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Sports 1B Wednesday December 30, 2009 Wednesday Boys Bball — Los Molinos, Mercy at Liberty Christian Invite Boys Bball — Red Bluff at South Medford Tournament Girls Bball — Los Molinos, Mercy at Liberty Christian Invite Wrestling — Corning at Sierra Nevada Classic in Reno NBA — 76ers at Kings, 7 p.m., CSNCA Holiday Bowl — Arizona vs. Nebraska, 5 p.m., ESPN Scoreboard Scoreboard BOWLS Tuesday's bowl results EagleBank Bowl UCLA 30, Temple 21 Champs Sports Bowl Wisconsin 20, Miami 14 Today's bowl games Humanitarian Bowl At Boise, Idaho, 1:30 p.m., ESPN Bowling Green (7-5) vs. Idaho (7-5) Holiday Bowl At San Diego, 5 p.m., ESPN Nebraska (9-4) vs. Arizona (8-4) NBA Today's results Golden State at L.A. Lakers, late Chicago 104, Indiana 95 Cleveland 95, Atlanta 84 Houston 108, New Orleans 100 New York 104, Detroit 87 Oklahoma City 110, Washington 98 San Antonio 117, Minnesota 99 Today's games Philadelphia at Sacramento, 7 p.m. Atlanta at Cleveland, 4 p.m. Charlotte at Toronto, 4 p.m. Memphis at Indiana, 4 p.m. Milwaukee at Orlando, 4 p.m. New York at New Jersey, 4:30 p.m. Miami at New Orleans, 5 p.m. Utah at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Boston at Phoenix, 6 p.m. L.A. Clippers at Portland, 7 p.m. Monday's late results Golden State 103, Boston 99 Sacramento 106, Denver 101 Philadelphia 104, Portland 93 NCAA Tuesday's Top 25 results No. 1 Kansas 81, Belmont 51 No. 2 Texas 95, Gardner-Webb 63 No. 3 Kentucky 104, Hartford 61 No. 4 Purdue 67, Iowa 56 No. 5 Syracuse 80, Seton Hall 73 No. 6 West Virginia 63, Marquette 62 No. 7 Duke 84, Long Beach State 63 No. 12 Kansas State 85, Cleveland State 56 No. 16 Mississippi 90, Jacksonville State 75 No. 19 New Mexico vs. No. 20 Texas Tech, late No. 21 Clemson 70, South Carolina State 67 Today's Top 25 games No. 9 North Carolina vs. Albany, N.Y., 4 p.m. No. 10 Connecticut at Cincinnati, 4 p.m. No. 11 Michigan St. vs. Tex-Arlington, 4 p.m. No. 18 Temple at Northern Illinois, 5 p.m. No. 24 UAB at Virginia, 4 p.m. No. 25 Northwestern at Illinois, 6 p.m. NHL Tuesday's results Buffalo 4, Pittsburgh 3 Dallas 5, Chicago 4 Nashville 4, St. Louis 3 N.Y. Islanders 2, Columbus 1, SO Minnesota at Anaheim, late Vancouver at Phoenix, late Today's games Washington at San Jose, 7 p.m. Atlanta at Boston, 4 p.m. Colorado at Ottawa, 4 p.m. Montreal at Tampa Bay, 4 p.m. Philadelphia at N.Y. Rangers, 4 p.m. Pittsburgh at New Jersey, 4 p.m. Los Angeles at Calgary, 6:30 p.m. Toronto at Edmonton, 6:30 p.m. Monday's late results San Jose 3, Phoenix 2, SO Mercy tops Los Molinos DN Staff Report The War- riors boys bas- ketball team defeated Los Molinos 68-51, We d n e s d a y afternoon at the Liberty Christian Invitation- al revenging a Dec. 3 over- time loss to the Bulldogs. The Warriors had four players reach double-digits, led by 15 points from Mitchell Lopez. Cameron Vietti had 12, Jeremie Jones 11 and Ali Syed 10 points. Mercy was able to turn their full court pressure into a number of easy buckets to gain momentum. Spartan boys The Spartans bounced back, Tuesday from a tough double-overtime loss on Monday to defeat Redmond 50-47 at the South Medford Tournament in Oregon. Cody Gappa led the way with 15 points. Devin Shoop had 14 and Trevor Miller 13 points for Red Bluff, who play in the consolation championship, today. Portland school West Linn defeated Red Bluff 68- 63 in two overtimes on Monday. John John Velasco led the Spartans with 15 points. Lady Cards Dublin beat the Corning Lady Cardinals 67-25, Mon- day, during opening round at the West Coast Jamboree. DeRosa will give Giants offensive punch SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — For several years, Mark DeRosa day- dreamed of eventually playing in San Francisco. He enjoys the city's vibe and atmosphere, from walking to the ballpark to trying out top restaurants. ''I felt like it would be a cool place to play and an interesting place to bring my family,'' he said. For several years, the Giants pic- tured DeRosa's powerful bat con- tributing in the middle of their line- up. There was mutual interest three years ago when DeRosa first became a free agent. Now, both sides are finally getting their wish. DeRosa signed a $12 million, two- year contract