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Category: Sports

Benedictine women knock off Bethel; Ziesel scores game-high 18

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BCThe Benedictine women’s basketball team returned home on Tuesday night for their first game inside the Ralph Nolan Gymnasium since Nov. 8.

Benedictine (4-4) moved back to .500 on the season with a nine-point win over Bethel (Kan.) College, 65-56.

After playing to a tie at 30 points at halftime, the Ravens used a 15 for 20 effort at the charity stripe in the second half to overcome a slow start to the final 20 minutes and earn the win.

Benedictine turned a five-point lead at the midpoint of the first half into a 27-13 advantage with six minutes and 21 seconds left in the first half.

Bethel responded outscoring the Ravens 17-3 over the final six minutes of the half to pull the score even at halftime.

Both teams converted 33.3 percent from the floor in the first half with the Threshers knocking down one more field goal.

In the second half, Bethel went to full-court pressure that forced Benedictine into back-to-back turnovers which led to an early four-point advantage for the Threshers.

The lead changed hands six times in the second half before Benedictine’s Lexi Villegas went to the line for the bonus with just over five minutes remaining in the game.

Benedictine converted on 13 of 17 free throws over the final five minutes of the game and got a basket in the paint from Jayde Reid with three minutes and 23 seconds remaining to remain in front of Bethel and earn the win.

Jackie Ziesel scored a game-high 18 points for the Ravens to lead three players in double figures. Chayla Rutledge scored 14 points followed by Alexa Taff with 10. Reid added 7 points off a 3 for 3 effort from the floor while Villegas finished with 6 points as she went 6 fof 6 from the charity stripe.

Bethel was led in scoring by the 14 points of April Harpe.

Benedictine finished the game hitting 24 of 30 at the free throw line as they converted a new season high for made free throws. The Ravens also forced the Threshers in to 24 turnovers, setting a new single-game high for opponent turnovers. Those 24 turnovers led directly to 20 points as the Ravens finished the game with a 20-11 advantage in points off turnovers.

The Ravens remain at home for their next game, at 5:30 p.m. Dec. 2 as they host the College of St. Mary.

— BC Sports Information —

Huskers’ Abdullah named Doak Walker Award finalist

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NebraskariggertNebraska senior I-back Ameer Abdullah has been named one of three finalists for the Doak Walker Award, given annually to the nation’s top running back.

Abdullah is joined as finalists by fellow Big Ten running backs Tevin Coleman of Indiana and Melvin Gordon of Wisconsin. With the trio of Big Ten running backs being selected as finalists, it marks the first time in the 25-year history of the award that all three finalists are from the same conference. The finalists were determined by a vote of the Doak Walker National Selection Committee.

The recipient of the 2014 Doak Walker Award will be announced on ESPN during The Home Depot College Football Awards from Orlando on Thursday, Dec. 11.

Abdullah is the third Nebraska running back to be named a finalist for the Doak Walker Award, joining Calvin Jones (1993) and Ahman Green (1997).

A native of Homewood, Ala., Abdullah has rushed for 1,417 yards this season, including four 200-yard rushing games, despite being limited by a knee injury over the past three games. Abdullah ranks among the top 10 in the country in rushing yards per game, all-purpose yards per game and scoring.

Abdullah has set a Nebraska career record with 6,798 all-purpose yards, a total that ranks second in Big Ten history. Abdullah was a semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award as a junior in 2013.

In addition to being a Doak Walker Award finalist, Abdullah is a finalist for four other national awards, including the Senior CLASS Award, the Wuerffel Trophy, the Paul Hornung Award and the Pop Warner College Football Award.

Off the field, Abdullah is set to graduate in December, completing his degree work at Nebraska in 3 ½ years.

— NU Sports Information —

Griffon men fall at Upper Iowa 82-70 for first loss

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riggertMissouriWesternThe Missouri Western men’s basketball team lost their first game of 2014, falling at Upper Iowa Monday night 82-70.

