RED DEER ADVOCATE Friday, Feb. 28, 2014 B3
Raptors lose to Wizards in triple OT Wizards 134 Raptors 129 3OT TORONTO — Foul trouble and ankle injuries cost the Toronto Raptors a win in the longest game in franchise history. Kyle Lowry finished with 18 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds in the Raptors’ 134-129 triple-overtime loss to the Washington Wizards on Thursday. The Toronto point guard played 54 minutes despite an ankle sprain in his 41st minute of play and eventually fouling out. “We just ran out of time,” said guard DeMar DeRozan. “All we needed is one stop, one rebound, one bucket. We just couldn’t get it. They scored when they needed to, we scored when we needed to but we didn’t get a stop when we needed it.” DeRozan scored 34 points for Toronto (32-26), and Greivis Vasquez had a season-high 26 points and eight assists off the bench. Still, it was the sting of having to play with a banged up Lowry in the extra sessions that hurt even more than Amir Johnson and Patrick Patterson fouling out for the Raptors. At three hours 32 minutes, Thursday’s game became the longest in the Raptors history. The previous mark was a 137-136 triple-overtime loss to the Brooklyn Nets in London, U.K. on March 5, 2011 which lasted 3:22. With Lowry limited by the ankle in each of the three extra sessions, John Wall stole the ball from Vasquez on back-to-back possessions with the game tied 127-127 in the third overtime, leading to four quick points by the Wizards (30-28) to give Washington a four-point lead. Wall scored 31 points and nine assists and Marcin Gortat scored a career-high 31 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as the Wizards outlasted Toronto. The Raptors were shorthanded throughout the second half of regulation in addition to the extra sessions. With 2:15 remaining in the second quarter, Terrence Ross stepped on the foot of a Wizard’s player and rolled his left ankle while being fouled on a
PGA TOUR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — On the course where Rory McIlroy first rose to No. 1, he looked as if he might be headed in that direction again. McIlroy swung freely and walked briskly on his way to a 7-under 63 on Thursday, with birdies on the last two holes at PGA National giving him a one-shot lead over Russell Henley after the
layup attempt. He stayed in the game to make the free throws, but left with a little less than a minute remaining in the half and did not return. The team felt his absence, especially on the defensive end of the floor. “Losing Terrence Ross, you don’t miss something until you don’t have it,” Casey said. “He gives us one more defender, shot maker, and that was huge for us. Especially defensively, he was doing a good job and also gave us another defender to switch around on Wall. “I liked the way the guys battled. I thought we were flat in the first half again. I liked the way we battled, even through the foul trouble and also with the injuries.” DeRozan would get the Raptors within two with a pair of free throws, but a layup from Wall extended Washington’s advantage to four with 29 seconds on the clock. “That’s got to be a nightmare,” Casey said of trying to stop Wall in the open court. “He’s one of the fastest guys with the ball in the league. Now you’ve got Gortat, one of the best screen and roll guys going down the lane, the best shooters in (Bradley) Beal and (Martell) Webster spotted up. They’re a lethal offensive team. We couldn’t make easy plays in the first half and I thought that dug us a hole a little bit and that made it tough for us in the second half.” After a missed jumper from DeRozan with 24 seconds remaining, Garrett Temple clinched the victory on a free throw to put Washington up 134-129 with 21 seconds to go. Johnson, Patterson and Lowry fouled out for the Raptors. Trevor Ariza and Gortat fouled out for the Wizards. In a second overtime session with as many turnovers as field goals, Gortat calmly sank two free throws to put the Wizards ahead by two with 43 seconds remaining. DeRozan tied the game with 2.5 seconds remaining. Beal scored as the buzzer sounded, but the bucket was waved off. Reviews confirmed that Beal did not get the shot off in time.
