Month: January 2016

Sharks Win 4-3 Over Wild

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By Mary Walsh

AP Photo: San Jose Sharks Joonas Donskoi is congratulated by the conga line after scoring in the second period of Saturday’s game

SAN JOSE– The San Jose Sharks defeated the Minnesota Wild by a score of 4-3 Saturday. Joe Pavelski scored the game winner with less than 90 seconds remaining in overtime. It was his 23rd of the season. Tomas Hertl scored his ninth, Joonas Donskoi scored his seventh, and Joel Ward scored his 23rd of the season. Joe Thornton earned his 930th career assist, putting him in 16th place on the NHL’s all time assists leaders.

With Saturday’s win, Sharks have earned points in eight of their last ten games, winning seven of those. They have won five of their last eight home games. The Sharks may have put their home ice woes behind them. The team’s confidence and optimism have returned. After Saturday’s win, Joe Pavelski said:

Felt really good. I like these day games. I think we had the energy right away, the fans were there. It’s exciting to play like that and the guys responded well in the first. I know we came in down 2-1 but it felt like we get that early goal and the energy’s there and we’re all over them we just didn’t find that next one. We let them back in but the guys stuck with it.

The Sharks wasted no time going after the first goal. Tomas Hertl took the puck to the net and tried once with a backhand, then got the puck back and took it around behind the net. Joe Thornton caught the puck in the corner and sent it in front of the net for Joe Pavelski, whose deflection went wide. Hertl got the puck again and put it in the net with a couple of whacks. Assists went to Pavelski and Thornton at 1:33.

The Sharks also took the first penalty of the game, a minor to Melker Karlsson for closing his hand on the puck at 11:24 of the first. The Wild power play started well, and by rights should have scored early, but a bounce here and there kept the puck just out of the net. Sharks goaltender Martin Jones also kept it out.

It was after the power play expired that Chris Porter tied the game, with a quick shot off of an offensive zone faceoff. A pass across the slot had Jones moving left to right but not fast enough to stop Porter’s shot. Assists went to Marco Scandella and Erik Haula at 13:00.

Joel Ward went to the the box in the final two minutes of the first, for tripping. The Wild scored in the final 30 second of the penalty, after a mad scramble to get a puck that Jones had slowed down but not controlled. Pete DeBoer challenged the goal on the basis of goaltender interference. In the scramble at the crease, the Wild player’s stick knocked Jones’ stick loose, but Jones brought his stick around behind and put it over the Wild stick, not the other way around. The goal stood up and the Sharks lost their timeout. The power play goal was Charlie Coyle’s, with assists to Niederreiter and Jared Spurgeon.

At the end of the first, the score was 2-1 Minnesota and the shots were 10-9 Minnesota.

Chris Tierney drew a tripping penalty on Marco Scandella at 8:39 of the period. The trip spoke to Tierney’s persistence in the Minnesota zone as he and the fourth line made life difficult for the Minnesota defense. The Sharks could not convert on the power play but they had another chance just a few seconds after that one expired. Jared Spurgeon went to the box for hooking Logan Couture. As in the prior power play, the Sharks had a difficult time finding good shots. The Wild penalty killers read the Sharks skaters well and efficiently blocked shooting and passing lanes.

Midway through this power play, Tomas Hertl went to the bench after being struck in the back of the neck by a Brent Burns shot. After the game, he commented that he was “just a little bit sore, and maybe if he hit harder I may be in hospital now because he has really hard shot and I’m okay.”

After Hertl went to the bench, the second power play unit came out and with a couple of passes found that chance the first unit had been missing. A pass from Joel Ward reached Donskoi near the left goal line. Donskoi’s one-timer went through a small hole between Kuemper and the post to tie the game. Assists went to Ward and Pavelski.

Many of those same players were on the ice again when the Sharks skated in later at even strength, outnumbering the Wild. Couture carried the puck up the middle, passed it to Donskoi who just missed to the right of the net. His shot went of the back boards and into Couture’s skates in the corner. Couture sent it back above the goal line, where Joel Ward caught it and put it in the net. Assists went to Couture and Donskoi.

