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StaffReports SIOUXFALLS,S.D. An inspired defensive effort by the Chico State men's basketball team wasn't enough to keep one of the best seasons in Wildcat his- tory going. No. 3 Lincoln Memorial held the sixth-seeded Wildcats with- out a field goal for 6 minutes in the second half and put together a 15-1 run to pull away late, de- feating Chico State 74-61 to ad- vance to the Final Four in the semifinal round of the NCAA Di- vision II tournament Wednes- day night at the Sanford Pen- tagon. Chico State (26-8) likely would take the defensive re- sults it turned in on Wednes- day any night, but its offensive struggle, especially in the sec- ond half, was the stuff of night- mares. Near-misses, turnovers and missed free throws plagued the Wildcats, who went cold at the worst possible time against a Lincoln Memorial team that cer- tainly presented an opportunity before it closed Chico out. "I want to start by giving (Lincoln Memorial) a lot of credit. They are a very talented and well-coached team," Chico State head coach Greg Clink said. "The bottom line is that we failed to execute. I felt like we were right there in a good spot without playing well. We were ready to play, but we didn't ex- ecute like we needed to (in or- der) to beat a team at this level. We were capable of playing bet- ter than that. That's what's hard. We didn't play to our potential." COLLEGE BASKETBALL WILDCATS' SEASON COMES TO AN END Chico State falls to No. 3 Lincoln Memorial in Elite Eight game of the NCAA DII tournament ChicoState'sIsaiahEllisgoesupforashotasLincolnMemorial's Luquon Choice (20) defends in Wednesday's game. PHOTOS BY JON KLEMME — CONTRIBUTED Chico State's Robert Duncan goes up against Lincoln Memorial's Emanuel Terry (33) and Chris Perry (1) during Wednesday's game of the NCAA Division II tournament's Elite Eight in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where the Wildcats fell 74-61. By Barry Wilner The Associated Press NEW YORK NFL owners will consider proposals next week to cut regular-season overtime from 15 minutes to 10; eliminate players leaping over the line on kick plays; and expansion of coaches' challenges and what can be reviewed by officials. In what promises to be a busy annual meeting next week in Phoenix that will include dis- cussing the Raiders' potential relocation from Oakland to Las Vegas, the 32 owners also will vote on changing the mechan- ics on replay reviews and other items intended to reduce down- time during games. The Eagles proposed four rules changes, including abol- ishing the leaping techniques that league football operations director Troy Vincent said Thursday "don't belong in the game." Seattle and Buffalo co-au- thored a proposal allowing a coach to challenge any officiat- ing decision, whether a foul is called or not. "That is a significant change to our current replay rule and it is something that will be on the floor and will be debated next week," NFL officiating chief Dean Blandino said. Another major change would be the reduction of overtime in- season; the extra period in the playoffs would remain at 15 min- utes. The powerful competition committee, of which Vincent and Blandino are members, be- lieved it's a player safety issue, noting that number of snaps for games going to OT — especially deep into the overtime — is ex- cessive. Especially if a team has a quick turnaround. "We don't know where a team is going to be playing the next week, it could be four days later," NFL Owners mull cut of regular-season OT to 10 minutes It's not Las Vegas vs. Oakland any more, not really. The Raiders' future? As NFL owners get set to congregate in Ari- zona over the next few days, all at- tention is on Las Vegas, its freely available money (whether or not that's wise), and the Raiders' desire to relocate there. Not on Oakland. And its lack of available money (which I think is wise). And the Raiders' and the NFL's extreme disinter- est in, and distaste for, any po- tential plan to keep the team in the East Bay. You can blame whoever you want for this, and there is plenty of it to go around, but for all Raiders purposes, Oakland is in the rear-view mirror, past-tense, removed from viability in this conversation. (Except for the plan to keep playing in the Coliseum two more seasons while the prospec- tive Las Vegas stadium is con- structed, and yes, that could get quite awkward.) For the upcoming meeting, this is singularly about the own- ers deciding whether Las Vegas is ready for a "yes" vote. It's not about Oakland; it's not about Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf and Ronnie Lott's devel- opment group trying to round up nine "no" votes for Vegas. Because the NFL owners just aren't listening to any Oakland representative anymore; there just isn't an Oakland deal there that the NFL will consider and they have that Las Vegas money sitting there on the table. The exact site in Las Vegas hasn't quite been picked out yet, the terms of the lease agreement are still slightly blurry in some areas, and Bank of America only recently jumped into the pic- ture to fill the $650 million gap opened up when casino magnate Sheldon Adelson (and Goldman Sachs) exited the project. There are questions to ask and numbers to clarify, no doubt. And if there is an up-or- down vote for Las Vegas, it likely will be conditional just on firm- ing up some of the numbers that the owners can only assume at this point. But from very credible re- ports just in the last few days by CBS' Jason La Canfora, Al- bert Breer of Sports Illustrated's MMQB and the NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, it's obvious that the NFL's process has shifted from figuring out if Las Vegas can work … to making sure that it does. If there's a debate over ap- proval, it'll be over Las Vegas is- sues, not because the NFL is try- ing to give Oakland more time. If there's a delay over Las Vegas, it'll be because the owners want more time to clarify the Ne- vada deal, not over any second thoughts about Oakland. RAIDERS COMMENTARY Oakland is now in rear-view mirror CHARLIE RIEDEL — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Michigan guard Derrick Walton Jr., center, passes between Oregon's Dillon Brooks, le , and Casey Benson, right, during the second half of a regional semifinal in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday. The Associated Press KANSAS CITY, MO. Tyler Dorsey scored 20 points and made the go-ahead layup with 1:08 left, and third-seeded Oregon ended No. 7 Michigan's dramatic post- season run with a 69-68 victory in a Midwest Regional semifinal on Thursday night. Dorsey, the man the Ducks call "Mr. March," had his sixth straight game scoring 20 or more points. The Wolverines (27-11) had one more chance to extend their run after Dylan Ennis missed a free throw with 15 seconds left. But Derrick Walton, who had carried the Wolverines the last three weeks, was off with his long jumper just before the buzzer. Jordan Bell had a double-dou- ble for the Ducks (32-5), with 16 points and 13 rebounds. Pac-12 player of the year Dillon Brooks added 12 points and Dylan Ennis had 10. Walton led the Wolverines with 20 points, eight assists and five re- bounds. Zak Irvin had 14 of his 19 points in the second half and DJ Wilson had 12 points. Oregon plays Kansas or Purdue on Saturday in the regional final. The Ducks are going to the Elite Eight for the second year in a row, and they made it without big man Chris Boucher, who went out in the Pac-12 Tournament semifi- nals with a season-ending knee injury. Oregon still had plenty of in- side game without Boucher, out- scoring the Wolverines 34-16 in the pain and outrebounding them 36-31. Its biggest play in the post came after Walton had made a jumper to give Michigan a 68-65 lead. Ennis got fouled and went to the line for a one-and-one. He missed, and Bell swooped in for the offensive rebound and put it in to make it a one-point game. After Walton missed a layup, Dorsey gave the Ducks the lead. Ennis missed another free MEN'S NCAA TOURNAMENT DucksheadingtoEliteEight No. 1 Gonzaga survives West Virginia Tim Kawakami KAWAKAMI PAGE 2 NFL PAGE 2 WILDCATS PAGE 2 NCAA PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Friday, March 24, 2017 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1