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Sports 1B Tuesday January 19, 2010 Tuesday Boys Basketball — Corning at Lassen, 7 p.m. Boys Basketball — Los Molinos at Williams, 6:30 p.m. Boys Basketball — Mercy at Greenville, 6 p.m. Girls Basketball — Lassen at Corning, 7 p.m. Girls Basketball — Los Molinos at Williams, 5 p.m. Girls Basketball — Red Bluff at Pleasant Valley, 7:30 p.m. And the crowd sang on Somewhere buried in my memory, between Perfect Strangers and Sil- ver Spoons is the 80s sit- com Mr. Belvedere. Back then sitcoms attempted to explain the facts of life through morals or a larger mean- ing in between the zany antics of whatever the next-door neighbor hap- pened to be up to that week. For some reason one Mr. Belvedere episode in particular has stuck with me all these years. George, the head of the family, played by Bob Uecker, was a sportscaster at a local televi- sion station and during this particular episode he gave an on-air editorial about how the tradi- tion of singing the National Anthem before games should be stopped. He argued it wasn't necessary anymore, it slowed things down and no one cared anyhow. The editorial didn't go over so well with the public. In the end, George and loyal Mr. Belvedere viewers were supposed to learn their patriotic lesson. As a sports journalist, I take from the episode a different lesson — never write a column argu- ing schools should skip playing the Star-Span- gled Banner and just get on with the games. Mr. Belvedere, Wesley and the rest of this episode would have stayed buried in my head if it wasn't for the Red Bluff versus Shasta wrestling meet, Wednesday night at Red Bluff High School. I was standing in the bleachers with one thought running through my mind: Man, I'm glad the school's sound system messed up and couldn't play the national anthem. Wait, wait, wait! Before you jump down to the bottom of the column to find my phone number to call and complain let me explain myself. Yes, the sound system, which was supposed to play a recording of the Star-Spangled Banner wouldn't work, but instead a truly patriotic moment happened. About 20 seconds of awkward silence as everyone waited for the problem to be fixed was followed by another 20 seconds of awkward mumbling and then it happened. Some parents in the stands got up the courage to start singing themselves. Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light, Hardly anyone looked around to see what had happened as I would care to wager 90 per- cent us in attendance all had the same idea too. What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? By now everyone had joined in. Parents, teachers, wrestlers, coaches, referees and even a sports journalist. Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight... Sure, most of us would have made those worst of episodes of American Idol, but as a whole, there was a feeling we were actually being ideal Americans. After the last notes trickled off our tongues they were replaced in the gymnasium by thun- derous applause. At the time I felt it was a unique moment we all shared together and that was reaffirmed the very next night. Before the girls varsity basketball game, on Thursday, three students were singing the National Anthem and the microphone began giving horrible squealing feedback. There were some efforts to help fill in at the end, but the song was already half-sung and the efforts half-hearted. It was no one's fault, but the end resembled a train wreck. You see, you can't duplicate truly special moments. That's what makes that completed Hail Mary pass, half court shot at the buzzer or stunning upset magical and unforgettable. It's one of the best reasons to love sports. You can however, duplicate tradition and some are worth it. At Corning High School, for instance, princi- pal Charlie Troughton often sings the National Anthem before games. There's just something about the school's principal taking the patriotic deed upon himself combined with the fact he's a decent singer that makes it a tradition worth repeating and worth looking forward to. But spontaneous outbursts of patriotism can't be manufactured. So, while I thought about suggesting Red Bluff start a tradition of having the crowd sing the anthem before games — it just wouldn't be the same. That's why I was so glad the school's sound system messed up Wednesday and can't wait for it to happen again. I thought I said wait and read the rest of the column? OK, if you still need to contact Daily News Sports Editor Rich Greene you can do so at 527-2151, ext. 109 or by e-mail at spor ts@redbluffdailynews.com. In the meantime he will be practicing his singing voice. Rich Greene Warriors snap 3-game skid OAKLAND (AP) — Andris Biedrins had been waiting for a while to finally feel like his old self again. There he was Monday, blocking shots, rebounding and struggling from the free-throw line as usual. Biedrins grabbed a season-high 19 rebounds to go with a career-best eight blocked shots, Monta Ellis had 36 points on 39 shots, and the short-hand- ed Golden State Warriors snapped a three-game losing streak with a 114-97 victory over the Chicago Bulls. Biedrins returned late last month after missing 25 games with inflamma- tion in his right groin where it attaches to the abdomen. ''It was probably my best game since I've been back, so it feels better than before,'' Biedrins said. ''Physical- ly, I feel better each game. I was wait- ing for a game like this. I'm getting there to where I was before and where I want to be.'' Corey Maggette added 32 points, six rebounds and five assists, and Stephen Curry had 26 points, 10 rebounds and six assists as