The Griffons shot 42 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from three-point range after going just 1-11 from behind the arc in the first half.  The Peacocks led by as many as 23 points in the second half.

Three Griffons scored double-figures. Aaaron Emmanuel led the way with 14. Currie Byrd scored 13 and pulled down seven rebounds while Dareon Jones added 11 points.

Missouri Western is 2-1 on the season and will stay on the road this weekend when they travel to Springfield, Missouri for the Doubletree Houlihan’s Thanksgiving Classic at Drury University.  They play East Central (OK) at 1:00 PM Friday and the game will be broadcast on 680 KFEQ AM.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Dewey leads Missouri Western women past Mid-America Nazarene

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MWSUThe Missouri Western Women’s Basketball team moved to 3-1 on the season with a 76-69 win over MidAmerica Nazarene Tuesday night in the MWSU Fieldhouse.

The Griffons stretched a 37-31 halftime lead to a 17-point lead with 15 minutes left in the game. Missouri Western led by 14 with 3:35 to go but the Pioneers outscored MWSU 13-5 over the game’s last three minutes to pull within seven.

The two teams combined for 48 total turnovers with MidAmerica Nazarene committing 26. The Griffons shot 43.5 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from behind the arc. Chelsea Dewey paced the Griffons with 17 points with LaQuinta Jefferson adding 16 and Sarafina Handy scoring 12. Tiara Hall just missed a double-double with 11 rebounds and nine points.

Missouri Western returns to the fieldhouse this weekend when they host the Inaugural Holiday Inn Express Classic on Friday and Saturday. The Griffons take on Evangel on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. and Maryville University on Saturday at 5:00 p.m.

— MWSU Sports Information —

Mizzou can’t keep up with No. 2 Arizona in Maui

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riggertMizzouLAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Slow starts and strong finishes are nothing new to Arizona. The Wildcats did it in three games on the mainland and started the Maui Invitational the same way.

They better get it fixed fast with the competition ramping up over the next two days.

Rondae Hollis-Jefferson and Brandon Ashley each scored 15 points, helping No. 3 Arizona wear down Missouri for a 72-53 victory in the opening round of the Maui Invitational on Monday.

“That initial surge out of the gates of playing well at both ends, I don’t know if we’ve really done that,” Arizona coach Sean Miller said. “I can also flip it and make it a positive, because like every team at this time of the year, you’re in search of getting better and improving. Today is another step for our team.”

Arizona (4-0) got off to slow starts in two of its first three games and wasn’t exactly sharp early against the Tigers.

The Wildcats struggled to hit shots from the perimeter and were at times disjointed offensively before a short spurt put them up five a halftime.

They made up for it on defense, holding Missouri (2-2) to 36 percent shooting, including 2 of 13 from 3-point range.

Freshman Stanley Johnson had 14 points for Arizona and T.J. McConnell nine assists to offset a 2-for-11 game from the floor.

“I’m going to take something that coach has said in the past: A great defensive team is never selfish,” Ashley said. “What that means basically is that if somebody gets beat, you’re going to be there to help them out.”

Missouri kept it close in the first half in the first half behind its defense.

The Tigers let the game get away from them because they couldn’t hold onto the ball on offense.

Missouri had 17 turnovers that led to 24 points for Arizona, dooming any hope of keeping up with the Wildcats.

Montaque Gill-Caesar led the Tigers with 13 points.

“We didn’t make the correct passes and (it was) the pressure, so we can’t really blame one thing — it was both,” said Missouri’s Keith Shamburger, who had 11 points.

Arizona pulled away in the second half to beat Mount St. Mary’s and UC Irvine before heading to Maui.

The young Tigers opened the season with a frustrating 69-61 loss to Missouri-Kansas City, but bounced back with victories over Valparaiso and Oral Roberts. Missouri showed off its shooting prowess against Oral Roberts, hitting 8 of 9 3-pointers in second half to pull away from Oral Roberts for a 78-64 win.

Neither team could hit much of anything early in Maui.

