pittsburgh news

Huskies make defensive gains in loss to Pittsburgh
By DAN RALEY
P-I REPORTER

One problem was fixed when guard Ryan Appleby and his surgically repaired broken thumb were given medical clearance for the Pittsburgh game last Saturday, assuring the Washington basketball team of a significant offensive boost.

Yet there was that other matter of chief concern: When was someone, anyone, in a Huskies uniform going to drop into a defensive stance, move his feet and get in another guy's way?

"After the Oklahoma State game, it hit me right between the eyes," UW coach Lorenzo Romar said. "We're not going anywhere if we don't defend."

His Huskies resembled nothing remotely close to an NCAA or NIT tournament participant while in Stillwater, Okla., on Dec. 1, permitting 96 points, 58 percent shooting and getting embarrassed in a 25-point loss.

Romar addressed the sore subject of defense in a team meeting, and then he took the issue a step further in practice.

"The first two days, there was no offense at all," Appleby said. "It was all defense. It was a lot of running."

"Defense was our focus, and he said we had to improve it to win any games, that it was our identity," junior center Artem Wallace said.

Romar then went even more radical, choosing his lineup for the Pitt game based on defensive performance in practice alone. He made 7-footer Joe Wolfinger and transfer Tim Morris UW starters for the first time, and restored Joel Smith as one after a three-game layoff.

The weekend returns showed that the Huskies lost again, 75-74, when Justin Dentmon's last-second shot was waved off by the officials after a lengthy delay to check the TV monitor, that Romar's team had fallen to 4-4, that it had lost every game that might have given it some postseason weight later.

Romar, after huddling with visiting recruit Tyreese Breshers, stood on the floor at Edmundson Pavilion, maintaining that hope for this season remains if his players will continue to make defensive sacrifices.

"If we will be committed in practice and play like we did (Saturday), we will become a good defensive team," he said. "I thought for a lot of possessions we played good defense."

Appleby's first appearance of the season was more than enough to boost the UW's flagging offense. He led the Huskies in scoring with 18 points. He connected on 6 of 12 3-pointers for a team averaging 36 percent behind the line coming in. He had the Panthers on their heels in the first half. He pulled his team back into a game that was slipping away in the second.

"He's a great player," junior forward Jon Brockman said of Appleby. "Obviously, he's going to help us a lot."

While his accuracy was hardly surprising, the fact the senior guard was able to log 25 minutes against the Panthers after such a long layoff was not readily anticipated.

"I was more impressed with how he didn't tire quickly," Romar said.

The UW coach also said his lethal shooter, even with his slight build, will provide a needed upgrade for the team's work-in-progress defense, based on veteran savvy.

"Ryan Appleby rarely makes mistakes on offense or defense," Romar said. "While a guy may score over him, he's always in the right position. When he was injured, we didn't have anyone who would do that on both ends of the floor. Pitt had four guys who did that."

So the Huskies press on, banking on Appleby swishing them and opening up offensive space, while everyone is asked to concentrate more on the game's unattractive end.

"It's been an emotional week," sophomore forward Quincy Pondexter said, mulling the transfer of teammate Adrian Oliver and his own changing role to former starter. "From losing one of my closest friends to practicing hard on defense and not having the opportunity to start because of my lack of experience and talent on the defensive end, it really hurt."

Yet eight games into the schedule, feelings don't matter anymore. The message to the Huskies is loud and clear: Appleby and the others can hit all the 3-pointers they want, but the season is a total loss if they don't play defense.

"It was obvious in each game that we hadn't been able to stop people," Appleby said. "(Pittsburgh) was the first time when everybody had each other's back."

The New England Patriots have a guarantee of their own for the rest of the NFL: If you waste your workweek talking trash, you will regret it.

The Patriots beat the Steelers 34-13 Sunday to improve to 13-0, finding in Pittsburgh safety Anthony Smith's guaranteed victory the inspiration they needed to return to their dominating form after close calls in consecutive games.

Tom Brady threw four touchdown passes ― two of them to Randy Moss, and two of them burning Smith. One TD was a quick-strike 63-yarder after Moss ran past Smith and cornerback Ike Taylor on his way into the open field.

With 2 minutes left, the crowd reacted to a picture of Smith on the scoreboard with a mocking chant of "Guarantee!"

