Kings close out homestand with wire-to-wire win over Suns 117-104

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Photo credit: @SacramentoKings

By: Jeremiah Salmonson

SACRAMENTO — The last time the Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings faced off it was not a pretty ending for the Kings. The Kings went from having a double-digit lead to losing the game to the worst team in the NBA this season. The Kings who were playing a rare day game in Sacramento were looking to flip the script from last time.

In the first quarter, the Kings were off to a good start offensively putting up 33 points in the first. Leading the Kings were Nemanja Bjelica with 8 points, Marvin Bagley with 8 points, and De’Aaron Fox with 5 points. The Suns, on the other hand, managed to score 23 points in the first. Leading the Suns in scoring at this point was Devin Booker with 8 points. The new Kings also were able to get time in the game in the first. Harrison Barnes played just over 9 minutes and Alec Burks played almost 3 minutes. After the first, the Kings led the Suns 33-23.

In the second quarter, the Kings continued the scoring narrative that put them up in the first. By the end of the second, the Kings would have three players in double-digit scoring. Buddy Hield and De’Aaron Fox had 10 points while Marvin Bagley led the Kings with 12 first-half points. The Suns’ leading scorer was Devin Booker who had 15 first-half points. Along with the Kings’ double-digit lead, they had a pair of flashy plays in the first half. De’Aaron Fox drove down the lane and slammed it home in the second quarter. Not to mention Marvin Bagley’s impressive alley-oop that he put down with authority. Going into the second half, the Kings were beating the Suns 63-44.

In the third quarter, the Kings didn’t seem to be firing on all cylinders. They were outscored by the Suns while putting up 24 points in the third. The Suns managed to put up 28 points in the third to inch closer to the Kings. In the third, the game began developing the feeling of slight deja vu from the game earlier this year against the Suns. We all remembered what happened in that game when the Kings blew a huge lead and lost. So going into the fourth with the Kings leading 72-87 they looked to stop that narrative.

In the fourth quarter, they stopped that narrative emphatically. They Kings scored 30 points in the fourth to secure their 30th victory of the season. For the Kings, the leading scorers were Marvin Bagley who scored 32 points, Buddy Hield with 18 points, and De’Aaron Fox with 17 points.

The Suns’ leading scorer was Devin Booker, who managed to drop 27 points in defeat. The final in the game was the Kings’ 117 and the Suns’ 104.

The Kings head to the Mile High City Wednesday to take on the Denver Nuggets. Tipoff set for 6:00 pm PT.

Reign squeeze out late goal to beat Barracuda 4-3

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

In a game that went back and forth, the Ontario Reign scored the game-winning goal with just 38 seconds left in the game to defeat the San Jose Barracuda 4-3 on Sunday afternoon at Citizens Business Bank Arena. The loss was the third in a row for San Jose as they have lost three straight games for the first time this season.

Zach Mitchell moved every one away from the net and spun a backhand pass over to the slot to a wide-open Sam Herr, who buried the puck past Cuda goalie Antoine Bibeau for the game-winning goal at the 19:22 mark of the third period. It was Herr’s sixth goal of the season.

Ontario (15-23-4-2) drew first blood halfway through the first period on the power play. Kale Clague sent a pass over to Phillipe Maillet and his shot beat Bibeau (10-6-5) for his 10th goal of the season at the 10:07 mark. Matt Luff received the secondary assist.

San Jose (26-11-2-4) evened up the game five minutes later when Jayden Halbgewachs fired a shot on goal that banked off the shin guard of Jon Martin past Reign goalie Cal Petersen (6-12-3) for his ninth goal of the season at the 15:30 mark.

The Barracuda went up 2-1 under two minutes later. Nick DeSimone sent a pass over to defensive linemate Jacob Middleton at the left point and Middleton blasted a shot top-shelf past Petersen for his third goal of the season at the 17:24 mark. Jeffery Viel received the secondary assist.

