San Diego State sneaks past Wyoming in OT
NCAA Basketball Betting Lines
02/23/2012 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jamaal Franklin scored the first five points of overtime and finished with 12 points all together to help No. 24 San Diego State sneak past Wyoming, 67-58, at Viejas Arena on Wednesday.
Garrett Green came off the bench to score 14 points on 6-of-6 shooting and Tim Shelton and Chase Tapley each chipped in 10 points apiece as the Aztecs (21-6, 7-4 MWC) snapped a three-game losing streak.
"We have to find a way to win. We can't be excuse-makers," said San Diego State head coach Steve Fisher. "We've got to make a play. We've got to dig and dig and dig and dig and make a play. That's what this team has done. We have fought and fought and fought and not given up. And I like the way we have fought."
Arthur Bouedo led Wyoming (18-9, 4-7) with 11 points and Adam Waddell netted 10 to go with six rebounds for the Cowboys, who lost their fourth straight contest.
Franklin scored the first five in the extra session, as his three-point play gave the Aztecs a 60-55 lead less than a minute into overtime.
Tapley managed a steal and a layup, but Francisco Cruz quickly answered with 1:44 remaining to make it a 62-57 contest.
Green responded with a thunderous dunk down the heart of the defense to press the lead back to seven.
The Aztecs held on down the stretch, going 3-of-4 from the charity stripe to secure the overtime victory.
The Cowboys took a 44-35 lead with 11:13 left, but went the next six-plus minutes without a field goal as the Aztecs reeled off a 10-1 to tie the game at 45.
Leonard Washington would end the drought by nailing a three but Franklin answered with a triple of his own to tie the game at 48 with just under four minutes remaining in the contest.
Leading 53-52, the Aztecs got two free throws from Green to take a two-point lead after a Luke Martinez missed foul shot, but Martinez responded with a three from the wing that hit nothing but net to tie the game at 55 with 29.2 seconds left, allowing the Aztecs to hold for the final shot.
Tapley drove the lane but came up short on the left-handed layup and Wyoming corralled the rebound with 1.7 still showing on the clock, but Wyoming came up empty on a desperation attempt at the buzzer.
"The critical thing tonight was we missed foul shots with 45 seconds left to take the lead and they came down and made two," Wyoming head coach Larry Shyatt said. "We had two chances to win it in regulation, but couldn't get them. I thought we shot the ball better in the second half tonight, which has been a nemesis for us the last five games."
Wyoming used an 11-2 run to jump out to an early 13-4, but San Diego State countered with a 12-3 run of its own to take a 26-24 lead.
The Cowboys took a 30-26 lead into the locker room after scoring the final six of the half.
Game Notes
The Aztecs have defeated Wyoming in five straight games for the first time during the all-time series which now stands at 37-34 in favor of Wyoming...The Cowboys finished 9-of-22 from long range, while the Aztecs made 3 of their 11 three-point attempts.
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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.