Category: Uncategorized

by Tony Renteria

The Sacramento Kings (14-20) looking to get back into the playoff race hosted the Oklahoma City Thunder (17-18) tonight with 104-83 impressive win.  The Kings took an early 28-16 lead in first quarter carried it though for the entire game.

The Kings were led by forward Rudy Gay who took his 9 for 19 shooting and turned into to 28 points and chipped in a balanced nine rebounds with four coming from the offense glass.

Point Guard Darren Collison match the shooting of Gay but only managed a very respectful 24 points while adding a solid seven assists.

Center and perhaps one of the most powerful players in the league DeMarcus Cousins added in 23 points but he took 23 shots and 13 times to the line to come up to that total.

The Thunder were led by All World and still recovering Kevin Durant who paced the team with 24 points, the other half of the offense duo Russell Westbrook only added 10 points on a horrible shooting night going 3 for 19.

The Kings who are looking to get back to the basketball that was played under former Coach Malone head to Denver on Friday as the Thunder heads East as well to play the Jazz.

By: Joe Lami

Stanford earned their fourth straight victory on Monday night as they defeated Utah 55-44 in a poor outing from both squads. The Cardinal outlasted the Utes, as they finished 36% from the field in one of their worst shooting performances of the season. Luckily, they held the injury plagued Utes to 28% from the field, including 19% from beyond the arc.

For the second straight game, Amber Orrange, led the Cardinal in scoring. As the senior finished the game with 17 points to finish the opening weekend of Pac-12 play with 43 points. She finished the night shooting 35%. “I’m just looking to shoot more. I don’t think I’ve ever shot this many times in a game before,” commented the senior point guard.

Lili Thompson followed Orrange in scoring with 14 points, as she was the only other Cardinal to get into double digits in scoring. Three separate players finished with seven rebounds helping Stanford own Utah on the boards 44-34.

Only eight Utes saw playing time, with seven of them seeing over 15 minutes of playing time. Taryn Wicijowski led Utah in scoring with 14 points, 12 of which came in the second half, while she finished 46% from the field. However, the other Utes greatly struggled with shooting, as they contributed to only ten more field goals bringing Utah their second loss of the Pac-12 schedule.

Stanford takes their first road trip of the Pac-12 season, as they take their annual trip up to Washington.   The first stop will be in Seattle, where they take on Washington on Friday night.

By Jeremy Harness

Stanford is quickly showing college basketball that last year’s NCAA Tournament run may not have been a fluke.

The Cardinal are quickly emerging as a threat in the Pac-12, and that grew even more after they downed No. 21 Washington in overtime, 68-60, at Maples Pavilion. With the win, Stanford is off to a 2-0 start in the Pac-12 and have two quality wins on their resume, which could prove crucial should their name come up for possible seeding in the big dance.

Prior to opening conference play, the Cardinal was coming off a huge win on the road over No. 9 Texas, so the confidence of this team is obviously very high.

This was a far cry from a month ago, when they were struggling to beat teams such as Loyola Marymount, and the thought was that the Cardinal, fresh off a Sweet Sixteen appearance in last year’s NCAA tourney, would return to the middle-of-the-road team that has been all too familiar in the Johnny Dawkins era.

To keep the momentum going, Chasson Randle scored 24 points on 9-of-21 shooting, to go along with five assists and three rebounds.

Neither team shot the ball very well overall, as the Cardinal squeaked by with a 39 percent performance while the Huskies shot 38 percent from the field.

The game was knotted at 28-28 at halftime, but Stanford emerged from the locker room and opened up a seven-point lead in the first four minutes of the second half. However, it took just as much time for Washington to tie the game back up, as two free throws by Shawn Kemp, Jr. evened things up at 37-37.

From there, it was a back-to-back affair, as the game saw a total of five lead changes in the final 10 minutes of regulation. Stanford trailed for the final two minutes but was able to battle back and send the game into overtime on Chasson Randle’s layup with two seconds left.

In the overtime period, it was all Stanford, as Washington could not find the bucket at all during the extra period – the Huskies were 0-for-3 from the field, as all of their four overtime points came from the free-throw line.

Meanwhile, the Cardinal only missed one shot in overtime, and that proved to be the difference.

By: Joe Lami

Senior point guard, Amber Orrange, set a new career high Saturday night, as she scored 26 points in a 62-55 win over the Colorado Buffalos. Lili Thompson added 17 points, as the Cardinal earned their first win of 2015 and of the Pac-12 portion of their schedule.

The Cardinal entered half time with a seven-point lead, which the Buffaloes eliminated with ten minutes to go in the contest. The Cardinal came back to take the lead with a 5-0 run of their own, which kicked off a 19-12 run to end the game.

Jamee Swan came off of the bench for a double double, leading the Buffs in scoring with 12 and rebounds with ten. She also finished the night perfect from the free throw line (6/6).  Jen Reese capped off the double-digit scorers for Colorado with ten.

