LEXINGTON — Pay attention, No. 1s. This is how it’s done. Russ Smith scored 23 points and set a Louisville NCAA tournament record with a career-high eight steals, and Peyton Siva had eight assists as the Cardinals demol- ished North Carolina A&T 79-48 on Thursday night. Louisville fin- ished with 20 steals, breaking the previous tournament mark of 19. It was the 11th straight win for the Cardinals (30-5), and only their sixth victory ever at Rupp Arena. Of course, that’s because Louisville is usually facing Ken- tucky here, but the defending na- tional champions are spectators these days after being bounced out of the first round of the NIT this week. Rick Pitino and his Big East champions will play the winner of Colorado State-Missouri on Satur- day. No 16th seed has ever beaten a No. 1 and, unlike that Southern- Gonzaga squeaker that ended shortly before the Aggies and Car- dinals tipped off, this one was nev- er even a contest. Top seed Louisville starts with rout in NCAA opener BY NANCY ARMOUR Associated Press Please see CARDS | 3B Coach of the Year Rechelle Turner Murray Haley Boyd Lone Oak Brandi Jones Ballard Memorial Aaliyah Lumson Mayfield Maddye Rice Heath Mariah McKenty Marshall County Taylor Meadows Marshall County Chelsey Shumpert Paducah Tilghman Summer Simmons Calloway County Janssen Starks Murray Julie Thiede Murray Thursday’s NCAA scores EAST REGIONAL Butler 68, Bucknell 56 Marquette 59, Davidson 58 San Jose, Calif. California 64, UNLV 61 Syracuse vs. Montana (n) SOUTH REGIONAL Michigan 71, South Dakota State 56 VCU 88, Akron 42 MIDWEST REGIONAL Louisville 79, N.C. A&T 48 Colorado State 84, Missouri 72 Michigan State 65, Valparaiso 54 Memphis 54, Saint Mary’s (Cal) 52 Saint Louis 64, New Mexico State 44 Oregon 68, Oklahoma State 55 WEST REGIONAL Wichita State 73, Pittsburgh 55 Gonzaga 64, Southern 58 Arizona 81, Belmont 64 Harvard 68, New Mexico 62 SCOREBOARD COLLEGE BASKETBALL NCAA action heats up See how your brackets did after Thursday’s opening games in the Second Round of the NCAA tournament. For the latest in March Madness pairings and news go to www.paducahsun.com and check out “The Tournament Scoreboard.” CONTACT US Page 5B Sports The Paducah Sun | Friday, March 22, 2013 | paducahsun.com Section B COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Illinois starts off NCAA tournament with hot opponent. | 2B Sports................... 575-8665 [email protected]Joey Fosko ............ 575-8661 [email protected]Dusty Luthy Shull ...575-8662 [email protected]There are two things on which the baseball programs at Graves County and St. Mary can certain- ly agree. n One: Two months from now, when postseason play com- mences, the Vikings’ 7-4 win on Thursday afternoon at Haas Field might not mean much aside from the fact it gave St. Mary (3- 0) a leg up in the race for the top seed for the Third District tour- nament. n Two: It’s way too early to be playing a district game. “Moving it up this soon puts everything in fast forward,” Graves coach Khristain Elliott said. “We’ve got a couple of guys from basketball who have hardly had time to get ready for base- ball. Justin Hayden has thrown two bullpens, and Peyton Puckett had two days of (batting practice) and two days of taking fly balls.” The chilly weather — the tem- perature hovered around 40 de- grees throughout the contest — made it seem anything but like a game that could be decisive in the seeding battle. St. Mary and Graves (2-1) are generally con- sidered the two best teams in the district. Originally scheduled to play next week, the two-game series (the two clubs play tonight at Graves) was moved up a week because St. Mary, under school rules, isn’t allowed to compete in athletic contests in the days lead- ing up to Easter. It was the dis- trict opener for both clubs. Left-hander Matt Higgins worked five solid innings, allow- ing five hits and two unearned runs, to pick up the win, and Brett Quigley — who started the game at second base — worked the final two frames. Higgins also had three hits and a pair of RBI. “Right now, he’s our number one,” Vikings coach Lawrence Durbin said of Higgins. “Eamon Hannan has the better fast- ball and the potential to be, but Matt’s been throwing the ball pretty well. Eamon didn’t throw the curveball last year, but he’s worked on that over the winter, and he’s been sick so we wanted to hold him another day.” Catcher Jon Darnell had a bas- es-loaded single that broke a 1-1 tie in the third and set the stage for a three-run uprising that gave the Vikings the lead for good. Af- ter Graves center fielder Colton Aldridge doubled in a run and scored on an error to cut the defi- cit to 4-3 in the top of the fifth, St. Mary answered with three runs in its next at-bat. First baseman Ross Whittaker (2-for-2, 2 RBI) and Higgins had run-scoring hits that extended the Vikings’ advantage to 7-3. ––– Graves County 001 021 0 4 7 2 St. Mary 013 030 x 7 11 2 Smith, Callahan (4), Ca. Aldridge (5) and Williams; M. Higgins, Quigley (6) and Darnell. WP: M. Higgins. LP: Smith. 2B: GC-Gibson, Williams, Co. Aldridge; SM-M. Higgins. 3B: none. HR: none. Top hitters: GC-Co. Al- dridge 2-4 (2 RBI), Gibson 2-4, Williams 2-4: SM-M. Higgins 3-3 (2 RBI), Whittaker 2-2 (2 RBI), Johnston 2-2 (1 RBI), Darnell 2-4 (1 RBI). Records: St. Mary 3-0, Graves County 2-1. Call Joey Fosko, a Paducah Sun sports writer, at 270-575-8661. Higgins’ arm, bat lead Vikings to early Third District win BY JOEY FOSKO [email protected]KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The first step off the bus was familiar. So was going through security, navi- gating the maze of tunnels, walk- ing into the locker room and get- ting cozy in one of the wooden stalls. Yes, everything about the Sprint Center is familiar to top-seeded Kansas. After all, the Jayhawks are 6-0 in the building this season. “It’s kind of weird,” admitted freshman star Ben McLemore, “but you know, we’ve worked hard to come back here, and now we just have to go out there and per- form.” The Jayhawks (29-5) earned the top seed in the South Region and the right to play a 30-minute drive from their Lawrence campus by winning the regular-season Big 12 title, and running roughshod through the conference tourna- ment last weekend at Kansas City’s downtown arena. Along with those three wins, the Jayhawks have beaten Washing- ton State, Saint Louis and Oregon State in the Sprint Center, giving it a distinctive home-away-from- from home feeling. They’ll try to keep their success going against No. 16 seed Western Kentucky (20-15) when they meet tonight in one of the last games of the second round of the NCAA tournament. “It feels like the Big 12 tourna- ment, to be honest,” Jayhawks center Jeff Withey said. “I think being so close to home will be a great advantage for us. We’re far enough away that we don’t have the distractions, but close enough that we’ll still have the support of our fans.” Even the most pint-sized fans. “There isn’t a whole lot that can distract us,” senior guard Travis Releford said, “other than little kids running up to us, asking for autographs. And that I look like as fun, part of Kansas basketball and being part of this tournament.” As easily recognized as the Jay- hawks are around town, the Hill- toppers are complete unknowns, so much so that Western Ken- tucky coach Ray Harper had a tough time getting through secu- rity. He was held up for several min- Hilltoppers face tall obstacle BY DAVE SKRETTA Associated Press Please see WKU | 3B All-Purchase All-Purchase 2012-2013 Associated Press Louisville guard Peyton Siva (3) scoops the ball up after stealing it from North Carolina A&T forward DaMetrius Upchurch (4) during Thursday’s second-round game in the NCAA tournament at Lexing- ton. No. 1 seed Louisville rolled to an easy 79-48 victory. Ray Harper ■ See The Paducah Sun boys All-Purchase team in Saturday’s Sun.
