Der Fremde » Locke believed suffered a few sluggish

NEW ORLEANS - Jonas Valanciunas stay in The Big Easy will be a brief one. After making his All-Star debut in Fridays Rising Stars Challenge, the Raptors sophomore centre wont be sticking around for the duration of the weekends festivities, thinking about the big picture instead. Valanciunas, who scored four points in 19 minutes for the victorious Team Hill in the annual rookie-sophomore showcase, will spend two days on a beach in Mexico. How soon does he leave? "As soon as possible," he joked after Fridays game. "I want to see that sun." Scheduled to take off from New Orleans Saturday morning, Valanciunas vacation will also be short-lived. He and the rest of the team will reconvene in Washington Monday for practice but a little relaxation before that could go a long way for the Raptors young centre. "[I can] just relax my body," he said of the excursion, "have some time off to relax my mind, relax my body and be ready for the next half of the season." With 30 regular season games and - barring a complete Raptors collapse - at least a few playoff contests to go, Valanciunas should surpass his minute total from last season in the next week, hes 32 minutes shy of matching his rookie mark. After a strong eight-game stretch, averaging 15.4 points and 10.8 rebounds, to close out last month and begin February, the 21-year-old was rusty going into the break. Despite grabbing 14 boards, he connected on just one of his nine attempts, logging just 24 minutes in Wednesdays win over the Hawks. "He needs a rest," Dwane Casey said after that game. "He needs a mental rest." The stretch run will be uncharted territory for Valanciunas and the Raptors will need him at full strength, both physically and mentally. His time in New Orleans, however brief, was not especially taxing. Valanciunas four points was tied with Phoenixs Miles Plumlee for lowest in the game. In general the event is not one that lends itself to prototypical big men. Its a high-scoring, up and down display of athleticism and three-point shooting. "Everybody wants to score," he said. "Everybody wants to do some beautiful dunks, beautiful shots and my job is to bang inside." Valanciunas may have been the only one on the court looking to set screens and box out. Offensively, he was out of place, failing to convert three alley-oops, getting a hook shot blocked by the Pelicans Anthony Davis and even missing a rare three-pointer. "That was my goal the whole game," he said with a smile. "To make a three." Valanciunas team, drafted by Grant Hill, was victorious by a score of 142-136 over Team Chris Webber. Detroits Andre Drummond was awarded MVP, voted on by the fans, after scoring 30 points and grabbing 25 boards. Clevelands Dion Waiters had 31 points and the Knicks Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 36 for Team Webber. Jose De Leon Rays Jersey . The Mariners ace allowed just one hit over eight innings while striking out nine, and Robinson Cano backed him with a two-run homer as Seattle earned a 3-0 victory over the Cleveland Indians on Sunday. Nate Lowe Jersey . Thaddeus Young scored seven of his 25 points in the fourth quarter, Evan Turner added 22 points, and the 76ers hung on for their first road win since Nov. 1, beating the depleted Los Angeles Lakers 111-104 on Sunday night. https://www.cheapraysonline.com/486i-yon...ersey-rays.html. The redshirt freshman finished the regular season with nearly 3,500 passing yards, and 35 touchdowns with another three on the ground while leading the Seminoles to the top of the BCS Rankings. Jose De Leon Jersey . Austin Watson, Scott Ford, Filip Forsberg and Mark Van Guilder had the other goals for the Admirals (30-21-12). Scott Darling made 30 saves for his 10th win of the season. Chaz Roe Rays Jersey . It looked like being another miserable day for Moyes when Ashley Westwood put Villa in front from a 13th-minute free kick. But Rooney headed United level seven minutes later, and the striker netted his 16th of the season for the struggling champions from the penalty spot before halftime.HAMILTON - It was a night of redemption for the Abbotsford Heat. Three days after falling to Hamilton, Abbotsford scored three goals in 53 seconds en route to a convincing 5-1 win over the Bulldogs Saturday in American Hockey League play. "We wish that this could have come on Wednesday, but we