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TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 Sports shorts No. 1 UConn moves on with rout of Rutgers STORRS, Conn. (AP) — Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis scored 23 points to lead No. 1 UConn to a 91-55 rout of Rutgers on Geno Auriemma’s 61st birthday, putting the Huskies into the NCAA Tournament’s regional VHPL¿QDOVIRUWKHQG consecutive season. Moriah Jefferson added 19 points and Morgan Tuck had 16 points, seven rebounds and seven assists for the Huskies (34-1), who won their 33rd consecutive game and 79th in 80 tries. The Huskies, who hope to win their 10th national championship and third in row, are now 99-17 all-time in the NCAA Tournament, face Texas next week in Albany. Tyler Scaife had 16 points for eighth-seeded Rutgers (23-10), which was in its ¿UVW1&$$7RXUQDPHQW since 2012 and has not made it past the second round since 2009. UConn had a 20-point lead at the half and ran away from Rutgers after the Scarlet Knights lost guard Briyona Canty to a knee injury less than two minutes into the second half. SPORTS Three No. 1s survive to play in Sweet 16 champion since Indiana in 1976. The Wildcats im- proved to 36-0 — the best When the NCAA Tourna- start to a season for any team ment reaches the Sweet 16, — with a workmanlike win that means there are only 15 over Cincinnati. Next up in games left to decide a nation- the Midwest Regional semi- ¿QDOLV:HVW9LUJLQLDDQRWK al champion. Kentucky needs to win er team that will come right four of those games to be- at Kentucky and try to force FRPH WKH ¿UVW XQGHIHDWHG turnovers, the Mountaineers’ By JIM O’CONNELL AP Basketball Writer trademark this season. The East Region changed dramatically entering the Sweet 16 with top seeds Vil- lanova and Virginia ousted. ,W¶VWKH¿UVWWLPHVLQFH — and eighth time ever — that the top two teams from one region failed to advance to the second week. See SWEET/2B THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1936 — Detroit’s Mud Bruneteau ends the longest game in NHL history with a goal after 116 minutes and 30 seconds (six overtimes) to edge the Montreal Maroons LQ WKH VHPL¿QDOV RI WKH Stanley Cup playoffs. 1975 — Muhammad Ali knocks out Chuck Wepner in the 15th round to retain the world heavyweight title in Cleveland. 1979 — Indiana State, led by Larry Bird, advances to the NCAA Champion- ship game by squeezing past DePaul 76-74. Bird has 35 points, 16 rebounds and 9 assists. Contact us at 541-966-0838 or sports@eastoregonian.com AP Photo/Ted S. Warren Louisville’s Montrezl Harrell celebrates as he hugs Louisville head coach Rick Pitino late in the sec- ond half of a game against Northern Iowa in the Round of 32 on Sunday in Seattle. Prep baseball Sun glare, not rain, ends game By SAM BARBEE EO Media Group A strange ending befell the back end of a dou- bleheader between the Hermiston baseball team and the Redmond Panthers on Monday afternoon. The game, with Redmond leading 14-5 in Hermiston’s half of the sixth, was called due to glare coming off a shed behind home plate. Red- mond had scored nine runs in the Baseball top half of the sixth before the ¿HOGXPSLUHFDOOHGWKHJDPHGXH to the glare. 6FKRRO RI¿FLDOV DQG FRDFKHV Hermiston will decide whether the score is ¿QDO RU ZKHWKHU WKH WHDPV ZLOO make up the last innings later. It was a strange ending to a day WKDW OHIW ¿UVW\HDU %XOOGRJV KHDG Redmond coach Lance Hawkins frustrated. “My frustration comes down to ... this season we give up the big inning,” he said after the second game was called. “It’s how we do it. We’re not mentally in the game. Physically, sometimes you have some mistakes. But the mental part of the game, we talk about it enough, the kids should know what they’re doing.” Hawkins had an extra-long talk with the seniors after the games Monday, in which Hawkins chal- lenged them to be more mentally focused and pre- pared for each game. The play that Hawkins pointed to as evidence was a prime example of the Bulldogs’ lack of focus. With three runs already in and the bases loaded with one out, Redmond’s Brock Penhollow bounced one back to Michael Gossler at the mound, who should have gone home to start a 1-2-3 double play. Instead, he froze and held the ball allowing a run to score and the runners to move up. It should have gotten Hermiston out of the inning, but it gave Red- PRQGQHZOLIHDQGRSHQHGWKHÀRRGJDWHV See DAWGS/2B 2 Threat against Obama’s niece prompts security hike at tourney COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) — A threat against President Barack Obama’s niece, a player on Princeton’s women’s basketball team, prompted increased at the FACES security Tigers’ NCAA Tournament game at Maryland on Monday night, according to a person familiar Robinson with the situation. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because no details were released about the threat. Princeton lost to Maryland 85-70 on Monday in the second round of the tournament at the Terrapins’ arena, the Tigers’ only defeat of the season. On Saturday, President Obama attended Princeton’s 80-70 victory over Wisconsin-Green Bay in WKH¿UVWURXQGLQHYLWDEO\ drawing attention to his niece, freshman forward Leslie Robinson. Her father, Craig Robinson, is the EURWKHURI¿UVWODG\0LFKHOOH Obama. A phone message threatening Leslie Robinson was left at Maryland and the threat was taken seriously, according to the person who spoke to the AP. 7KHWKUHDWZDV¿UVW reported by USA Today. 1B FOLLOW US ON TWITTER @EOSPORTS 1 Staff photo by Kathy Aney The Bucks’ Quinn Cockburn pitches in the rain during the fi rst game of a double- header against Roseberg at Bob White Park. Rainy revenge Pendleton makes most of second chance to spring break with an offensive explosion in game 2, scoring a sea- PENDLETON — The Buckaroos beat son-high seven runs in RXWWKHUDLQDQGSLFNHGXSWKHLU¿UVWZLQRI the third inning. the season as well Monday in a doubleheader First baseman Roe split against Roseburg. led the way with his bat, 3HQGOHWRQORVWWKH¿UVWJDPHDQGZRQ NQRFNLQJLQ¿YHUXQVRQ the second 13-6, powered by a Devin Roe For box scores, four extra-base hits, in- grand slam. see Scoreboard cluding his grand slam ,Q WKH RSHQHU WKH %XFNV FRXOGQ¶W ¿QG D on Page 3B in the third. Kyler Lun- hole against Chris Stone, who allowed just ny also did his job in the one hit in six innings of work. Meanwhile, the Roseburg bats were alive early as everyone in leadoff spot, stealing three bases and scoring the lineup got a hit and either scored or drove three runs. Jack Peterson earned the win in relief, go- in a run. But Pendleton made up for the slow start ing 3.1 innings and allowing just one run. East Oregonian Prep softball Bucks open with win, face terror trio Tuesday East Oregonian HAPPY VALLEY — The Pendleton soft- ball team opened the North Clackamas Tour- nament with a decisive win Monday, but a late afternoon rain-out means the Bucks will face a triple header of top-tier competition on Tuesday. Pendleton beat the Milwaukie Mustangs LQ¿YHLQQLQJVRQWKHVWUHQJWKRI%DL ley Hillmick’s arm and plenty of offensive support. The sophomore pitcher limited the Mustangs (1-2) to just one hit and struck out four with two walks and one hit batter. Pendleton (3-0) scored multiple runs in each inning and pop came from up and down the lineup. Darian Lindsey went 4-for-4 and drive in three runs while scoring four her- self, Ellie Richards drove in four runs, Tiah Grass hit the games only home run and Pay- ton Hergert hit a double and a triple. “It was a great day offensively,” said coach Tim Cary, who also complimented Hillmick’s ability to keep the Bucks at the SODWHZLWKHI¿FLHQWSLWFKLQJ 7KLQJV ZLOO JHW PRUH GLI¿FXOW 7XHVGD\ as Pendleton will begin the day with back- to-back games against 6A teams Clackamas and Oregon City, then play a state title re- match against 5A Putnam in the afternoon. Cary said Murphy will take the circle in WKH ¿UVW JDPH DQG *UDFLH /\RQ ZLOO VWDUW against Oregon City, but he won’t decide who gets the ball in the Putnam game until JDPHWLPHGHSHQGLQJRQKRZWKH¿UVWJDPHV go. NFL suspending TV blackouts for 2015 season By BARRY WILNER AP Pro Football Writer PHOENIX (AP) — The NFL is saying bye-bye to blackouts. At least for 2015. No NFL games will be blocked from local tele- vision next season, the league said Monday at the owners’ meetings. The teams voted for a one-year suspension of the long-standing blackout policy for the preseason and regular season. There were no blackouts last season, because the minimum number of tickets, by NFL sellout stan- dards, was sold for every game, and the league had only two blackouts in 2013. Still, the experiment is a huge step for the NFL, whose blackout policy dates back decades. In the 1970s, half of NFL games were blocked from local TV because the games did not sell enough tickets. Some teams — Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville, Oak- land, St. Louis and San Diego — have struggled to avoid blackouts, and the league is taking a bit of a gamble for 2015. The policy stipulates that a home game must be sold out 72 hours in advance of kickoff in order to be televised locally. Often, that deadline is extended to ensure sellouts if a club believes it can meet the criteria for lifting the blackout. 7KHOHDJXH¶VGH¿QLWLRQRIDIXOOKRXVHLVQRWVHOO ing every seat but a large percentage of them, de- pending on the venue. The policy does not apply to suites or club seats. Monday’s move was met with immediate approv- al by one of the sponsors of legislation to eliminate the blackout permanently. “This decision to suspend the blackout policy for the upcoming NFL season is a victory for the millions of sports fans and consumers across the See BLACKOUTS/2B