SPORTS SECTION E
THURSDAY, MAY 24, 2018
NCAA: Knowles helps Cougars to World Series berth By RENALDO DORSETT Tribune Sports Reporter rdorsett@tribunemedia.net
P
erez Knowles delivered an impressive performance from the mound in the Southeast Regional tournament and helped his team earn an historic berth to the NCAA Division II World Series. Knowles pitched a complete game and gave up just seven hits with nine strikeouts as he led his No.10 ranked Columbus State Cougars to a 4-3 upset win over No.1 North Greenville. “Everything was working, I was just making adjustments throughout the game. I noticed they started to make adjustments so I had to keep making adjustments. Everybody was playing good defence behind me, they gave me the four runs and that happened to be all we needed,” Knowles said. “I noticed that they were hitting the slider a bit more so I said we have to get further inside, mix it up
and throw the change pitching well and I felt up even more.” like he had command.” He improved his The Cougars went record to 7-3 on the out to face Belmont season and moved Abbey in the next round the Cougars into the and suffered a 7-3 loss, tournament’s winner’s their first of the Southbracket. east Regional. They “Perez was outstanddefeated North Greening,” head coach Greg ville in a rematch to Appleton said. “We eliminate the Crusaders, jumped on them early the host school, after KNOWLES and he buckled down a four-hour weather and fought the entire delay. That win proday. He made the big pitches when pelled them to a rematch with he needed them most and seemed Belmont Abbey, however the Couto be getting stronger late in the gars would need to defeat Belmont game.” twice in one afternoon to claim the Knowles, an all Peach Confer- title. They would do just that. ence Second team selection this Columbus State won a 5-0 season, recorded a perfect eighth thriller in 12 innings to start the inning and struck out the first two day and followed it up with a 10-7 batters he faced in the ninth. win in the nightcap to capture the “I didn’t know how many pitches Southeast Region championship. he had thrown until the eighth Knowles got the start in game two inning and I think the hardest pitch and went three innings with three he threw all game was a fastball, strikeouts. swing and miss. He just looked The Cougars will make their good to me. He didn’t look tired eighth World Series appearance and I’ve seen him tired, he was and first since 2007.
The World Series is scheduled for May 26 through June 2 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C. Prior to his transfer to Columbus State, Knowles spent his previous collegiate years with the University of Troy Trojans. Knowles appeared in 17 games out of the bullpen in two seasons. As a freshman, he appeared in 14 innings with 11 strikeouts and an ERA just over seven. Once he transferred to Columbus State, Knowles appeared in 19 games for the Cougars and posted a 1.77 ERA and finished with a 3-3 record and a team-best three saves. He tallied 33 strikeouts in 35.2 innings. At the high school level, Knowles starred at the high school level in Rabun Gap, Georgia. From the mound, he led his Eagles team to playoffs all four years of high school and was named all-conference his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons and was named 2014 Preseason Under Armour All-American.
