Author: jeremy2878

Sacramento Kings Tuesday game wrap: Bench sparks Kings’ win 100-94

Published on by jeremy2878Leave a comment

Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (15) drives to the basket around Detroit Pistons defender Tobias Harris (34) during the second half of an NBA basketball game in Sacramento, Calif., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017. The Kings won 100-94. (AP Photo/Steve Yeater)

By Jeremy Harness

SACRAMENTO – A severe rainstorm tore through Northern California Tuesday night, causing flooding in several areas and treacherous driving conditions everywhere.

The Kings had to endure a storm of their own early on that night, as missed opportunities and careless turnovers caused them to fall behind the Detroit Pistons for the majority of the game.

It wasn’t until key reserves and role players, such as Ty Lawson and Kosta Koufos, stepped up in the fourth quarter and propelled Sacramento in the final minutes, surging past the Pistons, 100-94, at Golden 1 Center.

“We can’t keep putting ourselves in these situations where we have to make these dramatic finishes in the end,” DeMarcus Cousins said. “We’ve just got to put a full game together.

“We’re going to continue to work on it, but we’ve got to (come up with) a solution quicker than we’ve been doing right now. We have to realize the constant mistakes that we’re making on a nightly basis.”

After a series of dispiriting wins early on in this current homestand, this win was equally gratifying due to the fact that the Kings (16-22) found themselves behind early but found a way to come back and win a game that they did not appear to have any business winning, particularly after turning the ball over 10 times in the first half alone.

A few things happened to turn things around for Sacramento. First off, the Kings did a much better job of holding on to the ball, as they committed only six turnovers in the second half while forcing Detroit into six of their own.

“There were fundamental, I-can’t-believe-I-just-did-that turnovers,” Kings coach Dave Joerger said. “I think we had three turnovers in the first half in the backcourt, which is very uncharacteristic. (To turn things around,) you just try and refocus.”

They also maintained their edge on the boards, as they outrebounded the Pistons 46-35 as well as grabbing four more offensive rebounds.

One more key was that it wasn’t all about DeMarcus Cousins, either. Cousins did have 24 points on 8-of-14 shooting to go along with 13 rebounds and six assists, a far cry from the nightmare outing he endured Sunday night against the Warriors.

But he got some help, particularly in a fourth quarter that saw the Kings claw their way from an 18-point deficit, a big portion of that coming with Cousins resting on the bench. Koufos, a one-time starter but has been relegated to a reserve role these days, especially sprung to life with 10 fourth-quarter points, finishing strong at the rim and also finishing with eight rebounds.

Although the stats don’t begin to tell the story for Lawson – eight points on 2-of-9 shooting and two assists against four turnovers – he settled down in the fourth quarter and put pressure on the Pistons with his penetration to the basket and presence on the defensive end, particularly when forcing Detroit guard Reggie Jackson to fumble the ball out of bounds midway through the quarter to keep the Kings’ surge going.

After sitting the first half of the fourth, Cousins re-entered the game with 6:39 remaining and Sacramento trailing by six, and the Kings only increased their momentum.

After a pair of Rudy Gay free throws, the Kings tied the game at 89-89 with just more than three minutes to go.

The Kings took their first lead since the first quarter when Garrett Temple, who has pushed his way into the starting lineup with his consistent play, sank a 3-pointer to put Sacramento ahead, 95-92, with 1:50 left.

However, Jackson came right back down and had a chance for a three-point play to tie the game. But Jackson missed the ensuing free throw, and Cousins quickly answered by draining a three to give Sacramento a 98-94 lead, a lead that they would not relinquish.

ASU’s hot shooting offsets Sheffield’s big night 98-93

Published on by jeremy2878Leave a comment

Arizona State guard Torian Graham, right, dribbles next to Stanford forward Cameron Walker (21) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Friday, Dec. 30, 2016, in Stanford, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

By Jeremy Harness

STANFORD – Marcus Sheffield had a huge night, and it progressively got bigger as the game went along.

Arizona State, however, trumped everything that Sheffield and his Stanford teammates did Friday night with a remarkable shooting performance in holding off the Cardinal, 98-93, inside a half-empty Maples Pavilion in both teams’ Pac-12 season debuts.

