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2C Midweek Edition-April 5-6, 2023
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
SPORTS
COLLEGE
BASKCTBALL
BRYNN ANDERSON I The Associated Press
San Diego State forward Jaedon LeDee (13)
drives to the basket past Connecticut guard
Tristen Newton and forward Alex Karaban
(11) during the second half on Monday in
Houston.
Huskies win
big against
the Aztecs
Associated Press
UConn got the shots it wanted and made
life miserable for San Diego State defen
sively, looking like it was going to turn the
national championship game into a run
away. The Huskies knew the Aztecs would
push, scrap and claw their way back. Their
defense was too good, their will too strong.
For a stretch, the Huskies buckled. It still
ended in another rout.
UConn dominated at both ends early and
pulled away after San Diego State’s defen
sive clamp down, finishing off one of the
most dominant NCAA Tournament runs
with a 76-59 win over the Aztecs on Monday
night.
“We keep our composure,” UConn guard
Jordan Hawkins said. “It doesn’t matter
what we go through, we’re going to stick
together no matter what.”
Picking apart San Diego State’s menacing
defense while draining the Aztecs’ offensive
confidence, the Huskies (31-8) had fans won
dering whether they should keep watching,
building a 16-point lead.
San Diego State (32-7) got back in it by
getting in the Huskies’ faces, trimming the
lead to five with five minutes left. UConn
responded by fighting back, pushing the
lead until it had the fifth all-double-digit run
through the NCAA Tournament since the
bracket expanded in 1985.
The title was UConn’s fifth, matching
Duke and Indiana for fourth most all-time.
It was the Huskies’ first national title since
2014 and first under coach Dan Hurley, who
added to his family’s legacy with another
title for the mantel.
“I’ve had my own path, my own journey,”
Hurley said. “I’ve probably done it to myself
by being such an intense, fiery coach, that
people have always focused more on the
sideline kind of antics than my total body of
work over the course of my career.”
The Huskies made it look easy early, just
as they had the previous five NCAA Tourna
ment games.
Adama Sanogo established deep post posi
tion early, scoring inside while forcing the
Aztecs to shade toward him or double team.
UConn’s guards repeatedly found cracks in
San Diego’s defense, getting into the lane for
floaters and kickouts for 3s.
The Huskies were downright nasty defen
sively, swatting shots, jumping into passing
lanes, contesting shots all over the floor.
Sanogo, Adam Karaban and 7-foot-2 fresh
man Donovan Clingan caused so many prob
lems at the rim, the Aztecs started avoiding
the paint altogether. Nathan Mensah even
passed up an open jump hook to pass to a
teammate who wasn’t looking. Hawkins fol
lowed the turnover with a 3-pointer that put
the Huskies up 26-14.
Even when the Aztecs got open shots, they
couldn’t get any to fall. San Diego missed
14 straight in a span of 11:07 as UConn
stretched its lead to 36-20.
“Their length bothered us at the rim, ” San
Diego State coach Brian Dutcher said.
The Aztecs like to muddy the waters and
finally were able to bog the game down to
their liking in the second half. San Diego
State kept the Huskies from getting those
easy shots inside, stayed connected with
their perimeter shooters and cut off those
drives into the lane.
The problem: the shots still weren’t fall
ing, so UConn’s lead hovered in double fig
ures. Overplaying got the Aztecs back in it.
San Diego State got a couple of steals to
set up transition baskets and they gained
confidence with each shot that fell. The
Aztecs rallied from at least eight down to
win their previous three games, and rattled
the Huskies with a 9-0 run, pulling within
56-50 as NRG Stadium went from snoozy to
a potential doozy.
So had UConn. Playing in the brutal Big
East had prepared the Huskies well for this
moment.
Hawkins hit a 3-pointer off a screen to
send UConn’s fans bolting from their seats,
San Diego State fans slumping in theirs.
Their confidence back, the Huskies reeled
off nine straight points to push the lead back
to 14, forcing the Aztecs into rushed shots in
an attempt to pull off a miracle that never
happened.
