Tag: basketball

Stanford hangs tough but comes up short

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 By Jeremy Harness

 

The Stanford basketball team was in the same position a couple of nights before, so based on the prior result, the Cardinal certainly had reason to believe.

 

Coming off a signature victory on the road against No. 10 Connecticut, during which they found themselves down by eight early in the second half, Stanford was again behind against Michigan Saturday night and rallied yet again.

 

This time, however, the Cardinal could not close the deal, cutting Michigan’s lead to one point against the runner-up in last season’s NCAA Tournament but could not push through in a 68-65 loss at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.

 

Stanford did not shoot particularly well but still hung around against a more athletic Wolverines team, which didn’t have a great shooting night, either. Michigan, which thrives on shooting the 3-pointer, was 8-for-27 from behind the arc Saturday night.

 

Chasson Randle, who made several key shots down the stretch in the second half but had his final-seconds 3-pointer to tie the game fall short, scored 18 points to lead the Cardinal while Stefan Nastic, who had somewhat of a breakout game, had 14 to equal his season high.

 

The Cardinal will now enjoy the upcoming Christmas break and will not play again until Dec. 29 against Cal Poly at home before beginning the Pac-12 season against Cal the following Thursday, Jan. 2 at Maples Pavilion.

Morris Phillips on the NCAA

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by Morris Phillips

BERKELEY–The Cal Bears are getting confidence with these non conference games wins like the one Saturday against the Fresno State Bull Dogs 67-56 in an 11 point victory and it’s an opportunity to gain confidence with a young basketball team which is great. The Bears have got new players that haven’t had expereince at the division one level and that’s why home games or pre conference games are so critical so that will help them.

The Bears didn’t see anybody of size this week and obviously when the conference games start they will be seeing bigger teams and taller players and the Bears will have to contend with those teams. At that point Cal will be the smaller team of the group. Especially they played Nevada and Fresno State on Saturday at Haas Pavilion and they saw a pair of undersize teams and that won’t be the case in the Pac 12.

The one thing that’s going on right now for the first time since 2006 the number one team in the country is from the Pac 12 Arizona who won against Michigan to secure that number one spot and the Pac 12 looks to be as balanced and competitive as it has been in years top to bottom and their already getting raves for being one of the strong leagues in the country.

Once again Cal is not in a conference schedule there is nothing compared to what they will see once the conference season starts. Just to run through the team, Arizona is number one, Oregon is ranked, Washington State looks to be much improved, Washington as like Cal a younger team trying to find it’s way.

Stanford is kind of interesting they just lost their point guard Aaron Bright for the season the Pac 12 is going to be a bear and every week it’s going to be tough ball games that are going to be very closely contested. Cal is going to be right there in the mix. They are younger and less experienced than some of the teams that they will face.

Morris Phillips covers Cal basketball and is filling in for Dr.Michelle Richardson this week for the NCAA commentary

Stanford beats Houston in Brooklyn

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by Jerry Feitelberg

Stanford beats Houston in Brooklyn

The Stanford Cardinal traveled all the way across the country to meet the Houston Cougars in the second round of the Progressive Legends semi-final game of the tournament in Brooklyn at the Barclay Center. The winner of the game will meet the University of Pittsburgh for the title Tuesday night. Prior to the game, Stanford Head Coach Johnny Dawkins said that he is “happy the way way we run the offense” and that Houston is “ a well-coached team and that they they use a lot of multiple defenses.” The first half of the game was

even after 20 minutes of play but the Cardinal owned the second half and beat Houston 86-76.

The play in the first half was very fast but scoring was at a premium. Houston had a two point lead with 10:30 left in the half but both teams started to score in the second half of the first period.

Houston went on a 15-4 run to take a 28-19 lead but the Cardinal came back with a 9-0 run of their own and the score was at 32 at the end of the first half. Anthony Brown was the scoring leader for Stanford with 11 points and Houston’s TaShawn Thomas put in 10 for the Cougars and had 11 rebounds.

Houston scored 13 points on turnovers while the best Stanford could get was just 3 on Houston mistakes.

