Basketball

Pierce, Garnett return to Celtics lineup

By: The Associated Press 04/13/13 3:50 PM

A night after resting starters Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce, Celtics coach Doc Rivers says that both will be in the starting lineup against the Orlando Magic. With Boston having already clinched a playoff berth, Garnett and Pierce both sat out the Celtics' loss Friday night at Miami. Boston can secure the seventh seed in the playoffs with a victory against the Magic on Saturday night or with a loss by Milwaukee, which is playing at Charlotte. Read More

Mavericks sign G Josh Akognon for rest of season

By: The Associated Press 04/13/13 2:08 PM

The Dallas Mavericks have signed guard Josh Akognon for the rest of the season after he joined them on a 10-day contract this month. Akognon made his NBA debut Wednesday night against Phoenix and hit his only shot and had an assist in 4 minutes. He signed his original deal April 3. The 27-year-old Akognon went undrafted out of Cal State Fullerton in 2009. Read More

Basketball a way of life for Stanford’s Joslyn Tinkle

By: Paul Gackle 03/24/13 1:29 AM

For Joslyn Tinkle, basketball is an everyday part of life, like eating, sleeping and breathing. She grew up in a hoops house — her father is a coach and her mother is a Hall of Fame player — and now her family is converging in the Bay Area for March Madness. Wayne Tinkle isn’t traveling far to see his daughter and the Stanford women’s basketball team (31-2) take on Tulsa (17-16) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Maples Pavilion today. Read More

St. Mary’s set to take on road-tested Middle Tennessee

By: The Associated Press 03/18/13 6:23 PM

DAYTON, Ohio — An extra trip to start the NCAA Tournament? Not a problem. Middle Tennessee rarely loses its way when it leaves its Murphy Center home. In a way, it’s fitting that the Blue Raiders had to pack for a couple extra days. Their prowess on the road was the overriding quality that landed them in the field of 68 as part of the First Four in Dayton. Read More

St. Mary’s in NCAA Tournament as part of First Four

By: The Associated Press 03/17/13 11:01 PM

DAYTON, Ohio — St. Mary’s lost to Gonzaga in its conference tournament final, but made it to the NCAA Tournament anyway. The Gaels will help open the First Four in Dayton on Tuesday night, facing Middle Tennessee. The winner will play Memphis on Thursday. St. Mary’s (27-6) lost to Gonzaga 65-51 in the West Coast Conference title game, the third time it fell to the Zags during the season. Gonzaga got the No. 1 seed in the West on Sunday. Read More

Sacred Heart Cathedral boys, girls headed to state title games

By: Jeremy Balan 03/17/13 8:16 PM

There’s only one school in the state that has both its boys’ and girls’ basketball teams in state championships this weekend and it sits on Cathedral Hill in San Francisco.Sacred Heart Cathedral will send both teams to the Division III state championships Friday afternoon at Sleep Train Arena in Sacramento after winning NorCal championships on Saturday at American Canyon High School.The results for both teams were identical, but their experience were vastly different. Read More

Cal's Montgomery doing some of his finest work to date

By: Paul Gackle 03/03/13 11:29 PM

Shove or no shove, this season could prove to be Mike Montgomery’s finest piece of work in his 30-plus years of coaching. On the court, the Cal men’s basketball team would probably get blown out by his 1998 Final Four squad from Stanford, and would likely get beaten by the Bears clan that won the Pac-10 Conference title in 2010, too. Read More

St. Ignatius seizes Bruce-Mahoney trophy

By: Jeremy Balan 01/09/13 12:09 PM

The St. Ignatius boys’ basketball team’s defensive strategy against rival Sacred Heart Cathedral in front of a capacity crowd at USF on Tuesday was simple. Let the Irish shoot. The Wildcats sagged off the Irish and let them take open looks on the perimeter, and the strategy worked, allowing St. Ignatius to take back the Bruce-Mahoney trophy with a 56-46 win. Read More

Stanford sports executing a Revenge of the Nerds win streak

By: The Associated Press 11/20/12 8:49 PM

During the football team’s most recent “movie night” held before every game, Stanford coach David Shaw quieted his players to announce that the women’s basketball team had beaten top-ranked Baylor. The room erupted in excitement, and Shaw shushed everybody again to make one more statement. “I said, ‘OK, now it’s our turn,’” Shaw said. “It was just kind of like, ‘OK, yeah.’” Read More

Cal Bears men's basketball has a chance at a successful season

By: Paul Gackle 11/06/12 7:54 PM

Coach Mike Montgomery’s Cal men’s basketball team lost 263 games of NCAA experience when Jorge Gutierrez and Harper Kamp graduated last spring. But with a strong nucleus returning, his squad should weather the losses and make another run at the Big Dance this year. Despite Gutierrez and Kamp’s departure, Cal’s roster is loaded with experience featuring five players who have started at least 10 games in their college careers. Read More