San Jose was burned once again taking a trip to the sin bin. Just 16 seconds later after Middleton’s goal, Ontario evened it up six seconds into their second power play when Maillet scored his second goal of the game and 11th goal of the season at the 17:40 mark. Matt Roy and Luff received assists on Maillet’s second power play goal.

The Cuda had a short-handed opportunity halfway through the second period when Rourke Chartier and Anti Suomela led an odd-man rush. Chartier fed a pass over to DSimone whose shot was blocked. Chartier collected the rebound and his wraparound attempt was stoned by Petersen.

Despite being short-handed throughout the middle frame, San Jose outshot Ontario 20-7 in the second period, but weren’t able to break the deadlock heading into the second intermission.

Early in the third period, the Cuda had a great opportunity to take the lead when Martin led a four-on-two odd man rush, but his shot whistled off the post.

Francis Perron gave the Cuda the lead six seconds into a power play after Curtis McDemond went into the penalty box for boarding. Chartier won the face off over to DeSimone who passed it over to Perron on the left side and his wrist shot beat Reign goalie Cal Petersen for his team-leading 15th goal and seventh of the power play at the 12:36 mark.

Brad Sutter was credited with the equalizer as the puck bounced in off his body late in the third period. Ontario’s captain scored his 13th goal of the season at the 16:48 mark. Nikita Scherbak and Alex Lintuniemi received assists.

Petersen played on top of head as he stopped 52 of the 55 shots he faced. The 55 shots were not only a season-high, but a franchise record for San Jose. Bibeau finished with 33 saves on 37 shots, including a breakaway attempt by Maillet that prevented a hat trick, in suffering the tough luck loss.

GAME NOTES: San Jose was 1/4 on the power play. Ontario was 2/5.

Manny Weiderer suffered an injury less than three minutes in the first period. He did not return to the game.

The announced attendance was 8,921.

UP NEXT: The Barracuda return home on Tuesday 2/12 to host the Tuscon Roadrunners at 7:00 pm at SAP Center.

NHL podcast with Daniel Dullum: Ducks fire head coach Carlyle; Sharks unstoppable win in Edmonton; Tavares gets gamer for Leafs in OT; plus more

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photo file from nbcsports.com: In a Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2019 file photo, Anaheim Ducks coach Randy Carlyle, center, watches during the third period of the team’s NHL hockey game against the St. Louis Blues, in Anaheim, Calif. The Anaheim Ducks have fired coach Randy Carlyle amid a seven-game losing streak. The Ducks announced Sunday, Feb. 10, 2019 that general manager Bob Murray would take over as interim coach for the remainder of the regular season

On the NHL podcast with Daniel Dullum:

Breaking: Randy Carlyle out as head coach of the Anaheim Ducks fired Sunday

1 Sharks beat Edmonton for fifth straight win

2 John Tavares nets winner in OT as Maple Leafs top Canadiens

3 Blue Jackets nip Golden Knights in Vegas

4 Artemi Panarin switches to teammate’s agent

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

Coaches On The Floor: OSU too smart in crunch time for winless Cal

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By Morris Phillips

Ethan Thompson may be just a sophomore in accordance with his NCAA status, but on Saturday afternoon with the game on the line, the wily point guard was Oregon State’s professor emeritus.

With OSU clinging to a 73-71 lead with less than two minutes remaining, Thompson drove on Cal’s Darius McNeill and drew a foul. The two made free throws increased the Beavers’ lead to four. After Cal’s Matt Bradley missed a three, OSU’s Kylor Kelley rebounded his own miss and scored to give the Beavers an insurmountable six-point lead.

Seconds later, Thompson capped the scoring with two more free throws. In all, the son of OSU assistant coach Stevie Thompson scored eight of Oregon State’s final 13 points.

“We put the ball in his hands primarily this year,” head coach Wayne Tinkle said of Thompson. “We know that he can erupt and score for us when we need it. He’s a great playmaker because he’s got great vision.”

The coach-player connection drove OSU on Saturday, less than 48 hours after OSU was embarrassed in 23-point, home loss to Stanford. Tres Tinkle, the head coach’s son, along with Thompson and his older brother, Stevie Jr. combined for 60 of OSU’s 79 points.

