SECTION B VISIT SAMOA NEWS ONLINE @ SAMOANEWS.COM THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2018 CLASSIFIEDS • CARTOONS • ALOHA BRIEFS & MORE ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ ▼ Germany’s Savchenko, Massot fl awless in C M winning pairs gold Y K By DAVE SKRETTA, AP Sports Writer GANGNEUNG, South Korea (AP) — It took Aliona Savchenko fi ve trips to the Winter Games, working with three dif- ferent partners and representing two different nations, to fi nally achieve Olympic glory. It also took Bruno Massot lifting her to the top step of the podium. Performing to music by Armand Amar, the German pair pranced and soared to a record 159.31 points in their free skate Thursday. That gave them 235.90 points, catapulting them from fourth place to fi rst and topping China’s Sui Wenjing and Han Cong by less than half a point. “We did New Year’s together,” the Ukraine-born Savchenko said, “and we said, ‘2018 will be our year,’ and it its. It’s just an amazing story, and I’m unbelievably happy.” Sui and Han, who led after the short program, made mistakes on their opening lift, a combination jump and side-by-side triple salchows. They recovered to skate a strong second half of the pro- gram, but the bobbles proved costly. They fi nished with 234.47 points, leaving them with a silver medal. Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford added bronze to the team gold they won with Canada, becoming the fi rst pair to land a quad throw in an Olympic competition. “We heard what the Germans did before us. We heard that score when we were on the ice,” Duhamel said. “We didn’t let it faze us. We said: ‘OK, good for them. Now it’s our turn.’” They skated well. But the Germans were simply superb. Savchenko stuck a huge triple twist lift to open their program, going so high that it seemed she would scrape the ceiling, and the couple was perfect on a throw triple fl ip. They followed with a gorgeous combination and a side-by-side triple toe in such perfect unison that it drew gasps from the crowd and a big cheer from German great Katarina Witt seated in the arena. When the music stopped, Savchenko lay on the ice gasping for Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot of Germany perform in the pairs free skate fi gure skating air.The performance was sweet vindication for the Germans, who fi nal in the Gangneung Ice Arena at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, South Korea, were favored for gold after winning the Grand Prix Final but whose Th ursday, Feb. 15, 2018. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) error on a jump in the short program left them playing catch-up. They caught up and fl ew right by. “We were two fi ghters,” said the French-born Massot. “We were on the ice for a medal, and for a gold medal, and we didn’t give up after what happened yesterday. We were ready for this.” The 34-year-old Savchenko’s road to Olympic gold included trips with Stanislav Morozov and Robin Szolkowy, with whom she won two bronze medals and fi ve world titles. But it wasn’t until she teamed with Massot four years ago that the groundwork was laid for her triumph in South Korea. After their fl awless performance, Savchenko and Massot had C M to wait anxiously as three more pairs took the ice. Duhamel and Y K Radford were solid, and Wenjing and Cong made things tight, but the gold medal was assured when Evgenia Tarasova and Vladimir Morozov struggled. When the Russian pair’s scores were read, Massot enveloped Savchenko in a big hug. Then he lifted her — quite literally — onto the top step of the podium. “Yesterday was hard for me,” Massot said of his short program mistake, “but Aliona was here for me, to tell me it’s not fi nished: ‘We still have a very good free program. We have to show to everybody that this program is an Olympic program, a gold medal program.’”It was indeed. Earlier in the day, North Korea’s Ryom Tae Ok and Kim Ju Sik performed a season-best free skate to the delight of their orches- trated cheering section seated in the upper level of Gangneung Ice Arena. The couple fi nished 13th out of 16 teams to qualify for the free skate.“I was very nervous,” Kim said, “but when I heard the crowd cheer all the hardships melted away.” Alexa Scimeca-Knierim and Chris Knierim became the fi rst Aljona Savchenko and Bruno Massot of Germany react aft er their performance in the pairs free Americans to land a quad twist in an Olympic competition when skate fi gure skating fi nal in the Gangneung Ice Arena at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Gangneung, they opened their free skate with it. The spectacular, four-revolu- South Korea, Th ursday, Feb. 15, 2018. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip) tion element is so diffi cult that only a couple of other pairs tried it. Page B2 samoa news, Thursday, February 15, 2018 points during a win at Creighton wins over Texas Tech, Louis- on Saturday. He found his touch ville and Creighton and losses Bluiett scores 37, No. 4 Xavier from the first shot on Wednesday to Villanova and Xavier twice. — a nothing-but-net 3 — and Xavier: The win kept Xavi- finished 8 of 11 beyond the arc, er’s week of momentum going one shy of the school record for into the showdown with Vil- beats Seton Hall 102-90 3-pointers made in a game. lanova. The Musketeers got a “I just wanted to be aggres- No. 1 seed in the preliminary sive from the beginning,” Blu- NCAA Tournament rankings iett said. “I don’t think it was on Sunday, then received five anything different, just our reg- first-place votes while moving ular game plan and me staying up to No. 4 in the AP poll for aggressive.” the first time in school history a Naji Marshall added a career- day later. high 20 points. Xavier went 14 BLUIETT CLOSES IN of 29 from beyond the arc while Bluiett now has 2,114 career topping 100 points in a Big East points, 18 shy of David West game for the first time. for second on Xavier’s all-time Seton Hall (17-9, 6-7) has scoring list. He also has 300 dropped a season-high four in career 3-pointers, seven shy of a row. Myles Powell scored a Romain Sato’s school record. career-high 30 points, including JONES BACK 24 in the second half as the Xavier forward Tyrique Pirates cut Xavier’s 25-point Jones missed the last two games lead to 87-81 with 3:39 left with an injured left shoulder. before Xavier finished it out at He played 11 minutes, scored the free throw line. nine points and had a pair of It was familiar for the Pirates, rebounds. who overcame a 17-point def- PERFECT AT HOME icit on Saturday before losing Xavier is 16-0 at the Cintas to Georgetown 83-80 , with Center this season and 244-35 Powell scoring 25 points. overall. “We’re just getting ourselves TEE TIMES in big holes early in the game,” The officials called tech- coach Kevin Willard said. “It’s nical fouls on Willard and Seton tough in this league to spot Hall’s Ismael Sanogo, and also teams 17 or 25 points.” Xavier’s Sean O’Mara for ques- Bluiett came out determined tioning a call from the bench. to set the tone early, hitting four DELGADO’S KNEE 3s during a 25-11 opening run Seton Hall’s Angel Delgado as he personally outscoring the played 22 minutes and had 10 Pirates 12-11. The Musketeers points and six rebounds. He was led by as many as 22 in the half. playing with a sore left knee. Bluiett finished with 37 Willard took him out when the points despite taking only 12 Pirates got behind by 25 points. Seton Hall forward Sandro Mamukelashvili (23) attempts a steal against Xavier forward Kaiser shots from the field, making UP NEXT Gates (22) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Wednesday Feb. 14, 2018, in eight of them. He was 13 of 13 Seton Hall: Hosts DePaul Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Gary Landers) on free throws. on Sunday. The Pirates won at “I don’t know if I’ve seen DePaul 86-70 on Jan. 28, one By JOE KAY, AP Sports Writer and the Musketeers let most of Center. Xavier leads the league a better performance as a head of their two road wins in Big CINCINNATI (AP) — a 25-point lead slip away before by a game and a half after the coach than Trevon’s 37 points,” East play along with a victory at Trevon Bluiett followed his holding on for a 102-90 win Wildcats’ 76-71 loss at Provi- Mack said. “A lot of guys get Butler. worst shooting performance of over Seton Hall on Wednesday dence earlier Wednesday. over 30 in a game, but they’re Xavier: Villanova has won the season with a can’t-miss night, tightening their hold on “Very fortunate,” coach taking 25 shots to get it. It’s the last three in the series by showing, keeping Xavier atop first place in the league. Chris Mack said. “We’ve got a pretty amazing to take 12 shots lopsided margins, including the Big East with a huge game Xavier (24-3, 12-2) has won big one on Saturday.” and get that many points.” an 89-65 victory on Jan.