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Columbia Daily Tribune
Monday, November 14, 2016
www.columbiatribune.com
INSIDE: BUSINESS NEWS AND CLASSIFIEDS
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
NFL
SUNDAY
WOMEN’S SOCCER
NCAA Tournament
A good first impression
Chiefs 20, Panthers 17
As usual,
Chiefs find
way to win
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The
Kansas City Chiefs had no offensive touchdowns, and their
defense was on the field for much
of the afternoon.
No big deal. They found a way to
win — again.
Marcus Peters stripped Kelvin
Benjamin with 20 seconds left and
Cairo Santos kicked a 37-yard field
goal as time expired as the Chiefs
overcame a 17-point deficit to top
the Carolina Panthers 20-17 on
Sunday.
The game was tied when Benjamin caught a 14-yard pass from
Cam Newton at his own 34. Peters
ripped the ball from his arms and
returned it to the Carolina 24.
“I took it from him. It was simple,” Peters said.
Santos’ fourth field goal of the
day split the uprights, lifting the
Chiefs to their fifth straight victory
and 17th win in their last 19 games.
“This group has some character,” Kansas City Coach Andy Reid
said. “It doesn’t mean you win
every game, but when you play
like this, you give yourself an
opportunity to win.”
The Chiefs also put together an
impressive rally in a 33-27 victory
over San Diego on Sept. 11, erasing
a 21-point deficit.
Eric Berry provided a big spark,
returning an interception 42 yards
for a touchdown. Newton made a
huge mistake on the play, simply
throwing the ball up while under
pressure.
Alex Smith threw for 178 yards
and Spencer Ware ran for 61 yards
for the Chiefs, who managed just
256 yards overall. But Kansas City’s
defense came up with big plays
when needed.
“Things don’t go your way
sometimes,” Berry said. “You have
to make them go your way.”
Berry’s big play helped the
Chiefs (7-2) move into a tie for first
place in the AFC West with the idle
Oakland Raiders.
Newton threw for 261 yards and
a touchdown and ran for 54 yards
and a score for the Panthers (3-6).
The game turned late in the
third quarter when Chris Jones
sacked Newton for a 12-yard loss
on third-and-18 at the Kansas City
28, taking the Panthers out of field
goal range. Instead of making it a
three-possession game, the Panthers were forced to punt.
“We can’t take back-to-back
sacks,” Panthers Coach Ron Rivera
said. “We can’t have two negatives
plays like that. You do that, and
you don’t give yourselves a chance
to win the football game.”
The Chiefs kicked a field goal to
make it 17-6 before Berry’s interception return and Smith’s pass to
Travis Kelce for the 2-point conversion. Santos’ third field goal
tied it with 4:25 left.
The Panthers had won two
straight and were looking to get
back in the playoff hunt but
remain three games behind the
division-leading Atlanta Falcons
and two games behind Tampa Bay
and New Orleans in the NFC
South.
“We have put our backs completely and utterly up against the
wall now,” Rivera said. “There is no
room for error.”
Hughes scores
23 points in
Missouri debut.
Timothy Tai/Tribune
Frankie Hughes dunks during Missouri’s 99-44 victory over Alabama A&M Sunday at Mizzou
Arena. Hughes scored 23, tying Steve Stipanovich for most points by a freshman in his debut.
TIGERS
Basketball
SUNDAY
Missouri 99, Alabama A&M 44
THURSDAY
Missouri vs. Xavier,
noon (ESPNU)
most since Dec. 17, 2012, when it
walloped South Carolina State
102-51. The Tigers led wire-towire and shot 63 percent from
the field.
A number of Southeastern
Conference squads opened their
seasons Wednesday against
more dangerous opponents, and
some paid the price. Tennessee
lost by 13 to Southern Conference favorite Chattanooga;
Vanderbilt was hammered by 24
points by Marquette; and Georgia, picked to finish fourth in the
SEC, lost to Clemson by 10.
Missouri went the other way,
bringing in one of the worst
teams in Division I for its seasonopening matchup. Alabama
A&M (0-2) was picked to finish
eighth in the 10-team Southwestern Athletic Conference and
was ranked 359th out of 361
teams in KenPom.com’s preseason ranking.
The Bulldogs looked the part.
Alabama A&M shot 26 percent
from the field and was 1 of 13 on
3-pointers. It took the Bulldogs
6:23 to hit their first basket after
missing their first 12 attempts.
The Tigers got solid performances from their big men
across the board. Russell Woods
was 3 for 3 from the field and set
a career high with 12 points. He
hit 6 of 7 free throws Sunday after
going 14 of 36 from the line last
season.
He was giddy when asked if
free throws were a point of
emphasis in the offseason.
“You could tell!” he said.
“Yeah, I did. I put in a lot of work
with” assistant “coach” Steve
“Shields with that. My confidence went up, and they’ve been
falling for me.”
