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By RICH GREENE DN Sports Editor Not again. The Red Bluff Spartans once again hung around with a top Eastern Athletic League team, but couldn't come away with the victory to jus- tify their efforts, Fri- day night, in a 53-50 loss to Enterprise. The Spartans (9-12, 2-7) have lost home games to Chico, Pleasant Valley, Shasta and now Enterprise by a combined total of 10 points. Grant Blaser had an open look to tie the game with 10 seconds, but his 3-point shot rimmed short, which proved to be the Spartans last chance in part because officials had let the players play all game.. With only two team fouls in the second half at the time, the Spartans had to burn eight sec- onds to commit five fouls just to send the Hor- nets to the free throw line. It made no difference however, as Anthony Williams drained his two free throws on a night where he showed why many consider him to be the EAL's top player. The teams shot just 10 combined free throws, with only one miss between them. Enterprise improved to 7-2 in the league, while the Spartans were once again left won- dering when their big win was going to come. "I'm just disheartened for my players," coach Stan Twitchell said. "Because they're just not getting the result they deserve — yet. I emphasize 'yet'. They continue to do the right things and I think the reward is coming." It was game of streaks. In front of a rowdy student section, the Spar- tans raced off to 7-0 start before Enterprise coach Mike Haworth had to call timeout. The Hornets responded with a 7-0 run of their own forcing a Red Bluff timeout. Back-and-forth the teams went from there, but each time the Spartans seemed to have finally captured the momentum for good, Williams had an answer on his way to a 30- point night. His brother, James Williams chipped in 13 of his own. The Spartans relied heavily on their starters to keep up. Blaser kept Red Bluff in the game in the third quarter with six field goals on his way to a team high 14 points. Trevor Capik made a trio of 3-pointers and finished with 12 points. Trevor Miller had 10 points. Post players Devin Shoop and Cody Gappa also played well. Shoop pulled down nine rebounds and Gappa finished with 10 points and eight rebounds. Twitchell said the post duo played with their confidence back Friday night, which helped the Spartans. "I think it's one of the best games we've played — that result's coming," Twitchell said. The Spartans suffered a 76-57 loss at unde- feated Chico on Wednesday night. Red Bluff hosts Oroville on Feb. 10. Lady Cardinals Corning took a huge step toward clinching the North- ern Athletic League, Thursday night, with a 52-37 win over Anderson. The 6-0 Lady Car- dinals now have a two-game lead in the NAL with four league games left to play. Corning committed just five turnovers. "Our offensive execution was awesome," coach Kurt Eller said. "We played with patience and confidence." Even with the Cardinals missed shots, they didn't panic, as they picked up 10 offensive rebounds in the game. Chante Dale led the Cardinals with 17 points and Regan Albee had 10 points, six assists and five rebounds. Brittney Garrett added nine points and seven rebounds and Michelle Silva had eight points. On defense the Cardinals held an Anderson 17 points below their season average including just four points in a 17-4 third quarter. "They have come together as a whole team and I couldn't be prouder of them," Eller said. Prep Soccer The Corning Cardinals boys team overcame a two-goal halftime deficit, Thursday, for a 4-3 win against Yreka. Corning improved to 8-0 in the NAL and 14-1 on the season. Meanwhile the Lady Cardinals led by two goals from Mattie Maloney beat up Yreka 5-1. Yasmeen Lomeli, Cynthia Ramirez and Jocelyn Ramirez also scored for Corning and Maggie Ramirez and Mayra Sanchez had assists. The Lady Cardinals are 5-3 in the NAL. Also on Thursday, Los Molinos defeated Liberty Christian 4-0 in Mid-Valley League play. The Bulldogs are 4-2 in the league. Sports 1B Weekend February 6-7, 2010 Weekend Saturday — NCAA — Villanova at Georgetown, 9 a.m., ESPN Saturday — NBA — Heat at Bulls, 5 p.m., WGN Saturday — NBA — Thunder at Warriors, 7:30 p.m., CSNBA Sunday — NBA — Kings at Raptors, 9 a.m., CSNCA Sunday — NBA — Magic at Celtics, 11:30 a.m., ABC Sunday — Super Bowl XLIV, 3:25 p.m., CBS Another great effort, another loss Daily News photo by Rich Greene Enterprise's Anthony Williams gets rid of the ball, Friday night, just before falling down in between Red Bluff's Carlos Tapia and Grant Blaser.. Kings fall as Suns cap perfect road trip SACRAMENTO (AP) — Less than three weeks ago, the Phoenix Suns came home from a four-game road trip empty-handed and dis- couraged. The mood around the team is much different after this four-game trip. Steve Nash had 23 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds to help the Phoenix Suns complete a per- fect road trip with a 114-102 victo- ry over the struggling Sacramento Kings on Friday night. ''It's fun,'' Nash said. ''It's hard work. It's difficult to win games, but it pays off. It's a lot of fun, espe- cially on nights like tonight when you get up, go on a 22-3 run on the road at the end of a trip. It's reward- ing.'' Amare Stoudemire added 30 points and nine rebounds for the Suns, who last swept a road trip of at least four games in December 2006. Before this trip, the Suns had lost five straight away from home, including all four games on one trip last month. Then they ripped off wins in Houston, New Orleans, Denver and Sacramento. Phoenix has a season-long five-game win- ning streak after losing seven of its previous nine games. ''We played well on the road early on, then we were atrocious on the road,'' coach