Anthony Rendon activated by Angels, in lineup against Rangers

• July 9, 2024

ANAHEIM — Angels manager Ron Washington checked in with third baseman Anthony Rendon as he rode to the ballpark on Monday afternoon and immediately recognized the energized tone in his voice.

Rendon was eager to return to the lineup against the Texas Rangers on Monday night at Angel Stadium after missing 69 games with a torn left hamstring.

“He had the same excitement in his voice that he had in his voice in the winter,” Washington said of their pre-game conversation. “He really wanted to perform this year, and too bad that hamstring pushed him back. He had this date on the calendar and it’s here, and he’s excited about it.”

Washington put Rendon back in the leadoff spot for the series opener, just where he was hitting when he injured his hamstring while running out an infield single against the Cincinnati Reds on April 20.

It was the latest in a string of injuries that have limited Rendon, 33, since the Angels signed him to a seven-year, $245 million contract prior to the 2020 season. The year before, he had led the major leagues in RBIs while helping the Washington Nationals win a World Series title, but he has played in only 167 games and missed 408 since the start of the 2021 season.

Despite a reputation for being indifferent about his performance and availability, Rendon said he still feels the butterflies in his stomach.

“You still get nerves every single day you go out in the field, whether you’re playing every day, or whether it’s been three months,” Rendon said. “If you don’t have nerves playing this game, it kind of defeats the purpose of it, right.

“Long time coming. Ready to keep on going and finish the second half strong.”

Rendon had a brutal start to this season, going hitless in his first 21 at-bats, but is hitting .370 since then to raise his overall mark to .269.

“Seeing him come in every single day since I’ve been banged up, the hard work he’s putting in, finally getting him back out there, it means a lot to him,” Angels center fielder Mike Trout said. “It means a lot to the team.”

Rendon, 33, began taking ground balls last month and faced live pitching for the first time while the Angels were on their recently concluded six-game road trip.

“It was good to see something coming at me,” Rendon said. “The main thing I wanted to do is run everyday. Obviously, being a hamstring injury, I wanted to make sure I got out there, ran the bases, got moving every single day, and that’s something we didn’t do prior (to the road trip), so with the team being on the road, I got to do that.”

The immediate plan is for Rendon to play third base in the series opener, move to designated hitter on Tuesday and likely back to third on Wednesday.

“(Washington) said just let me know when I want to get out there back-to-back days and we’ll ease into it,” Rendon said.

To make room on the roster, the Angels designated corner infielder Miguel Sano for assignment. He was hitting .205 with two home runs and six RBIs in 28 games.

“We had to make a decision,” Washington said. “Sometimes, the numbers get you and, in this situation, the numbers got him.”

TROUT UPDATE

Trout put on his cleats and went through a full on-field workout on Monday for the first time since he tore the meniscus in his left knee on April 29.

There’s still no timetable for his return, but Trout has said he hopes to return to the lineup by the end of this month. The three-time American League MVP jogged in the outfield and took approximately 30 swings of soft toss and off the tee.

“It felt great, (I) feel fine, just progressing like I should be,” Trout said. “It’s good to get out there and start moving around. Don’t have to be in the weight room or cage.”

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Trout said the next step is running full speed in a straight line, then progressing to the basepaths.

“The hitting part of it, I have no issues. I don’t have any issues with running or anything yet (either) because I haven’t done it, but what I did today, I feel really good.”

WARD GOOD TO GO

Angels outfielder Taylor Ward was removed for a pinch-runner in the ninth inning of a 5-0 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Sunday, an inning after he slid knees first into the wall in foul territory down the left field line at Wrigley Field.

“Initially, I was worried,” Ward said.

Ward woke up feeling much better and told Washington he was available to start on Monday, but Washington said he preferred to keep him off his feet and save him for a late pinch-hitting opportunity against the Rangers.