Transcript
LEXINGTON — Pay attention, No. 1s. This is how it’s done.
Russ Smith scored 23 points and set a Louisville NCAA tournament record with a career-high eight steals, and Peyton Siva had eight assists as the Cardinals demol-ished North Carolina A&T 79-48 on Thursday night. Louisville fi n-ished with 20 steals, breaking the previous tournament mark of 19.
It was the 11th straight win for the Cardinals (30-5), and only their sixth victory ever at Rupp Arena. Of course, that’s because Louisville is usually facing Ken-tucky here, but the defending na-tional champions are spectators these days after being bounced out of the fi rst round of the NIT this week. Rick Pitino and his Big East champions will play the winner of Colorado State-Missouri on Satur-day.
No 16th seed has ever beaten a No. 1 and, unlike that Southern-Gonzaga squeaker that ended shortly before the Aggies and Car-dinals tipped off, this one was nev-er even a contest.
Top seed Louisville starts with rout in NCAA opener
SOUTH REGIONALMichigan 71, South Dakota State 56VCU 88, Akron 42
MIDWEST REGIONALLouisville 79, N.C. A&T 48
Colorado State 84, Missouri 72Michigan State 65, Valparaiso 54Memphis 54, Saint Mary’s (Cal) 52Saint Louis 64, New Mexico State 44Oregon 68, Oklahoma State 55
WEST REGIONALWichita State 73, Pittsburgh 55Gonzaga 64, Southern 58Arizona 81, Belmont 64Harvard 68, New Mexico 62
SCOREBOARD COLLEGE BASKETBALLNCAA action heats up
See how your brackets did after Thursday’s opening games in the Second Round of the NCAA tournament. For the latest in March Madness pairings and news go to www.paducahsun.com and check out “The Tournament Scoreboard.”
CONTACT US
Page 5B
SportsThe Paducah Sun | Friday, March 22, 2013 | paducahsun.com Section B
COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Illinois starts off NCAA tournament with hot opponent. | 2B
There are two things on which the baseball programs at Graves County and St. Mary can certain-ly agree.
n One: Two months from now, when postseason play com-mences, the Vikings’ 7-4 win on Thursday afternoon at Haas Field might not mean much aside from the fact it gave St. Mary (3-0) a leg up in the race for the top seed for the Third District tour-nament.
n Two: It’s way too early to be playing a district game.
“Moving it up this soon puts
everything in fast forward,” Graves coach Khristain Elliott said. “We’ve got a couple of guys from basketball who have hardly had time to get ready for base-ball. Justin Hayden has thrown two bullpens, and Peyton Puckett had two days of (batting practice) and two days of taking fl y balls.”
The chilly weather — the tem-perature hovered around 40 de-grees throughout the contest — made it seem anything but like a game that could be decisive in the seeding battle. St. Mary and Graves (2-1) are generally con-sidered the two best teams in the district.
Originally scheduled to play next week, the two-game series (the two clubs play tonight at Graves) was moved up a week because St. Mary, under school rules, isn’t allowed to compete in athletic contests in the days lead-ing up to Easter. It was the dis-trict opener for both clubs.
Left-hander Matt Higgins worked fi ve solid innings, allow-ing fi ve hits and two unearned runs, to pick up the win, and Brett Quigley — who started the game at second base — worked the fi nal two frames. Higgins also had three hits and a pair of RBI.
“Right now, he’s our number
one,” Vikings coach Lawrence Durbin said of Higgins. “Eamon Hannan has the better fast-ball and the potential to be, but Matt’s been throwing the ball pretty well. Eamon didn’t throw the curveball last year, but he’s worked on that over the winter, and he’s been sick so we wanted to hold him another day.”
Catcher Jon Darnell had a bas-es-loaded single that broke a 1-1 tie in the third and set the stage for a three-run uprising that gave the Vikings the lead for good. Af-ter Graves center fi elder Colton Aldridge doubled in a run and scored on an error to cut the defi -
cit to 4-3 in the top of the fi fth, St. Mary answered with three runs in its next at-bat.
First baseman Ross Whittaker (2-for-2, 2 RBI) and Higgins had run-scoring hits that extended the Vikings’ advantage to 7-3.
–––Graves County 001 021 0 4 7 2St. Mary 013 030 x 7 11 2
Smith, Callahan (4), Ca. Aldridge (5) and Williams; M. Higgins, Quigley (6) and Darnell.
WP: M. Higgins. LP: Smith.2B: GC-Gibson, Williams, Co. Aldridge; SM-M.
Higgins. 3B: none. HR: none. Top hitters: GC-Co. Al-dridge 2-4 (2 RBI), Gibson 2-4, Williams 2-4: SM-M. Higgins 3-3 (2 RBI), Whittaker 2-2 (2 RBI), Johnston 2-2 (1 RBI), Darnell 2-4 (1 RBI). Records: St. Mary 3-0, Graves County 2-1.
Call Joey Fosko, a Paducah Sun sports writer, at 270-575-8661.
Higgins’ arm, bat lead Vikings to early Third District winBY JOEY FOSKO
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The fi rst step off the bus was familiar. So was going through security, navi-gating the maze of tunnels, walk-ing into the locker room and get-ting cozy in one of the wooden stalls.
Yes, everything about the Sprint Center is familiar to top-seeded Kansas.
After all, the Jayhawks are 6-0 in the building this season.
“It’s kind of weird,” admitted freshman star Ben McLemore, “but you know, we’ve worked hard to come back here, and now we just have to go out there and per-form.”
The Jayhawks (29-5) earned the top seed in the South Region and the right to play a 30-minute drive from their Lawrence campus by winning the regular-season Big 12 title, and running roughshod through the conference tourna-ment last weekend at Kansas City’s downtown arena.
Along with those three wins, the Jayhawks have beaten Washing-ton State, Saint Louis and Oregon State in the Sprint Center, giving it a distinctive home-away-from-from home feeling.
They’ll try to keep their success going against No. 16 seed Western Kentucky (20-15) when they meet tonight in one of the last games
of the second round of the NCAA tournament.
“It feels like the Big 12 tourna-ment, to be honest,” Jayhawks center Jeff Withey said. “I think being so close to home will be a great advantage for us. We’re far enough away that we don’t have the distractions, but close enough that we’ll still have the support of our fans.”
Even the most pint-sized fans.“There isn’t a whole lot that can
distract us,” senior guard Travis Releford said, “other than little kids running up to us, asking for autographs. And that I look like as fun, part of Kansas basketball and being part of this tournament.”
