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Friday Baseball — Corning, Red Bluff at Las Plumas Tournament Baseball — Los Molinos at Biggs Tournament Softball — Corning at Yreka Tournament Softball — Red Bluff at Lassen Tournament Track — Red Bluff at Northstate Relays Sports 1B Friday March 18, 2011 Madness begins 13 Morehead State 62 4 Louisville 61 DENVER (AP) — Demonte Harp- er made a 3-pointer from the top of the circle with 4.2 seconds left Thursday to lead 13th-seeded Morehead State to the first upset of the NCAA tourna- ment, a 62-61 victory over No. 4 Louisville in the Southwest regional. After Harper’s go-ahead basket, the Cardinals had a chance to win it, but Morehead’s Kenneth Faried blocked Mike Marra’s attempt before the buzzer and Louisville was gone after its first game for the second straight year. Terrance Hill scored a career-high 23 points for the Eagles (25-9). Faried finished with 12 points and 17 rebounds for Morehead State, which won its first NCAA game since 1984. Chris Smith had 17 points for Louisville (25-10). 12 Richmond 69 5 Vanderbilt 66 DENVER (AP) — Kevin Ander- son scored 16 of his 25 points in the second half, including a floater with 18.7 seconds remaining that helped seal 12th-seeded Richmond’s win. The Spiders (28-7) sprang the sec- ond upset of the day at Pepsi Center. Fifth-seeded Vanderbilt had a chance to tie the game with 2.5 seconds left, but Rod Odom’s desperation heave was nowhere near the hoop as time expired. So much for the Com- modores (23-11) vanquishing their tournament demons. They have now stumbled in their last three appearances in the NCAAs. 11 Gonzaga 86 6 St. John’s 71 MCT photo DENVER (AP) — Marquise Carter scored a career-high 24 points, lifting 11th-seeded Gonzaga to an 86-71 vic- tory over sixth-seeded St. John’s on Thursday night to cap a stellar day for the underdogs at the Pepsi Center in the NCAA tournament. These days, Gon- zaga can hardly be considered an underdog, especially with its rich histo- ry of tournament upsets. The Bulldogs used their size and strength to muscle around the Red Storm (21-12), who were back in the tournament for the first time since 2002. Gonzaga outre- bounded St. John’s by a 43-20 margin. 15 Northern Colorado 50 2 San Diego State 68 TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Kawhi Leonard had 21 points and 10 rebounds, and second-seeded San Diego State survived Devon Beitzel’s scoring burst to earn its first NCAA tournament win. The Aztecs (33-2) had their hands full with the Bears of the Big Sky early. San Diego State pulled away behind its defense in the second half, holding Northern Colorado (21-11) scoreless for nearly 7 minutes. Beitzel scored eight of his 25 points during a flurry to start the second half, but it wasn’t enough for the 15th-seeded Bears in their first NCAA tournament. 10 Michigan State 76 7 UCLA 78 TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Tyler Honey- cutt and Malcolm Lee scored 16 points apiece and seventh-seeded UCLA held off a late comeback by No. 10 seed Michigan State to win 78-76 victory in the second round of the NCAA tourna- ment on Thursday night. The Bruins (23-10) won despite missing 17 free throws, nine of them in the final 3:40 while the Spartans were making a barrage of 3-pointers to get back into the game. UCLA led 42-24 at the half and by as many as 23 in the second half before nearly letting the game slip away against a team hoping to make an improbable run in the tournament to a third consecutive Final Four. 15 UCSanta Barbara 51 2 Florida 79 TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Erving Walker scored 18 points, Chandler Par- sons flirted with his first triple-double and Florida coasted to victory over 15th-seeded UC Santa Barbara. Parsons, the Southeastern Confer- ence’s player of the year, finished with 10 points, seven rebounds and a career- high 10 assists. Florida (27-7) made 11 of its first 15 shots, opened up a dou- ble-digit lead and kept piling on the rest of the way. Orlando Johnson led the Gauchos (18-14) with 21 points. Butler’s Matt Howard tips in the winning shot,Thursday. 13 Princeton 57 4 Kentucky 59 TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Freshman Brandon Knight, held scoreless for more than 39 minutes, made a driving layup with 2 seconds remaining to lift No. 4 seed Kentucky over 13th-seeded Princeton. Knight missed his first seven shots and even found himself on the bench in the closing minute. Kentucky will face West Virginia in the East regional. Upperclassmen car- ried the Wildcats (26-8) most of the way. Darius Miller scored 17 points, and lone senior Josh Harrellson added 15 points and 10 rebounds. Dan Mavraides led Princeton (25-7) with 14 points. 