Yearly Archives: 2009

66ers flashy in win over Utah.

Rich Lohman.

TULSA, OK–The Tulsa 66ers looked a lot more poised and under control as they beat the Utah Flash 98-87 in the second of a two game set Saturday night at the Tulsa Convention Center.  Leading the score sheet for the Sixers was Mustafa Shakur, who had had 23 points, including 11-of-16 from the free throw line.  In general the Tulsa squad looked better in all facets of the game, ball control and passing, rebounding, defense and shooting.

“We competed for 48 minutes” 66ers Head coach Nate Tibbetts said, “And we did a lot better job of doing the little things that make the difference for us.”

In addition to Shakur’s effortst five players were in double figures for the 66ers Saturday evening.  Moses Ehambe and Cecil Brown scored 17 point each, and OKC Thunder player assignee Byron Mullens posted his second straight double-double of the season with a 15 point, 17 rebound game.

 “We did a really great job of talking on defense tonight,” Shakur said. “We knew that it wouldn’t be easy since they are a good team, but we made some plays down the stretch.”

Tulsa led throughout the game, at one point extending their lead to 29-19 in the first quarter before having the half end with the 66ers ahead only by two 44-42.  Both teams battled down stretch in the 2nd half, coming to a 75-all tie with seven minutes remaining in the 4th quarter.  Aided by 3 critical turnovers by Utah, Tulsa went on a 23-12 run to take and hold the lead with less than a minute remaining.

The Flash had four players in double figures at the end of the game.  Gavin Grant had 17 points, and Carlos Wheeler had 15 points and 12 rebounds.

The Sixers now head to Austin for a two game set with the Toros on December 1 and 2, then on to Rio Grande Valley for a home and home set with the Vipers on December 4th and 5th.  Tickets for that game and all 66ers home games are available at tulsa66ers.com and the Tulsa Convention Center box office.

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Photos: Kevin Pyle

Attendance: 3508
Duration: 2:20.25

  

66ers blinded by Flash 100-85.

Rich Lohman

TULSA, OK–The Tulsa 66ers tipped off their 4th NBA D-League season Friday night hosting the Utah Flash in the newly renovated Tulsa Convention Center arena, in front of an announced crowd of 4,159.  The 66ers sported new uniforms, new digs and a new attitude as they looked to improve upon last seasons 5th place finish in the southwest division of the NBA D-League.

Despite a 15 point, 4 rebound effort from ORU product Moses Ehambe and the solid defensive efforts of OU product Keith Clark, the visiting Utah Flash proved too much for the Tulsa squad as they were plagued by several errors and first-night miscues.  Tulsa battled back to tie the game five minutes into the 3rd quarter but then the Flash took control and never really looked back.
As sloppy as the game was for Tulsa, 66ers coach Nate Tibbetts liked what he saw for the most part.  “We’ve got a lot of new guys, but the main thing is we picked up our efforts and battled back in the second half.” Coach Tibbetts said,  “They were the aggressor tonight.”  By the numbers the 66ers finished the game with six players in double figures, including recent OKC Thunder assignee Byron Mullens, who had 14 points and 10 boards.  Notable off the bench was Cecil Brown who brought 10 points of his own to the game.  

Utah’s big point man was Dontell Jefferson who posted a game-high 18 points while Carlos Wheeler had the games only double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.  Orien Greene also contributed to the Flash’s dpminant play with 17 points.  The Flash shot an even 48% from the floor (38-71) while Tulsa went 39.5% from the field (32-81).    

Coach Nate Tibbetts and his young team will face the Utah Flash again Saturday night, and the 66ers are featuring $1 dollar hot dogs and free posters of the Oklahoma City Thunder to the first 1500 fans.  Tickets are available to tulsa66ers.com and the Tulsa Convention Center box office.

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Photos: Kevin Pyle

Attendance: 4159
Duration: 2:04.46

Oilers win a bullfight 6-2.

Rich Lohman

TULSA, OK–In hockey, like other sports, you play with a great deal of emotion.  Some of it comes from what’s going on in the game, other times you get it through inspiration frokm another source, like for instance, your coach.