The juxtaposition of OSU’s lineage and experience against Cal’s inexperience didn’t play well for the Bears. Cal allowed 54 percent shooting to OSU, along with committing too many fouls (the Beavers converted 23 of 28 from the stripe set up by 22 Cal fouls) which negated a pretty good shooting afternoon for Cal (49 percent).

The Bears lost for the 12th consecutive time, and are closing in on an unprecedented, second straight 20-loss season. Still, coach Wyking Jones was quick to acknowledge his team’s effort.

“I thought our guys fought, scrapped, clawed, left it all out on the court and played really, really hard and played together,” Jones said.

Cal had several bright spots offensively including McNeill, who scored 14 of his 16 points before halftime. Justice Sueing put up 14 of his 16 after the half, and Connor Vanover had 15 in a career-high 30 minutes on the floor.

Vanover especially is emerging as a factor for the Bears at both ends.

“He’s always been very good offensively. Now he’s starting to figure it out and do some things defensively that are really helping us, changing shots, blocking shots. He was a bright spot today,” Jones said.

The Bears have a short turnaround, facing UCLA on Wednesday night in Berkeley. The Bears are hopeful they’re catching the Bruins at the right time as UCLA was beaten by a Utah 3-pointer at the final buzzer after they blew a 20-point lead in the game’s final six minutes on Saturday.

Cal Bears podcast with Morris Phillips and Michael Duca: The effort was there, but Cal remains winless in the Pac-12

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Photo credit: @CalMBBall

On the Cal Bears podcast with Morris and Michael:

The Cal Bears (5-18) didn’t leave neither the States of Oregon or Washington in a state of grace. The Bears remain winless in the Pac-12. There were some things in the game against the Oregon State Beavers (18-5) to be pleased about on Saturday night’s 79-71 loss.

Cal lost by eight and they were only down and were in striking distance and in fact were in range to take the lead inside two minutes of this game. It was the Beavers 73-71 with just over a minute remaining. Cal was down by two, but they didn’t score again.

Morris and Michael do the Cal Bears basketball podcasts each week at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Sharks Win 5-2 in Edmonton, Thornton Ties Howe

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By Mary Walsh

The San Jose Sharks defeated the Oilers 5-2 win in Edmonton Saturday while adding a couple of milestones. Joe Thornton earned his 1,048th and 1,049th assists to tie Gordie Howe for ninth in the NHL. That last point came on Kevin Labanc’s third goal of the game for his first NHL hat trick. Two more Sharks goals came from Evander Kane and Tomas Hertl. Sharks goaltender Aaron Dell made 21 saves on 23 shots. Edmonton got goals from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zack Kassian, while goaltender Cam Talbot made 26 saves on 31 shots.

Of their success in Edmonton this season, and of Labanc’s hat trick, Sharks Captain Joe Pavelski said:

Yeah, first one, that’s awesome, they were nice goals too. He shot the puck really well tonight, you know, quick, accurate, hard. He made some good plays out there. It was big for us. That’s what I was talking about, up and down the lineup, when we’ve come in here we’ve had guys step up and have big nights and, you know, Kevin had a good one for us tonight.

Kevin Labanc gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead 10:39 into the first. Catching a pass from Joe Thornton as he came into the zone at a good clip, Labanc took a quick shot that went off of an Edmonton skate and into the net. Assists went to Thornton and Marcus Sorensen.

Evander Kane added to that lead at 12:15. Tomas Hertl carried the puck over the blue line, then made a backwards pass to Joonas Donskoi who had just entered the zone behind him. Donskoi found Kane as he arrived in front of the net, undefended. Kane did not hesitate and put the puck by Talbot on the near side. Assists went to Donskoi and Hertl.

The teams skated four-on-four after Barclasy Goodrow and Leon Draisaitl exchanged penalties, crossing-checking for Goodrow and interference for Draisaitl. Neither team scored.

At the end of the first period, the Sharks led 2-0 and 12-5 in shots.