FRIDAY’S HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER
KNIGHT TO REMEMBER
No. 1 Johnson boys shut down
fourth-ranked East Hall for the
Region 8-4A championship
BILL MURPHY I The Times
Johnson faces East Hall in the Region 8-4A championship match
on Friday in Oakwood.
BY DAVID FRIEDLANDER
dfriedlander@gainesvilletimes.
com
With a season-long winning
streak and the Region 8-4A
championship on the line, John
son’s boys soccer team was
determined not to wait long
before making its move in Fri
day night’s showdown against
East Hall.
The top-ranked Knights, also
the Copa 985 champions who
are ranked No. 3 nationally,
put the pressure on early and
often and rolled to a 4-0 victory
over the fourth-ranked Vikings
before a large and loud crowd
at Billy Ellis Memorial Stadium.
Edgar Vazquez netted a goal
on a penalty kick in the game’s
11th minute and added a pair
of assists to help Johnson (16-
0, 10-0) wrap its ninth region
championship since 2014, plus
run their overall winning streak
to 22 straight games dating back
to last season.
And head coach Frank
Zamora was pleased that last
year’s Class 5A state champions
came out with a purpose from
the opening kickoff.
“They were ready to play,”
Zamora said of his players. “We
did our thing. I’m very, very
pleased with the performance
of the boys. The atmosphere
was great, and so I think that
energized the boys to start
early.
“We’re typically a second-
half team (and) start later. ..
We came out a little stronger
this time around, and it’s hard
not to with the environment.
You get the energy from the
fans. .. And we knew the
sooner we scored, the sooner
we’d be at ease and be able to
move the ball.”
Both teams had some scoring
chances in the early minutes,
but it was Johnson that struck
first when Vazquez powered
his way past an East Hall (12-3,
8-2) defender and maneuvered
his way into the penalty area on
the left wing before being taken
down and drawing a whistle for
a foul.
The junior then buried the
ensuing penalty kick into the
upper left corner of the next
inside the near post for a 1-0
Johnson lead with 29:11 left to
go in the first half.
East Hall tried to answer
quickly less than two minutes
later when Yerli Mejia found
himself with possession in
the penalty area with a prime
opportunity to pull the Vikings
even.
However, Johnson goal
keeper Kristian Hernandez
dove to bat down the hard shot,
and then smothered the long
rebound before the sophomore
could get to keep his team’s lead
intact.
The play also seemed to per
manently shift momentum to
the Knights.
“We had some opportunities
early but could not convert,”
East Hall coach Chris Henry
said. “Obviously, the energy
and everything involved with
(Mejia’s shot), it does change
(momentum). But it didn’t go
in. (Johnson) converted their
opportunities early, and that
made it tough. It’s hard to dig
a hole against a team like that
and come back.”
That hole grew even bigger
about 11 minutes later, and
once again, Velazquez was at
the center of the action.
About a minute after being
robbed of a shot by East Hall
goalkeeper Kenny Barrera, the
junior got another chance on a
run up the middle.
This time, however, instead
of taking a long-range shot,
Velazquez sent a through ball
up the left side that Juliann
Pimentel outraced his marker
to before sending a bullet of a
diagonal shot that glanced off
the back post and in to extend
the Johnson lead to 2-0 with
16:13 left in the first half.
Velazquez was at it again
less than five minutes into the
second half on a perfect give-
and-go sequence with Jorge
Sandoval, with the Knights’
captain burying another diago
nal shot inside the near post to
make the score 3-0 with 35:15
remaining.
Daniel Trujillo then con
nected on another penalty
kick with 20:27 left, and the
only question at that point was
whether or not Johnson could
keep East Hall scoreless.
Jonathan Torres gave the
Vikings a great chance to get
the Vikings on the scoreboard,
only to see his well-placed free
kick from 21 yards out punched
over the crossbar by Hernan
dez, which helped the Knights
to their fourth straight clean
sheet and 12th in the last 13
games.
Up next, Johnson will host
Central-Carrollton to open the
state tournament April 14 at
Billy Ellis Memorial.
East Hall will host Cedartown
in the first round of the playoffs
April 14.