UP NEXT

Rangers (RHP Max Scherzer, 1-2, 2.70 ERA) at Angels (RHP Roansy Contreras, 0-1, 3.72 ERA), Tuesday, 6:38 p.m., Bally Sports West, 830 AM

​ Orange County Register 

Russian strike damages a children’s hospital in Kyiv

• July 9, 2024

By Hanna Arhirova and Illia Novikov | Associated Press

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian missiles blasted cities across Ukraine on Monday, damaging the country’s largest children’s hospital and other buildings in a fierce assault that interrupted heart surgeries and forced young cancer patients to take their treatments outdoors. At least 31 people were killed, officials said.

The daytime barrage targeted five Ukrainian cities with more than 40 missiles of different types, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on social media. Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted 30 missiles. More than 150 people were wounded.

It was Russia’s heaviest bombardment of Kyiv in almost four months, hitting seven of the city’s 10 districts. At least seven people were killed in the capital, including two staff members at the hospital. Strikes in Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s birthplace in central Ukraine, killed 10.

The attack on the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital caused debris to fall into heart patients’ open chests in the middle of surgery. Cancer patients had their beds wheeled into parks and onto the streets.

“It is very important that the world should not be silent about it now and that everyone should see what Russia is and what it is doing,” Zelenskyy said.

Russia denied attacking the hospital and said the strikes hit military targets.

The assault unfolded a day before Western leaders who have backed Ukraine were scheduled to begin a three-day NATO summit in Washington to consider how they can reassure Kyiv of the alliance’s unwavering support and offer Ukrainians hope that their country can survive Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II.

Zelenskyy said during a visit to Poland that he hopes the summit will provide more air defense systems for Ukraine.

In a statement, U.S. President Joe Biden called Monday’s missile strikes “a horrific reminder of Russia’s brutality.”

“It is critical that the world continues to stand with Ukraine at this important moment and that we not ignore Russian aggression,” the statement said.

At the hospital in Kyiv, rescuers searched for victims under the rubble of a partially collapsed, two-story wing of the facility. At the main 10-story building, windows and doors were blown out, and walls were blackened. Blood was spattered on the floor in one room. The intensive care unit, operating theaters and oncology departments all were damaged, officials said.

At the time of the strike, three heart operations were being performed, leading to the contamination of the patients’ open chests with blast debris, Health Minister Viktor Liashko said.

The hospital lost water, light and oxygen, and the patients were transferred to other hospitals, he told Ukrainian television.

Rescuers formed a line, passing bricks and other debris to each other as they sifted through rubble. Smoke rose from the building, and volunteers and emergency crews worked in protective masks.

Some mothers carried their children away on their backs, while others waited in the courtyard with their children as calls to doctors’ phones rang unanswered.

A few hours after the initial strike, another air-raid siren sent many of them hurrying to the hospital’s shelter. Led by a flashlight through the shelter’s dark corridors, mothers carried their bandaged children in their arms, and medical workers carried other patients on gurneys. Volunteers handed out candy to try to calm the children.

Marina Ploskonos said her 4-year-old son had spinal surgery Friday.

“My child is terrified,” she said. “This shouldn’t be happening, it’s a children’s hospital,” she said, bursting into tears.

“Among the victims were Ukraine’s sickest children,” said Volker Türk, the U.N. human rights commissioner. A U.N. team visited the hospital shortly after it was hit and saw the children receiving cancer treatments in hospital beds set up outdoors, he added.

“This is abominable, and I implore those with influence to do everything in their power to ensure these attacks stop immediately,” Türk said.

Kyiv city administrators declared July 9 a day of mourning, when entertainment events are prohibited and flags are lowered.

Ukraine’s Security Service said it found wreckage from a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile at the site and opened proceedings on war crime charges. The Kh-101 is an air-launched missile that flies low to avoid detection by radar. Ukraine said it shot down 11 of 13 Kh-101 missiles launched Monday.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called Monday’s missile strikes “particularly shocking,” U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The U.N. Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting on the attacks for Tuesday at the request of France and Ecuador. Russia, which holds the council’s rotating presidency this month, will preside at the meeting.

The International Criminal Court’s founding charter says it is a war crime to intentionally attack “hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives.”