Coach Bruce Ransay was not pleased with the efforts his Tulsa Oilers team displayed on Thanksgiving night against the upstart Missouri mavericks.  The two teams battled to a 5-4 shootout decision for the mavericks, handing the Oilers their first “loss” at home yet preserving the fact that they have yet to lose a game in regulation at the amazing BOK Center this season.  In previous years to lose by taking the other team to a tiebreaker would be all right and the coach at the time would be satisfied that instead of a loss and no points in the standings, the Oilers would come away with one point.

Bruce Ramsay is not that kind of coach.

The Oilers hosted the CHL defending champion Texas Brahmas last night stinging from the SOL and wanting to post a fresh victory to get back in Coach Ramsay’s good graces.  The Brahmas came into the game riding a flawless 5-0 win streak and looking to go to six wins visiting the Oilers.  The Oilers went down a goal in the first period, which was the opening frame’s only goal when Matt Burto took a pass from Lee Jubinville and shot the puck past  Oilers goalie Kevin Armstrong to put Texas up 1-0.

The Oilers then began an onslaught of goals beginning with a shorthanded marker from the league’s scoring leader Rob Hisey assisted by Derek Merlini 17 seconds into the 2nds, and that was followed by a goal by the Oilers centerman Aaron Davis assisted by T.J. Caig at 2:19.  Add goals from Tom Maldonado and Tyler Butler at 9:49 and 19:00 and the period would end with the Oilers riding high and the Brahmas stunned.  Tulsa would score twice more in the 3rd period, goals coming from Jake Riddle and Mike Beausoliel to extend the 4 goal lead to 6.  Burto would add anpother Brahma goal late in the third, but Texas would come no closer than the 4 point deficit as the game ended.

As often as not in hockey, when you jump ahead like Tulsa did in the 2nd period tempers flare, and last night was no exception.  There were four fights in the game, including a rare bout between the goalies.  Armstrong and Texas netminder Joe Palmer ripped their gloves off, spiked their masks and sticks to the ice and went at it in the dying minutes of the game to the delight of the 5,443 Oilers fans present.  The two players had attempted to go a round previously in the 3rd period, but were stopped at the blue lines by the linesmen.  There were a total of a periods worth of penalty minutes handed out as the frutration of the defending champs came out while they were behind on the scoreboard.

The Oilers next game is at home on Tuesday night as they face the team they share the top of the North division of the CHL with, the Clorado Eagles at 7:05.  The Brahmas travel to Allen to face the Americans tonight.  Tickets for the Oilers next game and all home games are available at the BOK Center box office, tulsaoilers.com and all reasors locations.

{gallery}sports/oilers/game09/gallery{/gallery}

Photos: Kevin Pyle

GAME LENGTH: 2:30
ATTENDANCE: 5,443
REFEREE: Jon McIsaac
1ST STAR: Riddle, Troy (TUL)
2ND STAR: Butler, Tyler (TUL)
3RD STAR: Armstrong, Kevin (TUL)

SCORING SUMMARY
Period 1
Texas – Matt Burto (Lee Jubinville) 8:45
Period 2
Tulsa – Rob Hisey (shorthanded) (Derek Merlini) 0:17
Tulsa – Aaron Davis (TJ Caig) 2:19
Tulsa – Tom Maldonado (Dan Riedel, Troy Riddle) 9:49
Tulsa – Tyler Butler (powerplay) (Troy Riddle, Rick Kozak) 19:00
Period 3
Tulsa – Jake Riddle (Marty Standish, Dallas Steward) 3:28
Tulsa – Michel Beausoleil (Dallas Steward, Marty Standish) 9:20
Texas – Matt Burto (Kevin McLeod, James Hiebert) 16:53