Alvin Gentry said. ''To get back playing well at this stage is really great for us. It's real- ly tough to win on the road in this league. Everything has to go right for you and you have to play at a really high level for 48 minutes.'' After a promising start to the season, the Kings have lost 17 of 19 games. This one wasn't even com- petitive, as they never cut the deficit below 10 points after late in the first quarter. Donte Green scored a career- high 31 points to lead Sacramento. Omri Casspi added 17 and Tyreke Evans had 13. Kevin Martin was held to five points on 2 for 9 shoot- ing. Martin is shooting just 35.6 percent since returning from a left injury last month and Sacramento has lost 11 of 12 games since his return to the lineup. ''I don't know what it is,'' Mar- tin said. ''It's not me out there. I've never been in a situation like this before.'' Jason Richardson added 16 points for the Suns, who have topped 100 points in 11 straight games and 23 of 24. The Kings showed signs of life early in the third quarter, cutting what had been a 21-point lead down to 10 on a three-point play by Casspi. But Nash took over the game after a timeout. He hit a 3-pointer, threw an alley-oop to Stoudemire and then fed Stoudemire for an emphatic dunk that quickly built the lead back to 17. The Suns did- n't stop there, going on a 22-3 run to go up 92-63 late in the third. The Kings fans booed the team off the court during a timeout after a breakaway layup by Goran Dragic made it a 29-point game. ''We came out and we were aggressive,'' Stoudemire said. ''We had a couple of big plays there to get our momentum back and we just took off from there.'' It was garbage time the rest of the way. Nash played only sparing- ly over the final 15 minutes, miss- ing a chance for his fourth career triple-double and first since April 19, 2006. The Suns started off quickly, going on an 11-0 run behind a pair of 3-pointers from Nash and one from Grant Hill. After Evans went to the bench with his third foul just 7:20 into the game, the Suns really opened the game up, taking a 39-23 lead in the final minute of the quar- ter following a 3-pointer from Jared Dudley and a technical foul on Kings coach Paul Westphal that Nash converted. ''The first-quarter barrage put us on our heels for the whole game,'' Westphal said. ''They came out and took care of business, especially Nash and (Robin) Lopez. We never really got back into the game.'' The Kings were called for another technical foul in the second quarter, when Andres Nocioni got called while jockeying for position on a jump ball. Nash made that one and Richardson followed with a 3- pointer after Phoenix won the tip to make it 50-31 midway through the second. MCT photo Donte Greene looks to pass underneath the rim. Goodell hopes union is wrong about lockout FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — The way Roger G o o d e l l sees it, more is bet- ter when it comes to N F L games. T h e commissioner likes over- time, and doesn't favor changing the rules. He's pushing to add a game or two to the schedule. He wants more games overseas and in Mexico. And the notion of less football? Goodell doesn't like that at all. He said he hopes the pessimism from the players' union regarding a lockout in 2011 doesn't become a self-fulfilling prophecy. ''I don't think anybody wants to see a work stop- page,'' Goodell said Friday at his annual Super Bowl- week news conference. ''There are no benefits to that. If it comes to anything like that, we would all have failed.'' For 51 minutes, Goodell fielded questions with the nonchalance of a veteran returner fielding kicks. Top- ics included the oft- maligned overtime system, the possible expansion of the regular season to 17 or 18 games, and the league's future in Jacksonville, St. Louis and Los Angeles. But on the subject of the stalemate in labor talks, Goodell's bearing stiffened. The current contract expires in March 2011, and Goodell disputed an assessment Thursday by NFL Players Association executive direc- tor DeMaurice Smith that the chance of a lockout next year is a ''14'' on a scale of 1 to 10. ''I couldn't make that prediction, and I sure hope he's wrong,'' Goodell said. ''Right now we don't need a lot of focus on that. We need to take advantage of the opportunity we have right now to structure an agreement and sit down and negotiate. That's how this is going to get done, and we will have an agreement. It's just a matter of when, but talking about options like work stoppages is not going to get us there.'' Goodell rejected the idea ownership wants any stop- page, and he said there is no contingency plan regarding the 2012 Super Bowl in the event of a lockout. ''We still have a lot of time and a lot of important opportunities here to struc- ture something that makes sense for everybody,'' Good- ell said. On other issues, the com- missioner said: —There's more work to do on the issue of concus- sions, but the league has made progress in player awareness and changing the culture. ''We want to make sure people understand that they are serious injuries, and make sure that we deal with them in a conservative and medical fashion,'' Goodell said. —Extending the season will be part of the discussion when talks with the union resume. Goodell favors adding one or two games to replace exhibition games. ''I consistently hear from players and fans that the quality of our preseason is not up to NFL standards and that we need to fix that,'' he said. ''This is one way of doing that, and what I believe is an effective way.'' —The NFL is still eyeing a return to Mexico; the Car- dinals and 49ers held the league's first regular-season game outside the United States in Mexico in 2005. See GOODELL, page 2B