B wednesday,july24,2013 sectionisj

SportSSportSRocky hitting colorado limited to five hits in 4-2 defeat to the Marlins at home, B2

coMMentaRy

Sports Editor Chase Glorfield — phone: (208) 239-6008, fax: (208) 233-8007, email: cglorfield@journalnet.com, Twitter: @ChaseGlorfield

PRofessional Rodeo

I ran down a mountain. It felt spectacular. I’ve

got a nasty blister on the inside of my heel, still. And it hurt when I fell, but I’m grateful that when my left toe clipped a tree root I landed on my shoulder and slid down the trail on a spot devoid of jagged rocks. Because on this trip to Hyalite Canyon, a popular camping area just outside of Bozeman, Mont., I had family with me, and forcing someone to rush a broken arm to the emergency room would have put a damper on the trip. Plus, what a ter-rible story. Every where I’d go someone would’ve asked, “Oh, what happened to your arm?” At that point there would have been two options. I could tell the truth and recount how I clumsily tripped on a root, and on an awkward fall, I’d broken my arm as easily as the Cowboys routinely break their front-running fans’ hearts every year since 1996. Or, when someone ventured to ask about my cast, I could lie, formulate a fabulous story of how a black bear — no, something more furious, a grizzly — had attacked my tent. Awoken from a deep slumber, I managed to maintain my wits and fight off the monster while thinking only for my wife’s safety. But before the beast had escaped my wrath, he’d struck a deadly blow, hence the cast. If I had broke my arm by tripping over a root while attempting to run down a mountain, I could tell a tale that dis-played bravery, a cunning attitude and fighting skill. Or I could’ve explained that I fell and not only could I not manage to run fluidly but I look even worse on the way down.

Luckily, however, I didn’t break anything but my pride running down a mountain. And thank goodness because back at camp the family had set up tents, laid out lawn chairs, gathered firewood, placed the beer on ice and thawed the steaks. As the warm 85-degree day cooled down and the sun fell beyond the tree-lined mountains surrounding Hyalite Reservoir, the lake reflected the fleeting moments of daylight and the grilled meat tasted, well, like grilled meat — amazing.

Later, after a card game of thumper where I blew an early lead before finish-ing in the middle — hey, another Cow-boys reference — there were s’mores. Can we talk about s’mores a moment? It’s a divine food. There’s just something magical about a marshmallow toasted over a roaring fire. The combination of a browned marshmallow, chocolate — which we stuffed inside the marshmallow — and graham cracker seems to comple-ment the camping experience like peanut

butter and jelly or mediocrity and Tony Romo. One brave camper even used a Reese’s in place of the traditional Hershey’s chocolate bar. She didn’t like it, citing that something about the peanut butter, chocolate, marshmallows and graham cracker was lost in translation. More than anything, though, through a sugar-induced haze, I realized after I ran down a mountain, the best part was wait-ing for me at the bottom.

Kyle FranKo/Idaho State Journal

At an elevation of 9,200 feet, Heather Lake sits in the mountains five and a half miles up from Hyalite Reservoir, near Bozeman, Mont.

The sun fell beyond The Tree-lined mounTains surrounding hyaliTe reservoir, The lake reflecTed The fleeTing momenTs of daylighT and The grilled meaT TasTed, well, like grilled meaT — amazing.

coMMentaRykylefRanko

Almost breaking my arm was just the start

Journal Staff

Right in the name, it says all a rodeo fan needs to know — it’s fa-mous and it’s at night. That Famous Preston Night Rodeo starts Thursday and runs through Saturday. “We have some great cowboys signed up,” said rodeo chairman Kris Beckstead. “In 2012, we had 306 cowboys enter. We have 359 on the list this year.”

The Preston rodeo sells nearly 16,000 tickets every year and at-tracts some of the sport’s top cow-boys in bareback and saddle bronc riding, calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling, barrel racing and bull riding. “Tickets are going fast,” said Beckstead, who is the first woman chairman in the rodeo’s 78 year history. Aptly named the Preston Night Rodeo because every session be-

gins at 8:30 p.m., the annual event is a great way to avoid the heat while watching the likes of Bradley Harter and Jesse Kruse in saddle bronc, all-around world champion Trevor Brazile and his barrel rac-ing wife, Shada, or champion bull riders Tag Elliott, Wesley Silcox, Steve Woolsey and Ardie Maier. “We have 39 cowboys that were at the (National Finals Rodeo) last year,” Beckstead said. Along with the professionals, 36 kids signed up for muttin bustin. “Some parents stood in line from 4:30 a.m. to sign up their little rid-ers,” Beckstead said. Will Rasmussen is the new an-nouncer. He is a Choteau, Mont.,

native and is a popular Profes-sional Rodeo Cowboys Association commentator. Three-time PRCA Clown of the Year Keith Isley is back in Preston, and the specialty act is Sugar City resident Kyzer Stoddad, a trick rider. “We have some very special things planned for grand entry and prior to bull riding,” Beckstead said. Every performance includes a theme. Thursday is Tough Enough to Wear Pink, Friday is Patriot Night and Saturday night is Cel-ebrating Cowboys. Tickets are available for pur-chase oneline at www.prestonro-deo.com.

Preston rodeo starts ThursdayJenniFer Meyers/herald Journal

Jeff Rianda competes in the saddle bronc event on Roan Angel at That Famous Preston Night Rodeo last year.

The 78th annual event that made night rodeo famous starts up again

RALPH D. RUSSOAP College Football Writer

NEW YORK — The five power conferences are try-ing to redefine what it takes to operate a Division I col-lege athletic program, with their commissioners calling out the NCAA at media days around the country. Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby and fellow com-missioners Mike Slive of the Southeastern Conference and John Swofford of the Atlantic Coast Conference have taken turns critiqu-ing the NCAA over the last week, and it's likely Jim Delany of the Big Ten and Larry Scott of the Pac-12 will follow suit in the coming days. The schools in the most powerful and wealthy leagues want more freedom to be able to run their pro-grams the way they want, without the less powerful schools standing in the way. Does this mean the end of the NCAA as we know it is near? Or will there be a new division of college football — Division 4 as Bowlsby calls it? Not necessarily. Former Big 12 Commis-sioner Dan Beebe says he thinks Atlantic Coast Confer-ence, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern Confer-ence can get the power to govern themselves without cutting off all ties to schools from the less powerful and wealthy FBS conferences.

And NCAA expert John Infante, who writes the ByLaw Blog at athletic-scholarship.com, says the best solution for the schools in those conferences is not leaving Division I, but

See Colleges, Page B2

collegefootBall

Will 5 power conferences break away from FBS?

BWEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2013 SECTiONisj

isu basketball

SportSSportS

C MY K

isj sports deskWhy’s josh wearing a football uniform in this week’s video? Find out at idahostatejournal.com

Commentarykyle

Franko

Rebounding key for BengalsISU men begin season with plenty of goals to achieve

By Kyle FranKokfranko@journalnet.com

@goodfranks

Basketball season is here.The Idaho State Bengals sit five days

away from their exhibition opener with Dickinson State.

The Blue Hawks finished last season 12-18 overall and were picked last in the Frontier Conference’s preseason coaches’ poll. But the Dickinson State game, whatever the ultimate result is, means nothing in Idaho State’s final win-loss record. After 33 days of practice it is coach Bill Evans and the Bengals’ first opportunity to see the 2013-14 roster in action during a live game. With eight newcomers, that’s a big deal because Evergreen visits Pocatello Nov. 9, and that game does count. After that, ISU travels to Arizona State, San Francisco and California State, Bakersfield. Consider Dickinson State a dress re-hearsal. And one area Evans will watch closely is the Bengal’s rebounding performance. A year ago, Idaho State was outrebound-ed 1,033 to 855 and finished last in the Big Sky in rebounding margin. A team that cannot rebound means an opponent picks up extra possessions, more shots and it demoralizes a defense that worked hard for 30 seconds and forced a contested jump shot only to have the of-fense scramble to the miss first. Rebounding, or the lack of it, made a difference in a two-point loss to Central Michigan (rebounding margin, -15), a two-point loss to Southern Utah (rebound-ing margin, -14) and a two-point defeat at Montana State (rebounding margin, -1). Look up and down ISU’s 2012-13 schedule. Close losses are abundant and

See ISU, Page B2

By Josh Friesenjfriesen@journalnet.com

@Friesen_Joshua

With the start to the Bengals’ season days away, head coach Seton Sobolewski has seen nothing but progress in his team since they started practicing nearly a month ago. “I’ve seen people get better,” Sobolews-ki said. “I’ve seen people shoot the ball a little bit better, work a little harder and catch on to what we’re trying to teach.” That’s just what Sobolewski wants. And it’s not one or two players stepping up — it’s the whole team. There is no superstar. No franchise player. Because the Bengals aren’t like that. The mark of Idaho State has always been team basketball. And Saturday against University of Mary in the Bengals’ first action on the court, Sobolewski is keeping it that way. The only thing different about this team is who is on it. “We’re not going to do a whole lot different when it comes to Xs and Os,” Sobolewski said. “That’s part of our culture — motion offense, man-to-man defense and just playing hard.” When University of Mary visits Reed Gym Saturday at 11 a.m., those are the aspects of the Bengals’ game Sobolewski wants to see. For senior Kara Jenkins, she’s just anxious to take the court against a team other than her own. “We’re really ready to get out on the floor and start showing people what we have and see where we need to grow,” she said. “Until you get into the game, you don’t know exactly what you’re going to expect from all your personnel. “It’s going to be exciting to see who sets up, who comes and shows what they have, and where our team is going to move in the next direction as the games continue.” But the season is still young, and the Bengals have plenty of work to do. The first game that counts is Nov. 8 against Black Hills State University. The confer-

ence schedule doesn’t open until a Jan. 2 matchup at Portland State. Between now and then, the develop-ment will continue. “We need to improve on every depart-ment,” Sobolewski said. “We need to run our offense a little bit smoother. I think we have to be more aware of help-side de-fense with our defense and ball pressure. I think it’s just a matter of reps and smooth-ing out things.” Jenkins hopes the Bengals can use the games leading up to conference play to hone in on the team’s strengths. “We’re laying the foundation that we need to, and we’re going to continue to lay it until it’s right,” Jenkins said. “Pre-

season’s going to be fun and we’re going to play some competitive teams, but we want to be ready for conference. We’re work-ing our way step by step, and it’s coming along.” Like Idaho State, the University of Mary is beginning its season with an unknown aspect and lots of new faces. The Maraud-ers graduate four starters, including two 1,000-point scorers in Shaunna Kinfe and Ali Collins, but return all-NSIC players Brittney Dietz and Linda Murray. “They have a very aggressive style of play offensively and defensively,” Sobo-lewski said. “I think they’re well coached, and they’re going to play hard and should give us a pretty good challenge.”

Sobolewski seeks improvementBengal women are poised for progress in 2013-2014

Journal File Photo

Idaho State’s Lindsey Reed (30) drives against a Montana defender in a game last season at Reed Gym.

Doug LinDLey/idaho State Journal

Idaho State’s Ayibakuro Preh goes for a layup during practice this fall in Reed Gym.

I’ve learned more about Poky’s Cook since her firingFar as I can tell, the best moment in

Laraine Cook’s four-year run as the Pocatello girls basketball coach came

in last season’s state tournament. From an on-court perspective, it was also the ugliest. In the semifinals of the 2012 Idaho High School Girls 4A State Tournament, Bishop Kelly rocked the Indians 51-24. The final score makes it seem closer than it really was. The eventual state champions’ larce-nous defense scored 27 points on 24 forced turnovers and held Poky to five made field goals the entire game. I saw it in person. The Knights turned out as a terrible matchup for the upstart Indians who had stunned Burley 47-44 the night before in the opening round of the state tournament. I write that Poky “stunned” Burley be-cause the Bobcats had beaten the Indians twice earlier in the season to the tune of 50-37 and 42-23. Pocatello had just snuck into the state tournament despite season-ending injuries to two starters, and junior sharpshooter Paige Durrant had so much tape on her knee that she could have ex-tended it throughout her body to complete an impressive mummy impersonation. Oh, and another starter, Allie Parker, had an injured thumb. So a lopsided loss to a team that out-scored its state competition 152-90 comes across as expected rather than a surprise. But, man, 51-24, what a whitewash. And that’s why I came away so im-pressed afterward. I walked up to Cook as she stood on the same floor where her squad suffered its worst loss of the season and missed a chance to play their hated city-rival Century for the title. I shook her hand, felt a firm handshake and Cook looked me directly in the eye while I spit out some pathetic question asking a coach to encapsulate what went wrong in a 27-point loss (hint: just about everything). She was honest, gave Bishop Kelly all the credit it deserved and dismissed any notion that her team couldn’t bounce back in its next game. Her main point: “You can’t sit there and cry about a loss. It’s not the end of the world.” So the team that limped into the district tournament and nearly beat Century in the district title game before staggering to Boise for state didn’t treat the loss like “the end of the world.” Less than 24 hours later, Paige Durrant scored 22 points, Carly Parker had 17 and Allie Parker added a double-double with 11 points and 10 re-bounds, and the Indians knocked off Twin Falls for the third-place trophy. That turnaround and Pocatello’s season as a whole shocked me. The multitude of injuries that ravaged the Indians meant they weren’t supposed to take third at state. They didn’t have any business there. At least that’s what I thought before they proved me wrong. Pocatello did belong amongst the state’s elite 4A teams. Cook manipulated the situation around that loss to Bishop Kelly masterfully. The Idaho State Journal’s sports staff nearly created a coach of the year award for girls basketball just so we could hand out the first one to Cook. And I used to think that was Cook’s best moment as head coach at Pocatello High School. I learned how wrong that thought was after School District 25 fired Cook for a photograph she posted on Facebook. Since then, mostly through social media, dozens have come out in defense of Cook saying her role in Pocatello girls basketball extended far beyond her duties as a coach. They say Cook engaged with players, in-stilling an inner confidence in their games on the basketball court and their lives off of it. Cook knows a loss on the floor isn’t the end of the world, but the effects a coach can have on a player are immense. I

