PORTLAND, Ore. cheap jerseys from china . -- The first priority for Kendall Williams was defence. He spent all afternoon bumping, hounding, hand-checking and harassing Casper Ware wherever the Long Beach State star went. Yet the points Williams provided for New Mexico in the second half were equally important Thursday. And now, maybe these Lobos will finally fulfil expectations back home and get past the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. Williams scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half and bottled up Ware defensively as fifth-seeded New Mexico held off the 49ers for a 75-68 win in the West Regional. When New Mexico needed a big shot, it was the quick, lanky, sophomore guard who delivered. His 3-pointer with 4:38 left pushed the Lobos ahead for good after Long Beach State (25-9) took a 61-59 lead on a steal and windmill dunk from James Ennis. Williams then floated a soft runner in the lane with 1:25 left for a 70-66 New Mexico lead that the 12th-seeded 49ers couldnt overcome. "Our coaches told us to get into the lane and penetrate and make plays," Williams said. "I saw a few openings, a few opportunities and was able to make some pretty big shots down the stretch." Drew Gordon added 18 points and 13 rebounds, but New Mexicos punishing forward was mostly a complement to Williams in the second half. Williams went 6 of 11 from the field, hitting a pair of important 3-pointers, and the Lobos (28-6) made their free throws in the final minute to close it out. On the defensive end, Williams length and quickness bothered Ware the entire game. The Big West player of the year went nearly 25 minutes without a field goal and finished with 17 points on 5-of-19 shooting. "He carried us. I didnt give him a blow in the second half. I told him we kind of wore him out," Long Beach State coach Dan Monson said. The Lobos will face No. 4 seed Louisville in the third round Saturday after the Cardinals beat Davidson 69-62. New Mexico has been knocked out in its second game of the tournament in five of its previous six NCAA appearances, including two years ago when the Lobos were a No. 3 seed and fell to 11th-seeded Washington by 18. Gordon, the transfer from UCLA who found success in the Southwest, shot 7 of 10 and Hugh Greenwood added 12 points for the Lobos. New Mexico won its sixth straight after sweeping to the Mountain West Conference tournament title last weekend in Las Vegas. Known for their defence, the Lobos appeared poised to pull away after Gordon scored off a rebound for a 51-43 lead with 12 minutes remaining. That capped an eight-point run after Ennis three-point play pulled Long Beach State even at 43-all. But the 49ers wouldnt fade. Ware scored his first field goal since the 14:58 mark of the first half on a bulldozing drive into the lane to cut the lead to 51-49 with 9:55 left. And it was Long Beach State ahead 61-59 with 5 minutes left after Ennis stole an errant pass from Greenwood and windmill-slammed the 49ers into the lead for the first time since it was 27-25. Williams then hit the first of his two huge shots. Out of a timeout, he found himself open on the wing and knocked down his second 3-pointer to give New Mexico the lead for good. "I missed one before that, kind of short-changed it, so I sort of came back and clutched up for my team and spread it out a little bit," Williams said. "And luckily that one went in and we were able to get inside after that and finish the game. Ware missed the front end of a one-and-one and Gordon scored for a 64-61 New Mexico advantage. Williams and Greenwood later added free throws for a 68-63 lead, but Mike Caffeys 3-pointer made it a one-possession game. Amid the chaos of Long Beach State trying to trap defensively, Williams calmly dribbled in the lane and hit a floater with 1:25 left to push the lead back to 70-66. Ware missed an open 3 with 45 seconds left and Demetrius Walker, Greenwood and Gordon put the victory away at the free throw line. "Hes always had that ability to make really big plays, if not by pass, by shot, or by the free throw line," New Mexico coach Steve Alford said. Ware carried the 49ers to the Big West title, finally vanquishing UC Santa Barbara in the championship game after losing to the Gauchos in the previous two conference title games. He scored 33 in the final and because of the 49ers challenging nonconference schedule, they were seen as a popular upset pick. But after his 3-pointer with 15 minutes left in the first half, Ware didnt hit another field goal until 10 minutes remained. T.J. Robinson added 12 points and 14 rebounds for the 49ers and Ennis finished with 13 points. "I hit them before. They just didnt go in tonight," Ware said. "Its not like Ive never hit them before. I hit plenty of those shots. Today they wouldnt give me a roll. When we went up by two, they just made more plays than we did." cheap nfl jerseys . Two weeks after winning gold in Sochi alongside her sister Chloe -- who won silver at the Games -- Justine again placed first in competition, this time at a moguls World Cup event on Saturday while her other sister, Maxime, placed third. wholesale nfl jerseys . -- Diego Chara scored in the opening minutes and the Portland Timbers boosted their playoff hopes with a 3-0 win over the New England Revolution Friday night.AKRON, Ohio -- Tiger Woods was on the practice range just as the sun began to rise Tuesday over Firestone, his first time on a PGA Tour golf course in nearly three months. Even as the season heads toward a conclusion, Woods cant wait to get started. "Im excited to compete, to play," Woods said. "And hopefully, to win the tournament." That part about Woods hasnt changed. Its everything else in the world of golf he once