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VanVleet sets new Toronto Raptors record with 54 points in a single game – CBC.ca

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Fred VanVleet, an undrafted guard who famously said “Bet on Yourself,” shot his way into the record books Tuesday.

The fifth-year veteran put on a show with a franchise-record 54 points as the Toronto Raptors defeated the Orlando Magic 123-108. According to Elias Sports, it was also a record points total for an undrafted player — Hall of Famer Moses Malone had 53 against San Diego on Feb. 2, 1982.

The Raptors’ previous single-game scoring record was 52 points, set by DeMar DeRozan against Milwaukee on Jan. 1, 2018. Terrence Ross and Vince Carter each scored 51 in Toronto colours.

“Unbelievable. I’m very humbled and honoured to be in the same sentence as both of those guys [DeRozan and Malone],” said VanVleet. “Just a special night, obviously on a lot of different levels.

“I’m trying to enjoy it for now but it’s not a championship or anything like that. It was a good game for me. I’ll enjoy all the love for a couple of hours and get ready for the next one.”

He said his teammates were more excited than he was. Backcourt partner Kyle Lowry, who made sure his teammate got the game ball, was all smiles after the game.

“You all know how I feel about him. That’s my little brother, man. I’m proud of him,” said Lowry, who quietly had his 17th career triple-double [his 15th as a Raptor]. “He’s a winner, simple as that,” he added.

WATCH | VanVleet makes Raptors franchise history in win over Magic:

Fred VanVleet scored a franchise-record 54 points as the Toronto Raptors beat the Orlando Magic 123-108. The Raptors’ previous single-game scoring record was 52 points, set by DeMar DeRozan against Milwaukee on Jan. 1, 2018. 2:07

“It’s incredible,” said Toronto coach Nick Nurse. “To be an undrafted guy and to do that. It really is incredible.

“He’s got a pedigree for winning, every team he’s been on his whole life. Just a tremendous competitor, worker, thinker.”

Listed at six foot one, VanVleet makes his living in the land of the giants. But the Wichita State product is hard-working, tough and fearless, negotiating his way through big bodies under the basket or putting up shots from distance.

“I just try to play the game the right way. You play with a pure heart and a clear conscience and a clear soul, then good things happen for you,” he said.

Away from the floor, the 26-year-old from Rockford, Ill., is one of the most thoughtful Raptors, well-spoken and insightful.

WATCH | CBC Sports’ Vivek Jacob, Jevohn Shepherd reassess Raptors:

Vivek Jacob and Jevohn Shepherd break down the Raptors recent success after a slow start and what turned out to be a historic night as Kyle Lowry netted his 10,000th point with the Raptors franchise last night against the Milwaukee Bucks. 4:40

Betting on himself paid off last November when he signed a four-year, $85-million US contract, another record for an undrafted player. Apparently he has made some big-ticket purchases.

“Look at the watch,” Lowry said as VanVleet followed him in front of the post-game Zoom availability.

11 made 3-pointers

VanVleet made 11-of-14 three-point attempts, coming within one of the franchise record of 12 by Donyell Marshall, in March 2005 against Philadelphia. In all, he made 17-of-23 shots and converted all nine free-throw attempts.

The points came naturally. VanVleet was in the right place at the right time more often than. And he took advantage in his 37 minutes on the floor.

“It was easy. No disrespect to the Magic but for most of those I was open … They were clean looks,” said VanVleet.

After three quarters, VanVleet was 11-of-13 from three-point range and had 46 points with teammates looking to feed his hot hand.

He added to his total with two free throws before hitting the 50-mark, cutting to the basket to haul in a lob from Lowry with 5:02 remaining. He tied DeRozan’s record after an Orlando turnover, running unchallenged for a layup with 4:445 left.

The record-breaking bucket came with 3:46 remaining, thanks to another Lowry feed. VanVleet cut into the paint, beating two men before making the layup.

DeRozan also called VanVleet after the match to congratulate him personally.

VanVleet’s previous career high was 36 points, set last year against Miami. He is averaging 18.8 points a game this season and 11.1 a game over his career.

VanVleet erased his career mark of seven three-pointers made in a game before the first half was over, making eight-of-nine attempts en route to 28 points in the half. The eight three-pointers were also a franchise record for a half.