As easily recognized as the Jay-hawks are around town, the Hill-toppers are complete unknowns, so much so that Western Ken-tucky coach Ray Harper had a tough time getting through secu-rity.
He was held up for several min-
Hilltoppers face tall obstacleBY DAVE SKRETTA
Associated Press
Please see WKU | 3B
All-PurchaseAll-Purchase2012-2013
Associated Press
Louisville guard Peyton Siva (3) scoops the ball up after stealing it from North Carolina A&T forward DaMetrius Upchurch (4) during Thursday’s second-round game in the NCAA tournament at Lexing-ton. No. 1 seed Louisville rolled to an easy 79-48 victory.
Ray Harper
■ See The Paducah Sun boys All-Purchase team in Saturday’s Sun.
THE FINE PRINT
On televisionTODAY
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL3 p.m. -- Exhibition: Chi. Cubs vs. Milwaukee (WGN)COLLEGE BASKETBALL (MEN)11 a.m. -- NCAA: Duke vs. Albany (KFVS-12)11:30 -- NCAA: Wisconsin vs. Mississippi (TruTV)12:30 p.m. -- NCAA: N.C. State vs. Temple (TBS)1 -- NCAA: Miami, Fla. vs. Pacifi c (TNT)1:30 -- NCAA: Creighton vs. Cincinnati (KFVS-12)2 -- NCAA: Kansas State vs. Boise State/LaSalle
(TruTV)3 -- NCAA: Indiana vs. James Madison/Long Island
(TBS)3:30 -- NCAA: Illinois vs. Colorado (TNT)5:45 -- NCAA: Georgetown vs. Florida Gulf Coast
(TBS)6 -- NCAA: Ohio State vs. Iona (KFVS-12)6:15 -- NCAA: North Carolina vs. Villanova (TNT)6:15 -- NCAA: Florida vs. Northwestern State
(TruTV)8:15 -- NCAA: San Diego State vs. Oklahoma (TBS)8:30 -- NCAA: Notre Dame vs. Iowa State (KFVS-
12)8:45 -- NCAA: Kansas vs. Western Kentucky (TNT)8:55 -- NCAA: UCLA vs. Minnesota (TruTV)
AUTO RACING1:30 p.m. -- Sprint Cup: Auto Club 400 practice
(Speed)3:30 -- Nationwide: Royal Purple 300 practice
(Speed)6 -- Sprint Cup: Auto Club 400 qualifying (Speed)3 a.m. -- Formula One: Malaysia Grand Prix qualify-
HOCKEY7 p.m. -- Columbus at Nashville (Sports South)
SOCCER2:30 p.m. -- MLS: Columbus at D.C. United (NBC
Sports)1 a.m. -- Melbourne Heat at Brisbane (Fox Soccer)
COLLEGE BASEBALL2 p.m. -- Texas Christian at Oklahoma (FCS Central)3 -- Alabama at Georgia (CSS)6 -- Florida at Vanderbilt (CSS)
COLLEGE SOFTBALL1 p.m. -- Auburn at Alabama (CSS)
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL9 a.m. -- Michigan Class D fi nals (FCS Atlantic)11 -- Michigan Class A fi nals (FCS Atlantic)3:30 p.m. -- Michigan Class C fi nals (FCS Atlantic)
MOTORSPORTS6:30 p.m. -- Supercross Toronto (Speed)
COLLEGE HOCKEYNoon -- CCHA semifi nal (FCS Pacifi c)3:30 p.m. -- CCHA semifi nal (FCS Pacifi c)6 -- Hockey East championship (NBC Sports)6 -- ECAC championship (FCS Atlantic)7 -- WCHA championship (FCS Pacifi c)
Local sportsTODAY
HIGH SCHOOL BASEBALL -- Webster County at Paducah Tilghman, Carlisle County at Heath, St. Mary at Graves County, Ballard Memorial at Critten-den County, Fulton County at South Fulton (Tenn.), Livingston Central at Caldwell County, Trigg County at Fort Campbell. St. Jude Classic (at Union City, Tenn.): Lone Oak vs. Dyersburg (5 p.m.), Lone Oak vs. Milan (7:30 p.m.). Wilson County (Tenn.) Tournament: Mar-shall County vs. Mount Juliet Christian (6 p.m.), Mar-shall County vs. Nashville Ezell-Harding (8:30 p.m.).
HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL -- Murray vs. Obion Cen-tral (Tenn.). Lady Flash Invitational (at Lone Oak): South Elgin, Ill. vs. Mountain Home, Ark. (1:30 p.m.), Paducah Tilghman vs. Mountain Home (3:30 p.m.), Marshall County vs. Herrin, Ill. (4:45 p.m.), Caldwell County vs. Anna-Jonesboro, Ill. (4:45 p.m.), Lyon County vs. Carbondale, Ill. (5 p.m.), Paducah Tilghman vs. Carlisle County (5 p.m.), Reidland vs. Hopkins Central (5 p.m. at Reidland), Paducah Tilgh-man vs. Carlisle County (5 p.m.), Livingston Central vs. Herrin (6:15 p.m.), Ballard Memorial vs. Carlisle County (6:15 p.m.), Calloway County vs. Anna-Jones-boro (6:15 p.m.), Massac County vs. Hopkins Central (6:30 p.m. at Reidland), St. Mary vs. Livingston Cen-tral (7:30 p.m.), Ballard Memorial vs. Caldwell County (7:30 p.m.), Calloway County vs. Lyon County (7:30 p.m.), Carbondale vs. Bolton, Tenn. (7:30 p.m.), Re-idland vs. Massac County (8 p.m. at Reidland).
HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS -- Massac County at Heath.COLLEGE BASKETBALL -- NCAA Tournament: West-
ern Kentucky vs. Kansas (8:50 p.m. at Kansas City), Illinois vs. Colorado (3:40 p.m. at Austin, Texas).
COLLEGE BASEBALL -- Murray State at SIU-Ed-wardsville (6 p.m.), Mid-Continent at Tougaloo (DH, noon).
2B • Friday, March 22, 2013 • The Paducah Sun Morning Update paducahsun.com
Coming upBASKETBALL
SaturdayNCAA
Colorado Stateat LexingtonTime: TBATV: TBA
BASKETBALLMarch 29
NCAATBA
at IndianapolisTime: TBATV: TBA
LOUISVILLE
AUSTIN, Texas — For 50 years, Colorado could usually be dismissed as a program fl oating around the backwaters of college basketball.
Since coach Tad Boyle arrived in 2010, Colorado sure looks like a program on the rise.
Boyle has led Colorado to the NCAA tournament in consecutive seasons for the fi rst time since 1962-63, and the No. 12-seed Buffs (21-11) are a trendy early-round upset pick when they face No. 7 seed Illinois (22-12) on Friday in the East Regional.
“We’re the pretty girl right now,” Colorado for-ward Spencer Dinwiddie said Thursday. “Everybody wants to pick us.”
Colorado wouldn’t have been anyone’s pick until
Boyle ar-rived from N o r t h e r n C o l o r a d o . Since then, the Buffa-loes have a v e r a g e d 23 wins.