9 Old Dominion 58 8 Butler 60 WASHINGTON (AP) — Matt Howard scored on a tip-in at the buzzer, giving eighth-seeded Butler a victory in the Southeast regional. After Shawn Vanzant missed, Howard went up with his right hand and put the ball in an instant before time expired. A year ago, Butler’s magical run to the NCAA championship game ended with a narrow miss at the buzzer against Duke. In this game, the Bull- dogs got the bounce they needed. Howard and Shelvin Mack each scored 15 points for Butler. Frank Hassell led Old Dominion (27-7) with 20 points. 7 Temple 66 10 Penn State 64 TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Juan Fer- nandez sank an off-balance 18-footer with under a second to play to end coach Fran Dunphy’s NCAA tourna- ment record 11-game losing streak. Fernandez, double-teamed as time was running out, got off a shot off his right foot while fading to his left just inside the 3-point line. Talor Battle’s 3-pointer from far behind the arc for Penn State tied it at 64-64 with 12.2 seconds to go. Fernan- dez and Ramone Moore scored 23 points each for the seventh-seeded Owls (26-7). Battle scored 23 for the 10th-seeded Nittany Lions (19-15). 11 Missouri 63 6 Cincinnati 78 WASHINGTON (AP) — Yancy Gates had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Cincinnati made a successful return to the NCAA tournament Thurs- day night with a 78-63 win over Mis- souri. The sixth-seeded Bearcats used their stalwart defense to hold the run- all-the-time Tigers to 29 percent shoot- ing in the first half and 38 percent for the game. Missouri went some 11 min- utes without scoring a field goal to fall behind by 15 early in the second half and finished well below their average of 81.4 points per game. 12 Utah State 68 5 Kansas State 73 TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Jacob Pullen scored 22 points and hit some big free throws down the stretch, help- ing Kansas State hold off Utah State 73-68 in the second round of the NCAA tournament Thursday night, the Aggies’ seventh straight opening loss. Pullen didn’t show affects from the flu that kept him out of practice. 12 Clemson 76 5 West Virginia 84 TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Darryl Bryant scored 19 points and Kevin Jones added 17 to help fifth-seeded West Virginia overcome a slow start and wear down No. 12 Clemson. The Mountaineers (21-11) took advantage of a fatigued opponent playing its sec- ond game in just over 36 hours. 13 Belmont 58 4 Wisconsin 72 TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Jon Leuer scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half and Wisconsin methodically dis- patched Belmont in the Badgers’ fifth consecutive NCAA tournament-open- ing victory. Jordan Taylor added 21 for the fourth-seeded Badgers (24-8). 14 Wofford 66 3 Brigham Young 74 DENVER (AP) — Jimmer Fredette scored 32 points to lift third-seeded Brigham Young over No. 14 Wofford. Hounded, double teamed and trapped by Wofford defenders much of the night, the nation’s leading scorer still got off 25 shots and made 12 trips to the free-throw line. 14 Bucknell 52 3 Connecticut 81 WASHINGTON (AP) — Kemba Walker had 18 points, a career-high 12 assists and eight rebounds, and No. 3 seed Connecticut earned coach Jim Calhoun his 850th career victory. 16 UNCAsheville 51 1 Pittsburgh 74 WASHINGTON (AP) — Ashton Gibbs scored 20 of his 26 points after halftime, and bigger, stronger Pitts- burgh kept the No. 1s perfect against the No. 16s in the NCAA tournament. Tehama Tracker BASEBALL Las Plumas-Oroville Tournament The Spartans split its opening round games at the Las Plumas-Oroville Tournament, Thursday. Red Bluff received strong starting pitching from Zane Medeiros and knocked off Willows 6-1 in the opener. Medeiros went six-and two-thirds innings and struck out five batters. Taylor Figgs went 3-for-4 from the plate with an RBI. Modesto Ramirez drove in a run during a two-hit perfor- mance and Storm Lewis singled and doubled. Joel Duggins struck out the last batter for Red Bluff. The Spartans fell in extra innings against Shasta 6-4. Figgs continued his hot day at the plate with a 2-for-3 game with an RBI. Tyler Reed knocked in a run and went 2-for-3 and Gerald Baker went 2-for-4. The Spartans continue the tournament on Saturday. FOOTBALL 