HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING/STATE TOURNAMENT
Denver–It’s one of the greatest sports spectacles in the Rocky Mountain region; the Colorado State High School Wrestling Tournament. Hundreds of wrestlers will begin their quest for a state title today at the Pepsi Center. The Western Slope is proudly represented by 15 wrestlers from up and down the valley including a half dozen from Grand Valley High School; Tucker Schultz, George Stagg, Cody Pfau, Michael Salazar, Bryan Hegwood and William Hinkle. Coal Ridge sends four to state; Christian Keith, Jerry Jurardo, Cole Zyweic and freshman Lane Nelson. At the 4A level, four Rifle Bears will compete this weekend including Coy Zang, Oscar Ruelas, Dallas Rohrig and Issac Rider. Justin Barham will represent the Glenwood Demons. The finals will take place this Saturday.
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL 4A DISTRICT PLAYOFFS
Grand Junction–All four local 4A teams will hit the hardwood tonight at Central High School in Grand Junction for the District Tournament. At 3 o’clock this afternoon the Glenwood Lady Demons battle the Lady Demons of Durango. The Rifle Bears boy’s squad then takes the floor against the Steamboat Sailors at 4:30. Around 6 o’clock, the Lady Bears will also play Steamboat Springs then the evening wraps up with the 11th seeded Glenwood Demons going for another upset as they face the Eagle Valley Devils. All four games will be broadcast live on 99.1 and 96.7 KMTS.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
LAS VEGAS (AP) – Anthony Marshall’s short jumper just inside the free-throw line with 7 seconds left to lift UNLV to a 61-59 victory over No. 22 Colorado State on Wednesday night.
BOISE, Idaho (AP) – Anthony Drmic scored 21 of his 23 points in the second half to lead Boise State to a 77-65 victory over Air Force on Wednesday night.
GREELEY, Colo. (AP) – Aaron Anderson drained a 3-pointer with 8 seconds left to lift North Dakota to a 64-62 victory at Northern Colorado on Wednesday night.
NHL/AVALANCHE
DENVER (AP) – David Jones scored at 4:43 of overtime and Semyon Varlamov (var-LAH’-mawf) stopped 33 shots, leading the Colorado Avalanche to a 1-0 win over the St. Louis Blues on Wednesday night in front of a smattering of boisterous fans that braved a winter storm. Matt Hunwick set up the winning goal by bringing the puck into the zone and passing it over to Jones, who sent a wrist shot over the left shoulder of Jaroslav Halak. The Avs have won seven straight over the Blues at Pepsi Center.
Elsewhere in sports…
HOUSTON (AP) – James Harden scored a career-high 46 points and Jeremy Lin added 29 as the Houston Rockets mounted a furious fourth-quarter comeback for a 122-119 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder last night. Houston rallied from 14 points down with about seven minutes left.
ATLANTA (AP) -The Miami Heat ran their winning streak to eight by rallying to beat Atlanta 103-90 behind LeBron James’ 24 points. Dwayne (dwayn) Wade scored 20 as the Heat scored the first 13 points of the fourth quarter to erase the Hawks’ lead.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Something happened last night for a Georgetown freshman basketball player that hasn’t happened in 17 years. D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera poured in 33 points, Georgetown’s best scoring performance from a freshman since Victor Page’s 34 in the 1996 Big East tournament, and the 11th-ranked Hoyas steamrolled DePaul 90-66 to climb into a first place tie with Syracuse and Marquette in the Big East.
PITTSBURGH (AP) – Jakub Voracek (YA’-kuhb VOHR’-rah-chehk) scored the go-ahead goal with 1:31 left to cap a hat trick and lead the Philadelphia Flyers to a wild 6-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins last night. Voracek’s third goal came 33 seconds after Pittsburgh’s Brandon Sutter tied the game briefly.
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) – In a sure sign of spring, the Boston Red Sox open their exhibition season today against Northeastern University in Fort Myers, Fla. Tomorrow four spring training games are scheduled with a full slate of exhibition games on tap for Saturday.