"When something like that is said, it's either going to be really good for you or really bad. I think we all saw how it turned out there," New England offensive lineman Matt Light said. "The big man upstairs, they say he has a sense of humor."

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The Patriots were laughing openly after a flea-flicker that went from Brady to Moss, off the turf, and back to Brady, who heaved a 56-yard floater to a wide-open Jabar Gaffney in the end zone. Smith was sprinting to catch up.

"We've played against a lot better safeties than him, I'll tell you," New England coach Bill Belichick said with a smile, adding later: "The safety play at that position was pretty inviting."

After winning their previous two games with a pair of fourth-quarter comebacks, the Patriots clinched a first-round playoff bye. They play the New York Jets (3-10) and winless Miami Dolphins before wrapping up the regular season against the New York Giants (9-4).

New England refused to consider the prospect of going 16-0 ― or 19-0, if they win the Super Bowl: "14-0 means something to me. I think that's about as far as I would go," said Brady, who completed 32-of-46 for 399 yards.

Moss and Brady are on track for records of their own.

Moss, who caught seven passes for 135 yards, needs four more touchdown catches in the last three games to break Jerry Rice's record of 22 in a season. Brady needs five more TDs to break Peyton Manning's record of 49 set in 2004.

"I told him I hope he breaks the record next week, because it's so much fun watching him play," said Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who completed 19 of 32 passes for 187 yards and a touchdown. "I don't like him playing against us and how well he played, but it truly is an honor to watch such a great quarterback play the game."

The Steelers would have clinched a playoff berth with a victory, but still lead the AFC North.

"We are still writing our story," coach Mike Tomlin said. "This is not the final chapter in our story, and it wasn't going to be whether we won or lost."

The Steelers led 3-0 on Jeff Reed's 23-yard field goal, then fell behind 14-3 on the two touchdowns by Moss, for 4 and 63 yards, just 1:59 apart. Roethlisberger's 32-yard scoring pass to Najeh Davenport cut that to 14-10. Reed added a 44-yard field goal just before the 2-minute warning, but Steven Gostkowski kicked a 42-yarder with 42 seconds left in the second quarter to make it 17-13 at halftime.

Then the Patriots blew it open in the second half and held the Steelers scoreless.

The flea-flicker made it 24-13, Brady hit Wes Welker from 2 yards out to make it 31-13 and Gostkowski added a 28-yard field goal with 7:00 left.

Notes:@ Gaffney caught seven passes for 122 yards. ... New England ran for just 22 yards in the game. ... Willie Parker rushed for 124 yards on 21 carries for Pittsburgh. ... Belichick improved to 100-39 as Patriots coach, including the playoffs. ... Brady wasn't sacked. In 476 pass attempts this season, he's been sacked just 16 times. ... Pittsburgh played without starting safeties Ryan Clark, on injured reserve, and Troy Polamalu, who has a knee injury. ... The Patriots became the fifth team with a 13-0 record, joining the 1934 Chicago Bears, 1972 Miami Dolphins, 1998 Denver Broncos and 2005 Indianapolis Colts.

MATTOON, Ill. and GIBSONIA, Pa., Dec. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Consolidated Communications Holdings, Inc. ("Consolidated") and North Pittsburgh Systems, Inc. ("North Pittsburgh") announced today that the deadline for North Pittsburgh shareholders to elect the form of merger consideration they wish to receive in connection with the pending merger between North Pittsburgh and a subsidiary of Consolidated will be 5:00 p.m. New York City time on Thursday, December 27, 2007 (the "Election Deadline"). The companies have scheduled Monday, December 31, 2007 as the closing date for the merger.

The companies also announced that on December 5, 2007, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (the "Pennsylvania PUC") approved the transfer of control to Consolidated of North Pittsburgh's subsidiaries that are regulated by the Pennsylvania PUC, North Pittsburgh Telephone Company and Penn Telecom, Inc. This approval satisfied a condition to the completion of the merger.