The Sharks had an early power play in the second period, when Zack Kassian went to the box for tripping Evander Kane. With 22 seconds left in that penalty, Adam Larsson was called for delay of game after the puck went out of play.

The two man advantage had expired before the Sharks scored again. Evander Kane moved as if to carry the puck behind the net but instead sent the puck to the front. Timo Meier was there but he could not get his stick on it. The puck went off of his skate and out to Labanc who was at the edge of the faceoff circle. He dragged the puck closer to the slot, encouraging the goalie to move off the post. As Talbot started to move across, Labanc took the shot. Assists went to Meier and Kane.

The Sharks got another chance at 9:06 with Oscar Klefbom in the box for interference against Tomas Hertl, but that was cut short by half a minute when Timo Meier was called for tripping Brandon Manning. The Sharks penalty had 28 seconds left in it when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored for Edmonton. Aaron Dell had fought off a couple of shots and was down when the puck popped out to Nugent-Hopkins away from the net crowd. Nugent-Hopkins took the shot and it went through traffic and in at 12:00 of the second. An assist went to Alex Chiasson.

At the end of the second period, the Sharks led 3-1. Despite the power play time for San Jose, Edmonton still had 13 shots to the Sharks’ 7 for the period. Whatever accounted for that imbalance, it did not go unnoticed by the Sharks during intermission. They came out with renewed energy to start the third period.

Kevin Labanc completed his hat trick just 1:36 into the final frame. Much like his first goal of the game, he took a pass from Joe Thornton off the rush and his shot went through traffic. This time, it did not hit anything and went into the net clean as a whistle. Assists went to Thornton and Brenden Dillon.

Tomas Hertl made it 5-1 at 4:24 of the third. He carried the puck into the zone, looked away like he was going to pass across the ice, snatched the puck away from an Edmonton stick, then shot it through the short side. Talbot was unable to predict that.

Zack Kassian got one back for Edmonton at 4:03 of the third. His shot from the blue line bounced off of a skate and went up in their over Dell before landing across the line. Adam Larsson got an assist.

In the end, the Sharks got one power play goal in five chances, and the Oilers scored on their only power play of the game. The Sharks won 60% of the faceoffs.

At 4:57 of the first period, San Jose’s Melker Karlsson carried the puck into the zone and attempted to protect it against Milan Lucic and Kevin Gravel behind the Edmonton net. Gravel pushed Karlsson into the boards and he started to loose his footing. As he started to fall, Gravel pushed him again and Karlsson went down with what appeared to be a shoulder injury. Karlsson left the game.

In the final seconds of the first period, Edmonton’s Ty Rattie blocked a Tim Heed shot with his ankle and he left the ice with assistance. He did not return.

The Sharks next play on Monday in Vancouver against the Canucks at 7:00 PM PT.

AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: Nicer weather, but still wet conditions

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Photo credit: Jeremy Harness

By Jeremy Harness

PEBBLE BEACH – Spyglass Hill was supposed to be the course where players look to survive until they got to another course where scoring was more allowable.

Paul Casey defied that logic on a drier third round on Saturday.

A day after play was called due to continuous rain turned the greens into lakes and transformed holes into water buckets, Mother Nature pumped the brakes on the rain – with the exception of a 30-minute interval slightly after noon – and Casey accelerated his play.

Casey, fresh off his 64 at Monterey Peninsula Friday, put himself in the lead by shooting two-under on the front nine at Spyglass Hill and then making another birdie at the par-5 11th to get to 13-under overall and give himself a two-shot lead.

He kept rolling in birdies on the back nine, picking up shots at the 14th as well as the 15th to increase his lead to three. He parred out the rest of the way to finish with a five-under 67.

Phil Mickelson appeared to go backwards, and it looked as if he would fall out of contention. He was up and down on his front nine at Pebble, with three birdies and three bogeys, and with his driving accuracy slipping even more than it did Friday after a perfect driving round Thursday, he dropped another shot at the par-4 10th to fall to nine-under and six shots behind.