Arizona has struggled from the perimeter this season and it continued against the active Tigers. The Wildcats missed their first eight 3-pointers before getting a couple to drop late in the first half to take a 32-25 lead.

The Tigers had trouble with Arizona’s length and athleticism, struggling to get good looks inside and clanking a couple of long 3-pointers high off the glass. Missouri shot 8 of 24 in the first half.

Arizona started to find the range a bit by getting the ball inside, hitting five of its first 10 shots to build the lead to 11 early in the second half.

The Wildcats kept dropping shots — 11 of 23 in the half — but kept stretching the lead for a spot in the Maui semifinals.

“We played some different defenses to see if we could slow them down a little bit, but they’re a great team and it won’t work forever,” Missouri coach Kim Anderson said. “But it worked for a while.”

—

TIP-INS

Missouri: Wes Clark, who averaged 14 points through the first three games, had three points on 1-of-6 shooting.

Arizona: Arizona hit 19 of 25 free throws for its best performance from the line this season. … The Wildcats hit a couple of shots late to finish 5 for 16 from 3-point range.

UP NEXT

Missouri: will face Purdue in the Maui Invitational loser’s bracket on Tuesday.

Arizona: plays Kansas State in the tournament semifinals on Tuesday.

RONDAE’S ROLE

Miller has used Hollis-Jefferson in the sixth man role this season because he likes the spark the high-energy sophomore provides off the bench. With Arizona in a bit of a lull most of the first half, Miller swapped out Gabe York for Hollis-Jefferson to start the second. RHJ, as he’s known, scored five quick points, including his first 3-pointer of the season, to help spark Arizona’s run in the second half.

MISSOURI REBOUNDING

Arizona has been one of the nation’s best rebounding teams over the past few seasons and have a long, athletic team that’s difficult to grab boards against. Though a bit smaller than the Wildcats, Missouri was able to out-rebound Arizona 34-32, including eight offensive rebounds.

— Associated Press —

No. 11 Jayhawks bounce back against Rider

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riggertKULAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Brannen Greene and the Kansas Jayhawks couldn’t wait to get back on the court after an embarassing loss to Kentucky.

Greene scored 17 points off the bench, Perry Ellis also had 17 and No. 11 Kansas beat Rider 87-60 on Monday night.

“We were ready to get another game under our belt, make the corrections,” Greene said.

Svi Mykhailiuk, the 17-year-old Freshman from the Ukraine, made his first start for Kansas, finishing with 10 points and five rebounds. Cliff Alexander had with 10 points and four rebounds.

Xavier Lundy paced Rider (3-2) with 13 points. Teddy Okereafor had 10 points and four assists.

Some of our key guys that we needed to step up, didn’t step up tonight,” Rider head coach Kevin Baggett said, adding that the team got off to a slow start.

One of those key guys was Okereafor. Even though he scored in the double figures, his performance against Kansas was nothing like his last outing against Lehigh. He scored 29 points and had six rebounds in that game.

Kansas (2-1) went on a 9-0 run midway through the first half, solely led by Alexander. In those two minutes, Alexander scored all nine points, grabbed two rebounds and blocked a shot. The freshman only played for 13 minutes.

Wayne Selden Jr. led the Jayhawks with a career-high nine assists. Kansas had 22 overall, more than in the past two games combined.

Greene said Selden was focusing on his passes in practice.

“He’s old enough to know how to do what we want to do,” Kansas coach Bill Self said of Selden. “He’s a good example for the other guys.”

Kansas, then ranked fifth, was routed by No. 1 Kentucky last week in Indianapolis, 72-40, its lowest scoring total since Self took over as coach of the Jayhawks in 2003-04. They had no trouble against unranked Rider.

“Their whole team played with a lot of energy,” Lundy said. “That’s what gave them the extra boost on the court.”

Kelly Oubre Jr. drained a 3-pointer 80 seconds before halftime, extending the Kansas lead to 29. After that, Rider never got closer than 25.

Alexander started the second half in place of Landen Lucas, but was sent back to the bench after three minutes.