ruled that is so much different. Woods showed up at the Bridgestone Invitational at No. 28, his lowest world ranking since the start of his first full season on the PGA Tour. He has a new caddie -- at least temporarily -- in Bryon Bell, a childhood friend who now heads up a design business that is not getting much work these days with a downturn in the industry. He no longer is the dominant force in golf, having gone 20 months since his last win at the Australian Masters. For Woods, however, the biggest change is how he feels about his health. "The great thing is I dont feel a thing," Woods said. "It feels solid. It feels stable. No pain. Thats one of the reasons why I took as long as I did to come back, is that I want to get to this point where I can go ahead and start playing golf again like this. Its been a very long time, and it feels good to go out there today and hit balls like this, go practice and feel nothing and walk around and pretty much do anything I want on the golf course." Asked how long it has been since he felt so good physically, Woods replied, "Years." It almost seems that long ago since he was last in action. Woods, who was No. 1 in the world at the Bridgestone Invitational a year ago, has not played since he walked off the course after nine holes May 12 at The Players Championship with recurring injuries to his left knee and Achilles tendon. He said he injured them during the third round of the Masters while hitting a shot an awkward stance in the pine straw on the 17th hole. Woods said if he had sat out the rest of May, he would have been fine the rest of the year, a lesson he learned this time around. Woods wasnt about to return until he was 100 per cent healthy, and he is convinced of that now. He said he started hitting balls a couple of weeks ago, without giving an exact date, and that he got the itch to start playing soon after. Woods said he thought about playing The Greenbrier Classic last week, but decided to wait a little more. What gets him excited? "Trying to beat these boys," Woods said. "Thats fun. Getting out there and trying to win golf tournaments, being there with a chance to win, whether you win or fail. Just being there is just a rush, and its just so much fun. Trying to pull off the shots that youve done in practice when it matters the most, see what youve got. Thats fun." In the three months since he was gone, Rory McIlroy shattered his U.S. Open scoring record to par, and good friend Darren Clarke finally won a major at the British Open at age 42. Steve Stricker has won twice to become the highest-ranked American. Clarke, friends with Woods since his final major as an amateur in 1996, willl be paired with him the first two rounds.cheap jerseys. "Tiger has been the best player in the world for a very long time," Clarke said. "He has been the guy over my career that has set the benchmark for all the rest of us, and personally hes a good friend of mine. It is fantastic, I think, not just for you guys but for all of world golf just to see Tiger Woods back playing again. Im sure he will be trying to get himself back up to where he has been before, and personally I dont doubt hell do that. "But for us to have a chance to compete against him again can only be good for the game in general." Woods still managed to make news while not playing when he fired his caddie, Steve Williams, after a 12-year partnership during which he won 13 majors. For all the talk about disloyalty -- Williams caddied for Adam Scott at the U.S. Open, then again at the AT&T National without seeking permission -- Woods said only that it was "time for a change." "I felt that Stevie and I have had just an amazing run," he said. "Steve is a hell of a caddie, theres no denying that. Hes helped my career, and I think Ive helped his, as well. Weve had a great partnership for 12 years, maybe a little bit more than that, won a bunch of tournaments. I just felt it was time to change things up a little bit. I felt very comfortable with the move." He did not bite when asked about Williams comments to a New Zealand television station that he had wasted the last two years of his life. "Thats what he says and what he feels," Woods said. In his place is Bell, who last caddied for Woods at the 2005 Disney Classic, and previously worked for Woods when he won the 1996 U.S. Amateur and the 1999 Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines. Woods said Bell is only a fill-in -- "Have you seen his legs?" he said -- and there no timetable for getting a permanent replacement. The only sense of urgency for Woods is his results. Because he has missed so much golf -- and didnt play all that great early in the year -- he has plunged to No. 135 in the FedEx Cup standings. He needs to crack the top 125 after this World Golf Championship and the PGA Championship to qualify for the playoffs. He could take care of that with a top 10 finish at Firestone, where only once in his career -- last year -- has he finished lower than fifth. "I really hope that he will play well," said PGA champion Martin Kaymer, who played with Woods at TPC Sawgrass, at least for nine holes. "We need him. We really need him. Hes the best player who ever played that game, and obviously hes struggling a little bit at the moment, but I just hope that he can go back to basics and show us how great of a golf player he is." Whatever rust Woods has wont be known until Thursday, when his shots count. He played nine holes Tuesday, often hitting more than one shot when he wasnt pleased with where it was going. But it was only practice. Woods wont get a good sense of where his game is until the first round Thursday. "Im just focused on trying to win a golf tournament," he said. "Thats it." ' ' '
