Author: Sports Radio Service

San Jose State/Mountain West Tournament podcast with Ana Kieu: Men’s basketball sets sights on Mountain West tournament; Spring football madness; plus more

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Photo credit: @SJSUMBB, @SJSUSpartanFB, and sjsuspartans.com

On the San Jose State podcast with Ana:

1. SJSU lost to Wyoming 81-71 and was unable to get a win for Oumar Barry on Senior Night last Wednesday.

2. More than two dozen SJSU student-athletes called donors to thank them for their support of the Spartan Athletics Fund and SJSU’s 22 Division I sports programs last Wednesday.

3. SJSU closed out the 2018-19 season with a horrifically embarrassing loss 121-81 at Fresno State last Saturday.

4. SJSU has been putting in work in spring football to prepare for the 2019 season.

5. What does SJSU need to do to beat the No. 6 Air Force Falcons in the first round of the Mountain West Conference men’s basketball tournament?

Ana recorded the San Jose State podcasts each week for SportsRadioService.com. Catch Ana on the San Jose Earthquakes podcasts as the Quakes’ season progresses.

Golden State Warriors podcast with David Zizmor: Injuries, players planning not to return, or just plain tired–what’s wrong with Golden State

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Photo credit: @warriors

On the Warriors podcast with David:

#1 The Warriors have lost six out of their last ten games. It’s not in their DNA for the last five years to go on a run like that. Has this team finally reached it’s peak and heading downhill?

#2 Warriors head coach Steve Kerr can’t put a finger on it, but he’ll have fast as the Warriors have four big dates on the road, starting with Houston on Wednesday night. Will they recover?

David Zizmor does the Warriors podcasts each Tuesday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Kings battle, but fall to Wizards 121-115 in DC

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Photo credit: @sbgglobal

By: Jeremiah Salmonson

In the first half, it was a tale of two quarters for the Kings. The Kings appeared to get off to a quick start against the Washington Wizards, scoring the first five points, but that would prove to be just a mirage at the Capital One Arena Monday evening. After that, De’Aaron Fox and company struggled mightily in the first quarter. The Kings were only able to muster 20 points while shooting 29% from the field and making two of three from the stripe.  The Wizards, on the other hand, were able to score 28 points to take control of the game in the first.

In the second quarter, the Kings flipped the script. The Kings put up an impressive 40 points to take the lead in the game 60-59 going into the locker room at the half. At one point, Fox went on a run to score 15 points in just over 3:30. Going into the locker room, the Kings appeared to have some confidence after a very up and down half. Going into the third, it was imperative for the Kings to keep the momentum and add onto the lead they managed to capture in the second.

However, the Kings weren’t able to do that. They came out in the second half much like the performed in the first quarter. They gave up their second 31-point quarter and only managed to score 21 points, a near carbon copy of the first quarter, but the Kings weren’t done yet.

The Kings managed to retake the lead in the fourth with 3:21 remaining on a Willie-Cauley Stein free throw. Unfortunately, they lost steam after an encouraging run. They missed a couple of key shots while the Wizards made some key shots and that proved the difference in the game.

When it was all said and done, the Kings gave up six too many points in the early quarters and fell to the Wizards 121-115. Notable scoring performances were De’Aaron Fox with 23 points for the Kings and Bradley Beal with 27 points for the Wizards. This game ended the way so many Kings games have ended lately. The Kings were close but were unable to finish the game in the final minutes.

Kings head coach Dave Joerger summed it up perfectly in postgame, “This game sucks, this one hurts.” Indeed, this game hurt the Kings’ playoff chances as they fall 4.5 games back of the Clippers and Spurs with 16 games left.