See Franko, Page B2

“We’re laying the foundation that We need to, and We’re going to continue to lay it until it’s right. Preseason’s going to be fun and We’re going to Play some comPetitive teams, but We Want to be ready for conference. We’re Working our Way steP by steP.”

idaho state senior guard kara jenkins

onlineComment on this story on Kyle’s blog at idahostatejournal.com.

Sports Editor Chase Glorfield — phone: (208) 239-6008, fax: (208) 233-8007, email: cglorfield@journalnet.com, Twitter: @ChaseGlorfield

isj sportssportsb2 WEDNEsDAY, oCtoBEr 30, 2013 IDAho stAtE JourNAl

Matthew ColesAssociated Press

SALT LAKE CITY — Though the Utah Jazz may struggle this season, Derrick Favors sees playoffs and championship contention in the future. “I expect to be a leader on the court. I want to lead this team back to the playoffs and, hopefully, one day, to a championship,” Favors said at a news conference Monday announcing his four-year contract extension. Favors said he bought a house in Utah earlier this summer and hopes to stay for a long time. He added that his mother factored into the decision. “She said she loves Utah and she really hoped I’d stay here,” he said. But even more than pleasing mom, Favors believes Utah’s future is bright. As Favors began negotiations with the Jazz on the new deal, the first ques-tion asked was not about money but whether Utah could keep its young core together so they could grow into con-tenders. The third overall pick in 2010, Fa-vors was traded to Utah in the deal that sent Deron Williams to New Jersey in 2011. Favors is only 22 years old but his work ethic and personal standards have made a deep impression on the Utah front office. “Derrick stands for the right things and he was raised the right way,” general manager Dennis Lindsey said. “It’s not like we’re firing a shot in the dark and hopeful in a player we’re sign-ing. This is a guy we’ve had for over two seasons and we know who he is.” Favors averaged just 9.4 points and 7.1 rebounds last season as Utah coach Ty Corbin used him almost exclu-sively as a reserve, but this deal was predicated on potential rather than numbers. After losing Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap to free-agent deals in the offseason, Favors will be the focal point of the Jazz frontcourt and he’ll finally have the minutes he’ll need to hit some of the unspecified contract incentives. The team does release contract details. “Each of the young guys wanted more time but they understood what Ty was doing. They had to earn it and we didn’t want to skip steps in the pro-cess,” Lindsey said. Corbin said it’s now Favors’ time and it begins on the defensive end, where his 6-foot-10 frame and uncommon ath-letic ability stand out. “He has a lot of work to do. His de-

fense is ahead of his offense, but we look forward to him being a key player for us. He has shown he is willing to put in the work and guys will follow him,” Corbin said. The Jazz hope Gordon Hayward fol-lows Favors in signing an extension of his own. Negotiations continue in hopes of reaching a deal before the Oct. 31 deadline. Without an agreement, Hayward will become a restricted free agent next July 1. “Me and Gordon, we’ve been to-gether going on three years now and we

went to USA Basketball camp together so we have a good chemistry going. It’s important to keep the core together for the future,” Favors said. Now with Favors as a franchise cor-nerstone, Corbin hopes the quiet big man will become more vocal. “When we first got Derrick almost three years ago, he was so young and he didn’t know what to expect. And now he’s grown as a person and a player and he’s embraced this community. We’re ready for him to talk more on the court and be a leader,” Corbin said.

Favors plans to lead Jazz back to playoffsnational basketball association bsU football

AP File Photo

Utah Jazz’s Derrick Favors (15) lays the ball up as Portland Trail Blazers’ Robin Lopez (42) and teammate LaMarcus Aldridge, right, looks on during the second half of an NBA preseason basketball game, Oct. 16, 2013 in Salt Lake City.

tiM ReynoldsAP Basketball Writer

MIAMI (AP) — They got their rings before the game, then a challenge as it was winding down.

The Miami Heat re-sponded to both.

Shane Battier went 4 for 4 from 3-point range, in-cluding a critical one from the right corner with 1:33 remaining, and the Heat wasted most of what was a 25-point lead before hold-ing off Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls 107-95 on Tuesday night in the sea-son-opener for both teams.

LeBron James scored 17 points for Miami, which got its 2013 NBA champi-onship rings in a pregame

ceremony. The Heat trailed 9-2 early, then outscored Chicago 52-24 over the re-mainder of the first half.

Rose finished with 12 points in 34 minutes in his first game since a seri-ous knee injury in April 2012. Carlos Boozer had 31 points and seven rebounds for Chicago, which got within eight points in the final minutes.

But Battier’s right-cor-ner 3 — a staple for the Heat — snuffed out the comeback, and Miami wasn’t in trouble again.

Chris Bosh scored 16 points, Battier finished with 14 and Dwyane Wade and Mario Chalmers each had 13 for Miami, which had seven players score in

double figures.Ray Allen and Norris

Cole each scored 11 for Miami.

Rose shot 4 for 15 for the Bulls.

By halftime, Miami was rolling, up 54-33 — putting the game on pace for a 108-66 final, which would have exactly matched the score of the game in 2006 when Chicago came into Miami and spoiled the Heat fran-chise’s first ring night.

Not this time, though the Bulls made it plenty inter-esting down the stretch.

A layup by Butler with 5:34 left got the Bulls with-in 15, and after he missed the ensuing free throw, the rebound made its way to Kirk Hinrich — who made

a 3-pointer that cut Mi-ami’s lead to 91-79.