Pursuant to the merger agreement between North Pittsburgh and Consolidated, each record holder of North Pittsburgh common stock may submit an election, at or prior to the Election Deadline, to have the holder's North Pittsburgh shares converted at the effective time of the merger into the right to receive either:


-- $25.00 in cash, without interest, per North Pittsburgh share ("cash
consideration"), or

-- 1.1061947 shares of Consolidated common stock (including cash in lieu
of any fractional Consolidated share), per North Pittsburgh share
("stock consideration"), or

-- cash consideration with respect to a portion of the shareholder's
North Pittsburgh shares and stock consideration with respect to the
balance of the shareholder's North Pittsburgh shares,



in each case subject to proration so that 80% of the North Pittsburgh shares outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the merger are converted into the right to receive cash consideration and 20% of the North Pittsburgh shares outstanding immediately prior to the effective time of the merger are converted into the right to receive stock consideration.

In order to make an election, the properly completed and signed Form of Election and Letter of Transmittal must be received by the Exchange Agent for the merger, Computershare Trust Company N.A., at or prior to the Election Deadline in accordance with the instructions accompanying the Form of Election and Letter of Transmittal. The Form of Election and Letter of Transmittal must be accompanied either by certificate(s) representing all the shares of North Pittsburgh common stock covered by the Form of Election and Letter of Transmittal or by a properly completed and signed notice of guaranteed delivery, as described in such instructions.

If a record holder of North Pittsburgh common stock submits a Form of Election and Letter of Transmittal at or prior to the Election Deadline that is accompanied by a notice of guaranteed delivery, the Exchange Agent will consider such Form of Election and Letter of Transmittal to be effective only if the certificate(s) representing the North Pittsburgh shares for which such election was made are received by the Exchange Agent by 5:00 p.m. New York City time on Wednesday, January 2, 2008 (or if confirmation of a book-entry transfer of such shares into the Exchange Agent's account is received by such date and time).

If a North Pittsburgh shareholder does not submit a properly completed and signed Form of Election and Letter of Transmittal (together with any stock certificates representing the shares of North Pittsburgh common stock covered by the election, or a properly completed and signed notice of guaranteed delivery as described above), the shareholder will have no control over the type of merger consideration received. North Pittsburgh shareholders who fail to make an election are likely to receive the form of consideration having the lower value.

Any North Pittsburgh shareholder who holds North Pittsburgh shares in "street name" through a bank, broker or other nominee should follow the instructions given by such bank, broker or other nominee for making an election with respect to those shares.

Any North Pittsburgh shareholder of record who has properly made an election may change the election by submitting a revised and later-dated Form of Election and Letter of Transmittal, properly completed and signed, that is received by the Exchange Agent at or prior to the Election Deadline. Any North Pittsburgh shareholder of record who has properly made an election may revoke the election by written notice that is received by the Exchange Agent at or prior to the Election Deadline. North Pittsburgh shareholders who hold their shares in "street name" should contact their broker for instructions regarding changes or revocations of their existing elections.

Record holders of North Pittsburgh common stock may obtain additional copies of the Form of Election and Letter of Transmittal prior to the Election Deadline by calling MacKenzie Partners, Inc., collect at (212) 929-5500 or toll-free at (800) 322-2885.

North Pittsburgh shareholders are encouraged to obtain current market quotations for Consolidated common stock before deciding what elections to make.

Proxy Statement/Prospectus

This material is not a substitute for the proxy statement/prospectus of North Pittsburgh and Consolidated dated October 9, 2007 which was declared effective on October 9, 2007. Investors are urged to read the proxy statement/prospectus, which contains important information, including detailed risk factors. The proxy statement/prospectus is, and other documents which will be filed by North Pittsburgh and Consolidated with the Securities and Exchange Commission will be, available free of charge at the Securities and Exchange Commission's websiter by directing a request to North Pittsburgh's proxy solicitors, MacKenzie Partners, Inc., collect at (212) 929-5500 or toll-free at (800) 322-2885. The definitive proxy statement/prospectus was first mailed to shareholders of North Pittsburgh on October 12, 2007.

This communication shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction.

Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

In addition to historical information, this information may contain forward-looking statements regarding, among other things, the anticipated closing of the proposed merger of North Pittsburgh with Consolidated. Such forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, estimates and/or current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties, such as a failure to consummate or a delay in consummating the merger, and other factors referred to in filings made by North Pittsburgh or Consolidated with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Neither North Pittsburgh nor Consolidated undertakes to update any of these statements to reflect the impact of circumstances or events that arise after the date the statement was made. This information should be read in conjunction with the proxy statement/prospectus of North Pittsburgh and Consolidated dated October 9, 2007 and their respective periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the most recent of which are North Pittsburgh's and Consolidated's Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2007