Close but no cigar for the Kings:

FG PCT: Kings 45.1%, Wizards 46.5%
3PT PCT: Kings 33.3%, Wizards 37.8%
REB: Kings 47, Wizards 47
AST: Kings 28, Wizards 29
TO: Kings 16, Wizards 17
BLK: Kings 3, Wizards 1

Scoreboard Watch:

Kings fans will be locked in Monday evening to the Clippers vs. Celtics matchup on NBA TV. The Kings desperately need the Clippers to lose to keep the deficit to four games behind the eight seed in the Western Conference.

Up Next:

The Kings travel to Boston to take on the Boston Celtics on Thursday afternoon at 4:30 PM PST.

Cal podcast with Morris Phillips: Will wins in Pac-12 Tournament translate to saving Jones’ coaching job?

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photo from bearinsider.com: The Cal Golden Bears Darius McNiell takes a shot over the crowded field of Stanford Cardinal defenders during last Thu Mar 7th’s contest at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto

On the Cal podcast with Morris Phillips:

#1 Will a couple of wins during the Pac-12 Tournament equate to saving Cal head coach Wyking Jones’ job?

#2 The Bears’ Connor Vanover was shooting baskets and he looked like he had lots of daylight against the Stanford Cardinal. He led the Golden Bears with 24 points and was the key player in leading Cal to that big road win on Thursday night.

#3 Paris Austin had 15 points and Matt Bradley 14 also were offensive contributors and a big help in Cal’s third straight win

#4 The Bears ran off a 17-0 run and that pretty much clipped the wings of the Cardinal, who towards at the end of the game pulled within four points, but couldn’t catch Cal, who got the 64-59 win.

#5 Cal plays the Colorado Buffaloes (19-11). The Buffaloes are no slouch. They have compiled some successful offense that got them past some of their opponents and the defense have shut some of their opponents down for some key wins and 19 wins says a lot about the year the Buffaloes have had. Does Cal have any chance to win in Vegas and will this be a lights out game for Cal?

Morris Phillips does the Cal Bears basketball podcast with http://www.sportsradioservice.com

 

March Madness NCAAB podcast with Michelle Richardson: Top schools Virginia and NC; plus Tenn, Kentucky, and Duke

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Photo credit: @UVAMensHoops

On the March Madness NCAAB podcast with Michelle:

#1 Michelle, talk about some the top ranked schools in March Madness, Virginia and North Carolina.

#2 Talk about the Tennessee Vols (5), Kentucky Wildcats (6), and Duke Blue Devils (10).

#3 The Washington State Cougars (11-20) finished up their season with Oregon State Beavers (18-12) they’ve lost four in a row. What is the best thing they can expect out of the Pac-12 Tournament?

Michelle’s Final Thoughts

Michelle does the NCAAB podcast each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Barracuda snap losing skid with 5-4 shootout victory over Heat

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

by Marko Ukalovic

The San Jose Barracuda had looked like the playing of a broken record in five straight games with the opposing team, scoring the first two goals in the first period to take control of the game. However, three unanswered goals in the third period paved the way for a 5-4 comeback shootout victory over the Stockton Heat on Sunday afternoon at SAP Center.

The Cuda desperately snapped their four-game losing skid and have won their third consecutive shootout (4-4). Francis Perron scored the only goal in the shootout as Cuda goalie Antoine Bibeau was perfect stopping all three Stockton attempts.

Stockton (25-26-4-2) drew first blood while short-handed in the first period. Ryan Lomberg led a 2-on-1 odd man rush Dillon Dube. Lomberg connected with Dube who beat Bibeau (12-10-5) for his 13th goal of the season at the 6:11 mark. Juuso Valimaki received the secondary assist on Dube’s second short-handed goal in consecutive games. It was the 16th short-handed goal for Stockton this season, which leads the AHL.

The Heat doubled their lead after taking advantage of a failed Cuda clearing attempt. Spencer Foo kept the puck in, fed a pass over to Tyler Graovac, who found an open Dube, who put the puck past Bibeau for his second goal and 14th of the season at the 9:04 mark.

