10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2017 CONTACT US FOLLOW US facebook.com/ DailyAstorianSports Gary Henley | Sports Reporter ghenley@dailyastorian.com Oregon players hospitalized after intense workouts Associated Press EUGENE — At least three Ore- gon football players have reportedly been hospitalized following a series of intense workouts. The Oregonian reported that offensive linemen Doug Brenner and Sam Poutasi and tight end Cam McCormick are in fair condition and remained at PeaceHealth Sacred Heart Medical Center at Riverbend in Springfield on Monday, a hospital spokeswoman said. The school says in a statement to the newspaper that it will continue to monitor and support the players as they recover. The university says it has “implemented modifications as we transition back into full training to prevent further occurrences.” The newspaper reports that Pouta- si’s mother says her son has been diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, a condition that occurs when muscle tissue breaks down and leaks into the blood stream. The condition can cause kidney damage. Oregon coach Willie Taggart took over the team in December, after Mark Helfrich was fired. Earlier this month the Ducks hired Irele Oderinde as the new football strength and con- ditioning coach. The players had been on a nearly monthlong break. Wizards dominate Blazers in mid-afternoon matchup Washington hits 13 3-pointers, extends home win streak to 12 By STEPHEN WHYNO Associated Press AP Photo/David Goldman Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman tackles Falcons wide receiver Julio Jones during the NFC divisional playoff game Saturday in Atlanta. W ASHINGTON — Determined not to give the Portland Trail Blazers’ elite guards any feel-good shots, the Washington Wizards knocked down a few of their own and got rolling. Bradley Beal scored 25 points and John Wall had 24 as the Wizards took a page out of the Trail Blazers’ playbook by hitting 13 3-pointers in a comfortable 120-101 victory on Monday afternoon. Washington, which relies on the 3-point shot less than almost any other NBA team, made 9 of 13 3-pointers in a 75-point first half and was 13 of 23 in the game. “When we play defense and get rebounds and get out in transition, teams (have) to col- lapse when I’m penetrating,” said Wall, who was 10 of 17 from the floor. “We moved the ball very well, and guys were knocking down shots and shooting with confidence.” Confidence came from a 4 of 5 start and a 10-0 lead as Beal was hot early. He and Wall outplayed Portland’s Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, who Wizards coach Scott Brooks said combined to be as good as any backcourt in the league. Lillard led the Blazers with 22 points and McCollum had 12, but they combined to shoot 11 of 29 from the floor. “Just staying down on his pump fakes, making it tough for him, using my length to disturb him and just making sure I keep him in front of me because he’s one of the quick- est guards in the league,” said Wizards guard Kelly Oubre, whose 18 points were one shy of his career high. The Wizards led by as many as 30 on the way to their 12th consecutive home vic- tory and their fourth win in five games. They limited the Blazers to 8 of 26 shoot- ing from beyond the arc, part of which was self-inflicted. “I thought our whole team struggled offen- sively,” Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. “We didn’t pass and move. We didn’t do things that make us a good offensive basketball team.” Washington did plenty of things to look like a good offensive basketball team, and Brooks was particularly proud of his team’s ball movement that helped put the game out of reach. “I think early in the game when guys get good looks and they see the ball go in, they get confident, they start believing,” Lillard said. “Later in the game when we started to contest shots and have more of a presence, it didn’t SCOREBOARD PREP SCHEDULE TODAY Boys Basketball — Astoria at Valley Catholic, 6 p.m.; Seaside at Scappoose, 6 p.m.; Warrenton at Rainier, 7:45 p.m.; Knappa at Life Christian, 7 p.m.; Jewell at Willamette Valley Christian, 7:30 p.m. Girls Basketball — Astoria at Valley Catholic, 7:45 p.m.; Seaside at Scap- poose, 7:45 p.m.; Warrenton at Rainier, 6 p.m.; Jewell at Willamette Valley Chris- tian, 6 p.m.; Willapa Valley at Ilwaco, 7 p.m. WEDNESDAY Wrestling — Knappa at League Meet, Vernonia, TBA THURSDAY Girls Basketball — Clatskanie at Warrenton, 6 p.m. Boys Basketball — Clatskanie at Warrenton, 8 p.m.; Ilwaco at Willapa Val- ley, 7 p.m. Swimming — Seaside at Tillamook, 4 p.m. Wrestling — Seaside at Astoria, 5:30 p.m.; Warrenton at League 4-Way, Willa- mina, 5 p.m. FRIDAY Boys Basketball — Astoria at Sea- side, 6 p.m.; Knappa at Gaston, 8 p.m.; Jewell at C.S. Lewis, 7 p.m. Girls Basketball — Astoria at Sea- side, 7:45 p.m.; Knappa at Gaston, 6 p.m.; Jewell at Seaside JV2, 6 p.m.; Raymond at Ilwaco, 7 p.m. Wrestling — Gary Seaney Tour- nament, Tillamook, TBA; Seaside at Nestucca, 5 p.m. SATURDAY Boys Basketball — Raymond at Ilwa- co, 7 p.m. Wrestling — Knappa at Gervais, TBA Sherman played half the season with injury Coach said cornerback had MCL problem By TIM BOOTH Associated Press AP Photo/Nick Wass Wizards guard Tomas Satoransky gets a hand in the face by Trail Blazers forward Meyers Leonard, back, Monday in Washington. The Wizards won 120-101. UP NEXT: TRAIL BLAZERS • Portland Trail Blazers (18-25) at Charlotte Hornets (20-21) • Wednesday, 4 p.m. TV: CSNW “We were getting our heads beat in, we didn’t execute our offense, I got some fouls early (and) the game got out of hand,” McCo- llum said. MLK DAY really impact them because they had already seen the ball go in three or