About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 2018)
2B Sunday, November 25, 2018 The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com SPORTS RACING | Formula One Hamilton clinches pole position for FI finale JEROME PUGMIRE Associated Press ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates — Five time Formula One world champion Lewis Ham ilton clinched pole posi tion for the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Saturday. The Mercedes driver’s 11th pole of the season and record-extending 83rd of his career looked in some doubt as Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel was quicker at the first time split. But Vettel went too wide on the last turn and qualified only third behind the Mer cedes of Valtteri Bottas. “What a great way to end the season with a 1-2 quali fying,” Hamilton said. “I wanted to finish the season on a high. Really happy with today.” Vettel felt he could have done better. “I thought (it) was in reach. I would have liked to have been on the front row, it’s not the case,” the Ger man driver said. “But we will fight as hard as we can. We have good speed on the straights, let’s see what we can do.” Kimi Raikkonen was fourth fastest in his last race for Ferrari before leaving to join Sauber next year. Red Bull drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstap- pen will start from fifth and sixth on the grid, respec tively, on a track not well suited to their car. Hamilton is aiming to sign off with an 11th win of the season, while Bottas has yet to win one and Vettel’s last victory came at the Belgian GP in August. For the second straight year, four-time FI champion Vettel led during the cham pionship — and was close behind Hamilton at the half way stage. Vettel finished 46 points behind Hamilton last year and trails by 81 heading into Sunday’s race. Earlier, Hamilton posted the fastest time in the third and final practice in hotter conditions at the Yas Marina desert circuit, about 0.3 sec onds ahead of Vettel and 0.4 ahead of Raikkonen. It is Ricciardo’s last race for Red Bull before join ing Renault next year, and McLaren veteran Fernando Alonso’s last ride in FI before the 37-year-old Span iard leaves to pursue other racing interests. Near the end of P3, there was a heated moment between Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly and Romain Grosjean of Haas when they narrowly avoided colliding. The Frenchmen made up afterward as Grosjean went over to speak to Gasly, who patted him on the back. Today’s race begins at 5:10 p.m. local time and ends under floodlights. Bottas has not won since last year’s season-ender in Abu Dhabi. Lauda hopes to be back with Mercedes soon Niki Lauda hopes to be back working with Mercedes soon as he continues his recovery from a lung transplant. The three-time Formula One champion appeared cheerful as he posted a message on the Mercedes team’s Twitter account on Saturday. Speaking softly but clearly, Lauda says “the important message is I will be there soon” before thanking all his fans for the “unbelievable” support he has received. The 69-year-old Lauda, who received a new lung on Aug. 2, is non-executive chair man of Mercedes. He has had a close work ing relationship with five-time FI champion Lewis Hamilton and was involved in helping to sign the British driver from McLaren for the 2013 season. Hamilton has won four of his titles with Mercedes, including the past two and in 2014 and T5. Lauda won the FI drivers’ championship in 1975 and 1977 with Ferrari and again in 