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Tehama Tracker Wednesday's results NBA Warriors New Orleans Thompson: 27 points Lee: 25 points, 11 rebounds SPRING TRAINING Athletics Kansas City Hunter: 1-2, HR Allen: 2-3, RBI Giants Cleveland Pill: 1-3, walk, HR, 3 RBI H. Sanchez: 2-2, 2B Tuesday's results BASEBALL Corning Anderson 2 3 Nick Hoag: 2-4, RBI Cole MacLachlan: W, 7 IP, 6 Ks Today's games BASEBALL Paradise Red Bluff TENNIS Red Bluff Oroville Corning Yreka Mercy Live Oak GOLF EAL-South Las Plumas Five Star 1:30 p.m. at Redding Christian Noon at NCAA TOURNAMENT Regional Semifinals 1 Syracuse 4 Wisconsin 1 Michigan State 4 Louisville 2 Ohio State 6 Cincinnati 3 Marquette 7 Florida NBA Warriors Houston Utah Kings NHL Boston Sharks 7:30 p.m. CSNC SPRING TRAINING Giants Colorado 7:10 p.m. On the tube AUTO RACING •11 p.m., SPEED — Formula One, practice for Malaysia Grand Prix, at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia GOLF •8 a.m., TGC — European PGA Tour, Trophee Hassan II, first round, at Agadir, Morocco • Noon, TGC — PGA Tour, Arnold Palmer Invitational, first round, at Orlando, Fla. • 3:30 p.m., TGC — LPGA, Kia Clas- sic, first round, at Carlsbad MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL •4 p.m., CBS — NCAA, Division I tournament, regional semifinals • 4:47 p.m., TBS — NCAA, Division I tournament, regional semifinals MLB •10 a.m., MLB NETWORK— Spring Training, Houston at N.Y. Mets •1 p.m., MLB NETWORK—Kansas City at L.A. Angels •4 p.m., ESPN — Spring Training, N.Y.Yankees vs. Boston NBA •5 p.m., NBATV—Boston at Milwau- kee NHL •4 p.m., NHL NETWORK—Nashville at Pittsburgh NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Rookie Klay Thompson scored a career-high 27 points, David Lee added 25 and the Golden State War- riors ended a four-game los- ing streak with a 101-92 win over the New Orleans Hor- nets on Wednesday night. The Warriors trailed 58- 51 midway through the third quarter before Thompson sparked a 20-5 run. He hit a 3-pointer and converted a three-point play to give the Warriors a 60-58 lead. He also got the assist on Bran- don Rush's wide open 3- pointer that gave Golden 5 p.m. CSNB 7 p.m. CSNC 4:15 p.m. CBS 4:47 p.m. TBS 6:45 p.m. CBS 7:17 p.m. TBS 3 p.m. 3:30 p.m. 3:30 p.m. SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (MCT) — Manager Bruce Bochy said in the first week of camp that it would be a three-way race at first base among Aubrey Huff, Brett Pill and Brandon Belt. A month later, Belt finds himself in a couple of other position races, as well. He's second on the team with 41 innings at first base but also ranks among the leaders in innings logged in left field (18) and right (17). That's more than twice as many outfield innings as Huff and Pill combined and makes one thing clear: The Giants still don't know exactly what to do with Belt. "In his case, it's going to come down to the last days (of spring training)," gener- al manager Brian Sabean said. "We'll have to weigh how much flexibility and how much versatility each person selected gives to the team. We're still evaluating (Belt) in the outfield." The Giants know first base is Belt's best position. But the traffic jam at the position includes more than just Huff and Pill. Buster Posey will play there when his surgically repaired left ankle needs a break from catching, and nobody knows yet how often that might occur. Belt started 31 games in the outfield last year as a rookie, but even there he finds himself part of a crowd. Melky Cabrera, Angel Pagan and Nate Schierholtz are penciled in as starters, and camp revela- tion Gregor Blanco has all but sewn up the fourth out- fielder role. "I've been through all Courtesy photo Brandon Belt may not earn a spot on the San Francisco Giants'25-man roster. that last year, and I know how to handle it a little bet- ter this year," Belt said of the roster uncertainty. "I don't think it's too difficult to switch back and forth between first and the out- field. The hardest thing is playing and then not play- ing, playing and then not." That was Belt's rookie season in a nutshell. He was named the starting first baseman a day before the season started but ended up being sent to the minors three times and had a stint on the disabled list. "It was very frustrating," Belt said. "I don't think I ever took the time to kind of step back and figure out what was going on. Every- thing was going so fast that I couldn't catch up with it — ever. I think maybe if I had just stopped and regrouped I would have been better off." Belt, 23, finally got that chance late in the offseason when he took nearly four weeks off after a stint in the Dominican winter league. He came to Arizona with a State the lead for good, 63- 60. Lee, who also had 11 rebounds, finished the spurt with a jumper that made it 71-63. Jarrett Jack had his first career triple double for the Hornets with 17 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds. Chris Kaman and Xavier Henry added 13 points apiece. Rush had 16 points for Golden State, which hit 14 3-pointers — the most New Orleans has allowed this season. The Hornets cut the deficit to 75-72 at the end of the third quarter, but Richard Jefferson and Brandon Rush sank consecutive 3-pointers to start the fourth to boost the lead to nine. After the clear head and has shown it on the field, hitting .359 with three home runs and four doubles. Most important, Belt has displayed an aggressive streak at the plate, allaying some of the Giants' con- cerns that he might be too passive. "He came in here ready to go, and I think playing winter ball certainly helped him," Bochy said. "The thing about Brandon is he knows what he needs to work on. He has the ability to lay off some tough pitch- es "| (but) if he gets a good pitch, let it (rip). He has been doing that." Belt's mind isn't the only thing in better shape. He did more running in the offsea- son to prepare himself for another long grind and thus far has shown that he's more than athletic enough to excel at different positions. As decision day approaches on what players to keep on the 25-man ros- ter, Bochy said the three- way race at first still is too Hornets pulled to 84-79, Nate Robinson hit a 3-point- er, Rush scored and Jeffer- son drained another 3 to give the Warriors a 92-79 lead. They led by at least seven the rest of the way. Neither team was ahead by more than four in the sec- ond quarter, which featured 10 lead changes, including nine in a row at one point. Lee hit his last three shots of the half after missing his first seven from the field, then watched as Smith dunked over his head on a one-handed follow.That was one of two dunks off rebounds in the quarter for Smith, who returned last Saturday against New Jersey close to call. "They're all doing a good job, I can't say there's any kind of separation so far," Bochy said. "Belt has had the best spring, but Aubrey is swinging it well, and Pill is, too." If Belt doesn't win a starting job, he could remain with the team. At this stage, the Giants don't believe that his develop- ment would be stunted by a part-time role in the majors. But depending on how the rest of the roster shapes up, there's still a good chance that Belt could be making one more trip to Triple-A Fresno. "I'm not worried too much about all that," he said. "There were a lot of obstacles last year, and most of them were created by me putting pressure on myself and becoming over- whelmed. "If they decide I'm going to Fresno, I'll just work on getting out of there and back to the big leagues as quickly as possible." Warriors beat Hornets to end slide at 4 after missing 20 consecutive games because of concus- sion symptoms. He led the Hornets with 10 points in the half, making 5 of 7 shots. Golden State, which has lost four in a row since trad- ing leading scorer Monta Ellis to Milwaukee, was sloppy at the start. An inbound pass thrown by Robinson bounced off the back of Thompson's leg just past midcourt before he real- ized it was coming. After Thompson saved it, Robin- son threw the ball away a few seconds later. The Warriors quickly cleaned up their act, finish- ing with only nine turnovers. Robinson had 10 assists. 4 p.m. Courtesy photo This past weekend the Tehama County Special Olympics basketball program traveled to Redding to participate in the North Valley Basketball Tournament at Enterprise High School. In Level 3, the Tehama Express repeated as champions bringing home the Gold. They are coached by Chris Travis and Mike Cox. The Tehama Hot Shots won a bronze medal in Level 5 High.They are coached by Ken Hess. The Tehama Storm also brought home a bronze medal in Level 5 Medium.They are coached by Billy Rickett. In the Skills Division, four athletes won medals as well. Numbers game might not work for Belt 3 5 8 3 92 101 Sports 1B Thursday March 22, 2012 Tehama Express repeats Smith signs 3-year deal with 49ers SANTA CLARA (AP) — No hard feelings on Alex Smith's part that the San Francisco 49ers pursued Peyton Manning. In the end, Smith is right back where he expected to be all along — with the only franchise he has ever known. The free agent quarter- back signed his three-year deal with the 49ers at last on Wednesday. It will pay him $8 million per season with $16.5 million guaranteed, according to a person with knowledge of the contract. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday because the con- tract details weren't made public, said Smith's deal can pay him up to $33 million. Smith signed at team headquarters a day after Manning was formally introduced in Denver after the 49ers pursued the four- time NFL MVP. San Fran- cisco coach Jim Harbaugh worked out Manning at Duke last week. ''Not offended at all. I would have relished the opportunity to compete for the starting quarterback job with Peyton Manning,'' Smith said. ''I feel I've been through way worse than this. Free agency is always going to be a little crazy, maybe this year more than most. You get to a point you stop worrying about that stuff.'' See SMITH, page 2B Saints coach suspended for season over bounties (AP) —Meting out unprecedented punishment for a crush-for-cash bounty system that targeted key opposing players, the NFL suspended New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Pay- ton without pay for next sea- son and indefinitely banned the team's former defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams. Payton is the first head coach suspended by the league for any reason, accused of trying to cover up a system of extra cash pay- outs that NFL Commission- er Roger Goodell on Wednesday called ''particu- larly unusual and egregious'' and ''totally unacceptable.'' Sending a message by taking a harsh stand, Good- ell also banned Saints gener- al manager Mickey Loomis for the first eight regular-sea- son games next season — believed to be the first time a GM was suspended by the NFL — and assistant coach Joe Vitt for the first six games. In addition, Goodell fined the Saints $500,000 and took away their second- round draft picks this year and next. ''We are all accountable and responsible for player health and safety and the integrity of the game. We will not tolerate conduct or a culture that undermines those priorities,'' said Good- ell, whose league faces more than 20 concussion-related lawsuits brought by hun- dreds of former players. ''No one is above the game or the rules that govern it.'' Payton, whose salary this season was to be at least $6 million, ignored instructions from the NFL and Saints ownership to make sure See SAINTS, page 2B