Category: Uncategorized

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, March 2, 2014

No. 3-ranked Arizona sealed up the Pac-12 Conference men’s basketball regular season championship Sunday by defeating Stanford 79-66 at McKale Center in Tucson.

With the win, the Wildcats (27-2 overall, 14-2 Pac-12) finished off an undefeated home schedule. Arizona scored the first four points of the game and never trailed.

An inside basket by Dwight Powell cut Arizona’s early lead to 14-11, but that was as close as the Cardinal would get. Elliott Pitts drained a 3-pointer to ignite a 9-2 run that put the Wildcats up 23-17. From that point, Arizona never looked back.

Freshman Aaron Gordon scored 19 points and pulled down a career-high 15 rebounds to lead Arizona, with help from T.J. McConnell (14 points), Gabe York (12 points), Nick Johnson (11 points) and Kaleb Tarczewski (10 points).

Josh Huestis led Stanford (18-10 overall, 9-7 Pac-12) with a career-high 22 points while snaring 12 boards. Anthony Brown and Chasson Randle followed with 14 and 12 points, respectively, for the Cardinal, who trailed by as many as 25 points in the second half.

A 19-5 Stanford run, completed with a dunk by Huestis with 2:45 remaining, helped the final score look closer than the game actually was.

For Stanford, the loss leaves the Cardinal in a three-way tie for fourth place in the Pac-12 with Colorado and California going into the final weekend of the regular season. Stanford finishes at home this Wednesday against Colorado and this Saturday against Utah.

(catgegory Stanford Cardinal)

(TAGS: Stanford,Cardinal,men’s basketball,Arizona,Pac-12)

By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, March 2, 2014

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Given the nasty nature of Tim Hudson’s 2013 season-ending injury, the San Francisco Giants’ righthander was not only optimistic about his recovery following his first Cactus League start.

Hudson, then pitching for the Atlanta Braves, was covering first base when Eric Young Jr. of the New York Mets accidentally stepped on his leg above the ankle. He wound up with a fractured fubula and torn deltoid ligament – both surgically repaired last July – forcing him the miss the remainder of the season.

During his rehabilitation process, Hudson became a free agent and signed a two-year contract with the Giants. The former Oakland Athletics ace looked like his old self facing the Arizona Diamondbacks at Scottsdale Stadium Sunday, with a pair of scoreless innings, one strikeout, no hits, and no decision in the Giants’ 5-3 exhibition win.

“It was maybe a little more challenging that I would have liked it to have been, but I put some zeros on the board and got through those first two innings,” Hudson said. “It was good to get back out there.”

From everything involving location, pushing off the rubber and covering first, Hudson said the challenge today involved “a little bit of everything.”

“I was pretty anxious to get out there,” Hudson said. “My command was hit-or-miss, and I was a little off with the off-speed pitches, which you expect this early in the spring.

“I managed to find first base, one time out of two,” he continued, smiling. “(Covering first base) is just one of the things I’ve started doing in the last week or so. It figures that I’d have two pretty challenging plays right out of the gate.”

On the first play for Hudson at first, former A’s teammate Eric Chavez reached first on an error charged to first baseman Brandon Belt. On the second one, he helped complete a 3-6-1 double play.

“I put the first one on just the fact that I’m old and slow. That was ‘first game speed,’” Hudson said, laughing. “He’s probably used to having some of these young, fast pitchers getting over to first.

Then, describing himself at this stage of his career, the 38-year-old righthander added, “I’m like an old vintage car that you can’t take to a drag race!” Hudson said that, so far, pushing off on his delivery isn’t a problem.

“It’s good. Everything’s good, it’s just a matter of getting my body strong and getting ready for 100-plus pitches a game,” Hudson said. “I probably threw around 30 pitches (actually 27), but it was a challenging 30 pitches from a workload standpoint.

And, he added, there are no psychological aftereffects from the injury.

“I’m good with it, and it’s something I really don’t think about,” he said. “It is what it is. Everything’s healed right and feels right, so now it’s just the strengthening part of it.

So far, Hudson said throwing to catcher Buster Posey has “been good,” saying, “We’re still having to get to know each other. Once I get into a little better shape, he’ll have a better idea of the kind of stuff I throw and how I like to work. It won’t be long. It’ll get there.