Hinrich fouled out on the ensuing Miami possession, and Rose checked back in with 5:14 left after spending the en-tire fourth quarter to that point on the bench. Wade scored seconds later, the Heat followed that with a stop, and James sim-ply overpowered Luol Deng in the post on the next trip to restore the 16-point lead.

But again, the Bulls weren’t done, cutting the lead to 95-87 on a drive by Boozer with 2:47 left. They would get no closer, and Miami held on de-spite giving up 37 points in the final quarter.

Heat get rings, then hold off Bulls 107-95 to open the season

todd dvoRakAssociated Press

BOISE, Idaho — Boise State safety Dar-ian Thompson insists he and his teammates aren't dwelling on the latest defeat, and instead are focused on the most fundamental of goals — the Mountain West Conference crown.

Despite last Friday's 37-20 loss at BYU, Boise State (5-3, 3-1) is still perched atop the Mountain Division and in position to solidify its grip on the standings with a visit to third place Colorado State (4-4, 2-1) on Saturday.

Yet the road hasn't been kind to the Broncos this season, with all three losses coming away from Bronco Stadium. In the opener, then-No. 19 Boise State suffered its worst defeat during the eight-year tenure of head coach Chris Petersen. Three weeks later the Broncos lost a heartbreaker at Fresno State, and against BYU, the Broncos were simply outclassed, the victim of too many self-inflicted wounds and missed opportunities.

The three losses are the most since the 2007 sea-son, and Thompson acknowledged the mood of the team has been down. At the same time, Thompson said ev-eryone knows the BYU loss was out of conference and not a factor when it comes to crowning a league champion.

Morale "is kind of down, but we're trying to pick it up," Thompson said. "We don't lose very often, when we do we take it to heart. So we're trying to look past it and get ready to go. It wasn't really a conference game and our goal is still manageable."

So is fixing the mistakes that proved so costly Fri-day night, Petersen said.

The BYU offense took full advantage of Boise State's poor tackling and miscues in the secondary. On offense, the missed red zone opportunities and turnovers ended promising scoring drives. The Broncos coughed up the ball three times and quar-terback Grant Hedrick threw an interception in his first career start.

In recent years, the Broncos have taken full ad-vantage of other team's problems with ball security. This year, the tables have turned, in part Petersen suggested Monday due to younger players trying to do too much. Through eight games, the Broncos have put the ball on the ground seven times, tossed eight interceptions, while on defense failing to force the other team into mistakes. Boise State's turnover margin this week is -0.1, 76th worst in the nation.

Running back Jay Ajayi, a sophomore averaging 114 yards per game, had his third lost fumble of the season. And receiver Shane Williams-Rhodes, also a sophomore and key contributor in the passing game, ended a drive with a fumble. In both cases, Petersen said the ball popped loose in an effort to eke out a few more yards at the end of the play.

The message in practice this week will be empha-sizing no turnover is worth a few extra yards.

"I don't think guys should be reaching for one more yard," Petersen said. "Bad things happen. I think you should find a crease and hit it. And that always starts with us as coaches."

Petersen also said starting safety Dillon Luke-heart, tied for fifth on the defense with 35 tackles, will miss the first half of the Colorado State game after being ejected against BYU for targeting a ball carrier.

Boise State still has league crown goal in reach

ISUContinued from B1

while rebounding did not solely swing the ultimate re-sult one direction or another, it helped. The Big Sky race is tight. Weber State is a clear and heavy favorite. But nabbing one of the other six spots available in the postseason tournament will come down to details. A rebound here or there can make the differ-ence. Evans and the ISU coach-ing staff are, of course, aware of its important im-portance. In the offseason, they recruited accordingly. Evans brought in Jeffrey Solarin, Scotty Tyler, Ajak Magot and Justin Smith, guys who either play in the post (Solarin, Tyler, Magot)

or are athletes that can com-pete at the Division I level for rebounds. Solarin, Tyler, Magot and Smith join returnees Andre Hatchett, Chris Hansen and Ayibakuro Preh as forwards and wings tasked with the rebounding burden (though, when it comes to the boards, ISU is taking an all-hands-on-deck approach). “One area that I’ve seen that I’m pretty sure we’re better at is the ability to re-bound the ball,” Evans said. “We’re bigger. We just have a bigger team.” The outlook for an im-proved rebounding squad took a hit when ISU found out that two foreign play-ers, 6-foot-5 Ben Wilson and 6-foot-9 Andre Slavik, will be forced to redshirt this sea-son. Each faces amateurism issues with the NCAA. It makes the future even brighter for Bengal basket-ball, but it means in the pres-ent day that Preh and Magot

have to perform at a high level right away. As a junior, Preh, a 6-9 center, started 15 games and averaged 2.0 points and 2.3 rebounds in 16.2 minutes. He’s ready to make a leap in his final year at ISU, but Preh broke his foot in the off-season right as the summer workout session was about to begin. “I felt a little set back be-cause the summer workout really helps improve person-al development and skills,” Preh said. “... But I’m going to try and not let that affect my effort on the court.” From what Evans has seen in the preseason, Preh’s feel for the game is much better this year despite the summer spent with a walking boot. And Preh’s demeanor has taken the biggest jump. “I don’t like guys to hang their head,” Evans said. “He would do that occasionally. Not out of disrespect. I think almost more culture than

anything. I think he’s doing a better job of understanding that he’s going to make mis-takes and he can’t hang his head.” It’s not just Preh’s play on the court that’s critical. He needs to bring along Magot, a rangy 6-foot-11 center from Cochise College. “He’s come a long way. It’s a new system for him, obvi-ously,” Preh said. “I’ve ex-perienced it since last year. I think he’s really picking it up and he’ll be good for us this year.” Preh and Magot can form a one-two punch in the mid-dle of Idaho State’s defensive zone that protects the rim and, naturally, cultivates a positive rebounding margin. “It’s really important get-ting rebounds,” Magot said. “You can’t win games with-out rebounds or defense.” Idaho State’s exhibition game with Dickinson State is Monday at 7:05 p.m. in Reed Gym.

