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SPORTS Saturday, March 11, 2017 East Oregonian Page 3B Motorsports Men’s College Basketball Keselowski on pole for NASCAR’s stop in Vegas Oregon marches into Pac-12 title game By MIKE CRANSTON Associated Press LAS VEGAS — Brad Keselowski will begin his bid for a third victory in the past four NASCAR Cup races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway from the pole after topping qualifying Friday night. Keselowski, who also won last week’s race at Atlanta, made up ground in the final two turns and posted a top seed of 193.68 mph in his Keselowski No. 2 Ford for his 13th career pole. He won at the 1.5-mile track last year and in 2014. “We found some things we really liked here about three or four years ago and we’ve been able to kind of roll with that,” Keselowski said. Martin Truex Jr., who was the fastest in the midday practice, will join him on the front row Sunday in the 400-mile race thanks to a speed of 193.458 mph in his No. 78 Toyota. “We were really strong in practice and thought it would pick up quite a bit of speed tonight and it really didn’t,” Truex said. “So that threw us for a little bit of a curve and kind of hurt our setup. But it was a good recovery. We made a lot of changes throughout qualifying and got better at the end.” Ryan Blaney will start third in his Ford, and Matt Kenseth qualified fourth on his 45th birthday. Kyle Larson was fifth, followed by Joey Logano, Kasey Kahne, rookie Erik Jones, Las Vegas native Kyle Busch and Jamie McMurray. Daniel Suarez will start 11th and Chase Elliott 12th. Keselowski believes the new stage racing format this season has boosted qualify- ing’s importance in the race weekend. The first segment Sunday ends on the 45th lap. “Now it matters more than ever because it gives you a prime opportunity to win that first stage and collect those points both for the season and for the playoffs,” Keselowski said. Daytona 500 champion Kurt Busch failed to get out of the second qualifying round and will start 17th. His Stewart-Haas Racing teammate and series points leader Kevin Harvick strug- gled and will being 19th. Clint Bowyer (13th) just missed getting into the last round. Defending series champion Jimmie Johnson will start 16th and teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. 18th. Kyle Busch was the fastest in the first qualifying round and Danica Patrick (28th) was among those outside the top 25 who failed to advance. AJ Allmendinger knocked out his teammate Chris Buescher by posting a faster lap seconds before the 20-minute session ended “I thought AJ and I were better friends than that,” joked Buescher, who will start 25th. With only 39 cars entered, open drivers Corey LaJoie (34th), Derrike Cope (38th) and Timmy Hill (39th) all made the field. Kobalt 400 • Sunday, 12:30 p.m. • TV: FOX • Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Starting Top-10 1. Brad Keselowski (2) 2. Martin Truex, Jr. (78) 3. Ryan Blaney (21) 4. Matt Kenseth (20) 5. Kyle Larson (42) 6. Joey Logano (22) 7. Kasey Kahne (5) 8. Erik Jones (77) 9. Kyle Busch (18) 10. Jamie McMurray (1) Ducks will face Arizona tonight for Pac-12 title By JOHN MARSHALL Associated Press LAS VEGAS — Oregon guard Dillon Brooks headed to the bench two minutes into the second half due to foul trouble. Most teams would take a step back without their leading scorer. The deep, talented Ducks flew forward instead. Tyler Dorsey had 23 points, Dylan Ennis scored on a key three- point play with 22 seconds left, and No. 5 Oregon outlasted California 73-65 Friday night in the Pac-12 Tournament semifinals. “Everybody has to pick it up and pick up their role,” Dorsey said. “That’s what we did tonight. We can’t control how the refs are going to call it and they called a couple on Dillon early, and everybody had to pick up.” Top-seeded Oregon (29-4) played most of the second half without Brooks due to foul trouble, but increased its lead behind a rash of blocked shots and transition baskets. Jordan Bell controlled the inside, finishing with 15 rebounds and five of Oregon’s seven blocked shots. Dorsey and Ennis (16 points) picked up the scoring slack. Now the Ducks are headed to the Pac-12 title game for the third straight year, facing the winner between No. 3 UCLA and No. 7 Arizona on Saturday night. “We would like to win the conference tournament,” Oregon coach Dana Altman said. “What- ever implications those have on our seeding, I don’t know.” California (21-12) lost leading scorer Jabari Bird 64 seconds into the game to a head injury after a hard fall, yet held its own with the Ducks. The fifth-seeded Bears pulled within two in the final minute, but Ennis scored on a hard drive and hit the free throw to put the Ducks up 70-65. Grant Mullins led Cal with 23 points and Charlie Moore added Pac-12 Semifinal California #5 Oregon 65 73 good portion of the first half behind Moore and Mullins, who combined for 21 points. “I didn’t know what was going on,” Raab said of Bird’s injury. “We didn’t really have time to really think about it. Guys stepped up and they played hard, and it is what it is.” Oregon turned up the defensive pressure late in the half, holding Cal without a field goal over the final 4:38 to build a 36-33 halftime lead. Oregon opened the second half by getting into quick foul trouble. The Ducks had six in the opening 2 1/2 minutes — five on one posses- sion — and Brooks had to go to the bench after picking up his fourth. Despite the fouls, Oregon increased its lead, going up 49-37 after a 9-0 run. Cal clawed back, whittling the lead down to 64-61 with 3 1/2 minutes left behind a little defense of its own, but couldn’t finish it off. BIG PICTURE California kept battling after Bird went down and has given itself at least shot at getting an NCAA Tournament nod on selec- tion Sunday. “I think we’re an NCAA Tour- AP Photo/John Locher nament team,” Martin said. “Now Oregon’s Chris Boucher reacts after scoring against California during it’s for them to decide.” the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the semifinals of Oregon did not exactly play the Pac-12 tournament Friday, March 10, 2017, in Las Vegas. pretty, but found a way, earning a trip to the Pac-12 title game for 15. Bird was at the hospital being Beating a top-five team would third straight season. BLOCKING DUCKS evaluated. have been a huge boost, but it faced Oregon reached 223 blocked “I thought they did a great job long odds coming into the night competing, but that’s what we’re after losing twice to Oregon during shots for the season, breaking the school record for the fourth time supposed to do,” Cal coach Cuonzo the regular season. Martin said. “That’s part of our Cal got a tough break barely a in the past five seasons. The Ducks program, so that part should be minute into Saturday’s game, when are one short of the Pac-12 record understood.” Bird went down hard. He had to set by Washington last season. UP NEXT Cal took a couple of steps be helped to the locker room while California must await word on toward earning an at-large NCAA holding a towel to the right side of its postseason fate. Tournament bid by beating Oregon his head. Oregon will play No. 7 Arizona State and Utah to open the Pac-12 But the injury and a quiet start Tournament after closing the by forward Ivan Raab did little to in Saturday’s championship game. regular season with five losses in slow the Bears. They attacked the Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. and the Ducks at both ends, leading for a game will be televised on ESPN. six games.
