The POC Sports Roundup: February 21, 2011

In tennis, American ace Andy Roddick earned the 30^th title of his career by winning the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships held at Memphis, Tennessee. Ranked number eight in the world today, Roddick is the only active player not named Roger Federer to win at least 30 titles.

Meanwhile, three-division boxing champion Nonito “The Filipino Flash” Donaire has expressed his intention to unify all the belts in the bantamweight division. Donaire snatched the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization bantamweight belts by knocking out Fernando Montiel of Mexico in two rounds yesterday.

Catch the latest international and local sports news in today’s sports roundup.

Tennis: Roddick gets 30^thcareer title

US tennis star Andy Roddick claimed his 30th career title in the recently concluded Regions Morgan Keegan Championships. He finished off Milos Raonic of Canada 7-6 (7), 6-7 (11), 7-5 in a match that lasted for more than two and a half hours.

Roddick is only the eighth American to ever win at least 30 career titles. He needs only three more to tie with the 33 titles won by the late American great, Arthur Ashe.

Roddick denied the 20-year-old Canadian his first back-to-back title by nailing a tough diving forehand.

Despite his loss, Raonic pushed Roddick to the limits. He made 32 aces, putting his total record at 129 for the week. Raonic is now number 37 in the ATP World rankings. He became the highest ranked Canadian in ATP history, surpassing Greg Rusedski who eventually opted to become a British citizen in 1994.

Roddick, on the other hand, claimed that he was thoroughly outplayed by his younger counterpart all throughout the match. He said that he just stuck around and pushed himself hard to finish the match on a strong note.

Boxing: Donaire wants to unify bantamweight belts

Fresh from his demolition of Fernando Montiel to claim the WBO and WBC bantamweight titles, Nonito "The Filipino Flash" Donaire wasted no time unveiling his plans after his huge victory.

Donaire, who is currently ranked number five in the Ring Magazine pound-for-pound rankings, said that he plans to unify the bantamweight class by becoming undisputed champion of the 118-lb. division.

With the WBO and WBC belts firmly secured, Donaire is setting his sights on a possible fight with the winner of the Abner Mares-Joseph Agbeko fight. If that doesn’t work out, Donaire also opened up the possibility of facing World Boxing Association bantamweight champion Anselmo Moreno of Panama. Moreno is set to face Lorenzo Parra of Venezuela.

It’s also no secret that the 28-year-old Fil-Am fighter is planning to face another big-name fighter, such as the formidable Juan Manuel Lopez of Puerto Rico. Lopez is currently the top dog of the featherweight (126 lb.) class.

Donaire credited his excellent form for his sensational performance against Montiel. Aside from that, he also believes that the sprint training that he did during the preparation gave his punches extra power and snap.

The Filipino Flash will return to the Philippines after two weeks to celebrate his victory.

US NCAA: Purdue 76, Ohio 63

Purdue scored another huge upset earlier today by beating number two-ranked Ohio State, 76-63, thanks to the heroics of senior guard E’Twaun Moore.

The 6’3" shooting guard made seven three-pointers and countless layups and jumpers to finish with 38 points, five assists, and two steals. Aside from him, JaJuan Johnson added 13 points and six rebounds for Purdue.

Moore has now reached his 2,000-point milestone for Ohio State, becoming only the fifth player in school history to achieve the feat.

With the win, Purdue is just a game behind Ohio State for the conference lead. Last week, they scored a huge win over number 10-ranked Wisconsin, and beat a couple of good teams before that. They also avenged their 23-point loss against Ohio State last January 25.

For Ohio State, center Jared Sullinger scored 25 points while Jon Diebler added 11, and David Lighty and Aaron Craft added 10 each. The team has now lost two of three games after winning their first 24 games of the season.

Despite the score, the game was actually a lot closer than it looked. Ohio State hung around for much of the third quarter, while Purdue made questionable decisions. Sullinger drove and threw a two-handed dunk to cut Purdue’s lead down to five, 56-51.

However, Moore came to Purdue’s rescue once again by hitting his sixth three-pointer after nailing a smooth-looking jumper.

Ohio State made another run to make it 65-61 in the final canto. Moore answered with a contested three-pointer to finally seal the deal for Purdue.

Photo: “IMG_1779” by Marianne Bevis c/o Flickr. Some rights reserved.