Author: Sports Radio Service

Stanford heads to Arizona State for Pac-12 showdown Wednesday evening

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Photo credit: @StanfordMBB

By: Ana Kieu

After a rough road trip in the Beaver State, Stanford men’s basketball rebounded with two straight home wins over rivals USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins, respectively. The Cardinal routed the Bruins 104-80 on February 16th and edged the Trojans 79-76 on February 13th. Not bad for two Bay Area versus Los Angeles style showdowns.

But Stanford (14-11, 7-6 Pac-12) now has a tall order with a brief stop in the desert, where they’ll take on the Arizona State Sun Devils, who currently stand tall with a 17-8, 8-5 Pac-12 record, and pay a visit to the Arizona Wildcats, who are third to last in the conference with a 14-12, 5-8 Pac-12 record. Tempe and Tucson are two different cities that are 100 miles apart, but I doubt the travel time and time difference won’t be factors in the Cardinal’s next two games. The Cardinal will bring a two-game win streak, while the Sun Devils will be looking to make it two wins in a row. ASU last defeated the Utah Utes 98-87 at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on February 16th.

The Cardinal had won five of their last six games, which has been a positive sign for the wishy-washy team even though they likely won’t become a promising postseason contender this year. If you’re antsy for the game, you can check out GoStanford.com for their live countdown to the tipoff. You can thank me later, too.

Not only did Stanford beat UCLA, Josh Sharma–a Cardinal senior center–was voted the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Player of the Week Monday. Sharma led the Cardinal to a sweep of the LA-based schools. The Cardinal’s win over the Bruins was their largest in 22 years. The Cardinal’s currently tied with Colorado and USC for fifth in the conference at 7-6 in Pac-12 play.

Sharma averaged a double-double for the week at 18.0 points per game and 10.5 rebounds per game. He posted his second career double-double with 22 points and 12 rebounds in the win over UCLA. His 22-point performance was one shy of his career-high, which was set earlier this season against Long Beach State.

Sharma, the Pac-12’s field goal percentage leader at 69%, finished 10-of-11 from the field in the win over UCLA, becoming just the 10th player in Cardinal history with at least nine field goals made and just one or no missed field goal attempts in a game. He finished Saturday’s win with seven dunks.

Sharma registered 14 points and nine rebounds in the win over USC on Wednesday.

Sharma was recognized by the Pac-12 for the second time this season. He was also named the conference’s player of the week on Dec. 31. He’s the first Stanford player to be recognized with the conference’s weekly award multiple times in the same season since Landry Fields in 2009-10. He’s also the sixth Cardinal to accomplish the feat all-time, joining Fields (2009-10), Matt Haryasz (2005-06), Matt Lottich (2003-04), Adam Keefe (1989-90, 1990-91, 1991-92) and Todd Lichti (1988-89).

San Jose State continues homestand with conference matchup vs. Colorado State Wednesday night

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Photo credit: @SJSUMBB

By: Ana Kieu

Once again, San Jose State men’s basketball has nothing to play for but pride, but I still have to provide some of the best Spartan coverage out there, so there you go. The Spartans wrap up their two-game homestand with a conference matchup versus the Colorado State Rams inside the Event Center Wednesday night. The tipoff has been set for 7:00 pm PT.

SJSU (3-21, 0-12) most recently hosted UNLV (14-11, 8-5 MW) and dropped a 71-64 decision following a promising first half with the Spartans holding onto a mere three-point advantage, 31-28, to the locker room on Saturday, February 16th. Meanwhile, CSU (9-16, 4-8 MW) lost to the San Diego State Aztecs 71-60 at the Moby Arena on Tuesday, February 12th. As you can see, home court advantage failed to help out the Rams, but then again, they faced a challenging SDSU team who currently holds a 16-9, 8-4 MW record.

The Spartans are bottom-feeders as they’ve lost 15 games in a row, while the Rams have dropped three consecutive games. That’s a tough pill for the Spartans to swallow, but hey, it’s NCAA basketball and anything could happen so don’t rule anything out Spartan Nation!

After all, SJSU did play a pretty darn good game versus UNLV last Saturday. Michael Steadman, as you should already know, was being “Steady Steadman” as one of the three Spartans in double-figure scoring with a team-high 16 points and seven rebounds. Moreover, Zach Chappell had his most complete game of the 2018-19 Spartans season with 11 points and season-highs of nine assists AND six rebounds in 29 minutes of play.