“Freddy going crazy!!!” tweeted former Raptor Danny Green.

Toronto (9-12) surged ahead in the third quarter of an entertaining game. Orlando has (8-14) lost four straight and 12 of its last 14.

Lowry had 14 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds. Norm Powell had 23 points.

According to Elias, the last time teammates shared 50 points and a triple-double in the same game was Dec. 3, 2019, when James Harden (50 points) and Russell Westbrook (19 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists) were members of the Houston Rockets in a game against San Antonio.

It was the teams’ second meeting in three days. The Raptors ended a three-game losing streak with a 115-102 decision on Sunday in their adopted home of Tampa, leading by as many as 22 points.

Toronto was without OG Anunoby (calf strain) for the fourth game in a row. But Powell, who had missed the two previous games with a quadriceps contusion, returned to action and started.

The Magic came out hot, running up an 11-0 lead while Toronto missed its first seven shots before VanVleet ended the drought with a three-pointer.

“I knew after my first shot went in that I was going to shoot the ball well,” he said.

The high-flying Powell had a spectacular dunk in the first half — as well as an equally spectacular miss off the rim. Toronto clawed its way back and led 64-60 at the half.

Orlando started the second half with an 8-0 run to regain the lead. But Toronto turned it on late in the quarter with a 15-0 run to take control.

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Washington Capitals 3-2 win ends Dallas Stars’ winning streak

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WASHINGTON (AP) — Tom Wilson, Dylan Strome and Taylor Raddysh scored to help the Washington Capitals end the Dallas Stars’ season-opening winning streak at four with a 3-2 victory Thursday night.

Wilson’s goal was his third in three games, Strome his second of the season and Raddysh his first since joining the team in free agency last summer. Charlie Lindgren made 22 saves as the Capitals wrapped up this early homestand with back-to-back wins.

The Stars fell from the ranks of the league’s unbeaten teams despite a short-handed goal by Colin Blackwell and one at even strength from Jason Robertson. Rookie Oskar Bäck set up Blackwell for his first NHL point.

Casey DeSmith was screened on two of the three goals he allowed on 26 shots.

LIGHTNING 4, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Nikita Kucherov scored the winning goal with less than a minute to play just 1:27 after Brandon Hagel had tied it and Tampa Bay rallied to beat Vegas.

Kucherov’s second goal of the game with 55 seconds left was his sixth of the season.

Janis Moser had a goal and two assists for the Lightning, who remain unbeaten. Andrei Vasilevskiy made 22 saves.

Brayden McNabb, Pavel Dorofeyev and Ivan Barbashev had goals for Vegas. Adin Hill turned aside 21 shots.

Jack Eichel, with two assists on Thursday, now has 10 points this season in five games and reached reached double-digit points faster than any other player in Vegas history. He is the 10th U.S.-born player to accomplish the feat.

After Barbashev put Vegas up 3-2 early in the second, Hagel pulled Tampa Bay even at 3 with 2:22 remaining in the third.

BLUE JACKETS 6, SABRES 4

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Kirill Marchenko and Mathieu Olivier each had a goal and an assist and Daniil Tarasov made 21 saves to help Columbus to a win over Buffalo.

Yegor Chinakhov, Adam Fantilli, Zachary Aston-Reese and Damon Severson also scored for Columbus, and Zach Werenski added two assists.

Ryan McLeod, Owen Power and JJ Peterka scored for Buffalo, and Jiri Kulich added his first NHL goal. Devon Lev stopped 19 shots for the Sabres (1-5-1), who have lost two straight road games and five of their first six overall.

CANUCKS 3, FLORIDA 2, OT

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — J.T. Miller scored 2:09 into overtime and Vancouver got their first win of the season, beating Florida.

Teddy Blueger and Quinn Hughes had goals for Vancouver, with Kevin Lankinen stopping 26 shots.

Anton Lundell got his fourth goal in the last three games for Florida and Jesper Boqvist also scored for the Panthers, who got 30 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky.

Florida remained without forwards Aleksander Barkov (lower body) and Matthew Tkachuk (illness).

DEVILS 3, SENATORS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Jacob Markstrom stopped 30 shots and lost his shutout bid in the final minutes as New Jersey beat Ottawa.

