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2B Daily News – Friday, April 5, 2013 PAC-12 BASKETBALL LPGA Ed Rush resigns as Pac-12's head of officials Shadoff, Pettersen, Choi, share lead SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Ed Rush resigned Thursday as the Pac12 Conference's basketball coordinator of officials following comments during internal meetings before the league tournament that appeared to target Arizona coach Sean Miller. Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott said in a statement that ''I want to express my appreciation for the great contribution Ed made to basketball officiating for the Conference during his tenure, particularly in the area of training and the cultivation of new officiating talent.'' Scott told The Associated Press a day earlier that Rush's remarks were part of an overall ''point of emphasis'' to crack down on coach misconduct on the sideline before the Pac-12 tournament semifinal. In the course of that presentation, he said Rush made an ''inappropriate joke'' that included offers of $5,000 and a trip to Cancun if they called a technical foul on Miller. An investigation done by the Pac-12's head of enforcement, Ron Barker, found that every official interviewed confirmed ''nobody thought they were getting a reward,'' Scott said. The public perception of inappropriate behavior still proved to be too much. ''I would like to thank the Pac-12 for giving me the opportunity to lead a group of officials who are working so hard to make the Pac-12 the best officiated conference in college basketball,'' Rush said in a statement. ''My first and highest concerns have always been the integrity of the game of basketball and the honor of the craft of officiating. While I am proud of what we have accomplished, my decision to resign reflects my strong desire to see the Pac-12 officiating program continue to grow and thrive.'' Rush is a former NBA official who also served as the league's director of officiating. He had been a consultant to the Pac-12 since 2007 before becoming conference coordinator of officials last year. The conference's search for a new lead official will be part of its previously scheduled annual review at the end of the month in Phoenix. Officials whistled Miller for a technical foul during the semifinals of the Pac-12 tournament against UCLA for arguing a late doubledribble call against Wildcats guard Mark Lyons. Arizona lost the game 66-64. Miller went on a memorable postgame rant about the technical foul, waving his arms while repeating ''he touched the ball'' five times in a row. Miller was later hit with a $25,000 fine from the Pac-12 for what the conference said was confronting an official on the floor and acting inappropriately toward a staff member in the hallway. Scott had said Arizona officials alerted him to Rush's remarks the night of March 17, a day after the league tournament. He said he launched an investigation into the matter the next day, and he concluded that it was not a ''fireable offense,'' just a bad joke that has stained the Pac-12's official program. ''It had been a point of emphasis during the season, coach behavior on the sideline, for the language that's used, etc.,'' Scott told the AP. ''He was emphasizing it and he was challenging them. He was challenging them and provoking them to be more vigilant in enforcing the rules and the code of behavior. ''And in that context, there was banter initiated by Ed, 'What do I have to do to get you guys to enforce the rules? What do I got to do to get you to step up after appropriate warnings and appropriate warnings, to get you to issue a 'T' (technical)? And in that context we verified that, 'Cancun, $5,000, What do I got to do to get you to do it,' was said. None of the officials took it as we're going to actually get something if they T'd him up. He was making a point, and making a point very vociferously.'' COLLEGE BASKETBALL Rutgers faculty call for more firings in coach case NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. (AP) — The call from faculty members and politicians to oust top Rutgers University administrators grew louder Thursday, a day after men's basketball coach Mike Rice was fired for mistreating players, including shoving them and berating them with gay slurs. More than 50 faculty members signed a letter calling for the dismissal of Athletic Director Tim Pernetti and an explanation from President Robert Barchi for why he didn't fire Rice last year when he learned of a video showing Rice's behavior during practices. State Senate President Stephen Sweeney also called for Pernetti to step down or be fired. Pernetti