“Buster’s great back there,” he added. “He has a great setup for pitchers.”

On facing Chavez, Hudson said, “You know what, he can still swing it. He’s always been able to swing it. His biggest question has been his health over the years. He’s found a nice spot over there (Arizona), not quite playing every day, but he’s staying healthy and doing well.”

Hudson struck out Diamondbacks leadoff hitter Gerardo Parra with a couple of sinkers and, he said, “a hanging split-finger that somehow dropped in there for a strike. It wasn’t a pitch I wanted a called strike three on – I was hoping to get him to swing and miss – the pitch was just bad enough.

“It’s all a work in progress.”

Bats were alive
San Francisco used a 12-hit attack to defeat the D-Backs. Angel Pagan, Buster Posey, Joaquin Arias and Juan Perez each had two hits for the Girants. Righthander Kameron Loe (1-0) was saddled with a blown save, but got the win, while ex-Athletic Brad Ziegler (0-1) took the loss. Jean Machi earned his first save of the spring.

(TAGS: San Francisco Giants,Tim Hudson,Spring Training,Cactus League)

(category Cal Bears)

By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Saturday, March 1, 2014

TEMPE, Ariz. – California’s road swing through the Grand Canyon State ended the way it started, with a lopsided defeat.

An early second-half collapse by the Bears led to Arizona State thumping Cal 78-60 Saturday at Wells Fargo Arena, making a tight Pac-12 Conference men’s basketball race even tighter.

The Sun Devils (21-8 overall, 10-6 Pac-12) moved into third place in the conference standings, trailing second-place UCLA by one-half game and league-leading Arizona by 3½ going into the final weekend of the regular season.

ASU won the earlier meeting between the two schools 89-78 in overtime on Jan. 29 at Berkeley. The Bears were looking to bounce back after an 87-59 loss at No. 3-ranked Arizona on Wednesday.

Cal (18-11, 9-7) is tied for fifth place in the Pac-12 with Colorado, both trailing Stanford by one-half game. The Cardinal visit Arizona Sunday.

“(ASU) is a good team and they’re playing well right now,” Bears guard Justin Cobbs said. “It’s not discouraging. It hurts to lose, and nobody likes to lose, but we’re not done. We’re still in the hunt for a top four spot (in the Pac-12), so we just got to get it done at home.”

Despite the loss, Bears Coach Mike Montgomery said that finishing in the Pac-12’s top four is still a possibility.

“Sure, we can,” Montgomery said. “These guys (ASU) have to go to the Oregon’s, Stanford plays the same schedule that we have, and Colorado and Utah have to come to us and Stanford. It’s in our hands, just like the others. It’s a matter of who gets the job done.”

Arizona State and Cal battled back and forth throughout the first half, with the score tied five times and four lead changes. The Bears led by as many as six (12-6 with 13:25 left in the half) and held it’s last lead at 22-20 on a David Kravish jump shot at 3:38.

ASU tied the game at 24-24 on a jumper by Eric Jacobsen, which sparked a 5-0 run to end the half with a 29-24 lead that the Sun Devils would never relinquish.

What did Cal in was a 15-6 Sun Devils run in the first five minutes of the second half. After the Bears cut the ASU lead to 29-26 on a pair of free throws by Justin Cobbs, Jermaine Marshall answered by draining one of his six 3-pointers.

The run included six points by center Jordan Bachynski, four points by Jonathan Gilling and a layup by Jahii Carson. A free throw by McKissic with 5:58 to play gave Arizona State its biggest lead at 68-48.

“They made shots,” Cobbs said of the second-half collapse. “We didn’t play defense and they made shots.”

In particular, it was Marshall who had the hot hand. Marshall finished with a game-high 22 points, hitting 7 of 11 from the floor – 6 of 8 from 3-point range – and, along with McKissic, Gilling and Bo Barnes, finished with four assists each.

“We lost vision on open shooters,” Montgomery said. “We played really good defense in the first half and did exactly what we were trying to do. Right toward the end of the first half, we had three breakdowns and they hit three 3’s. We would have been up, even as poorly as we were shooting the ball. That gave them some momentum.

“That carried over into the second half and we lost vision of open shooters time and time again,” Montgomery continued. “To (ASU’s) credit, they knocked down shots – there was a time they were shooting 83 percent from the floor. (ASU) got 33 points on 19 possessions, which is incredible production.”