Sheffield finished the night with 35 points by making an astonishing 11 of his 15 shots, including connecting on four of his six attempts from behind the 3-point line. He had 15 points in the first half and helped keep the Cardinal in the game.

Although Stanford hung tough, Arizona State’s shooting proved to be too much to handle in the opening 20 minutes. The Sun Devils made seven of their 12 shots from behind the 3-point line – which is good for 58 percent – while also making 59 percent of their field goals overall.

The two teams went back and forth for the better part of the half, thanks to Sheffield’s efforts, but ASU broke the game wide open in the final minutes while the Cardinal cooled off from the field.

Arizona State extended their lead to 40-33 when Shannon Evans II knocked down a 3-pointer with 3:16 left in the first half. At this point, the Sun Devils had hit an astonishing six of their 11 shots from beyond the arc, which is good for 55 percent.

To clearly illustrate how hot Arizona State was in the first half, Torian Graham drove the length of the court and hit a running 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Sun Devils a commanding 52-39 lead at the break.

Graham scored 19 first-half points himself, and he played a pivotal part in racing away from the Cardinal just before halftime, and he continued his stellar play through the second half, finishing with 30 points.

However, coming out of the break, it was the Cardinal who came out swinging, quickly narrowing ASU’s lead to eight points in the first two minutes of the second half.

Stanford, to its credit, shot the ball fairly well. The Cardinal shot 53 percent from the field, but they only made only eight of their 24 shots from 3-point territory, and that proved to be the biggest difference on Friday.

They eventually narrowed the lead to four on Dorian Pickens’ baseline jumper with 12:40 left. But the Sun Devils, as they had in the first half, thwarted any attempt by Stanford to get as close as one possession.

By the time the Cardinal got that close, it was too late, because the Cardinal were forced to play the fouling game in the hopes that Arizona State would start missing key free throws. The Sun Devils did not allow that to happen, as they made just about every clutch foul shot they needed to make.

The team made 33 of their 43 free throws on Friday, which was good for 77 percent, which is a very good mark for an entire team.

 

Sacramento Kings Monday game wrap: Kings use 3-ball to get even with Lakers 116-92

Published on by jeremy2878Leave a comment

AP photo: Los Angeles Lakers head coach Luke Walton (left) gets the heave ho after getting hit with his second technical in the first quarter after Sacramento Kings DeMarcus Cousins threw down the Lakers Julius Randle to the floor on a non call is guided by Lakers guard Jordan Clarkson (right)

By Jeremy Harness

SACRAMENTO – The last time these two teams got together in this building, the Kings got out to a big lead and carried it well into the second half, only to watch as it slowly disappeared in a painful loss.

They made sure that didn’t happen Monday night.

Using a suddenly-deft touch from behind the 3-point line and a more prominent presence inside, the Kings snapped a two-game losing streak in emphatic fashion with a 116-92 win over the Los Angeles Lakers at Golden 1 Center.

The Kings trailed by nine points at halftime, but they quickly turned things around and never looked back. The Kings finished the game by hitting 10 of their 24 3-point shots, but most of the damage was done in the second half, particularly in the third quarter.

The Lakers started out fast in the first quarter and quickly got out to an eight-point lead as the Kings scuffled on offense. Sacramento, however, narrowed the gap, and at one point in the second quarter, Sacramento led by 10 before getting sloppy with the basketball and allowing the Lakers to re-take the lead midway through the quarter and take a 58-49 lead into halftime.

The Kings also did not defend the 3-ball very well in the first half, as the Lakers knocked down eight of their 13 shots from behind the arc.

The Kings, however, turned the tables on the Lakers in the second half, using the 3-ball quite effectively to tie the game back up at 60-60 early in the third quarter and extending their lead to as many as 19 points.

Sacramento continued to build on the lead in the fourth quarter, as they seized command inside as well as outside.

DeMarcus Cousins had a relatively-quiet first half but showed all of his skills almost immediately after the intermission, scoring 16 points in the third quarter alone. He hit both of his 3-point attempts in the quarter as well as driving more consistently to the basket and even feeding teammates for open layups.

