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StaffReports CASPER,WYOMING Consistencyin three preliminary rounds of com- petition in all nine events at the College National Finals Rodeo is givingstudentathletesanopportu- nity to qualify for Saturday night's championship round. The second performance of the rodeosawMissouriValleyCollege's Kirbie Crouse take the overall lead in the breakaway roping with a total time of 8.0 seconds. Her 2.5 second run on Wednesday night is currently placing in the third round. Her fastest run was in the first round where she finished in a tie for fourth place. In the second round she was a 3.1. Crouse is 1.4 seconds ahead of the women in second place, Tess Turk from University of Montana — Western and Sarah Walker from Colorado Mesa College who both have total times of 9.4. There are two performances left before Sat- urday's finals, so even though po- sitions could change all three of these women have an opportunity to be among the top 12 who ad- vance. There have been several con- testants that have come close to breakingarenarecordsduringthis year'scompetitionandtwoofthem got it done on Wednesday night. Team ropers out of the Southwest Regionstoppedtheclockin3.9sec- onds. Casey Tew from Weatherford College did the heading for New Mexico Junior College's Keely Bonnett. They now lead the third round, but two no-times in previ- ous competitions will keep them from advancing to the finals. The previous record was held by John Kueckelhan and Joseph Har- rison from Northeast Texas Com- munity College. They had a time of 4.2 seconds in the Casper Events Center in 2007. The third round will continue here on Thursday night with the "Wear Pink" performance begin- ning at 7 p.m. The following are current lead- ers from the College National Fi- nals Rodeo after the first perfor- mance, June 15, 2016, courtesy of the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association. Bareback Riding: (third round) 1, Wyatt Denny, Feather River Col- lege, 82 points. 2, Chad Ruther- ford, McNeese State University, 76. 3, Cole Picton, Missouri Valley College, 73. 4, Zach Hibler, West- ern Texas College, 72.5. 5, Logan Patterson, Panhandle State Uni- versity, 72. 6, Lorenzo Lankow, Treasure Valley Community Col- lege, 71.5. (total on three) 1, Wyatt Denny, Feather River College, 236. 2, (tie) Dylan Wahlert, Casper Col- lege; Logan Patterson, Panhandle State University; and Cole Picton, Missouri Valley College; 212 each. 5, Zach Hibler, Western Texas Col- lege,211.5.6,ChadRutherford,Mc- NeeseStateUniversity,andTristan Hansen, University of Montana = Western, 209. Tie-Down Roping: (third round) 1, Taylor Santos, Sam Houston StateUniversity,7.5seconds.2,(tie) Marcus Theriot, East Mississippi CommunityCollege,andLaneSan- tos-Karney, Feather River College, 8.2 each. 4, Ben Walker, University of Tennessee — Martin, 8.3. 5, Jar- rett Oestmann, Iowa Central Com- munity College, 9.4. 6, Preston No- vak,ChadronStateCollege,9.9.(to- talonthree)1,LaneSantosKarney, Feather River College, 27.2. 2, Mar- cus Theriot, East Mississippi Col- lege, 28.3. 3, Taylor Santos, Sam Houston State University, 29.2. 4, Ben Walker, University of Tennes- see — Martin, 31.3. 5, Preston No- vak,ChadronStateCollege,46.2.6, Jordan Tye, Blue Mountain Com- munity College, 46.3. Steer wrestling: (third round) 1, J.D. Struxness, Northwestern OklahomaStateUniversity,4.0sec- onds. 2, Jared Parke, Blue Moun- tain Community College, 4.3. 3, (tie) Jacob Edler, Northwestern Oklahoma State University, and DaneBrowning,FeatherRiverCol- lege, 4.8. 5, (tie) Cade Staton, Sam Houston State University, and Wy- attLindsay,NewMexicoStateUni- versity, 5.2. (total on three) 1, J.D. Struxness, Northwestern Okla- homa State University, 13.9. 2, Ja- COLLEGE RODEO Consistencypayingofffornationalfinalsathletes By Tom Withers The Associated Press CLEVELAND LeBron James scored 41 points, Kyrie Irving added 23 and the Cleveland Cavaliers sent the NBA FinalspackingforCaliforniabybeat- ingtherattledGoldenStateWarriors 115-101 on Thursday night to even this unpredictable series and force a decisive Game 7. James delivered another epic per- formance in an elimination game and the Cavs saved their season for the second time in four days and are headed back to Oakland's Oracle Arena for Sunday's climactic game on the brink of history. One more win and they'll become the first team to overcome a 3-1 def- icit in the NBA Finals, and more im- portantly,givetitle-starvedCleveland its first major sports championship since Dec. 27, 1964. "I want to win for sure," James said. "But I want to give everything I've got and we'll see what happens. We forced a Game 7. It's going to be a fun one." The Warriors never imagined be- inginthisspot.Thedefendingcham- pions, who powered their way to a record 73 wins in the regular sea- son, won the first two games by 48 combined points. But MVP Stephen Curry and Co. have lost their touch, their poise and are in danger of