WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 8, 2010 Today’s area games
GEORGEMASONVS. LOYOLA (MD.) Where: Patriot Center. When: 7 p.m. TV:MASN. Records: Patriots 6-2,Greyhounds 3-4. Outlook: The Patriots are unbeaten through four games of their five-game
homestand, the first time in Coach JimLarranaga’s 14 seasons in Fairfax that they’ve played five straight games at home. AfterWednesday, theywill play six of seven on the road.During this home stretch,GeorgeMason’s averagemargin of victory has been 20.8 points, each opponent has shot poorer than 38 percent and the Patriots havemade 32 of 73 three-pointers (43.8 percent). In Saturday’s 80-52 romp over UNCWilmington,George Masonmade 7 of 11 three-pointers in the first half and 11 of 21 overall.While three starters are shooting 53 percent or better fromthe field, sophomore G-F LukeHancock, the team’s leading scorer at 13.1 points per game, is the only starter converting at least 70 percent fromthe free
throwline.George Mason and Loyola have not played each other since the 1992-93 season. TheGreyhounds,whowill also visitGeorgetown andHoward thismonth, lost their first twoMetro Atlantic Athletic Conference games.On Sunday, they cut a 22-point deficit to one before losing at league favorite Fairfield, 65-55. SeniorGJamal Barney is averaging 13 points per game.
—StevenGoff
GEORGEWASHINGTONVS. TOWSON Where: Smith Center. When: 7 p.m. Radio:WFED1500 AM, 820 AM. Records: Colonials 2-5, Tigers 2-4. Outlook:GWhas lost four in a rowand it is nomysterywhy: The Colonials are having trouble putting the ball in the basket.What is bewildering iswhy GWcan’t score. Losing LasanKromah, the team’s top returning scorer, for the season to a foot injurywas a blow. But everyone agreesGWis getting the shots itwants; the Colonials just aren’t getting themto fall. “I’ma little bit mystifiedmyself, to be quite honestwith you,” CoachKarlHobbs said. “Everyone’s role has shifted a little
bit.Noweveryone’s been asked to do something thatwe didn’t plan on. But that happens in a season and at some pointwe have tomake those adjustments.We’ve got to find away to help these guysmake some baskets.” Perhaps playing Towsonwill putGWon track. The Tigers rank last in the Colonial Athletic Association in scoring defense, giving up 76.2 points per
game.GW,which is 8-1 against Towson and haswon seven in a rowagainst the Tigers, has scoredmore than 65 points only three times this season. JuniorGTony Taylor is the only player with a double-figure scoring average (13 points per game), but Taylor has missed 30 of his past 42 shots. Sophomore F Isaiah Philmore leads Towson in scoringwith 15.5 points per game.He is one of four players averaging in double figures for Tigers.
—KathyOrton
KLMNO COLLEGE BASKETBALL Maryland still seeks right starting place
Nine games into season, Williams is in search of best starting five
BY LIZ CLARKE “This is not about experiment- There were no tirades follow-
ingMaryland’s 64-61 loss to Tem- ple on Sunday, in which Coach Gary Williams benched all of his starters except for sophomore center Jordan Williams, irked by their listless play. And the following morning, no
players were summoned to the coach’s office for a rebuke. Nonetheless, about eight
Maryland players dropped by to talk about their performances and look at videotape the coach had culled to highlight what they should have done better. OnTuesday, Williams wouldn’t
say whether he planned to tweak his starting lineup forWednesday night’s game against 0-7 UNC Greensboro at Comcast Center. But he surely sounded like a man who has been mentally tinkering with his starting five as he spoke about the process of assembling a high-performing team from a pool of 13 athletes. “That’s my job. That’s any
coach’s job: To try to put the best team out there to win games,” Williams said Tuesday. Changing a lineup “is not about losing confi- dence; it’s about trying to find the best combination. You’re always looking at that.