However, he got things on track immediately following that, and he recovered from a tee shot into the bunker to make birdie at the 13th before a magnificent second shot nearly found the hole at the par-5 14th. He sank the ensuing three-foot eagle putt, and he ended up closing with a two-under round of 70 and only trails Casey by three shots and is currently in second place.

Lucas Glover, one of the guys in a tie for the lead after Friday and whose big win on the PGA Tour was the 2008 U.S. Open, tried to keep pace with Casey, picking up two shots on his first nine at Monterey Peninsula, thanks to four birdies in a row at holes 14 through 17.

However, he fell back a bit after a pair of bogeys against one birdie on his second nine, and he finished with a one-under 70 and four shots behind Casey.

Jordan Spieth held his ground for the first four holes at Pebble Beach and then picked up a shot after rolling in an eight-footer for birdie at the par-3 fifth. He appeared to have run into trouble after hitting his second shot into the ocean at the next hole and then left himself a 20-footer for par.

However, he knocked in the lengthy putt to keep himself in the mix.

He held up just fine through 12 holes, but that’s when the wheels started to wobble, as he lost control off the tee. He double-bogeyed the 13th, and even though he quickly rebounded with a birdie at the 14th, he bogeyed the par-3 17th and then hooked his tee shot at the par-5 18th into the ocean and ended up with another double bogey to finish with a two-over round of 74.

Saturday morning was not only dry, but there was nothing but blue sky to be seen all around the golf course, and spectators took advantage by getting as many pictures as they could of celebrities such as hockey star Wayne Gretzky, country singer Jake Owen and actor Bill Murray.

However, that lasted only a few hours, as the skies turned gray at around 11:30, and by noon, the rain began to pour onto the course. This time, however, the rain stopped at about 12:30 pm and held off while the sky cleared back up, but the wind intensified as the day progressed.

Reno 1868 FC shuts down Earthquakes 3-0 in preseason match

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By: Ana Kieu

The San Jose Earthquakes traveled to Reno, Nev. to face off against the Reno 1868 FC in a preseason match at Greater Nevada Field on Saturday afternoon. The match was streamed on Reno’s YouTube channel.

The Quakes’ starting lineup boasted a good amount of fan favorites such as Daniel Vega; Marcos Lopez, Guram Kashia, Harold Cummings, Nick Lima; Magnus Eriksson, Judson, Anibal Godoy, Cristian Espinoza; Vako, and Chris Wondolowski.

After the kickoff, the match went underway in Northern Nevada. Reno got on the board first as Raul Mendiola found the back of the net from close range. The score was 1-0 Reno at the fourth minute. As a result, Reno fans gave Mendiola, who made his Reno debut, a warm welcome with a lot of cheering and clapping for the Mexican attacking midfielder from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Nick Lima made sure Matt Bersano was on his toes at the 10th minute. Lima slotted a notable shot for the memory moment. Also, Vako fought to earn possession and then created an opportunity on the attack at the 16th minute.

But the Quakes were unable to completely stop Reno, who doubled their lead 2-0 on a counter-attack at the 29th minute. Seth Casiple was created with the goal and Danny Musovski, a Henderson, Nevada native, picked up the assist on Casiple’s goal.

Things never improved for the Quakes, despite the fascinating sight of Cristian Espinoza had a go from the distance at the 37th minute. Reno made it three consecutive goals as Musovski kicked in a goal that was assisted by Brian Brown at the 41st minute. Sure, Wondolowski nearly pulled one back at the 45th minute, but Reno was on a roll and carried a 3-0 lead to the locker room at the end of the first half.

The Quakes made a line change to start the second half. The new-look roster featured the likes of Andrew Tarbell, Shea Salinas, Florian Jungwirth, Jimmy Ockford, Paul Marie, Siad Haji, Luis Felipe, Jackson Yueill, Gilbert Fuentes, Tommy Thompson, and Cade Cowell.