FrankoContinued from B1

can’t oversell the idea that a coach in any sport can — and do — change lives, for better or worse. In Cook’s case, it sounds like the former. From a win-loss perspective, Cook produced, but what she was doing away from the court is even more important — and impressive. Those days are done, at least at Pocatello High School. The School District has made its decision. When one returning player heard, she started to cry. And she cried. Her entire chest turned bright red as the shock set in. I feel terrible for her and everyone else who played for Cook. The Indians lost one starter from the team that beat Twin Falls, and with a nucleus surrounding Carly Parker, Brooke Pierce, Kealee Hewatt and Durrant, Pocatello is poised for a great season. Or I thought they were. Cook’s absence changes that. Look, I don’t know if the school board has made a mistake firing Cook. I haven’t seen the photo or spoken with Cook. I don’t feel like I’m in a position to form a strong opinion. But she’s gone. I’m just here to make a plea to the community. The Pocatello Indians have lost a good coach. They need another one, fast. If you haven’t already, put the word out and let’s help Poky find the best candidate possible. The girls deserve it. The ending to Pocatello versus Bishop Kelly was ugly. But the final note to that season could not have turned out brighter with the way Poky gathered itself and won a third-place trophy the next day. Here’s hoping the ending to the latest Pocatello basketball debacle has a similar type of finish.

"We don't lose very often, When We do We take it to heart. so We're trying to look past it and get ready to go. it Wasn't really a conference game and our goal is still manageable."

boise state safety darian thompson

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210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.comof Pocatello

Rhino Line Your ToysRhino Line Your ToysRhino Line Your ToysRhino Line Your ToysRhino Line Your ToysRhino Line Your ToysRhino Line Your ToysRhino Line Your Toys

210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com210 Yellowstone Pocatello, ID • (208) 233-4147 • www.rhinoliningspocatello.com

Nothing Beats a Real Rhino!

high school rodeo

BsunDAY, APRIL 21, 2013 sectIonisj

C MY K

Sports Editor Chase Glorfield — phone: (208) 239-6008, fax: (208) 233-8007, email: cglorfield@journalnet.com, Twitter: @ChaseGlorfield

commentarykyle

franko

My wife is a pen clicker. Give her a writing instrument with a clicky top and she’ll proceed

to hammer away like a madwoman pos-sessed to find out how many clicks it takes to break a pen’s soul. It grinds my gears. If she attains a clicky pen in my pres-ence, I do my very best to steal it faster than Kobe can shriek “Ow!” after snap-ping his Achilles (totally not D’Antoni’s fault, by the way). When she does something that’s a pet peeve of mine, I take it away from her, in essence, treating my beautiful, smart wife like a 3-year-old. That’s my solu-tion to a problem. It really grinds her gears. Solving issues with that kind of meth-odology might work for domestic home disputes (of a benign nature), but, gen-erally, treating adults like adults is the smartest, least-resistant route when

See Franko, Page B2

Cheerleading is a sport — there I said it

Bengal Bio

KAI CAMPBELLPOSITION Wide receiver

CLASSSophomore

HEIGHT/WEIGHT5 foot 10, 185 pounds

HOME TOWNPocatello, Idaho

HIGH SCHOOLHighland High School

STATS6 catches, 54 yards (2012)

JERSEY NUMBER6

QUICK HITTERSCampbell has a history with Idaho State as his father Mark, the school’s strength and conditioning coach, played for the Bengals from 1989-90. Campbell earned second team all-state honors as a senior. He finished No. 2 in Highland history in receptions with 137 and No. 1 in kick return yards.

Competitors keep eyes on state

By Kyle FranKokfranko@journalnet.com

@goodfranks

It’s simple, really. Bull riding is dangerous. Acknowledging that fact is the first step to suc-cess. When the chute blasts open, throw an arm in the air and let all the training and natural instincts take over. Bull riding is more than a physical battle between man and beast. “It’s a mental game,” said Highland sophomore Kolton Hanson. Hanson, District Four’s No. 1 bull rider at this early point of the season, climbed on John Wayne Saturday afternoon at the Bannock County Fairgrounds. John Wayne, with a white hide specked with black splotches and fearsome look-ing horns jutting out of either side of his head, immediately jumped out of the chute when the gate flew open. “I was in a bad spot today,” Hanson said. “I about got bucked off.” Like a spinning top, the bull

was in a whirlwind, charging hard to his left. After eight rota-tions, the buzzer sounded and Hanson flew off. Both the bull

and rider fell hard to the ground. “The biggest thing is just to not think about getting injured,” Hanson said after-

wards. “Accepting it, accepting that you could get hurt but

See Rodeo, Page B4

Jordon Beesley/Idaho State Journal

Highland High School sophomore Kolton Hanson rides a bull during Saturday morning’s rodeo session at the Bannock County Fairgrounds.

TO BE CONTINUEd...

By Jason enesjenes@journalnet.com

Earlier this week Idaho State head softball coach Julie Wright said that this weekend’s series against Big Sky leader Portland State would be some of the most exciting games of the season. They were so much fun, in fact, that the second contest of the doubleheader with the Vi-kings was suspended because of

darkness after eight innings of play with the score tied 12-12. After dropping game one of the day 7-5 in eight innings thanks to a pair of fielding mistakes, Wright was hoping her team would re-spond in game two. It would, but not before fall-ing behind 5-0. Wright said earlier this sea-son that she had never had to use more than three pitchers in a game up to that point. That

changed Saturday in game two. Bengal pitching gave up runs in each of the first six innings. The inability to shut down the Vikings’ offense forced Wright’s hand, and through four innings three different Bengals had stepped into the circle. “Our pitchers, quite frankly, struggled today,” Wright said. “We let them score in every inning, and you will not win games when that happens.” With the 5-0 deficit staring them in the face, the Bengals finally got their offense going in the bottom of the third. Maddy Hickman, Haliey Breakwell and Becky Moly-

neaux each had RBI singles in the inning as all nine batters came to the plate. Portland State got two of the runs back in top of the fourth after Aubrey Nitschlem laced a two-RBI double to left-center field. She was thrown out trying to extend her hit to a triple. ISU got the longball going in the fourth as Galasso and Terah Blackwell hit back-to-back home runs. After the first two hitters reached base, Galasso looked what looked to be a routine a fly ball to left field. But the ball

See Bengals, Page B3

Jordon Beesley/Idaho State Journal

ISU’s Katelyn Marquez slides into second base, beating the tag of Portland State’s Alicia Fine in the first game of their doubleheader Saturday at Miller Ranch Stadium.

SportSSportS d-Backs fall century dropped by district leading Bonneville, B4

isu softBall

Mistakes cost Bengals opener, and darkness suspends game two

District Four ends second session of the weekend

isu footBall

onlineFind a photo gallery from Saturday’s high school rodeo action at idahostatejournal.com.