Cousins finished the game with 31 points on 12-of-21 shooting to go along with 15 rebounds and five assists.

Darren Collison was also solid, adding 20 points on seven-of-11 shooting, including knocking down four of his seven attempts from behind the 3-point line. Garrett Temple, meanwhile, continues to show his effectiveness off the bench with 16 points while knocking down seven of his eight shots.

Sacramento also had composure on its side, while the Lakers seemed to start losing theirs early on, and it just continued to build throughout the game. Head coach Luke Walton was the first one to get heated, as he got thrown out of Monday’s game with 4:14 left in the first quarter after drawing two technical fouls in a row.

Meanwhile, Julius Randle also drew a technical on the same play, and after Rudy Gay knocked down all three free throws, the Kings tied the game and ratcheted up their defense to take the lead.

In all, the Lakers were slapped with six technicals while the Kings only had one, when Cousins and assistant coach Brian Shaw drew double technical toward the end of the third quarter.

NOTES: Ben McLemore appeared to bang knees with Lakers big man Timofey Mozgov while trying to fight through a screen midway through the first quarter. He stayed on the ground for a few minutes before walking to the bench with some assistance.

He was later diagnosed with a contusion to his left quadriceps and did not return to the game.

 

Cal Bears basketball game wrap: Cal rolls on with 67-55 win over Southeastern Louisiana

Published on by jeremy2878Leave a comment

AP file photo: Ivan Rabb (1) Cal Bear forward has a lot to be jubilant about as he and Cal freshman Charlie Moore help lead Cal in scoring

By Jeremy Harness

The Cal basketball team was never really challenged Sunday night, as they cruised to a 67-55 win over Southeastern Louisiana inside Haas Pavilion.

The Golden Bears raced out to a 40-22 halftime lead and then held on in the second half. In the process, they ran their record to 4-1 with more than a month before Pac-12 play starts.

Freshman guard Charlie Moore, who is averaging more than 20 points per game in this young season, led the Golden Bears with 22 points while making seven of his 13 shots – including going 4-for-6 from 3-point territory – to go along with four assists and three steals in the process.

Cal out-rebounded its opponent 36-31 and also won the turnover battle. The Bears forced Southeastern Louisiana into 16 turnovers while only committing 11 of their own.

However, one cause for concern for Cal came at the free throws, as the Golden Bears knocked down only 14 of their 26 foul shots, which is only 53.8 percent.

Oakland native Ivan Rabb, a sophomore forward, was not far behind him, adding 17 points while pulling down 10 rebounds.

For Southeastern Louisiana, Davon Hayes led the way with 11 points – aided by making three of his four 3-point attempts – to go with six rebounds.

The Bears will now get ready to take on Louisiana Tech, a team that will visit Haas Pavilion Wednesday night.

 

Stanford holds off Colo. St 56-49 Cardinal now 4-0

Published on by jeremy2878Leave a comment

By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: Colorado State Rams guard Prentiss Nixon (11) takes a jump shot over the Stanford Cardinal defender during Sunday night’s action at Maples Pavilion

STANFORD – The task was made a little harder than it needed to be down the stretch, but the Stanford basketball team got the job done nonetheless.

The Cardinal are off to a nice start to this season, and they kept that momentum up with a 56-49 win over Colorado State at Maples Pavilion Sunday afternoon.

Shooting guard Dorian Pickens led the Cardinal (4-0) with 17 points, an outing that was sparked by a magnificent first half that saw him score 14 of those points while hitting all four of his 3-point attempts. He also added six rebounds and a pair of assists.

Meanwhile, forward Reid Travis, who has been a notoriously-bad foul shooter, showed some signs of turning that around this young season. He nailed both of his free-throw attempts in the first half on Sunday, but he struggled in the second half, going 3-for-8 the rest of the way.

He was the only other Stanford player besides Pickens to score in double figures on Sunday, as he finished the day with 11 points on 3-of-5 shooting and grabbed five rebounds in the process.

The defense set the tone from the early going, forcing the Rams into 11 turnovers while committing only six of their own.

Backup point guard Robert Cartwright did not have a great day shooting the ball on Sunday, making only four of his 10 shots for nine points, but he did hand out six assists to lead the team.

