Shooting woes continue for Stanford as they lose to Colorado 64-56

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Photo credit: gostanford.com

By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Sunday, February 11, 2018

The Colorado Buffaloes won its third consecutive Pac-12 men’s basketball game Sunday at Coors Events Center in Boulder, Colo., as they defeated the Stanford Cardinal 64-56.

Lucas Siewert led Colorado (15-10 overall, 7-6 Pac-12) with 17 points, which included two key 3-pointers in the closing minutes. George King and McKinley Wright scored 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Buffs, who defeated the Cardinal for the ninth consecutive time.

Dorian Pickens topped the Stanford scoring column with 18 points, followed by Reid Travis with 10. The Cardinal evened their overall record at 13-13, 7-6 in league play.

Stanford trailed by 11 at halftime and gradually cut its deficit to 45-42 when Isaac White and Pickens hit consecutive 3s at 9:01 of the second half. Pickens connected on another 3-pointer to pull the Cardinal within one point at the 6:35 mark.

At that point, the Buffaloes forged a 12-3 run, punctuated by two Siewert 3-pointers and two baskets by Tyler Bey, allowing Colorado to build a 10-point lead with 1:07 to play.

Colorado built a 31-20 lead at the break with the help of four 3-pointers in the last 3:55 of the half.

It was a tough afternoon of shooting for the Cardinal, which made 35.7 percent of its field goal attempts. Three days earlier, Stanford made 35.8 percent of its shots at Utah. The Cardinal was 7-of-21 from 3-point range and 9-of-15 on free throws.

The Buffaloes outrebounded Stanford 42-38. King was the top rebounder for Colorado with nine, while Travis led the Cardinal with six.

Next Sunday, the Cardinal travels to Berkeley to face the Golden Bears.

NHL Podcast with Daniel Dullum: Isles’ Barzal ties NHL record with five-point game; Chelios gets a shot behind bench as Olympic coach; plus more NHL news

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photo from newyorkislanders.com: The New York Islanders center Mathew Barzal (13) gets congratulations for scoring one his goals on Saturday night against the Detroit Red Wings at the Barclay Center in Brooklyn

Daniel Dullum on the NHL Podcast:

1 Islanders’ Mathew Barzal ties 100-year old NHL record with another five-point game

2 Winter Olympics could be start of Chris Chelios’ coaching career

3 Anaheim Ducks continue their postseason push tonight hosting the Sharks

4 Sharks’ Ryan scored his first two in NHL, San Jose beats Oilers 6-4

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

 

Categories NHL

NCAA Basketball Podcast with Daniel Dullum: Gonzaga ends St Mary’s 19 game win streak; Feds make filing error in NCAA corruption case; plus more NCAA news

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Saint Mary’s head coach Randy Bennett (left) greets Gonzaga head coach Mark Few before a game at McKeon Pavilion. Credit: D. Ross Cameron-USA TODAY Sports

Daniel Dullum on the NCAA

1 Gonzaga snaps Saint Mary’s 19-game winning streak

2 Filings show potentially critical error in Feds’ college basketball corruption case

3 Big Dance Bubble Watch: Saturday’s winners and losers among fringe NCAA tournament teams

4 Arizona State beats UCLA for a rare Pac-12 sweep

5 Stanford up to No. 17 in NCAA Women’s Hoop poll

Daniel Dullum is filling in for Michelle Richardson this week for the NCAA Basketball podcast at http://www.sportsradioservice.com

Gulls dominate Barracuda in 4-1 win; sweep two-game series

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — The San Diego Gulls (26-17-1-0) came from behind once again, scoring four unanswered goals in a convincing 4-1 win over the San Jose Barracuda (21-19-2-3) Sunday afternoon at the SAP Center. They swept the two-game series against San Jose and won their season best sixth win in a row.

It didn’t take the Barracuda long to get the bad taste of yesterday’s loss out of their mouth when defenseman Jacob Middleton scored his second goal on the season just 24 seconds into the game. Forward Adam Helewka’s shot hit off the pads of Gulls goalie Reto Berra (11-6-0) and Middleton crashed the net and was able to slam home the rebound past Berra.

