Month: February 2014

Sabers best Sharks in Buffalo

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By: Phillip Torres

BUFFALO-The San Jose Sharks (38-17-6) were defeated by the Buffalo Sabers (18-34-8) 4-2 in a disappointing game at First Niagara Center on Friday. This was a game that San Jose normally a does not lose, as the Sabers entered the game with double the amount of losses as they had wins. 

The Sharks never held a lead throughout the entire game. Buffalo took the early 1-0 advantage in the first period at 10:59 on the power play goal. Cody Hodgson knocked the puck into the net with a wrist shot on the power play. Christian Ehrhoff and Tyler Meyers earned the assists on the play. The power play was set up for the Sabers because of a Tyler Kennedy holding penalty.

The Sharks tied the game in the second period at 9:38 after a goal from James Sheppard. The goal was Sheppard’s second of the season. The wrist shot that found the net was assisted by Dan Boyle and Marc-Edouard Vlasic. The rest of the frame was scoreless and the score remained 1-1 heading into the third and final period.

The third period was an offensive explosion for the Sabers as thy put up three goals, as the Sharks managed to just get one more on the board. Brian Flynn scored the first goal of the period to regain the lead for Buffalo. The next goal was scored by Matt Moulson. This goal extended the Sabers lead to 3-1, and eventually served as the game winning goal.

Meyers scored an empty net goal shortly after Patrick Marleau pulled the Sharks to within one goal with left than two minutes remaining.

The Sharks will be back on the ice on Sunday as they will be hosted by the New Jersey Devils. The puck will drop at 12 PM. 

Lakers edge out the Kings 126-122

Published on by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

Image

 

Photo credit: NBAE/Getty Images

By Charlie O. Mallonee

It was “old school” NBA at Staples Arena on Friday night as the Los Angeles Lakers downed the Sacramento Kings 126-122. If you love offense, you loved this game. Both teams shot better than 50% from the field. There were no defensive highlights. The game was all about 3-pointers, assists and fast breaks.

The Lakers shot 70.4% (19/27) from beyond the 3-point arc. That is not a misprint. Los Angeles shot 70.4% from 3-point land. The Lakers shot 60.0% (48/60) for the game, but it was their 3-point shooting that ultimately won the game.

The Kings shot 50.5% (47/93) overall in the contest. Sacramento shot a mere 33.3% (5/15) for 3-pointers. They shot 71.9% (23/32) from the free throw line.

With DeMarcus Cousins unavailable due to suspension, the Kings needed to play as a team and step up to the task of facing the Lakers. Rudy Gay led the charge scoring 30 points and shooting 50.0% from the field. Gay also pulled down seven rebounds, recorded 5 assists, two steals and one blocked shot.

Isaiah Thomas scored 26 points from the point guard position and shot 62.5% (10/16) for field goals. Thomas dished out eight assists. There have been those who questioned whether the Kings should re-sign Thomas. A better question is how can the Kings afford not to re-sign Thomas?

Derek Williams started at power forward and pumped in 26 points for Sacramento. Williams posted a double-double by also grabbing 12 rebounds. Jason Thompson scored 17 points and added 11 rebounds for a double-double of his own.

The Lakers were led by Jordan Farmar who scored a career high 30 points coming off the bench. The former UCLA star shot 80.0% (8/10) from beyond the 3-point line. His play is why Los Angeles came back in fourth period to win the game.

Marshon Brooks hit for 23 points. Pau Gasol and Jodie Meeks each tallied 22 points apiece versus the Kings. The Lakers bench scored 58 points in the game.

The Kings flew home after the game and will face the Minnesota Timberwolves at Sleep Train Arena on Saturday night.

Curry Composes Triple-Double Masterpiece in 126-103 Upstaging of Knicks

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By Matthew Harrington

On the biggest stage of the basketball world in the city the boasts the bright lights of Broadway Stephen Curry hogged the spotlight in another part of Manhattan. The Golden State Warriors point guard pieced together a virtuoso performance in a 126-103 blowout over the New York Knicks Friday night on the hallowed court of Madison Square Garden. Curry’s command performance included 27 points, 11 assists and 11 rebounds, a triple-double for the maestro out of mid-major Davidson College.

A year and a day removed from Curry’s opening act, a 54-point explosion at MSG in another Warriors victory, the Warriors All-Star composed his Friday Evening encore on 9 of 19 from the field. Klay Thompson played the perfect accompanist to Curry, falling a basket shy of matching Curry’s 27 points with 25 of his own.

