RIO DE JANEIRO -- When it was all over, when they had the title they had coveted for years, Serbias jubilant players hung the countrys flag over one of the floating cages in the pool.The soaked flag said it all. Serbia had finally conquered the Olympic mens water polo tournament.Dusan Mandic scored four times, Branislav Mitrovic made 12 saves and Serbia dethroned Croatia with an 11-7 victory at the Rio Games on Saturday.This is maybe the best feeling in my life, center Slobodan Nikic said. I feel like Im flying.It was Serbias first Olympic gold medal in perhaps its favorite sport. The former Yugoslavia won three gold medals and Serbia and Montenegro lost in the 2004 final in Athens, but Serbia finished third in each of the previous two Olympics.After winning the world and European championships, Serbias star-studded roster had to deal with the burden of expectations when it arrived in Brazil. Then the pressure intensified when the team opened with a pair of draws and a surprising loss to the host country.But Serbia eventually found its way and closed with five consecutive victories by a combined score of 53-38. No settling for bronze this time around.We want this from the whole beginning of our careers, said Filip Filipovic, who scored two goals in the final and was voted tournament MVP.We trained so hard and so much. We suffer so much for this gold medal. As we saw, the road to this Olympic gold was very tough and very stressful for us.There were hugs on Serbias side of the pool as the final seconds ticked off, and the players jumped right in when it was over.Coach Dejan Savic avoided the traditional swim with his team, even sneaking off the deck for a moment before returning to the bench to watch the celebration. He wagged his finger and blew kisses to his players as they beckoned him to join them in the water.This is it for us. Lets say its game over, a grinning Filipovic said.Sandro Sukno scored three times for Croatia, which won gold in London. Javier Garcia Gadea had two goals.Serbia was the better team, Croatia coach Ivica Tucak said. We tried everything we had against them but they were just too physical and strong. The result shows that.Marko Bijac, who was voted the tournaments top goaltender and played a key role in Croatias run to the final, made five saves before he was replaced by Josip Pavic after Filipovic scored to make it 8-4 with 2:14 left in the third.They got easy fouls and they are such strong shooters, its very hard to stop, Bijac said.Italy beat Montenegro 12-10 for the bronze medal. Stefano Tempesti led the way with 10 saves, and Christian Presciutti scored four times.Its the second straight Olympic medal for Italy, which lost to Croatia in the London final. Italy also became the only country to medal in each water polo tournament in Brazil, with the women taking home silver on Friday.Its a great moment for (the) Italian water polo team, Tempesti said.The 37-year-old Tempesti had surgery on his right eye after he got hurt in the final match of the Italian championship in May. He finished with 51 saves in his fifth Olympics.Asked if the victory over Montenegro was his final game, he responded: I think so. Im quite sure, yeah.To be here with my eye, all the surgery, everything, day by day I had to learn how to come back in this Olympics, Tempesti said, and winning this medal, its the right reward, the best reward for what I have gone through in the last few months.Valentino Gallo added three goals for Italy, which lost to Serbia in the semifinals.Montenegro finished fourth for the third straight Olympics.We must make some changes, put some new players (on the team), but in this moment we dont have a lot of good young players, Montenegro coach Vladimir Gojkovic said. If we did they would be here now.---Jay Cohen can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jcohenap Tracy Mcgrady Raptors Jersey . The 43-year-old closer, in his 19th and final big league season, has said hed like to play the outfield. Yankees manager Joe Girardi says hes thinking about allowing Rivera to do it this weekend, when the Yankees finish their season with a three-game series at the Houston Astros. 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OG Anunoby Jersey .com) - Christian Ponder will get another chance to prove himself for the Minnesota Vikings, with head coach Leslie Frazier announcing Wednesday that the struggling quarterback will start this weekends game against the Green Bay Packers. Seeing 59 points on the scoreboard in the opener continued a recent TCU trend of racking up the touchdowns.But the 41 points allowed were still bothering Horned Frogs coach Gary Patterson this week.No. 15 TCU hosts Arkansas at Amon G. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas, on Saturday night, and the residue of the shaky defensive showing in which the Horned Frogs allowed 461 yards to South Dakota State in their opener has Patterson deeply concerned.When you do that, youre not going to give your kids a very good chance of being successful, Patterson said. Hopefully, well do a lot better job as a coaching staff of getting them put in position against Arkansas.If not, theyll have 1,000 yards and 1,000 points. Weve got to do a lot better job this week.The Razorbacks rallied for a 21-20 victory over Louisiana Tech in their opener with quarterback Austin Allen engineering a 77-yard touchdown drive in the fourth quarter to overcome a 20-14 deficit. He capped the march with a 4-yard touchdown pass to tight end Jeremy Sprinkle.We found a way to win, Hogs coach Bret Bielema said. That builds a lot of confidence.Allen was 20 of 29 passing for 191 yards with two touchdown passes, but he also was intercepted twice and was sacked four times. Wide receiver Keon Hatcher had six catches for 86 yards and wide receiver Drew Morgan five for 47 to account for more than half the production. Sprinkles touchdown reception was his third and final catch of the day.Running back Rawleigh Williams III led the Razorbacks rushing attack with 96 yards on 24 carries. The Hogs had a net team total of 106 rushing yards with the sacks accounting for 26 yards in lost yardage.We felt really good about certain guys, Bielema said. Our MVPs offensively, two guys really jumped out -- Rawleigh Williams and Keon Hatcher. Keon supplied some juice, especially in that second half. Some of those plays with extra effort continue to be impressive.Rawleigh was really impressive the whole game. I probably could have calleed on him a little bit more.ddddddddddddKeeping Williams in check has to be a concern what with the Horned Frogs experiencing an abundance of poor tackling in their first game. Patterson took the blame for the woes on defense.We didnt tackle very well. As we get a lot of times, we got a different game plan than what we worked on, Patterson said. To be honest with you, I did a poor job of getting them ready to play. We didnt tackle very well, and schematically we didnt do a very good job of lining up.TCU senior defensive tackle Aaron Curry cited communication issues as a big problem in the first half against South Dakota State so there are plenty of things to shore up.It was the first game so everyone was probably too hyped up and worrying about the wrong things, but as the game kept going everyone calmed down, Curry said.One area where there was no problem was at quarterback, where Texas A&M transfer Kenny Hill made his TCU debut. He passed for 439 yards, seventh-most in TCU history, while accounting for five touchdowns.I thought for a first ballgame, he managed it, Patterson said. We understand Arkansas is a lot more talented as a defense, a lot more athletic, a lot more physical one than the one we just played. We know we have to get a lot better at what were doing to be able to play like we need to.Hill threw two interceptions, but quickly moved on from his miscues.Its a year-and-a-half worth of hard work and just prayers that are all coming to fruition now, Hill said. So its a big deal for me.Patterson agrees that the work looks to pay off for the junior.No. 1, hes really studied, Hill said. Hes been a professional about it ever since hes been here, hes been a great student, hes done everything right. Every week, he keeps becoming a better and better leader.Our kids just rally around him. Thats what youre looking for with a quarterback. ' ' '