The Cardinal took a 35-23 lead into the locker room with them at halftime. However, they did get a little sloppy with the ball in the second half, committing 14 turnovers in that timeframe, and that allowed Colorado State the opportunity to crawl back into the game.

The Rams narrowed the deficit to six points on a number of occasions, the last time coming on a free throw my Prentiss Nixon with 3:20 remaining. However, they could not get any closer, as Stanford’s defense held off Colorado State.

Nixon, meanwhile, led the Rams with 15 points despite shooting 3-for-11 from the field. He did get to the foul line often, however, as seven of his points came from the free-throw line.

The Cardinal will now take a nice road trip for the Advocare Invitational in Orlando, a tournament that starts Thanksgiving Day and a matchup with Miami.

Following that tournament, Stanford comes back home to Maples to take on Saint Mary’s on Nov. 30 for their annual showdown, which took place at McKeon Pavilion last season, before they travel to Kansas to take on the Jayhawks, whom they knocked out of the NCAA Tournament two years ago and will undoubtedly seek revenge.

 

Stanford opens Haase era with win in Shanghai

Published on by jeremy2878Leave a comment

AP file photo: Jerod Haase has a few words with official during UAB-UTEP game last season when he coached at UAB now the Stanford coach picked up his first win in Shanghai in the Stanford Cardinal opener against Harvard on Friday

By Jeremy Harness

It wasn’t pretty at times, but when the clock struck zero, Jerod Haase was 1-0 as Stanford’s new head coach.

The Cardinal went across the Pacific to take part in the Pac-12 China game to open the 2016-17 season and grinded out a 80-70 win over Harvard in Shanghai, China Friday night.

Reid Travis led the way for Stanford by being a real force inside, scoring 24 points on 7-of-13 shooting and grabbing 17 rebounds.

The only drawback to Travis’ game is that he was only 10-for-19 from the free-throw line, but then again, he has struggled mightily from the line during his college career, as he has shot less than 50 percent from the line.

Michael Humphrey was not very far behind him, as he scored 15 points while making five of his eight shots from the field to go along with four rebounds.

In addition, even though it did not show up entirely on the stat sheet, the Cardinal got solid play from both of their point guards. Starter Christian Sanders only scored one point, but he also handed out five assists and only turned the ball over once.

His backup, Robert Cartwright, made a triumphant return to the court on Friday after suffering a compound fracture of his right arm in practice toward the end of last season. He added five points to go along with three assists, including a beautiful feed to Grant Verhoeven off of penetration for an easy layup.

Bryce Aiken led Harvard with 21 points, but he made only five of his 15 shots to do it. Meanwhile, Siyani Chambers followed with 12 points on 3-of-7 shooting to go along with four assists and three rebounds.

 

Role players ignite Kings

Published on by jeremy2878Leave a comment

By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: The Sacramento Kings DeMarcus Cousins (15) drives to the basket past the New Orleans Pelicans Terrance Jones (left) and Omer Asik (3) in the second half of Tuesday night’s game at Golden 1 Center

SACRAMENTO – In discussing his role with the Kings, Willie Cauley-Stein also painted a vivid picture of a team trying to find its way in the NBA.

“You’ve just got to play through adversity, and you can tell what type of player you are when you go through something like that,” Cauley-Stein said. You can either go the negative route and say, ‘(Expletive) it, I’m not with this, I’m just going to go into a shell,” or you can say, ‘I’m going to prove myself, I’m going to come out of this hole.

“That’s what kind of mindset I’m going through. I’ve got to force them to let them know that I’m here, that I’m trying to win like the rest of us. When I go in, I’m drawing blood.”

He certainly did that in Tuesday night’s 102-94 win over the still-winless New Orleans Pelicans at the Golden1 Center, scoring nine points to go with three rebounds as well as blocking three shots, all of this while playing only 12 minutes.

After dropping four straight, the Kings, who never trailed against the Pelicans, have now won two consecutive games. In addition, the Kings will spend the next couple of weeks breaking in their brand-new arena, as six of their next seven games are going to be at home.