Forward David Lee made his first start, and second appearance, since missing time due to the flu. He pitched in 10 points in 24 minutes of play. Jermaine O’Neal continued his superb support of Lee and the banged-up Bogut, posting 15 points in 20 reliable minutes of play of the bench.

Carmelo Anthony hogged the spotlight for the Knicks (21-38), collecting 23 points on 7-of-26 shooting. He converted the double-double on 16 rebounds, a game-high. Tim Hardaway Jr. had 22 points while J.R. Smith added 17 of his own. The Knicks shooters were held in check by the Warriors defense, with the New Yorkers connecting on a 37.9 shooting percentage.

The Warriors (36-23) spent only a minute of game time trailing the Knicks in total, trading leads six times over the first two minutes. The Warriors would go on a 10-0 lead to stake themselves to a 15-6 lead 4:30 into the first. From there, the Warriors were able to maintain the pace, finishing the quarter with 23 points to 21 Knicks tallies. The second quarter was a repeat performance of the first, with the Warriors outpacing New York 35-25 for a 73-52 edge at the half. The hosts would outscore their visitors 28-26 in the third, but the road team closed out the game with 27 fourth quarter points to 23 from the home squad for the final 126-103 mark.

On tap for the Dubs, winners of five of their last six, is a trip north of the border for a Sunday showdown with the Toronto Raptors before stops in Indiana and Boston. A win for the Warriors at any of the three stops would guarantee a .500 winning percentage on their current six-game road trip, the second longest stint away from home this season.

Kings arena update: Mayor ecstatic over judge ruling on subsidy ballots

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by Ken Gimblin

SACRAMENTO–On Thursday’s ruling by Superior Court Judge Timothy Frawley to throw out some 22,000 petiiton ballots that would have had forced a public vote on a new Kings arena, Frawley ruled that the ballots had flawed wording. This ruling was consistent with Sacramento City Clerk Shirley Concolino’s assesment that the legal wording for the petitions were flawed and the ballots invalid.

Anti arena group Voters for a Fair Arena Deal chose not to appeal the Frawley decision due to cost and said although they disagree with the ruling they will have to live with the decision, “We concluded that in the final ruling went against us, we would not appeal, we disagree with the lower courts decision, but appeals are expensive and typically it is a difficult matter overturning a factual ruling by the lower court.” said Craig Powell spokesman for Fair Arena.

Also it was Fair Arena who filed a lawsuit suing Concolino and the City Clerk’s office for saying the petitions were invalid, Frawley dismissed that suit on Wednesday. Meanwhile non union contract workers who had sided wtih Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork or STOP and Fair Arena the two anti arena groups, the non union contractors withdrew their financing of the lawsuit after Frawley’s decision. The non union contractors filed the suit after the city wanted to hire only union contractors to work on the arena leaving the non union group out.

“It’s unfortunate that the will of the poeple had to be thwarted because the T’s weren’t crossed and the I’s weren’t dotted” Said Eric Christen spokesman for the non-union contractors. STOP spokesman Julian Camacho has not made a final decision against an appeal but acknowledged that going forward would be expensive and timely, “the final, final decision by our group hasn’t been made” said Camacho

STOP has until the end the business day on Friday to decide if they want to pursue the appeal because the deadline is on Monday to get an appellate decision to get the issue on the June ballot. With the deadline closing in the odds are not very good that STOP will get an appeal in by that time, “I think the issue is the timing and financing, it’s pretty tight” said Camacho.

STOP and Camacho released their own written appeal to the voters of Sacramento urging them for the right of the people to be heard on these 22,000 petitions, “we call on the Scaramento’s disenfranchised voters to express their outrage to their City Council; and we call on our elected representatives to begin listening to their contstituents, it is not too late for the city’s arena deal to receieve the public scruntiny and debate that it deserves.”

Meanwhile Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson who said earlier that the petitions had the smell of stench, said that he his jubilant over the judge’s decision, “time and time again, outsiders have tried to undermine the right of Sacramento to control the destiny of our Kings, our downtown and our future, time and time again, we have stepped up to the challenge and stood tall. Today is no exception” said Johnson.

Ken Gimblin is covering the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors arena developments for Sportstalk radio

The Cardinal Take Their Revenge on the Huskies

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By: Joe Lami

Just two weeks ago, the Washington Huskies upset Stanford in Seattle to give the Cardinal their only Pac-12 loss of the season.  Stanford sought out its revenge on Thursday night, and they got it, defeating the Huskies 83-60.