Last season they stormed through the Pac-12 tourna-ment to win an automatic bid to the NCAA tourna-ment, then snagged an opening-round win over UNLV.
Energized by that experi-ence, Colorado earned an at-large bid to this season’s NCAA tournament after a solid 10-8 fi nish in the Pac-12. Everything, Dinwiddie said, is going just like Boyle promised.
“When coach was re-cruiting me, he talked about wanting to build Col-orado into a perennial Top 25 program. I think you see
the strides that we’re mak-ing toward that,” Dinwid-die said. “And we are just going to get better.”
Boyle, a former Kansas player, is building Colora-do’s foundation on players like Dinwiddie, a forward from California who led the team in scoring, and Texan Andre Roberson, the Pac-12 defensive player of the year who ranks second na-tionally in rebounds with 11.3 per game.
The Illini burst through a 12-0 start that included winning the Maui Invita-tional and a win over Gon-zaga, the team that entered the NCAA tournament at the top seed in the West Region and ranked No. 1.
The schedule got much tougher when the Big Ten season started in January. After a 2-7 start in league play, Illinois rallied to an 8-10 fi nish.
Illini face hot foe in NCAAsBY JIM VERTUNO
Associated Press
Groce
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Matthew Dellavedova’s 3-pointer from the right wing sailed long as time ex-pired, allowing sixth-seed-ed Memphis to hold on for a 54-52 win over 11th-seeded Saint Mary’s on Thursday.
The Tigers (31-4) led by
15 in the fi rst half but nearly gave the game away in the fi nal seconds. With Saint Mary’s (28-7) down fi ve, Eividas Petrulis banked in a 3-pointer with 3.1 seconds to play. Memphis then lost the ball when Jordan Giusti defl ected the inbound pass off Joe Jackson of the Ti-
gers and out of bounds.Dellavedova, the career
leader in scoring for the Gaels, was able to get a shot off from in front of his team’s bench, but it was well long, missing everything.
Marquette 59, Davidson 58
LEXINGTON — Vander Blue’s layup with one sec-ond left capped Marquette’s rally from a nine-point defi -cit and gave the third-seed-ed Golden Eagles a victory over Davidson.
Blue and Jamil Wilson made consecutive 3-point-ers to bring Marquette with-in 58-57 with 11 seconds left. The Golden Eagles then caught a huge break when De’Mon Brooks’ long inbounds pass went out of bounds at midcourt with 5.5 seconds left, providing another opportunity.
Blue took full advantage after getting Wilson’s in-bounds pass, driving left and fi nding room for the winning basket. He then sealed Marquette’s improb-able win by stealing David-son’s last-ditch inbounds pass at midcourt to set off a celebration among players and Golden Eagles fans at Rupp Arena.
Blue scored seven of Mar-quette’s fi nal 11 points to fi nish with 16. Wilson add-ed 14 points as the Golden Eagles (24-8) won for the fi fth time in six games and advanced to face Butler in Saturday’s third-round game.
Jake Cohen’s 20 points led Davidson (26-8), who seemed in control leading 49-40 with 6½ minutes left before Marquette rallied.
Gonzaga 64,Southern 58
SALT LAKE CITY — A March Madness warm-up turned into a great escape for Gonzaga.
The Zags got pushed to
the limit by Southern, pull-ing out a victory in the clos-ing minutes to avoid be-coming the fi rst No. 1 seed to lose to a 16 in the NCAA tournament.
Kelly Olynyk led the Zags (32-2) with 21 points. They play No. 9 Wichita State on Saturday.
But it was a pair of 3-pointers — one by Gary Bell Jr., the next by Kevin Pagnos — that staked the Bulldogs to a 62-58 lead only moments after the game was tied at 56 with 3:45 left.
Derick Beltran had 21 points to lead Southern (23-10) and his 14-foot baseline jumper tied it at 56. But the Jaguars from the South-western Athletic Confer-ence didn’t make another fi eld goal.
No. 1 seeds are now 113-0 against 16s.
Butler 68,Bucknell 56
LEXINGTON — Butler’s Rotnei Clarke scored 11 of his 17 points in the last 8:44, Andrew Smith had a double-double with a career-high 16 rebounds and 14 points and Butler withstood a late rally from upset-minded Bucknell for a victory.
Roosevelt Jones added 14 points for the sixth-seeded Bulldogs, who watched an 11-point lead turn into a 6-point defi cit before re-gaining control of the game for good.
Butler has now won 11 of its last 13 games in the NCAA tournament, the only two losses coming in the 2010 and 2011 title games.
Joe Willman had a career-high 20 points for Bucknell. But the 11th-seeded Bison couldn’t overcome an off day from two-time Patriot League Player of the year Mike Muscala, who had nine points, only the second time this season he’s failed to reach double fi gures.
Memphis escapes in NCAA’s close callsAssociated Press
paducahsun.com Sports The Paducah Sun • Friday, March 22, 2013 • 3B
Briefs
Officials at Paducah International Raceway decided Thursday to postpone its season opener due to the cold temperatures expected Friday night.
Track officials agreed the forecast of cold tempera-tures and rain chances would make it difficult on fans, drivers, cars and the track.
Opening night will now be March 29, which is also the NDRL “Let’s Get Dirty 75” $20,000 to win Super Late Model special. The Modified division will also be competing for a $2,000 top prize.
PIR postpones season opening races
— Staff report
ORLANDO, Fla. — Justin Rose started out as an-other guy in Tiger Woods’ group Thursday at Bay Hill. He wound up in the lead.
Rose put on a clinic with the putter and ran off four straight birdies late in his round of 7-under 65 in Orlando, Fla. That gave him a four-shot lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational among those who played early in a chilly breeze. It marked only the sixth time in 31 rounds at Bay Hill that Rose broke 70.
Woods didn’t fare too badly in his bid to win Bay Hill for the eighth time and return to No. 1. He opened with a 69, despite two out of three bogeys from the greenside bunkers.
John Rollins had a 68. Ryo Ishikawa was in the group at 69.
Rose takes early lead with 65 at Bay Hill
— Associated Press
SAUCIER, Miss. — Fred Couples returns this week to defend his title at the Mississippi Gulf Resort Clas-sic and he’ll have plenty of competition when the tour-nament starts on Friday.
This year’s field includes Champions Tour rookies Rocco Mediate, Steve Elkington and Bart Bryant, along with several others who have had success at Fallen Oak in the recent past, including 2011 winner Tom Lehman and perennial contenders Jeff Sluman and David Frost.
Frost and Mediate already have victories this sea-son. Mediate became just the 16th player in Champi-ons Tour history to win in his debut, finishing first at the Allianz Championship in February.
The weather may make Fallen Oak play more diffi-cult this weekend. The forecast calls for bouts of rain and wind, especially on Friday and Saturday.
Couples, Mediate lead Gulf Resort Classic
— Associated Press
Paducah Tilghman got three walks and an error from Caldwell County in the bottom of the seventh to escape with a 3-2 win in Thursday’s high school baseball.
With two out and one Tornado on with a walk, Nathan Hawkins bunted and reached on a Tiger er-ror. Miles Butler was in-tentionally walked to load the bases, but Aaron Arm-strong also got a pass to end the game.