“I wanted to see how he handled starting a half and I don’t think he handled it very well,” Self said.

The Jayhawks held Rider scoreless for the first three minutes, and held them to under 10 points for 12 minutes.

“We know what we have to do,” Greene said of fixing issues. “We know where we need to improve. We’ll just keep working.”

TIP-INS

Kansas: Mykhailiuk became the youngest player to start in the Self era.

Rider: Kansas held Rider to 40 percent from the floor, the team’s lowest percentage of the season.

WHAT’S NEXT

Both teams are traveling to Orlando to play in the bracket rounds of the Orlando Classic.

Kansas faces Rhode Island on Thursday afternoon. Rider plays Michigan State later that evening.

STAR POWER

Freshman Devonte’ Graham sprained a shoulder in the game against Kentucky. Self said Graham could have played against Rider but the coach decided to keep him out because he wasn’t needed. Graham should be going full speed for practice on Tuesday and should be available for Rhode Island, Self said.

QUOTABLE

“I’d like to see us settle in on a starting five, but I have a hard time starting guys who are late to tutoring.” — Bill Self

STAT LINES

Selden shot 0 of 4 from the floor, but had nine assists, two rebounds, one block and one steal in his 28 minutes on the court.

— Associated Press —

K-State holds off Purdue in Maui opener

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riggertKStateLAHAINA, Hawaii (AP) — Kansas State’s Marcus Foster felt he let his team down with a poor shooting performance against Long Beach State.

He shot the Wildcats into the second round of the Maui Invitational against Purdue.

Foster bounced back from a 1-for-13 night by scoring 24 points, helping Kansas State hold on to beat Purdue 88-79 after blowing most of a big early lead Monday in the opening game of the Maui Invitational.

“It was just about bouncing back, honestly,” said Foster, who finished 9 of 14 from the floor, including 5 of 8 from the 3-point arc. “I felt I let my team down how I played and I had to bounce back.”

All the Wildcats had a disappointing night in the loss to Long Beach State. Kansas State (3-1) bounced back by attacking Purdue early, hounding the Boilermakers into one mistake after another while building a 15-point halftime lead.

Purdue (3-1) fought its way back into it behind Kendall Stephens, who scored 14 of his 21 points in the second half. The Boilermakers pulled within 75-70 on a 3-pointer by Stephens with just over 3 minutes left, but got no closer.

Isaac Haas added 19 points and six rebounds for Purdue.

“We were getting it to two possessions and we needed to get a stop, and we weren’t able to do that,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “That’s part of digging too big of a hole. When you have to fight like that and scrap like that, everything has to go your way down the stretch.”

The trip to Maui offers both teams a step up in competition.

After solid opening wins over Southern Utah and Missouri-Kansas City, the Wildcats took a step back in a 69-60 loss to Long Beach State, leading to a lot of screaming by coach Bruce Weber in the locker room.

The big Boilermakers — no starter under 6-foot-4 — rolled through their first three games, beating Samford, IUPUI and Grambling by an average of 37 points per game.

Those games were in West Lafayette, though.

Once the Boilermakers got to Maui, they had a hard time against K-State’s relentless pressure.

Purdue struggled just getting into its offense against the Wildcats’ hounding throughout the first half, turning it over nine times in the opening nine minutes. Kansas State scored 15 of its first 19 points off turnovers, including four on consecutive backcourt steals.

Keyed by eight first-half steals, the Wildcats raced away from the Boilermakers with an 18-3 run to take a 39-24 halftime lead.

Purdue failed to hit a shot over the final 6:37 and had 11 turnovers, leading to 17 points for K-State.

“I thought the game was dictated right from the beginning,” Weber said. “We had a great sense of urgency.”

The Wildcats tried to run away with it early in the second half, hitting eight of their first 11 shots to push the lead to 20.

The Boilermakers clawed their way back behind Stephens, who hit four of his five 3-pointers in the second half, but Kansas State hit just enough free throws down the stretch to hold on for the victory.