Chiney Ogwumike had an outstanding performance in her second to last home game on the farm.  The player of the year nominee had 32 points, 21 of which came in the first half.  Ogwumike also added 11 rebounds to complete the double-double.  She also had three assists, two blocks and a steal in the win.

Stanford had four total players get into double digits in scoring.  One of them being Ogwumike, but Bonnie Samuelson had 14 points, with 12 of them coming from beyond the arc.   Freshman, Lili Thompson added 11 points.  Thompson also had four rebounds, all of them coming on the defensive side of the ball.  Amber Orrange finished out the starters that got into double digits, as she contributed 10.  The only starter to miss double digits was Mikaela Ruef, but she made up for it in other areas, as she led the team in rebounds with 14.  The fifth-year Senior also led the team in assists with five, and she also had a steal.

Kelsey Plum was the leading scorer for the Huskies, as she had 21 points.  Jazmine Davis was the only other Washington player to get into double figures in scoring.  Washington head coach Mike Neighbors said after the game that “Their focus was definitely on the defensive side of the ball.  Their plan was to stop us from scoring 87 points again.”

The Washington Huskies did one thing tremendously well in the game, and that was shooting the ball from beyond the arc, as the Huskies finished the game 48% from downtown.  “If we didn’t go 12 of 25 from the 3-point line, this game would have been embarrassing” added Neighbors.

Tara VanDerveer came right into the press conference excited about how well their defense play.  “I’m very excited about how hard people worked on both sides of the ball this evening” added VanDerveer.  “We saw some great guards tonight, and were able to shut them down, we are also going to see some great guards in Washington State” said VanDerveer as she’s beginning preparation for the final regular season game of the year of Saturday.

When asked if this was payback Ogwumike stated “I believe that the loss brought more motivation to the team rather than a sense of wanting to pay them back.  We have had better preparation not just tonight, but ever since the loss.”  Ruef was asked the same exact question and responded “I’m a little less “P.C.” (politically correct) than Chiney, but I wanted to kill them.  No one ever wants to lose, so it was a little bit a sense of payback” to the chuckles of the media.

Stanford’s record improves to 27-2, 16-1 in Pac-12 play and they remain unbeaten at home this year.  The Cardinal look to keep that winning streak in tact, as they host the Washington State Cougars on Saturday night.  It will be the final home performance in a regular season game for one of the best Stanford players of all-time, Chiney Ogwumike.

Sharks fly by the Flyers

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by Jerry Feitelberg

Sharks fly by the Flyers

The San Jose Sharks returned to play in the NHL Thursday night after a twenty day layoff due to the Olympics.The Sharks had four Olympians returning from Sochi. Two of them, Marc-Edouard Vlasic and Patrick Marleau, came home with Gold. Sharks goalie, Antti Niemi, returned with a Bronze medal as his Finnish team finished third in the tournament.

The Sharks used the time off to get key players back on the ice. Logan couture missed sixteen games with a hand injury while teammate Raffi Torres was on the ice for the first time this year. Torres sustained a knee injury in the pre-season.sAdam Burish and Tyler Kennedy were also back from injuries.

The Sharks started a three game road trip with a win in Philadelphia by a score of 7-3. The Sharks

had to be elated when Raffi Torres scored the first goal of the night in his first game back. Jason Demers and Mike Brown picked up assists on the play. The goal came with just 4:35 played in the period. The Flyers took command of play and dominated the rest of the period. They tied the score at one when Andre Mezaros beat Alex Stalock for the score. Stalock blocked a shot but was way out in front of the net and Mezaros flicked it in to tie the game. Philadelphia struck again just twenty-two seconds later. Brayden Schenn scored his sixteenth goal of the year and the Flyers took a 2-1 lead.

The Sharks did not get a shot on goal in the last eleven minutes of the period and the Flyers outshot the Sharks 10-5.

The second period was a whole different story. The Sharks scored five time to take a 6-2 lead.

Joe Pavelski scored three goals and notched his second hat trick of the year. Logan Couture and Raffi Torres also scored. The Flyers pulled goalie Steve Mason after Couture’s goal and replaced him with Ray Emery. Emery didn’t do well at all as he got beat by Pavelski and Torres.

In the third period, Logan Couture scored his second goal of the night when he scored while the Sharks were shorthanded. It was Couture’s sixteenth tally of the year and the assist went to Tommy Wingels.

