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Page 2B SPORTS East Oregonian NFL Thursday, January 8, 2015 College Basketball Andy Cripe | Corvallis Gazette-Times Oregon State’s Langston Morris-Walker admits ‘nobody on this team is proven.’ Morris-Walker feels he has something to prove himself. Morris-Walker AP Photo/Scott Eklund, File Seattle Seahawks fans yell as Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers (12) tries to run a play in the first half of an NFL football game in Seattle earlier this season. Along with great quarterbacks, the four NFL teams hosting playoff games this weekend have something else on their side. The Seahawks have the racket of Centu- ry Link Field, the Packers that Lambeau mystique. Denver has the thin air a mile up and the Patriots the biting winds and bitter cold of foreboding Foxborough. The foursome went a combined 30-2 at home this season and heavily favored in the divisional round. There’s no place like home Playoff hosts are combined 30-2 at home By ARNIE STAPLETON Associated Press DENVER — Along with great quarterbacks who all own Super Bowl rings, the four NFL teams hosting play- off games this weekend have a little something else on their side: an extraordinary Seattle has the racket of Century Link, Green Bay the Denver’s mile-high altitude and NASCAR offense ben- Patriots appreciate the biting winds and bitter cold of fore- boding Foxborough, where that hoodie sure comes in The four host teams are a combined 30-2 at home this season; each is at least a touchdown favorite in the di- In the last decade, only Interestingly, in neither of those postseasons did any of - ed Pittsburgh won in ‘05 and the Giants won as a fourth This year’s foursome includes the Broncos and Packers with perfect home records, but not the top seed, so the road to the Super Bowl might not even go through Seattle’s lone home loss was a 30-23 hiccup against Dallas during the champs’ other defeat was a giveaway: New England’s 19-7 loss to “Unnerving,” is how Richard Sherman describes the sound in Seattle, which can get so loud that the Se- creative ways to make checks Panthers tight end Greg Olsen played at Seattle with the Bears a few years ago and said he expects an even loud- er stadium Saturday night: “Playoff game, coming off a Langston Morris-Walker observed his Oregon State Denver quit being such an intimidating place to play after John Elway retired with - again since Manning’s arriv- the inexperienced group how to handle the “Our fans have been With about eight minutes until inter- mission and the Beavers down nine points, Arizona St. Morris-Walker checked back into the “Players just feed off that en- ergy when you’re playing at Throw in the no-huddle and the lung-searing altitude and you can see why the Broncos are 24-3 at home with Manning, including 17-1 over the last two sea- “Playing up-tempo and then the altitude out here can denying the Seahawks have better of- fensive numbers when Unger is on the In the six games Unger played — “That’s his guidance and his experi- an expert at recognizing looks and calls and directing what’s going on there,” just stands to reason that we maximize 13 total sacks in those six games and quarterback Russell Wilson had a In the 10 games Unger missed, Se- attle averaged nearly 30 yards less of offense, but the big drop off was in the little bit more accurate with stuff and the kind of experience that just takes time to - - ful dimension for us that helps us just be right more and that’s a really important knows it’s working when defensive linemen inter- lock their knuckles behind their head, heaving between PREP BOYS BASKETBALL Today Umatilla JV at Helix, 7:30 p.m. Friday Irrigon at Culer, 6 p.m. Ione at Arlington, 7:30 p.m. Condon/Wheeler at South Wasco County, 7:30 p.m. Joseph at Echo, 7:30 p.m. Nixyaawii at Powder Valley, 7:30 p.m. Weston-McWwen at Stanfield, 7:30 p.m. Heppner at Pilot Rock, 7:30 p.m. Saturday Lebanon at Pendleton, TBD Hermiston at Summit, 1:30 p.m. Mac-Hi at Weston-McEwen, 4:30 p.m. Dufur at Ione, 5:30 p.m. Arlington at Horizona Christian, 5:30 p.m. Mithcell/Spray at Condon/Wheeler, 5:30 p.m. Helix at Powder Valley, 5:30 p.m. Echo at Nixyaawii, 5:30 p.m. Umatilla