Late last month, the court issued arrest warrants for Russia’s former defense minister and its military chief of staff for attacking Ukraine’s electricity network.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said the strikes targeted Ukrainian defense plants and military air bases and were successful. It denied aiming at any civilian facilities and claimed without evidence that pictures from Kyiv indicated the damage was caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile.

Since early in the war that is well into its third year, Russian officials have regularly claimed that Moscow’s forces never attack civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, despite abundant evidence to the contrary, including Associated Press reporting.

More than 1,600 medical facilities have been damaged since the start of the war and 214 have been ruined completely, according to Ukrainian Health Ministry statistics published last month.

Col. Yurii Ignat of the Ukrainian air force said Russia has been improving the effectiveness of its airstrikes, equipping its missiles with enhancements, including so-called heat traps that evade air-defense systems.

In Monday’s attack, the cruise missiles flew as low as 50 meters (160 feet) off the ground, making them harder to hit, he said in comments sent to AP.

About three hours after the first strikes, more missiles hit Kyiv and partially destroyed a private medical center. Four people were killed there, Ukraine’s Emergency Service said.

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In the capital’s Shevchenkivskyi district, a three-story section of a residential building was destroyed. Emergency crews searched for casualties, and AP reporters saw them remove three bodies.

The powerful blast wave scorched nearby buildings, shattered windows and flung a dog into a neighboring yard, resident Halina Sichievka said.

“Now we don’t have anything in our apartment, no windows, no doors, nothing. Nothing at all,” the 28-year-old said.

The Ukrainian air force said some of the weapons used in the attack were Kinzhal hypersonic missiles, which are among the most advanced Russian weapons. They fly at 10 times the speed of sound, making them hard to intercept.

Three electricity substations were damaged or destroyed in two districts of Kyiv, energy company DTEK said.

Samya Kullab in Kyiv contributed to this report.

​ Orange County Register 

A ferry, a proposal and a three-generation family tradition

• July 9, 2024

Despite the posted no-standing sign, Aleko Culp needed his girlfriend at the bow of the Balboa Island Ferry.

Christina Dupas needed to be standing so he could drop to one knee and ask her an important question that would affect the rest of their lives.

But he knew engagements aboard the ferry have a “good track record” — he was about to be the third generation of men in his family to pop the question while crossing from the Balboa Peninsula.

“He surprised me,” said the now-engaged Dupas, 25. “The whole thing was a lot of fun.”

Culp’s grandfather, Gary A. Culp, and his wife, Judie, were engaged during a ferry crossing 64 years ago. Culp’s father, Gary Culp, proposed to his wife, Georgia, on the same crossing some 30 years ago.

“It was a ‘ferry-tale’ to propose. I’m happy that Aleko and Christina get to experience this too,” said Gary Culp.

His grandmother lived on the Balboa Peninsula, so he often rode the ferry with his father for a visit and day at the beach.

Since 1919, the Balboa Island Ferry has shuttled passengers between the peninsula and Balboa Island in Newport Beach. For his surprise proposal, Culp invited 25 family members,  disguising it as a Fourth of July party.

Although Culp, 25, and Dupas have been dating for almost three years, for Culp, it was love at first sight. The couple met at a Greek Church Camp when they were 15, where Culp said he immediately developed a crush on his future fiancée. They didn’t start dating until he returned from college.

“When I proposed, I told her how I loved her since I first saw her at camp,” Culp said.

Gary and Georgia Culp have been married since 1996, and the senior Gary and Judie Culp have been married since 1961.

Aleko Culp said he was always set on proposing on the Balboa Island Ferry.

“After seeing Grandpa and Dad do it, and spending all my life in Orange County,” he said, “it just seemed like the right place.”

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​ Orange County Register 

Ex-Mission Viejo swimming coach Mike Pelton remembered for CIF-SS titles and mentorship

• July 9, 2024

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Former Mission Viejo boys swimming coach Mike Pelton, who guided the Diablos during their run as a national powerhouse, died June 18 from cardiac arrest, his death certificate confirmed. He was 76.

“His biggest dream was to do what he did (as a coach),” friend Debra Blake said. “He considered his swimmers his kids.”