PENALTIES
Period 1
Texas – Matt Burto – (High Sticking), 2 min, 2:38
Texas – Lee Jubinville – (High Sticking), 2 min, 6:23
Texas – Luke Sellars – (Board Checking), 2 min, 9:38
Tulsa – Troy Riddle – (Hooking), 2 min, 10:03
Tulsa – TJ Caig – (Delay of Game Bench Minor), 2 min, 20:00
Period 2
Tulsa – Jim Henkemeyer – (Tripping), 2 min, 11:24
Tulsa – Marty Standish – (Roughing Double Minor), 4 min, 14:19
Texas – Ross Rouleau – (Roughing), 2 min, 14:19
Texas – Tyrell Mason – (Roughing), 2 min, 17:28
Period 3
Texas – Ross Rouleau – (Hooking), 2 min, 1:20
Tulsa – Aaron Davis – (Unsportsmanlike Conduct), 2 min, 3:43
Tulsa – Kevin Armstrong – (Goalie Leaving Crease), 2 min, 3:43
Texas – Joe Palmer – (Goalie Leaving Crease), 2 min, 3:43
Texas – Ross Rouleau – (Interference), 2 min, 6:56
Tulsa – TJ Caig – (Fighting Major), 5 min, 9:31
Texas – Ross Rouleau – (Fighting Major), 5 min, 9:31
Texas – Lee Jubinville – (Holding), 2 min, 10:46
Tulsa – Tyler Butler – (Fighting (Instigator)), 2 min, 13:42
Tulsa – Tyler Butler – (Fighting Major), 5 min, 13:42
Tulsa – Tyler Butler – (Fighting (Instigator) Misconduct), 10 min, 13:42
Texas – Jason Reese – (Roughing), 2 min, 13:42
Texas – Jason Reese – (Fighting Major), 5 min, 13:42
Tulsa – Jim Henkemeyer – (Tripping), 2 min, 17:20
Tulsa – Marty Standish – (Fighting Major), 5 min, 18:59
Texas – Matt Burto – (Fighting Major), 5 min, 18:59
Tulsa – Kevin Armstrong – (Goalie Leaving Crease), 2 min, 18:59
Tulsa – Kevin Armstrong – (Fighting Major), 5 min, 18:59
Texas – Joe Palmer – (Goalie Leaving Crease), 2 min, 18:59
Texas – Joe Palmer – (Fighting Major), 5 min, 18:59
Texas – Joe Palmer – (No Category Game Misconduct), 10 min, 18:59
Tulsa – Kevin Armstrong – (No Category Game Misconduct), 10 min, 18:59

 

Cassini Captures Saturn’s Northern Lights

NASA

PASADENA, Calif. – In the first video showing the auroras above the northern latitudes of Saturn, Cassini has spotted the tallest known “northern lights” in the solar system, flickering in shape and brightness high above the ringed planet.

The new video reveals changes in Saturn’s aurora every few minutes, in high resolution, with three dimensions. The images show a previously unseen vertical profile to the auroras, which ripple in the video like tall curtains. These curtains reach more than 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) above the edge of the planet’s northern hemisphere.

 The new video and still images are online at: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini , http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://ciclops.org .

Auroras occur on Earth, Jupiter, Saturn and a few other planets, and the new images will help scientists better understand how they are generated.

 “The auroras have put on a dazzling show, shape-shifting rapidly and exposing curtains that we suspected were there, but hadn’t seen on Saturn before,” said Andrew Ingersoll of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who is a member of the Cassini imaging team that processed the new video. “Seeing these things on another planet helps us understand them a little better when we see them on Earth.”

Auroras appear mostly in the high latitudes near a planet’s magnetic poles. When charged particles from the magnetosphere — the magnetic bubble surrounding a planet — plunge into the planet’s upper atmosphere, they cause the atmosphere to glow. The curtain shapes show the paths that these charged particles take as they flow along the lines of the magnetic field between the magnetosphere and the uppermost part of the atmosphere.

The height of the curtains on Saturn exposes a key difference between Saturn’s atmosphere and our own, Ingersoll said. While Earth’s atmosphere has a lot of oxygen and nitrogen, Saturn’s atmosphere is composed primarily of hydrogen. Because hydrogen is very light, the atmosphere and auroras reach far out from Saturn. Earth’s auroras tend to flare only about 100 to 500 kilometers (60 to 300 miles) above the surface.