with the club after passing a physical Monday. In DeRosa, the Giants have found a versatile veteran who can hit for power and give the offense some much-needed punch. One of general manager Brian Sabean's top priorities this winter was to add a big hitter to drive in runs in the middle of the batting order, and DeRosa brings that abil- ity. He can play several infield spots and the outfield, and it's unclear whether he will work primarily at third base or bounce around. ''The position I'd prefer to play is shortstop because that's the posi- tion I played as a kid. But that does- n't matter anymore,'' DeRosa said. ''I don't really care where I am on the field as long as I'm in the line- up. ... I've never real- ly fought to play one position.'' That attitude sure is helpful for manager Bruce Bochy, who might continue to count on DeRosa as a utilityman. Free-swinging slugger Pablo Sandoval is likely to bat cleanup, so DeRosa could easily fit into the No. 5 hole. DeRosa could play first or third. ''He can play anywhere, he's comfortable playing anywhere and seems to thrive moving around,'' Bochy said. The 34-year-old DeRosa under- went left wrist surgery after the sea- son, when he batted .250 with a career-best 23 homers to go along with 78 RBIs for Cleveland and St. Louis. He said the Giants' training staff was ''pleasantly surprised'' by his progress during Monday's phys- ical and he expects to start swinging off a tee in a couple of weeks. The aim is to be full strength by the start of spring training in February. ''He's a winning player and any organization wants as many players like Mark on the ballclub, especial- ly ours that has a chance to turn the corner and get to the playoffs next year,'' Sabean said. ''To get him in here, he spoke of his willingness to show guys around a little bit. We need that. We need to get to the next level with guys like him.'' DeRosa was traded from the Indians to the Cardinals on June 27 but was in the St. Louis lineup for three games before hurting his wrist against San Francisco. He spent a stint on the disabled list for an injury that was later diagnosed as a partially torn tendon sheath. DeRosa was hindered by the wrist, but felt he had to play through it after the Cardinals brought him aboard to help get to the playoffs. ''Looking back on it now, don't know if I would have done the same thing,'' he said of waiting to have surgery until after the season. ''It affected everything I did.'' The Giants are eager to see him healthy and ready for a new start come spring. DeRosa said he chose San Francisco over about a half- dozen other teams — including going back to the Cardinals. He led St. Louis with five hits (5 for 13) when it was swept by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL division series. DeRosa acknowledged being ''very close'' to returning to St. Louis. ''They're obviously full go on Matt Holliday. I wasn't prepared to wait until he made a decision,'' DeRosa said. ''I was just tired of being a lot of teams' Plan Bs. From a certain standpoint, I wanted to go to a place where I felt comfortable and the team wanted and needed me to be productive. I just felt like this was a good spot.'' DeRosa is a career .275 hitter with Atlanta, Texas, the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland and St. Louis. With DeRosa and new hitting coach Hensley Meulens, San Fran- cisco is looking for a more patient approach at the plate focused on on- base percentage rather than just stepping in and swinging away. ''You have to find an identity early on and we didn't do that last year and it came back and bit us,'' Sabean said. The Giants also are working on a deal to bring back infielder Juan Uribe. The 30-year-old Uribe played in 122 games at third, short- stop and second in his first season with San Francisco. He batted .289 with 16 homers and 55 RBIs. San Francisco was in the NL wild-card chase well into Sep- tember but missed the postseason for the sixth straight year. At 88- 74, they won 16 more games than in 2008. Sabean has been com- mitted to boosting the offense for a team that boasts one of the top pitching staffs in baseball, led by two-time reigning NL Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum. ''That was one of the