Pelton, a Lake Forest resident, died at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, according to his death records. He suffered from heart disease and rapid heart beat, records showed.

Pelton guided Mission Viejo’s boys swimming team to 20 CIF-SS championships from 1976-1999.

When he left the Diablos following the 2001 season, the 20 titles tied Pelton with former Bakersfield football coach Dwight Griffith for the state record for most section titles by a coach in one sport, according to Cal-Hi Sports.

Both coaches have since been surpassed for the state record.

Mater Dei boys basketball coach Gary McKnight holds the Orange County record with 24 section titles.

Pelton’s run at Mission Viejo coincided with the rise of the Mission Viejo Nadadores as a club juggernaut under Mark Schubert. Pelton led the Diablos to 13 consecutive section titles from 1976-88 and coached several Olympians.

“Huge loss for our community,” said Troy Roelen, Mission Viejo’s assistant principal of athletics. “He was the foundation of Mission Viejo swimming.”

“Great dude,” Roelen added. “Very positive.”

Pelton’s impact extended well beyond the pool.

Villa Park softball coach Terry Williams counted Pelton as a friend and mentor.

“Despite the fact we coached different sports, he understood leadership and program building,” Williams said. “He was a legend in Orange County high school athletics and had an impact on so many athletes over the years.”

“I’m really going to miss him,” Williams added.

Pelton’s coaching career was influenced by his mother Katherine, a former elementary school teacher.

Katherine set 34 FINA Masters world records and became a member of the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 2006.

“She gave him everything,” Blake said of Pelton’s mother, who died in 1992. “Everybody loved (Pelton). He was bigger than life.”

Service arrangements weren’t announced. Pelton’s assistant coach Ron Osumi served as the informant for his death certificate, according to records.

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​ Orange County Register 

Wimbledon: Taylor Fritz beats hobbled Alexander Zverev to reach quarterfinals

• July 8, 2024

LONDON (AP) — After Taylor Fritz deposited a backhand that Alexander Zverev didn’t even chase, wrapping up the American’s comeback from a two-set hole in Wimbledon’s fourth round Monday, the men met at the net for what turned into a longer-than-usual chat.

Zverev, playing with a bone bruise in his right knee, said he was bothered by some of the cheering coming from Fritz’s guest box in the fifth set. When Fritz began to move away, Zverev stuck his chest to block the path and continued the mostly one-sided exchange.

This wasn’t the 13th-seeded Fritz’s only noteworthy postmatch interaction at the All England Club this fortnight — he told an earlier opponent to “have a nice flight home” — but he shrugged this one off, more interested in thinking about the way he turned things around to defeat two-time Grand Slam finalist Zverev 4-6, 6-7 (4), 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-3 and reach the quarterfinals.

“It was amazing,” said Fritz, a 26-year-old from California, “to do that on Centre Court (at) Wimbledon, two sets down.”

Zverev said later that his issue wasn’t with Fritz or his two coaches, but rather with others in the winner’s support group “that are not maybe from the tennis world, that are not maybe (used to) watching every single match; they were a bit over the top.”

“He’s totally allowed to be annoyed if they were being annoying. … That’s one of the things I asked him at the net, ‘Who was it?’” said Fritz, who next meets 25th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti, a first-time Slam quarterfinalist. “It’s not a big thing. It’s all good.”

The implication from Zverev was that there was no need for the entourage to be acting quite so excited when his knee, which was covered by a gray sleeve after a fall in the previous round, was such a significant factor in Monday’s outcome.

“I was playing on one leg,” Zverev said. “It was fairly obvious that I wasn’t 100% today, right? I wasn’t moving, really, the entire match. I wasn’t running for drop shots. If I was running for a drop shot, I was limping there more than running.”

The 3 1/2-hour match, played with the main stadium’s retractable roof shut, was the 35th to go five sets at Wimbledon this year, tying the record for the most at any Slam event in the Open era, which began in 1968. Fritz’s comeback is the 11th from a two-set deficit in this edition of the grass-court tournament, more than in any other year.

