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ByAnthonySlater BayAreaNewsGroup MINNEAPOLIS The Warriors had one last gasp to escape Minneapolis with a needed win: Down one with 10 seconds left, the clock ticking and the ball, temporarily, in Steph Curry's hands. But he fumbled it away, throwing a jagged final posses- sion off kilter. Curry recovered, but the rhythm and design had already been ruined. Curry still had a couple seconds left, but he opted to just get a shot off. Curry faded away and bricked a contested jumper and — fol- lowing a rebound scramble and an impossible jump-ball situa- tion — the loss was official: 103- 102 Timberwolves, the Warriors' fourth loss in six games. And this felt like an impor- tant one. Instead of resting his stars in advance of a huge game in San Antonio on Saturday night, Steve Kerr decided to not only play them, but chase down a victory. Curry logged 36 min- utes, Klay Thompson played 37 and Draymond Green played 38. They were down 17 at one point in the first half, looking sluggish in transition and allow- ing a fired up Wolves team to zip around them and out-tough them in the paint. But the tenor changed mid- way through the game. The Warriors — aided by a hot Klay Thompson — jolted back into the game. Thompson finished with 30 points for the first time since before the All-Star break, nailing multiple big jumpers. NBA Warriors can't chase down Wolves in tiring loss By Jerry McDonald Bay Area News Group SANTA CLARA It was a crowded a dais as anyone could remember, but quarterback Kirk Cousins oc- cupied none of the nine seats as the 49ers unveiled their open- ing wave of free agents Friday at Levi's Stadium. In the middle was coach Kyle Shanahan and general manager John Lynch. To Shanahan's right were quarterback Brian Hoyer, place kicker Robbie Gould and wide receivers Marquise Good- win and Pierre Garcon. To Lynch's left were fullback Kyle Juszczyk, tight end Logan Paulsen and line- backer Malcolm Smith. Cousins, meanwhile, signed his exclusive franchise tender with Washington for one year and $23.9 million. An NFL Media re- port indicated it was a clear indi- cation Cousins realized he wasn't going to be traded to the 49ers or anyone else and that he would play out the year in Washington. On the other hand, an anony- mous source told Eric Galko of the Sporting News that Cousins said "I'll play for the 49ers in 2017 or 2018." Shanahan was Cousins' first NFL coach as offensive coordi- nator in Washington in 2012-13. Shanahan and Lynch are prohib- ited by NFL rules from talking about players under contract to another team. Hoyer, the presumptive starter who also played under Shanahan with Cleveland in 2014, promised he wasn't going to lose any sleep over the thought of Cousins join- ing the team either this year or next. "I know he knows Kirk, he drafted him in Washington," Hoyer said. "I signed a two-year deal, but I was really focused on the excitement of flying out here, meeting these guys and seeing what we can do this year. You look beyond that and you're do- ing yourself a disservice." Hoyer, 31, is working to reac- quaint himself with the system Shanahan ran when the two were together in Cleveland in 2014. He is the quarterback of the 49ers until told otherwise. "When we got to the point where we were going to do the deal and I felt comfortable with it, I'm not going to worry about it because it's out of my control," Hoyer said. "I have familiarity with the system, I'm going to re- fresh myself. When we start off in April, I can help these guys." 49ERS Ho ye r no t worried about Cousins By Jeff Larson jlarson@paradisepost.com @jtlarson on Twitter CHICO With its power right-hander in the circle, the Paradise High var- sity softball team kicked off the 2017 season bright and early Friday morning against fellow division III playoff foe Red Bluff at the Pleasant Valley two-day tournament. Savannah Berkowitz received a pitcher's no-decision to kickoff her senior year, firing two innings of one-run ball before giving way to sophomore Kelsi Rice, who allowed the eight other runs as Paradise fell to Red Bluff, 9-2 in a shortened five- and-a-half inning game due to the 1 hour, 30-minute tournament time limit. "(Savannah) wanted to throw against Chico and Sutter so that's what she's going to do," Paradise coach Lennie Dean said. "Kelsi did a nice job, we didn't support her much (and) made some errors behind her (so) that gets things steam rolling." The Bobcats bounced back with a 5-4 win over upper division oppo- nent Chico in the second game Fri- day to give veteran coach Lennie Dean his 200th career victory over 10 seasons as the head coach of Par- adise. Dean and Paradise (1-1) begin Sat- urday's tournament slate at 10:45 a.m. against Modoc (Alturas) at De- Garmo Park in Chico. Dean's Bobcats struggled with Red Bluff (3-3), a team they may see in the playoffs despite the league re- alignment to the Westside League this season. The Spartans struck for six runs in the bottom of the third on six hits to overtake Paradise and grab a 7-2 lead. "A little disappointed in the way we played, I know we haven't been out on the field a lot but all our girls play ball all year long," Dean said. We made too many mistakes and we didn't hit." The offense just wasn't present late, nullifying a potential rally. In the fifth, junior leadoff Jenna So- brero cracked a one-out double that bounced over the short fence in center. But she was left stranded with Rice and Jenna Griffith each grounding out to end the inning. Then in the top of the sixth, junior BOBCATS SOFTBALL RedBluffbeatsParadiseinPVtourney SOFTBALL PAGE 2 BENMARGOT—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS 49ers QB Brian Hoyer answers a question at a press conference Friday in Santa Clara. 49ERS PAGE 2 By Chip Thompson editor@redbluffdailynews.com @editorchip on Twitter RED BLUFF Despite a tough sea- son for the Mercy Warriors boys basketball team a bright spot was center Marcus Kuchle, who led the Five Star league and was third in the state in rebounds, av- eraging 17.7 per game. Kuchle hauled in a total of 442 rebounds over the course of 25 games, compared to the state's No. 1 rebounder Horant Chen, of Cornerstone Christian in Wil- domar, who had 369 over the course of 19 games. In the No. 2 spot was Dexter Aranda, of An- nenberg in Los Angeles, with 260 in 14 games. In points per game, Kuchle was No. 2 in the Five Star league with 17.7 and a total on the season of 442. He notched 23 assists, 31 steals and 42 blocks — No. 2 in the league for the latter. The numbers are more remark- able considering they came on a 7-man team with just a single win on the year — a 65-53 victory over Ipakanni Early College Charter in Oroville Dec. 2 at the Los Moli- nos tournament. Kuchle scored 40 that night and pulled in 24 boards. MERCY HIGH CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD DN FILE PHOTO Mercy's Marcus Kuchle, #22, goes up for a block against Los Molinos' Ty Isaksen during a Jan. 17game at Mercy High School. CHIP THOMPSON - DAILY NEWS Mercy's Marcus Kuchle poses with coach Steve Shellabarger at Mercy High School Feb. 22. Warriors' Kuchle No. 3 in the state for rebounds KUCHLE PAGE 2 WARRIORS PAGE 2 Paradise High sophomore shortstop Brooke Nonneman tags out Red Bluff's Emily Tatro trying to stretch a single into a double during the fi h inning Friday morning in Chico. PHOTOS BY RICK SILVA — PARADISE POST SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Saturday, March 11, 2017 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1