“We came out in the second half and we changed our intensity,” Stephens said. “I think we put more focus on what we needed to do.”

—

TIP-INS

Purdue: Haas, the Boilermakers’ 7-foot-2 center, had numerous physical confrontations with the Wildcats inside and was called for hitting Kansas State’s Malek Harris with an elbow in the second half.

Kansas State: Weber was an assistant at Purdue for 18 years and has strong ties to Boilermakers coach Matt Painter, recruiting him to West Lafayette and hiring him as an assistant coach at Southern Illinois.

UP NEXT

Purdue will face Missouri in the loser’s bracket on Tuesday.

Kansas State moves on to face Arizona in Tuesday’s semifinals.

PURDUE TURNOVERS

The Boilermakers were much better taking care of the ball in the second half, which allowed them to make a run. Purdue had four turnovers that led to five points for Kansas State in the second half. The Wildcats had nine turnovers total.

GOOD SHOOTING

Both teams shot well. Despite its early turnovers, Purdue shot 55 percent and made nine 3-pointers. Kansas State shot 53 percent and made seven 3s. Both teams were over 60 percent in the second half while combining for 109 points.

— Associated Press —

Chiefs Eric Berry out for season after mass discovered in his chest

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Chiefs arrowhead logoKANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Chiefs have placed Pro Bowl safety Eric Berry on the non-football illness list after a mass was discovered in his chest following Thursday night’s game in Oakland. He is out for the rest of the season.

Berry began feeling discomfort in his chest near the end of the game, and a series of tests taken in Oakland and back in Kansas City revealed the mass.

Chiefs trainer Rick Burkholder said that there has been no definitive diagnosis, but the leading possibility is lymphoma. Burkholder said that Berry had never complained of the pain until last week, and a physical taken over the summer came back clear. Berry was on his way Monday to Atlanta, where he was to be examined by specialists at Emory University.

K-State’s Lockett Tabbed Big 12 Player of the Week

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MANHATTAN, Kan. – For the seventh time in his career, including the second this season, Kansas State senior wide receiver Tyler Lockett

Tyler Lockett - Photo Courtesy K-State Athletic Communications
Tyler Lockett – Photo Courtesy K-State Athletic Communications

has been named the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts in the return game at West Virginia, the conference office announced Monday.

Lockett, who was also the league’s special teams player of the week following the UTEP game, garnered the fifth designation for the Wildcats this season. In addition to Lockett’s two nods, Jake Waters earned the offensive honor following the Iowa State game, while Dakorey Johnson and Dante Barnett were the defensive players of the week after the Auburn and Texas games, respectively.

In addition, the honor was the Wildcats’ Big 12-leading 29th weekly conference honor since the beginning of 2011.

A product of Tulsa, Oklahoma, Lockett totaled 321 all-purpose yards, thanks to a pair of punt returns for 66 yards – including a 43-yard touchdown – three kickoff returns for 59 yards and 196 receiving yards on 10 catches. The nation’s leader with a 20.5-yard punt return average, Lockett’s touchdown return was his second of the year to rank second nationally and tied for third in school history.

Lockett now has 328 total punt return yards this season and 414 for his career to rank 10th in school history in both categories. Additionally, Lockett has 1,669 all-purpose yards this season to rank ninth in K-State history.

Lockett’s 196 receiving yards put him over the 1,000-yard mark for the second-straight season, becoming just the second Wildcat ever to accomplish the feat. He improved his school career receiving yardage record to 3,269 and his school record for career 100-yard games to 14. With 213 career receptions, he is now four away from tying his father, Kevin, for the most in school history, while he is two touchdowns shy of tying that K-State career record as well.

No. 11 Kansas State hosts KU in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown on Saturday in a 3 p.m., contest at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The Senior Day contest will be shown to a national audience on FOX Sports 1. Scattered singles and standing-room only tickets are available for the contest and may be purchased through the K-State Athletics Ticket office online at www.k-statesports.com/tickets, by phone at 1-800-221-CATS or at the main ticket office inside Bramlage Coliseum.

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