This will be Fritz’s fourth major quarterfinal and second at Wimbledon, where he lost to Rafael Nadal in 2022. He is 0-3 at that stage; the other two setbacks came against Novak Djokovic.

“This will be my first quarterfinal where I’m the more experienced person,” Fritz said.

Fritz joins good pal Tommy Paul in the final eight, giving the United States two men that deep in the tournament for the first time since 2000. The other quarterfinal on the bottom half of the men’s draw will be No. 9 Alex de Minaur against seven-time Wimbledon champion Djokovic, who dismissed No. 15 Holger Rune 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in Monday night’s last match on Centre Court.

Spectators often let out loud noises that sounded like “Ruuuuune” — the young Dane often gets saluted that way during matches — but Djokovic thought the folks in the stands were actually saying “Booooo,” and he let them know he was not pleased.

Musetti gave Italy three singles quarterfinalists at a major for the first time — he got there with No. 1 Jannik Sinner in the men’s bracket; No. 7 Jasmine Paolini is still in the women’s field — by beating Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2. De Minaur eliminated Arthur Fils 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

Winners in women’s fourth-round matches included 2022 champion Elena Rybakina, No. 21 seed Elina Svitolina — who wore a black ribbon on her shirt to mourn victims of Russian missile attacks on her home country, Ukraine — and 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko. Rybakina faces Svitolina in the quarterfinals, and Ostapenko’s next opponent will be 2021 French Open winner Barbora Krejcikova.

Rybakina moved on when No. 17 Anna Kalinskaya stopped playing because of a wrist injury, Svitolina overwhelmed Wang Xinyu 6-2, 6-1, Krejcikova defeated No. 11 Danielle Collins 7-5, 6-3, and Ostapenko was a 6-2, 6-3 winner against Yulia Putintseva, who beat No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the third round.

The fourth-seeded Zverev was the runner-up to Carlos Alcaraz at the French Open last month — after blowing a 2-1 lead in sets. Zverev also lost in the final of the 2020 U.S. Open against Dominic Thiem — after wasting a two-set lead and a match point.

The German entered Monday having won all nine sets he played at Wimbledon this year and having held in all 41 of his service games — not even facing a single break point since the first round.

The key stat, then, was this: Fritz accumulated four break points and converted two — once in the third set and once in the fifth — while only getting broken once himself.

Fritz hit 15 aces, with zero double-faults, and they combined for 124 winners (69 by Fritz) and 56 unforced errors (23 by Fritz).

He’s now 10-1 on grass in 2024 and is on an eight-match winning streak that includes a title at a tuneup event in Eastbourne the week before Wimbledon began.

“What I enjoy the most on grass,” Fritz said, “is just when you hit a good shot, you’re rewarded for it.

​ Orange County Register 

Six Flags’ Fright Fest is ready for Halloween showdown with Universal’s Horror Nights

• July 8, 2024

Six Flags’ Fright Fest is ready for a Halloween showdown with Universal Studios’ Horror Nights and unafraid to go severed head-to-severed head with the Hollywood theme park chain that built its reputation on bringing terrifying horror film franchises to life.

Six Flags Magic Mountain will bring an arsenal of haunted houses headlined by Stranger Things and Saw to the fight with Universal Studios Hollywood that will have a stockpile of haunted mazes based on Ghostbusters, A Quiet Place and other horror blockbusters.

ALSO SEE: Six Flags Magic Mountain adds Stranger Things and Trick ‘r Treat mazes

The newly supercharged Fright Fest Extreme 2024 will run on select Thursday through Sunday nights from Sept. 7 to Nov. 3 at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Halloween Horror Nights 2024 will feature eight new haunted mazes along with several scare zones and the Terror Tram on select nights from Sept. 5 to Nov. 3 at Universal Studios Hollywood.

ALSO SEE: Universal’s Horror Nights calls the Ghostbusters to save the world from another Ice Age

Is Six Flags’ Fright Fest ready for a showdown with Universal’s Horror Nights?

“It does put us in competition with them,” Six Flags Chief Fright Officer Edithann “EA” Ramey said. “We want to appeal to those fandom communities of people who love Halloween and go there and bring them to us. I think they will love these houses. They’re ‘must see’ for somebody who loves Halloween.”