Arron Afflalo is another King whose role has been known to fluctuate during his NBA career, but he also spearheaded his team’s surge past New Orleans in the game’s final moments. The Pelicans had closed the gap to five points, but Afflalo converted a four-point play with 45.2 seconds left to give the Kings enough cushion to send the home fans happy.

“For me, it’s trying to adjust to how to be efficient, and not get frustrated by lack of rhythm, and just try to play through it to help my team,” Afflalo said. “I can’t really come into the game with expectations, because there might be a game where I get 15, 20 shots, and there might be a game where I get five shots.

“My goal is to make the best out of it.”

DeMarcus Cousins won’t have to worry about having his role diminish at any point. The All-Star center led the Kings with 28 points on 11-of-20 shooting. He also pulled down four rebounds to go along with four assists, a pair of steals and two blocked shots.

Rudy Gay, who struggled with his shot early on, got things going in the second half and finished with 21 points while making seven of his 16 shots.

Pelicans star Anthony Davis led all scorers with 34 points while E’Twaun Moore added 13 of his own. Rookie Buddy Hield had 14 points for New Orleans, but he struggled from the field for most of the night, as the majority of his scoring came in the final minute as the Kings were simply trying to run down the clock and were intent on not fouling.

Meanwhile, the Kings welcomed back point guard Darren Collison, who was suspended for the first eight games of this season due to a domestic-abuse case against him.

He began to put his handprints on the game in the second half, hitting his first shot of the season late in the third quarter with a 3-pointer from the right wing and followed that up moments later with another basket. He finished with nine points along with four assists and a pair of steals.

NOTES: In a bit of a weird twist of events, the two teams went into the locker room for halftime and came out for the start of the second half, only to find out that the officials had put 20 seconds back on the clock.

As a result, the teams played the remainder of the first half and then quickly switched baskets afterwards.

 

Stanford squeaks by in a snoozer 26-15

Published on by jeremy2878Leave a comment

By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: Stanford quarterback Keller Chryst takes a keeper for 44 yards in the third quarter to the Oregon four against the Oregon State Beavers on Saturday at Stanford Stadium

STANFORD – The game was not pretty by any stretch of the imagination, but at least Stanford is back to their familiar winning ways.

After dropping three in a four-game stretch, the Cardinal got things back on track in a dominant win over a struggling Arizona team last weekend and then kept things moving in the right direction in a 26-15 win over Oregon State Saturday afternoon to make themselves eligible to play in a bowl game.

Now here comes the bad news.

The recent losing skid seemed to have had a significant impact on fan interest. The official attendance at Stanford Stadium on Saturday was 38,813, but the half-empty appearance made that statistic extremely hard to believe.

Meanwhile, this game was marred by bad quarterback play from both schools, which was marked by missed receivers, botched snaps and interceptions

Keller Chryst, the Palo Alto High grad who took over the starting job from an equally-underperforming Ryan Burns, completed 10 of his 17 passes for only 60 yards, and he also botched three snaps – one of which was lost deep in Stanford territory – and made several bad decisions with the ball and simply took too much time to throw.

“Keller continues to grow,” head coach David Shaw said. “(He did) some good things, some not so good things. In a game like this where we score enough to win, win by two scores. You look up, could have had two more touchdown passes. (He’s) just got to connect on those.”

His quarterbacking counterpart, Oregon State’s Marcus McMaryion was not much better, even though he did throw a 75-yard touchdown pass in the first half. He threw for 137 yards on 10-of-24 passing, and he was also intercepted twice and just could not get his offense moving nearly enough.

Oh, and one more thing: When also factoring in questionable play-calling on both sides, it made this contest particularly difficult to watch.

Stanford’s day started with a comedy of errors, but with a combination of tighter defense and the fact that they were playing a bad OSU team, they got away with it.

Despite a lost fumble on a botched snap at their own 33-yard line and a pass-interference penalty on cornerback Quenton Meeks in the end zone, the Cardinal dodged a huge bullet when their defense stiffened up and watched as kicker Garrett Owens missed a 26-yard field goal.

Stanford then marched down the field and got within striking distance, but the drive eventually stalled, thanks in much part to Chryst missing a wide-open J.J Arcega-Whiteside at the Beavers’ 15-yard line that would have given the Cardinal a first down. However, Conrad Ukropina then tied a career-long with a 52-yard field goal to give Stanford a 3-0 lead.

