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- 1. By ROY BURTON Standard-Examiner staff rburton@standard.net OGDEN — Being able to run the ball inside and out- side the tackles is an advan- tage to any football team. Being able to train in- doors and outdoors is anoth- er advantage, one that may become available to Weber State’s football program in the future through a part- nership with Weber County. The county is in the pro- cess of designing a new $7.5 million expansion to The Ice Sheet, which through an agreement with Weber State University, would include a second-story indoor practice facility for football and oth- er WSU sports like soccer and softball. The Ice Sheet, which hosted curling in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, is northwest of the Dee Events Center on the Weber State campus. By partnering with Weber County, Weber State will be able to build an indoor facili- ty with an approximately 48- by-60 yard turf surface with a 28-foot ceiling for about $3 million, which the school is in the process of fundrais- ing. That’s about $7 million cheaper than if the universi- ty were to build a standalone facility, WSU athletics direc- tor Jerry Bovee said. “It gives us the ability to have something we wouldn’t have been able to do on our own,” he said. “It’s a huge upside for us to be able to partner with the county.” COMING WEDNESDAY A new crop of river guides prepare for careers on the Weber River By JUSTIN JOHNSON Standard-Examiner correspondent N ot too long after Real Salt Lake was unceremoniously dumped in its U.S. Open Cup tilt, coach Jason Kreis issued a near ultimatum, and a pair of long time veterans vented their frustrations at a dismal on-field effort. “We will go back to the drawing board, and we’ll make sure that everybody on my squad right now recognizes that there is only one way to play here, and that’s to give your best, and if you’re not going to, you need to stand up and move aside,” Kreis said. “The coaching staff is waiting for me as well as the trainers. We are going to look at the next 2 ½ weeks. I’ve said this once before in my coaching career and I’ll say it now … I would not want to be a player under me right now.” With 18 days between matches after the loss, Kreis has plenty of time to work with his squad, and vowed push the level at training. While it might be easy to dismiss the loss, given that the team was missing four starters to national team call-ups and two other first- choice selections due to injury, what transpired on the pitch of Rio Tinto Stadium during the loss had nothing to do with tactics. The team created opportunities, and could have put the match away in the first half, but with a few exceptions lacked the energy or enthusiasm necessary against their second-tier opponent. “We keep leaking goals, and we’re getting away with it in league play,” midfielder Ned Grabavoy said. “I think guys fought on our team, maybe it was too little, too late, and maybe we picked and choosed when we decided to fight. “This is a different team than 2009 or 2010. I sometimes think we feel too good about ourselves. It’s a different group, and we haven’t won anything for a while. I think winning is a habit, and there’s a lot of guys that still got to prove they can win, just win games, whether it’s reserve league, first team, exhibition, games in training … at this level it’s all about winning, period.” Grabavoy, while visibly frustrated with Tuesday’s result, hits on some key points that Real needs to address over its current break, which lasts until taking on Chivas on June 16. Despite holding the top spot on the overall Major League Soccer table, Real has hardly done so in convincing fashion. While it’s true that Real’s main starters have spent all of 59 minutes together on the pitch in 14 league matches, this is a team that has prided itself on its depth over the past few seasons, and that depth has struggled to make the same impact The Associated Press SAN ANTONIO — Kevin Durant scored 27 points and the Oklahoma City Thunder are on the brink of the NBA Finals, beating the San Anto- nio Spurs 108-103 in Game 5 on Monday night and moving within a victory of a series knockout. Russell Westbrook added 23 and the Thunder took a 3-2 lead in a wildly entertaining Western Conference finals. Looking invincible while car- rying 20-win streak a week ago, the Spurs have lost three straight and are on the verge of a stunning collapse. Manu Ginobili scored 34 in a smashing return to the starting lineup. But trailing 106-103 and the Spurs down to their last shot, Ginobili missed an off-balance 3-pointer in the final seconds. Game 6 is Wednesday night in Oklahoma City, where the Thunder can punch their ticket to the NBA Finals in the place they haven’t lost all postseason. They’re bringing home just what they needed: the must- win on the road if they’re go- ing to pull this series out. Oklahoma City pulled it off behind their stars. James Harden scored 20, joining Durant and Westbrook as the only Thunder players in dou- ble figures. Harden hit the biggest shot, draining a 3-pointer with 28.8 seconds left that pushed Oklahoma City’s lead to five. He admitted afterward that the ball was supposed to go to Durant but had no choice but to let go with the shot clock winding down and Spurs rook- ie Kawhi Leonard in his face. “The shot clock was run- ning down and I had to make a play,” Harden said. “Leon- ard was playing great defense on me. I just shot it with confi- dence. West Conference finals — that’s