At the end of the second, the score was 3-2 Sharks and the shots were 23-18 Sharks.

The third with a hooking penalty to Joe Thornton just 23 seconds in. The Sharks killed the penalty off, and Chris Tierney even led a short-handed rush but the score remained the same.

With 7:50 left in the third, the Wild tied it up on a goal from Jarret Stoll. Jonas Brodin took a shot from high in the slot, which Jones stopped, but Stoll picked up the rebound while fighting off Brent Burns right in front of the blue paint.

The game was starting to look like overtime with the score tied late. With 1:23 left in the period, Joe Thornton won an offensive zone faceoff and Joe Pavelski picked up the puck behind him. He took a couple of strides to the middle and shot it past Kuemper for the lead.

The Sharks next play on Sunday at 7:00 PT against the visiting Los Angeles Kings.

Golden Bears stave off 12th ranked Wildcats

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By Jeremy Kahn

AP Photo: Arizona’s Dusan Ristic (left) and Cal’s Ivan Rabb (right) battle for rebound in Saturday’s night’s game

BERKELEY-Coming off their hard fought 75-70 victory over the Arizona State Sun Devils, the California Golden Bears looked for the sweep of the Arizona schools.

Jordan Matthews scored 28 points, while Jaylen Brown added 15 points and the Golden Bears defeated the number 12th ranked Arizona Wildcats 74-73 before a sellout crowd of 11,877 at Haas Pavilion.

Brown gave the Golden Bears their final lead of the game with 18 seconds remaining in the game, as he hit one of two free throws; however Gabe York missed the potential game-winning jumper and Matthews secured the defensive rebound and the student section stormed the floor after the upset victory.

This was the first win by the Golden Bears over the Wildcats since February 1, 2014, when the Golden Bears defeated the then number one ranked Wildcats 60-58 at Haas Pavilion.

Despite falling behind by six points on multiple occasions in the first half, the Golden Bears fought back to get within two points at the half, as Jordan Mathews hit his second three-pointer of the game.

Unfortunately, both Kingsley Okoroh and Kameron Rooks each picked up three fouls in the first half.

Senior guard Tyrone Wallace missed his second straight game, as he out with a broken bone in his right hand.

With the win, the Golden Bears up their record at Haas Pavilion up to 13-0, their best start since the 2011-2012 season when their won their first 14 games on their way to a 17-1 record on Pete Newell Court at Haas Pavilion.

Okoroh was forced to the bench just 13 seconds into the second half, as he picked his fourth foul and was replaced by Rooks.

Jabari Bird gave the Golden Bears a 38-37 lead in the early moments of the second half, as he hit a three-pointer.

Brown extended the Golden Bears lead up to 40-37, as he hit two of three free throws after being fouled on a three-point attempt Kadeem Allen.

Bird hit another three, as the Golden Bears extended their lead up to six points, forcing Miller to call his second timeout after a 8-0 run by the Golden Bears that sent the Haas Pavilion crowd into a frenzy.

The Golden Bears increased their lead to nine points, as Matthews hit back-to-back three pointers to extend the Golden Bears to 51-42, but the Wildcats would not go away.

Before you knew it, the Wildcats went on a 7-0 run to cut the Golden Bears lead down to 51-49, but the Golden Bears were not fazed.

The Golden Bears then went on a 9-2 run to extend the back to nine, and the Golden Bears never gave into the bigger Wildcats.

After Matthews hit two free throws to extend the lead up to 64-59, the Wildcats went right down the floor and Mark Tollefsen cut the Golden Bears down to two, as the transfer from the University of San Francisco and Danville native hit a big three-pointer.

The Wildcats refused to go away, as the Wildcats tied it up late on two different occasions; however the Golden Bears refused to give in to the Wildcats.

York led the Wildcats with 15 points, while Kaleb Tarczewski scored 12 before fouling out when Brown went to the line and hit one of free throws.

NCAA podcast with Matt Harrington: Duquense’s Mens BB team still stuck in snow storm on Penn Turnpike National Guard trying to get them out

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On the NCAA Podcast today Duquense University’s Men’s basketball team got stuck at 9:00 AM Eastern after playing with the snow blizzard coming down. The basketball team was forced to park on the road and have been held up there ever since.