“I’m used to being in front of the net in my own defensive zone,” said Middleton about scoring his goal. “It was an opportunity. I kinda just shoveled it toward the net and fortunately it went in.”

Antoine Bibeau (14-9-2) was busy earlier on having stopped two breakaway attempts by San Diego in the first three and a half minutes into the game, including one by Devin Sideroff.

San Jose had a golden opportunity to extend their lead when they had a 5-on-3 power play for 1:48 midway through the period when Sam Carrick and Mike Limabas went into the sin bin 12 seconds apart from each other. However, the Gulls penalty kill would keep the game at a one goal deficit.

The Gulls would answer back when Nic Kerdiles was able to tip in Andy Welinski’s shot from the point past Bibeau. The Gulls had sustained pressure inside the Cuda zone as Kerdiles was able to set up shop in front of Bibeau to deflect the puck in the back of the net for his ninth goal on the season at the 16:15 mark of the first period.

Kalle Kossila, who had his two-game goal streak snapped yesterday, gave the Gulls a 2-1 lead with 8.5 seconds left in the first period when he received the puck at center ice and was able to use his speed to skate around three Cuda defenders before putting a pretty backhander past Bibeau for his 13th goal of the season.

“The guy kinda goes through everybody and tucks it in,” said head coach Roy Sommer. “I think that was the biggest thing, the real back breaker.”

Dennis Rasmussen extended the Gulls lead to 3-1 on a nice give and go with Steven Olesky. Rasmussen skated into the Cuda zone, passed it over to Olesky on the right wing and Olesky gave it right back to Rasmussen who was able to fire a shot past Bibeau top self in the left corner of the goal for his fourth goal of the season and second consecutive game with a goal against San Jose at the 6:41 mark of the second period.

San Diego would keep pouring it on when a keep in at the blue line set up a tic-tack-toe goal by Eric Fehr. Fehr gathered the puck, passed it over to Kevin Roy who quickly sent it back to a wide open Fehr who slapped it into an open net for his team leading 15th goal on the season for a 4-1 lead at the 17:33 mark of the second period.

The Cuda were only playing with nine forwards throughout the game due to injuries and call up. Fatigue could have caught up to San Jose in trying maintain an offensive attack.

“As far as trying to keep any heat on, you know get a sustained pressure on the forecheck,” said Sommer about playing with a limited lineup. “I think that gets you a little bit.”

Berra stopped 33 of the 34 Cuda shots for the victory. Bibeau made 24 saves on 28 Gulls shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: The power play blues continued for San Jose as they went 0/6 on the power play and 0/10 in the two game series. San Diego was 0/4.

“You gotta get pucks through and I didn’t think we were very good on our flanks. Never really got a lot of second chances on the PP,” said Sommer.

Emerson Clark thought he had a power play goal at 7:01, but the referee waved it off and video review confirmed no goal. Bibeau made a big save on Kerdiles six minutes into the second period. Fehr has seven points in five games against San Jose this season.

Forward Marcus Sorensen missed the game due to an upper body injury he sustained yesterday. He is currently listed as day-to-day.

The announced attendance was 3,863.

San Diego is currently in second place in the Pacific Division with 53 points. The Cuda sit in seventh place with 47 points just one ahead of last place Bakersfield.

UP NEXT: San Jose host the Pacific Division leading Tuscon Roadrunners on Valentine’s Day 2/14 to conclude the five-game home stand. Face off is scheduled for 7 pm PT.

Bears listless in fumbling away Pac-12 contest at Utah

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Tyler_Rawson_vs_Cal_02_10_18
Photo of Utah’s Tyler Rawsom courtesy of University of Utah Athletics

By Morris Phillips

If Saturday night’s California-Utah ballgame were contested on a gridiron, not on the hardwood, Cal would have been saddled with poor field position throughout and rarely crossed midfield.

As it was, the Bears’ offensive possessions often ended quickly with a thud while Utah’s explored the rich tapestry of sharing the basketball, more often than not concluding with a flourish at point-blank range.

Even the final margin of 34 points lent the proceedings the feel of a five touchdown-mismatch at Rice-Eccles Stadium three blocks to the west, not a blowout on the hoop court at the history-filled Hunstman Center.