deserves credit for getting Rutgers into the Big Ten conference but mishandled this situation, Sweeney said. ''This incident will continue to hang over Rutgers like a dark cloud for weeks, months and perhaps years to come,'' the Democratic lawmaker said in a statement. ''It seems pretty clear that things were not handled well from the start.'' Meanwhile, the number of faculty members calling for Barchi to step down more than doubled Thurs- day to 28. The letter calling for Barchi's resignation was first sent to the university's governing boards on Wednesday. In it, the faculty members cite Barchi's ''inexcusable handling of coach Mike Rice's homophobic and misogynist abuse'' of players, his ''continued pattern of insensitivity and arrogance toward issues of diversity'' and the ''secrecy and lack of transparency that he has exhibited in his relations'' with faculty, staff and students. It's unclear what effect the calls might have on the president or the athletic director. Neither was willing to be interviewed by The Associated Press. Barchi also skipped a town hall meeting at which he'd been scheduled to appear Thursday at Rutgers' Newark campus. Members of the university's two governing boards have been mum. Barchi, a neuroscience researcher before he became a university administrator, was hired a year ago and took office Sept. 1 to lead the university, which has 58,000 students and 13,000 full- and part-time faculty members on three campuses. He had been president of Thomas Jefferson Universi- ty, a Philadelphia health sciences university, and before that was an administrator at the University of Pennsylvania. He was brought to Rutgers as the university takes over two medical schools that now are part of the separate University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. The ongoing reconfiguration of the state's higher education system is intended to expand Rutgers' life-science research prowess, and Barchi was chosen largely to oversee that. He had never been an administrator, though, at a school with athletic scholarships. Over the past decade, Rutgers' athletic program has grown increasingly ambitious and expensive, largely as the university's football team transformed from an also-ran to a power in the Big East conference. The school's teams are set next year to join the more prestigious Big Ten, a move engineered largely by Pernetti, a former TV sports executive. Shortly after Barchi took office, he told reporters that high-profile sports teams are an important way to increase the university's visibility but that he wanted to gradually ZITO before the 2007 season. He has plenty of incentive to put up another similar season. The 2002 AL Cy Young Award winner with the A's has an $18 million option for 2014 with a $7 million buyout on the contract he signed before the 2007 season, but his option becomes guaranteed if he throws 200 innings this year. He hopes to build on a strong spring. ''He's been right on, really since Game 1,'' manager Bruce Bochy said. Cain, and the rest of the roster for that matter, is eager to see how this team performs with a full season together. Second baseman Marco Scutaro and right fielder Hunter Pence were midseason acquisitions who made huge contributions. two on with two outs when Griffin escaped by striking out Robert Andino. Griffin allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings to improve to 3-0 in his brief career against Seattle. went into labor and will not travel with the team to Houston. ... The A's head to Houston to play their first AL series ever against the Astros when Dan Straily takes on Brad Peacock, who was sent to Houston by Oakland this offseason in the deal for Lowrie. ... The Mariners open a three-game series in Chicago on Friday with Blake Beavan taking on Jose Quintana. (Continued from page 1B) for a repeat. ''I think it could be a bad thing to take a false sense of security into the season based on what we've done in the past,'' Zito said. Zito, who turns 35 next month, went 15-8 with a 4.15 ERA in 32 starts and 184 1-3 innings before his impressive playoffs. The wins were his most since crossing the bay from Oakland to join the Giants A'S (Continued from page 1B) by Kelly Shoppach and a sacrifice bunt by Robert Andino, Michael Saunders drove in Seattle's first run with a sacrifice fly. Griffin stranded two runners in the fifth when he got Raul Ibanez to pop out. The Mariners added another run in the sixth on Morse's homer and had NOTES: Lowrie doubled twice and has five extra-base hits the past two games. ... Oakland 1B Brandon Moss left the game early when his wife ''It's nice to have