ing.This is about trying to put the best team out there to beat Greensboro.” From Williams’s perspective,
what made the loss to Temple so disappointing was that the Terra- pins didn’t play to their ability, on one hand, yet still had a chance to win. “If you play the best you can
and do everything right and still get beat because the other team was better, that’s one thing,” Wil- liams said. “But you don’t want to do things that cause you to lose close games.” Two things stood out in that
regard: free throw shooting and
turnovers.Marylandmadejust 10 of 17 free throw attempts in the three-point loss, and Temple scored 15 points as a result of the Terrapins’ 14 turnovers. “We can do better than we did,”
Williams added. But “that’s whereweare with this team. Ifwe have to go through that and get better because of it, that’s okay.” Though Maryland (6-3) prac-
ticed Tuesday afternoon, players were not made available to talk to reporters, as has been customary the day before games. Williams said it had nothing to do with their performance Sunday; rath-
HOCKEY STANDINGSANDSUMMARIES
EASTERNCONFERENCE SOUTHEAST W L OL PTS. GF GA Washington xTampa Bay Atlanta Carolina Florida
ATLANTIC W L OL PTS. GF GA Pittsburgh
Philadelphia
N.Y. Rangers 16 12 New Jersey
18 8 3 39 96 79 15 9 3 33 84 94 15 10 3 33 88 80 11 12 3 25 75 84 12 14 0 24 68 69
19 8 2 40 91 67 17 7 4 38 95 69 1 33 83 77
8 17 2 18 50 81 N.Y. Islanders 5 15 5 15 53 83
NORTHEAST W L OL PTS. GF GA Montreal Boston Buffalo Ottawa Toronto
WESTERNCONFERENCE CENTRAL Detroit Chicago
Columbus St. Louis Nashville
18 8 2 38 75 54 15 8 3 33 75 52 11 13 4 26 70 76 12 15 2 26 62 85 10 12 4 24 59 76
W L OL PTS. GF GA 17 5 3 37 86 67 15 12 2 32 90 84 15 10
13 9 4 30 67 72 12 8
NORTHWEST W L OL PTS. GF GA Vancouver Colorado
Minnesota xEdmonton xCalgary
PACIFIC Dallas
Phoenix
Los Angeles San Jose xAnaheim
TONI L. SANDYS/THE WASHINGTON POST “Some players, it can take a while to be completely comfortable.” Capitals player Brooks Laich said of left wing Alexander Semin, above. Guarded Semin learning to wing it semin from D1
ing much further ahead now. Once there’s an offer, I will, but I’mcomfortable with this team.” General Manager George
McPhee declined to discuss where Semin might fit in to Washington’s long-term plans, but if the skilled winger can continue his progress on all fronts through the duration of the regular season and playoffs, he could demand more than the $6 million he will earn from his current one-year deal. Semin leads the Capitals with
18 goals and is among the top five scorers in the league with 33 points, and he has removed some of the doubts about his discipline after leading the Capi- tals in minor penalties last year. Still, he insists he has not changed anything about his game. “It’s the same kind of ap-
proach,” he said. “Maybe I got luckier.” But Semin’s teammates say
what has changed is his attitude off the ice. “He’s a fun-loving kid, and I
don’t think many people aside from us get to see that much because he’s not doing inter- views and things like that,” said Brooks Laich, Semin’s linemate for the better part of the past two seasons. “He has been a little more vocal at times and I think it’s just progress moving for- ward. . . . He’s been in this orga- nization for some time now and [for] some players, it can take a
CAPITALS’NEXTTHREE
vs. Panthers Tomorrow, 7 Comcast SportsNet, Versus
vs. Avalanche Saturday, 7 Comcast SportsNet
at Rangers Sunday, 7 Comcast SportsNet
Radio: WFED (820 AM, 1500 AM)
while to be completely comfort- able.”