San Jose (31-18-2-1) cut the lead in half early in the second period. Francis Perron was able to tip home a shot from the point by Kyle Wood, who broke his stick on the shot, past Heat goalie Jon Gillies (13-15-5) for his 16th goal of the season at the 2:47 mark. The goal broke a 10-game goal-less drought for Perron.

Stockton regained their two-goal lead when Foo scored his 15th goal of the season on the power play at the 8:36 mark. Dube and Valimaki were credited with assists.

Graovac made it 4-1 when he scored his 20th goal of the season at the 17:47 mark. Foo and Dube, who was involved in the scoring of all four Stockton goals, received assists.

The third period belonged to San Jose as they scored three unanswered goals to tie the game and force overtime.

Evan Weinger jammed home his own rebound after his initial redirection of a shot from the point by Matt Fonteyne hit the right post. It was Weinger’s ninth goal of the season at the 10:11 mark of the third period. Nick DeSimone was credited with the secondary assist.

Alex True cut the deficit to a one-goal game. With Bibeau pulled for an extra attacker, True received the puck from Maxim Letunov, turned and fired the puck through a sea of traffic past Gillies for his team-leading 21st goal of the season at the 18:33. Jeremy Roy received the secondary assist.

TJ Hensick brought down the house with the game equalizer with 1:05 left in the game while the Cuda had a 6-on-4 advantage with Valimaki in the sin-bin for cross checking. DeSimone and Jayden Halbgewachs were credited assists on Hensick third goal of the season.

Stockton had a power play opportunity in the over time session but weren’t able to cash in, thanks to Bibeau making a few big saves to send the game to the shootout.

Bibeau made 16 saves on 20 to earn his 12th victory of the season. Gillies finished with 31 saves on 35 shots in suffering the defeat .

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1/6 on the power play despite the Heat having the 30th ranked penalty kill in the league. Stockton was 1/5.

Jon Martin and Buddy Robinson exchanged fisticuffs late in the first period.

The announce attendance was 4,642. It was the second annual Pucks and Paws Day, where fans were able to bring their dogs to the game.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda host the Colorado Eagles on Saturday 3/16 at 1:15 pm at SAP Center.

NHL podcast with Daniel Dullum: Kane banged up from fight, is day to day; Flames, Sharks, Knights’ playoff race; Jets’ Wheeler lights the lamp; plus more

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@SanJoseSharks file photo: Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins and Evander Kane of the San Jose Sharks mix it up back on Tue Feb 26th at TD Waterhouse Garden in Boston. Kane was injured in this brawl and is day to day.

On the NHL podcast with Daniel Dullum

1 Evander Kane expected to miss Sharks game against Chicago.

2 Flames and Sharks battle to see who avoids Knights in playoffs.

3 Blake Wheeler scores four goals as the Winnipeg Jets beat surging Columbus Blue Jackets.

4 Carolina Hurricanes and Montreal Canadiens try to create space in NHL East races.

5 Remembering Ted Lindsay, Detroit Red Wings great, Players Union pioneer and NY Rangers all-time leader in games played and Harry Howell number ten on the all-time Rangers top 100 list and finished up in the WHA and played for the Oakland Seals he played in 1400 games. He passed away at 86.

Daniel Dullum does the NHL podcast each Sunday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Earthquakes blanked by Minnesota United 3-0

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By: London Marq

SAN JOSE, Calif. — 2018 was a dark year for the San Jose Earthquakes, who finished the campaign with only 4 wins. One bright spot for the Quakes was the season series they won against Minnesota United. The United has traveled to San Jose twice before and lost both games. San Jose looked to continue that trend as Minnesota returned to Avaya Stadium. San Jose opened the 2019 season with a 2-1 loss to Montreal. They wanted to avoid making it a habit.