pretty much everybody back,'' Cain said. ''I think we're excited about that because we know who's going out there and we know what's going to happen. We know what guys are doing. That's confidence.'' reduce the university's operating subsidy for sports, currently about $8 million per year, while continuing to pay for scholarships for athletes at a cost of about $10 million annually. Barchi said in a statement Wednesday that Pernetti told him last year about the video of Rice made by a former basketball program employee, but he said he did not watch the video until Tuesday, the day it was made public. A university spokesman declined to comment on why Barchi didn't watch the video last year. In December, after the university consulted lawyers and commissioned an independent report on Rice's actions, Barchi said he agreed to suspend the coach for three games, fine him and order him to anger management counseling. RANCHO MIRAGE (AP) — Suzann Pettersen and Na Yeon Choi pushed each other to the top of the leaderboard in perfect morning conditions in the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Jodi Ewart Shadoff matched them late Thursday afternoon with a scrambling par on the par-5 18th after her drive went to the right and found the deep rough behind a tall tree. ''There were two options,'' said Ewart Shadoff, the 25-year-old Englishwoman in her second full year on the LPGA Tour. ''Punch fade it around the tree, left, or punch it right around the tree and keep it over the bunker at the same time. I took the safer route and it paid off.'' It left her with a 187yard shot into the wind to the water-guarded green. While most players hit wedges on their third shots on the hole, she had to use a 3-wood. ''The wind picked up,'' she said. Her shot settled on the back right of the green, and the newlywed lagged her 30-footer to tap-in range to tie Pettersen and Choi at 4under 68 at Mission Hills. ''I've been playing really consistently the last three or four tournaments, so I knew, my game is right there and I knew I was due to have a really good round,'' Ewart Shadoff said. Playing in the last group of the day off first tee, the former New Mexico State player made four straight birdies — the last with a 20foot putt on the par-3 14th — to take the lead at 5 under, but missed a 4-foot par putt on the par-4 16th to drop back. ''I played really consistently and got on a birdie train in the middle of my round,'' Ewart Shadoff said. ''I was hitting a lot of greens and making a lot of putts.'' Pettersen and Choi made it look easy in the morning, finishing well before the wind picked up and temperature climbed into the low 90s in the Coachella Valley. ''The course is perfect,'' Pettersen said. ''Greens are rolling pure. If you miss the fairways, you can be in a bit NHL NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE GP W Anaheim 37 25 San Jose 36 19 Los Angeles36 20 Phoenix 36 15 Dallas 36 16 Northwest GP W Minnesota 36 21 Vancouver 36 19 Edmonton 36 16 Calgary 35 13 Colorado 36 12 Central GP W Chicago 36 27 Detroit 36 18 St. Louis 35 19 Columbus 37 16 Nashville 38 15 WESTERN CONFERENCE Pacific Pacific L OT Pts GF GA 7 5 55 116 92 11 6 44 92 88 13 3 43 104 91 15 6 36 97 102 17 3 35 96 112 L OT Pts 13 2 44 11 6 44 13 7 39 18 4 30 20 4 28 GF GA 100 94 94 93 99 98 96 126 87 114 L OT Pts GF GA 5 4 58 122 80 13 5 41 94 94 14 2 40 102 97 14 7 39 90 98 15 8 38 93 103 EASTERN CONFERENCE x-L.A. Clippers WARRIORS L.A. Lakers KINGS Phoenix Southwest x-San Antonio x-Memphis Houston Dallas New Orleans Northwest x-Thunder x-Denver Utah Portland Minnesota L 26 32 36 48 52 Pct GB .658 — .573 6.5 .520 10.5 .360 22.5 .307 26.5 W 56 51 42 36 26 L 20 24 33 39 49 Pct GB .737 — .680 4.5 .560 13.5 .480 19.5 .347 29.5 W 55 52 39 33 28 L 20 24 37 42 46 Pct GB .733 — .684 3.5 .513 16.5 .440 22 .378 26.5 EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Atlantic GP W L OT Pts GF GA Pittsburgh 38 28 10 0 56 125 94 Islanders 38 18 16 4 40 109 117 Rangers 36 18 15 3 39 88 87 New Jersey 37 15 13 9 39 89 101 Philadelphia37 17 17 3 37 105 114 Northeast GP W L OT Pts GF GA Montreal 37 24 8 5 53 118 90 Boston 36 24 8 4 52 101 77 Ottawa 36 19 11 6 44 91 79 Toronto 37 20 13 4 44 115 105 Buffalo 37 14 17 6 34 98 114 Southeast GP W L OT Pts GF GA Washington 37 18 17 2 38 109 105 Winnipeg 39 18 19 2 38 94 119 Carolina 36 16 18 2 34 96 111 Tampa Bay 36 16 18 2 34 117 106 Florida 37 12 19 6 30 91 127 —————————————————— Thursday's results Washington 2, N.Y. Islanders 1, SO St. Louis 4, Chicago 3, SO Boston 1, New Jersey 0 Philadelphia 5, Toronto 3 Tampa Bay 5, Carolina 0 Montreal 4, Winnipeg 1 Columbus 3, Nashville 1 