Golden State ended Chicago's four-game win- ning streak. Ellis had eight assists and five rebounds. The Bulls couldn't overcome their sluggish start and failed to wear down the banged-up Warriors. John Salmons scored 25 points and Luol Deng 20 for cold-shooting Chica- go, which kicked off its seven-game road trip without starting guard Kirk Hinrich because of the flu. The Bulls were held to 36.5 percent from the floor. Golden State dressed only eight players for the second straight game because of injuries. The Warriors were down to four players late in a 113-104 loss to Milwaukee on Friday night. Maggette had his third 30-point game in his last four outings and fifth overall. Ellis shot 14 for 39, going 3 for 9 from long range. Ellis is the first War- riors player to take 39 shots since Rick Barry was 20 for 39 with 42 points on Feb. 22, 1975, against Boston. ''Not many other Warriors other than Wilt (Chamberlain) probably have shot 39 times in an NBA game,'' coach Don Nelson said. Curry hit a 3-pointer with 1:23 left in the third quarter and Ellis followed with a basket in transition, giving Golden State some momentum heading into the final 12 minutes. After that, the War- riors quickly began pulling away. Golden State signed forward and D- League call-up Anthony Tolliver to a 10-day contract on an injury exemption Saturday to give Nelson a little more depth — and Tolliver came out to start the second quarter. As luck would have it, he went down with an injury. Tolliver had six points and eight rebounds in 24 minutes before going out with 10:37 left after bruising his left knee in a hard fall. ''This is new territory for me,'' Nel- son said. ''We've got a bench of three D-Leaguers.'' Somehow, the Warriors hung tough in this one. ''It's crazy,'' said forward Ronny Turiaf, sidelined with an ankle injury. ''It's just freak stuff, guys getting poked in the eye. We've just got to ride through it and put ourselves in position to be healthy again.'' The Warriors, playing a rare matinee game in front of a nearly full house despite miserable, wet weather outside, could use a boost with two games remaining on their season-long seven- game homestand. Charlotte holds off Kings 105-103 CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Larry Brown is an NBA junkie, so when he saw Tyreke Evans getting on a roll late in the third quarter he knew his Charlotte Bob- cats could be in trouble, no matter how big their lead was. Brown was right. It took some big plays by Raymond Felton and some fortunate bounces late to prevent another stunning Sacramen- to Kings comeback in the Bobcats' 105-103 victory on Monday. It was Charlotte's fifth straight win and eighth in a row at home. The Bobcats (20-19) are above .500 at the latest point in franchise his- tory and moved into a three- way tie for fifth place in the Eastern Conference with idle Toronto and Miami. Less than a month after Sacramento rallied from 35 points down to win in Chicago, the Kings cut a 24- point third-quarter deficit to one behind their sensational rookie Evans, who scored a career-high 34 points. Gerald Wallace shook off an ankle injury to score 28 points and Felton finished a rebound shy of a triple-dou- ble for the Bobcats, who led 82-58 with 4 minutes left in the third quarter. Evans scored 14 points in the fourth and added seven assists, but the Kings lost their fourth straight. ''I don't know how you could ask anything more from Tyreke,'' Kings coach Paul Westphal said. ''Every minute he was out there he was extremely dominant.'' Evans' fadeaway with 4:51 left completed a 32-9 run and got the Kings with- in 91-90. After Wallace returned after twisting his left ankle earlier in the fourth quarter, Charlotte built the lead to five before Evans' three-point play cut it to 100-98. The Kings then missed three straight shots that would've tied the game before Felton's runner put the Bobcats ahead 102-98 with 1:01 left. Evans scored again in traffic, but Felton hit two free throws with 20.7 sec- onds left. After Sacramen- to's Beno Udrih made a 3- pointer to cut the lead to one, Charlotte's Flip Murray was fouled with 1 second left. He hit the first shot, missed the second and team- mate Boris Diaw grabbed the rebound to preserve the victory. Felton had 17 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds. Stephen Jackson was held to 11 points on 4-of-13 shoot- ing amid foul trouble. The latest Charlotte was above .500 previously in its six seasons was 6-5 in 2007-08. Wallace, selected earlier Monday to compete in the NBA slam dunk competi- tion during All-Star week- end, warmed up for it with a windmill dunk to close the first half as Charlotte took a 66-47 lead. Wallace hit 13 of 15 free throws and was dominating the lifeless Kings until the momentum switched late in the third quarter and the speedy Evans took over. The NBA's top scoring rookie hit 13 of 20 shots and eight of 11 free throws. But Kevin Martin was held to nine points on 3-of-9 shooting in his third game back from injury as Sacramento lost for the 11th time in 13 games. ''I had to get those points just to bring us back,'' Evans said. ''I wasn't looking forward to going out there and get- ting however many points I had. I was going out there to get a win. We have to keep working hard and try to find a way to get wins.'' Charlotte's Bob John- son, the first black major- ity owner of a major pro- fessional sports team, has always requested a home game on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. MCT photo Monta Ellis drives past Chicago Bull defender John Salmons. MCT photo Gerald Wallace keeps the ball away from Tyreke Evans and Donte Greene.