1984 with McLaren. In 1976, he was badly burned when he crashed during the German Grand Prix, but made an astonishingly fast return to racing just six weeks later. Associated Press SCOREBOARD TENNIS THIBAULT CAMUS I Associated Press France’s Nicolas Mahut, right, and Pierre Hughes Herbert celebrate after defeating Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and Mate Pavic of Croatia during the Davis Cup final between France and Croatia Saturday in Lille, northern France. France stays alive in Davis Cup final BY SAMUEL PETREQUIN Associated Press LILLE, France — Suddenly realizing he was listening to France’s national anthem for maybe the last time in his Davis Cup captain role, Yannick Noah could not hold back tears. Standing next to his players during “La Marseille,” Noah was emotional before Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Her bert took on Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and Mate Pavic in the doubles of the final on Saturday. “It’s the first time it happens to me. I told myself it’s perhaps the last time I’m sing ing it,” said Noah, who will be replaced at the helm of the team by Amelie Mauresmo after this weekend. The former French Open winner will have another occasion to sing and cry on Sunday after Mahut and Herbert put a smile back on French faces with a 6-4,6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (3) win to keep alive slim French hopes. France cut Croatia’s lead to 2-1. Croa tia still remains the favorite to claim one more point to dethrone the defending champions. “We still have two more matches to win, we want to win the Davis Cup,” Mahut said. “Our players can do it tomorrow. They had a tough day yesterday but maybe with this win everything can change.” Chasing an 11th title, France is back in the final but still faces a big challenge. The singles players were out of their depth on Friday, casting serious doubt on the chances of a comeback in Sunday’s reverse singles. Marin Cilic is set to face Jeremy Chardy, then Borna Coric plays Jo-Wilfried Tsonga if needed, although captains can change their lineups. No team has overturned a 2-0 deficit in a final since Australia beat the United States in 1939. Football/NFL AMERICAN CONFERENCE W East L T Pet PF PA New England 7 3 0 .700 280 236 Miami 5 5 0 .500 199 256 Buffalo 3 7 0 .300 137 251 N.Y Jets 3 7 0 .300 208 254 W South L T Pet PF PA Houston 7 3 0 .700 239 205 Indianapolis 5 5 0 .500 298 249 Tennessee 5 5 0 .500 178 189 Jacksonville 3 7 0 .300 176 219 W North L T Pet PF PA Pittsburgh 7 2 1 .750 299 225 Baltimore 5 5 0 .500 237 181 Cincinnati 5 5 0 .500 256 312 Cleveland 3 6 1 .350 218 263 W West L T Pet PF PA Kansas City 9 2 0 .818 404 294 L.A. Chargers 7 3 0 .700 262 209 Denver 4 6 0 .400 228 235 Oakland 2 8 0 .200 170 293 NATIONAL CONFERENCE W East L T Pet PF PA Dallas 6 5 0 .545 234 213 Washington 6 5 0 .545 220 229 Philadelphia 4 6 0 .400 205 231 N.Y. Giants 3 7 0 .300 215 263 South W L T Pet PF PA New Orleans 10 1 0 .909 409 256 Carolina 6 4 0 .600 260 252 Atlanta 4 7 0 .364 280 307 Tampa Bay 3 7 0 .300 267 329 W North L T Pet PF PA Chicago 8 3 0 .727 317 211 Minnesota 5 4 1 .550 241 229 Green Bay 4 5 1 .450 247 243 Detroit 4 7 0 .364 238 286 W West L T Pet PF PA L.A. Rams 10 1 0 .909 389 282 Seattle 5 5 0 .500 246 216 Arizona 2 8 0 .200 145 248 San Francisco 2 8 0 .200 230 266 Thursday’s Games Chicago 23, Detroit 16 Dallas 31, Washington 23 New Orleans 31, Atlanta 17 Today’s Games Seattle at Carolina, 1 p.m. New England at N.Y. Jets, 1 p.m. Jacksonville at Buffalo, 1 p.m. San