The speed of the auroral changes in the video is comparable to some of those on Earth, but scientists are still working to understand the processes that produce these rapid changes. The height will also help them learn how much energy is required to light up auroras.

“I was wowed when I saw these images and the curtain,” said Tamas Gombosi of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who chairs Cassini’s magnetosphere and plasma science working group. “Put this together with the other data Cassini has collected on the auroras so far, and you really get a new science.”

Ultraviolet and infrared instruments on Cassini have captured images of and data from Saturn’s auroras before, but in these latest images, Cassini’s narrow-angle camera was able to capture the northern lights in the visible part of the light spectrum, in higher resolution. The movie was assembled from nearly 500 still pictures spanning 81 hours between Oct. 5 and Oct. 8, 2009. Each picture had an exposure time of two or three minutes. The camera shot pictures from the night side of Saturn.

The images were originally obtained in black and white, and the imaging team highlighted the auroras in false-color orange. The oxygen and nitrogen in Earth’s upper atmosphere contribute to the colorful flashes of green, red and even purple in our auroras. But scientists are still working to determine the true color of the auroras at Saturn, whose atmosphere lacks those chemicals. 

Cassini Captures Saturn’s Northern Lights

NASA

PASADENA, Calif. – In the first video showing the auroras above the northern latitudes of Saturn, Cassini has spotted the tallest known “northern lights” in the solar system, flickering in shape and brightness high above the ringed planet.

The new video reveals changes in Saturn’s aurora every few minutes, in high resolution, with three dimensions. The images show a previously unseen vertical profile to the auroras, which ripple in the video like tall curtains. These curtains reach more than 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) above the edge of the planet’s northern hemisphere.

 The new video and still images are online at: http://www.nasa.gov/cassini , http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://ciclops.org .

Auroras occur on Earth, Jupiter, Saturn and a few other planets, and the new images will help scientists better understand how they are generated.

“The auroras have put on a dazzling show, shape-shifting rapidly and exposing curtains that we suspected were there, but hadn’t seen on Saturn before,” said Andrew Ingersoll of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who is a member of the Cassini imaging team that processed the new video. “Seeing these things on another planet helps us understand them a little better when we see them on Earth.”

Auroras appear mostly in the high latitudes near a planet’s magnetic poles. When charged particles from the magnetosphere — the magnetic bubble surrounding a planet — plunge into the planet’s upper atmosphere, they cause the atmosphere to glow. The curtain shapes show the paths that these charged particles take as they flow along the lines of the magnetic field between the magnetosphere and the uppermost part of the atmosphere.

The height of the curtains on Saturn exposes a key difference between Saturn’s atmosphere and our own, Ingersoll said. While Earth’s atmosphere has a lot of oxygen and nitrogen, Saturn’s atmosphere is composed primarily of hydrogen. Because hydrogen is very light, the atmosphere and auroras reach far out from Saturn. Earth’s auroras tend to flare only about 100 to 500 kilometers (60 to 300 miles) above the surface.

The speed of the auroral changes in the video is comparable to some of those on Earth, but scientists are still working to understand the processes that produce these rapid changes. The height will also help them learn how much energy is required to light up auroras.

“I was wowed when I saw these images and the curtain,” said Tamas Gombosi of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who chairs Cassini’s magnetosphere and plasma science working group. “Put this together with the other data Cassini has collected on the auroras so far, and you really get a new science.”

Ultraviolet and infrared instruments on Cassini have captured images of and data from Saturn’s auroras before, but in these latest images, Cassini’s narrow-angle camera was able to capture the northern lights in the visible part of the light spectrum, in higher resolution. The movie was assembled from nearly 500 still pictures spanning 81 hours between Oct. 5 and Oct. 8, 2009. Each picture had an exposure time of two or three minutes. The camera shot pictures from the night side of Saturn.

The images were originally obtained in black and white, and the imaging team highlighted the auroras in false-color orange. The oxygen and nitrogen in Earth’s upper atmosphere contribute to the colorful flashes of green, red and even purple in our auroras. But scientists are still working to determine the true color of the auroras at Saturn, whose atmosphere lacks those chemicals.