Zaire Rasshan finds his shot and Damien takes the Division I state bo…

If anyone knows how to help shooters feel comfortable when things aren't going well, it's Damien coach Mike LeDuc, who produced two of the Southern Section's best scorers in Tracy Murray and Casey Jacobsen during his Glendora days.

So when Zaire Rasshan was only two of nine from three-point range at halftime on Friday night in the state Division I championship game, the message and mentality was keep shooting.

"I told him to start making them," LeDuc said.

What a play by Damien. 49-43 lead with 3:54 left. pic.twitter.com/6WiebfQHSO

— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) March 14, 2026

"I knew they were going to fall," Rasshan.

He made a three to start the third quarter, launching a 10-0 surge that Folsom never recovered from. Damien came away with a 58-55 victory at Golden 1 Center, becoming the fifth straight team from the Southern Section Open Division to drop down to Division I and come away as state champion.

More perfect execution. This time Elijah Smith. Three point play. pic.twitter.com/CR1IT9viR3

— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) March 14, 2026

Rasshan finished with 18 points, including five threes. His three with 1:05 left moved Damien to an eight-point lead. Elijah Smith had 18 points and four assists. Eli Garner scored 15 points and had 13 rebounds. The only other player to score for Damien was Cameron Murray with seven points. He's the nephew of Tracy Murray.

Throughout the fourth quarter, the Spartans (32-7) kept finding open players with near-perfect execution on offense.

"Their level of execution was on another level from anyone we've played," Folsom coach Mike Wall said.

Joven Dulay and Parks Weaver each scored 16 points for Folsom, which fell behind 57-47 with 39 seconds left after two Smith free throws. Damien outrebounded Folsom 32-21 and had an 11-2 edge in offensive rebounds and took 30 threes to Folsom's 18.

Zaire Rasshan is the school record holder for threes in a single season at Damien and he makes his first three at NBA Arena. He can make threes anywhere. pic.twitter.com/0dnVLRpmiF

— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) March 14, 2026

LeDuc, who has been coaching since 1979-80, said of the Spartans, "I really do believe this team, more than any other team I've coached, has been overachieving."

The Spartans lacked height this season but got all five players on the court to rebound as a group, helping overcome any disadvantages. And Smith, as the point guard, rose up in the postseason.

"This run we've had, this guy has been ridiculously incredible," LeDuc said of Smith.

As for the execution in the fourth quarter, LeDuc said, "We run a lot of plays. Basketball is a real simple game. It's a game of repetition and if you do it over and over, you expect it to be done perfectly."

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Heavy debate about Formula 1's starting procedures during Bahrain's pre-season tests led to the implementation of the pre-start routine for the 2026 season. While this has alleviated some of the more major concerns in getting off the line, many of the current teams are angling for further changes.

The deletion of the MGU-H from this year's powertrain rules has taken away one of the key tools that the modern turbocharged engines needed at the starts. Without the ability to automatically spool up the turbo, the drivers need to use the internal combustion engine itself to drive the turbine in order to develop the torque needed for a clean getaway.

Further changes have been proposed, but the FIA needs the teams to form a supermajority for any new procedures to be enshrined in the regulations. Ferrari, which had predicted that the starts might be an issue early on in its powertrain development, is not inclined to budge on its position.

The assumption is that Ferrari has produced a smaller turbo to compensate for that. While this comes at the cost of overall peak power versus a larger turbo, a smaller unit delivers more power at an earlier point in the rev range. Furthermore, and this is the crucial bit: a turbine with less mass thus requires less time to spin at the required speed.

Ferrari has stood by the belief that all manufacturers knew early on that starting procedures would be more difficult, but shrugged it off rather than attempt to design their powertrains around it.

As such, the team has cultivated an advantage at the starts - one that it is unwilling to give up.

Following slow starts in the China sprint race by Kimi Antonelli and Max Verstappen, the question about starts - and the purported safety issues around them - reared its head again. Naturally, both Ferrari drivers batted this away.

"It's a bit trickier to be in the optimum window for the start with this engine but I think more time will go on, more teams will find fixes," Charles Leclerc mused when asked about the start.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

"I think we are on the good side of things for now, but I'm pretty sure everybody will catch up and as I said I think when other manufacturers are doing a good start and they are in the optimum window, I don't think there's that much difference between the cars. I don't expect it to be a problem for a long time."

