About The times. (Gainesville, Ga.) 1972-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 2020)
SPORTS The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com Friday, February 21,2020 3B COLLEGE BASKCTBALL JOHN AMIS I The Associated Press Georgia guard Anthony Edwards, right, and forward Mike Peake celebrate after beating Auburn on Wednesday in Athens. Bulldogs got much-needed win to start end of season run Atlanta Journal Constitution To say that Georgia hadn’t won this sort of game lately misses the point. Georgia hadn’t won any game since Feb. 1; it had won twice since Jan. 4. At 12-13, the Bulldogs had played their way out of NCAA tournament at-large consideration, a massive disappointment for the team with the NBA’s presumptive No. 1 pick on its roster. Give Georgia this, though: It didn’t lose Wednesday. It faced Auburn, ranked No. 13 in the Associated Press poll, and won 65-55. In the grand scheme, this figures to be a more significant game for the Tigers, who fell two games behind Kentucky in the SEC, than for the Bull dogs, who don’t figure to go anywhere of note, but the victors treated it as a point proved. Said Anthony Edwards, who scored 18 points: “Coach (John) Linehan (a Georgia assistant) told us they had the mentality they were going to beat us in warm-ups. We felt disre spected and came out and played hard.” On Jan. 11 at Auburn, the Tigers beat Georgia 82-60. This night their biggest lead was two points. They looked like the second-best team on the floor all game. The Bulldogs weren’t especially precise -- they made 36.8 percent of their shots and had 15 turnovers -- but they did the stuff they hadn’t been doing in falling to 2-10 in SEC play. They guarded. They rebounded. They made the shots that needed making. They built a lead and held it. Said coach Tom Crean: “I loved our huddles. We did not lose belief at any time.” Another stat for you, one that every team counts but that shows in no box score: Georgia had 35 deflections in the second half. “I don’t know I’ve ever had a team do that,” Crean said. Then: “We’ve got to be in the fight. I said a week ago after South Carolina we were never in the fight. (They weren’t, trailing by 18 at the half and losing 75-59). We had to establish toughness.” After South Carolina, Crean worked up a game of wiffle ball for his play ers. “You try to do different things to keep them mov ing in the right direction,” he said. Then, being hon est: “We still lost the next game (at Texas A&M on Saturday.)” Didn’t lose this one, though. There’s a chance Wednesday’s result said more about Auburn -- which started the season 15-0 hav ing played nobody of conse quence and rose to the top of the SEC by winning four games in overtime -- than it did Georgia, but when you’re under .500 on the far side of Valentine’s Day you’ll take anything. (Of note: The Tigers were without injured freshman Isaac Okoro of McEachern High, who is, said coach Bruce Pearl, “as good as any player in our league.”) Said Pearl, who took Auburn to last year’s Final Four behind an all-Atlanta backcourt of Jared Harper and Bryce Brown: “This game matters more to us because it’s Georgia.” Also on his mind were the SEC standings -- “We wanted to go to Rupp Arena (on Feb. 29) with a chance to win the league; we’re not in that position now” -- and NCAA seeding. “Ten points on the road makes a difference in the NET rankings,” which haven’t been overly kind to the Tigers. Auburn entered at No. 25 in NET. Such considerations are beyond Georgia’s reach -- this year, anyway. Which isn’t to say the Bulldogs can’t make something of the regu lar season’s final five games and the SEC tournament. At game’s end, Edwards ran to the Georgia student sec tion and waved both hands. He also did a fair bit of yell ing. “I went to the crowd to tell them we can win some games, so y’all stick and ride with us.” Two months from now, Edwards will be prepping for the June draft. After a flu-ridden 10 days, he showed Wednesday he hasn’t checked out on his college teammates just yet. He said he’d been in the gym “every night until 11, 12 o’clock” trying to relo cate his jump shot. He made seven turnovers, but there was nothing halting about his effort. His 3-pointer with 2:15 left put Georgia over the top, and his late- game defense against J’von McCormick, the only Tiger capable of making a basket, was masterful. About that crowd: The announced attendance was 10,181, and by game’s end the refurbished barn looked full and was demonstrably vibrant. Said Crean: “The fans were here and on their feet. The win is awesome, no question about it, but the bottom line is we’re build ing a program. We’re going through adversity, but you don’t get a program built if you lose momentum with your fans. They’re staying with us, and I’m so thankful for that.” Someone asked if, with players of tender years who’d lost eight of nine and who’ll be able to watch their leading scorer in the NBA come November, Crean had worried about a bad stretch turning truly awful over this