Kevin Puryear, who scored one
point against UCM, had seven
points and hauled in nine
rebounds. Mitchell Smith had
seven points in nine minutes,
and Reed Nikko scored six points
and had four rebounds in 16
minutes.
Willie Jackson was the only
other Tiger in double figures,
chipping in 11 points and nine
rebounds. Four of those boards
came on the offensive end.
In the backcourt, Terrence
Phillips had seven points and
five assists, KJ Walton had nine
points and Jordan Geist had
eight points.
Missouri used 13 players,
including walk-ons in Adam
Wolf, Brett Rau and Trevor Glassman. Scholarship freshman
Jakoby Kemp did not play,
although Anderson attributed
that to the flu causing him to
miss practice last week.
The Tigers will travel Tuesday
to Orlando, Fla., for the Tire Pros
Invitational. Missouri will play
No. 7 Xavier at noon Thursday. It
will play either Clemson or
Davidson on Friday and a third
game in the tournament on Sunday.
MU football team gets pledge from defensive end
Louisiana native is
13th commitment of
2017 recruiting class.
BY BLAKE TOPPMEYER
[email protected]
The Missouri football team on Sunday
received its first verbal commitment from a
defensive lineman for its 2017 recruiting
class.
Chris Turner, a senior at Hammond High
School in Louisiana, gave his pledge after
coming to Columbia on an official visit.
He’s the 13th commitment overall to the
Border
blues for
Missouri
BY JOE VOZZELLI
BY DANIEL JONES
[email protected] | 815-1787
The Missouri men’s basketball
team’s exhibition game against
Central Missouri was not the
inspiring start the Tigers wanted
to kick off their season. The tense
seven-point victory was met with
disappointment and frustration.
Spurred by a great performance from Frankie Hughes,
there was little for Missouri to
complain about in its first regular-season game Sunday night at
Mizzou Arena. The Tigers pounded Alabama A&M 99-44.
Hughes scored 23 points, tying
a program record in a freshman
debut. Steve Stipanovich originally set the record against
Southwest Texas State on Nov. 30,
1979.
Hughes had only seven points
and was 0 for 4 on 3-pointers in
the first half. He got a candid
assessment from Willie Jackson,
his high school teammate, at
halftime.
“He came and sat next to me. I
said, ‘You’re too casual with it,’ ”
Jackson said. “I was like, ‘Just
shoot it.’ The second half, he
came out shooting it, and good
things happened.”
Hughes sank three consecutive treys to start the second half
then threw down a dunk in transition. He shot 6 of 7, including 4
for 5 beyond the arc, in the second half.
“He had no idea he missed
four in a row,” Coach Kim Anderson said. “He just keeps playing,
and that’s a compliment, really.”
Hughes was the only freshman
to start for the Tigers. He was also
Missouri’s leading scorer in its
closed scrimmage against
Creighton (22 points) and the
exhibition against Central Missouri (15 points).
“My high school coach told me
to take advantage of my opportunities,” Hughes said. “If I’m
open, I’m going to stay confident
and shoot the ball. If it falls, then
lucky me, I guess. If it keeps coming around, I just have to keep
knocking down shots.”
Anderson also paid homage to
Hughes’ tutelage under Garfield
Heights, Ohio, High School
Coach Sonny Johnson.
“He and Willie have both been
coached extremely well,” Anderson said. “Frankie has a great feel
for the game. That’s why he’s
where he’s at at this point. He
doesn’t let a whole lot bother
him. If he misses some shots, he
just kinda stays with it. He’s gotten a lot better on defense and a
lot better handling the ball.”
Cullen VanLeer also gave Missouri a boost from outside, hitting 3 of 5 treys and finishing
with nine points.
“Since I got here last year, I’ve
put in the work, and Frankie gets
here this year,” VanLeer said of
the Tigers’ scoring ability from
outside. “Last year, I struggled,
obviously, but I have a new confidence. Frankie is so confident, I
think it even rubs off on me.”
Missouri’s 99 points were its
SUNDAY
Kansas 1, Missouri 0 (2OT)
2017 class. Turner attended Missouri’s 26-17 Tulane and Louisiana Tech, among others.
victory over Vanderbilt on Saturday and
Turner said he’s playing mostly defensive
watched as defensive linemen
end at Hammond after playing outside linebacker a year ago. He said
racked up six sacks. “Everybody I
Missouri’s coaches have told him
met told me they call it ‘DLineZou,’
they plan to use him at defensive
and it was a place for D-linemen to
end.
go to get to the league,” Turner said.
Missouri offered Turner in May,
“That was a big part of it.”
and he attended the “Night at the
The 6-foot-4, 225-pound Turner is
Zou” recruiting event in July. He
ranked as a three-star recruit by
added that MU defensive line coach
247Sports.com and Scout.com.
Jackie Shipp “recruited me really
Rivals.com rates him as a two-star
Chris Turner
hard” and that he’s developed a
prospect. He does not have a star
good rapport with Shipp.
rating from ESPN.