Either way the Bears were sent packing, much in need of the week of preparation they’ll have prior to their rematch with Stanford next Sunday. According to head coach Wyking Jones, the Bears will need an infusion of heart as well before seeing the Cardinal.

“We had no fight tonight,” Jones admitted. “It sums it all up… we had no fight.”

The Bears started respectably, leading 8-4 after four minutes. But a 10-0 Utah run changed the tenor of the ballgame immediately. Later in the half Cal went scoreless for more than five minutes and found themselves trailing 40-21 at halftime.

Offensively, the Bears were a mess early. Six of Cal’s 11 first half turnovers came in the first nine minutes as Utah’s zone built in tenacity. In their typical style under Coach Larry Krystowiak, the Utes’ defense fueled their offense with 17 of their 40 points a direct result of Cal’s miscues.

“If we truly focus on getting stops, it’s the cliché in sports,” Krystowiak said. “Pitching wins World Series’; Defense wins Super Bowls. We’ve had a couple of weeks playing zone, the guys are buying into it. Coach Hill is doing a great job on the defensive side of the ball, and it makes the game fun. We took some charges, took care of the glass, and the offense took care of itself.

Sharks give up lead to Oilers, but storm back to win 6-4

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Photo credit: nhl.com/sharks

By Mary Walsh

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks took a three-goal lead, gave it up and fell behind and then came back to beat the Edmonton Oilers 6-4 at the SAP Center on Saturday night.

In a topsy-turvy contest, Sharks captain Joe Pavelski earned four points, while defenseman Joakim Ryan scored his first two NHL goals, including the game-winner late in the third period. Tomas Hertl and Barclay Goodrow rounded out the Sharks goal-scoring and goalie Aaron Dell made 27 saves for the win.

Zack Kassian scored two goals for the Oilers. The other two coming from Leon Draisaitl and Brandon Davidson. Goalie Al Montoya made 24 saves.

Ryan had waited some time for those goals.

“It took me about 45 games to get a goal so definitely nice to get that first one and then getting that second one is even better,” Ryan said after the game.

Of Ryan, Sharks head coach Pete DeBoer said:

I was really happy for him. He shows up every day, doesn’t say much, just works hard. You know, we’ve been asking our defensemen all year all of them to get up in the play and help us create offense. You know, playing with Burnzie it’s easy to kind of sit there and just watch him go. It was nice to see Jok take advantage of that. I mean Todd and that staff know Burnzie, you know they really key on him when we play them and tonight Jok recognized that and jumped into a few holes at the right moment and showed a lot of maturity.

The Sharks had an impressive first period. They outshot the Oilers 14-9. Despite taking one penalty, they outdid their opponent in every respect from hits to takeaways.

Joakim Ryan opened the scoring with his first NHL goal just 1:15 in. Joonas Donskoi, deep in the offensive zone, turned quickly and made a pass back to Ryan on the blue line. Ryan’s quick wrist shot was partially screened by Oilers defenders moving in front of their goalie. Assists went to Donskoi and Pavelski.

Pavelski added another at 7:21. Pavelski’s goal was listed as unassisted, but it did get a little help from an official. E88’s pass to E25 seemed to deflect off the official’s skate, making 25 reach to catch it. Then when 25 tried to pass it back to 88, the puck again changed direction in the vicinity of the official’s skate, causing it to go into the side of the net, where Pavelski picked it up and put it in the net.

The Sharks also started the second period well. Jannik Hansen forced a turnover near the Sharks blue line, which allowed Barclay Goodrow to pick up the puck in the neutral zone. He skated into the Oilers’ zone and took his shot from the top of the faceoff circle at 2:30 of the second. It was Goodrow’s fifth goal of the season. Hansen got the lone assist.

At 11:11 of the second period, Chris Tierney and Mikkel Boedker flubbed a two-on-one in the Edmonton zone. The puck ended up in neutral ice and was picked up by Zack Kassian for a breakaway. His goal was unassisted.

After the game, Boedker said: “I tried to make aplay up towards our bench for the guys jumping on. And I missed and unfortunately it ended up in our net. The same with Tierns, he was trying to make a play. Those things happen but we’ve got to limit those mistakes.”