next month. “I don’t think like that,” he said. “I’m very confident in how we’re building the pro gram. I went through Year 2 at Marquette and Year 2 at Indiana -- those are bears. When you have a track record, you’ve seen how guys have to persevere.” Into Year 2 at Georgia, Crean’s SEC record is 5-26. Pearl’s SEC record after two seasons at Auburn was 9-27. In Year 4, the Tigers made the Big Dance. In Year 5, they were a last-millisecond foul against Virginia’s Kyle Guy from playing for the national title. Said Pearl: “When I was at Tennessee (from 2005-11), there were a couple of teams that weren’t very good. Georgia was one of them.... Tom’s got a program and a roster that can compete in the SEC.” NBA Hawks rally past Heat 129-124 JOHN BAZEMORE I The Associated Press Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young goes up to the basket as Miami Heat forward Solomon Hill, left, and forward Derrick Jones Jr. defends during the first half of Thursday’s game in Atlanta. Associated Press Trae Young had a career-high 50 points and the Atlanta Hawks scored the last 10 points of the game to beat the Miami Heat 129-124 on Thursday night. Young made 18 of 19 free throws and 8 of 15 3-pointers to set his scoring high in his first game after starting in the NBA All-Star Game. Bam Adebayo had 28 points and a season-high 19 rebounds for Miami. Adebayo, the NBA All-Star skills champion, added seven assists. Miami couldn’t hold a late 124-119 lead. After De’Andre Hunter’s tying 3-pointer, Cam Reddish scored with 31 seconds remaining following his steal from Goran Dragic to give the Hawks a 126-124 lead. Young’s two free throws increased the lead to four points. Miami has lost five of its last six games. Kevin Huerter and Hunter each scored 17 points for Atlanta. Young hit a jumper for Atlanta’s first field goal of the final period. On the Hawks’ next possession, Young’s dribble-fake had Andre Iguodala on his heels, and the guard then sank a long 3-pointer for a 97-all tie. With Hawks fans still buzzing after watching Young’s fake move on replays during a timeout, Iguodala answered with back-to-back bas kets, including a 3-pointer, as Miami reclaimed the lead. Young wasn’t finished. He kept the Hawks close by scoring 14 of Atlan ta’s first 18 points of the final period. Young’s three-point play tied the game at 119-all. Miami led 36-32 after the first period before a shooting drought in the second quarter as Atlanta took the lead with a 15-0 run. After trailing 41-37, Atlanta led 52-41 after the run, capped by Hunter’s 3-pointer. Jimmy Butler ended Miami’s dry spell with a layup. Dragic, fouled by Jeff Teague with less than a sec ond remaining in the half, made two free throws to give the Heat a 64-63 halftime lead. BUCKS 126, PISTONS 106: Giannis Antetokounmpo had 33 points and 16 rebounds as the Milwaukee Bucks routed the Detroit Pistons on Thurs day night. The Bucks led 70-41 at halftime and by as many as 34 points in the second half. Detroit could never get enough stops to mount any significant rally in the final two quarters. Former Piston Khris Middleton added 28 points for the Bucks, who won for the 15th time in 17 games. Eric Bledsoe added 19 points and Brook Lopez scored 18. The Pistons have lost five straight since trading Andre Drummond to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Feb. 6 and were playing for the first time since buying out Reggie Jackson’s contract. Christian Wood, one of seven players in the game who has played for both teams, had 18 points and 11 rebounds. Bruce Brown finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds. GOLF FERNANDO LLANO I The Associated Press Rory Mcllroy follows his ball after striking it at the second tee off during the first round of the WGC-Mexico Championship golf tournament, at the Chapultepec Golf Club on Thursday in Mexico City. Early eagle shapes good first round for Mcllroy in Mexico Associated Press Rory Mcllroy switched back to his old putter for the Mexico Championship and it made a world of difference. It helps that he’s still hitting the ball like the No. 1 player in the world. Mcllroy ripped a 4-iron from 275 yards into the thin air at Chapultepec to 15 feet for eagle on his second hole Thursday, made five more birdies and opened the Mexico Championship with a 6-under 65 for a two-shot lead. This is the only World Golf Championship that Mcllroy hasn’t won as he tries to join Dustin John son as the only players to win all four of them. Justin Thomas and Bubba Wat son were at 67. Abraham Ancer of Mexico got some of the biggest cheers, especially when he ran off three straight birdies to overcome a rough start. He opened with a 70. The course, at about 7,800 feet above sea level, is ideal for Mcll roy the way he launched the ball. But this was about his putting. He took only 26 putts and ranked No. 4 in the key putting statistic for the round. He attributes that to his regu lar 34-inch putter. A week ago at Riviera, he tried a 35-inch putter to help get his shoulder and