first round of the Honda Classic. If nothing else, it was big improvement from the last official round he played on PGA National. McIlroy was 7 over through eight holes last year when he became so frustrated with mounting expectations and a slumping game that he walked off the course in the middle of the second round. He said it was a mistake that he would never repeat. He apparently buried the past with his clubs, if not his head. “It’s not something I really thought about out there,” McIlroy said. “Coming in this week, I knew that I was playing well and I just
STORIES FROM PAGE B1
FLAMES: NHL debut Calgary (22-30-7), which went into the break on a 6-1-1 tear, lost for the first time at home in six weeks. The Flames had won their last five games at the Scotiabank Saddledome. The story line for the Flames was the NHL debut of two of their top prospects — both of them Finns. Making his NHL debut in net was Joni Ortio, who was called up from the Abbotsford Heat of the American Hockey League when fellow Finn Karri Ramo went down with a knee injury on Feb. 1. Ortio backed up Reto Berra for the final three games before the Olympic break. Ortio had 22 stops. The 22-year-old had been playing excellent hockey with the Heat where he had compiled a 20-6-0 record with a 2.22 goals-against average and .926 save percentage. In addition to Ortio, also making his NHL debut was 20-year-old Markus Granlund, Calgary’s second round pick in the 2011 NHL Draft. Granlund logged 7:14 in ice time, centring the Flames fourth line with Paul Byron and rugged Kevin Westgarth. In his limited time, the younger brother of Minnesota’s Mikeal Granlund, looked impressive registering two shots on goal. As a rookie in the AHL, he is tied for fourth in the league in goals with 23 in 50 games. The Flames were playing their first game in 19 days and the rust showed early. On his second shift, defenceman steady Kris Russell bobbled the puck deep in his own end with it being promptly intercepted by Brown who darted to the net and stuffed a backhand behind Ortio. After that goal on an opportunity that came out of nowhere, Ortio settled in nicely. Just over a minute into the third period, he displayed a quick glove hand stabbing a shot off the stick of Brown as he bid for his second goal.
OILERS: Big save Each team only accounted for six first period shots apiece, with Edmonton’s best chance coming late in the period when a high bounce flipped off of Kuemper’s back and landed in the crease before being sent to safety by Jared Spurgeon. Kuemper made a big save of his own seven minutes into the second as he was quick to come across and rob Jordan Eberle at the side of the net on the tail end of an Oiler power play. Minnesota made it 2-0 midway through the second period as Erik Huala fought off Oiler Anton Belov behind the net to send a backhand to a primed and ready Veilleux who blasted a one-timer from the top of the circle past Scrivens for just his second goal of the season. The Wild took a three-goal lead midway through the third as Charlie Coyle made a nice play to swing out from behind the net and find Heatley in front, who lifted his 12th of the season over a sprawling Scrivens.
RDC: All-Conference team Pierce didn’t make the All-Conference team this year because of his lack of playing time, but Clay Crellin and Strickland were named to the South’s first All-Conference team along with Dom Coward of Lethbridge, Antonio Holmes of Medicine Hat and James Wohlgeschaffen of Briercrest. Travis Butt and Chris Maughan of Lethbridge were on the second team along with Randall Mosca of St. Mary’s, Christian Sacoman of Briercrest and Shayne Stumpf of SAIT. Yonas Berhe of NAIT, Jamaal Bucknor of Concordia, Blake Gallatly of Keyano, Emmanuel Jones of Lakeland and Denzel Williamson-James of Grant MacEwan were on the North’s first All-Conference team with Michael Clemons and Jordan Teo of
wanted to try and get off to a good start. ... Regardless of what happened last year or where it is, it’s always nice to shoot a round like this and get yourself in the mix early.” Tiger Woods wouldn’t know the feeling so far this year. In first tournament in a month, Woods couldn’t make a birdie putt early and had to scramble for pars late in his round. A birdie on the last hole gave him a 71, leaving him eight shots behind. “I hit it good starting out, hit it kind of scrappy in the middle and then hit it good at the end,” Woods said.
Grande Prairie, Lee Danderfer of Augustana, Keith Gerdes of MacEwan and David Shantz of Concordia on the second team. Eric Magdanz of MacEwan was the North coach of the year while Gallatly was named the rookie of the year. Berhe and Coward were named to the All-Canadian team with Coward the ACAC player of the year and will representative the conference in the CCAA player of the year voting. The ACAC championship opens today at RDC with the Kings facing Medicine Hat at 6 p.m. Medicine Hat is one of three teams to defeat the Kings this season. “All three losses were real eye openers,” said Pottinger. “They humbled us and made us understand that we have to continue to get better and since those moments we have. I really believe we’re ready for this tournament. I think this team is as deep and as experienced as any team we’ve had over the three years.” Crellin won’t play today after receiving a technical foul in the final league game. “Losing an all-star changes things up, but we’re blessed with depth and we’ve won without Clay and Mari (Peoples-Wong) before so we will go into with confidence and the guys who need to step up will step up and take care of business.” The tournament opens Briercrest facing Lethbridge at 1 p.m. and Concordia clashing with Grant MacEwan at 3 p.m. Keyano and NAIT meet at 8 p.m. The semifinals go Saturday at 6 and 8 p.m. with the final Sunday at 3:30 p.m. The women’s championship is in Olds this weekend. ● The RDC Queens were as talented as any team in the ACAC Women’s Hockey League and it showed in the all-star voting. Goaltender Camille Trautman, defenceman Casey Nicholson and forward Jade Petrie were all named to the first all-star team with forward Rachael Hoppins on the second team. Defenceman Carlin Boey of NAIT and forwards Sherry Bowles of NAIT and Sasha Lutz of MacEwan were on the first team. Goaltender Morgan Glover, rearguard Tori Spencer and forward Kailey Curran of MacEwan and defenceman Cora Sutton and forward Becca Glackin of SAIT fill out the second team. drode@reddeeradvocate.com
OST OFFERS THES MFOR ANY ATTRACTIONTER SHOW IN SINGLE WINAL ALBERTA CENTR
Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS
Toronto Raptors’ Amir Johnston, Kyle Lowry (right) and Washington Wizards’ Marcin Gortat battle for a loose ball during second half NBA action in Toronto on Thursday.