WP: White (2-1). LP: Oden2B: none. 3B: none. HR: none. Top hit-
ters: C-Pepper 2-3.
Massac 7, Meridian 2 — At Metropolis, Ill., Massac County followed two walks with two RBI singles in the fi fth to pull away from Meridian. Jay Benard was 2-for-4 with two RBI for the Patriots.
–––Meridian 100 100 0 2 6 3Massac County 012 031 x 7 7 2
Davis, Jones (5) and Powell; Mitchell, Wetzel (6) and Stewart.
(none on in 1st). Top hitters: ME-Powell 2-3, Schall 2-3; MA-Benard 2-4 (2 RBI), Stewart 2-4 (RBI).
Reidland 16, Fulton Co.
3 — At Hickman, Tyler Mc-Manus was 3-for-5 with fi ve RBI in helping Reidland pound Fulton County in six innings. Hank Flournoy was 4-for-4 from the plate and got the win on the mound for the Greyhounds.
Murray, Bailey Vick scored the go-ahead run for Heath against Calloway County on a fi elder’s choice in the top of the seventh. Kayli Kelso was 2-for-3 for the Lakers.
Quint and Long; L. Kelso and K. Kelso.WP: Quint (1-0). LP: L. Kelso (0-1)2B: H-Harris; CC-K. Kelson. 3B: CC-Gar-
land. HR: none. Top hitters: CC-K. Kelso 2-3.
Marshall 17, St. Mary 0 — Marshall County got the Lady Flash Invitational off to an explosive start with a three-inning win over St. Mary. Abby Fiessinger was 3-for-3 for the Marshals with four RBI; most of those on a three-run homer in the second. Breanne Ray and
Caitlyn York both fi nished with two RBI.
–––St. Mary 000 0 2 4Marshall County 7(10)x 17 12 0
M-Fiessinger (2 on in 2nd). Top hitters: M-Miller 2-3 (RBI), Ray 2-3 (2 RBI), Fiessinger 3-3 (4 RBI), York 2-2 (2 RBI).
TennisBOYS
Lone Oak 9, St. Mary 0Singles: Tommy Hagan d. Wes
Averill 6-3, 4-6, 14-12; Vincent Shi-ben d. Ben Smith 6-1, 6-3; Devon Starnes d. Ian LaBarge 6-0, 6-0; Ben Clayton d. James McCoart 6-0, 6-1; Pat Wadlington d. Bradley West 6-0, 6-2; Sam Smith d. Parker Mc-Coart 6-0, 6-0.
Doubles: Hagan-Shiben d. Averill-Smith 8-3, Starnes-Clayton d. La-Barge-S. McCoart 8-2, Wadlington-Smith d- Rich-P. McCoart 8-5.
Heath 5, Marshall Co. 4Singles: Nicholas Baker (H) d. Pe-
ter Boonpichetwong 6-1, Eddie Lam (H) d. Coleman Flentge 6-1, Noah Cox (M) d. Michael Hancock 7-6, Adam Padgett (M) d. Daniel Yates 7-6, Russell Shanahan (M) d. Beau Garcia 6-3, Patrick Davis (H) d. Will Forbis 6-2.
Doubles: Baker-Lam (H) d. Flentge-Cox 6-1, Padgett-Shanahan (M) d. Yates-Garcia 6-4, Hancock-Davis (H) d. Boonpichetwong-Lovett 6-0.
Tilghman 7, Mayfi eld 2Singles: Tucker Fenske (T) d.
Dane Coles 8-5, Alex Boyd (T) d. Jake Guhy 8-3, Zack Hertter (T) d. Richard Null 8-0, Parker Rowton
(T) d. Brandon Jaco 8-2, Andrew Zaninovich (T) d. Jose Roman 8-2, Malique Humphries (M) d. Matthew Jones 8-2.
Doubles: Hertter-Rowton (T) d. Coles-Guhy 8-6, Boyd-Zaninovich (T) d .Null-Roman 8-3, Jaco-Humphries (M) d. Massad-Shadoan 8-6.
–––GIRLS
Lone Oak 8, St. Mary 1Singles: Sophia Shiben (L) d. Han-
nah Hunt 6-1, 7-5; Hanna Fischer (L) d. Madeline Hollowell 6-4, 6-2; Hallia Poat (L) d. Olivia Petter 6-2, 6-3; Danni Port (L) d. Megan Wurth 6-1, 6-1; Allia Farmer (L) d. Olivia El-lison 6-0, 6-0; Diane Ikome (L) d. Meredith Petter 6-0, 6-0.
Doubles: Hollowell-O- Petter (S) d. Shiben-Fischer 9-7, H. Poat-Farmer (L) d. Hunt-Wurth 8-0, D. Poat-McK-inney (L) d. Ellison-M. Petter 8-1.
Heath 7, Marshall Co. 2Singels: Sarah Stigall (H) d. Shan-
dra Sullivan 6-1, Allie Morgan (H) d. Elizabeth Padgett 6-0, Margaret Emmons (H) d. Emily McGee 6-0, Jeanette Capuano (M) d. Jenna Morgan 6-3, Lauren Rudolph (H) d. Chloe Hendrickson 6-0, Madison Rust (H) d. Aubrey Frey 6-4.
Doubles: Stigall-A. Morgan (H) d Sullivan-Capuano 6-0, Padgett-Mc-Gee (M) d. Emmons-J. Morgan 7-6, Rudolph-Rust (H) d. Hendrickson-Frey 6-1.
Tilghman 6, Mayfi eld 0Singles: Emily West d. Kate Sim-
mons 8-0, Risa Sonoda d. Sadie Keeling 8-0, Ilka Knoke d .Faith Ivey 8-0, Molly Shannon d Lindsay Wright 8-0.
Doubles: Cappock-Paxton d. Simmons-Ivey 8-2, Lasher-Harris d .Keeling-Wright 8-0.
Tilghman takes a walk by TigersStaff report
Oh, the Cardinals let A&T (20-17) hang around for a few minutes, giving the small handful of Aggies fans enough time to take photos of the scoreboard while the margin was still respectable. (OK, it was 6-4. Considering the Aggies had never even won an NCAA tournament game until Tuesday night, it was as good as a lead.)
Once Louisville stepped on the gas, this one was done.
The Cardinals silenced whatever questions there might have been about them deserving the No. 1 overall seed with a performance as impressive as it was un-relenting. Louisville shot better than 57 percent, and the only players who didn’t score were the benchwarm-ers who came in at the end of the game. The Cardinals scored on oh, so sweet fi nger rolls and rim-rattling dunks. They scored on layups and knocked down short jump-ers. They hit from 3-point range and converted three-point plays.
Siva and Smith are argu-ably the best tandem in the country and, if they continue playing like this, Louisville will have a good shot at im-proving on last year’s trip to
the Final Four.With the game already
out of hand, Siva and Smith combined for a 13-0 run that put Louisville up 67-37. Smith scored the fi rst two baskets, Siva answered with two of his own and then Smith drilled a 3 from the corner. They fi nished it off with Siva scooping up a loose ball at halfcourt and dishing to Smith.
