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Sports 1B Tuesday March 9, 2010 Tuesday Baseball — Chico at Red Bluff, 1 p.m. Baseball — Corning at Orland, 3:30 p.m. Softball — Corning at Orland, 3:30 p.m. Softball — West Valley at Red Bluff, 3:30 p.m. Tennis — Chico at Red Bluff, 3 p.m. Tennis —West Valley at Corning, 3:30 p.m. Golf — Corning at Sevillano Links, Noon Golf — Los Molinos at Cache Creek Mockery: Based on the show "Oscars" by ABC Welcome to the Tehama County Sports Oscars. Our athletes are strutting down the fieldturf carpet as we speak so let's introduce tonight's hosts. We couldn't get Steven Bald- win, but we did get his brother — it's William Baldwin. His partner tonight, a former comedian great, no Steve Martin wouldn't return our calls either — it's Gallagher. Hopefully we at least booked the real one and not his brother. We'll skip over any Dogie Howser sing-a-longs and get straight to the awards. Up first — Best Actor in a Supporting Role The nominees are: Jc Conrad, for Los Molinos basketball; Trevor Gip- son, for Red Bluff football; Mitchell Lopez, for Mercy basketball; Calvin Meister for Corning wrestling and Cameron Nye for Corning football. And the Academy Award goes to: Cameron Nye, for Corning Cardinals football. This is Nye's first Academy Award, he has also been nominated for Best Actor in a Leading role later tonight for his work in Corning Cardinals basketball. This was no Rudy-like performance as Nye racked up 974 yards rushing this season — not a bad second option to have out of the backfield — and scored 15 touchdowns for the Cardinals. Over to the ladies, our next award — Best Actress in a Supporting Role The nominees are: Regan Albee, Corning basketball; Callie Carruth, Los Molinos volleyball; Victoria Owens, Corning tennis; Kirstin Wagenfuhr, Los Molinos volleyball and Vanessa Willard, Red Bluff volleyball. Anyone of these athletes could have starred in their own right and at times did, but instead they frequently put the team first. And the Academy Award goes to: Victoria Owens, Corning Lady Cardinals tennis In her first season playing tennis, Owens marched all the way up the Corning ladder to the point where she was playing in the No. 1 singles and doubles positions. Along the way Corning won a Northern Athletic League title with a perfect league season and only lost two meets overall. Back to the men — Best Actor in a Leading Role The nominees are: Freddy Carrillo, Corning cross country; Jeremie Jones, Mercy basketball; Cameron Nye, Corning bas- ketball; Dillon Reid, Red Bluff wrestling and Fontaine Richardson, Corning football. And the Academy Award goes to: Dillon Reid, Red Bluff wrestling Reid just barely finished his body of work in time to be considered for this year's awards. The Spartan wrestler medaled at the state champi- onships in the 152-pound division with his only losses at the tournament coming to other medallists. There's already a lot of buzz about yet another Reid in the state finals sequel coming to a mat near you. Best Actress in a Leading Role The nominees are: Lily Brose, Red Bluff basketball; Brittney Garrett, Corning basketball; Benicia Grace, Mercy volleyball; Monica Maxwell, Los Molinos volleyball and Jaklyn Wheeler, Red Bluff volleyball. And the Academy Award goes to: Jaklyn Wheeler, Red Bluff volleyball No surprise here as the Oregon-bound spiker picks up a much-deserved award, breaking records as she goes. Of course none of these athletes could have become the stars they did if it wasn't for our next award — Best Director The nominees are: Lou Buran, Corning girls tennis; Andrew Farrell, Corning cross country, Steve Shellabarger, Mercy boys basketball, John Studer, Corn- ing football and Kim Wheeler, Red Bluff volleyball. And the Academy Award goes to: Steve Shellabarg- er, Mercy boys basketball Shellabarger channeled Gene Hackman's Hoosiers performance to lead a tiny school to big things and he didn't even have Jimmy Chitwood on the roster. This year the Oscars upped the Best Film nomina- tions to 10 and here at the Tehama County Sports version we're happy they did, because there were so many great games, matches and meets to choose from. The nominees are: Red Bluff football's second half comeback victory over Anderson; Spartan wrestler Dillon Reid's Masters sectional 154-pound final match against Foothill's Travis Gallegos; the Red Bluff-Pleasant Valley girls volleyball sectional