big over- riding factors when I decided where wanted to play, the pitch- ing factor,'' DeRosa said. ''Pitch- ing wins games.'' Petrie signs extension with Kings SACRAMENTO (AP) — Geoff Petrie will get another chance to turn the Sacramento Kings from a struggling fran- chise into a championship con- tender. Petrie signed a three-year con- tract extension Tuesday to remain the team's pres- ident of basketball operations. Petrie's contract was set to expire after this season. ''There's hope for the future,'' co-owner Gavin Maloof said. ''One day I certainly believe there will be multiple championships with this team the way they grow. I don't know if it will be next year or the year after but it will be in the future.'' Petrie arrived in Sacramento in 1994 and built a team that won at least 50 games in five straight seasons, contending for the Western Conference title each year. The Kings struggled in recent years and finished with the worst record in the league a year ago. But Petrie picked Tyreke Evans as part of a stellar draft class last June and hired Paul West- phal as coach. The team is off to a surprising 14- 16 start, only three wins shy of last season's total. ''I'm still living a boyhood dream,'' Petrie said. ''I happen to be in a group of people who think the opportunity to work at this level in the NBA is a real honor and a real privilege.'' Petrie, who helped build two Western Confer- ence championship teams in Portland, came to Sacramento in 1994. The Kings had made the playoffs only once in the previous nine seasons. But Petrie began rebuilding the team, acquir- ing stars Chris Webber, Mike Bibby and Brad Miller in trades, drafting Peja Stojakovic, and signing key free agents Vlade Divac and Bobby Jackson. The Kings went to the playoffs nine times since Petrie's arrival, making it all the way to the seventh game of the Western Conference finals in 2002 before losing to the Los Angeles. But the team has dealt with hard times since winning at least 50 games every season from 2000-01 to 2004-05. The Kings won only 17 games last season, the worst mark in franchise history. ''I want to continue to renew this team and get it back to where it can compete again at a cham- pionship level,'' Petrie said. ''We're moving in the right direction. I think everybody can see that.'' Despite getting only the fourth pick in the draft, Petrie managed to make the picks that have helped fuel the turnaround. Evans is an early favorite for rookie of the year, averaging 20.3 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists. Petrie used the 23rd overall pick on Omri Casspi, the first Israeli to play in the NBA. Casspi's adjustment has been rapid as he is aver- aging 11.8 points and 4.2 rebounds. Second- round pick Jon Brockman has provided great energy by averaging 4.1 rebounds despite playing only 10.8 minutes per game. ''Last year was a very trying year for all of us,'' Maloof said. ''I think when you looked through the tunnel there wasn't really that much hope. Then when Geoff came up with this blockbuster draft and got Tyreke and Omri Casspi and then you get Brockman as a throw-in. The future is bright. It's a completely different climate, a com- pletely different attitude.'' The Kings are also getting good production from second-year player Jason Thompson, aver- aging 15.3 points and 9.2 rebounds, and third- year player Spencer Hawes. Sacramento recently used a starting lineup with five players age 23 or younger. Petrie, a two-time All-Star as a player in Port- land, was the NBA's Executive of the Year in 1999 and 2001. The Kings also renewed the contracts and gave promotions to executives Wayne Cooper and Mike Petrie, Geoff's son. Cooper was pro- moted to vice president of basketball operations and general manager. Mike Petrie was promoted to assistant vice president of basketball opera- tions. Hunting highlights Courtesy photos Kyle Bickley, 14, of Red Bluff, shot this snow goose (left) on Dec. 22. He was hunting south of Red Bluff. Bickley, an eighth grader at Vista School, and his family had the goose for Christmas dinner. On the right, Renee Murphy, of Red Bluff, shows off her 3- point she shot on Oct. 30 in Zone G-1during the late season rifle hunt in zone C4. It was the Murphy's second deer.