Gilling added 15 points off the ASU bench, hitting 6-of-9 field goals, including a pair of 3-pointers. McKissic finished with 10 points; he and Barnes each grabbed six rebounds.

Bachynski, the nation’s leading shot blocker (4.25 bpg), added four more rejections to his season total of 123. He also pulled down seven boards as the Devils outrebounded Cal 34-29.

“Arizona State really hurt us with that small lineup,” Montgomery said. “Marshall and Gilling did a great job of shooting the ball when they were open. To Arizona State’s credit, they moved the ball very well. When they’re open, they find the open man.

“It’s discouraging, because we’re not playing very well right now.”

“We’re letting our play at one end of the court affect the other end of the court,” Bears forward Richard Solomon said. “We’ve just got to play through it and play harder.”

Cobbs led Cal with 15 points (6-of-9 shooting), but was held to six points in the second half. Jordan Mathews added 14 points and Kravish scored 12. Solomon and Kravish each pulled down eight rebounds.

When postgame talk switched from the Pac-12 postseason tournament to reaching The Big Dance, Montgomery and Cobbs each refused to speculate that far ahead.

“We’re just trying to win a game right now,” Montgomery said.

Cobbs added, “That’s the last thing we’re worrying about right now. We just have to focus on the next one.”

That would be on Wednesday night, when the Bears host Utah at Haas Pavilion. Game time is 8 p.m.

(TAGS: Cal,Bears,Arizona State,Pac-12,men’s basketball,Daniel Dullum)

By DANIEL DULLUM
Sports Radio Service
Wednesday, February 26, 2014

TEMPE, Ariz. – Arizona State used its mastery of the 3-point shot to near perfection Wednesday night at Wells Fargo Arena, as the Sun Devils earned a much-needed 76-64 Pac-12 men’s basketball win over Stanford.

Stanford never led in the game. It was Arizona State’s second wire-to-wire victory of the season, the other coming over DePaul on Dec. 6.

Jahii Carson led all scorers with 26 points, hitting 8 of 11 from the floor – including 2 of 3 3-pointers. Jermaine Marshall added 16 points, while Shaquielle McKissic added 10. McKissic and Carson each had four assists for ASU.

Addressing the media afterwards, Arizona State Coach Herb Sendeck laughed when the phrase “must win” was uttered.

“You guys are always the ones who tell me it’s a must win,” Sendeck said. “It will be midnight in about 30 minutes, and then we can talk about another must win (Saturday afternoon against California).”

The 9 p.m. MST tipoff time to accommodate ESPNU did little to help Stanford overcome a sluggish start. The Sun Devils (20-8 overall, 9-6 Pac-12) opened the game with an 8-0 run on 3-pointers by Shaquielle McKissic and Jahii Carlson, followed by an Eric Jacobsen layup, prompting Stanford (18-9, 9-6) to burn a timeout at 18:37 of the first half.

Arizona State hit 7 of 11 from behind the 3-point arc in the first half, and 10 of 19 on the night, including two each from Carson, Marshall, Bo Barnes and Jonathan Gilling.

“That’s what they do,” Cardinal Coach Johnny Dawkins said. “They’re a very good 3-point shooting team. They didn’t shoot it that well on the road, but they’re back home and feel better, they’re confident, and they shot the 3 well.

“It was definitely a bad start for us, but give Arizona State credit for playing a real good game,” Dawkins added. “I wish we could have played a better one ourselves. We didn’t value the basketball and turned it over too many times.”

Though the Cardinal would occasionally claw back, they sabotaged themselves by committing 10 turnovers in the first half, 15 total.

“We wanted to come in and limit their shooters, and I think everyone in their starting five except the two bigs shot 3’s,” Stanford guard Anthony Brown, who led the Cardinal with 21 points, said. “You’re not going to win when everybody is shooting 3’s.”

”We had a rough start with all those turnovers in the first half, which is not the recipe for winning,” Brown said. “Our defense wasn’t there tonight and that carried over to our offense with those turnovers. And (ASU) played much harder than we did in the first 20 minutes.

“We finally picked it up, but by that time it was too late.”

