A5
S PORTS
THE BULLETIN • MONDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2021
bendbulletin.com/sports
NBA
NASCAR Cup Series | Daytona 500
Lillard, Blazers
top Mavs 121-118
McDowell beats 100-1
odds for upset victory
Chris O’Meara/AP
Racers crash during the last lap in the NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 auto race at Daytona International Speedway on Monday morning in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Michael McDowell stunned NASCAR by scoring his first career victory in the Daytona 500
BY JENNA FRYER
AP Auto Racing
D
AYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Mi-
chael McDowell stormed through
a crash scene to win the Daytona
500, snapping an 0-for-357 streak with a
fiery pileup in his rearview mirror.
McDowell led just the final lap —
maybe half of it, really — when Brad Kes-
elowski turned teammate Joey Logano as
the Team Penske drivers jockeyed for the
victory.
McDowell stayed flat in the gas and
plowed past the two spinning cars to the
lead, then won a three-wide drag race un-
til NASCAR threw a race-ending caution.
It was mayhem behind McDowell as
a huge pack of cars could not avoid Kes-
elowski and Logano. The collisions were
one on top of another, flames erupting
all over Daytona International Speedway
as the race came to a close early Monday
morning, nearly nine hours after it began.
McDowell, a 36-year-old journeyman
from Arizona, was a 100-1 underdog at
the start of the race and seemed in disbe-
lief after taking his first checkered flag.
“So many years just grinding it out hop-
ing for an opportunity like this,” McDow-
ell said. “We’re the Daytona 500 champi-
ons. I cannot believe this. Luckily was able
to make it through.”
A rain delay of almost six hours pushed
the race into the night and under the
lights, albeit without almost half the field.
A 16-car accident just 15 laps into the race
— moments before the rain — thinned
the contenders and set up a showdown be-
tween Kevin Harvick and Denny Hamlin.
Hamlin and Harvick had the two best
cars but pit strategy ended Hamlin’s shot
at winning a record third-consecutive
Daytona 500.
Reigning Cup Series champion Chase
Elliott finished second and 2018 Daytona
500 winner Austin Dillon was third. Har-
vick finished fourth, and Hamlin was fifth
after leading a race-high 98 laps.
WORLD CUP SKIING
LIKE A LEGEND:
Kriechmayr wins 2 speed golds at ski worlds
BY ERIC WILLEMSEN
Associated Press
ORTINA D’AMPEZZO, Italy —
Hermann Maier. Bode Miller.
Vincent Kriechmayr.
A feat previously achieved only by
two legends of men’s Alpine skiing was
matched by Austrian skier Kriechmayr
at the world championships on Sunday.
Kriechmayr added downhill gold to
the super-G title he won three days ago
to complete the so-called speed double.
Fellow Austrian Maier had done
the same in 1999, American standout
Miller six years later.
“Hermann Maier is an Austrian leg-
end and Bode Miller is a legend, too. To
be on the same step is really amazing,”
Kriechmayr said.
“I don’t compare myself to Hermann
or Bode Miller, they were also Olym-
pic and World Cup overall champions,”
said the Austrian, adding it would take
time to sink in.
“I’m rather someone who enjoys this
quietly, who reflects on it later.”
By winning the most important
downhill of the season, Kriechmayr
presented the outgoing president of the
Austrian winter sports federation with
an ideal gift.
C
Gabriele Facciotti/AP
Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr speeds down the course on his way to win the men’s down-
hill, at the alpine ski World Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, on Sunday.
For Peter Schröcksnadel, who is ex-
pected to step down in June after 31
years, no races are more important than
the downhills at the major champion-
ships.
“Downhill gold is what’s the most im-
portant in Austria,” Schröcksnadel said.
The race against the backdrop of
snow-covered peaks in the Italian Dolo-
mites lived up to its billing as one of the
most eye-catching downhills of the sea-
son, with spectacular crashes, faltering
favorites, a surprise medalist, and the
smallest possible winning margin.
