6B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DIARY KANSAS
INTRAMURALS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2008
Pskills advance with tight win against Law Dogs
WHITNEY HAMILTON whamilton@kansan.com
Play-offs for intramural basketball have officially begun. Now, teams are fighting for their chance to play in Allen Fieldhouse for the championship game. The games are getting tougher and the opponents are getting fiercer.
NHL
Monday night at the Student Recreation Fitness Center, the game was already competitive as Pskills and Law Dogs tipped
off. Members of each team represented graduate students from the School of Pharmacy and the School of Law.
Throughout the game, neither team had a
"We need to attack the basket and rebound."
large lead before the other team rebounded to make the score neck-in-neck. Even a threepoint shot that was released one second too late by Law Dogs couldn't help. Pskills won the game by one point in a 47-46 victory.
Both teams played with aggression and guarded their opponents well, which kept each team on its toes throughout the game. Finding an opening near the basket, Adam Engel, Salina graduate student, dribbled the
ball for the first two points of the game. Law Dogs tried to respond with a quick layup to the basket, but the ball whirled around the rim falling into a Pskills player's hands. Pskills passed the ball down low and searched for openings near the net.
AARON STEELE
Scott City Graduate Student
Luke Wohlford, Wichita graduate student, pushed his way through a Pskills player for two points. Law Dogs continued to play assertively as Bradley Serafine, Salt Lake City graduate student, drove down the lane,
jumped above his opponent and guided the ball into the basket for two points.
In the first half, Michael H ans f o r d, Topeka graduate student, had three fouls,
which sent him to the bench for awhile. Although each team had chances for foul shots, neither team made both shots the entire night.
A bloody forehead and blood on the court postponed the game for a few minutes, letting each team talk about things to fix before the half ended.
With another quick break before the second half, both teams devised plans and scoring techniques. Law Dogs looked up at the scoreboard, which read
24-20 in Pskills favor, and motivated each other for a better half.
Both teams had strong defenses but some sloppy passing caused turnovers in the second half. Still, Pskills rebounded the ball after foul shots and used the backboard for easy points. Law Dogs were quick to catch up and wasted no time to tie the game at 26 just four minutes into the new half. Fast breaks and quick feet made it easy for Brett Stoecklin, Ness City graduate student, to steal the ball away from Law Dogs.
With less than 30 seconds left in the game, Aaron Steele, Scott City graduate student, hit a solid three-point shot from the right wing gaining the lead.
With only 13.4 seconds left, Beau Jackson, Wichita graduate student and Law Dogs player, received his first foul of the game giving possession of the ball to Pskills.
Law Dogs player Brett Sweeney, Wichita graduate student, scored 18 points during the game but couldn't pull out the victory. Pskills advances to the next round on March 2 to play Team Awesome. Pskills already knows what it must fix to move closer to the title. "We need to attack the basket and rebound," Steele said.
Edited by Katherine Loeck
Topeka graduate student and member of Pskills, Michael Hansford , puts up a shot over Brett Sweeney, Wichita graduate student. Pskills defeated the Law Dogs 47-46 off a last-second shot Monday evening at the Student Recreation Fitness Center.
'03 MVP to finish season in Colorado
ASSOCIATED PRESS
They decided the gamble was worth taking.
DENVER — The Colorado Avalanche knew that Peter Forsberg and his balky right foot came with risks.
The Avalanche and Forsberg agreed Monday on a deal to bring the NHLs 2003 MVP back to Colorado through the end of the season.
Forsberg will earn around $1 million prorated from a one-year, $5 million deal, since there are about six weeks left in the regular season.
"He's a premier player in this league," Avalanche general manager Francois Giguere said in a conference call. "We're very excited Peter agreed to come back."
Forsberg won two Stanley Cups in his nine seasons with the Avalanche and won the Hart Trophy in 2003 after scoring 29 goals and adding 77 assists.
"I feel good," Forsberg said. "I'm confident that it's going to be good."
NASCAR
Carl Edwards brings home his eighth Sprint Cup victory, his first in Fontana
ASSOCIATED PRESS
FONTANA, Calif., — For Carl Edwards, it's a signal. At least one NASCAR Sprint Cup team is ready to take on Hendrick Motorsports.