Dwight Powell sank a pair of free throws midway through the first half, cutting the Cardinal deficit to 14-10. But that was as close as Stanford would get, as the Sun Devils used 3-pointers from Marshall, Gilling and Caleen Robinson to spark a 25-14 run over the closing minutes of the first half.

“When you’re in a game like that and (ASU) is hitting on all cylinders, you have to hit your free throws and you have to finish and take care of the basketball,” Dawkins said. “I don’t think we did well in any of those categories.

“I thought we had a few good stops defensively. If you eliminate the 21 points (ASU) scored off of turnovers, it’s a different ballgame.”

ASU’s biggest lead came on a pair of free throws by Carson with 5:59 remaining, putting the Devils up 64-46. Stanford got no closer than nine points in the second half, when the Cardinal pulled to within 44-35 on a free throw by Brown at 15:31.

Chasson Randle and Dwight Powell scored 21 and 17 points, respectively, for the Cardinal. Josh Huestis pulled down a game-high eight boards as Stanford outrebounded ASU 33-30.

“Arizona State changed up the way they played in terms of not letting us post up,” Brown said. “Even when we don’t shoot well, we usually try to back it up with defense and keep ourselves in the game. If we don’t shoot well, we try to hit the offensive glass. We were outrebounded, and with our size, that adds to the recipe for losing.

“I still think about the turnovers, because most of them were unforced.”

Because of the Wednesday-Sunday schedule gap, the Cardinal flew back to the Bay Area and will fly out again this weekend for the trip to Tucson to face Arizona.

“We realize it’s a big game for us,” Dawkins said. “The Pac-12 is tough top to bottom and you have to go out there and compete. That’s what we have to do.”

“For us, we’ve lost every first game on the road,” Brown said. “We’ve just got to go back to the drawing board and get ready for a fight against Arizona. That’s as simple as we can put it.”

(TAGS: Stanford,Arizona State,Pac-12,men’s basketball,Daniel Dullum)

By Morris Phillips

Of all the emphatic dunks enjoyed by  Arizona on Wednesday night–and there were a few–it may have been the one that missed that best summed up the evening for both the Wildcats and the easily-handled Cal Bears.

With just under eight minutes remaining and Arizona cruising to a 87-59 win, Nick Johnson got a point blank run at the rim and opted for the full windup.  But when the ball bounced high off the rim then away from the basket Gabriel York grabbed the ball and in one motion kicked out to point guard T.J. McConnell for a wide open three.

It went that way all night: when Arizona wasn’t converting their good looks they took advantage of the Bears on the offensive glass for second chance baskets.

“They were solid and a little angry having lost to us at our place,” Cal coach Mike Montgomery said.  “They’re making shots now and at our place they weren’t making all their shots.  They’re playing really well right now.”

“You might make the argument that the game against Colorado and tonight’s game were the best back-to-back games we’ve played all season,”:Arizona coach Sean Miller said.

 Johnson best personified the turnaround with 22 points, seven rebounds and five assists.  In the first meeting Johnson’s sore wrist and off game led to 1 for 14 shooting–a career-worst.  This time he orchestrated the Arizona attack beautifully and got the best of Justin Cobbs in their head-to-head matchup.

The Wildcats used a big first half run to go up 16 and led 44-29 at the half.  Three minutes into the second half Arizona led by 20.  When Cal sliced the led to nine at 53-44 the Wildcats surged again.

Kaleb Tarczewski added 16 points for Arizona and McConnell and Aaron Gordon had 13 each.

Cobbs was Cal’s only double-figure scorer with 12 but he managed just two assists.

The Bears have dropped six of nine and will attempt to turn things around on Saturday afternoon at Arizona State.

 

 

By Tony Renteria

 Sacramento CA:  The Sacramento Kings coming of two straight wins invited the second place Houston Rockets into Sleep Train Arena and were routed by the score of 129-103.

Any headed way the Kings had made was lost in the first moments as James Harden(43 points on 11-20 shooting)  looked like he was a video game player blowing past confused King’s.  The Rockets opened up a huge first quarter lead of 42-17.  The game quickly became of game of garbage minutes for both teams as the Kings failed to even make a game of it.

The Kings were led by Rudy Gay and his 25 points but most of them came after the Rockets went into cruise control.  This game was really a true tail of two different teams, with much different paths.  The Kings wanted to slow the game down to let Demarcus Cousins 16 points work in the paint, but Harden keep his foot on the gas as the Rockets just simply out ran the Kings on their own court.

