Top-seeded Washington defeated Colorado 66-61 and Oregon edged Arizona State 79-75 in overtime Friday night to advance to the championship game of the Pac-12 Tournament.
Sam Gordon
Sam Gordon was born and raised in Minneapolis and is back for his second stint with the Review-Journal. He’s covered the NFL, NBA, the Big Ten, the Mountain West and prep sports for various publications during his professional tenure. Gordon, a University of Minnesota graduate, is a basketball junkie who coached high school basketball for three seasons.
The 6-foot-7-inch sophomore averaged 6.1 points and 5.1 rebounds last year for the Buffaloes, but assumed a more prominent role and nearly doubled his production in both to 13.2 and 9.7 en route to All-Pac-12 first-team honors.
Officials at American Preparatory Academy said they knew about Dave Bliss’ sordid past at Baylor University when they hired him as the charter school’s athletic director and basketball coach.
Thornton, who played two years at Findlay Prep and a year at Duke, scored 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting, and added three steals as a reserve to spark a 78-65 victory over the Wildcats in the first round of the Pac-12 tournament.
The Pac-12 tournament begins Wednesday at T-Mobile Arena without a team ranked in the AP 25, and with only two in position to secure bids to the NCAA Tournament, according toESPN’s Joe Lunardi.
The Cardinal finished second in the league during the regular season but embarked on a 16-3 run over the final five minutes to cement a 64-57 win over the regular-season champion Ducks.
Oregon’s Sabrina Ionescu, a 5-foot-11 point guard, has flaunted in Las Vegas the precocious skillset that has helped her net an NCAA record 17 triple-doubles and emerge as perhaps the top prospect in next month’s WNBA Draft.
Madison Washington, a junior at Oregon State, had two points and two rebounds in a 68-67 upset loss to Washington in the Pac-12 women’s tournament quarterfinals Friday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
Utah freshman forward Dre’Una Edwards, a Liberty High graduate, averaged 11.6 points and 6.7 rebounds and shot 54 percent from the field before tearing her right ACL on Feb. 22.
Sam Thomas — a Centennial graduate and the 2016-17 state Gatorade Girls Basketball Player of the Year — is averaging 9.5 points and 3.7 rebounds in 34.1 minutes per game for Arizona.
Vegas Madness returns as men’s and women’s college basketball teams from four Division I conferences will congregate in Las Vegas and attempt to solidify the coveted automatic berths to the NCAA Tournament.
Senior guard Lainey Cornwall scored a game-high 20 points and made two free throws with 3.8 seconds left to help Moapa Valley cement a 43-38 victory over Lowry in the Class 3A state semifinals Friday at Orleans Arena.
The Bulldogs became the first Class 4A girls program to win five consecutive state championships Friday with a 78-47 victory over Bishop Gorman at Orleans Arena.
Bishop Gorman defeated Spanish Springs 54-38 and Centennial rolled past Desert Oasis 79-48 on Friday in the semifinals of the Class 4A girls state basketball tournament at Orleans Arena.
Bishop Gorman coasted to a 49-18 victory over Canyon Springs, and Desert Oasis rolled past Reno 66-32 on Wednesday in the quarterfinals of the Class 4A state basketball tournament at Arbor View High School.