at Nyssa, 5:30 p.m. Riverside at Vale, 6 p.m. PREP GIRLS BASKETBALL Today Umatilla JV at Helix, 6 p.m. Friday Irrigon at Culer, 4:30 p.m. Joseph at Echo, 6 p.m. Condon/Wheeler at South Wasco County, 6 p.m. Ione at Arlington, 6 p.m. Heppner at Pilot Rock, 6 p.m. Weston-McEwen at Stanfield, 6 p.m. Saturday Lebanon at Pendleton, TBD Helix at Powder Valley, 4 p.m. Mithcell/Spray at Condon/Wheeler, 4 p.m. Dufur at Ione, 4 p.m. Arlington at Horizon Christian, 4 p.m. Riverside at Vale, 4 p.m. Umatilla at Nyssa, 4 p.m. Mac-Hi at Weston-MceWen, 4 p.m. Echo at Nixyaawii, 6 p.m. PREP WRESTLING Today Hood River Valley at Pendleton, 7 p.m. Hermiston at Yelm (WA), 7 p.m. Saturday Hermiston at Gut Check Challenge in Olympia, Wash., 9 a.m. COLLEGE MEN’S BASKETBALL Friday Eastern Oregon at College of Idaho, 6:30 p.m. Saturday Blue Mountain at Walla Walla Community College, 4 p.m. Eastern Oregon at Walla Walla, 7 p.m. COLLEGE WOMEN’S BASKETBALL Friday Eastern Oregon at College of Idaho, 4:30 p.m. Saturday Blue Mountain at Walla Walla, 2 p.m. Football NFL Divisional Playoffs Saturday, Jan. 10 Baltimore at New England, 1:35 p.m. (NBC) Carolina at Seattle, 5:15 p.m. (FOX) Sunday, Jan. 11 Dallas at Green Bay, 10:05 a.m. (FOX) Indianapolis at Denver, 1:40 p.m. (CBS) NCAA Saturday, Jan. 10 Medal of Honor Bowl American vs. National, 11:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 12 College Football Championship Ohio State (13-1) vs. Oregon (13-1), 5:30 p.m. (ESPN) Saturday, Jan. 17 East-West Shrine Classic East vs. West, 1 p.m. (NFLN) NFLPA Collegiate Bowl National vs. American, 1 p.m. (ESPN2) Saturday, Jan. 24 Senior Bowl North vs. South, 1 p.m. (NFLN) Basketball NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division W L Pct Toronto 24 10 .706 Brooklyn 16 19 .457 Boston 12 21 .364 Philadelphia 5 29 .147 New York 5 33 .132 Southeast Division W L Pct Atlanta 27 8 .771 Washington 24 11 .686 Miami 15 20 .429 Charlotte 13 24 .351 Orlando 13 25 .342 Central Division W L Pct Chicago 25 11 .694 Cleveland 19 17 .528 Milwaukee 19 18 .514 Indiana 14 22 .389 Detroit 12 23 .343 WESTERN CONFERENCE Southwest Division W L Pct Memphis 25 10 .714 Dallas 26 11 .703 Houston 24 11 .686 GB — 8½ 11½ 19 21 GB — 3 12 15 15½ GB — 6 6½ 11 12½ GB — — 1 A 71-59 Beavers loss ultimately over- Oregon St. - Beavers lighted Morris-Walker’s newfound com- (9-4) • Today, 6 p.m. devoid of star power, the Bay-Area native “I feel much better out there than I used - uations, two early exits for the pros and one transfer — represented the Beavers at Pac-12 Media Day, and his im- had been a “glue guy” the previous season; someone to Transitioning from role player to featured starter brought times, head coach Wayne Tinkle said last month, Mor- Despite the lengthy layoff, Unger and his coaches don’t believe there will be Slowly, Morris-Walker absorbed the intricacies of Tin- - compensating for steals, he now lets big defensive plays both days last week during Seattle’s bye and was close to being able to return Perhaps more importantly, he hasn’t tallied a turnover in “The bye was huge as it always is coming off a long schedule and being able to take a week off and come back,” having played for the last six weeks, that was big not to be thrown in there and be able to have a couple of days of prac- SCOREBOARD Local Slate Sun Devils (8-6) openings in the Ducks’ defense and rattled As OSU’s top returning scorer, Morris-Walker was the UNGER: Offense took big hit in his absence Continued from 1B By CONNOR LETOURNEAU The Oregonian Super Bowl, I can only imag- problems for other teams,” Manning said, echoing sen- timents in Massachusetts, two other seasons, 2005 and 2011, featured collective re- cords that good among the four hosts who sat out wild- card weekend, according to Guard settling into expanded role in Oregon State backcourt San Antonio 21 15 .583 4½ New Orleans 17 18 .486 8 Northwest Division W L Pct GB Portland 27 8 .771 — Oklahoma City 17 18 .486 10 Denver 16 20 .444 11½ Utah 13 23 .361 14½ Minnesota 5 29 .147 21½ Pacific Division W L Pct GB Golden State 27 5 .844 — L.A. Clippers 23 12 .657 5½ Phoenix 22 16 .579 8 Sacramento 14 20 .412 14 L.A. Lakers 11 24 .314 17½ ——— Wednesday’s Games Milwaukee 