Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Erik Reynolds II knocked down five 3-pointers and put up 25 points to help Saint Joseph’s pull away from Virginia Tech to earn an 82-62 win on Saturday.

The victory gave the Hawks their first back-to-back wins since they won three straight in November.

Reynolds hit from behind the arc with 27 seconds left in the first half to send the Hawks (8-4) into intermission with a 32-30 lead. After the Hokies got two free throws to start the second half, Reynolds’ layup kicked off a 10-0 run to take a double-digit lead at 42-32. Derek Simpson’s second 3 of the half made it a 47-34 lead with under 16 to play. Ben Hammond hit from deep to get Virginia Tech within 10 at 54-44, but Anthony Finkley answered with a 3 and Reynolds followed with a layup as the Hawks pulled away.

Reynolds was 10 of 19 from the field, including 5 of 11 from deep, with three assists, two steals and a blocked shot. Simpson was 4 of 8 from 3-point range and scored 18 and Rasheer Fleming was 8 for 8 from the line to add 18 points while grabbing eight rebounds. Finkley chipped in 13 points by hitting 3 of 4 from deep. Saint Joseph’s was 15 of 32 from long range.

Hammond finished with 11 points and Ben Burnham was 3-for-3 from distance off the bench to add another 11.

Saint Joseph’s plays host to Delaware State December 28 before opening Atlantic 10 Conference play against UMass on New Year’s Eve.

Virginia Tech (5-7, 0-1) returns to Atlantic Coast Conference play New Year’s Eve at No. 5 Duke.

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A new flock is taking over Ptarmigan Country Club.

The club outside Fort Collins was purchased this month by Heritage Golf Group, a Virginia-based operator that expanded into Colorado two years ago. Records show the company paid $6.1 million for the land.

Heritage now owns 39 private or semi-private courses across the country, including The Golf Club at Bear Dance in Larkspur, Plum Creek Golf Club in Castle Rock and Colorado National Golf Club in Erie. It bought those three clubs in 2022.

It bought the private club at 5416 Vardon Way from Ryan Flack, whose family owned and operated it for more than 20 years.

“It was a good long-term relationship and the timing was right. We’re very thankful that they selected us,” said Heritage Chief Acquisition Officer Scott McMartin, who has known Flack since he started operating the club.

Ptarmigan, which opened in 1987, features an 18-hole course designed by golf legend Jack Nicklaus. It also has a swimming pool, racquet courts and a clubhouse.

Ron Flack, Ryan’s dad, bought it in 2004 for $4.8 million, records show. He and his son revamped several parts of the clubhouse during their tenure, according to the Ptarmigan website.

The older Flack died this past summer, in part leading to the sale, McMartin said. Ryan Flack did not respond to a request for comment.

“It was a combination of high comfort level with Heritage, the right price and the timing with the family. It was just an opportunistic situation,” McMartin said of Flack’s decision to sell.

McMartin said Heritage will improve several aspects of the club, which is already underway with the clubhouse. While the course is in good shape, his team is evaluating whether to give some bunkers a face-lift.

“Once we acquire a property, we go in pretty big with capital,” McMartin said. “We don’t like to stretch it out over years.”

He said Heritage has been looking to expand into Fort Collins because of its growing population and it being a university town. Ptarmigan also fit McMartin’s criteria when it comes to a new club: private with full amenities in a residential area. He said the company also likes to target legacy family-owned clubs that want a dependable exit.

McMartin said Heritage is under contract to buy two more clubs in the eastern U.S and interested in buying more clubs along Colorado’s Front Range.

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ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – An un-housed man in Atlanta’s Virginia-Highland neighborhood has continuously been arrested for indecent exposure and urinating in public. Neighbors want to know why he doesn’t stay behind bars.

“I was in total shock like am I really seeing what I’m seeing right now,” said David Robertson, who lives in Virginia-Highland.

For three years, David Robertson has been dealing with this when he walks outside of his condo.

“It’s a never ending battle like what do we do? Like I don’t know what the solution here is,” said Robertson.

The same man, Ruben Gates according to police reports, masturbating in public.

“It’s just you shouldn’t do that in front of people. Period,” said Robertson.

Robertson has called the police more times than he can remember. He’s recorded videos because many times by the time police have arrived, Gates have left. Atlanta police confirmed they arrested Gates at least twice this year.

Gates’ records go as far back as the 1990’s in Fulton County’s system. Gates has seven cases listed with the Municipal Court of Atlanta.

He was arrested for exposing his genitals and public drinking on July 3. That case is still open. Less than two weeks later, he was arrested again for indecency. Three cases are for urinating or defecating in public. Those were closed when gates didn’t show up for court, according to records.

“There’s a lot of these issues around here and it seems that’s the outcome with every single one of them,” said Robertson.

We reached out to the Fulton County district attorney’s office to ask about what the sentencing could be in gates’ open cases and were told they would look into it.

“I just want it to stop. I would love to see it stop,” said Robertson.

According to Georgia law, a person can be sentenced to up to five years in prison for indecency and put on the sex offender registry.

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