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ByAndrewBaggarly BayAreaNewsGroup PITTSBURGH Thehottestteamin the major leagues is … the Sacra- mento River Cats? Well, no. It's the Giants, in the- ory. Although to glance at the lineup Bruce Bochy used in a 5-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday, it's under- standable if you confused the NL West leaders — now 20 games over .500 — with their Triple-A affiliate. Bochy emptied his bench, sent out five players who weren't on the opening-day roster and the Giants still played a taut nine in- nings. Joe Panik hit a bases-clear- ing triple in the fifth and a bull- pen that is growing stronger with each breath protected a decision for Albert Suarez as the Giants took three of four at PNC Park to complete a 6-1 road trip. On the banks of the Allegheny, near the intersection of the Ohio and Monongahela, the former River Cats were in their element. "No, it's not very common," said Bochy, asked about the lack of a dropoff on a day when three start- ers rested and two others were on the disabled list. "We've had some good benches here. But I couldn't be prouder of these guys coming off the bench, doing what they're doing." The Giants (47-27) are 40-17 since April 21, the best record in the majors. They've already clinched a winning record in June. And as they shook hands Thursday, they had matched NATIONAL LEAGUE GIANTS BEAT PIRATES, FINISH ROAD TRIP 6-1 SF i s 40 -1 7 s in ce l at e A pr il , be st i n t he m aj or s Pittsburgh'sJoshHarrisonslidessafelyintothirdbasein front of the Giants' Conor Gillaspie during the first inning in Pittsburgh on Thursday. PHOTOS BY JOE SARGENT — GETTY IMAGES The Giants' Santiago Casilla celebrates with Trevor Brown a er a 5-3win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in Pittsburgh on Thursday. By Brian Mahoney The Associated Press NEW YORK Ben Simmons went from Down Under to the top of the NBA draft, and a record number of international players followed. The Philadelphia 76ers took the Australian with the No. 1 pick on Thursday night, mak- ing him the first of a record 14 international players chosen in the first round. Nearly half the selections in the 30-pick round were interna- tional players, topping the 12 in- ternational players chosen in the first round in 2013. Simmons climbed on stage to the sound of cheers from a Philly-filled crowd hoping he could turn around the 76ers. Not long after the same crowd was largely quiet as the draft filled with unfamiliar names. The picks included the first Austrian (Utah center Ja- kob Poeltl, No. 9 to Toronto), the highest Greek player ever drafted (Georgios Papagiannis, No. 13, Phoenix), two Croatians (Dragan Bender, No. 4 to Phoe- nix and Ante Zizic, No. 23, Bos- ton), and two players from the Caribbean (Buddy Hield, Baha- mas, No. 6 to New Orleans; and Skal Labissiere, Haiti, No. 28, picked by Phoenix but dealt to Sacramento). Some of the international players won't come to the NBA next season, and perhaps never will. Simmons might be ready to star now. Philadelphia grabbed the ver- satile 6-foot-10 forward from LSU who averaged 19.2 points, 11.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists to become the only player in South- NBA DRAFT 76ers take Simmons with No. 1 pick GIANTS PAGE 2 RENO A couple of kids who had never been to the esteemed Bob Feist Invitational handily domi- nated the 39th edition of the rich- est one-day open roping in the world. On Monday, 21-year-old Zac Small of Welch, Oklahoma, and 20-year-old Wesley Thorp of Throckmorton, Texas, roped six steers in 42.71 seconds to split $124,000 in the overall purse plus $6,000 in two of the six rounds. They also claimed a truckload of first-place prizes that included Coats saddles, Gist buckles, My- ler bits, Best Ever pads, Justin full-quill ostrich boots, Yeti cool- ers and Cactus horse blankets — all BFI-customized. "I feel like we both roped our roping," Thorp said. "If we had a chance at a shot we took it, and we didn't safety up and we didn't try to do too much." Small and Thorp were team No. 1, which isn't the preferred draw position in team roping. But these two have ice in their veins. They got the flag in 7.55 seconds on that one, and Thorp stopped the second steer in a quick 6.22 for money. "I really like the set-up here," said Small. "I like that they have that 18-foot head start and you have to use your horse. I have a good horse so it works in my fa- vor." A business-like 8.25-second run on the third round moved them to second overall in the roping, and their time of 7.23 gave them