Erik Haula, Nathan Bastian and Paul Cotter scored for the Devils, who won for the third time in four games and improved to 5-2-0.

The Senators, who were coming off an 8-7 overtime victory against Los Angeles on Monday, struggled to beat Markstrom.

Brady Tkachuk was the only scorer for the Senators, beating Markstrom, with a power-play goal with 65 seconds remaining in the third period.

Anton Forsberg, making his second straight start and hoping to rebound after getting pulled Monday, made 32 saves in the loss.

Haula opened the scoring early in the second period and Bastian added a short-handed goal, giving New Jersey a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes. Cotter scored midway through the third.

RANGERS 5, RED WING 2

DETROIT (AP) — Artemi Panarin had his eighth career hat trick and New York rolled to a victory over Detroit.

Panarin became the first Rangers player to have multiple points in the first four games of a season. He scored twice on the power play. Vincent Trocheck also had a power- play goal and assisted on all of Panarin’s goals.

Jonathan Quick made 29 saves in his season debut. Victor Mancini also scored.

The Rangers have won the last five meetings, including twice this week. New York had a 4-1 home victory over Detroit on Monday night.

Moritz Seider and J.T. Compher scored for Detroit. Red Wings goalie Cam Talbot was pulled in the second period after allowing five goals.

KINGS 4, CANADIENS 1

MONTREAL (AP) — David Rittich made 26 saves a night after being benched in the second period in Toronto, helping road-weary Los Angeles snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over Montreal.

Los Angeles improved to 2-1-2 on a season-opening, seven-game trip necessitated by arena renovations.

Rittich rebounded after allowing four goals on 14 shots in a 6-2 loss to the Maple Leafs. Alex Laferriere, Mikey Anderson, Andreas Englund and Adrian Kempe scored.

Justin Barron scored for Montreal (2-3-0). Sam Montembeault stopped 28 shots. He made a save on Kevin Fiala on a penalty shot.

BLUES 1, ISLANDERS 0, OT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Joel Hofer made 34 saves and assisted on Jake Neighbours’ goal at 2:04 of overtime in St. Louis victory over New York.

Hofer had his second career shutout in his and the team’s second overtime victory of the season.

Philip Broberg carried the puck into the New York zone and made a centering pass to Neighbours for the winner.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorkin made 29 saves.

Blues defenseman Nick Leddy sat out because of a lower-body injury, the first game he has missed this season. Leddy played in all 82 games last season.

OILERS 4, PREDATORS 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Brett Kulak scored twice and Connor McDavid added his first goal of the season to lead Edmonton to a victory over reeling Nashville.

Jeff Skinner also scored and Calvin Pickard made 25 saves for the defending Western Conference champion Oilers, who have won consecutive games after beginning the season with a three-game skid.

Filip Forsberg and Jonathan Marchessault scored and Juuse Saros made 32 saves for Nashville (0-4).

Forsberg’s goal midway through the first period gave Nashville its first lead of the season. That lasted less than six minutes before Kulak tied it.

Kulak sealed it with an empty-netter in the final minute for the defenseman’s first career two-goal game.

BLACKHAWKS 4, SHARKS 2

CHICAGO (AP) — Tyler Bertuzzi and Nick Foligno each scored a power-play goal, and Chicago beat San Jose.

Taylor Hall and Jason Dickinson also scored for Chicago. Connor Bedard and Teuvo Teravainen each had two assists.

Hall, who missed most of last season because of right knee surgery, put the Blackhawks in front 4:20 into the first period. It was Hall’s first goal since Nov. 5 and No. 267 for his career.

Tyler Toffoli and Fabian Zetterlund scored for San Jose, which trailed 3-0 early in the second. William Eklund and Mikael Granlund had two assists each.

The Sharks dropped to 0-2-2 under Ryan Warsofsky, who was promoted to head coach in June.

Petr Mrazek had 20 saves for Chicago, and Vitek Vanecek made 23 stops for San Jose.

KRAKEN 6, FLYERS 4

SEATTLE (AP) — Eeli Tolvanen, Jordan Eberle, and Shane Wright scored three goals in less than three minutes in the second period and Seattle held off a Philadelphia rally in a victory.