Francisco at Tampa Bay, 1 p.m. Oakland at Baltimore, 1 p.m. N.Y. Giants at Philadelphia, 1 p.m. Cleveland at Cincinnati, 1 p.m. Arizona at L.A. Chargers, 4:05 p.m. Pittsburgh at Denver, 4:25 p.m. Miami at Indianapolis, 4:25 p.m. Green Bay at Minnesota, 8:20 p.m. Open: L.A. Rams, Kansas City Monday’s Game Tennessee at Houston, 8:15 p.m. Basketball/NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE Atlantic Division W L Pet GB Toronto 16 4 .800 — Philadelphia 13 8 .619 3 1 /z Boston 10 9 .526 5 1 /2 Brooklyn 8 12 .400 8 New York 6 14 .300 10 Southeast Division W L Pet GB Charlotte 9 9 .500 — Orlando 9 10 .474 1 /2 Miami 7 11 .389 2 Washington 6 12 .333 3 Atlanta 3 16 .158 6 1 /2 Central Division W L Pet GB Milwaukee 13 5 .722 — Indiana 11 8 .579 2 1 /2 Detroit 9 7 .563 3 Chicago 5 14 .263 8 1 /2 Cleveland 3 14 .176 9 1 /2 WESTERN CONFERENCE Southwest Division W L Pet GB Memphis 12 6 .667 — Houston 9 8 .529 2 1 /2 New Orleans 10 9 .526 2 1 /2 San Antonio 9 9 .500 3 Dallas 8 9 .471 3 1 / 2 Northwest Division W L Pet GB Oklahoma City 12 6 .667 — Denver 12 7 .632 y 2 Portland 12 7 .632 1 /2 Minnesota 8 11 .421 4/2 Utah 8 11 .421 4/2 Pacific Division W L Pet GB L.A. Clippers 12 6 .667 — Golden State 13 7 .650 — L.A. Lakers 11 7 .611 1 Sacramento 10 8 .556 2 Phoenix 4 14 .222 8 Basketball/College Men’s AP Top 25 Record Pts Prv 1. Duke (53) 3-0 1564 1 2. Kansas (7) 3-0 1510 2 3. Gonzaga 3-0 1437 3 4. Virginia (2) 3-0 1299 4 5. Tennessee (1) 3-0 1281 5 6. Nevada 3-0 1253 6 7. North Carolina 4-0 1246 7 8. Auburn 3-0 1123 9 9. Michigan 5-0 1021 18 10. Kentucky 3-1 980 10 11. Michigan St. 3-1 937 11 12. Kansas St. 4-0 889 12 13. Virginia Tech 4-0 849 16 14. Florida St. 2-0 794 14 15. Mississippi St. 3-0 619 17 16. Clemson 3-0 462 19 17. UCLA 3-0 430 20 18. TCU 3-0 388 21 19. LSU 4-0 358 22 20. Iowa 4-0 354 — 21. Oregon 3-1 325 13 22. Buffalo 3-0 240 25 23. Ohio St. 4-0 222 — 24. Purdue 4-1 199 23 25. Wisconsin 3-0 150 — Others receiving votes: Nebraska 98, Indiana 74, Maryland 56, Villanova 53, Furman 50, Syracuse 29, Washington 29, Texas 23, Butler 18, Miami 18, West Virginia 18, St. John’s 13, Iowa St. 11, Texas Tech 8, Florida 7, Marquette 7, Saint Louis 6, Arizona St. 4, Marshall 4, Notre Dame 4, Vanderbilt 4, UConn 3, Loyola of Chicago 2, Loyola Marymount 2, Temple 2 Women’s AP Top 25 Record Pts Prv 1. Notre Dame (31) 3-0 775 1 2. UConn 2-0 736 2 3. Oregon 4-0 705 3 4. Baylor 4-0 677 4 5. Louisville 2-0 656 5 6. Mississippi St. 4-0 604 6 7. Maryland 4-0 563 9 8. Stanford 3-0 562 7 9. Oregon St. 3-0 537 8 10. Texas 3-0 490 11 11.Tennessee 3-0 469 12 12. Iowa 4-0 435 13 13. South Carolina 2-0 365 10 14. Syracuse 2-0 357 18 15. NC State 4-0 355 17 16. DePaul 2-0 279 15 17. South Florida 4-0 243 21 18. California 4-0 219 23 19. Arizona St. 2-0 165 22 20. Texas A&M 2-0 143 20 21. Missouri 2-0 135 16 22. Marquette 2-0 120 19 23. Minnesota 3-0 116 25 24. Miami 2-0 95 24 25. West Virginia 3-0 70 — Others receiving votes: Iowa St. 64, Georgia 48, Northwestern 46, Drake 12, UCLA 8, Boise St. 6, Michigan 5, Virginia Tech 5, TCU 3, Green Bay 2, Southern Cal 2, Duke 1, Georgia Tech 1, South Dakota St. 1. Transactions FOOTBALL National Football League NFL — Fined Kansas City WR Tyreek Hill $10,026 for taunting and Kansas City S Eric Murray $26,739 for unnecessary roughness against the Los Angeles Rams. Fined Denver S Justin Simmons $53,482 for a helmet-to-helmet hit on a defenseless receiver against the Los Angeles Chargers. Fined Los Angeles Chargers’ Jeff Richards $26,739 for unnecessary rough ness and Derwin