championship match; Andres Marquez rally- ing Corning to a road win over Central Valley with a blocked punt and then field goal conversion; Mercy's basketball championship game against Maxwell; Corn- ing girls tennis battles Central Valley in the Northern Section semifinals; Mercy snaps the Los Molinos soccer win streak with a 5-4 back-and-forth tussle; the Corning Lady Cardinals basketball team falls in double-overtime on the road against Lassen; the Red Bluff Spartans boys basketball team wins the third place game at the Holiday Classic with a 58-55 win over Helix; Corning wins the boys soccer sectional championship. These were all great sporting events to watch, even if some didn't have the storybook ending we would have liked. That makes it easy to say the winner of this cate- gory — is the fans. Daily News Sports Editor Rich Greene went 6-for-8 in his Oscar picks pool, but he did pick "The Hurt Locker" for best film and highly recommends it. You can reach him for sports-based recommendations or questions at 527-2151, ext. 109 or by e-mail at sports@redbluffdailynews.com. Rich Greene Red Bluff's Blaser, Brose earn all-league mentions By RICH GREENE DN Sports Editor Red Bluff Spartans basketball players Grant Blaser and Lily Brose earned honorable men- tions, Monday, to the Eastern Athletic League All-League teams. A senior, Blaser led the Spartans in scoring (12.7), assists (3.2) and steals (1.8) per game. He also pulled averaged 4.8 rebounds per game and blocked 14 shots this season as Red Bluff's point guard. A freshman, Brose received an honorable mention despite missing the last nine games of the season due to a knee injury. At the time of her injury, Brose was aver- aging 18.1 points per game and was among the highest scoring freshman point guards in the entire country. Chico, Enterprise and Pleasant Valley each had two players make the 2010 boys basketball All-League team. Chico's Sterling Smith was the only underclassman to make the team. He was joined by teammate Andrew Perlinger, Enterprise's Williams brothers, Anthony and James, the Pleasant Valley duo of Bren Haley and Jaycob Velasco and Foothill's Devin Crisosto. Joining Blaser as honorable men- tions were one sophomore, Enter- prise's Alex Henderson and four more seniors — Mark Rothwell (Foothill), Jonathan Breevaart (Paradise), Jordan Rodrigues (Pleasant Valley) and Tony Moore (Shasta). Only five girls were named to the All-League girls team. Chico had a pair of players in seniors Clara Chrisco and Anna Bar- tel. They were joined by Paradise junior Caressa Williams, Pleasant Val- ley junior Kiley Mansfield and Shasta senior Kiley Titus. Joining Brose as honorable men- tions were five seniors — Kristy Reynolds (Chico), Megan McCue (Enterprise), Jenna Coats (Foothill), Kylie Costa (Oroville) and Allie Grant (Pleasant Valley). Raiders release Walker, Ellis ALAMEDA (AP) — The Oakland Raiders released wide receiver Javon Walker and defensive end Greg Ellis on Monday in their latest dumping of veteran players. The moves follow Satur- day's decision to cut ties with longtime running back Justin Fargas. Walker was a disap- pointment right from the start after signing a $55 million contract that includ- ed an $11 million signing bonus two years ago. He caught 15 passes for 196 yards and one touch- down in two injury-plagued seasons in Oakland, while being paid $14 million. The Raiders were hop- ing to have added a No. 1 receiver when they signed Walker. He had 89 catches for 1,382 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2004 for Green Bay and 69 catches for 1,084 yards and eight scores in 2006 in Denver. He injured his knee in 2007 and never was the same player again. He was criticized almost from the start in 2008 by former Raiders coach Lane Kiffin for being out of shape in offseason work- outs and then was seriously injured in June during a robbery in Las Vegas. He contemplated retire- ment in his first training camp before being talked out of it by Raiders owner Al Davis. Walker played eight games his first season in Oakland before being sidelined by a season-end- ing ankle injury. He had knee surgery last offseason out of the country without telling the team and barely played in 2009. He appeared in only three games and caught no pass- es, fumbling on his only punt return chance. Walker never cracked the lineup despite Oak- land's struggles at receiver. The Raiders' corps of