JOHNSON GIRLS 3, EAST
HALL 0: Genevieve Aguilar
scored twice in the second half
as the Lady Knights (10-4-1,8-2)
wrapped up their regular sea
son with a win.
THE MASTERS
LIV tour members have a lot to prove
Associated Press
The Masters should be above all the
clamor caused by 18 players from LIV Golf
and this feeling of “us versus them” in the
first major championship of the year.
But just wait until names and numbers
start to fill the white scoreboards around
Augusta National on Thursday. Try to see
only names without considering their alle
giance. No one wants to talk about it. That
doesn’t mean no one is thinking about it.
The Masters is a real chance for LIV Golf
because with few exceptions, its members
have not mixed it up with anyone but them
selves over the last nine months while piling
up generational wealth provided by Saudi
Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
And now they’re all in the same arena.
It’s not about relationships — on the range,
in the locker room at the Masters Club din
ner — it’s about performance.
“I think it’s just important for LIV guys to
be up there because I think we need to be
up there,” said Cameron Smith, still known
more as the ’’champion golfer of the year”
from St. Andrews than team captain of
LIV’s Rippers.
“I think there’s a lot of chatter about:
‘These guys don’t play real golf. These guys
don’t play real golf courses.’ For sure, I’ll
be the first one to say the fields aren’t as
strong,” Smith said. “But we’ve still got a lot
of guys up there that can
play some really serious
golf.”
Dustin Johnson in a
green jacket on Sunday?
That would surprise no
one. Johnson has been No.
1 in the world longer than
any player since Tiger
Woods, and everyone
knows his current world
ranking of No. 69 requires an asterisk. He
hasn’t played a tournament with ranking
points since he tied for sixth in the British
Open.
Brooks Koepka is coming off a victory
last week in LIV Golf-Orlando and is start
ing to regain that swagger that made him
“Big Game Brooks.” He’s won four of his
last 20 majors. Koepka was so excited about
his prospects after winning Sunday that he
said, “It gives me chills thinking of the capa
bilities of what I can do when I’m healthy.”
All this give Greg Norman chills just
thinking about it.
Norman, the CEO and commissioner of
the Saudi-funded league, sounds as though
he would consider a LIV player winning the
Masters even sweeter than if the Shark had
won it himself, which he famously never
did.
“They’ve said that if one of them wins,
then the other 17 will hang around and be
there to congratulate him around the 18th
green,” Norman said. “Could you imagine
what a scene that would be, all these play
ers hugging the winner? You only see things
like that in the Ryder Cup, although it’s hap
pening in our events more and more.”
The last such scene was when Woods
won in 2019, and so many past champions
waited in their green jackets near the scor
ing room. Yeah, this would be different.
With the Masters on the horizon, LIV Golf
offered a clever reminder of the players it
has on its 48-man roster with interviews and
images of Phil Mickelson putting the green
jacket on Chari Schwartzel, who a year later
presented it to Bubba Watson. And then
there was Sergio Garcia passing along the
green jacket to Patrick Reed.
Johnson
MASTERS
■ Continued from 1C
moments this Sunday? Perhaps
a green jacket and a career
Grand Slam.
That bunker shot that sent
Woods-like roars through the
towering Georgia pines last
year left Mcllroy with a 64,
matching the best final-round
score in Masters history, and
three shots back of winner Scot-
tie Scheffler in second place.
Yet it also left Mcllroy with a
feeling he carries into his 15th
try at Augusta National this
week: confidence.
“The only thing I could say
is I proved to myself I could
do it,” Mcllroy explained. “As
much as I didn’t really get into
contention, there was part of
me on the back nine last year
that thought I had a chance. To
play the way I did, and eagle 13
and have those feelings, in my
mind anyway, I felt like it was a
breakthrough.
“So any time I see an image
like that,” Mcllroy said, glanc
ing again at the photograph of
him on 18, “or the video of me
and Collin doing what he did as
well, it brings back those good
vibes.”
The vibes haven’t always
been good at Augusta National.