The National Guard now has been asked to assist to those stuck on the freeways such as the Duquense basketball team. Pennsylvania Govrenor said for all residents to stay inside and not travel. The snow blizzard has buried parts of the east coast up to 12 feet. Latest word on Duquense Men’s team as of 6:00PM Eastern they are still stuck on the road and will have to spend the night on the bus.

Stanford is preparing to host the ASU for Saturday night and anxious to win. The Cardinal struggled losing Arizona Wild Cats 71-57. It wasn’t even close and no doubt that Stanford head coach Johnny Dawkins is preparing the team to work at these particular goals, improve on free throws and shoot better from the field.

photo credit: The New York Times everyone is helping out pushing a cab stuck on the street in New York but the Duquense University Men’s team will need more than a push as they’re stuck on a Pennsylvania Turnpike since 9:00AM Saturday morning

Matt talks Stanford basketball on the podcast click to tune in at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

Barracuda can’t hold lead in loss to Reign

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By: Eric He

photo credit: San Jose Barracuda–SJ Barracuda played a close one on Friday with the Ontario Reign only to lose 3-2

A two-goal third period lead was not enough for the San Jose Barracuda as they fell 3-2 to the Ontario Reign on the road on Friday night.

With an empty net, Sean Backman evened the score at 2-2 for the Reign, firing a one-timer past Barracuda goaltender Aaron Dell at the 18:28 mark.

The game went to overtime, and Ontario’s Nic Dowd delivered the game-winner in the first shot of the extra session.

San Jose struck first with two goals in the first period. Karl Stollery scored five minutes into the game on a power play. Then, with six minutes to play in the period, Trevor Parkes deflected a shot into the net to give the Barracuda a 2-0 lead.

But it was not enough, as neither team scored in the second and the Barracuda could not hold on to the two-goal advantage.

The loss means head coach Roy Sommer will have to wait until Saturday for another chance at tying Fred “Bun” Cook for most wins in AHL history. Sommer currently has 635 wins.

The Barracuda are now 18-11-5-3 overall and 3-5 in overtime. They face the Reign again on Saturday night at SAP Center.

Curry’s triple double helps Warriors to victory in Kerr’s return

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By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

photo credit: The Sporting News–Golden State Warriors assistant coach Luke Walton and head coach Steve Kerr

OAKLAND — Stephen Curry recorded his seventh-career triple double (second of the season), finishing with a game-high 39 points, 12 assists, and 10 rebounds, helping the Golden State Warriors pick up their 40th win of the season with a 122-110 victory over the visiting Indiana Pacers Friday night at Oracle Arena in head coach Steve Kerr’s first game of the season.

Kerr, who missed the first 43 games of the season while recovering from multiple back surgeries, was welcomed back with a thunderous applause from the sold out home crowd of 19,596.

“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time … I really missed the routine,” Kerr said after the game. “It feels like the first game of the season, which it is for me. Fortunately our team’s in a pretty good groove and hopefully we can keep going.”

Curry, who was voted to start in his third-straight All-Star game Thursday, shot 11-of-19 from the floor, including knocking down 8-of-15 three-pointers. Curry drilled two half-court shots (one after the first quarter ended which didn’t count, and the other at the buzzer to end the first half).

For the season, Curry has connected on 204 three-pointers, becoming the first player in NBA history to have four-straight seasons with 200 made three-pointers.

Ray Allen is the only player in NBA history with five seasons of 200 made three-pointers.

Curry shot 9-of-9 from the free throw line as he recorded his sixth 30-plus point game in his last eight contests.

In addition to Curry, Golden State finished with five players scoring in double figures.

Starters Draymond Green had 22 points and 11 rebounds and Klay Thompson scored 18 points, while Leandro Barbosa had 13 points and Andre Iguodala finished with 10 points off the bench.

Golden State raced out to a 25-8 lead in the first quarter by making 10 of their first 14 shots from the floor, before Indiana shot 47-percent from the floor, while limiting Indiana to 17.3-percent on three-pointers.

