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1B Sports Wednesday December 18, 2013 Red Bluff Holiday Classic tips off DN Staff Report Red Bluff High School is set to host its annual Holiday Classic Basketball Tournament, which invites teams in state and out a chance of claiming an early present. The hoops festivities start today with the varsity basketball girls. The Corning Lady Cardinals (5-1) are scheduled to face West Valley (2-4) at 4 p.m. The Paradise Bobcats (5-2) will go against the Enterprise Hornets (3-0), who won the tournament last year, at 5:30 p.m. The host Red Bluff Lady Spartans (4-2) will take on Central Valley (2-3) at 7 p.m, and Ferndale High School will face Shasta (4-2) at 8:30 p.m. Red Bluff fell in the title game last year. Wednesday's winners will play at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Friday. Losers will go to the consolation bracket, and play at 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Thursday. The girls seventh-place game is set for 9 a.m. Saturday, followed by the fifth-place game at noon, the third place game at 3 p.m. and the title game at 6 p.m. The boys start play on Thursday, starting with a game between Oregon's Lake Oswego Lakers (3-0) and Paradise (1-4) at 4 p.m. The Lakers will attempt to defend their 2012 title. The Franklin Wildcats (5-2) out of Elk Grove will face Enterprise (3-3) at 5:30 p.m. Red Bluff (5-2) will take on South Medford (3-0) at 7 p.m., and Merced's Golden Valley Cougars (8-0) take on the Pleasant Valley Vikings (4-4) at 8:30 p.m. The varsity boys winners will play Friday at 5:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Losers will play at 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. The seventh-place game is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Saturday. The fifth-place game will be at 1:30 p.m., followed by the third-place game at 4:30 p.m. The boys title game will cap the tournament at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. Walker leads Bobcats past Kings, 95-87 CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Kemba Walker and the Charlotte Bobcats got off to a fast start, and the Sacramento Kings were never quite able to catch up. Walker scored 24 points and the Bobcats used a big first quarter to beat the Kings 95-87 on Tuesday night, snapping a three-game losing streak. Gerald Henderson added 20 points and reserve Ramon Sessions scored 16 for the Bobcats, who went 8 for 17 from 3-point range. Walker also had five assists in his 10th game with at least 20 points. ''I've been working hard since this summer,'' Walker said. ''I've put in a lot of time. I started off slow shooting the basketball (this season), but hopefully now I can hit a groove. I've been feeling great and I've been shooting a lot.'' Henderson says when the Bobcats start hitting 3-pointers, the defense is in for a long night. ''It makes us tough to guard,'' he said. ''You have to come out there and guard the 3-point line with guys that can get to the basket, so it's a tough thing. If we're knocking down the 3-ball that opens up a lot for us.'' DeMarcus Cousins had 30 points and 17 rebounds for Sacramento, which shot 37.5 percent from the field. The Kings have dropped three of four. ''We came out slow,'' Cousins said. ''The effort wasn't there. It was a terrible start. That start really put us behind and we were digging ourselves out of a hole the rest of the game.'' Kings forward Rudy Gay scored four points on 1-of-6 shooting in his worst game since he was acquired in a sevenplayer trade with Toronto on Dec. 9. He departed with 5:23 left in the third quarter due to right knee stiffness. ''He was complaining at halftime about his knee, I believe,'' coach Mike Malone said. ''He wanted to go out and give it a shot in the third quarter. He gave us some minutes and wasn't moving real well out there so we decided to shut him down.'' Gay had 24 points in his first game with Sacramento, and then scored 26 to help the Kings beat Houston 106-91 on Sunday. The Bobcats jumped on the Kings right from the start. Ben Gordon made a 3-pointer and Sessions had a layup to make it 35-22 after one. ''Everyone says that the NBA is a fourth-quarter league,'' Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said. ''Statistically it's a firstquarter league. Our readiness, out of the gate, was good. We were able to play from ahead and having that cushion early was the difference.'' Charlotte carried