It looked like the Sixers’ woes would continue on the road against a struggling New York team Thursday night. But then, they woke up.

Threes from Robert Covington, JJ Redick, and Dario Saric helped the Sixers beat the Knicks 118-110:

For the second straight game, Ben Simmons recorded a triple-double with 13 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds. He also became the third rookie to tally 1,000 points, 500 assists, and 500 rebounds in a season, joining Magic Johnson and Oscar Robertson. He passed Johnson for triple-doubles as a rookie:

Joel Embiid led the game with 29 points and 10 rebounds. Dario Saric also had a double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds.

Covington, Redick, and Marco Belinelli all scored in double figures as well. Covington went 5-for-7 from three.

The win gives the Sixers some breathing room with Milwaukee. They’re now up a game and a half on the Bucks for 6th in the East, and are now two games behind Indiana for third.

They look to gain more ground tonight as they take on the Brooklyn Nets at home at 7 PM.

Meanwhile:

Let him play.

The Roundup:

Check out the latest edition of the Crossing Broadcast!

Meanwhile, the Flyers lost their seventh game in eight tries, this time falling to the Columbus Blue Jackets 5-3. It got bad early with goals from Oliver Bjorkstrand and Boone Jenner scoring 11 seconds apart to give Columbus a two-goal cushion.

Claude Giroux cut the lead in half a couple minutes later before Cam Atkinson scored the first of three goals on the night. Shayne Gostisbehere and Andrew MacDonald also scored goals for the Flyers as they cut the Columbus lead to one.

Petr Mrazek stopped six of 10 shots before giving way to Alex Lyon, who stopped all 18 shots he faced.

With the loss, Columbus is now tied with Philadelphia in points with 81, but the Flyers currently have one more regulation or overtime win than the Blue Jackets, giving them the tiebreaker as of now.

The Flyers have 11 games left, five of which are against teams that would be in the playoffs if they started today. And they need to win now. New Jersey is one point back with a game in hand and Florida is four points back with three games in hand. The Panthers are the team that would be on the outside looking in at this point in time, and they shutout Boston last night.

A back-to-back looms for the Flyers. They’ll visit Carolina Saturday night at 7 PM before hosting Washington for a weird 5 PM start time.

As for the other teams in the playoff hunt, Columbus hosts Ottawa on Saturday, New Jersey visits Los Angeles and Anaheim this weekend, and Florida hosts Edmonton Saturday afternoon.

The team also signed left winger Matthew Strome to an entry-level contract.

In the first round of the NCAA Tournament, Villanova took care of business against Radford 87-61, thanks to a 37-9 first half run. All five starters scored in double figures, led by Jalen Brunson’s 16 points. Dhamir Cosby-Roundtree also registered 10 points coming off the bench. They’ll take on Collin Sexton and No. 9 seed Alabama Saturday at 12:10 PM on CBS.

16th seeded Penn fell to top seeded Kansas 76-60, but it was a lot closer than expected. In fact, Penn led by as much as 10 in the first half before the Jayhawks built a 22-5 run entering halftime.

Haloti Ngata’s deal wasn’t done on the first day of free agency, but was later finalized Thursday as the defensive tackle signed a one-year, $3 million contract.

Nigel Bradham is happy he’s sticking around in Philly. And looking at how his contract is set up, so are many fans.

SOME PUNTER NEWS!

Here’s what O’Donnell can do:

New Saints cornerback Patrick Robinson thanked the Eagles organization and their fans for his one-year ride with the team:

Speaking of former Eagles, Brent Celek visited the Lions.

And for possible future Eagles, Derrius Guice visited the team yesterday. Duce Staley is a big fan.

A great dive into Jon Dorenbos’ journey with the Eagles to the Super Bowl:

Dorenbos stressed how great it was to receive the honor the Eagles are bestowing, though he added how it’s just as important to him that three other players are getting championship rings: old battery mate, punter Donnie Jones; recently released tight end Brent Celek; and perennial Pro Bowl tackle Jason Peters, who Dorenbos has known since their days in Buffalo when Peters was a rookie undrafted free agent tight end out of Arkansas.

“To watch those guys, the guys who have been with the Eagles for so long, to see them get rings, to be there and see them experience that whole thing was a huge inspiration and I was really happy to celebrate with them,” Dorenbos said. “It’s not just them, it was also the front-office people, all of the people that have been with Mr. Lurie through the years, the ones behind the scenes that make it work every day, and see the city go nuts, that was great, too.

“Think about this, I got to stand on a float next to a Hall of Famer like Brian Dawkins in a Super Bowl parade. Are you kidding me? These next few days will be fun. I will be emotional, I’m sure. I love this city, these fans here and this organization. They all called me, Doug, Jeff, Howie, Don, Frank, and they were like, ‘Hey man, we love you, you’re part of this city and have been part of building this thing for a long time. You still want to come?’ [Bleep] yeah, I want to come! I hung up and got emotional then, too.

“They wanted me to be a part of it and Mr. Lurie had me over at a small party the night before the Super Bowl. He came over and gave me a hug, then told me, ‘I’m so happy that you’re here. We want you to be an Eagle for life.’ That’s the moment you get emotional about, when a guy who employed you for so long says, ‘Hey man, thanks for all you did.’ It was a genuine moment when you feel appreciated for everything you did as an Eagle and knowing that all of the work that you put in was worth it. It was a cool moment. It’s 12 years of memories that will never go away.”

He’s at SugarHouse Casino tonight for “An Evening with Jon Dorenbos.”

The Phillies have split-squad games today. One half takes on the Detroit Tigers at 1:05 PM, with Nick Pivetta getting the start. The other half hosts Toronto at 1:05 PM on NBC Sports Philadelphia +, with Vince Velasquez on the mound. They’ll play Atlanta and Minnesota this weekend. We’re also two weeks away from Opening Day.

The team interacted with one of their loyal fans down in Clearwater, who made a bet with GM Matt Klentak that he would get a sweatshirt if the team signed Jake Arrieta. Both of those things happened.

Gabe Kapler is cheering for Villanova, as he should:

In other sports news, Loyola Chicago wanted to remind everybody that this is March:

Good news for Arizona: They won’t have to vacate any tournament wins! Bad news: They lost to Buffalo:

https://twitter.com/abdulamemon/status/974486712859746304

Also bad: Deandre Ayton and Allonzo Trier declared for the NBA Draft. They get out of there before it gets possibly ugly.

Elsewhere, Rhode Island defeated Oklahoma in overtime, Gonzaga held on against UNC Greensboro, Kentucky squeaked by Davidson, and Houston edged past San Diego State.

In Year 15 of his NBA career, LeBron is doing this stuff:

https://twitter.com/World_Wide_Wob/status/974471563704758272

But he also did this, and his team lost:

The NFL’s quarterback market is ridiculous.

Malcolm Butler is still clueless as to why he got benched in the Super Bowl.

Nike president Trevor Edwards resigned from his post and will retire in August after the company mentioned workplace issues.

College baseball great Augie Garrido, the NCAA’s all-time leader in wins, died at the age of 79 after suffering a stroke. He won five College World Series championships with Cal State Fullerton and Texas.

In the news, a bridge at Florida International University that was built in under a day collapsed and has killed at least six people.

Snapchat is under fire after an ad asked people if they would rather slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown. Rihanna is not accepting Snapchat’s apology.