LOS ANGELES (AP) — Blake Griffin scored 24 points while picking up his 16th technical, and the Los Angeles Clippers led all the way in beating the Denver Nuggets 117-105 on Tuesday night for their franchise-record 57th victory of the season.
Chris Paul had 21 points and 10 assists, and J.J. Redick added 18 points in the Clippers’ finale at home, where they went 34-7 for another franchise mark. DeAndre Jordan had 13 points and 16 rebounds.
The win kept the Clippers in the hunt for the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. They would need to win at Portland and Oklahoma City would need to lose to Detroit on Wednesday night for the Clippers to claim the second spot. Otherwise, they will remain the third seed.
Los Angeles will have to get by without Griffin on the road since his 16th tech triggered a league-mandated one-game suspension.
The Nebraska Coaches Association (NCA) is pleased to announce the athletes and coaches for the 2014 NCA Boys’ and Girls’ All-Star games. The coaches are NCA members selected by their coaching peers. The athletes, graduating seniors, are selected by a committee of NCA member coaches. Athletes will be placed on specific teams in June.
The only local athlete to be named to one of the all-star teams is Hershey senior Maegan Hiatt. Hiatt led the Lady Panthers to a 23-4 record in the 2013-14 season. She played her final game as a Hershey Panther in a district finals loss to Chadron, 50-21.
The 35th Annual NCA Girls’ Basketball All-Star game will be played at Lincoln North Star High School on Monday, July 22 followed by the 46th Annual Boys’ Basketball NCA All-Star game.
The rosters for the boys and girls teams can be seen by clicking on the links below.
DENVER (AP) — Kenneth Faried scored 24 points and pulled down 21 rebounds Saturday night in the short-handed Denver Nuggets’ 101-94 come-from-behind win over the Utah Jazz.
Randy Foye added 26 points and Evan Fornier 23 for the Nuggets, who trailed most of the night before sending Utah to its fourth straight loss and evening the season series with their rivals at two games each.
Foye’s 3-pointer with 6:54 left gave Denver its first lead of the night at 77-76.
Seconds later, Fornier made the most unlikely of baskets. He was driving in to the lane when he got tripped and let go of the ball as he fell backward into the paint. The ball fluttered through the net just as he hit the floor, and his subsequent free throw put Denver on top 80-76.
Gordon Hayward led Utah with 23 points and Enes Kanter added 22 points and 14 rebounds.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Doug McDermott of Creighton has accepted the John R. Wooden Award, one of several honors the senior won this year as college basketball’s player of the year.
The women’s award went to Chiney Ogwumike of Stanford on Friday night.
McDermott received 3,930 points in nationwide voting. He was announced as the winner last week at the Final Four in Arlington, Texas. Jabari Parker of Duke finished second with 2,569 points.
McDermott’s father, Greg, who coached his son at Creighton, was on hand.
Russ Smith of Louisville finished third with 2,228 points, followed by Cleanthony Early of Wichita State with 1,907, and Nick Johnson of Arizona with 1,758.
Kenneth Faried made a turnaround hook shot over Draymond Green with a half-second remaining, and the Denver Nuggets made Golden State wait at least one more game to secure a playoff berth with a stunning 100-99 win over the Warriors on Thursday night.
Stephen Curry’s floater over Faried put the Warriors up 99-98 with 4.7 seconds to play, sending the announced sellout crowd of 19,596 roaring to their feet. Faried quieted fans moments later, backing down Green for the winning shot.
Curry’s quick 30-footer rimmed off as time expired.
Timofey Mozgov tied a career high of 23 points and set a career best with 29 rebounds, and Faried finished with 18 points and 17 boards to rally the Nuggets from 20 points down in the first half. Denver, which had lost six straight on the road, won both games at Golden State this season.
North Platte – Sophomore Ethan Montalvo was named to the 2013-14 Honorable Mention All-American Team on Tuesday afternoon. Montalvo becomes the 8th player in program history to be named an All-American.
“Ethan will go down as not only one of the school’s all-time great players,” said head coach Kevin O’Connor “but did so with character and class. His work ethic and desire helped him achieve great things as a Knight. He was a privilege to coach and will be hard to replace.”
