NW–SportsMinute/280
Here is the latest Washington, Oregon and Alaska sports news from The Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Devin Harris had 27 points, including a career-high six 3-pointers, and the Utah Jazz continued to jockey for a playoff spot with a 112-91 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. The Jazz, with just three games to play, are locked in a battle for the remaining playoff spots in the Western Conference with Houston, Phoenix, Dallas and Denver. Gordon Hayward added 23 points for the Jazz. Wesley Matthews had 21 points for the Blazers, who’d already been eliminated from the playoffs.
SEATTLE (AP) – Jason Vargas threw seven innings and the top of the order provided pop for the Seattle Mariners in a 4-1 win last night over the Cleveland Indians before the smallest crowd in Safeco Field history. Brandon League pitched the bottom of the ninth for his fifth consecutive save. Just 11,343 watched the game, setting a new record-low at Safeco Field, which was built in 1999. Seattle’s Chone (shahn) Figgins turned an eight-pitch at-bat into his eighth career leadoff home run and first of the season.
EUGENE, Ore. (AP) – Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens says the Ducks actively work to address possible illegal substance use by student-athletes. Following a report that estimated 40 to 60 percent of the football team smoked marijuana, Mullens issued a statement yesterday addressing the story in ESPN The Magazine. The Oregon story is based on interviews with 19 current or former Oregon players and officials. Mullens says that Oregon tests student-athletes to the full extent possible under Oregon state law, which prohibits random drug tests. The school’s policy allows for testing when there is a “reasonable suspicion.”
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.