Later in the period, it appeared that Couture scored again, while shorthanded, but the goal was not allowed. It looked like the puck barely went over the goal line but , for some unknown reason, the refs ruled that it was not a good goal. The Flyers changed goalies again. Mason went back in replacing Emery. The Flyers made it a 7-3 game on a Matt Read goal but it was too little,too late as the Sharks win and now have 82 points with twenty-two games left to play. The Sharks trail the Anaheim Ducks

by 5 points in the race for the division crown.

After the game, Joe Pavelski said that “he felt pretty good out there” and that the “ice felt pretty small” as he made reference to the wider rink that was used at Sochi. He also said that “we want to catch Anaheim” and that we “will take care of business” the rest of the way. Pavelski also said that “it was fun to see Raffi score” the two goals in the game.

Logan Couture commented on the gaol that was disallowed saying “I saw a goal and it was over the line.”

The Sharks avenged an earlier loss to the Flyers at San Jose and evened the season series at one apiece. The Sharks head on to Buffalo to play the Sabres in game two of the three game road trip and finish up against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.

Sun Devils bombard Stanford with 3-point barrage in Pac-12 win

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By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Wednesday, February 26, 2014

TEMPE, Ariz. – Arizona State used its mastery of the 3-point shot to near perfection Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Arena, as the Sun Devils earned a much-needed 76-64 Pac-12 men’s basketball win over Stanford.

Stanford never led in the game. It was Arizona State’s second wire-to-wire victory of the season, the other coming over DePaul on Dec. 6.

Jahii Carson led all scorers with 26 points, hitting 8 of 11 from the floor – including 2 of 3 3-pointers. Jermaine Marshall added 16 points, while Shaquielle McKissic added 10. McKissic and Carson each had four assists for ASU.

Addressing the media afterwards, Arizona State Coach Herb Sendeck laughed when the phrase “must win” was uttered.

“You guys are always the ones who tell me it’s a must win,” Sendeck said. “It will be midnight in about 30 minutes, and then we can talk about another must win (Saturday afternoon against California).”

The 9 p.m. MST tipoff time to accommodate ESPNU did little to help Stanford overcome a sluggish start. The Sun Devils (20-8 overall, 9-6 Pac-12) opened the game with an 8-0 run on 3-pointers by Shaquielle McKissic and Jahii Carlson, followed by an Eric Jacobsen layup, prompting Stanford (18-9, 9-6) to burn a timeout at 18:37 of the first half.

Arizona State hit 7 of 11 from behind the 3-point arc in the first half, and 10 of 19 on the night, including two each from Carson, Marshall, Bo Barnes and Jonathan Gilling.

“That’s what they do,” Cardinal Coach Johnny Dawkins said. “They’re a very good 3-point shooting team. They didn’t shoot it that well on the road, but they’re back home and feel better, they’re confident, and they shot the 3 well.

“It was definitely a bad start for us, but give Arizona State credit for playing a real good game,” Dawkins added. “I wish we could have played a better one ourselves. We didn’t value the basketball and turned it over too many times.”

Though the Cardinal would occasionally claw back, they sabotaged themselves by committing 10 turnovers in the first half, 15 total.

“We wanted to come in and limit their shooters, and I think everyone in their starting five except the two bigs shot 3’s,” Stanford guard Anthony Brown, who led the Cardinal with 21 points, said. “You’re not going to win when everybody is shooting 3’s.”

”We had a rough start with all those turnovers in the first half, which is not the recipe for winning,” Brown said. “Our defense wasn’t there tonight and that carried over to our offense with those turnovers. And (ASU) played much harder than we did in the first 20 minutes.

“We finally picked it up, but by that time it was too late.”

Dwight Powell sank a pair of free throws midway through the first half, cutting the Cardinal deficit to 14-10. But that was as close as Stanford would get, as the Sun Devils used 3-pointers from Marshall, Gilling and Caleen Robinson to spark a 25-14 run over the closing minutes of the first half.

“When you’re in a game like that and (ASU) is hitting on all cylinders, you have to hit your free throws and you have to finish and take care of the basketball,” Dawkins said. “I don’t think we did well in any of those categories.

“I thought we had a few good stops defensively. If you eliminate the 21 points (ASU) scored off of turnovers, it’s a different ballgame.”

ASU’s biggest lead came on a pair of free throws by Carson with 5:59 remaining, putting the Devils up 64-46. Stanford got no closer than nine points in the second half, when the Cardinal pulled to within 44-35 on a free throw by Brown at 15:31.

Chasson Randle and Dwight Powell scored 21 and 17 points, respectively, for the Cardinal. Josh Huestis pulled down a game-high eight boards as Stanford outrebounded ASU 33-30.