The Spartans failed to secure the upset over the Rebels, but there were quite a few silver linings like the two players I just mentioned as well as the reduced turnovers and increased rebounding. Since the Rams are third to last in the conference, I believe that the Spartans can beat them by 10 points or fewer. That being said, my prediction will be a Spartans 70-65 win.

Bruce Bochy to retire after 2019 season ends

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Photo credit: @NBCSGiants

By Jeremy Kahn

When Bruce Bochy arrived in San Francisco to manage the San Francisco Giants prior to the 2007 season, the team last won the World Series in 1954.

Well, that changed within four seasons, as he led the team to the World Series Championship in 2010, 2012 and 2014.

Bochy, who is entering his 13th season with the Giants decided that this will be his last season on the bench, as he announced his retirement at his daily press conference.

“In my mind it’s time,” said Bochy, who told the team prior to the teams’ workout at Scottsdale Stadium.

Bochy, who will be 64 on April 16 is only the manager to win three World Series as manager that is not in the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York; however, that will most likely change five years from now.

“I haven’t even thought about that,” he added.

Bochy spent the first 12 years of his managerial career as the manager of the San Diego Padres from 1995-2006 that included a trip to the 1998 World Series, where the Padres were swept by the Yankees.

Going into the 2019 season, Bochy is 1,926-1,944, good for 11th place on the all-time wins list.

During his big league career, Bochy played nine seasons for the New York Mets, Houston Astros and the Padres.

Cal Bears podcast with Morris Phillips: Cal heads to ASU in hopes to pick up their first Pac-12 win of the season Wednesday

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Photo credit: @CalMBBall

On the Cal Bears basketball podcast with Morris:

#1 The Cal Bears (5-20) head into Wednesday night’s game to face the ASU Sun Devils (17-8). The Bears are winless in the Pac-12, could they go winless for the rest of the way at this rate?

#2 The Bears’ big highlight in their 89-66 loss to the USC Trojans (14-12) on Saturday night was a three-pointer from Jacob Orender in the closing minutes of the game.

#3 The Trojans’ Benny Boatwright made himself at home with 36 points and 10 assists. With Boatwright, was it a matter trying to contain everyone or was Boatwright USC’s go to guy all night long?

#4 Bears head coach Wyking Jones said that the defensive woes carried into the offensive woes. How so?

#5 It’s off to Arizona State University for a Wednesday night tip with the Sun Devils. What are the Bears’ odds to get their first win this season in this one?

Morris does the Cal Bears podcasts each Monday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

NHL podcast with Daniel Dullum: Matthews and Leafs shocked by Yotes shutout; Gagner back in Edmonton; Philly breaks NHL record; plus more

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en.wikipedia.org file photo: The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Leafs Auston Matthews in file photo were left speechless after getting shutout on Saturday by the Arizona Coyotes in NHL action on Friday night

On the NHL podcast with Daniel:

1 Arizona Coyotes blank Leafs, and local kid Auston Matthews

2 Sam Gagner returns to Edmonton Oilers after deal with Vancouver Canucks

3 Philadelphia Flyers break dubious NHL record

4 Don Cherrry: Carolina Hurricanes are “Jerks” for the way they celebrate wins

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

Stanford overwhelms UCLA at Maples, 104-80

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Photo credit: @StanfordMBB

By: Eric Epstein

PALO ALTO, Calif. — The Stanford Cardinal avenged their Jan. 3rd loss to the UCLA Bruins by blowing them out with a score of 104-80 on Saturday evening. The Cardinal have now won 5 out of their last 6 Pac-12 games, pushing their in-conference record to 7-6. The Bruins move to 13-13 on the season and 6-7 in-conference.

When the Cardinal and Bruins met in Los Angeles earlier this year, the Bruins imposed their will on their guests, blowing them out by 22 points. The Cardinal, however, one-upped the Bruins by welcoming them to Maples Pavilion with a 24-point beatdown. Saturday marks the first time since 2013 that the Cardinal have scored over 100 points in a game.

Stanford outscored UCLA in the first half 49-40, powered by their 22 points in the paint along with 22 bench points. Despite sophomore guard Jaylen Hands’ 17 first half points on 6-8 shooting, the Bruins only managed to shoot 39% from the field, turning over the ball 8 times in the process. After Bryce Wills committed 2 quick fouls for the Cardinal, fellow freshman guard Cormac Ryan picked up the slack off the bench by making his first five shots and pitching in a team-leading 14 first half points.