ALSO SEE: Universal brings A Quiet Place maze to Halloween Horror Nights

Fright Fest 2024 at Six Flags Magic Mountain will feature haunted mazes based on The Conjuring, Trick ‘r Treat and Army of the Dead horror franchises in addition to Stranger Things and Saw.

The new Fright Fest lineup steals a page out of the playbook of Universal’s Horror Nights — which previously hosted haunted mazes based on Stranger Things (2023), Trick ‘r Treat (2018) and Saw (2012).

ALSO SEE: Universal unleashes radioactive zombies for Halloween Horror Nights 2024

Six Flags is teamed up with a list of major Hollywood players like Netflix, Warner Brothers, Lionsgate and Legendary that had largely partnered exclusively with Universal Studios on Halloween mazes over the past couple decades.

Six Flags is working closely with Netflix and their partners on a Stranger Things maze that will take visitors into the mysterious alternate dimension of the Upside Down alongside students from Hawkins High School, according to Ramey.

“Everything that we do is a partnership with the brand,” Ramey said during a phone interview. “They’ve helped us create something that’s going to feel very fresh.”

ALSO SEE: 4 reasons why Universal won’t launch Fast & Furious coaster until 2026

Six Flags Magic Mountain tested the waters during a pilot year in 2023 with haunted mazes based on The Conjuring and Saw horror movie franchises.

“It was an idea that we were excited about,” Ramey said. “We thought people would be positive about it, but we couldn’t believe how much people wanted to go inside the houses and what success we would see. It quickly became obvious that we wanted to expand on it.”

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New versions of this year’s Hollywood horror mazes are expected to return for Halloween 2025 at Magic Mountain and other Six Flags parks.

“We want to build on the program,” Ramey said. “Next year we would expect to see all these guys come back. That’s not to say that as we continue to grow it, there wouldn’t be any other property. I’m always open. You never know.”

One new addition to Magic Mountain’s Fright Fest 2025 could be a Texas Chainsaw Massacre haunted house. Leatherface will terrorize Six Flags Great Adventure in New Jersey during this year’s Fright Fest ¯ but will be notably missing from the Magic Mountain lineup.

The Horror Nights mainstay last appeared at Universal Studios Hollywood in 2021. It will be interesting to see if and when the roar of chainsaws echo throughout the night at Magic Mountain once Universal Studios Hollywood relinquishes its grip on the storied Halloween franchise.

​ Orange County Register 

Drew League Week 6: Black Pearl Elite stays undefeated led by Montrezl Harrell

• July 8, 2024

The Drew League entered its sixth week of play on July 6 and 7 at King Drew Magnet High School. Black Pearl Elite continues its winning streak but some teams who haven’t performed as well made roster additions to boost their squad.

The big question moving forward is what big players will show up. Kevin Punter, who was a standout scorer last season in the Euroleague, helped Undisputed Legends get a win. Very few players in the league will have a chance to contain Punter.

Here are a few things to look out for at the Drew League in the coming weeks.

Black Pearl Elite remains unbeaten

Black Pearl Elite (B.P.E.) coached by Lamar Gayle and Cedrick Lusk is the only remaining unbeaten team in the Drew League. B.P.E. features former LA Clipper Montrezl Harrell, who finished with 25 points and eight rebounds in a 79-70 win over Hometown Favorites.

Harrell only missed one field goal attempt out of his 10 shots. Last summer, Harrell played with the 2023 Drew League Champions Tuff Fades. Players went their separate directions this season with Franklin Session starting his own team, Elevate.

Harrell, who last played in the NBA in 2023 with the Philadelphia 76ers, said his goal for Elite is to win the Drew League.

“It’s going to take consistent play like we’re doing,” Harrell said. “We’re going to have to keep defending and going to have to keep putting together great quarters.”

B.P.E has made deep playoff runs the past few seasons but hasn’t secured a championship. This season the team has brought on younger talent to supplement the roster.