What Semin chooses to share
with the public has always been limited. He will only conduct interviews in Russian, and while he understands enough English to communicate with team- mates and the Capitals’ equip- ment and training staff, he still doesn’t speak it much. “Sometimes it’s a little bit
hard because he doesn’t want to speak too much English,” center Nicklas Backstrom said. “He’s a great guy here; I just wish he spoke more English sometimes. Every year I’ve been here, though, he gets a little bit better. I think it’s good for the team, too, that he’s trying to.” When the players are seclud-
ed from the outside world — in the locker room or on the team’s charter plane — he has been subtly more outgoing, taking part in the regular online poker games the Capitals play on their
iPads during flights and the playful trash talking that can go along with it. “There are days when he’s
really chatty and others where he’s quiet, but everyone’s like that,” saidD.J. King, a newcomer on the team whose stall at Ket- tler Capitals Iceplex is directly to the right of Semin’s. “When he’s doing well [in poker], everybody can hear.” Part of understanding Semin,
the Capitals believe, is respect- ing that he’s not an extrovert like Alex Ovechkin, his closest friend on the team. He prefers to keep to himself more often than not, but his familiarity with those around him in the Capitals orga- nization—among players alone, nine others in addition to Semin have been on the team since the 2006-07 season—at this stage in his career may be a strong con- tributing factor to his success both on and off the ice. “When you’ve been together
for so long, there’s no kind of conflict with anyone.Everything is good, more or less the same, but sometimes I’ll bring things up to people more,” Semin said. “This team is great. If I didn’t like it here, I wouldn’t be playing here. I want to stay here.” Determining where Semin
falls in the Capitals’ future is a question both parties delayed answering in December 2009, when they agreed to a one-year extension for the 2010-11 season. Semin was set to become a restricted free agent last sum- mer when his previous two-year, $9.2 million contract ran out,
but the deal bridged the gap to his eligibility as an unrestricted free agent. In addition to Semin, seven
otherWashington players are set to become unrestricted free agents at the end of this year and two more will be restricted free agents. The Capitals have 13 players under contract for the 2011-12 season with more than $22.8 million in space under the NHL’s salary cap figure of $59.4 million, according to cap-
geek.com. That figure may rise by $2 million or even more next year. “If there’s an appropriate deal
from the Capitals, we will con- sider it our first choice,” Semin’s agent, Mark Gandler said. “The Capitals need to figure out what they want to do and how they want to commit their resources.” What remains for Semin now
is to prove he can continue to strike a balance with well- rounded play for a prolonged period of time that includes the playoffs, where his performanc- es have been both dominant (recording eight points in 2008 against the Flyers in an eventual seven-game defeat) and absent (registering no points with 44 shots in a first-round loss to Montreal last season), and avoid the streakiness that has come to define his career at times. “I hope he’s going to be on
same level at the end of the year,” Ovechkin said. “I think he needs to be in good position and feel good about himself at the end of the year.”
carrerak@washpost.com MONDAY’SRESULTS
Toronto 5,Washington 4 (SO) Columbus 3, Dallas 2 (SO) Pittsburgh 2, New Jersey 1 Atlanta 3, Nashville 2 (OT) San Jose 5, Detroit 2
TUESDAY’SRESULTS
at Montreal 4, Ottawa 1 at Boston 3, Buffalo 2 (OT) at Florida 4, Colorado 3 (OT) Tampa Bay at Calgary, Late Anaheim at Edmonton, Late
WEDNESDAY’SGAMES
San Jose at Philadelphia, 7 Toronto at Pittsburgh, 7 Nashville at Detroit, 7:30 Dallas at Chicago, 8:30 Anaheim at Vancouver, 10
THURSDAY’SGAMES
Florida atWashington, 7 N.Y. Islanders at Boston, 7 San Jose at Buffalo, 7 Philadelphia at Toronto, 7 N.Y. Rangers at Ottawa, 7:30 Columbus at St. Louis, 8 Minnesota at Phoenix, 9 Calgary at Los Angeles, 10:30
MAPLELEAFS5, CAPITALS4(SO)
Late Monday TORONTO .......................... 1
WASHINGTON ................... 2 FIRST PERIOD
0 2
3 0
0 — 5 0 — 4
Scoring: 1, Washington, Perreault 1 (Poti, Semin), 2:55. 2, Toronto, MacArthur 8 (Kulemin), 11:47 (pp). 3, Washington, Knuble 5 (Backstrom, Poti), 14:58 (pp). Penalties: Bradley, Was (high-sticking), 4:54; Arm- strong, Tor (high-sticking), 5:50; Backstrom, Was (high- sticking), 9:57; Sjostrom, Tor (interference), 12:09; Beauchemin, Tor (slashing), 13:54.
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 4, Washington, Perreault 2 (Laich), 6:46. 5, Washington, Ovechkin 12 (Poti, Backstrom), 13:50. Penalties: Orr, Tor, major (fighting), 12:25; King, Was, major (fighting), 12:25; Semin, Was (tripping), 14:06.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 6, Toronto, Grabovski 6 (Kaberle, Kulemin), 4:16. 7, Toronto, Brent 3 (Kaberle, Kadri), 17:37. 8, Toronto, MacArthur 9 (Grabovski, Kessel), 18:36. Penal- ties: Green, Was (delay of game), 10:56.