Sophomore forward and Stanford’s leading scorer KZ Okpala had an extraordinarily sleepy first half where he started the night 0-4 and finished the period with a notably inefficient 2-7 shooting mark.

After a basket malfunction caused an extended halftime delay, the Cardinal quickly increased their lead to 20+ points thanks to dynamic play from senior center Josh Sharma, sophomore guard Daejon Davis, Wills, and Ryan.

The game flow of the second half came screeching to a halt, as the referees blew the whistle 13 times against each team. UCLA won the free throw battle, going 25-35, compared to the Cardinal’s 20 makes in 28 attempts.

With less than 5 minutes to play in the game, Okpala and Wills both endured hard falls to the hardwood after fouls at the rim. They both left the game momentarily but returned to after a brief seat.

The Cardinal finished with a season-high 5 players scoring in double digits with Sharma, Okpala, Davis, Wills, and Ryan all filling up the bucket at an exceedingly high clip.

Sharma, who was able to stay out of foul trouble for most of the night, led the team in scoring with 22 points on an insanely efficient 91% field goal percentage. In the second half alone, he wreaked havoc on the emergency replacement rims, throwing the ball down 5 times. He also grabbed a game-leading 12 rebounds.

Davis finished with 11 assists, the highest total for a Stanford player this season. He also coughed the ball up one time over the course of the game, an arguably more impressive feat.

After only playing 3 minutes in the first half, Wills played a very solid second half where he scored 10 points on 3-4 from the field and 4-5 from the foul line, also tallying 3 assists along the way.

Okpala turned his night around and scored 13 second-half points, shooting 50% from the field and throwing down an extremely athletic alley-oop dunk out of an inbounds play.

Ryan cooled down after his blazingly hot first half, and he only scored 5 points in the second period. He finished the night with 19 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists.

Hands never looked back after his monster first half, as he finished with a game-high 29 points on 8-14 shooting from the field and went 10-11 from the charity stripe. He and freshman guard Jules Bernard were the only reliable offensive weapons for the Bruins, and the loss surely would have been a lot uglier if they weren’t able to carry the offensive load that they did.

The Cardinal will try to build off of their Pac-12 momentum when they visit ASU and Arizona for their last road trip of the regular season before hosting their last three Pac-12 games at Maples.

Baumann becomes record-setter, but San Jose State falls to UNLV 71-64 for 15th loss in a row

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Photo credit: @SJSUMBB

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — San Jose State men’s basketball has nothing left to play for except for pride and Saturday’s matinee versus the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels was a rather competitive Mountain West matchup inside the Event Center. SJSU had lost 14 in a row, while UNLV searched for its second straight win on the road.

The Spartans’ starting five consisted of the favorable likes of Noah Baumann, Seneca Knight, Ashtin Chastain, Michael Steadman and Zach Chappell. SJSU hosted Fight for Literary day, which encouraged fans to pledge and possibly donate for the literary of local schoolchildren in the South Bay.

The Rebels jumped out to a fast start as Cheikh Mbacke Diong made a layup and Joel Ntambwe hit a 3-pointer to make it a 5-0 game, but the Spartans got on the board, thanks to Baumann’s layup in the paint and jumper to make it a 1-point game. Knight’s layup gave the Spartans a 1-point lead 6-5 at the 16:54 mark of the first half.

The game turned into a back-and-forth affair between these two teams. UNLV entered the driver’s seat, but SJSU gave the road team a hard time on Walt McPherson court. Steadman made two jumpers–one regular and the other in the paint–and Chappell knocked down a jumper to put the Spartans ahead 22-18 with 7:38 left in the first.

The Spartans continued to pour in the points. Steadman added a jumper in the paint, while Knight came alive with a layup, jumper and lone free throw. Also, Christian Anigwe threw down a dunk with 10 seconds left on the clock to help the Spartans to a 31-28 lead to close out the first.

Baumann opened up the second half in one of the most exciting ways possible. Baumann hit a 3 to not only extend the Spartans’ lead to 34-28, but also to set a new school record with a 3 in 22 consecutive games. The Spartans followed up with Knight’s 3, Steadman’s jumper in the paint and Chappell’s layup. The latter allowed the Spartans to regain the lead 41-39 at the 16-minute mark of the half.

