The Milwaukee Bucks came back from 20 points down in the third quarter last night – but they were out-scored late, and they lost at Washington last night 106-to-93. The Bucks were down 66-46 early in the third quarter when they went on a 32-to-9 run and led by three going into the final period. But Trevor Booker and John Wall combined for 17 points in the fourth quarter, as Washington out-scored Milwaukee 31-15 in the final 12 minutes. Bucks’ center Larry Sanders was ejected with 2:45 left when he was called for a charging foul, and he gave a thumbs-up sign to all three officials. Sanders said afterward he was frustrated with a lot of things. Wall had 23 points, 10 assists, six rebounds, and four steals. Monta Ellis led the Bucks with 26 points and eight assists. Brandon Jennings was held to single-digit scoring for the second straight night with eight points. But he had 10 assists, as Milwaukee lost its second straight. Bucks’ coach Jim Boylan noted that he his team played four times in five nights which included games on both the West and East coasts – and to go 2-and-2 in that stretch is quote, “not the end of the world.” The Bucks will host Miami tomorrow night. The Heat have a 20-game winning streak.
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Marquette will play Notre Dame at 8:30 tonight in the quarter-finals of the Big East men’s basketball tournament in New York. The 12th-ranked Golden Eagles are fresh off a double-bye, while the Number-24 Fighting Irish advanced last night with a 69-to-61 win over Rutgers. Pat Connaughton scored a season-high 21 points for Notre Dame, which is now 24-and-8 with a Number-six seed in the tournament. Third-seeded Marquette is 23-and-7. The Eagles beat Notre Dame by eight points at home 12 days ago. But one of the top players for the Irish, forward Jack Cooley, was out that day with the flu. Marquette coach Buzz Williams says he expects a better showing from his team than a year ago in the league tournament, when they got trounced by Louisville in their opener.
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The U-W Green Bay women advanced to the semi-finals of their Horizon League Tournament with an 80-to-59 home rout of Valparaiso last night. Senior Adrian Ritchie scored a career-high 27 points, including seven three-pointers. Green Bay never trailed. They led by 15 at the half and rolled from there, outshooting the Crusaders 48-to-33 percent. Tabitha Gerardot had 21 points and 11 rebounds for Valparaiso, which ends its season at 11-and-20. 20th-ranked Green Bay improved to 27-and-2, and will play fourth-seeded Detroit in the league semi-finals tomorrow.
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The season is over for the U-W Milwaukee women. The Panthers lost at Loyola 71-to-54 last night in the Horizon League quarter-finals. Milwaukee only shot 30-percent, and made just 3-of-17 from three-point range. Simone Law had 22 points and eight rebounds for Loyola, which improved to 16-and-14. Avyanna Young and Ashley Green scored 10 each for Milwaukee, which ended at 9-and-20 under first-year coach Kyle Rechlicz.
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For the first time since it began in 1976, the W-I-A-A girls’ state high school basketball tournament will be played outside of Madison. The Division-Five semi-finals begin at 1:35 this afternoon at the Resch Center, across from Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Wausau Newman faces Wisconsin Rapids Assumption. And then undefeated South Shore plays Barneveld. The Division-Four semi-finals will be played tonight. Algoma goes against Cuba City. And Colfax will close out the evening against Racine Prairie. At least three new champions will be crowned in the five divisions. The only two returning champs are New London in Division-Two and Kewaunee in Division-Three. Last year’s Division-Four titlist, Neillsville, moved up to D-Three this year – and they enter their semi-finals tomorrow at 26-and-0. The girls’ tournament will be played in Green Bay for at least the next two years. It was moved due to scheduling conflicts with U-W hockey in Madison.
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Carlos Gomez is not going anywhere. The Milwaukee Brewers’ center-fielder signed a three-year contract extension yesterday worth 24-million dollars. The deal runs through 2017. The 27-year-old Gomez had signed a one-year contract in January to avoid salary arbitration. And it appeared that Gomez would hit the free-agent market after this season. But instead, agent Scott Boras pursued a longer deal with Milwaukee – and he decided not to play in the World Baseball Classic with the Dominican Republic so he wouldn’t jeopardize his deal. Gomez hit a career-high 19 homers for the Brewers last year with 37 stolen bases and 51 R-B-I’s with a .260 batting average in 137 games. And he leads the Milwaukee regulars this spring with a .529 batting average in eight games, with a staggering .652 on-base percentage. The Brewers acquired Gomez from Minnesota in 2009, in a trade that eventually sent shortstop J-J Hardy on to Baltimore.
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The Brewers got crushed by Arizona, 7-to-nothing last night in an exhibition game in Scottsdale. Gerardo Parra hit a lead-off homer off Yovani Gallardo – but Gallardo then retired the next 12 batters he faced, striking out five of them. Brewers’ reliever Jim Henderson got tagged for four runs in the sixth inning, when he faced only five batters. And newly-acquired Brewers’ reliever Burke Badenhop gave up his first two earned runs of the spring. Parra led the Diamondbacks’ offense with three R-B-I’s. The Brewers fell to 7-and-10 in Cactus League play. They’re off today, and will play Cleveland tomorrow.
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The Brewers kept paring down their Major League roster last night. First baseman Hunter Morris was sent to the team’s minor league camp, along with catcher Adam Weisenburger and outfielder Kentrail Davis. Second baseman Scooter Gennett was optioned to Triple-“A” Nashville along with outfielder Josh Prince and pitcher Jesus Sanchez. Morris was mentioned as a possible candidate to replace the injured Mat Gamel at first base until Corey Hart returns in May. But Brewers’ manager Ron Roenicke said it would have been a big jump for Morris to make from Double-“A,” after he was the Southern League player-of-the-year last season. Roenicke said Morris needs to go to Triple-“A” this year to improve his defense, and have another big year at the plate.
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Some Green Bay Packers are getting some extra money from the N-F-L this week. Twelve players are getting over 100-thosuand-dollars each, as part of the league’s performance-based pay program. Each team was allocated almost three-and-a-half million dollars to reward players who performed well beyond what their salaries would indicate. Left tackle Marshall Newhouse got the largest benefit check, at just over 214-thousand dollars. He played all 11-hundred-three snaps for the Packers in the 2012 regular season. Rookie safety Jerron McMillian was awarded the second-highest amount, almost 174-thousand. The performance pay was adopted in 2002, but was not conducted the previous two seasons due to expiration of the league’s old collective bargaining agreement and the resulting owners’ lockout.
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Former Packers’ safety Charles Woodson met for several hours last night with the San Francisco 49’ers, but there was no word on a contract agreement. The Niners are scrambling to replace All-Pro Dashon Goldson, who signed a free agent deal with Tampa Bay yesterday. Woodson, an eight-time Pro Bowler, was cut by the Packers last month. The move cut about 10-million dollars off Green Bay’s salary cap.
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The Milwaukee Admirals shut out Peoria last night, 2-to-nothing at home. Brad Winchester and Mattias Ekholm scored, as Milwaukee matched a season-high with its third straight victory. Magnus Hellberg had 30 saves for the Admirals – and he stopped 24 shots in the final two periods.