Journal staff

BaseBallPocatello 19, RigBy 4

Rigby strutted out three pitchers, but the result was the same each time. The Pocatello Indians shelled the Trojans for 12 hits and 19 runs on the way to a 19-4 demol-ishment Saturday in Rigby. “It’s good for us,” said assis-tant coach Matt Swallow, “kind of a confidence booster going into next week.” Bodie Cooper slammed two home runs and the Indians’ starting pitcher Andy Burten-shaw threw a full five innings. Pocatello, 10-6 overall and 5-2 in the 4A Fifth-Sixth Dis-trict, travels to 16-0, 6-0, first-place Bonneville Tuesday.

south FRemont 5,malad 3malad 12, PReston 11Malad finished the Preston

tounament with a split Satur-day, losing to South Fremont 5-3 before bouncing back to defeat host Preston 12-11. Against South Fremont the Dragons banged out 14 hits, but could only scrape across three runs. “We had a lot of runners on, we just could not get the kids home,” Malad head coach Den-nis Evans said. Nishon Neal pitched a com-plete game, striking out six. In the second game with Preston the Dragons had to comeback from six runs down to defeat the host Indians. Malad scored 10 runs in the final four innings to pull out the victory. “I am absolutely happy with the way the kids played this weekend,” Evans said. “We knew we were going to play some tough competition, and the kids responded.” Malad (10-4) hosts Soda Springs Wednesday at 4 p.m.

tRack and Field The Highland track team participated in the Tiger/Grizz Invite in Idaho Falls Friday and Saturday. Presli Hutchison won first place in the girls 3200 meter event. Other individual win-ners were Kaden Clay (boys 1600), freshman Ali Phillips (girls 100), freshman Micah Batts (boys long jump), the boys 4X800 relay, girls 4X800 relay and boys 4X400 relay. Additional medal winners for top three finishes were Presli Hutchison (girls 1600), Ali Wilks (girls 800) and Bryan Grigg (boys 800).

tennishighland Boys 6,canyon Ridge 0highland giRls 5, canyon Ridge 1highland Boys 4.5,twin Falls 1.5highland giRls 5.5,

twin Falls .5 Highland tennis traveled to Twin Falls Saturday and both the boys and girls swept the Canyon Ridge Riverhawks and the Twin Falls Bruins. “I couldn’t have been happier with the way the kids played,” said Highland head coach Ron Osborn. “In tough conditions, there were wind gusts of 30 to 35 miles an hour, the kids battled. This was definitely the windiest day we’ve had all year.” The Highland boys improve to 9-1-2 overall, and the girls are 6-5-1 for the season. Against Twin Falls, High-land’s No. 1 singles, freshman Andrea Osborn, whipped Mor-gan Biggs 6-2, 6-0. “(Andrea) played about as well as she played all year,” Osborn said. And the boys doubles pair Riley Anderson and James Harrison, who Osborn said have been a rock for the Rams

this year, won 6-0, 6-0 against the Riverhawks and 6-3, 6-2 versus the Bruins. Just recently, Osborn re-united Jared Hall and Megan Nielsen in mixed doubles. The duo reached state playing to-gether a year ago, but had been working with each other. “They’ve reunited as a mixed doubles team,” Osborn said. “I haven’t played them together much, but they’ve picked up right where they left off.”

Hall and Nielsen were 2-0 Saturday with both victories in straight sets. Highland is at Skyline Tues-day at 3:30 p.m. and home Wednesday versus Madison.

isj sportssportsB2 sUNDAY, AprIL 21, 2013 IDAho stAte JoUrNAL

American League

The Associated Press

East Division

W L Pct GB

Boston 12 4 .750 —

New York 10 6 .625 2

Baltimore 10 7 .588 2½

Tampa Bay 7 10 .412 5½

Toronto 7 11 .389 6

Central Division

W L Pct GB

Kansas City 8 7 .533 —

Detroit 9 8 .529 —

Minnesota 7 7 .500 ½

Chicago 7 10 .412 2

Cleveland 6 10 .375 2½

West Division

W L Pct GB

Oakland 12 6 .667 —

Texas 11 6 .647 ½

Los Angeles 6 10 .375 5

Seattle 7 12 .368 5½

Houston 5 12 .294 6½

Saturday’s Games

Baltimore 7, L.A. Dodgers 5, 1st game

N.Y. Yankees 5, Toronto 3, 11 innings

Boston 4, Kansas City 3

L.A. Angels 10, Detroit 0

Minnesota 2, Chicago White Sox 1, 10 innings

Baltimore 6, L.A. Dodgers 1, 2nd game

Cleveland 19, Houston 6

Tampa Bay 1, Oakland 0

Texas 5, Seattle 0

Rangers 5, mariners 0

Seattle Texas

ab r h bi ab r h bi

FGtrrz cf 4 0 1 0 Kinsler 2b 2 1 0 0

Seager 3b 3 0 2 0 Andrus ss 4 0 0 0

KMorls dh 2 0 0 0 Brkmn dh 3 0 1 2

Morse rf 4 0 0 0 LGarci dh 0 1 0 0

Smoak 1b 4 0 0 0 Beltre 3b 4 0 0 0

Ibanez lf 2 0 0 0 Przyns c 4 1 2 2

Bay ph-lf 1 0 0 0 N.Cruz rf 4 0 0 0

JMontr c 3 0 1 0 DvMrp lf 3 1 1 1

Ackley 2b 4 0 1 0 Morlnd 1b 2 0 0 0

Ryan ss 3 0 0 0 LMartn cf 3 1 1 0

Totals 30 0 5 0 Totals 29 5 5 5

Seattle 000 000 000—0

Texas 000 100 13x—5

DP—Texas 2. LOB—Seattle 8, Texas 4. HR—Pierzynski (3), Dav.Murphy (2). SB—Kinsler (2).

IP H R ER BB SO

Seattle

Maurer 6 2-3 2 2 2 3 2

Furbush 1-3 1 1 1 0 0

Medina 1 2 2 2 1 2

Texas

Tepesch 1 2-3 2 0 0 0 3

D.Lowe W,1-0 4 0 0 0 0 1

J.Ortiz H,2 1 1 0 0 1 1

Scheppers 1 1-3 2 0 0 2 1

Frasor 1 0 0 0 1 2

Furbush pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.

HBP—by D.Lowe (K.Morales). WP—Me-dina. PB—J.Montero.

Umpires—Home, Eric Cooper; First, Angel Hernandez; Second, Doug Ed-dings; Third, John Tumpane.

T—2:32. A—43,025 (48,114).

Today’s Games

N.Y. Yankees (Nova 1-1) at Toronto (Jo.Johnson 0-1), 11:07 a.m.

Kansas City (E.Santana 1-1) at Boston (Dempster 0-1), 1:35 p.m., 1st game

L.A. Dodgers (Billingsley 1-0) at Balti-more (Arrieta 1-0), 11:35 a.m.