the 13-point lead into halftime, but the Kings rallied in the third. Cousins and Ben McLemore each made two foul shots down the stretch to help Sacramento close to 78-72 heading to the fourth. The Bobcats were clinging to a two-point lead when Josh McRoberts had a hook shot, Sessions made a layup and Al Jefferson scored to make it 86-78 Charlotte with 6:36 left. ''Tonight I think we did a better job of finishing the game,'' Henderson said. ''Against some of the really, really good teams in the league, we have struggled with that. I think we're getting better at it.'' While Charlotte found success in finishing, Sacramento struggled to recover from the bad start. ''I don't know what it was,'' Kings point guard Isaiah Thomas said. ''They were scoring and getting whatever they wanted. We didn't play good defense and that's what got us in that hole.'' Jefferson finished with 10 points and nine rebounds as Charlotte snapped a four-game losing streak against Sacramento. It was the Bobcats' first win over the Kings since Feb. 25, 2011. Thomas had 21 points on 8-for-23 shooting. Cousins was 9 for 13 from the field and 12 for 15 at the line in his sixth double-double in his last seven games. NOTES: Walker went 4 for 8 from 3-point range. ... Each team had 42 rebounds. Tehama Tracker Today's schedule GIRLS BASKETBALL Corning at Red Bluff Holiday Classic Red Bluff at Red Bluff Holiday Classic BOYS SOCCER Red Bluff at Foothill, 4:30 p.m. Corning at Live Oak, 3:15 p.m. GIRLS SOCCER Foothill at Red Bluff, 6 p.m. Corning at Live Oak, 3:15 p.m. WRESTLING Red Bluff at Corning, 6 p.m. NBA BASKETBALL Sacramento at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m. Sports on TV MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 4 p.m. ESPN2 — Texas at North Carolina 5 p.m. FS1 — USF at St. John's 6 p.m. ESPN2 — Stanford at UConn (Hartford, Conn.) 6:30 p.m. FSN — Northwestern St. at Baylor NBA BASKETBALL 4 p.m. ESPN — Indiana at Miami 6:30 p.m. ESPN — Chicago at Houston NHL HOCKEY 5 p.m. NBCSN — Pittsburgh at N.Y. Rangers SOCCER 11:30 a.m. FS1 — FIFA, Club World Cup, semifinal, team TBD vs. Atletico Mineiro, at Marrakech, Morocco WOMEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL 4 p.m. FSN — Mississippi at Baylor AP photo San Jose Sharks' Andrew Desjardins, front, and St. Louis Blues' Kevin Shattenkirk chase after a loose puck during the third period of an NHL hockey game Tuesday in St. Louis. Sharks beat Blues 4-2 to sweep season series ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joe Pavelski scored the first of three straight goals by San Jose, and Antti Niemi stopped 20 shots to lead the Sharks to a 4-2 win over the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday night. San Jose completed a season sweep of the Blues, winning all three games by a combined 16-7. St. Louis has lost two in a row after winning eight of 11. Matt Irwin, Brent Burns and Marty Havlat added goals for the Sharks, who led 3-0 after 22 minutes. Niemi improved to 18-6-6. Kevin Shattenkirk and Jay Bouwmeester scored secondperiod goals for the Blues. The Sharks jumped to a 2-0 first-period lead on goals by Pavelski and Irwin in a span of 2:56. Both came from close range on rebounds of missed shots that caromed off the end boards. Pavelski scored his 13th after a miss by Havlat, and Irwin jumped on a misfire from Justin Braun for his first of the season. St. Louis goalie Jaroslav Halak gave up three goals on the first 12 shots he faced and fell to 16-6-2. The Blues climbed to 3-2 on Bouwmeester's goal with 24.2 seconds left in the second period. Havlat pounced on a rebound with 11:41 left in the game to make it 4-2. San Jose won the earlier meetings 6-2 and 6-3. NOTES: San Jose has outscored its opponents 44-15 in the first period this season. .... Blues coach Ken Hitchcock celebrated his 62nd birthday. ... St. Louis C David Backes missed his first game since Jan. 25, 2010, a string of 274 successive regular-season appearances. He sustained an upper-body injury in a collision with Ottawa C Colin Greening on Monday. Backes, who has 16 goals and 14 assists in 32 games, is expected to be out at least a week. ... The Blues were also without LWs Jaden Schwartz and Vladimir Sobotka, who missed the game with upper-body injuries. Backes, Schwartz and Sobotka have combined for 29 goals and 38 assists. ... The Sharks are 0 for 16 on the power play over their last seven road games. Morse, Giants finalize $6 million, 1-year