The Aggies didn’t help themselves much, either. They were whistled for 10-second and shot-clock violations, and had to call early timeouts.
CARDSCONTINUED FROM 1B
utes by overzealous Sprint Center staff. Offi cials from Western Kentucky eventu-ally managed to convince the guards that, yes indeed, Harper was the coach.
“Hopefully they’ll let me in tomorrow night,” he said with a wry smile.
The Hilltoppers are no stranger to the NCAA tour-nament, of course, even if they are to Kansas City. They’re participating for the fourth time in the last six seasons after winning four games in four days to
capture the Sun Belt tour-nament title.
They’ve also won at least once in each of their last three NCAA tournament appearances, rallying from 16 points down with 4:51 left to beat Mississippi Val-ley State in a “First Four” game last year, and then hanging tough with even-tual champion Kentucky in an 81-66 defeat.
“We were in that game for a little bit,” recalled the Hilltoppers’ T.J. Price. “I’m feeling like we come into this game knowing we can beat Kansas, not just com-
pete with them, or be happy we’re in the NCAA tourna-ment.”
Kansas is in the tourna-ment for the 24th consecu-tive year, second only to North Carolina for the lon-gest streak, and is a No. 1 seed for the fi fth time in the past seven tournaments.
The Jayhawks are also chasing a bit of history against Western Kentucky.
They can win their 30th game for the fourth straight season — something no other Division I school has done after Memphis was forced to vacate the entire
2008 season. The Jay-hawks can also win their 2,100th game, second only to Kentucky (2,111) for most all-time.
The Jayhawks are cer-tainly one of the deepest, most veteran teams in the fi eld, with four senior start-ers — three of them fi fth-year guys — who were key components on the team that last year made a mem-orable run to the Final Four in New Orleans.
It’s their defense that has become their hallmark — a suffocating, infuriating half-court pressure.
Louisville’s Luke Hancock (right) and Tim Henderson celebrate during the second half of Thursday’s second-round game in the NCAA tournament against North Carolina A&T in Lexington.
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4B • Friday, March 22, 2013 • The Paducah Sun paducahsun.com
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paducahsun.com Sports The Paducah Sun • Friday, March 22, 2013 • 5B
Louisville, 79-48
VCU, 88-42
California 64-61
Michigan 71-56
Butler, 68-56
(N)
Marquette 59-58
Colo. St. 84-72
Saint Louis, 64-44
Memphis 54-52
Mich. St. 65-54
Gonzaga 64-58
Wichita St. 73-55
Arizona 81-64
Harvard, 68-62
Oregon, 68-55
6B • Friday, March 22, 2013 • The Paducah Sun Business paducahsun.com
BlackBerry launchWill it be a blockbuster? BlackBerry’s new BlackBerry Z10 and Q10 phones will be available at AT&T stores starting today.
The Canadian company is relying on the redesigned BlackBerry to fuel a comeback. Its stock has more than doubled since September on the belief that its new smartphones will help turn around the business.
More diners?Investors will be listening today for an update on whether sales have improved at Olive Garden and Red Lobster.
Darden Restaurants has been trying to revitalize the two restaurant chains with new menus, ad campaigns and even uniforms. Darden’s latest quarterly earnings report should answer whether the strategy began to pay off in the December-February period.
Tax burden?Tiffany’s latest earnings should offer insight into whether shoppers are spending less on luxury items this year.
A financial analyst forecast earlier this month that the jeweler’s sales momentum would continue to slow because of the added financial pressure on shoppers from a hike in Social Security taxes that took effect on Jan. 1. Tiffany reports its fourth-quarter earnings today.
40
50
$60DRI $48.96
$52.63 ’13
Source: FactSet
Price-earnings ratio: 14based on past 12 months’ results
Dividend: $2.00 Div. yield: 4.1%
3Q ’11
Operating EPS
3Q ’12
est.$1.25 $1.01
50
62
$74TIF $67.91
$73.27 ’13
Source: FactSet
Price-earnings ratio: 21based on past 12 months’ results
Dividend: $1.28 Div. yield: 1.9%
4Q ’11
Operating EPS
4Q ’12
est.$1.39 $1.36
Stan Choe; J. Paschke • APSOURCES: Jefferies; FactSet Data through March 21
Profiting from break-upsBreaking up hurts. But break-ups can mean bigger
returns for investors.When companies get too big and unwieldy, they
spin off parts of their business that no longer fit their core operations.�Announcements of such moves�have historically led to a boost in stock price,�according to researchers.
Consider Tyco, which makes commercial fire and security systems. The company split off its home-security and flow-control products businesses as separate companies last year. In the six months following the spin-off announce-ment, Tyco stock surged 23 percent, compared with a 15 percent rise for the Standard & Poor’s 500 index.
Similarly, ITT, a supplier of industrial parts and services, spun off its defense and water technology businesses in 2011. ITT stock rose 9 percent in the six months following the announcement, more than double the 4 percent rise for the S&P 500.
Seeking similar gains, activist investors have built up ownership stakes in several industrial conglomer-ates and are pushing them to get more focused. Even the prospect of spin-offs has helped some stocks rise.
Timken, which makes everything from ball bearings to power transmission compo-
nents, has surged 37 percent since November 28. That’s when activist
investment firm Relational Investors and the California
state teachers’ pension fund said that they had built a 6 percent stake in the company and are lobbying
management to spin off its steel business.
Sum of the parts: Jefferies analysts say these stocks could rise if they spun off pieces of their business.
Thursday’sclose
Dividendyield
52-weeklow high Difference
Expected combined value
after spin-off1-yr stockchange
Ingersoll-Rand (IR) $55.60 $38 56 36.7% $71.67 29% 1.5%The industrial company said in December that it will spin off its security businesses, but its stock still trades below what Jefferies says is the combined value of the two parts.
Kennametal (KMT) 39.39 31 48 -13.7 48.90 24 1.6The maker of metal cutting tools could separate its two divisions, which serve different customer bases.
Timken (TKR) 56.92 33 59 8.5 66.03 16 1.6Investors are pushing for the diversified industrial manufacturer to spin off its steel business.
paducahsun.com Business The Paducah Sun • Friday, March 22, 2013 • 7B
NEW YORK — Coca-Co-la says it’s cutting 750 jobs in the U.S. as it continues to streamline its business.
The world’s biggest bev-erage maker says the jobs cuts will be across the board and that affected individu-als will be notifi ed in com-ing weeks. The cuts repre-sent roughly 1 percent of the company’s workforce of 75,000 in North America.
A spokesman says about a quarter of the cuts will be in Atlanta, where the company is based.
In a memo to employ-ees last month, The Coca-Cola Co. noted that it had identifi ed “areas that must be improved” since buy-ing the North American operations of its largest bottler in 2010. The memo also noted it was realign-ing its U.S. business into
three geographies, down from seven, to refl ect the successful structure in its food-service business.
Coca-Cola has noted that it managed to deliver profi t growth in a year “marked by continued uncertainty in the global economy.”
For 2012, the company reported a 5 percent in-crease in net income, with global sales volume up 4 percent.