Detroit at Phoenix, late Edmonton at Vancouver, late Minnesota at Los Angeles, late Friday's Games Ottawa at Buffalo, 4 p.m. N.Y. Rangers at Pittsburgh, 4 p.m. Columbus at St. Louis, 5 p.m. Detroit at Colorado, 6 p.m. Dallas at Anaheim, 7 p.m. Calgary at San Jose, 7:30 p.m. W 50 43 39 27 23 x-New York x-Brooklyn x-Boston Philadelphia Toronto Central x-Indiana x-Chicago Milwaukee Detroit Cleveland Southeast z-Miami x-Atlanta Washington Orlando Charlotte W 48 43 39 30 28 L 26 32 36 44 47 Pct GB .649 — .573 5.5 .520 9.5 .405 18 .373 20.5 W 48 41 36 25 22 L 27 33 38 51 52 Pct GB .640 — .554 6.5 .486 11.5 .329 23.5 .297 25.5 W 58 42 28 19 18 L 16 34 47 57 57 Pct GB .784 — .553 17 .373 30.5 .250 40 .240 40.5 x-clinched playoff spot z-clinched conference —————————————————— Thursday's results Chicago 92, Brooklyn 90 Denver 95, Dallas 94 San Antonio at Oklahoma City, 9:30 p.m. Today's games Cleveland at Boston, 4:30 p.m. Milwaukee at New York, 4:30 p.m. Philadelphia at Atlanta, 4:30 p.m. Orlando at Chicago, 5 p.m. Toronto at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Miami at Charlotte, 5 p.m. Oklahoma City at Indiana, 5 p.m. New Orleans at Utah, 6 p.m. Golden State at Phoenix, 7 p.m. Dallas at Sacramento, 7 p.m. Memphis at L.A. Lakers, 7:30 p.m. Houston at Portland, 7:30 p.m. of trouble. The rough is deep. I missed one or two.'' Pettersen birdied the final three holes on her front nine and got to 4 under with a birdie on the par-4 seventh, her 16th hole. The Norwegian, a 10-time LPGA Tour winner ranked eighth in the world, had consecutive victories late last season in South Korea and Taiwan and won a European tour event last month in China. ''Today was everything I could ask for in the opening round,'' Pettersen said. ''Just feeling really good all week, and it's just about kind of trusting what you have, and I couldn't ask for a better start.'' The third-ranked Choi fed off the pairing with Pettersen. ''I think I played well because she played well, too,'' said Choi, the South Korean player who won the U.S. Women's Open and the Titleholders last year. ''We motivated each other.'' Choi made a 30-foot birdie putt on the 14, matched Pettersen's birdies on Nos. 16 and 17 and grabbed a share of the lead with a 12-foot birdie putt on the par-5 ninth. ''She's a strong competitor, but I tried to chase her until the last hole,'' Choi said. Anna Nordqvist and Amy Yang were a stroke back at 69. Nordqvist is trying to regain the form she showed as a rookie in 2009 when she won the LPGA Championship and LPGA Tour Championship. MLB AMERICAN LEAGUE East Baltimore Boston New York Tampa Bay Toronto Central Chicago Cleveland Minnesota Detroit Kansas City West Texas A's Seattle Houston Angels W 2 2 1 1 1 L 1 1 2 2 2 Pct .667 .667 .333 .333 .333 GB — — 1 1 1 W 2 2 2 1 1 L 1 1 1 2 2 Pct .667 .667 .667 .333 .333 GB — — — 1 1 W 2 2 2 1 1 L 1 2 2 2 2 Pct .667 .500 .500 .333 .333 GB — .5 .5 1 1 NATIONAL LEAGUE East Washington Atlanta New York Philadelphia Miami Central Chicago Cincinnati Milwaukee Pittsburgh St. Louis West W 3 2 2 1 0 L 0 1 1 2 3 Pct GB 1.000 — .667 1 .667 1 .333 2 .000 3 W 2 2 1 1 1 L 1 1 2 2 2 Pct .667 .667 .333 .333 .333 GB — — 1 1 1 W L Pct GB Arizona 2 1 .667 — Colorado 2 1 .667 — GIANTS 2 1 .667 — Dodgers 1 2 .333 1 San Diego 1 2 .333 1 —————————————————— Thursday's results Chicago Cubs 3, Pittsburgh 2 Cincinnati 5, L.A. Angels 4 San Diego 2, N.Y. Mets 1 Washington 6, Miami 1 Philadelphia 2, Atlanta 0 Cincinnati 5, L.A. Angels 4 Minnesota 8, Detroit 2 Kansas City 3, Chicago White Sox 1 Baltimore 6, Tampa Bay 3 Oakland 8, Seattle 2 N.Y. Yankees 4, Boston 2 Toronto 10, Cleveland 8 Today's games AL N.Y. Yankees (Nova 0-0) at Detroit (Fister 0-0), 10:08 a.m. L.A. Angels (Vargas 0-0) at Texas (Holland 0-0), 11:05 a.m. Minnesota (Hendriks 0-0) at Baltimore (Arrieta 0-0), 12:05 p.m. Kansas City (W.Davis 0-0) at Philadelphia (Kendrick 0-0), 1:05 p.m. Boston (Doubront 0-0) at Toronto (J.Johnson 0-0), 4:07 p.m. Cleveland (McAllister 0-0) at Tampa Bay (Moore 0-0), 4:10 p.m. Oakland (Straily 0-0) at Houston (Peacock 0-0), 5:10 p.m. Seattle (Beavan 0-0) at Chicago White Sox (Quintana 0-0), 5:10 p.m. NL Kansas City (W.Davis 0-0) at Philadelphia (Kendrick 0-0), 1:05 p.m. San Diego (Marquis 0-0) at Colorado (Francis 0-0), 1:10 p.m. St. Louis (Westbrook 0-0) at San Francisco (Zito 0-0), 1:35 p.m. Miami (Sanabia 0-0) at N.Y. Mets (Hefner 0-0), 4:10 p.m. Washington (Haren 0-0) at Cincinnati (Bailey 0-0), 4:10 p.m. Chicago Cubs (Feldman 0-0) at Atlanta (Minor 0-0), 4:30 p.m. Arizona (Miley 0-0) at Milwaukee (Lohse 0-0), 5:10 p.m. Pittsburgh (J.Sanchez 0-0) at L.A. Dodgers (Greinke 0-0), 7:10 p.m.