deal SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Manager Bruce Bochy went to his bosses and asked them to pursue Michael Morse. Meanwhile, the outfielder's agent came to him with San Francisco's interest and how it would be a great fit. Morse sure thought so, too. And given his willingness to play on a oneyear deal and perhaps try free agency again after next season, it worked out well for both sides. The 31-year-old finalized his $6 million, one-year contract with the Giants after passing his physical Tuesday. ''This is a winning organization,'' Morse said. ''As a player your one goal is to win and win a World Series. Not only have the Giants won, they've won two in the last couple years. What other team would a guy want to play for, especially with Boch as the manager?'' Morse will head to spring training in February expected to become a power bat in the middle of the lineup and the team's starting left fielder. That's a spot general manager Brian Sabean and assistant GM Bobby Evans looked to upgrade after his club missed the playoffs one season after winning a second World Series in three years. ''In left field, this is a guy I really wanted. I told Brian that, and Bobby, 'Gosh, if we can get this guy, I know he's coming off some injuries, if he's healthy he's a presence in the lineup, power, which is what we need,''' Bochy said. ''A guy who's going to fit on this club very nicely.'' Morse can earn an additional $3 million in performance bonuses. He can play several positions and will give Bochy some flexibility in writing his lineup. Gregor Blanco, a regular last season, is set to move into a fourth outfielder role. ''We had a big need out in left field and we were looking for a right-handed bat and hopefully a power run-producing bat,'' Bochy said. ''I don't think we could have found a better fit for our club. He's somebody I really wanted and I know we did.'' Morse was traded from Seattle to Baltimore on Aug. 30. He missed time this year with a troublesome wrist, a broken right pinkie and strained right quadriceps before returning from the disabled list in late July. The nine-year veteran batted .215 with 13 home runs and 27 RBIs in 88 games this year. Now, he is eager to return to his top form from 2011, when Morse hit .303 with 31 homers and 95 RBIs for the Nationals. ''I think the 2011 season is something I can do,'' he said. ''That's my big goal, to stay on the field. I know if I stay on the field everything else will fall into place.'' Morse's agents, Sam and Seth Levinson, reached agreement on his deal last Thursday at the end of the winter meetings in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. He will be part of an outfield featuring Angel Pagan in center field and Hunter Pence in right. Pagan received a $40 million, four-year contract last December, while Pence was rewarded with a $90 million, five-year contract before the season ended. He played every game this year. San Francisco already has had a productive offseason. The Giants missed the playoffs one year after winning their second World Series championship in three years, and Sabean worked to keep his pitching staff intact. ''As everybody knows this offseason has been a hectic one,'' Sabean said. ''Our mission going into the winter meetings was to hopefully rectify our left field situation. I think we were very fortunate not only timing wise but we get a chance to sign Michael. He has experience in that position and brings power and production to a lineup that sorely needs it. From the standpoint of having a wish list and checking off boxes, this was a big opportunity for us we obviously couldn't pass.'' Right-hander Ryan Vogelsong finalized a $5 million, one-year contract Dec. 4 to re-join a rotation featuring newcomer Tim Hudson, signed to a $23 million, two-year contract Nov. 19. Two-time NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum re-signed in late October for $35 million over two years, while lefty Madison Bumgarner and right-hander Matt Cain are already pitching on long-term contracts. The Giants also re-signed left-handed reliever Javier Lopez to a $13 million, three-year contract last month. Right fielder Hunter Pence resigned before the season ended. ''It's more than I thought would happen for us as far as getting these guys done,'' Bochy said. ''I can't say enough about the great job they've done in keeping our club not just intact, but I think we're a better club in our depth.''