed as a potential guardrail on risky economic policies in his second term. But that hasn’t been the case, and Trump has described days of financial pain as necessary.

“I don’t mind going through it because I see a beautiful picture at the end,” he said.

Trump officials have frequently appeared on television to make the case for his policies, but none of their explanations has calmed the markets. The only improvement came from a false report that top economic adviser Kevin Hassett said Trump was considering a pause on all tariffs except for China. Stock prices spiked before the White House denied it was true by calling the post “fake news.”

China is one of the U.S.’s top trading partners, especially for consumer goods, and the tariffs — essentially a tax on imports paid by U.S. companies — will eventually be passed on to the consumer.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union would focus on trade with other countries besides the United States, saying there are “vast opportunities” elsewhere.

U.S. total goods trade with China were an estimated $582 billion in 2024, making it the top trader in goods with the U.S. The 2024 deficit with China in goods and services trade was between $263 billion and $295 billion.

In Hong Kong, where stocks were slightly higher Tuesday, Chief Executive John Lee blasted the latest U.S. tariffs as “bullying,” saying the “ruthless behavior” has damaged global and multilateral trade and brought great risks and uncertainties to the world.

Lee said the city would link its economy closer to China’s development, sign more free trade agreements, attract more foreign companies and capital to Hong Kong, and support local enterprises in coping with the impact of the tariffs.

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Associated Press writers Chris Megerian and Josh Boak in Washington, Christopher Bodeen in Taipei, Taiwan, and Kanis Leung in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — When he struck out Houston’s Jake Meyers for the second out of the eighth inning Sunday afternoon, right-hander Jhoan Duran did the little hop on the mound he typically does to accentuate the moment.

There seemed this time to be a bit more spring in Duran’s step, possibly because it was a particularly nasty looking pitch, one he had never thrown before in a game: a sweeper.

Sweepers are a type of slider that “sweeps” across the strike zone at a typically slower speed than a traditional slider, which is supposed to have a tighter break.

Duran threw Meyers an 87.3 mph sweeper, per MLB Statcast, that had 11 inches of horizontal break and 41 inches of drop. Perhaps it was because he had no idea it was coming, but Meyers had no chance. Statcast did list Duran as throwing one sweeper in 2024, but it appeared to be mislabeled. This pitch wasn’t on any scouting report.

If he can repeat it, the sweeper would be an important addition to Duran’s arsenal, which includes a four-seam fastball (averaging 100 mph), a split-finger fastball, and a knuckle curve — which was Duran’s most effective pitch in 2024. Duran credited Twins teammates, including right-hander Justin Topa, with helping him to learn it.

Right-hander Pablo López throws a sweeper, and explained why Duran might benefit by adding a pitch against right-handed batters. Because of how Duran releases the ball, a sweeper is a more natural pitch to execute than others. It fits in well with his repertoire.

“I don’t think he’s ever tinkered or explored with anything going to the glove side,” López said. “It might have been time for him to give himself a power pitch to the glove side. I’m not surprised he’s done this. He can throw that pitch hard and with big, big movement.”

Duran’s four-seamer remains in the top percentile of fastest pitches in the league, but he was vulnerable against it in ‘24. An effective breaking pitch of this type could make his fastball more effective, too.

Everybody go long

Lopez said he was aware of the team’s need for the starting pitchers to go longer into games. Through the first nine games of the season, Twins starters were dead last in the league in innings pitched with 40. The best comparison, the Philadelphia Phillies, had thrown 53 1/3 innings in their nine games.

“That’s what we want,” López said. “I want to be the guy who is the best option the third time through the lineup.”

In the two previous games, Twins starters didn’t get any outs in the fifth. Manager Rocco Baldelli wants the Twins starters to go deeper, and says he expects them to, but he also uses tactics to win the game as it’s being played. If that means a quicker hook, so be it. But the bullpen won’t stand up forever to the stress of getting too much extra work, so the clock is ticking.

“We do need to run into a stretch at some point soon where we’re not running through [so many relievers],” Baldelli said. “And our starters are out there giving us the innings that they’re capable of giving us.”

Cole train runnin’

The Twins and López face left-hander Cole Ragans in game two of the series Tuesday. After AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal and NL Cy Young Chris Sale, it’s possible that Ragans is the best lefty starter in the league.

“Every metric you can look at says so,” Twins catcher Ryan Jeffers said.

Ragans throws a 95-96 mph four-seamer and was effective with his changeup and curve in 2024. He posted a 1.88 ERA in four starts against the Twins a year ago.

“We see each other so many times, there aren’t a lot of secrets,” Ragans said. “They have a bunch of guys with a lot of power. It comes down to me executing my game plan, but it usually does come down to that.”

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