Cowell received a fortunate chance, but his shot was just wide of the net at the 57th minute. Haji had a go from the distance at the 62nd minute. However, Reno couldn’t be stopped, and they wrapped up the match with a 3-0 shutout in full-time. Reno started their season on a positive note with a tally in the win column, while the Quakes took the loss.

The Quakes will return to California, but to Los Angeles, to take on LAFC inside the Banc of California Stadium next Saturday at 12:00 pm PT.

Boise State stomps on San Jose State 105-57

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Photo credit: @SJSUMBB

By: Ana Kieu

San Jose State men’s basketball was searching for something, anything–and the Boise State Broncos were yet another tough conference opponent Saturday afternoon at the Taco Bell Arena.

The Spartans’ starting lineup featured the likes of Craig LeCesne, Noah Baumann, Seneca Knight, Michael Steadman, and Ashtin Chastain.

San Jose State, however, was unable to keep up with the red-hot Boise State, who shot 62.5% for the game and drained 15 three-pointers. The Spartans were held to just 37.7% from the field.

Boise State caught fire early as they drained five straight threes to open the game on a whopping 15-0 run. The three-ball played a large factor in the half as Boise State finished with eight and SJSU nailed five of their own for the most in a first half since scoring seven against Utah State on January 16. Baumann led the way with a pair of threes, extending his consecutive games streak to 20 straight, just one shy of the school record set by Robert Owens in 2009-10.

Boise State shot lights out with a 55% clip in the opening half (11-of-29) as Derick Alston (15) and Alex Hobbs (13) combined for 28 points. On the other end, SJSU was held to 38% (11-of-29), and the Broncos took a 46-28 lead into the half.

Boise State repeated their hot start in the second half as they went on a 12-0 run to take control and put the game out of reach. Boise State shot 71% for the half (22-of-31). SJSU trailed by as much as 53 with 4:50 left on the clock. Once again, turnovers proved costly as the Spartans lost the battle 16-5, which resulted in the Broncos scoring 27 points off of them. Rebounding, however, continued to be a strong point, as the Spartans finished just two behind the Broncos 33-31.

Steadman led the Spartans with 16 points while Christian Anigwe had one of his best games of the season with a game-high 12 rebounds along with 10 points for his second career double-double. Brian Rodriguez-Flores played well off the bench as he tied his season-high with seven points.

When it comes to the Broncos, Derrick Alston paved the way with 33 points on 12-of-15 shooting, including 5-of-7 from the three-point range. Alston accumulated the most points an opponent has scored against the Spartans this season. Alex Hobbs finished with 17 points and RJ Williams came off the bench to score 22.

With the loss, SJSU fell to 3-19 (0-10 Mountain West) and have yet to win a conference game this season. The Spartans lost their 13th in a row. On the other hand, Boise State rose to 11-13 (6-5 Mountain West). The Broncos snapped a two-game losing skid. The Broncos previously lost to UNLV 83-72 on February 6 and suffered a 93-73 blowout at No. 6 Nevada on February 2.

SJSU heads to New Mexico to take on the New Mexico Lobos on Wednesday at 6:00 pm PT.

NHL podcast with Matt Harrington: Rangers can’t do anything with Hurricanes; NY blanked

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On the NHL podcast with Matt:

#1 The New York Rangers were shutout by the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 on Friday night at Madison Square Garden. Is this indicative of the Rangers’ play or the Hurricanes were just plain fired up and ready to go in the third period?

#2 The Canes scored all their goals in the third period; Warren Foegele (7), Andrei Svechnikov (14), and Brock McGinn (6)

#3 The Canes goaltender Peter Mrazek stopped all 26 Rangers shots. Was this a matter of Mrazek getting protection up front or did he have to stand on his head for the shutout?

#4 The Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist held the Canes to a shutout in two periods, but allowed three goals in the third period.

#5 Turning to other NHL action, the San Jose Sharks play in Vancouver on Monday night, a 7:00 pm puck drop at Rogers Centre. Matt tells us what he thinks of this matchup.

Matt Harrington does the NHL podcasts each Saturday at http://www.sportsradioservice.com