the high-call position by three sec- onds. "I was more nervous for that fifth steer than I was for the short round," said Thorp. "Then it's all about getting by the last steer and it's over. In the fifth round, you still have to get there. And if that doesn't work, you don't have any- thing to show for it." In the finals, the second-place team of Lane Ivy and BJ Dugger did everything they could to catch the leaders, making a great run of 6.56. But when a pair of cold-as- ice young jackpot kings have nine and a half seconds with which to win a jackpot, you can lay your money down. They made a run of 6.34 — the second-fastest time of the round — to win the total time on six head with the second- fastest time in the 39 years of the event. "I was just glad we caught him and there were no surprises," Small said. "Even though my horse has a lot of speed, he rates really good. It went better than planned." The eight-hour event demands mental toughness, Thorp said, and he would mount his horse about 20 minutes before each run and stay off by himself to stay fo- cused. Also, he didn't eat all day. "I have a goal to win obviously, but I try not to get ahead of myself and think I'll go win the roping," he said. "I just rope each steer for what he's worth. I try not to tell myself when to throw; I just ride and get position. It's not always going to work out, so I don't get that discouraged if it doesn't." He's only 20, but if he sounds like a much older veteran, it could be the mentoring he's had from veteran instructors Tyler Mag- nus and Speed Williams. Plus, just two days before the BFI, Thorp won the national championship at the 2016 College National Fi- nals Rodeo in Casper, Wyo., after catching four steers in 24.4 sec- onds with Cole Wheeler. He's done now with his online Ranger College business classes, and is contemplating where he'll get his next online college credits. Since Small graduated from Tar- leton State University this year, the two have practiced every day in Stephenville, Texas. Through mid-June, they'd won $33,000 in their first year of full-time PRCA competition to rank fifth and fourth, respectively, in the world rodeo heading and heeling stand- ings. Small's $65,000 will go toward RODEO CollegeropersbeattheprosinReno RODEO PAGE 2 THANASSIS STAVRAKIS — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Sweden's Zlatan Ibrahimovic, center, reacts at the end of the Euro 2016Group E soccer match between Sweden and Belgium at the Allianz Riviera stadium in Nice, France, Wednesday. By Rob Harris The Associated Press PARIS With the European Cham- pionship group stage over, UEFA proudly flagged up a statistic on Thursday: no team won all three games. Not World Cup holder Ger- many and certainly not two-time defending European champion Spain, which only advanced to the round of 16 as a group runner-up. The lack of walkovers and dead-rubber group games pro- vides some vindication for UEFA after eight teams were added to make its showpiece a 24-team event. Here is an overview of the group stage as the continental championship takes a pause be- fore resuming Saturday: HistoryMakers Part of the joy of the expanded European Championship was the appearance of five new teams. They weren't pushovers. Far from it. And the joy of their fans was infectious as some tasted the big- stage for the first time in soccer. Only Albania went home early as Iceland, Northern Ireland, Slo- vakia and Wales marched into the round of 16. Wales was even the joint-top scorer in the group stage, along- side Hungary, with six goals. Standout Game It took until the final round of matches and game 34 for the most chaotically entertaining fix- ture: a six-goal thriller between Portugal and Hungary. It saw more than three times the av- erage number of goals (1.92) per group stage game in France, the lowest since Euro '92, which fea- tured only eight teams. The 3-3 draw between Portu- gal and Hungary was far more open than some of the tight, ca- gey and — in some cases — sim- ply dull games. Cristiano Ronaldo rediscov- ered his scoring touch with a flicked goal and a towering header as four goals were scored in 17 minutes. And Ronaldo set new records: for most European Championship finals goals (17) and most tournaments with a goal (4). All that was missing was a red card, of which there were only two in the 36 group-stage games. EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS Parity made group stages exciting DRAFT PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, June 24, 2016 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1