four times on the perimeter.” STREAK OVER McCollum’s streak of consecutive games with 25-plus points ended at eight. Beal tried to take McCollum off his game early by being physical, and foul pressure mounted. Wearing a shirt with the message: “His dream inspired the world. Never stop dream- ing,” Beal took the microphone to address the crowd of 17,395 on Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Brooks said he always stops by the MLK Memorial during his walks around the National Mall, and Stotts said about half the team went to the National Museum of Afri- can American History and Culture after prac- tice Monday. Quartet of impressive QBs vie for Super Bowl berths By HOWARD FENDRICH Associated Press Tom Brady vs. Ben Roethlisberger. Aaron Rodgers vs. Matt Ryan. Quite a quartet of QBs is heading to the NFL’s conference championship games next weekend: Brady’s New England Patriots host Roethlisberg- er’s Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC, and Rodgers’ Green Bay Packers play at Ryan’s Atlanta Falcons in the NFC. Consider the collective bona fides: Among them, Brady, Roethlisberger and Rodgers can boast of 10 Super Bowl appearances and seven titles, four Super Bowl MVP awards and four regular-season MVP awards. Not too bad. Ryan, never a Super Bowl partici- pant, is the least-accomplished mem- ber of the final four, but he just so happens to be the quarterback on the All-Pro team this season and the favor- ite to collect league MVP honors. Brady and Rodgers also figure to get some votes for that accolade, which will be handed out the day before the Super Bowl in Houston on Feb. 5. These four guys would love to be in CONFERENCE TITLES • Green Bay Packers (10-6) at Atlanta Falcons (11-5) • Sunday, 12:05 p.m. TV: FOX • Pittsburgh Steelers (11-5) at New England Patriots (14-2) • Sunday, 3:40 p.m. TV: CBS town for that game, of course. Rodgers and Ryan moved closer to playing for the Vince Lombardi Tro- phy with terrific divisional-round per- formances, none more thrilling than Green Bay’s 34-31 win over the Dal- las Cowboys. Running to his left, and running out of time and territory on a third- and-20, Rodgers whipped his wrist for a 36-yard completion to tight end Jared Cook, who barely managed to scrape the toes of each shoe inbounds before tumbling to the sideline with 3 seconds remaining. That set up Mason Crosby’s game-ending, tiebreaking 51-yard field goal. “This one’s special,” Rodgers said. “More special than we’ve had around here in a while.” All Ryan did Saturday was throw for 338 yards, three TDs and no inter- ceptions to beat the Seattle Seahawks 36-20 . The AFC quarterbacks were not as impressive as their NFC counterparts this weekend, but did enough to get by. Roethlisberger threw an end zone interception and failed to produce a TD, but Chris Boswell’s postseason-record six field goals helped the Steelers get past the Kansas City Chiefs 18-16 on Sunday. Brady was picked off twice — equaling his season total — but the Patriots still defeated the overmatched Houston Texans 34-16 on Saturday. Each conference title game is a rematch from this season. Rodgers and Ryan engaged in a thrilling showdown in Week 8 on Oct. 30, when Atlanta edged Green Bay 33-32 . Rodgers threw for four TDs, one more than his foe, and ran for 60 yards, but Ryan got the last word by con- necting with Mohamed Sanu for an 11-yard score with 31 seconds to go. A week earlier, Brady and the Patri- ots won 27-16 against a Steelers team missing the injured Roethlisberger. RENTON, Wash. — Seat- tle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman played the second half of the season with an injured knee, although he was never listed on any injury report. Seattle coach Pete Carroll said Monday that Sherman had an MCL injury in his knee, similar to the ones suffered by quarterback Russell Wilson and wide receiver Tyler Lockett earlier in the season. Carroll called the injury “sig- nificant” on his weekly radio show on KIRO-AM Monday morn- ing and expanded on the situation later in his end-of-season news conference. “He never missed anything. Just like Russell never missed anything. Tyler. They all happened over the course of the season and they all just made it through it,” Carroll said. “They never complained, they didn’t want to miss a practice and they basically didn’t miss any- thing. But they were legit, those were legit injuries, they showed up in the whole thing. That’s a chal- lenge. Guys all over the league are going through the same thing, but our guys just happened to be doing it as well.” Carroll did not specify which knee Sherman injured and Sher- man never appeared to miss any game time due to an injury in the latter half of the season. Yet the disclosure raised ques- tions of whether the Seahawks circumvented the NFL’s injury reporting policy. Sherman was not listed on any injury or practice report this sea- son with a knee injury. Sherman typically sat out at least one practice per week start- ing around midseason, but each of those was given an “NIR” — not injury related — designation on the practice report. The only time Sherman was listed as having an injury desig- nation came in Week 12 against Tampa Bay when he was listed with an ankle injury. “I’m feeling like I screwed that up with not telling you that because that happened, but he was OK,” Carroll said. “So I don’t know. He never missed anything, which is probably why.” Carroll said he had a “big meet- ing” with Sherman after the sea- son-ending 36-20 loss to Atlanta on Saturday in the NFC divisional playoff game. It was a tumultuous season for the cornerback that included two sideline blowups during games, conflicts with local media and an undisclosed injury.