The Rebels regained the lead 46-41 at the 12:07 mark of the half. Mbacke Diong made a pair of layups along with a lone free throw plus a jumper. However, Steadman ended the Rebels’ 7-0 run with a jumper at the 11:27 mark of the half. Steadman then made a layup on the fastbreak to make it a 1-point game.

The Spartans attracted attention to themselves as Ivey hit a 3 on the fastbreak and then drew a questionable penalty for fouling, which was arguably uncalled for by the officials. Still, SJSU regained the lead 48-46, so there wasn’t much to complain about. Well, at least until the Rebels tied the game 46-46 on a pair of free throws by Noah Robotham and snatched a 1-point lead 49-48 on Kris Clyburn’s lone free throw on the fastbreak.

Fast forward to the final minutes (and seconds) of the game where the Spartans pulled within five, thanks to Anigwe’s pair of free throws with 53 seconds left on the clock. Ivey made a pair of free throws in response to Amauri Hardy’s pair of free throws, but Robothom heated things up by making three straight free throws on the fastbreak in a 12-second span. Sure, Anigwe made a free throw on the fastbreak, but that wasn’t enough as San Jose State dropped its 15th in a row by a final score of 71-64.

SJSU hosts the Colorado State Rams on Wednesday, February 20th at 7:00 pm PT.

Gulls dominate Barracuda in 8-3 win

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE, Calif. — The San Diego Gulls took advantage of a change of momentum late in the first period and never looked back as they trounced the San Jose Barracuda 8-3 on Saturday afternoon at SAP Center.

San Diego is currently 5-1 against San Jose this season. The win also gave the Gulls 60 points as they moved into a tie for second place with the Cuda in the Pacific Division.

San Diego (27-15-3-3) drew first blood on a five-on-three power play late in the first period. With both Jacob Middleton and Jon Martin both off for hooking, Ben Street sent a cross ice pass over to Sam Carrick, whose one-timer beat Cuda goalie Antoine Bibeau (11-7-5) for his 23rd goal of the season at the 17:32 mark. Trevor Murphy received the secondary assist.

San Diego doubled their lead just seconds after their second power play ended. Carrick sent a shot on net that deflected off Chase De Leo for his 16th goal of the season at the 19:20 mark. Keifer Sherwood received the secondary assist.

Despite controlling the majority of the play in the opening frame and out shooting San Diego 16-10, San Jose (27-12-2-4) limped in to the first intermission down by two goals.

Gulls goalie Jeff Glass (8-6-2) was busy in the first period making key saves including one from point-blank range that kept the Cuda off the scoreboard.

San Diego kept their momentum going to start the second period. Ben Thompson fed a pass over to Murphy who skated across the slot past John McCarthy and Middleton and snapped a wrist shot past Bibeau for his eight goal of the season at the 3:17 mark.

Sam Steel picked up a loose puck along the boards and skated in and beat Bibeau through the five-hole for a 4-0 lead. The rookie forward’s goal was his 13th of the season at the 9:03 mark. Thomson and

San Jose finally got on the scoreboard just over a minute later. Alex True punched in a rebound off a Martin shot for his co-team leading 15th goal of the season at the 10:15 mark. Kyle Wood was credited with the secondary assist.

Carrick scored his second goal of the contest and 24th of the season on the power play when he took off on a breakaway and split two Cuda defenders to wrist one past Bibeau at the 11:05 mark.

Steel scored his second goal and 14th goal of the season on a two-on-one odd man rush with Korbinian Holzer. Steel skated in and blasted a shot that rung off the post into the back of the net for a 6-1 lead at the 15:24 mark. Kevin Roy was credited with the secondary assist.

San Diego dominated the third period. Corey Tropp scored when he was able to bang in his own rebound past Josef Korenar, who replaced Bibeau to start the third period, for his 16th goal of the season at the 12:29 mark. Jack Kopacka and Kalle Kossila received assists.

The Gulls continued their success on the power play. Roy sent a pass over to Alex Dostie and he wristed a shot into the back of the net for his second goal of the season at the 13:16 mark.

Rourke Chartier scored a goal on the power play in garbage time. Francis Perron sent a pass over to Chartier, who buried it past Glass for his fifth goal of the season at the 14:38 mark.