Missouri’s defense has regressed comTurner said he chose Missouri over offers
from Colorado State, Texas-San Antonio, pared to 2015 but is coming off one of its
finest showings of the season, albeit against
offensively-challenged Vanderbilt.
“They’ve had some shaky moments this
season, but they’re getting better and back
on track,” Turner said. “I just see myself
helping out.”
The Tigers are set to lose senior defensive
tackles Rickey Hatley and Josh Augusta, and
junior defensive end Charles Harris might
declare for the draft a year early, so they’re
likely not done adding defensive linemen to
the 2017 class.
Turner is the first player to pledge to Missouri since long snapper Adam Bay committed on Aug. 26. However, Bay flipped his
commitment to Wisconsin two months later.
Down Pats
Keeping the belt
Final four is set
SEC Rewind
Russell Wilson and
the Seahawks beat
the Patriots in hostile
territory. Story on 4B
Tyron Woodley retains
his UFC welterweight
title with majority draw.
Carl Edwards and Jimmie
Johnson will be joined by
Joey Logano and Kyle Busch
in Chase finale. Story on 3B
The Tribune’s
Pete Bland
looks back on the weekend
in SEC football. Story on 3B
Story on 3B
[email protected] | 815-1788
LAWRENCE, Kan. — For the first
100 minutes of Sunday’s NCAA
Tournament soccer game, the
exchanges between fans at Rock
Chalk Park signaled that the Border War was still alive and well.
At every turn, one contingent
tried to overpower the other. So
when the Missouri faithful chanted “M-I-Z, Z-O-U,” the home fans
quickly countered with “Rock
Chalk, Jayhawk.”
Kansas got the final word.
In the 101st minute, KU’s Lois
Heuchan provided one moment of
brilliance. Grace Hagan chipped
the ball toward the far post, Heuchan took one touch and booted it
past Missouri goalkeeper Kelsey
Dossey for the winning goal. With
her arms raised, Heuchan dropped
to her knees and slid across the
turf before being mobbed by her
teammates while MU’s players
walked off the field slowly with
their hands on their heads.
“Grace picked me out such a
good ball,” said Heuchan, who
only had two goals this season
before Sunday’s game. “The keeper
just dove. She must have thought I
was hitting it the first time. I just
found the back of the net.”
Missouri’s 1-0 double-overtime
loss ended its season. The Tigers
finished 11-7-2 in their return to
the NCAA Tournament after a oneyear hiatus.
“In my 21 years here, this is the
grittiest Kansas team we have ever
seen,” MU Coach Bryan Blitz said.
“All year long, we’ve created chances. The ball didn’t bounce our way
today. We’ve had a lot of things go
our way based on the other circumstances. That’s the beauty of
soccer when you win it and the
heartache when you don’t.”
Heading into Sunday’s match,
Missouri ranked third nationally in
shots per game, averaging 19.2.
The Tigers attempted 14 shots
Sunday but only three warranted
saves from backup goalkeeper
Regan Gibbs. Regular goalie Maddie Dobyns was out with an ankle
injury she sustained in the Big 12
Tournament on Nov. 2. Gibbs
appeared in only three games this
season, including the final 11 minutes against the Horned Frogs. The
redshirt freshman had saved 11 of
14 shots entering Sunday’s game.
On a day when the wind
wreaked havoc on any ball in the
air, MU had the advantage in the
second half. Midway through the
second, Blitz switched to a 3-5-2
formation, as Missouri had the
wind at its back. The Tigers looked
dangerous in that offensivelyminded alignment, especially in
the final 10 minutes of regulation,
as Erin Webb connected for a strike
that hummed a few inches over the
top of the goal in the 82nd minute.
“I think they switched to it
because we definitely had the
momentum,” Kansas Coach Mark
Francis said. “Bryan had to change
something. To be honest, for the
last 10 minutes of the second half,
they were putting us under quite a
bit of pressure.”
In the 98th minute, Webb’s
crossing shot flicked off a defender
and out-of-bounds. The Tigers got
two corner kicks in the final few
minutes of the first overtime period, but neither found the foot of an
attacker in the box.
“I thought a goal was coming,”
defender Jasmine Johnson said.
“We looked really good, especially
in the first overtime and the end of
the second half.”
The Jayhawks (11-5-4), who
have allowed 0.89 goals per game
this season, recorded their fifth 1-0
victory of the year.
Since its move to the Southeastern Conference in 2012, MU had
an edge in postseason Border War
matchups. The Jayhawks beat the
Tigers in volleyball in last year’s
NCAA Tournament, but the Missouri softball team eliminated the
Jayhawks from NCAA regionals in
2014 and 2015. In 2014, the MU
soccer team won 3-1 over KU at
Rock Chalk Park in the first round
of the NCAA Tournament.
“We definitely got that revenge,”
Kansas senior defender Hanna
Kallmaier said. “I got a couple of
messages from my old teammates
from two years ago. They were like,
‘OK, you’ve got to beat them.’ ”