Oakland (Milone 3-0) at Tampa Bay (Ro.Hernandez 0-3), 11:40 a.m.

Cleveland (U.Jimenez 0-2) at Houston (Bedard 0-1), 12:10 p.m.

Minnesota (Diamond 0-1) at Chicago White Sox (Floyd 0-3), 12:10 p.m.

Seattle (Harang 0-1) at Texas (Grimm 0-0), 1:05 p.m.

Detroit (Fister 3-0) at L.A. Angels (C.Wilson 1-0), 1:35 p.m.

Kansas City (Guthrie 2-0) at Boston (Webster 0-0), 5:05 p.m., 2nd game

National League

The Associated Press

East Division

W L Pct GB

Atlanta 13 4 .765 —

Washington 10 7 .588 3

New York 8 8 .500 4½

Philadelphia 7 11 .389 6½

Miami 4 14 .222 9½

Central Division

W L Pct GB

St. Louis 10 7 .588 —

Cincinnati 10 8 .556 ½

Pittsburgh 9 8 .529 1

Milwaukee 8 8 .500 1½

Chicago 5 11 .313 4½

West Division

W L Pct GB

Colorado 13 4 .765 —

San Francisco 11 7 .611 2½

Arizona 9 8 .529 4

Los Angeles 7 10 .412 6

San Diego 5 12 .294 8

Saturday’s Games

Baltimore 7, L.A. Dodgers 5, 1st game

Cincinnati 3, Miami 2, 13 innings

Washington 7, N.Y. Mets 6

Pittsburgh 3, Atlanta 1

Baltimore 6, L.A. Dodgers 1, 2nd game

St. Louis 5, Philadelphia 0

Milwaukee 5, Chicago Cubs 1

Colorado 4, Arizona 3

San Francisco 2, San Diego 0

Today’s Games

Miami (Sanabia 2-1) at Cincinnati (H.Bailey 1-1), 11:10 a.m.

Washington (Zimmermann 3-0) at N.Y. Mets (Gee 0-3), 11:10 a.m.

Atlanta (Medlen 1-1) at Pittsburgh (J.Sanchez 0-2), 11:35 a.m.

L.A. Dodgers (Billingsley 1-0) at Balti-more (Arrieta 1-0), 11:35 a.m.

Chicago Cubs (Feldman 0-2) at Milwau-kee (W.Peralta 0-1), 12:10 p.m.

San Diego (Stults 2-1) at San Francisco (Zito 2-1), 2:05 p.m.

Arizona (McCarthy 0-2) at Colorado (Nicasio 2-0), 2:10 p.m.

St. Louis (Westbrook 1-1) at Philadel-phia (K.Kendrick 1-1), 6:05 p.m.

Rockies 4, diamondbacks 3

Arizona Colorado

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Pollock cf 4 1 2 0 EYong rf 4 1 1 0

Prado 2b 3 0 1 0 Fowler cf 3 1 0 0

Gldsch 1b 4 0 1 0 CGnzlz lf 3 0 1 1

C.Ross rf 3 0 0 0 Tlwtzk ss 3 0 1 1

GParra rf 0 0 0 0 Cuddyr 1b 4 1 1 1

AMarte lf 3 0 0 0 Rutledg 2b 3 1 1 0

MMntr ph 1 0 0 1 Brignc 3b 2 0 1 0

Nieves c 3 1 1 0 Torreal c 3 0 0 0

JoWilsn 2b 2 0 0 0 JDLRs p 2 0 0 0

ErChvz 3b 1 1 1 2 Pachec ph 1 0 0 0

Pnngtn ss 3 0 0 0 Escaln p 0 0 0 0

Cahill p 2 0 0 0 Brothrs p 0 0 0 0

Hinske ph 1 0 0 0 Nelson ph 1 0 0 0

Cllmntr p 0 0 0 0 RBtncr p 0 0 0 0

Totals 30 3 6 3 Totals 29 4 6 3

Arizona 000 000 021—3

Colorado 012 001 00x—4

E—Nieves (1), Jo.Wilson (1). DP—Colorado 2. LOB—Arizona 3, Colorado 8. 2B—Pollock (8), C.Gonzalez (6), Rutledge (2). 3B—E.Young (2). HR—Er.Chavez (1), Cuddyer (4). SB—Fowler (2), C.Gonzalez (4). CS—Pollock (1). S—Brignac. SF—Tulowitzki.

IP H R ER BB SO

Arizona

Cahill L,0-3 7 6 4 3 3 3

Collmenter 1 0 0 0 1 1

Colorado

J.De La Rosa 6 2 0 0 2 4

Escalona 1 1-3 2 2 2 0 2

Brothers 2-3 0 0 0 0 1

R.Betancourt 1 2 1 1 1 0

HBP—by Cahill (Fowler).

Umpires—Home, Chad Fairchild; First, D.J. Reyburn; Second, Jeff Kellogg; Third, Paul Schrieber.

T—2:50. A—30,380 (50,398).

high school sPoRts

national BasketBall association

Continued from B1

solving a problem. So here’s a real-world quan-dary: Is cheerleading a sport? Type “Is c” into Google and, in all of its suggestive powers, the search engine guesses what you’d like to know ... “Is coffee bad for you?” (I’ve verified. It’s not.) “Is college worth it?” (Yep.) “Is coup contagious?” (I’m far, far too terrified to even Google, “What is coup?”) The fourth option: ‘Is cheer-leading a sport?” Yes and no. When cheerlead-ers are hanging out on a sideline waving glittery pom-poms, smil-ing and leading cheers, it’s not a sport. Obvious, right? But there’s this other thing that falls under the umbrella of cheer-leading — competitive cheer, which, my friends, is most defi-nitely a sport. Idaho hosted a dance and cheer state championship last month (Highland won the cheer compe-tition), and that’s a great thing. It means that cheering competitions in this state fall under the Nation-al Federation of State High School Associations’ regulations. Why is that important? Cheerleading — once an activ-ity where young girls gathered to, yep, you guessed it, lead cheers — has developed so far beyond the simple definition of “an enthusi-astic and vocal supporter” that comparing it to what cheerlead-ers do today is like assuming the landline phone at all resembles a smartphone. There were approximately 600,000 cheerleaders six years and older in 1990. That number skyrocketed to 3.6 million by 2003. While cheerleading has grown in popularity, so have the number of injuries. In 1980, the US Con-sumer Product Safety Commis-sion reported 4,954 emergency room visits for cheerleaders. Seventeen years later, it’s 26, 786. According to a November 2012 report from the American Academy of Pediatrics, “The overall risk of injury is lower in cheerleading than in most other sports, the risk of direct cata-strophic injury is considerably higher.” Since cheerleading can lead to lacerated spleens, fractured vertebrae, mangled ankles and concussions, there are those who prefer we never call it a sport. By their estimation, we’d eliminate state cheer competitions and any-thing else more aggressive than, “Go! Fight! Win!” But unlike how I deal with my wife and her zeal for clicking pens, simply taking away what makes cheerleading, cheerlead-ing isn’t the solution. It’s grown and evolved into the sport it is today because young women want to do more than stand on a sideline. Are some of the stunts and human pyramids dangerous? Un-questionably. So is flying in Cessna, eating a cheeseburger in a dirty diner and stepping out one’s own front door.

