Turner, Buckeyes drop Illini in 2-OT to reach Big Ten final
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
03/13/2010 - Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Evan Turner continues to steal the show in Big Ten Tournament, scoring 11 of his game-high 31 points in a pair of overtime sessions to lead No. 5 Ohio State to an exciting, 88-81, victory over Illinois to advance to the conference finals.
Turner, who drained a 37-foot three-pointer at the buzzer to beat Michigan on Friday, also had 10 rebounds and six assists, though he did turn the ball over 10 times and fouled out in the second OT.
The top-seeded Buckeyes (26-7) have won six straight and will next play the winner of the Purdue/Minnesota matchup.
William Buford chipped in 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Jon Diebler and David Lighty netted 14 and 12 points, respectively, for Ohio State.
Illinois (19-14) had chances at the end of regulation and first overtime to win the game but failed to get a shot off on each occasion.
Demetri McCamey posted 22 points, D.J. Richardson scored 15 and Mike Davis contributed 13 points and 18 rebounds for the Fighting Illini, who knocked off Wisconsin in the quarterfinals on Friday to pad its precarious NCAA Tournament resume.
Down 50-39 in the second half, Turner and Diebler fueled a 20-point rally that appeared to knock the air out of Illinois. Buford's three-pointer at the eight-minute mark capped the spurt for a 59-50 cushion.
Mike Tisdale ended Illinois' seven-plus-minute scoreless stretch with two free throws, and McCamey's floater made it a one-possession game, 59-56, with 4 1/2 minutes left.
After a Davis bucket cut it to 62-61, McCamey followed a Lighty turnover with a go-ahead three-pointer with 1:16 to play in regulation.
Lighty answered with a tying layup while drawing contact but missed the ensuing free throw. McCamey was fouled on the next possession and hit both free throws to put Illinois in front with 31.5 seconds remaining.
Turner countered with up-and-under layup after taking his defender off the dribble from the baseline.
Illinois wasted valuable time bringing the ball up the court and called timeout with 3.1 ticks left. Those missed seconds proved costly, as McCamey drew two defenders at the foul line, leaving Davis open underneath. The 6- foot-9 forward failed to get the shot off before the buzzer sounded, though he missed the gimme anyway.
McCamey hit a three-pointer midway through the first extra session for a 73-69 Illinois lead. Turner then hit a pair of free throws around a Bill Cole tip-in before tying the game on a layup with 22.0 seconds left.
Without calling a timeout, McCamey dribbled away the clock, finally passing with one second remaining to Tyler Griffey, who foolishly swung the ball to Cole on the left wing as time expired.
Diebler opened the second OT with a three-pointer and Ohio State led from there. With a minute on the clock, Turner committed his fifth foul on Griffey, who hit 1-of-2 free throws to pull the Illini within 84-81.
Lighty sealed the dramatic win with an acrobatic driving layup and a steal and fastbreak lay-in.
Ohio State, which swept Illinois in the regular season by a combined 35 points, jumped out to an 8-2 lead on Turner's steal and slam a little over three minutes into the game.
After going up 15-7 with 13 minutes left, the Buckeyes went the next six minutes without scoring. Illinois' subsequent 14-0 run, highlighted by a McCamey-to-Davis alley-oop, provided the underdogs with a 21-15 lead.
The margin was still six points in the Illini's favor at halftime, 37-31, and reached double digits, 45-35, when McCamey's bucket went down five minutes into the second half.
Game Notes
Illinois' last conference tourney title came back in 2005, while Ohio State's last taste was 2007...Griffey and Tisdale had 13 and 10 points, respectively, for Illinois, which was outscored in the paint, 38-26...The Buckeyes made just 15-of-24 free throws.
Winston-Salem, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Thompson paced the Bears with 18 points and 12 rebounds, and Morgan State captured its second straight Mid- Eastern Athletic Conference Tournament title with a 68-61 win over South Carolin
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Huskers' Lucky hospitalized for undisclosed reason
LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska running back Marlon Lucky was hospitalized Monday for undisclosed reasons after Lincoln police responded to a call at his residence.
The Nebraska athletic department said in a release Monday that Lucky was admitted Sunday night.
MySportsbook.com has the Cornhuskers listed at +2500 to win the BCS National Championship odds.
A nursing supervisor at the hospital said all questions about Lucky were being referred to the athletic department. The athletic department said there would be no further comment from the department or Lucky's family.
A Lincoln Police spokesman said officers responded to a call at Lucky's residence 11:30 p.m. Sunday. The spokesman said he didn't know Lucky's condition at the time he was taken to the hospital.
Lucky, from North Hollywood, Calif., started six games last season as a sophomore and was the team's second-leading rusher, with 728 yards and six touchdowns. He also caught 32 passes for 383 yards. He averaged 19.1 yards on eight kickoff returns.
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Horse Betting
(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).
The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.
"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."
Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.
"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."
When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:
CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.
DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.
PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.
You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.
"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."
Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.
(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)
Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."
But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."
Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."
Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."
All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.
In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.
"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."
To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.