flight home last year after San Diego State become one

MONTREAL -- With veteran Henry Burris at quarterback, maybe the Ottawa Redblacks wont be quite the pushovers most expansion clubs have been. Burris threw for 247 yards in one half of a game -- on pace for a nearly 500-yard outing -- as the Redblacks downed the woeful Montreal Alouettes 26-10 in CFL pre-season play Friday night at Percival Molson Stadium. Former Hamilton Tiger-Cat Chevon Walker ran in two touchdowns and caught a five-yard pass for another to lead the Redblacks, who will be on a bye when the regular season opens next weekend and wont make their debut until July 3 in Winnipeg. "We knew we had to play well," said Burris, who signed as a free agent with Ottawa. "The fact that we dont play next week, we had to have a good feeling coming out of this game because now we have a few days off. "We know we made an improvement from last week (a 21-17 loss at Saskatchewan) and we wanted to carry the momentum of playing good football into the Winnipeg game in a couple of weeks." Brett Maher added a fourth-quarter field goal for Ottawa when Thomas DeMarco was in at quarterback. The Ottawa defence held Montreal without a touchdown, although some of that had to do with Troy Smiths struggles to find his receivers. Delbert Alvarado had a pair of field goals and Sean Whyte had another for Montreal, which went 0-2 in the pre-season under new coach Tom Higgins, and looked shaky on both sides of the ball heading into their season opener June 28 in Calgary. "It was definitely a pre-season game," said Smith, the 2007 Heisman Trophy winner who has the tall order of replacing future Hall of Famer Anthony Calvillo as the Alouettes starting quarterback. "You understand things arent going to be as good as you want them to be all the time. "We did some positive things, we just werent able to capitalize on any drives." The less-than sellout crowd of 18,141 got their first look at former NFL star Chad (Ochocinco) Johnson, who is on a comeback after last having played in 2011. He made a 13-yard catch on the Alouettes first play from scrimmage but that was all. "Hopefully the timing with the guys will get better," said Smith. "Youve got to give Ottawa some credit. They played defence and came out with the win. Its very premature. Were embarking on something great. I can feel it in my bones. But you have to go through trials and tribulations." A lot of Ottawa players made it difficult for coach Rick Campbell to make his final cuts on Saturday, when all nine CFL teams have to trim rosters to 46 players. Burris had six players make at least two catches, while the defence held Montreal to 290 yards in net offence. "When the decisions are easy, its not good," said Campbell. "We had some guys make some big plays, but it is a pre-season game. Well watch film and evaluate it. "Were not going to pat ourselves on the back too much. Well get back to work and try to get better." Burris couldnt get a first down on Ottawas first three possessions, but adjustments were made. Then he couldnt be stopped the rest of the first half. He completed 17 of 22 passes, all against Montreals first-string defence. The Redblacks led 22-7 at the intermission. Smith completed nine of 17 for 122 yards in the opening 30 minutes and gave way to the equally ineffective Tanner Marsh early in the second half. Alex Brink also saw action. The Alouettes got on the board first with Alvarados punt single, but then Burris threw 28 yards to Dobson Collins to set up Walkers three-yard TD 12:16 into the game. Montreal answered with a field goal, but Kierrie Johnsons 36-yard catch to the Montreal one set up Walkers second TD of the night 44 seconds into the second quarter. Just before the intermission, Burris led an eight-play 85-yard drive capped by Walkers five-yard TD catch. With second and third stringers on in the second half, neither team was able to move the ball very far and spectators were streaming out by the end of the third quarter. Unusually for the pre-season game, there were relatively few penalties called and there were no fumbles or interceptions. Last week, Montreal blew a lead in a 28-23 setback at Hamilton. Their bright spots were Alvarados powerful kicking and some long returns by Larry Taylor, who returned to Montreal from Calgary in the off-season. Notes: The Alouettes were missing running backs Brandon Whitaker (sore leg) and Tyrell Sutton (hamstring). Their replacement Brandon Rutley had a quiet game 29 yards on nine carries. Linebacker