Instead, IHSAA’s current trend of accepting cheerleading for what it is — a sport — moves us in the right direction, helping ensure cheer competitions are monitored and supervised by qualified and certified coaches. And the dangerous stunts that generally lead to many of the debilitating inju-ries are only performed on floors covered with mats. Improve the game, don’t elimi-nate it. Don’t take away the pen. Pro-vide one with a cap.

Franko

ISU Sports Information

WALNUT, Calif. — Senior Bradi Hutchi-son set the school record in the outdoor 5000-meter run with her time of 16 minutes, 13.75 seconds at the Mt. Sac Relays last night. Hutchison held the previous record with a time of 16:29.44 from 2011. She holds school records in the indoor and outdoor 3000, indoor and outdoor 5000, 10,000 and Centen-nial Course 3K. She ranks first in the conference and sixth in the nation for her record-10,000 time of

33:22.99 from the Stanford Invitational. At the Mark Faldamo Invitational hosted by Utah State, Senior Camille Marchand ran a career best time of 24.00 in the women's 200 to finished first. She also finished first in the 100 with a time of 12.07. Both are Big Sky qualifying marks. Freshman Bailey Bars finished first in the javelin with a distance of 42.04, a Big Sky qualifier. Maci Whitby-Bingham won the discus with a distance of 43.22. Returning Big Sky Champion in the women's pole vault, Caitlin Maulin, won that event with a height of 4.00 meters. Maulin

holds school records in both the indoor and outdoor pole vault. Junior Andrea Vicic finished fourth in the women's 400 hurdles with a career best time of 1:03.99, a Big Sky qualifier. Corban Latimore and Andy Lish both hit qualifying marks in the 200. Latimore fin-ished second with a career best time of 21.66 and Lish finished third with a time of 21.71. Steven Wacker finished sixth in the pole vault with a height of 4.75. The Bengals continue their season with the Robison Invitational hosted by BYU Wednes-day through Saturday.

Bradi Hutchison sets school record at Mt. Sac Relays

Pocatello baseball hammers Rigby, other prep results

majoR league BaseBall

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Carmelo An-thony started fast, struggled through the middle, and finished with a flurry. And the New York Knicks, after knocking the Boston Celt-ics from the top of the Atlantic Division, took the first step to-ward knocking them out of the playoffs. Anthony scored 36 points, leading the Knicks to an 85-78 victory Saturday in their playoff opener. "It's a wonderful feeling to know that we got our first win of the series here on our home court, took care of that busi-ness," Anthony said. "It was real important for us to come out and get this first win." The NBA's scoring leader had 10 quick points and endured a tough shooting night from there before scoring eight points in the fourth quarter, helping New York take a 1-0 lead in a series for the first time since the 2001 first round against Toronto. "Boston knows Melo and they know he's not going anywhere, but they're going to make it as tough as possible for him to score the ball," Knicks coach Mike Woodson said. "And he got off to a good start and then he

had that slow middle, and then when he had to pick it up down the stretch, he made the plays that we needed him to make. And I mean that's what the great ones do. They figure it out and Melo's done that all season for our ballclub." Anthony shot only 13 for 29 from the field but made con-secutive baskets late in the final period, when the Knicks held Boston to three baskets and eight points. Game 2 is Tuesday night be-fore the Celtics host Game 3 on Friday in what will be their first home game since the Boston Marathon bombings. Jeff Green scored 26 points and Paul Pierce added 21 for the Celtics, who badly missed in-jured point guard Rajon Rondo, committing 21 turnovers that led to 20 points. The Knicks got their hands on the ball at will in the fourth quarter, when Boston shot 3 of 11. "We had some just bad turn-overs tonight," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "If we had those turnovers in any game we prob-ably should lose the game and we did. We were making post passes from the other side of the floor. I mean, those are just not good passes." Kevin Garnett had eight

points and nine rebounds but shot only 4 of 12 from the field. Jason Terry, another veteran on a young Celtics team, missed all five shots off the bench.

nets 106, Bulls 89 NEW YORK — The Brooklyn blackout was a blowout. Ripping apart the vaunted Chicago Bulls defense during an impressive second quarter, the Nets punctuated their return to the postseason with a 106-89 vic-tory on Saturday night. Deron Williams scored 22 points, Brook Lopez had 21 and the Nets made 16 of 20 shots in the second period on their way to 60 percent in the first half. “That’s a hell of a perfor-mance,” Nets interim coach P.J. Carlesimo said. Joe Johnson finished with 16 for the Nets, who made their successful first season in Brook-lyn even better with a victory in their first playoff appearance since 2007. They will host Game 2 on Monday night. The Nets wore their road black uniforms and fans were encouraged to wear black as well to make it a “blackout” for the first major postseason game in Brooklyn since Oct. 10, 1956, when the Yankees beat the Dodgers in Game 7 of the World

Series at Ebbets Field. The Nets then came out white-hot, shooting nearly 56 percent and putting six players in double figures. “Everybody was excited for this game,” Williams said. “I think it has been a long time coming for this franchise, this organization with the move and everything. We expected to be here, so we came out playing like we wanted to be here ... we were locked in today.” Carlos Boozer had 25 points and eight rebounds for the Bulls, who had Joakim Noah in the starting lineup despite foot pain. But he was clearly limited, and there was no reason to play him more than the 14 minutes he got with the game never in doubt after halftime. “It was the end of the first (quarter) and they hit us with a haymaker, got us back on our heels,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. “So end of the first, second quarter, poor defense, poor intensity, poor energy on offense. You can’t win like that.” The sellout crowd of 17,732 was roaring long before Nets reserve Jerry Stackhouse, who wears the No. 42 that Jackie Robinson once sported in Brook-lyn, sang the national anthem.

Anthony scores 36, Knicks beat Celtics in Game 1

isu tRack and Field