The Cardinal did a great job defensively, holding Colorado to just 34% from the field and 10% from beyond the three-point line.

Stanford will host Utah Monday night to end their first Pac-12 homestand of the year.

With the career high, Orrange also moved past Joslyn Tinkle and Jillian Harmon on Stanford’s all-time scoring list.

NHL COMMENTARY
By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, January 3, 2015

GLENDALE, Arizona – There’s nothing like a badly needed win to impress the new boss.

Andrew Barroway, who, as of Dec. 31, owns 51 percent of the Arizona Coyotes, was on hand to drop the ceremonial first puck prior to the Coyotes’ impressive 6-3 triumph over the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets before 13,159 at Gila River Arena.

For control of the franchise, Barroway paid a reported $152.5 million for the privilege. Barroway, who made his personal fortune as a hedge fund manager, has the hammer on all final decisions, and insists he’s here to make major league hockey work in the Valley of the Sun over the long haul.

“It’s not going to be like ‘Top Chef.’ I’m not going to be running around screaming,” Barroway said at his introductory press conference. “But ultimately, the buck stops with me.

“I put a lot of my own economic resources into this. I believe in this team and I believe in the NHL.”

Another point Barroway made was that short-term improvements would not be a part of the plan for rebuilding the Coyotes. Instead, more resources will initially go toward improvements in scouting, drafting and player development – an area that was sorely neglected while the Coyotes spent four seasons as wards of the NHL.

While an agreement is still intact with the city of Glendale that stipulates the team can be relocated if it loses $50 million over the first five years of IceArizona ownership, Barroway insists he has no intention of moving or selling the Coyotes.

Coyotes General Manager Don Maloney told the media, “What I’m encouraged about with my discussions with Andy is the long-term view of the team, the game, where the game is going and what we have to do to have success. Any knee-jerk, quick fix that might give us another point in the standings, that’s not going to happen. We’re going to think things through and analyze what we have in this organization.”

Coyotes playing better
Last Saturday, a fluke overtime shootout goal (with a busted stick) by Shane Doan gave Arizona a tough win over the Anaheim Ducks. Since then, the Coyotes have beat Philadelphia but suffered a 6-0 drubbing from Dallas.

Columbus came to the desert on the heels of back-to-back wins at home over Boston and Minnesota, and for the Blue Jackets this was the first of a five-game road swing. Yet it was the Jackets who looked like they were playing their fifth road game in a row, not the first.

The teams swapped goals in the first period, and Columbus surged ahead 2-1 on a power play goal from James Wisniewski. Then, a Coyotes power play that has struggled most of the season came alive with goals by Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Sam Gagner to regain the lead for good at 3-2. Gagner’s second tally of the night also came with a man advantage, giving goaltender Mike Smith more than ample offensive support.

Smith had been in a slump and was benched of late (seven of the Coyotes’ last eight games) in favor of backup Devan Dubnyk. Except for an unassisted goal by Ryan Johansen with one minute left in the third period, Smith looked much like his old self, stopping 23 of 26 shots.
“By far, this was one of our best games of the year,” Smith said. “We were swarming all over the ice and we played as well as we could.

“I felt pretty good out there,” Smith said. “I felt I was prepared and mentally, I was ready to get back in there. A couple of goals were pretty jumpy, but that’s just from not playing.”

San Jose visits Arizona on Jan. 13 – the fifth of a six-game homestand. There should be plenty on the line by then, as the Sharks are trying to emerge from a logjam in the Pacific Division along with Los Angeles, Vancouver and Calgary, and the Coyotes are trying to build up steam for a possible push for the eighth playoff seed in the West.

Daniel Dullum covers the NHL, MLB and Stanford for Sports Radio Service.

By Jeremy Kahn

SANTA CLARA-Randy Edsall is probably not really happy about the result of the 2014 Foster Farms Bowl for his Maryland Terrapins.

Kevin Hogan, who went to high school not far from the Maryland campus at Gonzaga Prep in Washington D.C., while growing in McLean, Virginia threw two touchdowns on 14-for-20 passing with 189 yards passing, as the Stanford Cardinal defeated the Terrapins 45-21 at Levi’s Stadium.

Devon Cajuste caught both of Hogan’s touchdown passes, while Austin Hooper caught five passes on the night, as the Cardinal finished the season with eight wins.

Remound Wright, who scored four touchdowns against their cross-bay rival California Golden Bears on November 22 scored three touchdowns in the first half.

After the Terrapins tied up the game in the first quarter, the Cardinal simply throttled the Terrapins, as they scored 35 unanswered points in the first ever meeting between the two programs.

Wright got the Cardinal on the board on their initial series, as the Cardinal took nearly seven minutes off the clock, as Wright scored from one yard out.

Wes Brown tied up the game for the Terrapins, as he scored from one yard out, but then the game turned to the Cardinal.

Wright scored two straight touchdowns, and then Hogan and Cajuste connected for two consecutive touchdowns.