their historic season — and a second title — vanish. Curry was ejected from Game 6 with 4:22 left after he was called NBA FINALS LEBRON, CAVS ROLL PAST WARRIORS, FORCE GAME 7 By Will Graves The Associated Press OAKMONT, PA. Andrew Landry shook his head when the horn sounded signaling yet another delay at drenched Oakmont. Tenfeetawayfromcompleting the round of his professional life, the world's 624th ranked golfer had to settle for going to bed with his name atop the leader- board Thursday at the stop-start U.S. Open. When play was halted for a third and final time just before 4 p.m., Landry glanced at his cad- die, picked up his ball mark and shrugged his shoulders. Surehewouldhavelikedashot at that birdie putt he set up with a mid-iron from 183 yards on the par-4 ninth — his last hole of the day — before the storms rolled through again. For now ending his first day ever in a major tour- nament at 3 under with the rest of the 156-player field looking up at him will have to do. "I've hit the ball really well today and just made a bunch of putts and just kept it going," said Landry, who earned a spot by surviving sectional qualifying in Tennessee last week. And going. And going. Heady territoryforthree-timeAll-Amer- ican at Arkansas who has strug- gled generating any kind of mo- mentum since turning pro in 2009.LandryarrivedatOakmont making the cut just five times in 11 events during his rookie year on the PGA Tour, including a ca- reer-best tie for 41st last week in Memphis. Yet on a course that seemed to befuddle fellow 20-somethings Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler, the 28-year-old Landry spent the better part of nine hours getting the better of an Oakmont made vulnerable by a series of downpours that soft- ened its notoriously slick greens. GOLF Unknown Landry reaches top of US Open leaderboard By Tim Booth The Associated Press SEATTLE Clint Dempsey scored for the third straight game on a first-half header and set up Gyasi Zardes for a tap-in goal midway through the second half, boosting the United States into the Copa America semifinals with a 2-1 win over Ecuador on Thursday night. Playing before a boisterous and almost completely partisan home crowd in the soccer-mad Pacific Northwest, the U.S. won a knock- out game against a nation outside its region for only the second time and will play Argentina or Venezu- ela on Tuesday in Houston. American midfielder Jermaine Jones and Ecuador winger An- tonio Valencia were both ejected early in the second half. Jones will be suspended for the semifinal along with U.S. midfielder Alejan- dro Bedoya and Bobby Wood, who both got their second yellow cards of the tournament. Dempsey's 52nd international goal, five behind Landon Dono- van's American record, put the U.S. ahead in the 22nd minute and Zardes guided Dempsey's cross into the net in the 65th for a 2-0 lead. MichaelArroyoscoredfor Ecua- dor in the 74th minute and Enner Valencia missed a pair of great chances moment later on a pair of headers. SOCCER US boosts into Copa semis with 2-1 win over Ecuador RODEO PAGE 2 LANDRY PAGE 2 By John Hickey Bay Area News Group OAKLAND TheA'sincreasinglyim- perfect season met up with some near perfection Thursday as the Rangers' Colby Lewis carried a perfect game into the eighth in- ningandano-hitterintotheninth, ultimatelylosingbothbutwinning the game, 5-1. It was the second time in less than a year that Lewis has been perfect for seven innings against the A's. Last September, Danny Valencia broke it up with a leadoff double in the eighth inning. This timeitwasadifferentUniversityof Miami alum, Yonder Alonso, who steppedup.Thefirstbasemantook a four-pitch walk from Lewis with two out in the eighth, and perfec- tion vanished. Max Muncy doubled just be- yond outstretched right fielder No- mar Mazara up against the wall to open the ninth. That left it to Coco Crisp to loop a double in front of diving left fielder Ryan Rua to get Oakland its run. No matter. Lewis had his sixth win moments later. Lewis (6-0) didn't need much help from his defense for the first seven innings as the A's weren't doing much with their bats. But Lewis did need to wait until the seventhtogetalead,andafterthat it was just a matter of building an- ticipation over whether he would pitch the 24th perfect game in ma- jor league history. KICKER A's fall to Rangers, hit low point RONSCHWANE—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Golden State Warriors guard Klay Thompson (11) drives on Cleveland Cavaliers guard J.R. Smith (5) during the second half of Game 6of basketball's NBA Finals in Cleveland on Thursday. TONY DEJAK — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) holds his head on the bench during a timeout against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second half of Game 6of basketball's NBA Finals in Cleveland, Thursday. NBA PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, June 17, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1