Coca-Cola to cut 750 US jobsAssociated Press
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The sponsor of a bill to regu-late high-volume oil and gas drilling in Illinois said there still is time to pass the measure this spring, even though it was delayed in a House committee Thursday while industry and unions negotiate hir-ing requirements in a last-minute amendment.
Drafted with the help of environmental and indus-try groups and lauded by Gov. Pat Quinn as a job creator, the bill was expect-ed to be voted out of the House Revenue & Finance Committee on Thursday. But the vote was delayed because Rep. John Bradley, the Marion Democrat who helped broker the com-promise bill and heads the
committee, introduced an amendment that would re-quire energy companies to hire a state-licensed water well driller.
Ed Maher, spokesman for the International Union of Operating Engineers Lo-cal 150, said the require-ment would create jobs, but also would help ensure that drinking-water aqui-fers aren’t contaminated during hydraulic fractur-ing, or “fracking,” a process that uses high-pressure mixtures of water, sand or gravel and chemicals to crack rock formations and release oil and natural gas.
The amendment would allow companies to hire any Illinois-licensed wa-ter well driller for the fi rst three years. But after that, the contractors would have to go through a licensing process that includes ex-
tensive training, Maher said.
Illinois Oil and Gas As-sociation offi cials said the amendment, as proposed, is unacceptable. Ener-gy companies long have drilled in Illinois without such requirements, and water pollution issues al-ready were addressed in the proposed regulations, said Brad Richards, the as-sociation’s executive vice president.
“No offense to the (li-censed water well drillers), but what are they going to bring to the oil well-drilling process?” Richards said. “I would prefer a morato-rium,” to the amendment.
Senate and House bills that would impose a two-year moratorium on frack-ing also did not get votes in their respective commit-tees.
Union-backed amendmentdelays bill about frackingBY REGINA GARCIA CANO
AND TAMMY WEBBERAssociated Press
NICOSIA, Cyprus — Cy-priot politicians moved Thursday to restructure the country’s most troubled bank as part of a broader bailout plan that must be in place by Monday to avoid fi nancial ruin. Concerned customers rushed to get cash from ATMs as bank employees protested.
Cyprus has been told it must raise $7.5 billion if it is to receive $12.9 billion from its fellow eurozone countries and the Inter-national Monetary Fund. If it does not fi nd a way by Monday, the European Central Bank said it will cut off emergency support to the banks, letting them collapse.
That would throw the country into fi nancial cha-os and, ultimately, cause it to leave the eurozone, with unpredictable consequenc-es for the region.
Several new bills were being submitted to Parlia-ment Thursday night, in-cluding restructuring the banking sector, setting up an “Investment Solidar-ity Fund” and restricting banking transactions in times of crisis.
Together, they will make up at least part of the alter-native plan Cyprus hopes will secure it bailout mon-ey.
The lawmakers said the bills would be discussed and potentially voted on Friday morning.
The pressure has in-creased since Parliament on Tuesday rejected an ear-lier proposal to seize up to 10 percent of people’s bank accounts.
Banks have been shut since last weekend to avoid a run and will not open un-
til Tuesday at the earliest.Uncertainty was grow-
ing among Cypriots as the deadline approached and it became clear that the coun-try’s second-largest bank, Laiki or Cyprus Popular Bank, would be restruc-tured.
Queues of 40 to 50 peo-ple formed at Laiki ATMs, which responded by cap-ping daily withdrawals at $340 per person from $906.
Although ATMs have been functioning, many of-ten run out of cash.
Cyprus rushes bailout plan as clock ticksBY ELENA BECATOROS
AND MENELAOS HADJICOSTISAssociated Press
Associated Press
Employees of Laiki bank (left) push barriers as riot po-lice try to stop them during an anti-bailout protest Thurs-day outside the Cypriot parliament in Nicosia. Cypriot of-ficials were scrambling to cement a revised plan to raise funds demanded by international creditors in exchange for an international bailout Thursday.
The Paducah Sun has hidden an Easter egg in a public place inside McCracken County. If a
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they will win $500!
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Today Sat.
Athens 65 48 s 65 50 sBeijing 52 32 s 58 30 sBerlin 36 15 pc 30 16 sBuenos Aires 77 54 s 78 59 pcCairo 76 56 s 76 55 sHong Kong 79 72 pc 79 71 pcJerusalem 76 47 pc 59 46 pcLondon 45 36 r 43 34 rManila 91 77 pc 90 78 cMexico City 84 51 s 85 51 sMoscow 18 4 sf 17 9 snParis 54 45 pc 52 39 rRome 61 45 s 62 47 pcSeoul 45 27 pc 50 32 sSydney 86 71 pc 84 68 pcTokyo 65 50 pc 61 51 pcWarsaw 28 11 c 26 15 sZurich 54 33 pc 52 32 c
Five-Day Forecast for PaducahShown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
Almanac
UV Index Today
Sun and Moon
The higher the AccuWeather.com UV Index™ number, the greater the need for eye and skin protection.
24 hours ending 2 p.m. yest. .................. 0.00”Month to date ......................................... 2.46”Normal month to date ............................. 2.55”Year to date .......................................... 14.21”Last year to date ..................................... 8.64”Normal year to date .............................. 10.14”
High/low .............................................. 38°/19°Normal high/low .................................. 61°/39°Record high .................................. 80° in 2012Record low .................................... 19° in 2013
Kentucky: Clouds and sun today; a little afternoon rain in the west.
Illinois: Cold today with partial sunshine. Partly cloudy tonight. A little rain in the south and west tomorrow.
Indiana: Partly sunny and cold today. Cold tonight with patchy clouds. More clouds than sunshine tomorrow.
Missouri: Mostly cloudy today. Rain in southern parts and central parts of the state; fl urries in the north.
Arkansas: Periods of rain today; cold. Rain and a thunderstorm in the south and east tonight.
Tennessee: Mostly cloudy today. A little rain, except dry in the east; cold in the west.
Today Sat. Today Sat.
Albuquerque 67 37 pc 51 27 pcAtlanta 55 46 c 57 53 rBaltimore 46 28 pc 49 30 sBillings 34 16 c 31 13 cBoise 43 25 sh 43 25 pcBoston 40 30 pc 42 32 sCharleston, SC 61 47 c 65 54 tCharleston, WV 46 27 pc 49 37 pcChicago 37 24 pc 36 29 pcCleveland 38 27 c 35 26 pcDenver 45 17 c 26 9 snDes Moines 36 22 sf 39 25 snDetroit 39 25 pc 38 27 pcEl Paso 79 55 s 74 44 sFairbanks 24 -4 sn 13 -12 cHonolulu 82 66 sh 80 67 shHouston 80 67 c 84 58 tIndianapolis 42 29 pc 46 30 cJacksonville 68 52 pc 75 64 t
Las Vegas 72 50 s 62 49 sLos Angeles 72 52 s 74 54 pcMiami 79 71 pc 84 73 pcMilwaukee 32 21 pc 32 28 pcMinneapolis 28 11 pc 35 23 cNew Orleans 73 65 c 77 64 tNew York City 41 31 pc 41 33 sOklahoma City 54 41 c 47 30 cOmaha 38 26 sf 37 24 snOrlando 77 60 pc 85 67 tPhiladelphia 42 31 pc 46 33 sPhoenix 84 57 s 78 54 sPittsburgh 36 23 sf 42 25 pcSalt Lake City 40 23 sf 39 24 sfSan Diego 64 53 pc 65 54 pcSan Francisco 64 44 s 61 45 sSeattle 47 32 pc 48 32 cTucson 82 52 s 75 50 sWashington, DC 50 31 pc 50 34 s
Today Sat.