OVERTIME Scoring: None. Penalties: None.
SHOOTOUT
Toronto 1 (Kadri NG, Grabovski G, Kessel NG), Washing- ton 0 (Ovechkin NG, Perreault NG, Semin NG).
SHOTS ON GOAL TORONTO .......................... 7
WASHINGTON ................. 12
11 9
8 12
2 — 28 3 — 36
Power-play opportunities: Toronto 1 of 4; Washington 1 of 3. Goalies: Toronto, Gustavsson 4-7-2 (36 shots-32 saves). Washington, Neuvirth 12-4-2 (28-24). A: 18,398 (18,398). T: 2:34.
1 31 70 71 6 30 65 68
14 8 3 31 80 64 13 10 4 30 94 86 11 11 4 26 63 76 10 12 4 24 70 93 11 14 2 24 74 82
W L OL PTS. GF GA 16 8 2 34 76 69 13 7
6 32 74 72
15 10 0 30 69 61 13 9 4 30 78 73 13 13 3 29 71 87
One point awarded for overtime losses. x-Late game.
CANADIENS4,SENATORS1 Jeff Halpern, Brian Gionta and Ro-
man Hamrlik scored third-period goals and Carey Price)notes) made 27 saves as Montreal beat Ottawa for its third straight win. Halpern broke a 1-1 tie 2:18 into the third, Gionta put the Canadiens ahead by two goals mid- way through the period, and Hamrlik closed the scoring with 3:32 left.
OTTAWA .................................. 1 MONTREAL .............................. 1
FIRST PERIOD
Scoring: 1, Montreal, Cammalleri 9, 9:09 (pp). 2, Ottawa, Foligno 2 (Spezza, Karlsson), 19:51 (pp).
THIRD PERIOD Scoring: 3, Montreal, Halpern 6 (Lapierre), 2:18. 4, Montreal, Gionta 9, 10:01. 5, Montreal, Hamrlik 3 (Gionta, Eller), 16:28.
SHOTS ON GOAL OTTAWA .................................. 6
MONTREAL ............................ 13
13 9
9 — 28 13 — 35
Power-play opportunities: Ottawa 1 of 1; Montreal 1 of 5. Goalies: Ottawa, Leclaire 2-7-1 (33 shots-30 saves), Elliott (16:27 third, 2-1). Montreal, Price 17-7-2 (28-27). A: 21,273 (21,273). T: 2:27.
PANTHERS4, AVALANCHE3(OT)
Stephen Weiss scored his second
goal of the game 43 seconds into overtime to give Florida its second consecutive win.
COLORADO ........................ 0 FLORIDA ............................ 1
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 2, Colorado, Liles 5 (Stastny, Jones), 3:42. 3, Colorado, Winnik 6, 17:39. 4, Florida, Weiss 6 (Reinprec- ht, Frolik), 18:55.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 5, Colorado, Duchene 9 (Quincey), 1:59. 6, Florida, Booth 7, 4:11.
OVERTIME Scoring: 7, Florida, Weiss 7 (Booth), :43.
SHOTS ON GOAL COLORADO ........................ 6
FLORIDA .......................... 10
12 7
7 6
0 — 25 2 — 25
Power-play opportunities: Colorado 0 of 1; Florida 0 of 2. Goalies: Colorado, Anderson 4-4-2 (25 shots-21 saves). Florida, Vokoun 10-10-0 (25-22). A: 12,791 (17,040). T: 2:20.
BRUINS3,SABRES2(OT) Mark Recchi tipped Dennis Seiden-
berg’s slap shot past Ryan Miller in overtime, a power-play goal that was initially waved off by the referee, as Boston escaped with a victory over Buffalo. The game continued until the next whistle, with 1:58 left, but the goal 2:11 into the period officially ended it.
BUFFALO ........................... 0 BOSTON ............................. 1
1 0
1 1
0 — 2 1 — 3
FIRST PERIOD Scoring: 1, Boston, Lucic 13 (Krejci, Horton), 13:21.
SECOND PERIOD Scoring: 2, Buffalo,Adam1 (Pominville, Mancari), 12:57.