The Earthquakes opened the first half under pressure. Minnesota was able to maneuver the ball into the scoring third of the field. United had a total of 8 shots, most of which threatened the Earthquakes goalkeeper, Daniel Vega. Vega, who was under constant duress during the first half, faced a barrage of shot attempts for a near 10-minute stretch. He was equal to it. From the 27th minute through the 36th, Vega defended 5 shots on target, 2 of reach he blocked. San Jose in contrast, only had 4 shots on goal for the half.

The second half opened with scoring early as Minnesota United drew a penalty in the 49th minute. MLS All-Star and Colombia national Darwin Quintero slotted it into the corner. Just short of 3 minutes later, Minnesota would find the back of the net with a goal from the former NASL MVP Miguel Ibarra. Just like that, 6 minutes removed from being tied at half time, the Quakes were playing to salvage a tie.

San Jose had no cohesive rhythm throughout that match, despite passing the ball often and with 83% accuracy. They lost more than 50% of their one on one and were on edge the entire time. After the match San Jose coach Matias Almeyda explained that the offensive game plan wasn’t executed as planned. As a result, the team spent more time crossing the ball from wide areas than they wanted. While the ball found its way into the offensive third with regularity in the second half, San Jose couldn’t manage to get a good touch on the ball to capitalize.

A late San Jose own goal by defender Harold Cummings in the 75th minute effectively ended the game. Quakes captain Chris Wondolowski had a chance to put the team on the board late when the ball came to him a few feet from the goal, but whiffed. It was the summation of the night San Jose had. It’s only two games into the season, so there’s no need to panic yet. Coach Almeyda is looking to take this season one game at a time. The goal right now it to get his team in a winning mindset for next Saturday’s tilt with the New York City Red Bulls.

FINAL: Minnesota defeated San Jose 3-0.

UP NEXT: San Jose heads to the Empire State to face the New York Red Bulls on Saturday, March 16 at 12:30 pm PT.

Condors thrash Barracuda 7-1

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

by Marko Ukalovic

A different game on a different day and time, but the same dominant result. For the third consecutive game, the San Jose Barracuda weren’t able to slow down the red-hot Bakersfield Condors in a 7-1 loss to the Pacific Division leaders on Saturday evening at SAP Center.

The Condors have won 20 of their last 21 games (and the last five straight versus San Jose), while the Barracuda have lost their fourth in a row for the first time all season and are winless in the month of March.

Bakersfield (36-17-2-1) drew first blood in the first period. Logan Day fed a pass that led to a breakaway for Tyler Benson. Benson skated in and beat Cuda goalie Josef Korenar (19-8-1) with a wrist shot on the far side for his 11th goal of the season at the 4:34 mark.

The Condors doubled their lead late in the opening frame when William Lagesson received the puck at the left point from Luke Esposito and his shot went past a body of traffic and trickled through the five-hole of Korenar for his sixth goal of the season at the 14:48 mark.

San Jose (30-18-2-4) had a chance to break the seal four minutes into the second period. A big hit by Cavan Fitzgerald on Joe Gambardella in the middle of the ice led to a breakaway for Jayden Halbgewachs, but Condors goalie Shane Starrett (23-4-3) stoned his attempt.

The Cuda cut the lead in half when a mad scramble in the front of the net led to Maxim Letunov being the last one to touch the puck that slid past Starrett for his 10th goal of the season at the 5:31 mark. Alex True and TJ Hensick were credited with assists.

Less than a minute later, Bakersfield shell shocked San Jose by scoring two goals in 21 seconds. Benson found Cooper Marody in the slot and his one-timer beat Korenar for his 14th goal of the season at the 6:20 mark.

Then, Patrick Russell picked up a loose puck from a shot from the point by Lagesson that hit off a body in front and was able to bury the puck past Korenar with a turnaround shot for his 16th goal of the season at the 6:41 mark for a 4-1 lead.

Bakersfield scored their third unanswered goal of the period when Braden Christopher cashed home a rebound in the slot off a Ryan Stanton shot from the point for his fifth goal of the season at the 12:45 mark. Marody received the secondary assist.