elbow in a better position. But he said it hurt with lining up the putts, and it cost him. Mcllroy was tied for the 54-hole lead and shot 73 in the final round — including a triple bogey on the fifth hole — and tied for fifth “ It didn’t quite work out the way I want it to, so I went back to the 34-inch,” he said. “I just felt a little bit more comfortable today and was seeing my lines a little bit bet ter. And yeah, it was a good day.” As for swing? Efficient as ever. The best example of his advan tage was the par-5 15th hole early in his round. U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, who hits low- trajectory bullets, caught it a little high on the face of the club and it came out low with little spin. Mcll roy launched a rocket and was 55 yards past him. Mcllroy hit 9-iron from 192 yards that set up a two-putt birdie. It was like that all day. “I think with the fairways being so soft, as well, on a coule of the par 5s I teed it up high and sort of launched it,” he said. “And then even the drive on the eighth hole, getting it up and over the trees, I hit a 9-iron in there, where Gary and Tommy (Fleetwood) were hitting 6’s in. So that’s a pretty big difference.” Woodland was even with him until a few mistakes on the front nine sent him to a 70. He’s not about to change his game for one week in high altitude. “Rory likes to hit it up in the air,” Woodland said. “This golf course .. I’m surprised he hasn’t won here because it suits up per fectly for him.” Mcllroy played nicely last year, finishing at 16-under 268, and lost by five shots to Dustin Johnson, another guy whom the course suits well — just not this year. Johnson, who has gone a year without winning, opened with a 76, his highest opening round since the British Open at Carnoustie in 2018. GOLF Stanley shoots 64 to grab early lead in Puerto Rico Kyle Stanley shot an 8-under 64 on Thursday to take a two-stroke lead in the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open. With most of the top players in the world playing in the World Golf Championship event in Mexico, Stanley had nine birdies and a bogey in windy afternoon conditions at Coco Beach Golf & Country Club. “Just kind of caught a hot putter,” Stan ley said. “Ball-striking was pretty good and felt like I drove it well, too. Just a pretty solid round of golf. Kind of made my fair share of putts. Got off to a really nice start, birdieing my first three out of the gate. Pretty windy out there, so I’m really happy with the round.” The two-time PGA Tour winner followed his opening birdie burst with another birdie on the par-5 fifth. He bogeyed the par-3 eighth, then birdied the next four and the par-5 15th. “To be honest, I really haven’t been play ing that well the past month or so,” Stanley said. “I really struggled with my ball-strik ing last week in L.A., but felt like I putted pretty well. Just tried to clean up a few things in my swing and continue with some good putting prep leading into today.” Peter Uihlein, Josh Teater, Emiliano Grillo, Chris Couch, Henrik Norlander and Rhein Gibson shot 66, and 2013 winner Scott Brown, Martin Laird, Jay McLuen, MJ Daffue, Wes Roach and Julian Etulain followed at 67. “When it gets this windy, really the number on the bottom of the club kind of becomes obsolete, really,” Uihlein said. “It’s all about flight and what you want to hit, what you want to see. ” Tom Lewis, the highest-ranked player in the world in the field at No. 57, shot 73. Defending champion Martin Trainer opened with a 74. He played a five-hole stretch on his opening nine in 5 over with three bogeys and a double bogey, Six-time tour winner Bill Haas birdied two of the last four holes in a 69. Thursday’s scores Coco Beach Golf & Country Club Rio Grande, Puerto Rico Purse: $3 million Yardage:7,69; par 72 (36-36) First Round Kyle Stanley 32-32—064 -8 Peter Uihlein 34-32—066 -6 Josh Teater 34-32—066 -6 Emiliano Grillo 33-33—066 -6 Chris Couch 32-34—066 -6 Henrik Norlander 32-34—066 -6 Rhein Gibson 34-32—066 -6 Martin Laird 33-34—067 -5 Jay McLuen 34-33—067 -5 Scott Brown 34-33—067 -5 MJ Daffue 33-34—067 -5 Wes Roach 33-34—067 -5 Julian Etulain 33-34—067 -5 Robby Shelton 33-35—068 -4 Ted Potter, Jr. 33-35—068 -4 Kiradech Aphibarnrat 35-33—068 -4 Viktor Hovland 34-34—068 -4 Jhonattan Vegas 35-33—068 -4 Mark Anderson 32-36—068 -4 Daniel Chopra 33-36—069 -3 Tim Wilkinson 34-35—069 -3 J.J. Henry 35-34—069 -3 Jonathan Byrd 35-34—069 -3 Doug Ghim 36-33—069 -3 Bill Haas 35-34—069 -3 Robert Streb 35-34—069 -3 George McNeill 33-36—069 -3 Rob Oppenheim 35-34—069 -3 Cameron Davis 34-35—069 -3 Ryan Brehm 36-33—069 -3 Anirban Lahiri 35-35—070 -2 Patrick Rodgers 36-34—070 -2 Brian Davis 35-35—070 -2 David Hearn 36-34—070 -2 John Senden 37-33—070 -2 John Merrick 36-34—070 -2 Chad Campbell 34-36—070 -2 Matthew NeSmith 34-36—070 -2 Vincent Whaley 37-33—070 -2 Zack Sucher 35-35—070 -2 Justin Bertsch 35-35—070 -2 Cameron Percy 35-35—070 -2 Fabian Gomez 35-35—070 -2 Alex Noren 34-36—070 -2 Sam Ryder 35-35—070 -2 Associated Press