Lewis Hamilton generally concurred, underlining Ferrari's point that it had anticipated what was going to happen in 2026. "I think it's more exciting; when we all get off exactly the same, it's boring.

"I don't think it's dangerous. There are some people that, in developing an engine, they've taken certain decisions in order to get power. We took this specific decisions or our team did to make sure we got good starts.

"But George got just as good a start as I did, and so I think it'll eventually like fizzle out and be similar."

With Ferrari unwilling to move from its position, the complaints may well indeed subside – the only way that the FIA can make a change with the current voting blocs would be on safety grounds.

The difference in speeds was less stark in China's sprint race versus the near-miss in Australia, where Franco Colapinto had to take heavy evasive action to clear the bogged-down Liam Lawson. Antonelli and Verstappen were largely just slow off the line, a situation that is very much normal in F1.

If slower getaways are the primary issue, rather than largely stationary cars, then it's likely that Ferrari will get its wish. George Russell, who got a stronger start versus that of a week ago, also didn't feel that it was currently a safety matter.

"I think the issues of Melbourne, at least on my side, we've found workarounds," he said.

"It's just like on the formation lap, you're doing all these different switch changes and driving styles and it's just unnecessarily complicated. However the starts are still challenging.

"I mean last year Shanghai was the second grippiest start of the season and you still see a lot of people struggling. When you get to other places where the grip is lower I think we're going to still see cars spinning the tyres and struggling to get off the grid.

"But I don't necessarily think it's down to any safety. There is a really straightforward fix and there's I think that's just the nature of these cars and tyres, to be honest."

“Very scary moment” cost Charles Leclerc chance of F1 Chinese GP sprint win

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Adrian Rodriguez is expected to be in the lineup for Texas baseball on Saturday, coach Jim Schlossnagle said, but it won’t be a pain-free endeavor.

Rodriguez continues to play through his recovery from an offseason surgery meant to correct a hand injury he suffered last season. Schlossnagle has said on multiple occasions that it’s just a matter of pain management for Rodriguez now, but that pain seemed to be particularly present in a 9-8 Longhorns loss to Ole Miss. 

On multiple occasions Friday night, Rodriguez seemed to be favoring his hand after swinging and missing. Once, in the ninth inning, Schlossnagle even came out to speak to him in the middle of an at-bat after Rodriguez’s reaction indicated that he was in pain. 

“The same stuff,” Schlossnagle said when asked about Rodriguez’s body language. “A-Rod, you know, he’s awesome. Kid wants to win so bad. …One of the most courageous players I’ve ever coached, what he’s dealing with and what he’s going through this year. He’ll be ready to go tomorrow.” 

MORE: Replay, highlights as Longhorns drop SEC opener

Rodriguez played through the injury last season, too. Suffered during a series at Missouri in late March, the injury prevented Rodriguez, a switch-hitter, from batting right-handed for the rest of the season. 

He’s back swinging from both sides of the plate this year, and he’s been generally effective. Rodriguez began the night with a .338 batting average and .927 OPS — exactly matching last season’s mark. The Flower Mound product worked all offseason to drop weight in an effort to play shortstop effectively, and his efforts have been rewarded there, too. 

But this game — Texas' SEC opener and the Longhorns' first defeat of the season — was rough. Rodriguez went 0-for-6 with three strikeouts — all swinging. 

MORE: Will the Longhorns stay hot on offense against SEC pitching?

Swinging and missing exacerbates the pain in Rodriguez’s hand, Schlossnagle said. He hadn’t done that very much in Texas’ first 16 games of the season, whiffing only six times. Friday’s results, though, were painful. 

Overexertion, Scholssnagle has previously said, can cause problems for Rodriguez. 

The sophomore is “special,” according to Schlossnagle, in that he doesn’t need hundreds of swings in the batting cage to prepare himself to play. The Texas coach is also trying to convey to Rodriguez that he doesn’t need to swing for the fences in order to be effective. Rodriguez doesn’t have a home run yet this season after slugging seven of them a year ago. 

“I think he’s also understanding where he is in this moment in terms of hitting the home run,” Schlossnagle said. “I’m not saying he can’t hit a home run, but if he over-tries, that’s when his hand starts to bother him.”