Page 15 - 3-24-15 Tuesday's Edition

Sports
OKC’s Russell Westbrook
Rockets' Jones
Beauty Unlimited
MANDI LYNN
This week’s Beauty Unlimited feature is Mandi Lynn. Mandi Lynn says she has an exotic look, and she’s just getting started with her modeling career. Judging from this photo, we all think her career will be nothing but successful. We just hope she will allow us to feature her again in the future, especially after her name has become as famous as the top models in the country. Congratulations to Mandi Lynn as this week’s Beauty Unlimited feature.
Has 10th Triple Double In Win Over Heat
Out With
On Sunday, OKC Thunder All-Star point guard Russell Westbrook offered the latest piece of evidence that he is the beast that can keep carrying the load.
After popping for 30-plus points on 10 separate occa- sions since the All-Star break, Westbrook had his lowest- scoring full-game outing of the season on Sunday, chipping in just 12 points on 5-for-16 shooting against the Miami Heat. It scarcely mattered that he wasn't getting buckets, though, because of how many he got everyone else.
Westbrook tied a career- high — one he's set and matched in the past month — with 17 assists, propelling the Thunder to a 93-75 home win over the Heat that gave Okla- homa City a three-game ad- vantage over the New Orleans Pelicans and Phoenix Suns in the race for the eighth and final
Russell Westbrook has been a beast with his 8th triple-double since All-Star weekend.
playoff spot in the Western Conference. He also pulled down 10 rebounds to go with his dozen points and 17 dimes, marking his second straight triple-double, his eighth since the All-Star break, and his league-leading 10th of the sea- son.
The entire rest of the league, by way of comparison, has combined for 27.
HOUSTON -
- The Houston
Rockets received
a blow to their
frontcourt yet
again when it
was revealed TERRENCE that starting for- JONES ward Terrence
Jones is out for an extended period of time with a collapsed lung. Jones suffered the injury in the first quarter of the Rock- ets' victory over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday night.
Coach Kevin McHale said Friday that Jones remained in the hospital overnight and will not play for at least the next three games.
Considering the seriousness of the injury, Jones could be out for a while.
It's the second time this sea- son Jones will miss significant playing time. He missed 34 games with left-leg nerve in- flammation but returned in Jan- uary and became a productive member of the team.
Sweet 16 Set By Upsets And No Surprises
After a six-day extrava- ganza of college hoops, we have our Sweet 16 for the 2015 NCAA tournament.
The madness came early, with two upsets of No. 3 seeds on Thursday — Georgia State shocking Baylor and UAB stun- ning Iowa State — and kept on coming — with No. 1 Villanova falling to N.C. State and No. 2 Virginia getting ousted by Michigan State and # 2 Kansas being upset by #7 Wichita State in the round of 32.
After Sunday, there are 16 teams still with a chance to cut down the nets on April 6.
1. Kentucky: The Wildcats are one of deepest and most talented teams we've ever seen in college basketball. If they don't finish the season unde- feated and win the national championship, it will surely be a surprise.
2. Arizona: The Wildcats were deserving of a No. 1 seed and are playing like one in the tournament. Arizona boasts four future NBA players — Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Brandon Ashley, Stanley Johnson and Kaleb Tar- czewski — but the team's most important player is vet- eran point guard T.J. Mc- Connell.
3. Wisconsin: The Badg- ers got a scare in a close battle with Oregon in the round of 32, but there's no mistaking Wis- consin as a contender to win it all based on its roster.
4. Duke: The Blue Devils have what they haven't had in more than a decade: A domi- nant big man. Freshman standout Jahlil Okafor (26 points in a third-round victory against San Diego State) gives Duke a unique edge against
every opponent.
5. Michigan State: The
seventh-seeded Spartans are following a script similar to last year's UConn team, also a No. 7 seed, that went on to win the national championship. Both teams have had the pieces and ability all season but didn't put it together until it mattered most in March.
6. Wichita State: The sev- enth-seeded Shockers looked like the better seed in a clash with in-state foe Kansas, the second No. 2 seed to go down in the tournament. Much of that is a product of the selec- tion committee overseeding the Shockers (they were worthy ofaNo.5orNo.6seed).Itwas also a tough draw for Kansas.
7. Gonzaga: The 'Zags got over the proverbial Sweet 16 hump (they hadn't been since 2009 despite a few high seeds) and now they have a favorable matchup against UCLA to reach the Elite Eight.
8. Oklahoma: For all the talk about how great the Big 12 was, the Sooners are one of two teams remaining of the original seven NCAA entrants.
9. Utah: The Utes weren't playing well toward the end of the season, having lost three of their last five to finish behind Oregon in the Pac-12.
10. UCLA: The Bruins are a prime example of a team that grows up over the course of the season and peaks at the perfect time. The Bruins feature five players averaging double fig- ures, and all have the ability to take over games.
11. North Carolina: All season long, the Tar Heels looked like a potentially great team that never fully put things together. But they're clicking
when it matters most in March. 12. Notre Dame: The Irish are a potent offensive team, but it was a defensive play — Pat Connaughton's block to force overtime — that helped Notre Dame edge a
pesky Butler team.
13. N.C. State: The Wolf-
pack shocked No. 1 Villanova for perhaps the biggest upset of this year's tournament. That came after a last-second victory against LSU in the opening round.
14. Louisville: Coach Rick Pitino has been blunt in interviews, saying this is far from his best team and that this group has been tough to coach based on diverse person- alities. Factor in starting point guard Chris Jones being dis- missed from the team late in the season and it was difficult to fathom Louisville, even as a No. 4 seed, reaching the Sweet 16.
15. West Virginia: Juwan Staten is the team's best player, and it showed in a victory against potential giant- killer Buffalo in an opening round game that many picked as an upset. But the Moun- taineers showed how good their other key players are in a victory against Maryland.
16. Xavier: The Muske- teers had perhaps the easiest path to the Sweet 16, handling a tired Ole Miss squad in the second round and ending Cin- derella Georgia State's season in the third. But if Xavier gets a boost like it did against Georgia State, such as the 21 points off the bench from Jalen Reynolds, there's no reason this team can't continue to sur- prise.
Words Cost Mavs' Amar'e Stoudemire
Collapsed Lung
PHOENIX -- Dallas Mav- ericks center/forward Amar'e Stoudemire has been fined $15,000 for ver- bally abusing an official and failing to leave the court in a timely manner upon his ejec- tion.
Stoudemire was ejected from Dallas' 112-101 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday night after receiving two tech- nical fouls for arguing an of- fensive foul call with 5:25 remaining in the third quar- ter.
Stoudemire, who felt
AMAR'E STOUDEMIRE Grizzlies guard Tony Allen
flopped after being screened, was called for the first techni- cal foul immediately after ap- proaching referee Scott Foster. A few seconds later, Foster called another techni- cal, ejecting Stoudemire.
TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 15