Fifth-year senior Ricky Seale scored for the Cardinal just eight seconds into the fourth quarter to give the Cardinal a 35-point lead.

On the ensuing kickoff, sophomore William Likely returned the Jordan Williamson kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown.

It was the fourth touchdown of the season for Likely.

It was an off night senior C.J. Brown, as he went 15-for-27 with 205 yards passing and an interception.

Brown closed out the scoring, as he scampered in from two yards out with just under three minutes remaining in the game.

Stefon Diggs caught 10 passes for 138 yards, as he returned to the field for the first time since November 1.

Diggs was forced to miss the Terrapins last three games with a lacerated kidney.

This is the third straight win for the PAC-12 in the Foster Farms Bowl after the Arizona State Sun Devils won in 2012 over the Navy Midshipmen, and in 2013, the Washington Huskies defeated the Brigham Young Cougars.

By Jeremy Kahn

With the playoffs all wrapped up, there was only one more thing that the Denver Broncos needed to accomplish in their season finale, a first-round bye.

Vallejo native C.J. Anderson score three touchdowns, as the Broncos simply demolished the Oakland Raiders 47-14 at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

With the victory, the Broncos clinched a number two seed in the AFC and a first-round bye after the 33-point victory.

Connor Barth kicked four field goals, while Peyton Manning failed to throw a touchdown for the second time in the last four weeks.

Despite not throwing a touchdown, Manning went 21-for-37 for 273 yards passing on the afternoon.

This was the Raiders 11th consecutive loss on the road, as they finished the season with an overall record of 3-13.

Anderson carried the ball 13 times for 87 yards, while Ronnie Hillman returned for the first time since November 9, as he carried the ball 15 times for 56 yards.

Hillman was out with a sprained left knee.

It was a record setting day for Demaryius Thomas, as he caught eight passes for 115 yards.

Thomas ended the season with 1,619 yards receiving, breaking Rod Smith’s 14-year old of 1,602 that was set in 2000.

Derek Carr’s rookie season ended with a subpar afternoon, as he went 18-for-36 for 158 yards, a touchdown and a interception.

Latavius Murray carried the ball just 10 times for 37 yards.

By: Joe Lami

The Stanford Cardinal finished off their non-conference schedule on Sunday afternoon with a blowout win over the UCSB Gauchos 90-34. The win ups the record of the 16^th ranked Cardinal to 8-4, including their fifth win at Maples Pavilion.

12 of the 15 players who saw action scored for Stanford, as Lili Thompson led them with 12 points. Three other Cardinal got into double digits, Karlie Samuelson and Briana Roberson each had 11, and freshman guard, Brittany McPhee added ten. Freshman forward, Eric McCall, once again led the team in rebounds with 12 on route to destroying UCSB on the boards 50-21.

The shooting was impressive for the Cardinal, as they finished 56% from the field, and 42% from three-point range.

The winless Gauchos got the first bucket on the game, but would immediately fall behind, as Kaylee Johnson would get the next bucket for the Cardinal, which kick started the Cardinal to a 8-2 run. UCSB was held to only 20% shooting in the first half, and finished the night 26% from the field. Jasmine Ware led the Gauchos with eight points.

Stanford will wait until the new year before they tip-off their Pac-12 schedule, as they host the Colorado Buffalos on Saturday.

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-The game may have a different name and a different stadium, but it is still in the San Francisco Bay Area.

After being called the Walnut Bowl, Diamond Walnut Bowl, Emerald Bowl, Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl, Fight Hunger Bowl, the game is now called the Foster Farms Bowl.

The first 12 games were played at AT&T Park, the home of the San Francisco Giants; however the game will now be played at Levi’s Stadium, the new home of the San Francisco 49ers.

Making their second appearance in the game will be the Maryland Terrapins, who played the Oregon State Beavers in the 2007 Emerald Bowl and lost to their opponents by the final of 21-14.

The Terrapins will be facing the Stanford Cardinal, who will be making their and the Cardinal will face each other on the gridiron.

Randy Edsall brings his Terrapins to the Bay Area after their inaugural season in very competitive Big Ten that saw the Terrapins finish with a 7-4 record and 4-4 in the Big Ten Conference.

Away from Byrd Stadium in College Park, the Terrapins won five games, the most in the conference, and the highest for the program since Frank Reich was under center for theTerrapins in 1984.

Sixth-year quarterback C.J. Brown comes off a game where he passed for 195 yards and gained 107 yards on the ground, his ninth 100-yard rushing game.

Overall during his career in College Park, Brown ranks fifth in school history in passing yards and fourth in completions.

His nine career 100-yard rushing games are fourth in school history, with former Oakland Raiders running back Lamont Jordan, who topped the 100-yard plateau on 18 different occasions from 1997-2000.

Between his passing and rushing yards, Brown is only 213 yards from tying Scott Milanovich for the most all-purpose yards in school history.

Wide receiver Stefon Diggs leads the Terrapins with 52 catches and 654 yards.