“Arizona State changed up the way they played in terms of not letting us post up,” Brown said. “Even when we don’t shoot well, we usually try to back it up with defense and keep ourselves in the game. If we don’t shoot well, we try to hit the offensive glass. We were outrebounded, and with our size, that adds to the recipe for losing.

“I still think about the turnovers, because most of them were unforced.”

Because of the Wednesday-Sunday schedule gap, the Cardinal flew back to the Bay Area and will fly out again this weekend for the trip to Tucson to face Arizona.

“We realize it’s a big game for us,” Dawkins said. “The Pac-12 is tough top to bottom and you have to go out there and compete. That’s what we have to do.”

“For us, we’ve lost every first game on the road,” Brown said. “We’ve just got to go back to the drawing board and get ready for a fight against Arizona. That’s as simple as we can put it.”

(TAGS: Stanford,Arizona State,Pac-12,men’s basketball,Daniel Dullum)

Arizona too much for Cal this time

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By Morris Phillips

Of all the emphatic dunks enjoyed by  Arizona on Wednesday night–and there were a few–it may have been the one that missed that best summed up the evening for both the Wildcats and the easily-handled Cal Bears.

With just under eight minutes remaining and Arizona cruising to a 87-59 win, Nick Johnson got a point blank run at the rim and opted for the full windup.  But when the ball bounced high off the rim then away from the basket Gabriel York grabbed the ball and in one motion kicked out to point guard T.J. McConnell for a wide open three.

It went that way all night: when Arizona wasn’t converting their good looks they took advantage of the Bears on the offensive glass for second chance baskets.

“They were solid and a little angry having lost to us at our place,” Cal coach Mike Montgomery said.  “They’re making shots now and at our place they weren’t making all their shots.  They’re playing really well right now.”

“You might make the argument that the game against Colorado and tonight’s game were the best back-to-back games we’ve played all season,”:Arizona coach Sean Miller said.

 Johnson best personified the turnaround with 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists.  In the first meeting Johnson’s sore wrist and off game led to 1 for 14 shooting–a career-worst.  This time he orchestrated the Arizona attack beautifully and got the best of Justin Cobbs in their head-to-head matchup.

The Wildcats used a big first half run to go up 16 and led 44-29 at the half.  Three minutes into the second half Arizona led by 20.  When Cal sliced the led to nine at 53-44 the Wildcats surged again.

Kaleb Tarczewski added 16 points for Arizona and McConnell and Aaron Gordon had 13 each.

Cobbs was Cal’s only double-figure scorer with 12 but he managed just two assists.

The Bears have dropped six of nine and will attempt to turn things around on Saturday afternoon at Arizona State.

 

 

Vancouver moves to final

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By Pearl Allison Lo

Photograph by: Craig Mitchelldyer-USA TODAY Sports

The Whitecaps FC will face the Portland Timbers Saturday after a 2-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes Wednesday.

 The Quakes, who sported their blue and black kits this time, went with a slightly different starting lineup, while Vancouver went with an entirely new lineup.

San Jose’s Brandon Barklage had an opportunity to score in the 12th minute when he crossed the ball to Sam Garza at the endline. Garza prevented the ball from going beyond as fighting his defender, he kicked the ball back past teammate Adam Jahn to Barklage. Barklage’s subsequent kick was only stopped by Carlyle Mitchell at the goal line.

The winning goal came in the 27th minute. Omar Salgado passed the ball forward from midfield. Shaun Francis, racing Sam Adekugbe, who then lost his footing, passed the ball to Kenny Miller who was in a foot race again Barklage. Miller’s shot then went in over a rolled up Jon Busch.

San Jose goalie David Bingham came in for Busch in the 42nd minute.

San Jose’s Steven Lenhart and Chris Wondolowski were latecomers to the game, entering in the 72th minute.

At one point, the Quakes had a sequence which involved two throw-ins and two corner kicks.

Lenhart later had a wide header.

Off a goal kick by Bingham, Christian Dean got Lenhart who was going for the ball. Lenhart hobbled off the field and ended up out for the rest of the game. On the other end of the field, Bryce Alderson was penalized and Darren Mattocks took the ensuing penalty kick. The 2-0 score came as Bingham went the opposite way of the ball in the 88th minute.

Former Whitecap Shea Salinas came in as Lenhart’s replacement after the goal.

Game notes: San Jose will end the invitational facing Portmore United Saturday at 2:30pm.