James $10,026 for a facemask penalty. Fined Jacksonville’s Calais Campbell $20,054 for roughing the passer and Yannick Ngakoue and Telvin Smith $10,026 each for unnecessary roughness against Pittsburgh. Fined New York Giants’ Olivier Vernon $20,054 for a roughing-the-passer penalty. Fined Minnesota’s Harrison Smith $10,026 for his hit on Chicago QB Mitchell Trubisky. Fined New Orleans RB Alvin Kamara $10,026 for unsports manlike conduct; and fined Indianapolis’ George Odum (unnecessary roughness), Cincinnati’s Dre’ Kirkpatrick (unsportsmanlike conduct) and Green Bay’s Bashaud Breeland (unnecessary roughness) $10,026 each. BALTIMORE RAVENS — Activated CB Maurice Canady from injured reserve. Waived G/C Hroniss Grasu. CHICAGO BEARS — Signed DB John Franklin III to the practice squad. GREEN BAY PACKERS — Signed DL James Looney from the practice squad. Placed LB Nick Perry on injured reserve. SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS — Promoted LB Jeff Wilson Jr. from the practice squad. Waived QB Tom Savage. HOCKEY National Hockey League NHL — Fined Vancouver F Antoine Roussel $5,000 by the NHL for biting San Jose D Marc- Edouard Vlasic during a Nov. 23 game. EDMONTON OILERS — Recalled F Jesse Puljujarvi from Bakersfield (AHL). NEW YORK ISLANDERS — Recalled F Tanner Fritz from Bridgeport (AHL). Assigned F Michael Dal Colie to Bridgeport. American Hockey League BRIDGEPORT SOUND TIGERS — Recalled F Ryan Hitchcock from Worcester (ECHL). TODAY ON TV FOOTBALL ■ Patriots at Jets, 1 p.m., CBS ■ Seahawks at Panthers, 1 p.m., FOX ■ Steelers at Broncos, 4:25 p.m., CBS ■ Packers at Vikings, 8:20 p.m., NBC SKIING ■ Women’s Killington Cup, 1 p.m., NBC SOCCER ■ Atlanta United vs. New York Red Bulls, 5 p.m., ESPN ■ Portland Timbers vs. Sporting KC, 7:30 p.m., FS1 BASKETBALL ■ Advocare Invitational seventh- place game, 10:30 p.m., ESPNU ■ Advocare Invitational championship, 1 p.m., ESPN ■ Wooden Legacy fifth-place game, 2 p.m., ESPNU ■ Advocare Invitational third place game, 4 p.m., ESPN2 ■ Wooden Legacy third-place game, 4 p.m., ESPNU ■ Advocare Invitational fifth-place game, 6:30 p.m., EPSNU ■ Wooden Legacy championship, 10:30 p.m., ESPN2 COLLEGE BASKCTBALL | Top 25 No. 2 Kansas beats No. 5 Tennessee in overtime Associated Press Dedric Lawson had 24 points, 13 rebounds and five assists, and No. 2 Kan sas rallied to beat No. 5 Tennessee 87-81 in overtime in the NIT Season Tip-Off title game that ended early Saturday. Lagerald Vick scored 15 points, with eight straight during a crucial stretch for the Jayhawks’ comeback, and assisted on an alley-oop to Lawson that made it 78-73 with 2:39 left in overtime. Lawson was named the tournament MVP. Tennessee’s Admiral Schofield had 21 points and six rebounds while Grant Wil liams had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists before fouling out. Jordan Bone added 16 points for the Volunteers (4-1). Bone skipped back to the bench after hit ting a 3-pointer to end the first half and put Tennessee up 33-31. The Volunteers led by as many as nine points in the second half before Kansas (5-0) stormed back. NO. 4 VIRGINIA 53, NO. 25 WISCON SIN 46: De’Andre Hunter had 20 points and nine rebounds to help Virginia beat Wisconsin in the Battle 4 Atlantis championship game. Ty Jerome added 11 points for the Cava liers (6-0), who led 33-18 after a strong first half, and then sputtered offensively as the Badgers kept pushing back. Virginia made just 2 of 16 shots out of halftime and shot 26 percent for the second half. But the Cavs’ usual tough defense was