played a complete game tonight," said Heat forward Corey Locke. "We had everything from power-play goals to big penalty kills, and it was a whole group effort. Everyone chipped in tonight, and thats how were going to win." Locke, Chad Billins, Ben Street, Sven Baertschi and Max Reinhart each had goals for the Heat (35-23-7), who dropped 10 of their past 11 games heading into Saturday, and Aaron Dell made 36 saves for the win. Nathan Beaulieu had the lone goal for the Bulldogs (28-32-5). Dustin Tokarski stopped 19 shots before being replaced to begin the third period. Devan Dubnyk stopped all five shots he faced in relief. Tokarski made an exceptional save to keep the game scoreless 12 minutes into the first period, sliding to his right to deny the Heat in close at his far post. But a night that started so well for the Hamilton goaltender quickly turned sour. Locke, who had set up the previous chance, provided the finish as the Heat opened the scoring at 14:28. Locke moved into the low slot with Kane Lafranchise holding the puck along the boards, and tipped a slap-pass from the defenceman high and past Tokarski. Abbotsford doubled its lead just 19 seconds later, when Billins fired a wrist shot from the point that moved through a screen and surprised Tokarski. The Heat scored their third goal in quick succession at 15:21. Tokarski sprawled to deny Josh Jooris initial shot as the forward crashed the net, but Street was on hand at the post to slot the rebound into the open net. Hamilton head coach Sylvain Lefebvre rued his teams missed opportunities on the power play early in the first period, that could have radically changed the outcome. "We started pretty well, and it would have been nice if our power play had clicked to start the game," he said. "We had some scoring chances as well, but when they scored their first goal on a power play, it deflated us and we had some bad shifts. "Down 3-0 after the first, its tough to get back." Dell worked hard to preserve his shutout bid in the second period. Nick Tarnasky was unguarded in the low slot, but DDell dropped into his butterfly to deny the Hamilton winger from point-blank range six minutes in.dddddddddddd Louis Leblanc was whistled for closing his hand on the puck at 9:22, and Abbotsford quickly extended its lead on the ensuing power play. The combination of Greg Olsen, Derek Smith and Baertschi sprung a three-on-two rush, and after Olsen was turned back, Smith slipped a short pass to Baertschi, who slapped a one-time shot past Tokarski from close range at 10:00 of the second. Dell was forced into action late in period, and kicked aside a tipped shot before recovering to deny another hard wrist shot with his right pad. Teammates have been impressed by the young goaltender, who played just his sixth game for the Heat on Saturday. "Hes played great," said Locke of Dell. "He gave us a chance to win both of these games in Hamilton. We couldnt do it for him on Wednesday, but here he got some run support. "He looks confident in there now, and thats what you want from a goalie." Dubnyk came in to replace Tokarski to begin the third period after Tokarski allowed four goals on 23 shots. Lefebvre argued that his decision to change goaltenders was less an indictment of Tokarskis play than an attempt to re-energize his team. "Sometimes, you try to get the troops going and you use different tactics," he said. "(Tokarski) played really well in the first two games since he came back. Tonight, he didnt make the big saves that we needed, but Im not going to make him the culprit. Thats not the case. "I was thinking that I was going to go with Dubnyk [on Tuesday], so I thought I might as well give him the period to get ready." Dells shutout bid was spoiled at 3:59 of the third. Christian Thomas initial shot from the blue-line hit a Heat defender and bounced to Beaulieu at the left faceoff dot. But with Dell out of position, the defenceman easily fired a shot into the near side of the net. It was a letdown for the Heat, who Locke believed suffered a few sluggish moments despite the win. "We would have liked to keep pushing forward," he said. "We had a few lags and a bad start to the third period. They were all over us until the first timeout, and weve got to figure those sorts of things out. "But we got the two points and we got ourselves out of our slump." Reinhart added an empty-net goal at 19:11. ' ' '