Rookie forward Myles Turner led the Pacers with a career-high 31 points off the bench. Former Warrior Monta Ellis scored all 18 of his points in the second half, as Golden State swept the season series from Indiana, 2-0.

Pacers All-Star forward Paul George scored just 12 points on 5-of-15 shooting.

Many believed that this could’ve been a trap game for Golden State (40-4), who will put their 38-game home winning streak dating back to last season and 20-0 home record this season on the line when they host the equally hot San Antonio Spurs (38-6) Monday night.

Indiana (23-20) continues its West Coast swing Saturday night at Sacramento.

 

 

 

 

Kings clip Hawks wings to win fourth straight

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by Michael Martinez

Photo by Steve Yeater/ AP Photo

SACRAMENTO – No Rudy Gay tonight, no problem. The Kings found a way to close out a game, even though they were up by 17 at one point. The team played well together, at least the starters did. The team shot poorly, but showed toughness and tenacity. With a half game lead over the Utah Jazz, the Kings looked to win a fourth straight over the Atlanta Hawks at Sleep Train Arena.

The first quarter was a back and forth contest but once again the Kings dominated the paint, helping them maintain a lead for most of the quarter. DeMarcus Cousins got off to a great start as he totaled 11 points and crashed the glass hard with eight rebounds. The Kings passed the ball well throughout the quarter by using the extra pass to find the best shot. Every starter scored in the quarter.

The Kings finished the quarter with nine assists, five of those assists coming from the smooth hands of Rajon Rondo. The team played much better defense as well causing four turnovers, but left Kyle Korver open on a couple occasions for two three point field goals. Willie Cauley-Stein’s presence was felt as he limited Paul Millsap to two points. Cauley-Stein’s tremendous athleticism has improved the team’s overall defense quite a bit. Sacramento totaled 16 boards to Atlanta’s six and finished the quarter ahead of the Hawks, 27-20.

In the second quarter, the Kings struggled mightily, shooting the ball at 30.4% and got off to a slow start. Luckily, the Hawks did not shoot that well either as both teams had very little offense. Cauley-Stein scored six in the quarter and finished with eight points in the quarter adding seven rebounds. Cousins finished the quarter with a double double, 13 points and 10 boards.

The Kings offense was disappointing in the quarter due to little ball movement. After doing a great job in the first, the ball stopped moving and the Kings players seemed to play a little too much one on one. As the Kings hit the glass hard, their dominance on the boards gave them nine second chance points in the first half. Boogie had a game high of 13 points in the half but nine turnovers helped the Hawks cut down the Kings lead to 3 at the half. Heading into the locker room, Sacramento led Atlanta 47-44. Millsap had a team high for the Hawks with nine points.

Out of the break, the Kings struck first but the Hawks answered quickly going up 50-49. The Kings then got some fire under their belts, going on a 18-0 run. The run started with a free throw by Boogie to tie up the game and the team kept going from there. Sacramento ran the court extremely well with nine fast break points.

The crowd went nuts when Ben McLemore hit a three pointer and took a bump, completing a four point play and putting up a 9-0 run. Casspi then hit a three pointer, followed by a Rondo lay up. The Hawks tried to end the run when Dennis Schröder had a fast break lay up, but DMC blocked him. The run was capped off with an awesome alley-oop pass from Rondo to McLemore that caused a thunderous roar throughout the arena.

The Hawks called a timeout and the Kings momentum dwindled. The Hawks ended the quarter on a 13-5 run after the time out, giving the Kings a 72-63 lead. The Kings ball movement was once again terrific, totaling seven team assists. Both teams still did not shoot well, the Hawks shot a miserable 35% in the quarter and the Kings defense helped them break out. The team caused seven turnovers for 14 of their 25 quarter points.

Up by nine to start the fourth quarter, the Kings needed a gritty, gutsy performance to hold on to the eight seed in the Western Conference. Sacramento did show guts, but the second unit allowed the Hawks to hang around and make the game really close. The second unit had little ball movement and the team shot an awful 25% for the quarter. The Hawks were able to kick off the quarter with a 10-2 run and Cousins stopped the bleeding with a lay up.