The Cardinal got its run game going late in the first quarter, as Bryce Love found an open lane off the right side of the field and sprinted past the OSU secondary en route to a 56-yard touchdown that gave the Cardinal a 10-0 lead.

Oregon State got itself back into the game in the second quarter when Victor Bolden beat Meeks badly for a 75-yard touchdown catch-and-run, narrowing the lead to 10-7.

Stanford drove deep into Oregon State territory late in the second quarter, thanks to Christian McCaffrey’s 51-yard run that put the ball at OSU’s 9-yard line, but that drive soon stalled and forced the Cardinal to settle for a field goal.

“It went well,” McCaffrey said. “I go where the O-line goes. They did a fantastic job today of opening up holes, allowing our guys to find creases and make a play with the ball in our hands.”

McCaffrey has seemed to get himself back on track very nicely. After an injury limited his play and effectiveness, he broke through at Arizona and showed his teeth again on Saturday, rushing for 199 yards on 32 carries and a touchdown.

The defense came up big in the third quarter, coming up with a big play that was later converted into a touchdown. Midway through the quarter, Harrison Phillips deflected a McMaryion pass and allowed sophomore linebacker Mustafa Branch to make a diving interception at their own 38.

“It’s been a good group,” Shaw said. “The guys are playing hard, they’re playing smart, they’re playing together. They don’t care who gets the play. So for one guy to take up a blocker so somebody else can make a play, they get excited about that because it’s an entire unit that’s playing really well.”

Although he did not make any plays with his arm, Chryst did make one with his legs that helped make the difference in the game. Three plays after the interception, he gashed the Beavers’ defense witth a 44-yard scramble that left the ball at OSU’s 4-yard line.

McCaffrey plunged in from a yard out two plays later to give the Cardinal a 23-7 advantage.

McMaryion ran for a 3-yard touchdown to start the fourth quarter, but the Beavers could not gain any more momentum from that point, and Stanford was able to control the clock in the final period to come away with the victory.

 

SAFEWAY OPEN: Steele rallies to win 2nd title

Published on by jeremy2878Leave a comment

By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: “It’s been a barrel of fun” The winner of the Safeway Open Brendan Steele holds up the trophy at the 18th hole at the Silverado Resort North Course after winning the Safeway Open on Sunday in Napa

NAPA–Last year, Brendan Steele could not close the deal with the tournament right there for him. He erased all of that on Sunday to come away with the elusive trophy.

It was sweet redemption for Steele, who led after three rounds at the Safeway Open last year but went south in a huge way in the final round en route to a gut-wrenching 76, as Emiliano Grillo took the title in an eventual playoff.

He started the final round five strokes behind the lead but roared back with a score of 65, birdieing each of the final three holes to win his second career PGA Tour event at Silverado Resort and Spa.

“Very cool and awesome to start off the year,” Steele said. “Last year, I struggled down the stretch, and this year, it was the total opposite, and it just feels fantastic to come back like that.

“I really love this event, and Safeway’s done an awesome job this week, and I’m really, really excited about it.”

After getting up and down for birdie at the par-5 16th, Steele knocked down a 15-footer for birdie at the 17th, and then used his improved short game to get up and down for another birdie at the par-5 18th.

“My putting coming down the stretch was really the most important thing, and definitely some wedge-play stuff (was important as well),” Steele said. “I’ve been working on some stuff with (instructor) Dave Pelz that really helped me, with the soft conditions, take spin off the ball and really control my numbers, which is somewhere that I’ve kind of struggled in the past.”

Patton Kizzire used his superior putting to get into contention and was tied for the lead on the back nine. However, his ball striking, which had been a bit of an issue for him all week, eventually let him down and would not allow him to catch up to Steele when he took the lead.

At the par-5 16th, Kizzire found his tee shot nestled up against a tree, forcing him to hit it sideways back into the fairway with absolutely no shot to the green in regulation.

However, after he found the greenside bunker with his third shot and his ensuing sand shot left him with a 15-footer for his par, he nailed the long putt to keep himself in the hunt, just moments after Steele made his birdie at the 18th put himself a shot ahead.