One of those younger players is DJ Brewton, who played for Cal State Fullerton last season. Brewton is a shifty guard who thrives in the open floor setting of the Drew where he can use his elusive handle and shot-making ability.

Brewton had 23 points on 10-for-10 shooting from the field and has been a key contributor in all of the team’s matchups.

“We’re just trying to win a championship,” Gayle said. “We’ve been at it for seven years and been in two finals in a row.”

B.P.E won’t have Kyree Walker until potentially the playoffs. Walker was a key player for the team before he departed for his season with the Canadian Basketball League.

B.P.E. will face off against the Nationwide Souljas on Saturday at 3 p.m.

New addition for Undisputed Legends

For the most part, the Drew League made up of current professionals from overseas and the NBA and college players along with a few elite high school players.

But Kevin Punter on Undisputed Legends is a different level of player. In his first week with his team, Punter scored 29 points on 10 of 14 shooting from the field, including this stepback jumper with a defender draped on him in a 103-78 win over the Jedi.

Kevin Punter lighting it up in the Drew League right now. Two nasty pull up three pointers.

Punter played last season for FC Barcelona basketball in the Euroleague and averaged 15 ppg last season.

Definitely an NBA level talent. pic.twitter.com/AaR5ooizwX

— Matthew Ho (@mho_kj) July 6, 2024

Punter went undrafted in 2016 and played for the Minnesota Timberwolves Summer League team after graduating from Tennessee. He’s been one of the best scorers in the Euroleague. Last season he averaged 15 points per game for Partizan Mozzart Bet in Belgrade, Serbia.

The Jedi, who are coached by former LA Clipper and longtime NBA veteran Corey Maggette, opted to double-team Punter in pick-and-roll scenarios to get the ball out of his hands, but Undisputed Legends countered by having Punter isolate his defender and get his own shot off.

Many teams are expected to bring in high-level talent from overseas and the NBA as the summer goes along. Undisputed Legends were 1-4 coming into the game but their outlook changes with Punter.

Other game notes

Overseas veteran Jerome Randle scored 30 points as the Cititeam Blazers took down Nationwide Soujas 83-82. Blazers and Souljas are now tied at 4-2.
For Rex 6, Wali Hepburn dropped 33 points and hit a game-winning fading three-pointer at the buzzer in a back and forth matchup versus Dawg Pound. Rex 6 improves to 2-4 and hands Dawg Pound their second loss of the season after starting off 4-1.
In a battle between two 4-1 teams, the I-Can All Stars beat the Mecca Cheaters 66-62. Noel Scott for I-Can All Stars was named Player of the Game with 16 points, five rebounds and five steals.
West Coast Elite had the highest point differential in the Drew League and led by double-digits against the Saints. The Saints made a run to get back into the game but West Coast Elite held on for an 81-78 win. MVP candidate Deshawndre Washington scored 20 points in the win.

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Score from the weekend

Black Pearl Elite 79, Hometown Favorites 70

Undisputed Legends 103, Jedi 78

Problems 83, Elevate 66

Reapers Black Ops 111, Surgeon 106

Cititeam Blazers 83, Nationwide Souljas 82

Rex 6 82, Dawg Pound. 79

Task Force 82, Redemption 62

I-Can Allstars 66, Mecca Cheaters 62

West Coast Elite 81, Saints 78

California Supreme Court 70, Young Citi PTI 53,

Women’s Drew League

After winning Week 5 Player of the Week, Imani McGee, who is the daughter of former WNBA player and Los Angeles Sparks standout, Pamela McGee and half-sister of NBA player JaVale McGee dropped had 25 points and 16 rebounds in the Remix’s 67-60 win over Undisputed Legends. McGee is in a strong position for the MVP race.

TNSS 57, Task Force 47

Remix 67, Undisputed Legends 60

Redemption 70, Lady Jedi 53

GAGE 48, Triple Threat 46

RELATED:

Drew League: Session, Elevate shine in Week 5 with NBA players on the horizon

Drew League looks to bring in younger talent in 51st season

​ Orange County Register 

Housing slump deepened this spring. Where does that leave home shoppers and sellers?

