NW Sports from the AP

AP-NW–1st SportsMinute,367
Here is the latest Washington, Oregon and Alaska sports news from
The Associated Press

OREGON-COLORADO
Clutch free throw lifts Colorado past Oregon 72-71
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) – Nate Tomlinson was fouled with one second
remaining by E.J. Singler and sank the first free throw before
deliberately missing the second to give Colorado a 72-71 win over
Oregon Saturday night.
Oregon’s Olu Ashaolu tied it at 71 with 7.6 seconds left and was
fouled by Askia Booker, but he missed the free throw, and Andre
Roberson corralled the rebound for Colorado.
Behind Booker’s 17 points and 16 from Spencer Dinwiddie, the
Buffaloes (16-7, 8-3) remained perfect at home in their first
season in the Pac-12, improving to 7-0 in league play in Boulder.
The last time they won eight of their first 11 league games was in
1997 in the Big 12.
Devoe Joseph led the Ducks (16-7, 7-4), who fell to 4-2 on the
road in the Pac-12, with 18 points, Ashaolu scored 17 and Singler
added 13 points and 12 rebounds.

OREGON ST-UTAH
Cunningham leads Oregon State past Utah 76-58
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Jared Cunningham scored 20 points and
Oregon State’s defense registered 16 steals en route to a 76-58
victory over Utah on Saturday.
Devon Collier added 14 points for the Beavers (15-8, 5-6
Pac-12), who won for the fourth time in their last five games.
Utah (5-18, 2-9) committed 22 turnovers overall and never got on
track long enough to threaten Oregon State the way it did Oregon
two nights earlier.
Cedric Martin scored 19 points for the Utes and Jason Washburn
had one of his best games of the season with 15 points, eight
blocked shots and six rebounds.
Oregon State found ways to establish dominance around the basket
from the opening tip. In the first half alone, the Beavers scored
26 points in the paint while limiting Utah to eight. They also
controlled the glass, collecting 22 rebounds compared to 15 for
Utah before halftime.
SEATTLE (AP) – Newly released documents show the city of Seattle
has been working behind the scenes with a wealthy hedge-fund
manager to bring an NBA team back to town – possibly as early as
next fall if the Sacramento Kings fail to get a satisfactory deal
for a new arena. The Seattle Times reports that the city turned
over the documents Friday under a public records request. The
documents say a Seattle native who now lives in San Francisco,
44-year-old hedge-fund manager Christopher Hansen, approached the
city about his desire to buy an NBA team and build an arena south
of Safeco Field.

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) – Musher Brent Sass has taken an early
lead in the 1,000-mile Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race.
Sass, of Fairbanks, was the first musher to leave the Central
checkpoint yesterday, departing at 11:31 a.m., 13 minutes after he
arrived. Next in was Hugh Neff, who reached the checkpoint one
minute after Sass left. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports Sass
also was the first to arrive at the Mile 101 checkpoint earlier,
leaving for Central after his mandatory four-hour stop.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Nicolas Batum (bah-TOOM’) set a Trail
Blazers record with nine 3-pointers and scored a career-high 33
points, LaMarcus Aldridge added 29 points and the Portland Trail
Blazers beat the Denver Nuggets 117-97 Saturday night. Gerald
Wallace had 17 points and Marcus Camby had 20 rebounds for
Portland. Batum made a career-high nine 3-pointers, the most in an
NBA game this season and a franchise record for the Blazers. Danilo
Gallinari had 20 points to lead the Nuggets.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

AP-NY-02-06-12 0530EST