As the quarter moved along, Kent Bazemore tied the game up at 80 with a little under six minutes remaining, but Omri Casspi answered with a three pointer. The Kings ball movement faded once again. Korver hit a three pointer to take the lead down to 1, 86-85. With 41.3 seconds remaining, Cauley-Stein was fouled and made two big free throws to go up 88-85.

“Y’all’s guess is as good [as] mine” Cauley-Stein said when asked about the last time he made back to back free throws.

After the free throws, the Hawks got down the court and Schröder made a big shot beyond the arc to tie the game up at 88 with 28.5 seconds left. The Kings took a time out and it appeared that Coach George Karl drew up the perfect play. Rondo pushed the ball inside to Cous, who dumped it off and set a pick to give Rondo a wide open lay up for a 90-88 lead with 12.9 seconds to go. Out of Atlanta’s time out, Millsap lost the ball straight into Casspi’s hands who called a time out with 3.3 left.

Darren Collison got the ball in the back court from Rondo and was fouled with 1.9 left. Collison missed the first free throw, but made the second. Atlanta took another time out and on the in bound pass it appeared Cauley-Stein tipped the ball to cause another turn over to end the game. Cauley-Stein’s length and defense helped end the game and all those turn overs caught up to the Hawks. The Kings won, 91-88, and heard loud cheers from the fans who brought a lot of enthusiasm and energy. The crowd played a huge role in helping the Kings pull through and close out an important game.

19 turnovers and a 35.4 shooting percentage should have resulted in a loss for the Kings, but they showed heart and found a way to pull through. Cauley-Stein finished with his second consecutive and career double double, 12 points and 11 boards. Cousins totaled 24 points and 15 rebounds for a ninth game in a row.

“Just playing hard,” Cauley-Stein said when asked about his second double double.

WCS also preached about playing for his teammates giving him the motivation to play at such a high level and with such intensity.

Rondo notched his fifth triple double on the season with 11 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Rondo tied Chris Webber for the most triple doubles in a season by a Kings player in the Sacramento era and we are not even at the All Star break.

“Man, he got the triple double because of me,” Cousins said with a laugh.

“The impact he has on games is incredible, I’m glad I can go to war with him” Boogie said.

Without one of their big three, Rondo and Cousins pulled out all the stops and meshed well together. Cauley-Stein was also a huge factor and McLemore stepped up to finish with 14 points. The Kings hit the glass hard and played big over a small Atlanta team with 56 rebounds to Atlanta’s 42. The Hawks only led by two at the beginning of the game and Sacramento proved why they deserve to be in the playoff hunt. The Kings now hold a game lead over the Jazz for the eighth seed and are two back of the Houston Rockets for the seventh spot.

This Saturday, the Kings will take on the Indiana Pacers and All Star starter Paul George at home to go for a fifth straight win.

Big Second Half Lifts No.12 Arizona Over Stanford

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By Matthew T.F. Harrington

photo credit: gostanford.com Stanford’s Marcus Sheffield drives the ball as the Cardinal are denied by Arizona on Thursday night

The Stanford Cardinal appeared poised to take the 12th-ranked Arizona Wildcats to the limit Thursday night at Maples Pavilion, but a one-point halftime deficit turned into a 71-57 loss for the Cardinal.

Arizona guard Gabe York scored a game-high 19 points while teammate Ryan Anderson pitched in 18 at starting forward. Stanford’s stellar freshman guard Marcus Sheffield continued his meteoric rise to become one of the Cardinal’s most potent scoring threats, netting 17 points for his third double-digit scoring output over his last 6 games.

The Cardinal (10-7, 3-3 Pac-12) struggled from the field, shooting 30 percent from the field while only hitting 4 of a total 21 threes attempted. Arizona (16-3, 4-2) went 8 for 18 from downtown while hitting nearly half (48 percent) of their shots from the floor.  Stanford only turned the ball over 9 times and managed 7 steals but a 42-29 rebounding margin in favor of Arizona spoiled the host team’s night.