Stanford came to life in the second half. Led by Dwight Powell, Anthony Brown and Stefan Nastic, The Cardinal was able to take a 10 point lead with7:50 left to play in the game. Houston went to an full court press but Stanford met the challenge. Houston did creep to within seven as Stanford was in foul trouble early in the second half. Houston made eleven free throws in a row to get back in the game but Anthony Brown made a big bucket with just 1:56 left in the game. Houston kept fouling Stanford but it was not enough as the Cardinal won the game 86-76.

Game notes- Stanford is now 5-1 for the season while Houston ,with the loss, drops to 5-1.

Stanford Forward, Josh Huestis, also had a strong game for the Cardinal as he was in double digits in scoring and rebounding. Huestis is also the front runner for Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year., Huestis is averaging 11.2 and 7.8 rebounds per game and is hoping to be the first Cardinal to average a double-double- since Curtis Borchard in 2001-2002.

It was the fourth meeting ever between the two teams and with the win Stanford and Houston each have two wins.

Suns Get Burned by Kings

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By Tony Renteria

Sacramento CA: The Sacramento Kings (2-1) continued the preseason by hosting the Phoenix Suns (3-1) at Sleep Train Arena on Thursday and left with a bruised ego as they lost 107-90

The Kings have turned over a new leaf with a new ownership group and new upbeat defensive mentality from head coach Micheal Malone.

The Kings have been holding their opponent under 90 points per game this preseason.

The Kings led the Suns after a strong first quarter by the score of 25 to 19.

Second year player Hamady Ndiaye supplied some excitement with a strong put back and huge block on the defensive end.

DeMarcus Cousins went PlayStation crazy in the first half with 23 points as the Kings took a 56-50 lead heading into the break. Cousins finished with 29 points on 8-15 shooting from the field. Jimmer Fredette led the Kings with Minutes and added in 23 points on his own.

The Suns were led by Markieff Morris who scored 15 for the visiting team.
There were 11,223 in attendance at Sleep Train Arena.

The Suns Host Oklahoma City on the 22nd and the Kings head to face the Trailblazers up north in Portland on Sunday

Anti Kings arena groups close to getting initiative on ballot

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by Ken Gimblin
Thursday September 19, 2013

SACRAMENTO–In what will be a grass root effort by anti Sacramento Kings arena groups Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed To Pork or STOP are within a few thousand signatures of getting an initiative on the ballot that all new sports facilities in Sacramento that are being publicly funded will have to go through voter approval before any public money is spent on any new facility. The anti arena movement confirmed that they have now 18,000 signed petitions which were financed by Chris Hansen who wanted to move the Kings to Seattle.

Hansen who was fined $50,000 for not revealing that he was the financier of the petitions missed the state deadline code to file with office of elections. Hansen wanted to be a quiet contributor to the petition drive so that he would have a chance at getting an NBA team in the future or the Kings if the initiative passed and public funds couldn’t be used. Hansen only revealed himself after he was forced to come clean on who contributed to the campaign to put the initiative on the ballot. Hansen later apologized for his campaign contribution after realizing the NBA who granted the Kings to stay in Sacramento probably will not want to do business with Hansen since he played a role in contributing to a campaign drive in Sacramento that stop public subsidies for the Kings arena.

Hansen has demanded that all the petitions be returned to him, STOP has said the campaign to put the initiative on the ballot will go forward and that the campaign is close to making the resolution, “these petitions represent the will of 18,000 people who took the time to provide their signatures and express their desire to put this tax subsidy to a vote.” said STOP president Julian Camacho.

STOP is living up to their full name in trying to stop public funding of the arena “make no mistake, this initiative will qualify” said STOP’s treasurer Jim Cathcart. Doug Elmets spokesman for the 2006 initiative that proposed using tax monies to finance a new arena in 06 that failed said there is enough political power in Sacramento to defeat the initiative, “all the invested parties are going to be out in droves trying to defeat this initiative, when you combine, business, labor, and local government all who are eager to see the arena built you’ll see an incredibly well funded effort.”

Ken Gimblin is covering Kings basketball for Sportstalk Radio