• July 8, 2024

By Alex Veiga | The Associated Press

The housing market shows few signs of busting out of its three-year funk after a disappointing spring season and amid a gloomy outlook for the summer and fall.

Home shoppers came into 2024 with optimism that mortgage rates would ease further after a decline late last year. But those hopes faded as stronger-than-expected data on inflation and the economy clouded the timing of a possible rate cut by the Federal Reserve.

By April, the average rate on a 30-year home loan moved above 7% for the first time since November. That, plus record-high home prices, forced many would-be homebuyers to put their house hunt on hold — some indefinitely.

Economists are projecting mortgage rates will ease modestly by the end of this year. But a small decline in rates may not be enough to entice home shoppers and persuade homeowners it’s a good time to sell.

Here is a look at the key trends behind the housing market’s trajectory so far this year and what homebuyers and sellers can expect in the second half of 2024:

The spring homebuying season was a bust — again

On average, more than one-third of all homes sold in a given year are purchased between March and June. This is known as the spring homebuying season, and it’s been a downer in recent years.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in the March-June period from a year earlier in 2022 and 2023. Sales declined in March, April and May of this year, and indications are that June saw a pullback as well.

The weak spring sales are a reflection of the affordability challenges many home shoppers face: the average rate on a 30-year mortgage rate is moored near 7%; the supply of homes for sale is historically low; and home prices are at record highs.

High rates deter homebuyers

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage is at 6.95%, according to mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. That is more than double where it was in early July 2021.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including how the bond market reacts to the Fed’s interest rate policy and the moves in the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

The 10-year yield, which topped 4.7% in late April, has been mostly falling recently following some economic data showing slower growth, which could help keep a lid on inflationary pressures and convince the Fed to begin lowering its main interest rate from its highest level in more than 20 years.

Fed officials said in June that inflation had moved closer to its target level of 2% in recent months and signaled that they expect to cut their benchmark interest rate once this year.

Even so, economists’ projections call for the average rate on a 30-year home loan to remain above 6%.

Not enough homes for sale

Another impediment for homebuyers is the historically low inventory of homes on the market.

The good news: The number of homes on the market at the end of May was the most since August 2022, a trend that bodes well for homebuyers this summer. The bad news: The supply of homes available for sale nationally remains well below its pre-pandemic levels.

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The supply of homes for sale across the U.S. was tight before Covid hit due to more than a decade of below-average new home construction and demographic trends that led to homeowners hanging on to their properties longer.

The large gap between current mortgage rates and where they were just three years ago (3%) has also discouraged many homeowners who secured rock-bottom rates from selling, what real estate experts refer to as the “lock-in” effect.

The price isn’t right

The national median sales price of a previously occupied home rose 5.8% in May from a year earlier to $419,300, an all-time high on records going back to 1999, according to the National Association of Realtors. It’s also up 51% from just five years ago.

The price increases are slowing, however. CoreLogic’s home price index shows U.S. home prices rose 4.9% in May from a year earlier, the smallest increase since October. The real estate data tracker forecasts that national home price growth will slow to 3% by next May.

“The surge in mortgage rates this spring caused both slowing homebuyer demand and prices,” said Selma Hepp, CoreLogic’s chief economist.

Home prices are cooling as more homes sit on the market longer. Metro areas in Florida, Texas, Georgia and other states where home construction ramped up in recent years have also seen price growth ease.

Some economists worry that a slight decline in mortgage rates without a jump in the inventory of homes on the market could actually work against buyers struggling to afford a home by giving sellers an incentive to boost their asking price.

“It makes me a bit concerned for what will happen with home prices when rates do drop, because I think it would spur demand without really spurring supply, at least in the short run,” said Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin. “That could lead to some sharp rise in prices.”

Should anyone buy now?

Homebuyers who can afford to buy now should benefit from the wider selection of homes on the market.

Anyone who can afford to pay all cash may also want to buy in the near term.

“Prices have been going up, and they’re probably not going to come down, so there’s really no reason to wait if you’re not waiting for rates to come down,” Redfin’s Fairweather said.

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​ Orange County Register