The Sharks got their only power play of the game at 9:46. The Edmonton penalty kill was effective, just like it has always been on the road so far this season.

Aaron Dell faced a Connor McDavid breakaway a couple of minutes after that penalty expired, as he escaped the Sharks in the neutral zone and was almost at the Sharks’ net before anyone caught up to him. Dell was able to get in front of the shot and the rebound was picked up by his defenseman.

The Sharks goaltender was less successful when faced with another breakaway at 14:20. Kassian broke away during a poorly executed change on defense and scored a second goal. Assists went to Yohann Auvitu and Kris Russell.

By 18:02 of the period, the Sharks’ game seemed to be coming entirely unraveled. They had only taken four shots by the time Leon Draisaitl scored Edmonton’s third goal. An assist went to Oscar Klefbom.

The Sharks ended up getting credit for five shots in the second period, while the Oilers had nine, just like they did in the first period.

Just 1:21 into the third period, a Draisaitl pass across the goal mouth found defenseman Brandon Davidson and his shot gave the Oilers their first lead of the game. Assists went to Draisaitl and Michael Cammalleri.

Tomas Hertl responded at 3:41. He scored his 15th of the season with a backhand shot that tied the game. Assists went to Logan Couture and Kevin Labanc.

The Oilers had another chance on the power play at x, when Couture was called for goaltender interference. They had almost killed that off when Brent Burns lost part of his stick and did not seem to realize it. He was called for playing with a broken stick, giving the Oilers a seven second five-on-three.

By the time the Sharks killed those penalties off, there was just under four minutes left in regulation.

With under three minutes left, Ryan scored again. He skated down the slot and took a shot. That one did not go in, but it generated a perfect rebound for his to put home. Assists went to Pavelski and Timo Meier.

At 18:48, Pavelski put the puck in the empty net to give the Sharks a 6-4 lead. Assists went to Tierney and Melker Karlsson.

Jannik Hansen, after sitting out for seven games, drew into the lineup after Joel Ward was sidelined in Thursday’s game against the Las Vegas Golden Knights. Ward’s injury is described as day-to-day and, from the look of the hit, is in the shoulder region.

Up Next: The Sharks next play on Sunday in Anaheim against the Ducks at 5:00 pm PT.

Thompson’s 25 points leads Warriors to a 122-105 beat down over Spurs

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Photo credit: nba.com/warriors

By Jerry Feitelberg

The Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs played a very competitive first half in Saturday night’s matchup at Oracle Arena. The Warriors led by three at the half, 58-55; but they once again owned the third quarter and went on to defeat the Spurs 122-105.

All five of the Warrior starters were in double figures. Klay Thompson, who scored 10 in the third quarter, led the team with 25 points. Draymond Green had a double-double with 17 points and 11 assists. He needed two more rebounds for a triple-double. By the way, he wasn’t called for a technical foul Saturday night. Zaza Pachulia, who celebrated his 34th birthday, scored 12 points. Steph Curry added 17 points. Kevin Durant was held to a season-low 10 points. However, Durant has been a force on defense and assisted on six buckets tonight.

The Spurs–who are always a dangerous team–kept pace with the Warriors for the first 24 minutes of the game. The Warriors pulled away in the third quarter as the Spurs are missing their leader, Kawhi Leonard, who’s out with a quadriceps injury that has caused him to miss most of the season. LaMarcus Aldridge and Kyle Anderson led the Spurs with 20 each. Manu Ginobili, the ageless wonder, scored 13 coming off the bench. Marc Gasol tallied 7 for the purs.

Game Notes: The Warriors shot 56.5% from the floor and held the Spurs to 45.7%.

The Spurs were 5-for-27 from behind the three-point arc, while the Warriors made 12 3-pointers.

The Warriors recorded 35 assists and turned the ball over 16 times.

The win marked the 250th for head coach Steve Kerr. He became the fastest to recorded 250 wins in NBA history.

Steph Curry had this to say about Kerr: “It’s been an amazing 3 1/2 years and hopefully more to come.”