Belleville, IL 44 32 c 49 33 cBowling Gn., KY 47 38 c 57 43 cBristol, TN 47 34 c 57 43 pcC. Girardeau, MO 46 36 r 53 38 rCarbondale, IL 44 34 c 53 35 rCharleston, WV 46 27 pc 49 37 pcChattanooga, TN 51 45 r 55 52 rClarksville, TN 47 38 r 55 42 cColumbia, MO 42 30 r 45 29 rEvansville, IN 46 34 pc 53 37 cFt. Smith, AR 50 42 r 51 37 rHopkinsville, KY 48 39 c 55 41 cIndianapolis, IN 42 29 pc 46 30 cJackson, KY 47 34 pc 50 42 cJackson, TN 47 41 r 54 42 rJoplin, MO 44 35 r 46 31 rKansas City, MO 42 29 c 40 26 rKnoxville, TN 52 40 c 57 47 rLexington, KY 46 33 pc 49 37 cLittle Rock, AR 50 42 r 51 40 rLondon, KY 48 33 pc 55 44 cLouisville, KY 46 35 pc 51 39 cMemphis, TN 48 44 r 57 43 rNashville, TN 48 42 r 58 45 rPeoria, IL 40 25 pc 44 30 cSt. Louis, MO 42 33 c 48 32 cSpringfi eld, IL 42 27 pc 47 30 cSpringfi eld, MO 42 34 r 46 30 rTerre Haute, IN 44 28 pc 45 31 c
National Summary: Areas of snow and snow showers will affect the eastern Great Lakes, central Appalachians and northern New England today as cold air stretches from the Upper Midwest to the South. Rain will fall over the lower Mississippi Valley while snow falls from the Great Basin to the northern Plains. Most of the Southwest will stay dry.
“It feels really good to win at this place. It’s been such
a tough track over the years.”
— Kasey Kahne, on his victory in Sunday’sFood City 500 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
It was Kahne’s first win at the track.
BY JIM UTTERCharlotte Observer
his was the kind of headlinemuch more to Kyle Larson’s lik-ing.
Larson came up short last weekendin his side-by-side battle with KyleBusch at Bristol (Tenn.) MotorSpeedway, the NASCAR Nationwideseries’ all-time race winner.
The 20-year-old development driverfor Earnhardt Ganassi Racing drewrave reviews for his performance —something that had been missing in thefirst few weeks of the 2013 season.
“A young kid like that, he’s got alot of talent and he’s going to make aname — obviously, he already hasmade a name for himself, but I thinkthat he’s got a lot going for him,”Busch said of Larson after his win.
“It was fun racing with him, butwish it was a little easier on my end.”
Larson, who won last year’s K&NPro Series East championship, got offto a dicey start to the new season as hewas widely criticized for wrecking afellow competitor to win the WhelenAll-American series feature race at thepreseason Battle at the Beach atDaytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
Later that week,Larson’s 2013Nationwide debutcame under diffi-cult circumstancesas his was the carsent airborne intothe catchfence in
the series opener at Daytona as part ofa multi-car wreck on the final lap.
The front end of Larson’s car wassheared off, with one of its wheels andother debris careering into the grand-stands. At least 28 race fans wereinjured.
Larson had a generally incident-free13th place finish at PhoenixInternational Raceway but wasinvolved in another hard wreck the fol-lowing week at Las Vegas MotorSpeedway and ended up 32nd.
The runner-up finish at Bristol wasa welcome change in circumstances.
“We got really good there in themidway point of the race. We
kept inching our way forward,”
said Larson. “I got to third and randown Kyle and Kevin [Harvick] andwasn’t quite sure what to do when Igot to them so I just tucked in behindthem.
“I tried a couple moves on Kylearound the bottom was just a little tootight on the bottom [groove]. On thelast lap I was pretty happy he went tothe bottom to block because it gave meone more shot to get around him.”
Larson’s patient work in the finallaps drew a much more positiveresponse from onlookers than his per-formance at the Battle at the Beach.
“I was wondering what he wasgoing to do because he had a faster carand at that point he had a reputation —short-lived — but he had a reputationfor being pretty aggressive to win arace,” said NASCAR Hall of Famedriver Darrell Waltrip.
“I think he gained back a lot ofrespect from people like myself thatthought he was a kid that needed tolearn to be a little bit more respectful.He showed a lot of restraint; did agreat job; and there’s no question hehas a great amount of talent and is astar of the future.
“That was racing like a champion.”Busch echoed Waltrip’s sentiments. “I think that a lot of people have
been looking at him to try to see if he’sgoing to be a wrecker or a checkerand, even though he didn’t get thecheckers, that’s how you get them.That will come back,” Busch said.
“You drive in the corner and drivein the back of me or something likethat — I’m going to be here for awhileand if he keeps coming up through theranks then he’s not going to have fundealing with me every week.
“Right now, I’m going to race himas hard as he raced me, but just
as clean as he raced mebecause he didn’t put a
fender on me allday.”
NATIONWIDE SERIES POINTS LEADERS
The top 20 drivers as of March 16:
Rank/Driver Points Rank/Driver Points
NEXT RACE: Saturday, Royal Purple 300,Fontana, Calif.
WHO’S HOT■ Kasey Kahne: Suddenlylooks very much like achampionship contender.■ Brad Keselowski: Onlydriver with four top fives tostart the year and the newseries points leader.■ Kyle Busch: Won theNationwide race and fin-ished second in the Cup race — not a badweekend.
WHO’S NOT ■ Denny Hamlin: Clearly punted JoeyLogano, who had a race-winning car at Bristol.■ Danica Patrick: Since Daytona, Patrick hasfinished 39th, 33rd and 28th.■ Ryan Newman: In four races, he has twotop 10s and two finishes of 38th or worse.
— Jim Utter
AUTO CLUB 400Where: Auto Club Speedway, a 2-mile,
banked, paved, D-shaped oval located inFontana, Calif.
When: Sunday at 3 p.m. (all times ET)TV: FoxRadio: Motor Racing NetworkLast year’s winner: Tony StewartWorth mentioning: Sam Hornish Jr. con-
tinues to lead the Nationwide series standingsheading into this weekend’s race at Auto ClubSpeedway. He and Brian Scott are the onlydrivers to start the 2013 season with four top-10 finishes. Hornish leads Justin Allgaier by 22points.
STEPHEN M. DOWELL/ORLANDO SENTINEL/MCT
The car of Kyle Larson (32) getslaunched into the catchfence onthe last lap of the DRIVE4COPD300 Nationwide series race atDaytona (Fla.) InternationalSpeedway Feb. 23, sending debrisinto the grandstands.
Keselowski
Nationwide series rookie Kyle Larson recovers fromearly season wrecks to a runner-up finish in recent race