Montalvo joins Glover Cody (1989-90), LeMont Daniels (1993-94), Doug Rogers (1996-97), Jason McDonald (1998-99), Donta Watson (2003-04), Eugene Bain (2008-09) and Joseph Ragland (2009-10) as All-Americans to wear a North Platte Knights uniform.
“I am extremely honored and blessed to be named an All-American,” said Montalvo. “I want to thank my teammates and coaches for helping me along the way. It is a perfect way to end my career at North Platte Community College.”
Along with being named an All-American, Montalvo was named All-Region IX 1st Team, All-Region IX Tournament Team and All-NCCAC 1st Team. As a freshman, Montalvo was All-Region IX 2nd Team, All-Region IX Tournament Team and All-NCCAC 1st Team.
This season Montalvo led the Knights in scoring at 18.9 points per game and in steals at 2.2 per game while also contributing 3.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.
Montalvo finishes his career with 1,173 points to finish 5th All-Time and ties Chase Grabau, Ben Wilson and Aboubacar Casse for most games played in a Knights uniform at 68. Montalvo started every single game of his Knights career.
Montalvo has been a part of the most successful two year stretch in program history as the Knights compiled a 57-11 record during his career, including a Region IX Championship in 2013 and National Tournament appearance. The 57 wins are the most in program history in a two year stretch and the 11 losses are the fewest. Montalvo has never known defeat at McDonald-Belton Gymnasium finishing a perfect 28-0 in two years, also a school record.
NEW YORK (AP) — Cavaliers center Anderson Varejao will play an NBA game back home in Brazil for the first time when Cleveland takes on the Miami Heat in an exhibition in October.
The NBA announced five international preseason games Thursday. The Brooklyn Nets and Sacramento Kings will meet twice in China — Oct. 12 in Shanghai and Oct. 15 in Beijing.
The Spurs will also play two Euroleague Basketball teams. San Antonio faces eight-time German champion Alba Berlin in Berlin on Oct. 8 and five-time Turkish champ Fenerbahce Ulker Istanbul in Istanbul on Oct. 11.
The Cavs-Heat matchup is also Oct. 11 in Rio de Janeiro.
The NBA will later announce regular-season international games for 2014-15 as part of its efforts to promote the league around the world.
DENVER (AP) — Randy Foye scored 24 of his 30 points in the second half, and the Denver Nuggets hung on to beat the Houston Rockets 123-116 on Wednesday night.
Kenneth Faried had 23 points and Timofey Mozgov added 22 for the Nuggets, who beat the Rockets for the first time in three tries this season.
Jeremy Lin led eight Houston players in double figures with 18 points.
Both teams were missing key players heading into the game and the Rockets got a scare when James Harden, leading a fast break, appeared to bang his left shin in a collision with Aaron Brooks midway through the third quarter. Fouled on the play, Harden made both free throws and left the game briefly to have the leg tended to before returning to action.
North Platte – The North Platte Community College men’s basketball team announced Wednesday the signing of Elkhorn South’s Matt Thomas to a Letter of Intent to play basketball with the Knights next year as the first member of the 2014 signing class.
Thomas joins the Knights after leading the Elkhorn South Storm to a third-place finish in the 2014 Class B State Tournament after a fourth-place finish in 2013. The 6’0 guard led the Storm to an undefeated regular season and a 26-1 final record. Thomas averaged 18.9 points per game, good for 14th in the state and second in class B to go along with 4.3 assists per game, 2.4 steals per game and 2.2 rebounds per game.
Thomas was named to the Omaha World Herald and Lincoln Journal Star’s All-Nebraska second-team along with being named first-team Class B and the honorary captain by both publications. Thomas was also named to the All-Class State Tournament All-Tournament Team and Class B State Tournament All-Tournament Team.
Thomas competed with the Omaha Sports Academy National team during the summer.
“We are excited to have Matt join our program,” said head coach Kevin O’Connor. “He is everything we look for in a student-athlete. He is a very talented all-around basketball player that can really score and is a very quality young man.”
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Blake Griffin scored 24 points while picking up his 16th technical, and the Los Angeles Clippers led all the way in beating the Denver Nuggets 117-105 on Tuesday night for their franchise-record 57th victory of the season.
