Three Michigan State recruits will represent Team USA at the world U18 hockey championships in Bratislava and Trencin, Slovakia.

The U.S. opens against Czechia on Wednesday (10 a.m., The Hockey Network).

The future Spartans are: defenseman Nick Bogas (Royal Oak), defenseman Tyler Martyniuk (Washington Township) and forward Brooks Rogowski (Brighton).

Other local commits include: defenseman Abe Barnett (University of Michigan) and goalie Luke Carrithers (Western Michigan).

Team USA's head coach is Nick Fohr (Dexter) with Kevin Porter (Northville) and Dan Darrow (Livonia) among the assistant coaches.

The tournament features 10 countries with the final scheduled for May 2.

Bruins tie series with Sabres

The visiting Boston Bruins scored three second-period goals and held off a late Buffalo Sabres rally to post a 4-2 win on Tuesday and even their Eastern Conference quarterfinal playoff series at one victory apiece.

Viktor Arvidsson scored in the last two periods, giving the Bruins 1-0 and 4-0 leads. Morgan Geekie and Pavel Zacha also lit the lamp for Boston, which heads home for Game 3 of the best-of-seven series on Thursday.

Jonathan Aspirot, Casey Mittelstadt and David Pastrnak each dished out two assists for the Bruins, and Jeremy Swayman made 34 saves.

Bowen Byram and Peyton Krebs scored as Buffalo climbed within 4-2 in the closing minutes.

Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen allowed four goals on 19 shots before Alex Lyon entered in relief following Arvidsson's second marker, which came just 16 seconds into the third period.

Buffalo had a 36-26 shot advantage, including 20-8 in the third period, but its power play went 0-for-5. Boston finished 1-for-6 on the man advantage.

The physical contest featured 47 penalty minutes for each team.

Following a scoreless opening period, the Bruins took over in the second, scoring on three of their 11 shots against Luukkonen.

Arvidsson broke the deadlock 4:54 into the middle frame, taking Aspirot's lob pass in ahead of the defense and beating Luukkonen five-hole with a backhander from the left circle.

A gaffe by Luukkonen helped Boston double its lead with 3:31 left in the period, as Geekie's high backhanded dump from the far side of center ice eluded him over the glove.

The Bruins' power play got in on the action 1:41 later. After Geekie's one- handed keep-in at the blue line extended the play, Zacha tipped in Pastrnak's shot from the top of the right circle while stationed in the bumper position.

Arvidsson made it 4-0 early in the third, prompting Sabres coach Lindy Ruff to change goaltenders. Aspirot banked a long feed off the boards to set up the play, leading Arvidsson down the left wing to score on a 2-on-1 rush with Zacha.

The Sabres struck twice in a 1:14 span to make things interesting. Byram accepted Beck Malenstyn's back pass for a wrister from the top of the right circle to break Swayman's shutout bid with 6:06 left.

Krebs soon made it 4-2, batting down and scoring the rebound of a Rasmus Dahlin point shot that caromed off the post and back into the crease.

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Michigan State has three commits at the world U18 championship

VJ Edgecombe and Tyrese Maxey combined to make 11 3-pointers and score 59 total points as the Philadelphia 76ers bounced back to even their Eastern Conference playoff series with the host Boston Celtics in a 111-97 decision on Tuesday.

Seventh-seeded Philadelphia shook off a dismal Game 1 performance, which included making just four 3-pointers in Sunday's 123-91 loss, with a complete reversal on the offensive end. The 76ers will host Game 3 on Friday.

The Sixers shot a torrid 19 of 39 (48.7%) from beyond the arc in Game 2, with Quentin Grimes, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Paul George each adding a pair of triples to supplement Edgecombe and Maxey.

Grimes and George were key to Philadelphia surging in the middle quarters. Grimes knocked down the second of his two 3-pointers off the bench to ignite a 13-4 run in the second period, which gave the Sixers the lead after trailing by as many as 13 late in the first quarter.

George scored the first five points of the second half as Philadelphia stormed out of intermission with a 7-2 spurt that pushed the advantage to 13, giving the Sixers a cushion to weather Boston's comeback efforts.

"In the second quarter, we gave up a free-throw (offensive) rebound," Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. "We gave up two catch-and-shoot 3-pointers to Grimes. When he makes shots, they're a different team."

Philadelphia being a different team from Sunday's debacle was a theme that Edgecombe also noted in his postgame media availability.

"This is who we are. Game 1 isn't who we are," Edgecombe said in his interview with Peacock. "We let our offense dictate our defense (on Sunday), and we didn't do that tonight."

The rookie Edgecombe finished 12 of 20 from the floor, including 6 of 10 from beyond the arc, and grabbed a team-high 10 rebounds.

Maxey, meanwhile, knocked down back-to-back critical 3-pointers in the fourth quarter after Boston cut the deficit to two. The pair of triples jump-started an 11-0 run that put the game away.

"He just wanted them," Sixers coach Nick Nurse said of Maxey's decisive shot attempts. "He looked at me for a play call, and I looked at him and called it. He was like, 'Nah, I got it.'"

Maxey capped his 29-point effort with an exclamation-mark 3-pointer with 69 seconds remaining. After his stepback attempt went down, Maxey flexed toward a stunned Boston crowd.

With their offense clicking, the Sixers defense carried over to limit the Celtics to 35 of 89 (39.3%) from the floor. Philadelphia's game plan focused on shutting down the rest of the lineup around stars Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.

Brown went for a game-high 36 points and Tatum finished with 19 points to go with his game-high 14 rebounds. No other Celtic reached double-figures scoring, however, a stark contrast from Game 1 when the entire Boston starting five notched at least 10 points.

While Brown shot 5 of 12 from long distance, Boston's other shooters combined to go just 8 of 38.

Philadelphia, meanwhile, got 19 points from George and 12 from Oubre. After foul trouble limited him in Game 1, Andre Drummond came off the bench to provide quality minutes on the interior with 10 points and eight rebounds.

Bulls coach Donovan steps down

Billy Donovan is stepping down as head coach of the Chicago Bulls after six seasons, the NBA team said on Tuesday.

Donovan announced his decision just over a week after the team closed out a 31-51 season that saw them miss the playoffs for a fourth consecutive year.

"I believe it is in the best interest of the Bulls, to allow the new leader to build out the staff as they see fit," Donovan said in a statement.

The Bulls fired executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley on April 6. The next day, CEO Michael Reinsdorf said he wanted Donovan to remain as head coach.

"While we clearly wanted Billy to return as our head coach, we had open dialogue about the importance of respecting the process of bringing in new Basketball Operations leadership," Reinsdorf said in a statement on Tuesday.

"Together, we mutually agreed that giving that person the freedom to shape the organization was the best approach for everyone involved."

Donovan, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last year, has spent the past 11 seasons as a head coach in the NBA, including five seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Bulls posted a 226-256 record under Donovan. He led the franchise to one playoff appearance in 2022 when they lost in the first round.

Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf said the team is "deeply grateful for everything (Donovan) has given to this organization."

This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: NBA roundup features 76ers' win over Celtics, Bulls coach steps down