JUNIOR B HOCKEY BLACKFALDS — The Blackfalds Wranglers have taken a commanding 3-0 lead in their best-of-seven Heritage Junior B Hockey League North Division semifinal against the Three Hills Thrashers. The Wranglers downed the Thrashers 8-4 Thursday with the fourth game set for Saturday in Three Hills. Robin Carlson had a goal and three assists for the Wranglers with Jared Guilbault and Jaye Sutherland adding a goal and two helpers each. Tiaan Anderson, Trent Hermary, Garrett Glasman, Bryce Boguski and Jordan Jakubow added single markers. Kyle Baumgartner was in goal, facing 29 shots. His mates had 30 shots on a pair of Three Hills netminders. Tyrel Severtson, Chris Williams, Kelby Stevens and Connor Ablett scored for the Thrashers, who trailed 2-0 and 6-3 by periods. The winner of the series faces the winner between Stettler and Mountainview. Stettler holds a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series with the fourth game tonight in Didsbury.
RINGETTE PROVINCIALS All three Central Alberta AA Sting ringette teams will be competing in the provincials this weekend in Calgary. U19AA team will be in a five-team pool with Calgary, Edmonton, St. Albert and Zone 5. The U16AA squad, which is ranked No. 1 in the province, is in a pool with St. Albert and Edmonton while two Calgary teams and Zone 5 are in the second pool. The top team in each pool receives a bye into the semifinals while the other teams meet in a crossover quarter-final. The U14 AA Sting is also in a two-pool championship. They’re in a pool with two Calgary
teams while Edmonton, St. Albert and Zone 5 are in the other pool. Play begins in all three divisions Friday at the Canada Olympic Park arenas. The finals are set for Sunday. Qualifying teams in the U19 and U16 divisions qualify for the Canadian National Ringette Championships in Regina in April. Meanwhile the Red Deer Association will host the U16A and U19A championships March 7-9. The U16 games are at the G.H. Dawe Arena while the U19 games go in Delburne. The Red Deer Radha compete in the U16 division and the Red Deer Reign in U19.
MEN’S BASKETBALL Jon and David McComish both dropped in 30 points to lead Wells Furniture to an 88-65 victory over Carstar in Central Alberta Senior Men’s Basketball Association play Thursday, Kevin Leis had 17 points and Mike McCorquindale 16 for Carstar.
3 PAV OF OU ILIONS TD RELATEOOR D PRODU C TS A N D AC TIVI TIES
RED DEER SPORTSMAN AND OUTDOOR ADVENTURE SHOW Feb. 28,March 1,2
WESTERNER PARK, RED DEER ENTER TO WIN THESE GREAT PRIZES INCLUDED WITH YOUR ADMISSION:
FISHING TRIP FOR 2 Supplied by Adventure Destinations International
WEEKEND GETAWAY FOR 2, FLY FISHING & TRAIL RIDE (cabin included) Supplied by South Ram Outfitters
TRAIL CAMERA KIDS’ DOOR PRIZE
Supplied by New World Outfitters Supplied by Sportsmen’s Den
FRIDAY 4 PM - 9 PM SATURDAY 9 AM - 7 PM SUNDAY 9 AM - 5 PM • Bentley Coben - Bentley Coben Wildlife Productions • Cody Robbins - Live 2 Hunt • The Real Canadian Joes • Safari Jeff Animalogy Tour • Junior (Ages 6-12) Red Rider Program Sponsored by Turple Bros. and Honda • Magnetic Fish Pond • Magicland Movie Rides • Fly Fishing Demonstrations • Fishing and Hunting Lodges • Boats, ATV’s and sporting goods • 2014 Canadian Elk Calling Championships
www.reddeersportsmanshow.com
45831B28
Red Deer Rebels vs
Medicine Hat Tigers Friday, Feb. 28
7:00 pm Quinn Contracting post game fireworks
Enmax Centrium Tickets at ticketmaster
1.855.985.5000
45989B28,C1
BY THE CANADIAN PRESS