Russell scored his second goal of the evening and 17th of the season on the power play in the third period. Gambardella fed a pass over to Russell, whose one-timer beat Korenar at the 7:00 mark. Ethan Bear recorded the secondary assist.

Evan Polei fired a slap shot past Korenar for his eighth goal of the season at the 15:07 mark to complete the scoring for Bakersfield. Mitch Callahan and David Gust were credited with assists.

Starrett 27 of the 28 shots he faced to earn his 23rd victory of the season and 16 of his last 17 games. Korenar made 25 saves on 32 shots in suffering the defeat.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 0/3 on the power play. Bakersfield was 1/3.

Bakersfield is now 4-3-1-1 in the season series against San Jose with one more game left between the two teams on March 30th.

The announced attendance was 8,415 set a franchise record and was the highest attendance of the season for San Jose at SAP Center.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda continue their five-game homestand as they host NorCal rival, the Stockton Heat, on Sunday 3/10 at 3:00 pm.

San Jose State closes out regular season with horrifically embarrassing loss at Fresno State 121-81

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Photo credit: @FresnoStateMBB

By: Ana Kieu

The San Jose State’s men’s basketball team wrapped up 2019 with a road game at the Fresno State Bulldogs in Save Mart Center Saturday.

Just moments before the tip-off, Spartans head coach Jean Prioleau announced his starting lineup of Michael Steadman, Zach Chappell, Noah Baumann, Seneca Knight, and Ashtin Chastain.

The rivalry game started a little later than expected due to the fact the Bulldogs honored their three seniors–Braxton Huggins, Deshon Taylor, and Sam Bittner–on Senior Night.

The Bulldogs won the tip and the game went underway. SJSU got on the board first, but Huggins hit back-to-back three-pointers to give Fresno State a 6-3 lead at the 17:45 mark. With those threes, Fresno State tied their new school record with 303 threes and counting this season.

Huggins continued his dominance with seven three-pointers with 8:30 left. The Spartans trailed 35-26, which was unfortunate given the fact they held ties and mere leads up until this point. Huggins had a game-high 21 points and gave the Bulldogs a 37-26 lead with 7:44 left. Meanwhile, SJSU shot 10-of-14 with less than seven minutes left.

Taylor made a pair of free throws to make it a 40-27 game in favor of Fresno State with 6:36 left. Fast forward to the timeout, where the Bulldogs led 43-34 at the Bulldogs’ timeout with 4:31 left. The Spartans later stormed off to the locker room with a 59-40 deficit at halftime. Though, SJSU outshot Fresno State by seven percent, so that was one of the silver linings. The other silver lining was the Spartans’ leading scorers in Knight and Steadman–both of whom scored 11 points each.

As if there wasn’t already enough Huggins in the first half, Huggins opened the scoring with quite a few attention-grabbing shots in the second half.

SJSU trailed 73-47 at the 16:18 mark. Fresno State’s trap got to SJSU and that eventually led to Prioleau putting Brian Rodriguez-Flores, a walk-on guard from Phoenix, in the Spartans’ lineup just minutes before the 10-minute mark. Rodriguez-Flores, however, didn’t provide much assistance to the Spartans, who were overwhelmed by the Bulldogs, who made it rain with threes. Noah Blackwell set the record for most threes in conference play in MWC history. Also, Huggins tied the school record for most threes made in a single game.

Blackwell made a pair of free throws to extend the Bulldogs’ lead to 100-70 with 6:21 left. The Bulldogs had more records to chase in the Save Mart Center and that they did. Fresno State (22-8, 13-5 MW) refused to stop playing offensively and San Jose State (4-26, 1-17 MW) suffered a 121-81 loss to close out the regular season.

SJSU gears up to take on the #6 Air Force Falcons in the first round of the MWC Tournament in Las Vegas. Game three is set for Wednesday, March 13 at 4:00 pm PT. Follow me on Twitter @AnaKieu for live updates.