Tolvanen’s goal broke a 2-2 tie at the 14:57 mark. Eberle made it a two-goal game with a goal at 17:44. Eight seconds later, Wright scored to give Seattle a three-goal lead.

Jared McCann tied the game at 2-2 with the first of Seattle’s four second-period goals.

Cam York and Jamie Drysdale scored to pull Philadelphia within 5-4 in the third period, but Oliver Bjorkstrand responded with a goal to push Seattle’s lead to two with just over five minutes left in the game.

Scott Laughton scored twice for the Flyers in the first period, while Brandon Montour scored one in for the Kraken.

Chandler Stephenson had an assist in his 500th NHL game. Seattle’s Philipp Grubauer had 21 saves.

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Canada’s Dabrowski, New Zealand’s Routliffe out of Japan Women’s Open after walkover

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OSAKA, Japan – Canada’s Gabriela Dabrowski and New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe are out of the Japan Women’s Open tennis tournament.

Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and Romania’s Monica Niculescu advanced to the final on Thursday by way of walkover.

The fourth seeds were supposed to play the top-seeded Dabrowski and Routliffe in the semifinals.

Bucsa and Niculescu will next face third-seeded Ena Shibahara of Japan and Laura Siegemund of Germany in the final.

Dabrowski and Routliffe defeated Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Eri Hozumi in the quarterfinals 6-2, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Mountain West commissioner says she’s heartbroken over turmoil surrounding San Jose State volleyball

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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Mountain West Conference Commissioner Gloria Nevarez said Thursday the forfeitures that volleyball teams are willing to take to avoid playing San Jose State is “not what we celebrate in college athletics” and that she is heartbroken over what has transpired this season surrounding the Spartans and their opponents.

Four teams have canceled games against San Jose State: Boise State, Southern Utah, Utah State and Wyoming, with none of the schools explicitly saying why they were forfeiting.

A group of Nevada players issued a statement saying they will not take the floor when the Wolf Pack are scheduled to host the Spartans on Oct. 26. They cited their “right to safety and fair competition,” though their school reaffirmed Thursday that the match is still planned and that state law bars forfeiture “for reasons related to gender identity or expression.”

All those schools, except Southern Utah, are in the Mountain West. New Mexico, also in the MWC, went ahead with its home match on Thursday night, which was won by the Spartans, 3-1, the team’s first victory since Sept. 24.

“It breaks my heart because they’re human beings, young people, student-athletes on both sides of this issue that are getting a lot of national negative attention,” Nevarez said in an interview with The Associated Press at Mountain West basketball media days. “It just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Republican governors of Idaho, Nevada, Utah and Wyoming have made public statements in support of the cancellations, citing a need for fairness in women’s sports. Former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee in this year’s presidential race, this week referenced an unidentified volleyball match when he was asked during a Fox News town hall about transgender athletes in women’s sports.

“I saw the slam, it was a slam. I never saw a ball hit so hard, hit the girl in the head,” Trump replied before he was asked what can be done. “You just ban it. The president bans it. You just don’t let it happen.”

After Trump’s comment, San Diego State issued a statement that said “it has been incorrectly reported that an San Diego State University student-athlete was hit in the face with a volleyball during match play with San Jose State University. The ball bounced off the shoulder of the student-athlete, and the athlete was uninjured and did not miss a play.”

San Jose State has not made any direct comments about the politicians’ “fairness” references, and Nevarez did not go into details.

“I’m learning a lot about the issue,” Nevarez said. “I don’t know a lot of the language yet or the science or the understanding nationally of how this issue plays out. The external influences are so far on either side. We have an election year. It’s political, so, yeah, it feels like a no-win based on all the external pressure.”

The cancellations could mean some teams will not qualify for the conference tournament Nov. 27-30 in Las Vegas, where the top six schools are slated to compete for the league championship.

“The student-athlete (in question) meets the eligibility standard, so if a team does not play them, it’s a forfeit, meaning they take a loss,” Nevarez said.

Ahead of the Oct. 26 match in Reno. Nevada released a statement acknowledging that “a majority of the Wolf Pack women’s volleyball team” had decided to forfeit against San Jose State. The school said only the university can take that step but any player who decides not to play would face no punishment.

___

AP college sports:

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