Kyries Hebert didnt dress, but he has returned to practice after suffering a concussion June 7. Steven Stamkos Jersey . While Minnesota takes aim at its eighth win of November, the Canadiens will try to post just their third victory in nine games this month. Vincent Lecavalier Jersey . Cavaliers shooting guard Craig Ehlo makes a solid play on the ball, but still Jordan hits the amazing shot. http://www.hockeylightning.com/authentic-martin-st-louis-lightning-jersey/ . -- Kyle Busch edged teammate Joey Logano at the Bristol Motor Speedway finish line Friday night to become the all-time winningest driver in Nationwide Series. Custom Tampa Bay Lightning Jerseys . Each day, TSN.ca provides the latest rumours, reports and speculation from around the NHL beat. Keeping The Captain? Brian Giontas agent Steve Bartlett told La Presse on Tuesday that the Montreal Canadiens want to keep their captain - an unrestricted free agent on July 1 - in the fold, while sources tell the paper that the two sides will start talks this week. Tampa Bay Lightning Jerseys . "Thank you for the warm welcome," Beckham said on an 80-degree February morning. In this case, it was soccer weather. The sport moved a step closer to returning to South Florida on Wednesday, when Beckham confirmed he has exercised his option to purchase a Major League Soccer expansion franchise in Miami.SPOKANE, Wash. -- Xavier Thames dropped in 3s from deep, finessed floaters in the lane and carried San Diego State the way he did all season as the Mountain West player of the year. Thames would not let North Dakota State become this years version of Florida Gulf Coast by sending the Aztecs home in the third round of the NCAA tournament. Thames scored 30 points, and fourth-seeded San Diego State reached the round of 16 for the second time in school history, ending the run of No. 12 seed North Dakota State 63-44 on Saturday. The Aztecs (31-4) now get to make the short drive up the interstate to Anaheim, Calif., where they will face either No. 1 seed Arizona or eighth-seeded Gonzaga in the West Regional semifinals on Thursday. Thames, who was 9 of 19 from the field, had five assists and ended the comeback hopes of the Bison with a six-point spurt late in the second half that pushed the Aztecs lead to 12. He finished one shy of his career-high in points. Dwayne Polee II was the only other San Diego State player in double figures with 15, but the Aztecs didnt need a ton of scoring with Thames carrying the load and another defensive performance that suffocated the best shooting team in the country. Kory Brown led the Bison (26-7) with 13 points, but it was the struggles of leading scorer Taylor Braun that had North Dakota State trying to play catch up. Braun missed nine straight shots during one stretch. Sometimes he was guarded by Thames. Other times it was J.J. OBrien taking a turn on the Summit League player of the year. Braun finished 2-of-14 shooting and justt seven points.dddddddddddd. North Dakota State shot 50.9 per cent for the season to lead the country, but could only make 31.9 per cent against the Aztecs. The 44 points were a season-low for the Bison, the previous low being 56 in a win over Western Illinois. North Dakota State was one of three No. 12 seeds to help create another manic March by upsetting No. 5 seed Oklahoma 80-75 in overtime in the second round on Thursday. They had the players and the personality to become this years version of FGCU -- just minus all those dunks. Thames wasnt going to allow that to happen. The memories were still fresh of the flight home last year after San Diego State become one of those teams FGCU dunked all over on its way to an unforgettable March run. Thames did it all for the Aztecs in the first half. He was responsible for 23 of San Diego States 30 points, scoring 16 and assisting on another three baskets. He started the second half with a floater in the lane, a shot he repeated minutes later. He then found Polee on the wing for a 3 and the Aztecs lead was back to 40-30 after a quick North Dakota State spurt had trimmed the deficit to five. Braun finally got a shot to fall when he spun in a reverse layup with 12:11 left, his first field goal in nearly 27 minutes of game time. By that point, the Bison were down eight and could never get much closer. Braun finished the first half 1-of-10 shooting and equally quiet was Lawrence Alexander. The guard who hit all the big shots against Oklahoma finished with three points after scoring 28 against the Sooners. ' ' '