97, Philadelphia 77 Washington 101, New York 91 Charlotte 98, New Orleans 94 Houston 105, Cleveland 93 Atlanta 96, Memphis 86 Boston 89, Brooklyn 81 Utah 97, Chicago 77 Detroit 108, Dallas 95 Denver 93, Orlando 90 Phoenix 113, Minnesota 111 Oklahoma City at Sacramento, (n) Indiana at Golden State, (n) L.A. Lakers at L.A. Clippers (n) Thursday’s Games Charlotte at Toronto, 4:30 p.m. Houston at New York, 5 p.m. Miami at Portland, 7:30 p.m. NCAA Top 25 Fared Wednesday (2) Duke 73, Wake Forest 65 (3) Virginia 61, NC State 51 (4) Wisconsin 62, Purdue 55 (5) Louisville 58, Clemson 52 (9) Utah 74, Colorado 49 Illinois 64, (11) Maryland 56 (12) Kansas 56, (21) Baylor 55 (15) Wichita State 63, Bradley 43 Xavier 69, (19) Seton Hall 58 (20) VCU 71, Davidson 65 Pac-12 California at USC, (n) Today San Francisco at (6) Gonzaga, 6 p.m. (7) Arizona at Oregon, 7:30 p.m. (25) Old Dominion at Marshall, 4 p.m. Pac-12 Arizona State at Oregon State, 6 p.m. Stanford at UCLA, 6 p.m. Hockey NHL EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division GP W L OT Pts GF GA Tampa Bay 42 26 12 4 56 138 110 Montreal 40 26 12 2 54 110 93 Detroit 40 21 10 9 51 113 101 Boston 41 20 15 6 46 107 110 Toronto 41 21 17 3 45 132 128 Florida 37 17 11 9 43 87 97 Ottawa 39 16 15 8 40 103 107 Buffalo 41 14 24 3 31 78 140 Metropolitan Division GP W L OT Pts GF GA Pittsburgh 40 24 10 6 54 120 97 N.Y. Islanders 40 26 13 1 53 123 112 Washington 39 21 11 7 49 118 101 N.Y. Rangers 36 21 11 4 46 113 90 Columbus 38 18 17 3 39 100 121 Philadelphia 40 15 18 7 37 108 121 New Jersey 42 15 20 7 37 94 118 Carolina 40 12 24 4 28 79 105 WESTERN CONFERENCE Central Division GP W L OT Pts GF GA Nashville 39 26 9 4 56 119 90 Chicago 40 26 12 2 54 124 87 St. Louis 40 24 13 3 51 124 99 Winnipeg 40 20 13 7 47 103 96 Dallas 39 18 15 6 42 121 128 Minnesota 38 18 15 5 41 107 110 Colorado 40 16 16 8 40 103 117 Pacific Division GP W L OT Pts GF GA Anaheim 41 26 9 6 58 115 110 Vancouver 38 23 12 3 49 112 100 San Jose 41 22 14 5 49 113 108 Los Angeles 40 19 12 9 47 112 103 Calgary 40 21 16 3 45 115 105 Arizona 39 15 20 4 34 92 130 Edmonton 41 9 23 9 27 90 139 NOTE: Two points for a win, one point for overtime loss. Wednesday’s Games Washington 6, Toronto 2 Boston 3, Pittsburgh 2, OT Detroit 3, Calgary 2 N.Y. Rangers at Anaheim, 10:30 p.m. Today’s Games New Jersey at Boston, 4 p.m. Washington at Philadelphia, 4 p.m. Buffalo at Carolina, 4 p.m. San Jose at St. Louis, 5 p.m. Dallas at Nashville, 5 p.m. Chicago at Minnesota, 5 p.m. Ottawa at Colorado, 6 p.m. Winnipeg at Arizona, 6 p.m. Florida at Vancouver, 7 p.m. N.Y. Rangers at Los Angeles, 7:30 p.m. WHL Wednesday’s Games Regina 3 Everett 1 Swift Current 5 Calgary 4 (SO) Prince Albert 5 Moose Jaw 1 Tri-City 5, Prince George 3 Kelowna 4, Vancouver 2 Spokane 4, Portland 1 Thursday’s games Medicine Hat at Victoria, 5:05 p.m. Utes blast by Buffs Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY — Brandon Taylor scored 14 points and Delon Wright added 13 points, six assists Utah ran away from Colorado for good after 9 Utah run away from Col- orado for a 74-49 victory The Buffaloes cut the lead to eight at 33-25 on a Dakarai Tucker add- ed 11 off the bench as the Utes (13-2, 3-0 Pac-12) threw the hammer down Utah blew the game open early after clamping down defensively on the Buffa- Asika Booker and Ja- 12 points for Colorado (9- 6, 2-1 Pac-12), which was held to its second lowest 3-pointer from Taylor, the Utes made eight consecu- tive baskets over four min- utes and took a 54-31 lead Utah led by as many as 35 points in the second half, going ahead 73-38 after Taylor made a pair of ISRAELI: Starred in international play Continued from 1B row playing in that tour- but he’s been out a long - ered him since February and he still has not gone is hard to get into shape until you are able to push Sorkin is from Minsk, Belarus, and averaged the U18 European Cham- scored 25 points in a win During his third year in a points per game in the 2013 European Champi- “Roman already has a solid skill set from his international experience and still has a tremendous amount of potential for growth,” Altman said in a Oregon (11-3, 1-0) hosts seventh-ranked Ar- izona (13-1, 1-0) at 7:30