good enough to keep the Badgers and preseason Associated Press All-American Ethan Happ at arm’s distance. Happ finished with 22 points, 15 rebounds and six assists for Wisconsin (5-1), which shot 52 percent after halftime to cut into the deficit. The Badgers got as close as five four separate times in the second half, but could never overtake the Cavaliers. NO. 6 NEVADA 110, MASSACHU SETTS 87: Caleb Martin scored 29 points, Tre’Shawn Thurman added 22 points and eight rebounds, and Nevada beat Massa chusetts in the Las Vegas Invitational’s sec ond championship game. Martin, who was named the tournament MVP, finished 9 of 15 from the field and 6 of 10 from 3-point range. Cody Martin had 18 points and seven rebounds for the Wolf Pack (6-0), and Jordan Caroline had 16 points and 10 rebounds. Nevada shot 62 percent from the field, including 11 of 22 from 3-point range. Luwane Pipkins led the Minutemen (4-2) with 30 points and seven rebounds, while Keon Clergeot added 12 as five Massachu setts players reached double digits. STRIPES ■ Continued from 1B A trophy. United went into the last day of the regular season leading the Supporters’ Shield standings, only to flop in a 4-1 loss at Toronto that allowed the Red Bulls to take the prize. Defender Michael Parkhurst said that slip-up is providing extra motivation in the playoffs, which Atlanta opened with a win over New York City in the Eastern Confer ence semifinals. “If we had won the Supporters’ Shield and just got knocked out playoffs against New York City, we probably would’ve looked back and said, ‘Hey, it was still a pretty good season.’ Now, I don’t think we’ll be able to look back and say that until we win a trophy,” Parkhurst said. “The goal is to win a trophy, for sure. ” United also wants to send its coach out in style. Tata Martino has already announced he will be leav ing at the end of the season , reportedly to take over as Mexico’s national team coach. The former Barce lona and Argentina national coach has been a huge fac tor in Atlanta’s immediate success, most notably by persuading talented South American players such as Martinez and Almiron to take a chance on an MLS expansion team. Before the play- off-clinching win over New York City FC , United fans unveiled a tifo of Martino in statue-like form. “People under stand that Tata has had a big role in this team from the beginning,” Parkhurst said. “We were able to bring in talent that may not have come here without him. It’s not only what we’ve done on the field, the product we’ve been able to bring on a weekly basis and the results. It’s also the culture he created here from day one. The Red Bulls’ success is all the more remarkable given the jarring change they went through in early July when Marsch left to become assistant manager with RB Leipzig in the Ger man Bundesliga, leading to Armas’ promotion. Since he took over, New York is 12-3-3 — including five straight victories to close the regular season. In the Eastern Confer ence semifinals against Columbus, the Red Bulls rebounded from a 1-0 loss on the road to win the series with a 3-0 victory at home. “It’s never easy when transitioning from assistant coach to head coach,” New York’s Sean Davis said. “There are different ways you have to manage play ers. But Chris has done a fantastic job of adjusting. There’s nothing that really prepared him for that until he stepped into the head coaching role. With the lim ited time he got, he’s been fantastic. The guys love playing for him just like they loved playing for Jesse Marsch.” Parkhurst