The Cardinal trailed by as much as 8 points at 12-4 five minutes into the first half, but outscored the Cats 26-19 to head to the locker room at the half down 31-30. Stanford took its only lead of the game 5:43 into the 2nd when Grant Verhoeven hit a free throw to make it 40-39 for the home side. Arizona would go on to score the next 12 points unanswered to build an insurmountable 51-40 lead with 8 minutes left. They would outscore Stanford 20-17 over the final minutes of regulation.

Stanford gets an opportunity to avenge its loss when they host Arizona State Saturday night at Maples Pavilion. The Sun Devils are currently 1-5 in Pac-12 play. Arizona State fell to Cal 75-70 Thursday night.

Sharks dominate play in win over Coyotes

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By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Thursday, January 21, 2016

photo credit: zimbio.com  San Jose’s Tommy Wingels who scored two goals against Arizona Thursday night

GLENDALE, Arizona – The shots on goal for each team reflect a much closer game between San Jose and Arizona than the 3-1 verdict enjoyed by the visiting Sharks Thursday.

San Jose outshot the Coyotes 24-23, but dominated play most of the evening in a building that usually gives them problems.

“We’ve been a good road team all year, and I was comfortable that we would show up here and play a good game,” Sharks Coach Peter DeBoer said. “It’s nice when you win on the road, because this isn’t an easy place to play and the Coyotes have a very good team.”

The win snapped a tie for second place in the NHL Pacific Division between San Jose (24-18-3, 51 points) and Coyotes (22-19-5, 49 points) in the first meeting this season between the two clubs. The Sharks have won six of their last seven games, while Arizona is on a four-game losing skid and tumbled to fourth place in the Pacific.

“We needed these two points,” DeBoer said. “You look around the league and everybody seems to be winning games, so it’s important to hold serve, so to speak.”

For most of the first two periods, the Coyotes had trouble moving the puck out of their own zone, and San Jose capitalized with two goals by Tommy Wingels and Chris Tierney in the first period.

“I think we were trying to be above them all night, and we were pretty tight on them,” Tierney, recalled from AHL San Jose on Jan. 8, said. “We tried to eliminate their speed, go for the puck rink-wide, and that worked for us.”

“It was good to come in on the road and get two goals early,” Wingels said. “When you go up by two goals, it’s tough to come back from that, so we were happy with that.”

Wingels, recalled from AHL San Jose on Jan. 8, opened the scoring at 6:23 of the first period with his fourth goal. While he was spun around in the high slot, Wingels, with his back to the net, gloved the puck and sent a blind, low shot past Coyotes goaltender Louis Domingue off a deflected pass from Justin Braun.

“I just tried to get a puck on the net as quickly as I could,” Wingels said. “Sometimes, they’re going to be really pretty, sometimes not. Sometimes, you get lucky. I couldn’t tell if it was tipped, or if there was a screen, but we’ll take those goals any way we can.”

A scrum in front of the Coyotes’ net provided San Jose with its second goal. Tierney found a low opening on Doningue’s glove side on a shot deflected off Coyotes defenders Boyd Gordon and Nicklas Grossman. San Jose’s Melker Karlsson was knocked off balance in the crease, but the puck crossed the goal line before the net was bumped off it moorings. Braun had the primary assist at 9:56 of the first period.

“After I came back up, I just wanted to re-start, have a fresh mindset, come in to work every day,” Tierney said. “I got a lot of ice time down there (in the AHL), and hopefully I can score a lot more now.”

Though games between San Jose and Arizona tend to be physical affairs, the first penalty of the game didn’t come until the Sharks’ Joe Ward was whistled for high sticking at 1:47 of the third period. The Coyotes, scoreless in their last 11 power-play opportunities, failed to capitalize.

Arizona battled back and cut the Sharks’ lead to 2-1 at 11:24 of the third period when Brad Richardson converted his own rebound off his initial shot on a feed from Shane Doan. Richardson’s backhander in the slot beat San Jose goaltender Martin Jones to the stick side.

After Domingue was pulled in favor of a sixth attacker, Patrick Marleau popped in an empty netter with :52 remaining in the game for his 15th goal of the season, accounting for the final margin.