“It’s a lot about him setting the identity and the culture around our team and just being a great people guy. There’s probably a better term for that. He just knows how to relate to each, and every one of us players and his coaching staff and you’re building that ultimate trust throughout the organization.”

Up Next: The Warriors welcome the Phoenix Suns for the first time this season on Monday night in Oakland at 7:30 pm PT.

Gulls respond with three unanswered goals in 3-2 overtime win over Barracuda

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Photo credit: @sjbarracuda

By Marko Ukalovic

SAN JOSE — Dennis Rasmussen scored the game-winning goal with over two minutes left in overtime as the San Diego Gulls (25-17-1-0) completed a 3-2 comeback victory over the San Jose Barracuda (21-18-2-3) Saturday afternoon at the SAP Center.

After successfully killing off a Barracuda power play that transferred over from the third period, Rasmussen was able to skate down the left wing on a 2-on-1 opportunity and was able to beat Cuda goalie Troy Grosenick (5-8-3) with a wrist shot just inside the left post at the 2:41 mark of overtime. It was Rasmussen’s third goal on the season.

There wasn’t much offense generated in a penalty-filled first period that saw neither team convert on their power play chances. The Barracuda had a four-minute advantage when Corey Tropp went into the sin bin for a double-minor high-sticking penalty.

However, an interference penalty by Tim Heed negated Tropp’s penalty. Both combined for only nine shots on goal.

The Barracuda would strike first after a clean faceoff win by Alex True, defenseman Paul Martin sent a shot in from the point that deflected off the skate of Gulls defenseman Steven Olesky right on to the body of Emerson Clark and into the back of net past Gulls goalie Kevin Boyle (14-8-1) for his fifth goal of the season at the 11:15 mark of the second period.

Brandon Bollig gave the Cuda a 2-0 lead when he tapped home a rebound of a Jon Martin shot for his eighth goal on the season. The goal came on a 2-on-1 opportunity created by Martin at the Gulls blueline at the 16:52 mark of the second period. Michael Brodzinski received the secondary assist.

“It’s been a long time coming,” said Bollig, after ending his long scoring draught. “Droughts like that are gonna happen. Unfortunately, it lasted a little longer than I would’ve liked. We could use that extra scoring and that’s what I’m looking to keep going.”

San Diego wouldn’t go quietly into that good afternoon as Kevin Roy would cut the lead early in the third period when the Cuda turned over the puck in the neutral zone. Sam Carrick was able to feed Roy open along the left boards and he was able to skate in and rifle a shot past Grosenick for his ninth goal of the season at the 3:08 mark.

The Gulls would tied the score just 87 seconds later as Carrick skated into the Cuda zone and his shot deflected off a skate right into the hands of Eric Fehr, who buried it past Grosenick for his 14th goal on the season at the 4:35 mark.

“A two minute burst, they score a couple of goals,” said Cuda head coach Roy Sommer. “We kinda were back on our heels a bit.”

Things would get nasty when Mike Liambas landed a vicious elbow to the upper body of an unsuspecting Marcus Sorensen five and half minutes into the third period. Sorensen would leave the ice under his own power. The hit lit a spark under the Cuda as the hitting picked up by both teams in the final 10 minutes of the third period.

The Cuda had scoring chances late in the third period and early in the overtime, but were the victims of bad luck as they hit two posts with a puck rolling just past the goal into the corner.

“We had some point blankers,” said Sommer. “We hit a cross bar, hit two posts. Hey I liked the way we played. I wish we had a better outcome. We play like that, we’re going to win a lot more (games) than we lose.”

Boyle had a busy afternoon making 37 saves on 39 shots for the victory. Grosenick, arguably the most hard luck goaltender in the AHL, made 21 saves on 24 shots in the losing effort.

GAME NOTES: Both teams were 0/4 on the power play.

San Diego came into the game with the best power play in the AHL at over 24%, with a 38% success rate against San Jose.

The announced attendance was 3,162.

UP NEXT: San Jose looks for revenge Sunday afternoon against the San Diego Gull at SAP Center. Face off is scheduled for noon PT.

Earthquakes shutout Reno 1868 FC 4-0 in preseason match

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Photo credit: @SJEarthquakes

By: Ana Kieu

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Following a 1-1 draw with Real Salt Lake in Arizona, the San Jose Earthquakes returned home to Avaya Stadium to host the Reno 1868 FC in a preseason match on Saturday afternoon.