Kizzire hit a much-better tee shot at the 17th and left himself only 100 yards to the green. His wedge attempt, however, fell short of the green and went down the slope another 15 yards. He was able to get up and down for par again.

He had one more chance to catch up, but his tee shot found the rough on the left side and forced him to lay up. His approach shot from 175 yards found the thick rough on the right side, however, and when his ensuing chip shot missed by a foot, the victory was secured for Steele.

“I’m definitely disappointed,” Kizzire said. “That was probably as close as I’ve been to winning, but I’m going to take the positives from it and try to put myself back in a good spot.

“I learned a lot today.”

 

SAFEWAY OPEN: Rain wreaks havoc again, logjam at the top

Published on by jeremy2878Leave a comment

By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: Scotty Piercy takes a walk up the sixth green of Silverado Green North Course at the Safeway Open which tightened up on the top of the leaderboard on Saturday

NAPA, Calif. – When looking at the weather forecast for Saturday, it was not a matter of if the rain was to come down but when. From that point, the question was how long the players would be on the course before they had to be forced off of it.

While most of the players were able to finish, the leaders who started their third rounds in the afternoon, such as Friday’s overall leader Scott Piercy, will have to finish their rounds Sunday morning after increased amounts of rain eventually suspended play.

Unlike the first two days, however, there will be a new leader when play resumes early Sunday morning. Piercy, who is one shot behind at this point after watching his three-shot lead evaporate while a group of players surged to the top of the leaderboard.

“(For) the first 12 holes it was pretty good, and then (at) 13 and 14, it started getting kind of nasty,” said Piercy, who was on the 16th hole when officials called a halt to the action. “(It was) hard to hold on to the club, and the ball’s squirting off the (club)face.

“It’s too bad we had to stay out there for a little too long, and then, I got to a point where I couldn’t hit the shot I wanted to hit, and so that’s enough.”

Johnson Wagner was one of the guys who charged out in front, and he enters Sunday morning with a one-stroke lead. He started the day three shots behind, but he played the 15 holes that he got in three-under.

“It was so brutal out there the last few holes,” Wagner said. “I was really just trying to survive and make as many pars as I could and just tick them off hole by hole.

“I don’t know how anybody else played, but it was difficult. I never even looked at the leaderboard today.”

Patton Kizzire was one who made a big charge. He sizzled on Saturday, recording five birdies on the front nine without a single bogey, and after a birdie at the 12th, he was tied for the lead at 15-under. However, a wayward tee shot at the 14th led to a bogey, he parred the next two holes before play was called for the day.

“After holding an umbrella for a while, your hand gets a little tired, and then you’ve got to step up there and hit a three-footer,” Kizzire said. (But) I played well, managed it.

“I’m not really striking the ball like I can, so that will be something to look forward to (Sunday). But my putter has been my saving grace; I’ve been really rolling it well.”

Piercy finished up his second round Saturday morning and picked up one more stroke, birdieing the par-4 17th hole to extend his lead to three shots as he began his third round in the afternoon.

“I wanted to make three birdies coming to the (club)house this morning,” Piercy said of the conclusion of his second round Saturday morning. “But I still hit some good shots, hit all the greens in regulation, pretty much hit in every fairway except for one or two.

“Ball striking is solid, (but I’m) just maybe off on a couple of reads (on the green),” he continued. “I really wanted to go make that last (birdie putt on 18), just to get an extra stroke.”

Things began to go south for Piercy as his third round progressed, however. After a birdie at the par-4 fourth hole, his tee shot hit the tree and left him with no clear shot at the green at the sixth, forcing him to take a bogey there.

This was about the time where the expected rain began to fall, and Piercy’s lead got washed out in the process. He kept making pars, however, until the 14th, where his ball striking again let him down. His approach shot ended up going past the green, and when he failed to get up and down to save par, he fell behind a stroke.

At this point, the rainfall had increased to the point where the officials were forced to decide whether or not to allow play to continue. At 5:43pm PST, the decision was made to suspend play for the day, but they did give players a chance to finish the hole they were playing on at that point.