Celtics take 3-2 lead By JIMMY GOLEN AP Sports Writer
BOSTON (AP) — Rookie Jayson Tatum scored 24 points and Al Horford had 15 points and 12 rebounds to help the Boston Celtics beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 96-83 last night and take a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference finals. The Celtics remained perfect in Boston this postseason with their 10th straight victory at home and moved within one win of their first trip to the NBA Finals since 2010. Game 6 is in Cleveland on Friday night, with the decisive seventh game back in Boston on Sunday if necessary. The home team has won every game so far in the series, and none has been closer than nine points. LeBron James had 16 points and 10 rebounds and Kevin Love scored 14 points for the Cavaliers, who are trying to reach the finals for the fourth consecutive season. James has played to the end in seven straight seasons. The Celtics opened a double-digit lead in the first quarter and nursed it the rest of the way, holding on through a four-minute scoring drought that saw Cleveland score nine straight points to cut the deficit to 83-71. But Terry Rozier hit Horford with an alley-oop to snap the skid, and that was as close as the Cavs would get. James seemed to tire in the fourth, scoring just two points on four shots. He finished 1-for-6 from 3-point range in the game; the Cavaliers made just 9 of 34 attempts from beyond the arc and shot just 42 percent overall. Tatum added seven rebounds, four assists and four steals one day after finishing one vote shy of a unanimous selection to the NBA’s All-Rookie team. Jaylen Brown scored 17, and Marcus Morris and Marcus Smart each scored 13 as reserves. Boston went on a 15-3 run
‘BACKYARD RUMBLE’
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16TH ANNUAL JUNKANOO JAM IN BIMINI EIGHT Division-I women’s college basketball teams will compete in the 16th annual Junkanoo Jam at Gateway Christian Academy in Bimini November 22-24. The tournament field will be split into two divisions of four teams, the Junkanoo and Bimini Divisions, and each division will crown a champion. Florida State, Iowa, Oklahoma, and Tennessee all return to the Bahamas as past Junkanoo Jam champions, with Oklahoma winning most recently in 2015. The Junkanoo Division features Clemson, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and UAB. The Clemson Tigers and Tennessee Lady Vols will tip off at 3pm November 22, followed by UAB and Oklahoma at 5:15pm. Losing teams will return to Gateway the following day to compete for third place with tipoff scheduled for 7:45pm. The Bimini Division will tip off November 23 and feature Eastern Kentucky, Florida State, Iowa, and West Virginia. Eastern Kentucky and Florida State will compete in the opening game at 3pm followed by West Virginia and Iowa at 5:15pm. Competition concludes November 24 with the third-place game at 4:15pm and the championship game at 6:45pm.
NEW DIVISION-I BASKETBALL TOURNAMENTS FOR MEN
BOSTON Celtics forward Jayson Tatum goes to the basket over Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James during the fourth quarter of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals last night. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa) in the first quarter to turn a three-point deficit into a nine-point lead. The Celtics scored nine in a row at the end of the first quarter and into the second to take a 36-19 lead, their biggest of the game. That’s when the Cavaliers fought back. After a hard defensive play by Morris sent Larry Nance Jr into the first row of seats, Morris appeared to wander over and say something that caused
Nance to jump up and body check him. Morris responded with a one-handed shove to the face. Aron Baynes and Brown came in to break it up, and Terry Rozier put a body on Nance. After a review, the referees called technicals on Rozier, Nance and Morris. Kyle Korver made the foul shot to make it 36-20 and Cleveland went on a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to eight points, 36-28.
But Morris made a long 3-pointer to stop the scoring drought, and soon hit another to cap an 8-2 run that made it a double-digit lead. TIP-INS Teams that win Game 5 to take a 3-2 lead in a bestof-seven series win 83 per cent of the time. James had 16 points, four rebounds and three assists at the half. Tatum had 13 points, and Horford had 10
points and seven boards at the break. Baynes made his first start of the series, subbing for Morris. It took until midway through the third quarter for a Cavs starter other than James or Love to make a basket. J.R. Smith sank a floater to make it 63-50, and George Hill followed with a jumper of his own. The Celtics were 10-0 in the playoffs at home in 1986.
BASKETBALL Travelers, Inc., in partnership with Resorts World Bimini, announced Tuesday the creation of two new Division-I men’s basketball tournaments – the Junkanoo Jam and the Bimini Jam. The inaugural men’s basketball tournaments tip off November 14 and run through November 20 at Gateway Christian Academy. Both tournaments are round robin format with champions determined by overall records. The opening game tips off at 6pm ET (3 pm PT), Thursday, November 15. The CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners and Central Michigan Chippewas will face off in the inaugural game, followed by San Jose State and Weber State at 8:30pm. Winners from the opening round games will return to Gateway to face off at 8:30pm November 16. Losers from the opening round games will have a one-day respite before tipping off at 6pm the following day. All four teams will return to action November 18 to conclude the tournament. For a complete bracket, visit junkanoojam. com. The inaugural Bimini Jam tips off November 16 at 3:30pm between Air Force and UMBC, followed by High Point and South Dakota at 6pm to conclude the opening round of the tournament. Winners from the opening round will return to action 8:30pm November 17. Losers will face off 3:30pm November 18. All four teams will conclude the inaugural tournament with games scheduled for 6pm and 8:30pm on November 19.