By most rights, Mcllroy
should have slipped into the
first of many green jackets 12
years ago. He had opened with
a 65, reached 12 under by the
end of the third round and was
still leading when he made the
turn on Sunday. But a wayward
tee shot ricocheted through the
trees to the left of the 10th and
Mcllory made triple bogey. He
made another bogey at the next.
And when he splashed a shot
into Rae’s Creek at the par-3
12th, his meltdown was com
plete. He shot a final-round 80,
and the lasting image was not of
the 33-year-old Mcllroy stand
ing triumphantly in a bunker
a dozen years later but of a
21-year-old Mcllroy, so publicly
wounded, doubled over his club
in anguish.
“I don’t think every expe
rience is going to be a good
experience. That would lead to
a pretty boring life,” said Mcll
roy, whose life is anything but
these days as he becomes one of
the PGA Tour’s leading voices
in its showdown with LIV Golf.
“You have to learn from
those challenges,” Mcllroy said,
“and learn from some of that
scar tissues that built up.”
If anyone knows about scar
tissue, figuratively and literally,
it would be Woods. He played a
practice round with Mcllroy on
Monday, and the five-time Mas
ters champion might be the one
person more confident in Mcll
roy than himself.
“It’s just a matter of time.
Rory has the talent. He has the
game. He has all the tools,”
said Woods, the most recent
player to join Gene Sarazen,
Ben Hogan, Gary Player and
Jack Nicklaus in completing the
modern Grand Slam.
“Last year he made a great
run, put himself right there,”
Woods said, “but I think it’s just
a matter of time, whether it’s
this year or next or whenever
it comes. He will get it done. He
will have a career Grand Slam.
It’s just a matter of when it will
be.”
It might be this week. Mcll-
roy’s game is certainly on point.
He won in January in Dubai and
was second at Bay Hill before
advancing to the semifinals of
the Dell Match Play a couple
of weeks ago, where he lost to
Cameron Young.
Those results, coupled with
the way Mcllroy has learned to
navigate Augusta National, are
why oddsmakers picked him,
along with defending champion
Scottie Scheffler, to have his
most memorable moment on
the 18th green this Sunday.
“It looks like this is another
prime year,” 1992 Masters
champion Fred Couples said
after watching Mcllroy in a
practice round this week. “He’s
playing very, very well. What
does he have to do? I don’t
know. Is it surprising he’s never
won this? Of course it is, the way
he plays and the way he putts
and how high he hits and how
far he hits it. But it’s not that
easy.
“He just does his own deal
and plays like Rory can, he’ll
be just fine. Then he’s got to
beat two, four, five people on
Sunday.”
NORTH
■ Continued from 1C
plate to try to dislodge the
ball, but more importantly
for the Trojans, Sexton
escaped further damage to
keep this lead intact heading
into the seventh.
And despite some initial
hesitation, Flow sent his
young pitcher back out in
the bottom of the seventh
to try it complete the game,
and Sexton rewarded that
faith by retiring the Bears
in order to close out the Tro
jans’ victory.
“I thought about taking
(Sexton) out,” Flow admit
ted. “He said he wanted
to finish. I knew he’s not
scared. For a team of the
magnitude of (Cherokee
Bluff), .. and him to step
up and say, ‘I want the base
ball,’ and to bow up and com
plete like he did says a lot
about him. He’s only going to
grow and get better, and I’m
super proud of him.”
North Hall also got a good
day at the plate from Mills
Lothridge (3-for-4, 2B, RBI)
and Jon Jon Read (2-for-3,
stolen base).
In fact, about the only
down side to Monday’s win
for the Trojans was Jones
having to leave the game
with an injured shoulder
from his third-inning defen
sive gem.
Meanwhile, Kemp is
hopeful that Monday’s loss
will be a wake-up call for his
Bears as they try to regroup
for Game 2 of the series
Wednesday on the road at
Lynn Cottrell Field.
“Adversity is always
good,” Kemp said. “Any
time you’re going anything,
you’ve got to overcome
(adversity). North Hall’s
a good baseball team, and
they played a great game
(Monday).”