wide receivers combined for 95 catches and seven touch- downs. Ellis signed a two-year contract with Oakland last June after being released by Dallas and provided a strong veteran presence on the line. He was tied for the team lead with seven sacks last season but was hampered the second half by chronic knee problems. He was due $2.5 million next season. MCT file photo Javon Walker drops a pass while playing for the Oakland Raiders. Hornets beat Warriors in shootout NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Darren Collison had 16 points and a career-high 20 assists, and the New Orleans Hornets snapped a four-game losing streak with a 135-131 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Monday night. Collison's assists total tied Phoenix's Steve Nash for the most in an NBA game this season. Marcus Thornton and David West each scored 28 points for the Hornets, who shot 59 percent (54 of 92) and had six players in dou- ble figures. Anthony Morrow made all six 3-pointers he attempted and had 28 points for Golden State, which tied a team season high with 13 3s. Reggie Williams also scored 28 points, while C.J. Watson had 12 points but missed a 3-point attempt that could have tied it in the final sec- onds. In a meeting of teams on four-game skids, something had to give. Neither team played much defense, which made for a thrilling, high-scoring, back-and- forth contest to the end. Both teams surpassed 10 3s in the game, with the War- riors going 13 of 25 and the Hornets going 10 of 22. Golden State also shot 59 percent (50 of 85) and had seven players in double figures. Corey Maggette and Devean George each scored 18, Stephen Curry scored 12 and Chris Hunter 10. Peja Stojakovic scored 16 points, all in the first three quarters before he left with a right groin strain. Emeka Okafor had 22 points and 11 rebounds for New Orleans, while Morris Peterson scored 12 points, all on his four 3-pointers. David West also had a team-leading 13 rebounds for New Orleans, which outrebounded the Warriors 44-23. The largest lead for either team was 12 when Okafor's alley-oop dunk of Collison's lob made it 84- 72. Golden State responded with six straight points on Williams' jumper, Maggette's driving layup and Hunter's turnaround bank shot, and no team led by more than single digits again. Golden State led 123- 121 on Morrow's driving floater with about three minutes left. West respond- ed with a tough layup as he was spun around and fouled by George. He converted the three-point play, which ignited a 9-0 run that fea- tured three layups by Thornton, the last after Col- lison made his third steal and fed his fellow rookie the ball on a fast break. Curry's back-to-back 3s trimmed New Orleans' lead to 130-129 with 30 seconds left. Collison then ran down the shot clock inside 10 sec- onds, drove into the paint and drained a driving floater over Curry to make it 132-129 with 9.7 seconds left. New Orleans then pur- posely fouled Williams to prevent Golden State from hitting another 3. Williams made both free throws, but the Hornets were able to inbound to West, who made two free throws on the other end with 7.3 seconds left. Golden State had no timeouts left, but still got the ball quickly in the cor- ner to Watson, whose quick 3-point attempt hit the top of the backboard. Thornton, who hurt his back falling over Tony Parker in a loss at San Antonio on Friday night, returned without missing a game and came off the bench to score 16 in the first half against a Golden State team not known for playing defense. The Warriors came in giving up a league-worst 110.8 points per game. New Orleans had four play- ers — including Stojakovic (12 points), West (11) and Okafor (11) — in double figures by halftime. Still, New Orleans took only a 67-62 lead into the locker room because Mor- row (10 points), Maggette (10), George (13) and Williams (13) also reached double figures for Golden State in the first 24 minutes. NOTES: Collison's nine assists in the first quarter tied his career high for assists in one quarter. ... Golden State is 4-28 on the road. ... Golden State has made at least 13 3s in a game two other times this season, in a victory over the Los Angeles Clippers Feb. 10 and a loss to Philadel- phia Feb. 23. ... The Hor- nets' 135 points were a sea- son high and fourth highest in Hornets history. The last time they scored more was 136 on April 9, 1997, against Boston.