Kriechmayr edged Andreas Sander of
Germany to the gold by one-hundredth
of a second, with 2017 world champion
Beat Feuz finishing 0.18 behind for the
bronze.
Sander earned the German team its
third silver medal at these worlds, after
second-place finishes for Romed Bau-
mann in super-G and Kira Weidle in
women’s downhill.
“It’s a mega feeling,” Sander said. “We
have a great atmosphere in the team af-
ter Romed got silver and Kira as well.”
Baumann was in the spotlight again
right after he finished Sunday’s race but
this time for a nasty fall, sliding skis first
into the protective banners and com-
pletely disappearing beneath them.
Freed by coaches and officials, he
came out with blood on his face and
race suit.
German ski federation sports direc-
tor Wolfgang Maier said Baumann sus-
tained a cut on his face but escaped se-
rious injuries.
In another frightening incident, Max-
ence Muzaton avoided a serious crash
when he caught a bump and fell head-
first after losing control over his right
ski at 120 kph (75 mph).
See Ski worlds / A6
Portland star Damian
Lillard didn’t wait until
just before the buzzer for
another game-defining
shot, or get anywhere
close to the career high
he tied in the previous
meeting with Dallas.
The dynamic guard
still carried his team late,
overcoming another daz-
zling performance by
Luka Doncic.
Lillard hit a tiebreaking
3-pointer in the final min-
ute after a big Dallas rally,
and the Trail Blazers held
off Doncic and the Maver-
icks for a 121-118 victory
Sunday night.
“I think we earned this
win,” said Lillard, who fin-
ished with 34 points and
11 assists. “We played the
kind of game we played,
against what we’ve been
up against through the
game, it’s rewarding in
the end.”
Doncic scored 44
points two nights after
getting a career-high
46 in a victory over New
Orleans, but it wasn’t
enough to extend the
Mavericks’ four-game
winning streak, tied for
their longest this season.
Lillard connected on
the go-ahead 3 after
Doncic assisted on a ty-
ing 3-pointer from Dorian
Finney-Smith after the
Mavericks trailed by 13
midway through the
fourth quarter.
The Mavericks were
down three again when
Doncic missed a potential
tying shot from beyond
the arc with less than five
seconds left. Doncic was
14 of 20 from the field,
including 5 of 8 from
deep, and 11 of 12 on
free throws. He also had
nine assists and seven re-
bounds.
PAC-12 MEN9S
BASKETBALL
ASU survives wild
finish, beats OSU
Despite an off-shoot-
ing night, Remy Martin
scored 23 points and his
3-pointer with 37 seconds
left broke a 68-all tie and
Arizona State held on to
beat Oregon State 75-73
in a wild finish on Sunday
night.
Martin’s go-ahead
3 was the only one he
made in a 1-for-6 effort
from behind the arc; part
of a 5-for-18 overall effort.
He made up for it, how-
ever, sinking 12 of 16 free
throws.
Martin and Holland
Woods each sank a pair
of foul shots in a 13-sec-
ond span to seal the win
for Arizona State (7-9, 4-6
Pac-12 Conference).
Oregon State’s Ethan
Thompson made the
first of two free throws
with 13 seconds left to
bring the Beavers within
73-71. Rodrigue Andela
secured the offensive
rebound and threw it
out to Thompson, but a
heads-up steal by Jalen
House forced a tie-up
between Woods and
Thompson and the pos-
session arrow favored Ar-
izona State. Woods sank
a pair of fouls shots with
five seconds to go.
With the win, head
coach Bobby Hurley hit
the century mark in vic-
tories as the Sun Devils’
coach. Hurley is 100-78 in
six seasons at ASU.
The win was the Sun
Devils’ 12th straight at
home against Oregon
State (10-10, 6-8). Thomp-
son led Oregon State with
18 points.
Oregon State returns
home to face Utah on
Thursday. The Sun Devils
next head to Los Ange-
les to face 20th-ranked
Southern California on
Wednesday.
— Associated Press