“It was a good group effort tonight,” Wingels said. “We got contributions from all of the lines, and we can feel good about ourselves.”

Even with a Pacific Division rival in town, attendance at Gila River Arena was 12,251 – many of them donning Sharks teal attire, including the San Jose dads making their annual road trip with their sons,

Doan was honored before the game with a brief ceremony recognizing his franchise-leading 380 career goals. He’s the last remaining Coyote who played with the team in Winnipeg before the original Jets moved to the Valley in 1996.

Freshman duo lead Golden Bears to victory

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By Jeremy Kahn

photo credit:AP photo–ASU’s Tra Holder scrambling for the ball during a game with Washington State 1-14-16 couldn’t get the Sun Devils past the Cal Bears on Thursday night at Haas Pavilion

BERKELEY-After a hard fought loss to their archrival Stanford Cardinal on January 14, the California Golden Bears returned to the friendly confines of Haas Pavilion, where they were a perfect 11-0 on the season.

Freshman sensation Ivan Rabb was remarkable, as he scored 20 points, pulled down eight boards and dished off a career-high six assists and the Golden Bears defeated the Arizona State Sun Devils 75-70 at Haas Pavilion.

The 20 points were a career-high for the forward, who attended Bishop O’Dowd High School in Oakland.

Rabb scored 12 points, grabbed six rebounds and dished off five assists in the first half, as the Golden Bears went into the locker room after the first 20 minutes with a 38-30 lead.

Obinna Oleka led the Sun Devils with xx points, but it was not enough, as the Sun Devils fall to 11-8 on the season, and drop 1-5 in conference play under first-year head coach Bobby Hurley.

Rabb received a lot of help from fellow freshman Jaylen Brown, as the native of Atlanta scored 19 points, as the Golden Bears even their conference record at 3-3, and improve to 13-6 overall on the season.

Brown, who went to Wheeler High School in Atlanta, the same high school as Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored seven points to help Rabb.

Things were looking really good for the Golden Bears in the first half, as they took the lead and never relinquished it.

In the second half, it was a totally different story, as the Golden Bears took a 54-40 lead, but the Sun Devils would not go away, as they went on a 17-5 run to cut the Golden Bears lead down to two at 59-57 with under eight minutes remaining in the game. After Rabb hit two free throws, Savon Goodman got the Sun Devils within two.

It was a big second half for Goodman, as he scored nine of his points after the half.

Andre Spight led the Sun Devils with eight points in the first half, while Tra Holder and Oleka each scored five points.

Rabb came up big for the Golden Bears when they needed it the most at the end of the game, as he hit one of two from the line to give the Golden Bears a one-point lead. After the free throw, Rabb then came up big on the defensive end, as he blocked a Eric Jacobsen shot that turned into free throws for Brown, who split the pair.

Brown then gave the Golden Bears a four-point lead, as he drove the lane for a layup, but the Sun Devils would not go away, as Gerry Blakes hit a corner three to cut the Golden Bears lead down to one with 33.9 seconds remaining.

The Golden Bears were forced to call a timeout after the Sun Devils pressured them in the corner, and they were in danger turning the ball over.

Brown hit two free throws to give the Golden Bears a three-point lead, but Brown fouled out with 18.5 seconds remaining and sent Oleka to the free throw, where he hit the pair.

Jordan Matthews put the game away, as he hit two free throws and then after Holder missed a three-pointer that would have tied it, Jabari Bird hit two free throws to seal the five-point victory.

Golden State Warriors podcast with David Zizmor: After Detroit did W’s get good and mad; Kerr travels with club but is he ready to come back?

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On the Warriors podcast the Warriors after loosing to Detroit last week picked up wins in Cleveland and Chicago. Was it a matter of the W’s being a tired ball club in Detroit and just keying in against the Cavs and the Bulls or did the Warriors just get outright mad and demolished Chicago and Cleveland after losing in Detroit.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has been traveling with the Warriors. He does get light headed when he sits down. How important is it to have Kerr on this current road trip and how concerned are the team about Kerr’s health?

Dave’s got it all take a listen to the Warriors podcast below at http://www.sportsradioservice.com