THIRD PERIOD
Scoring: 3, Buffalo, Vanek 11 (Myers, Leopold), 4:07. 4, Boston, Horton 10, 13:39.
OVERTIME Scoring: 5, Boston, Recchi 6 (Seidenberg, Krejci), 2:11 (pp).
SHOTS ON GOAL BUFFALO ........................... 8
BOSTON ........................... 11
7 7
14 13
1 — 30 5 — 36
Power-play opportunities: Buffalo 0 of 1; Boston 1 of 5. Goalies: Buffalo, Miller 9-7-3 (36 shots-33 saves). Boston, Thomas 14-2-2 (30-28). A: 17,565. T: 2:31.
PENGUINS2,DEVILS1 Late Monday
Sidney Crosby scored a goal and
set up another, and Pittsburgh matched the second-longest winning streak in franchise history, winning its 10th in a row by beating New Jersey. Marc-Andre Fleury, 11-0-1 in his last
12 starts, made 27 saves. NEWJERSEY ........................... 1
PITTSBURGH ........................... 1 FIRST PERIOD
SECOND PERIOD
Scoring: 3, Pittsburgh, Crosby 24 (Goligoski, Kunitz), 12:49.
SHOTS ON GOAL NEWJERSEY ........................... 8
PITTSBURGH ......................... 16
10 11
10 — 28 7 — 34
Power-play opportunities:NewJersey 1 of 4; Pittsburgh 0 of 6. Goalies: New Jersey, Hedberg 4-6-1 (34 shots-32 saves). Pittsburgh, Fleury 12-6-1 (28-27). A: 18,185 (18,087). T: 2:27.
0 1
0 — 1 0 — 2
Scoring: 1, New Jersey, Rolston 2 (Arnott, Tedenby), 14:20 (pp). 2, Pittsburgh, Kunitz 8 (Crosby, Dupuis), 15:41.
2 1
1 1
0 — 3 1 — 4
FIRST PERIOD Scoring: 1, Florida, Thomas 1 (Hordichuk, McCabe), 3:08.
0 0
0 — 1 3 — 4
Maryland Coach Gary Williams still is looking for his best lineup.
Maryland vs. UNC Greensboro Where: Comcast Center. When: 7:30 p.m. TV: Comcast SportsNet.
er, he wanted to give them a break. The Temple game was the sec-
ond in whichMaryland’s starters opened poorly. The team rallied impressively against Penn State in a 62-39 win four days earlier, but Temple wasn’t so easily sub- dued. Trailing by 15 early in the sec-
ond half,Maryland got an imme- diate spark from the youngsters — freshmen Terrell Stoglin, Pe’Shon Howard and Haukur Palsson and sophomore James Padgett — who came off the bench. They pared the deficit to single digits and tied the score with less than two minutes re- maining. Stoglin was the onlyMaryland
player other than Jordan Wil- liams, who played a team-high 32 minutes, to finish in double fig- ures.
Nine games into the season,
the Terrapins have received un- even production from their se- nior back court of Adrian Bowie and Cliff Tucker, who have alter- nately shot and defended well only to disappear in stretches. They, along with juniorSeanMos- ley, appear to be under the most scrutiny. “Cliff has been a streaky play-
er,” Williams said. “That has been his tendency throughout the years. We’ve tried to get him to understand that he needs to be
more consistent.” InMosley’s case, Williams not-
ed that he was surrounded by several great players last season. This year, Mosley is shouldering more responsibility. And oppo- nents know his tendencies better, too.
“He has got to adjust to that,” Williams said. “We’re hoping that he will gradually pick it up. You don’t worry about Sean in terms of his caring — his wanting us to win. He brings that every game. Every day.” Williams insisted he doesn’t
make decisions based on one or two games but evaluates each player’s performanceover a series of practices and games. Still, it’s not a given that perfor-
mances in practice translate to games. And it’s not a given that every player can go from 0 to 60, in effect, the moment he steps onto the court. That, as much as anything, is
what separates starters from re- serves. “If you’re a starter, you have to
be able to start like that,” Wil- liams said. “You can’t ‘play your way’ into a game. You have to be able to handle that. It’s not about making shots. It’s just about the energy you bring to the team. Especially if you have a young team, you need to bring energy to that team.”
clarkel@washpost.com
EZ SU
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