Edwards won the rain-delayed Auto Club 500 on Monday, finishing ahead of Jimmy Johnson and Jeff Gordon. In a race that resumed with the 88th of 250 laps, Edwards assumed the lead for good with 13 laps left.
Jarrett spun on the final lap.
"I hope it's an indication we've caught up with them," Edwards said after the eighth victory of his career. "They still were second and third and they were the guys to beat today. I hope this is a sign we're up to their standards, to their level."
Johnson took the green flag for the final restart in the lead with 26 laps left, but Edwards surged from third. He then showed fine form on his traditional victory backflip after capturing the checkered flag in a race that ended under caution when Dale
Edwards had it all but wrapped up at that point, driving his Roush Fenway No. 99 Ford to a lead of more than four seconds over Johnson. It was his first victory at Fontana but his seventh top-10 finish in eight starts at the track formerly known as California Speedway.
Gordon, who dominated Sunday's rain-interrupted racing, finished third. He was followed by Kyle Busch and Roush's Matt Kenseth, who had won the two previous February races at this track. Another Roush driver, Greg Biffle, won this event in 2005.
A year ago, Johnson and Gordon ended 1-2 in the season points. Johnson won his second straight cup title and the team rolled up 18 victories in 36 races. The Hendrick contingent also wone of the 16 races in which NASCAR's new Car of Tomorrow was raced.
The CoT is being used for the entire Sprint cup schedule in 2008 and its debut on Auto Club Speedway's
two-mile oval was a triumph for Edwards and Roush Frennway Racing.
"I know that last year I would not have traded my car in for one of theirs at any of the CoT races towards the end of the year," Edwards said. "I thought we had the best car. Everyone knows, all the drivers know for sure, it's what you're sitting in a lot of the times that makes a tiny little difference and I'm proud to be driving this car."
Team co-owner Jack Roush dragged his feet testing the bigger, boxier CoT a year ago. But Roush said that changed last May when he realized other teams were getting too far ahead.
He said his team made "a Herculean effort" from that point on to develop the CoT.
On Monday, Edwards went into the final round of pit stops under caution on lap 212 while leading. He came out behind Johnson, Gordon and Roush Fenway teammate Jamie McMurray.
The yellow and checkered flags wave as Carl Edwards approaches the finish line to win a rain-delayed NASCAR Sprint Cup Auto Club 500 at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., Monday, February 25, 2008.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
They stayed side-by-side for
He quickly passed McMurray after the green flag waved for the start of lap 225 and set out after the leaders, passing Gordon for second on lap 233 and moving alongside Johnson's No. 48 Chevrolet on lap 236.
Call or come by for details
ENDLESS Summer Tan
2223 Louisiana | 331-0900 | www.besttaninlawrence.com
LawrenceFreenet
almost two laps before Edwards nosed ahead and began to pull away.
"I told my guys, 'We got 'em right where we want 'em.' This is what we prepared for," Edwards said. "I enjoy that kind of stuff."
Gordon's engine blew seconds before the last of 12 caution flags in the race froze the field.
"Carl Edwards was in another league," Gordon said. "We've got some work to do to catch those guys."
Gordon, a four-time cup champion, and Johnson got off to a tough start last week at Daytona, finishing 39th and 27th, respectively.
"It's a good rebound from Daytona and we'll roll on," Johnson said. "I was too loose off the corners to do anything with Carl."
"Maybe another practice session would have helped," Johnson added, referring to all the track time lost to rain Friday and Saturday. "I think it would have helped the whole field."
About 25,000 fans, far short of the approximate 120,000 capacity, were on hand Monday, with the sun peeking out from high clouds and temperatures moving into the high 60s.
The drivers spent most of Sunday waiting through rain, track drying and attempts to stop water seeping through seams of the track. The race finally began about two and a half hours late, followed by a rain delay of just more than an hour and then a five-hour wait after a downpour. NASCAR and track officials finally gave up after 11 p.m. and postponed the conclusion until Monday.
1943