34th Annual Lions All-Star Game Four Tehama County athletes have been named to the 34th Annual Lions All-Star Game. Red Bluff’s Ian Hill, Corning’s Tyler McIntyre and Cameron Nye will join Kevin Garnica of Los Molinos on the North Team roster. The exhibition game is scheduled for July 30 at Harrison Stadium in Oroville. Casey takes the early lead in Tampa Transistions Championship PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) — Paul Casey changed his schedule leading up the Masters, and it’s starting to look like a good move. Once the fog lifted, Casey played bogey-free on the tough Copperhead course at Innisbrook on Thursday for a 7-under 64 that gave him a two-shot lead after one round of the Transitions Championship. ‘‘The state of my game is going in the right direction,’’ Casey said. Casey made back-to-back birdies late in his round to surge past Nick Watney, who is coming off the biggest win of his career in the World Golf Championship at Doral. Wat- ney had seven birdies in 12 holes before missing a few greens toward the end of his round and settling for a 66. Gar- rett Willis, Martin Laird and Scott Stallings each had a 66 in the afternoon. John Senden would have joined them except for his second hole of the day. The Australian opened with a birdie and was in position for another on the par-5 11th. But at the top of his swing with a 3-wood from the light rough, he noticed the ball move and couldn’t keep from hitting it. Once he hit his third to the green, he mentioned the slight movement to his caddie and called a rules official. Senden called the one-shot penalty on himself and ended up with a 67. ‘‘I felt like I needed to talk about it because it was bug- ging me, you know what I mean? And you have to do the right thing with this game of golf, right?’’ he said. Defending champion Jim Furyk led a large group at 67 that included Honda Classic winner Rory Sabbatini and Justin Leonard, who believes he is close to ending a two-year victory drought. ‘‘It’s one of the better rounds I’ve played in a while,’’ Furyk said. For Sergio Garcia, it was his first PGA Tour round in seven months, and he had few complaints. Garcia played bogey-free — that’s right, it’s been since August when he last made a bogey in America — and opened with a 68, as did 17-year-old Matteo Manassero. Ryo Ishikawa, the 19- year-old from Japan, opened with a 71. Because of a 70-minute fog delay at the start of the day, three players failed to finish the first round. The conditions could not have been much better — plenty of sunshine, min- imal wind and true greens. The Copperhead course at Innis- brook is among the strongest on the Florida swing, and the tournament has been attracting strong fields. The gallery was as large as it has been in years. Most of them followed a featured group of Watney, Bubba Watson, and PGA champion Martin Kaymer, the No. 1 player in the world making his debut at Innisbrook. ‘‘It’s a fantastic golf course, one of the best I’ve played in America, to be honest,’’ Kaymer said after a 68. ‘‘It’s very difficult. You have to hit a lot of good tee shots.’’ Casey made it look easy at times. He putted for birdie on all but three holes and took only 28 putts in a clean round, which he described as his best ball- striking round of the year. That would include the Volvo Champions in Bahrain, which he won earlier in the year. Casey wasn’t planning on being at Innisbrook. He won the Houston Open two years ago, but decided to take a few weeks off before the Masters this year. ‘‘If you look at my history in terms of how I’ve played ... I’ve always struggled after victories,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t know why — fatigue, whatever it is. But I’ve performed poorly. So we want to go back to being nice and fresh before the majors.’’ Watson had a 70 with a new look — dark sunglasses. He had to withdraw from Doral last week because of a bad sinus infection that caused his eyes to water so much he couldn’t see. Watson blames it on pollen, and say he gets it every year he comes to Florida. ‘‘I got into Doral this year, so it started a week early,’’ he said. He wore the sunglasses to help keep the pollen from get- ting in his eyes, although he took them off to hit shots. It was a different look for the big hitter with the pink shaft in his dri- ver. ‘‘I look good in anything,’’ Watson said. Watney showed no effects from the hangover of winning at Doral. He was so tired on Tuesday that he stopped after five holes of his practice round.