Keaton Middleton sent a shot from the blue line that sneaked past Glass over his right shoulder into the back of the net. The unassisted goal was Middleton’s sixth goal of the season at the 16:58 mark.

Glass was huge between the pipes for San Diego stopping 40 of the 43 shots he faced to earn his eight victory. Bibeau, who made his third consecutive start, made 14 saves on 20 after 40 minutes shots in suffering the defeat. Korenar made nine saves on 11 shots in mop up duty.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1/7 on the power play. San Diego was 3/6.

Vincent Praplan was back in the line up after missing the past 12 games with an injury.

TJ Hensick made his debut with the Barracuda. The veteran of 630 AHL games was signed back on February 12th.

The announced attendance was 2,859.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda take on the Gulls on Monday 2/18 at 1:15 pm at SAP Center.

Earthquakes shutout LAFC 3-0 in preseason rivalry match

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By: Ana Kieu

The San Jose Earthquakes stopped by the City of Angels to take on LAFC in a rivalry match at the Banc of California Stadium Saturday afternoon.

The Quakes’ starting lineup featured Daniel Vega, Marcos Lopez, Guram Kashia, Harold Cummings, Nick Lima, Magnus Eriksson, Judson, Anibal Godoy, Cristian Espinoza, Vako and Chris Wondolowski.

The Quakes were off to a great start. Eriksson’s free kick that rattled the near post at the ninth minute of the first half. Eriksson then found the back of the net five minutes later to give the Quakes a 1-0 lead at the 15th minute. Wondolowski doubled the Quakes’ lead at the 30th minute.

The Quakes carried a 2-0 lead to the locker room at the end of the first half. Eriksson and Wondolowski each scored one goal apiece for the Quakes, who were pretty darn confident in the fact that they’d ultimately win the match for the much-needed confidence boost along with the bragging rights that arise when a team beats a bitter rival.

Quakes head coach Matias Almeyda made no changes to the team’s lineup to start the second half. Unlike in Northern California, both teams played under the warm California sun as opposed to the stormy Seattle weather.

The Quakes made their first substitution of the match as Tommy Thompson entered the game as a replacement to Lima. The Quakes’ second substitution was Luis Felipe in for Eriksson. The Quakes’ third substitution saw Shea Salinas, who replaced Espinoza. The Quakes’ fourth substitution witnessed Jackson Yueill, who stepped on the field after Judson walked off of it.

Fast forward to the 76th minute when Godoy nearly kicked in a third goal, but was denied at the post by a LAFC defender. The score remained in a 2-0 lead in favor of the Quakes. After that, San Jose made its fifth substitution as Florian Jungwirth replaced Godoy.

Turns out, Vako indeed tripled the Quakes’ lead with the match’s third goal of the game at the 76th minute. The final score turned out to be a 3-0 Quakes win on the road. That being said, it was never too late for San Jose to beat LA. Media members on both sides of the field flocked to speak with Coach Almeyda along with the Quakes players in the hopes of getting some interesting quotes for their respective articles and/or broadcasts.

The Quakes wrap up the 2019 MLS preseason with a match versus the Seattle Sounders FC at Avaya Stadium on Saturday, February 23rd at 12:45 pm PT.

San Jose Sharks podcast with Len Shapiro: After winning six straight, where did the Sharks go wrong against Caps Thursday?

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On the Sharks podcast with Len:

#1 After winning six straight games, the San Jose Sharks (34-17-7) snapped their win streak to the Washington Capitals (32-19-7) in San Jose. Was this lost mostly due to the long road trip or or the Caps came in well-prepared for the Sharks?

#2 The win was a four-goal 5-1 victory for Washington and Caps star Alexander Ovechkin scored his 39th goal of the season. He’s a force on the Caps offense

#3 From the start there was little doubt the Caps were not only large and in charge and the NHL’s reigning champs, but found the back end of the net twice in the first and second periods.

#4 The Caps got two goals from TJ Oshie, who scored his 17th and 18th goals of the season in the first and second periods.

#5 The Sharks welcome the Vancouver Canucks (26-26-7) this Saturday for a 7 pm faceoff at SAP Center. The last time the two teams met the Sharks clobbered the Canucks 7-2 in Vancouver last Monday at Rogers Arena.

Len does the Sharks podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com