The Earthquakes were literally off and running from Avaya Stadium. Quakes forward Danny Hoesen slotted home a kick that went over the head of Reno goalkeeper Russ Klabough for a 1-0 lead at the fifth minute of the first half.

The Quakes didn’t take long to find the back of the net today. Hoesen kicked in his second goal of the match for a 2-0 lead at the 21st minute of the first. Just four minutes later, Quakes rookie Magnus Eriksson got his first goal of the preseason at the 25th minute of the first, giving his team a 3-0 lead.

Eriksson was a new striker, but he had no trouble in today’s match as he found the back of the net at the 37th minute. The Quakes grabbed a 4-0 lead, and carried the comfortable cushion to the locker room at halftime.

The Quakes made five substitutions at the 64th minute. Eriksson, Vako, Shea Salinas, Nick Lima and Florian Jungwirth left the match. Joel Qwiberg, Paul Marie, Luis Felipe, Chris Wehan and Mohamed Thiaw entered the match.

The Quakes took a big step forward in their affiliation with Reno. They displayed good sportsmanship by saying “good game” to the visiting team.

Final: Quakes shutout Reno 4-0.

Notes
Earthquakes’ starting lineup: Andrew Tarbell, Shea Salinas, Harold Cummings, Yeferson Quintana, Nick Lima, Vako, Florian Jungwirth, Fatai Alashe, Magnus Eriksson, Danny Hoesen and Chris Wondolowski.

The Quakes announced their theme nights this year.
https://www.sjearthquakes.com/post/2018/02/09/news-earthquakes-announce-2018-theme-nights

The Quakes extended their affiliate partnership with Reno.
https://www.sjearthquakes.com/post/2018/02/10/news-earthquakes-extend-affiliate-partnership-reno-1868-fc

Reno’s starting lineup: Russ Klabough, Jordan Murrell, Zach Carroll, Brenton Griffiths, Brent Richards, Guy Abend, Christian Thierjung, Seth Casiple, Lindo Mfeka, Antoine Hoppenot and Brian Brown.

Up Next 
The Earthquakes conclude the preseason in Los Angeles, Calif., against the LA Galaxy on Saturday, February 17 at 2:30 pm PT.

Fisher and Baumann record career-high points, but San Jose State falls at Colorado State 90-79

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Photo credit: @SJSUMBB

By: Ana Kieu

It was a week of a million headlines in the Mountain West. That’s great news for the majority of Mountain West reporters. But about the San Jose State Spartans, it has been the same story, different week. The Spartans are still seeking their first conference win of the season, and they hoped to get that against the Colorado State Rams at the Moby Arena in Fort Collins, Colo.

Oumar Barry scored a couple of layups from SJSU’s consecutive possessions to pull the Spartans within four, 15-11, at the 13-minute mark of the first half.

As usual, Ryan Welage continued to dominate out on the court with his third triple of the game midway through the first. In addition, Noah Baumann hit a 3-pointer of his own. The Spartans trailed by just two points, 34-32.

The Spartans were down by six, 46-40, as they headed to the locker room at halftime. Welage led all scorers with 13 points. Baumann scored 11 points for the Spartans. SJSU outshot Colorado State 46.7% as opposed to 45.9%.

The Spartans had the first strike of the second half.

However, SJSU was affected by a scoring drought for several minutes until Barry nailed a three to end the Spartans’ drought. Yet, they still trailed the Rams by five, 55-50, at the 13:28 mark of the second.

With a basket and a foul, Noah Baumann tied his career-high with 14 points. But the Rams continued to lead by 10 (71-61) with 7:11 left in the second.

The Spartans lost to the Rams 90-79. Despite the blowout loss, SJSU had some things to be proud of. Keith Fisher scored a career-high 23 points while Baumann had a career-high 16 points.

Notes
The Spartans got in a few warm up shots before the starting lineup introductions were called at Moby Arena.

Up Next
The Spartans return home to host the Fresno State Bulldogs on Valentine’s Day at 7 pm PT.