Houston headed to face the Clippers tomorrow, while the Kings go to face Lakers on Friday.

Note Jimmer Fredette contract is being bought out by the Kings who plan to release him very soon.  Fredette was no at the arena tonight

By Morris Phillips

The game separating the Bears and  Bruins near the top of the Pac-12 standings seemed a lot bigger on Wednesday night.

Hot-shooting UCLA dusted Cal 86-66 to strengthen their hold on second place behind Arizona.  Cal missed nine of their first 12 shots, turned in a ragged defensive performance and trailed by double digits for the final 30 the minutes of the ballgame.

“We want to stay in the conference race,” UCLA coach Steve Alford said.  “We had a chance tonight to put another team two games behind us with five left and we had a chance to get another road win.”

UCLA won for the seventh time in their most recent eight games and stayed within a game of Arizona atop the conference.  Cal fell for the fifth time in their last eight and once again fell behind early.

“They were certainly better than us tonight.  I don’t think there’s any question about that,” Coach Mike Montgomery said.

Jordan Adams led the Bruins with 28 points and Kyle Anderson added 11 points, nine rebounds and seven assists. Adams made 12 of his 19 shots and had five steals.

Cal was led by Jordan Mathews with 16 points off the bench.  The Bears poisoned their effort by allowing 44 first half points and by shooting just 34 percent.

The Bears (17-9, 8-5) host USC on Sunday afternoon at Haas Pavilion.

 

 

By Tony Renteria

Sacramento CA:  The Golden State Warriors(31-22) came into the Capital City to face the hosting Sacramento Kings (18-35) on the first game after the All-Star break leaving with an easy 101-92 win.

Sacramento came into the game shorted handed by two players,  DeMarcus Cousins who had to rest due to strained hip flexor and recently traded guard Marcus Thornton who is headed to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Jason Terry and Reggie Evans.

The Warriors went out to an early first quarter lead of 30 to 26 in a very ugly first quarter that was plagued by bad calls and turnovers.  Golden State opened the lead to nine points at the half.  The first half took over an hour and seven minutes to play as the turnovers and bad calls continued to slow the action at Sleep Train Arena.

The Kings outscored the Warriors by ten in the 3^rd quarter and took a one point lead into the fourth quarter but the Warriors offense was too much and the Kings failed to score with any rhythm and were lost the same ten point lead.

David Lee led the Warriors with 23 points, while Isaiah Thomas led the Kings with 26 Points.

By George Devine, Sr.

The midseason classic of the NBA surpassed the title of the late sportswriter Leonard Koppett’s book “24 Seconds to Shoot”. The New York Times scribe, narrating the foundation of the league, was illustrating the conscious desire for a fast-paced game, with the hope that most games would end in triple-digit scores. In a game where pride is the object, and the best from the league compete against one another, caution is thrown to the winds and the shot clock seldom goes into double digits. Not only that, but the evening is full of slam dunks and alley-oops all adding to the excitement for the crowds both in the arena and watching on television.

This time, after three losses, it was the East that won, 163-155,enjoying a 10-0 run at the end even though the West led by 18 at one point. A key player in the victory was Carmelo Anthony who achieved an ASG record with 8 from beyond the 3-point line, as part of his 30-point total. Kyrie Irving had 31 and contributed 14 assists; he was voted the MVP for the East. LeBron James had 22 points, 7 rebounds — all but one on defense — and 7 assists.

The West actually outscored the East in the first period, 44-42 and in the second, 45-34. But in the latter two quarters the East pulled ahead. One element was their perfect free throw record of 9-9, as opposed to the West’s 9-12. The East also dominated on field goals, scoring 60.9% over the West’s 51.2%. On three-pointers the East also led, 31.8% to 28.6%.

Paul George added to the East’s totals with 13 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists. Marquette alumnus Dwayne Wade had 10 points, 1 offensive rebound and 4 assists.

For the West, Kevin Durant scored 38 points as did Blake Griffin. Durant had 10 boards as well. Stephen Curry had 12 points and 11 assists. Kevin Love had 13 points and 9 rebounds, all but one on defense. Chris Paul had 11 points with 13 valuable assists, and Anthony Davis scored 10.