a big shot.” Tony Parker had 20 points and Tim Duncan had 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Spurs. After remaining unbeaten for 50 days before arriving in Oklahoma City, San Antonio has lost three games in five day. They now must win two straight to avoid seeing their last best chance to win in a ti- tle in the Duncan era end. “Championship teams win on the road,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Okla- homa City just did that.” King-size roll L.A. routs New Jersey for 3-0 Stanley Cup lead. 5B NBA OKC 108, San Antonio 103 BASEBALL American League Minnesota 10, Kansas City 7 Oakland 12, Texas 1 Seattle at L.A. Angels, late National League St. Louis 5, N.Y. Mets 4 San Francisco 3, Chi. Cubs 2 L.A. Dodgers 4, Philadelphia 3 Colorado 4, Arizona 0 SPORTS SHORTS WSU’s Pilkington captures honor OGDEN — Weber State distance coach Paul Pilkington has been named the Mountain Region women’s outdoor track assistant coach of the year by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. Pilkington is the head men’s and women’s cross country coach and is an assistant track and field coach, coaching the distance runners. During the 2012 outdoor season, Pilkington’s runners won four Big Sky titles on the women’s side and combined to score 78 of the team’s 97 points at the Big Sky championship meet. Pilkington, a former WSU runner, was named head cross country and distance coach in 2006 after serving two seasons as an assistant with the ’Cats. In his six years at Weber State he has coached six All-Americans and one Olympian. Pilkington will guide Amber Henry in the women’s steeplechase and Mike Hardy in the men’s steeplechase at this week’s NCAA championships. Bees shut out Grizzlies on road FRESNO, Calif. — Three Salt Lake pitchers combined for the pitching staff’s first shutout of the season, as the Bees blanked the Fresno Grizzlies 9-0 on Monday night in PCL play. Starter Eddie McKiernan (1-1) set the tone with seven scoreless innings. Ryan Brasier worked a scoreless eighth and Kevin Johnson completed the shutout. Cory Aldridge and Paul McAnulty hit back-to-back homers. McAnulty led the Bees with two hits and three runs batted in for the Bees. TAKE A TICKET Local sports: See complete schedule on Scoreboard / 6B ON THE AIR 11 a.m. — Tennis: French Open, quarterfinals, ESPN2 5 p.m. — Baseball: L.A. Dodgers at Philadelphia or Tampa at N.Y. Yankees, MLB 6 p.m. — Baseball: Chi- cago Cubs at Milwaukee, WGN 6 p.m. — College softball: NCAA World Series, Okla- homa vs. Alabama, ESPN2 6:30 p.m. — NBA playoffs: conference finals, game 5, Boston at Miami, ESPN 7:40 p.m. — Baseball: Colorado at Arizona, ROOT SPORTS QUOTE Perfect attendance Meg Roh, 13, of Dana Point, Calif., has surfed every day for a year, reaching the 365-day milestone last Friday, the Orange County Register reported. But she’s no beach bum. When she’s not hanging 10 on a wave, she’s hanging 4.0 in the classroom. — Standard-Examiner staff and wire services SPORTS Sports Editor: 801-625-4261 www.standard.net Standard-Examiner Tuesday, June 5, 2012 3B SIDELINES BIGGER Sky Conference Standard-Examiner staff OGDEN — For the Wildcats, Ben- gals, Grizzlies and Bobcats, it’s time to dust off the welcome wagon. On July 1, the Big Sky Conference will officially welcome Southern Utah and North Dakota as full members, and also admit UC Davis and Cal Poly as football affiliate members. The additions bring the Big Sky to 11 full members and 13 football-play- ing schools. The upcoming expansion means plenty of changes for the upcom- ing intercollegiate athletic season. “With new schools and enough teams to have an automatic qualifier (to the NCAA Tournament), having our own conference allows us to include softball in our All-Sports Trophy and Presidents Cup standings,” Weber State athletics director Jerry Bovee said. Having enough softball-playing teams in the league also allows the Wildcats softball squad to be part of the Big Sky family, he said. Weber State, along with Idaho State, Montana and Montana State, are what’s left of the original six charter members of the league. Northern Arizona joined the league in 1970, giving the Big Sky five members with at least 40 years of continuous membership. Tuesday, the Big Sky released up- dated championship formats and sched- ules for the upcoming season. • For the first time, the Big Sky will sponsor a championship in women’s softball. Idaho State, North Dakota, Northern Colorado, Portland State, Sacramento State, Southern Utah, and Weber State currently field teams. Mon- tana has plans to add the sport. The first Big Sky softball champion- ship will be played May 9-11 at the site of the regular-season champion. The top four teams will advance to the postsea- son tournament. The winner will earn an automatic bid to the NCAA Champi- onship. • In football, teams will continue to play an eight-game conference sched- Pilkington Big Sky welcomes new schools, updates formats Thunder storm ahead 3-2 ’Cats one step closer to indoor facility Standard-Examiner file photo RSL players: We’re picking and choosing when to fight Paulo Junior Luis Gil See NBA | Page 5B See REAL | Page 6B See WILDCATS | Page 5BSee BIG SKY | Page 5B ONLINE: See scale drawings of the proposed indoor facility at standard.net DARREN ABATE/The Associated Press San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker (right), has the ball stolen by Oklahoma City Thunder’s Russell Westbrook (left) during Game 5 of the Western Conference finals in San Antonio on Monday.