RIO DE JANEIRO -- There are few things in this world Ricky Rubio loves more than basketball, the electricity he feels when hes on the fastbreak, teammates running with him and a no-look lob pass just begging to be thrown.His mother, Tona, was certainly one of them.The point guard spent all of last season with the Minnesota Timberwolves watching from afar as Tonas body slowly succumbed to lung cancer, and there were times that he wondered if he should be playing at all.Sometimes at night during the season I was going through hell, Rubio told The Associated Press as Spain prepared for a showdown with the United States in the Rio Olympics semifinals Friday. Waking up in, who knows, Sacramento, in LA, in the middle of the night alone in a hotel and thinking, `Why am I here? Is it really worth it?When Timberwolves president and coach Flip Saunders died suddenly from lymphoma in October, it rocked the organization and Rubio in particular. Watching Flips son Ryan, an assistant coach on the team, grieve put a permanent pit in Rubios stomach, giving him the sinking feeling that he was getting a glimpse into his own future.Sometimes during video chats -- Tonas was the first voice Rubio wanted to hear after a win or a loss -- she would have to step away while becoming ill. He scrambled back home after the season was over and spent about six weeks with her before she died on May 25 at the age of 56.Anyone can say hes close to his mom, said Lucas Charte, Rubios close friend and manager. But when you see Tona and Ricky and how their relationship went, it was something else. There was a kind of connection between them. They were too similar. Ricky has a brother and a sister. Nobodys parent will tell you they have a favorite. But you could tell Ricky was Tonas favorite.Rubio has always looked forward to playing for the Spanish national team. He started practicing with them at 16 and sees his teammates as a surrogate family that helped raise him from a child prodigy into a trusted veteran.But when Tona passed, Rubio thought long and hard about pulling out of Rio to be with his father and two siblings back in Spain.At one point when everything happened, you think whats the best? Rubio said. Stay with your family? Stay back home? Or sacrifice one more time everything for one goal, which is the gold medal, and dedicate it to her.Rubio tore the ligaments in his left knee at the end of a promising rookie season in 2012, causing him to miss the London Games that summer. He watched his beloved teammates fall to the United States, 107-100, in the gold-medal game. On his first day of rehab, Rubio vowed to physical therapist Andre Deloya that he would bring him to Rio four years later. Deloya never mentioned the promise again, but when it came time, Rubio had the tickets ready for him and his wife.One promise kept. One to go.Spain started the tournament 0-2 and Rubio was not playing well. Tona was not there, and he could not get her absence out of his head.I had a lot going on in my mind. It started with doubts. I started wondering if all the sacrifice was worth it, he said. I put a lot of pressure on myself, like Ive been doing my whole career. At one point I decided to forget about all the pressure and just play for fun and do my game and enjoy what I do.He has gradually settled in, and Spain is humming heading into the rematch with Rubio at the controls. In the first two games of the tournament, Spain was outscored by six points in the 28 minutes he was on the floor. In their last three victories, they have outscored their opponents by 67 points in Rubios 59 minutes.The mighty Americans -- winners of 50 straight games in international tournaments -- have shown some rare vulnerability in this tournament, emboldening challengers like Spain and Australia.It would mean everything for us, Rubio said of a win on Friday. It would mean the world. I remember watching Argentina beat the U.S. in 2004 and I think maybe the same story that Argentina wrote with the `Gold Generation, we can write, too.Rubio wants to win for Spanish fans after falling short against the U.S. in the gold-medal games in Beijing and London. He wants to win for teammates Pau Gasol, Juan Carlos Navarro and Jose Calderon, who may not have another Olympic run in them.Most of all, he wants to win for Tona. Adam Butler Jersey . Its 1987 and a Brazilian playmaker, known as Mirandinha, is being paraded around St James Park to the passionate Newcastle fans. 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BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Sam Rogers wasnt intentionally the focal point of Virginia Techs offense early against Virginia on Saturday, but with a couple of early touchdown runs to get the Hokies going, he became one, and he turned an emotional Senior Day into one hell not likely forget.Rogers ran for a career-best 105 yards and two touchdowns and Virginia Tech tuned up for next Saturday nights Atlantic Coast Conference championship showdown against No. 4 Clemson with a 52-10 victory -- their 13th in a row against their state rivals.Were not done yet, first-year Hokies coach Justin Fuente told the crowd after the game.Rogers, one of 13 seniors honored before the game, scored on runs of 8 and 32 yards for the Hokies (9-3, 6-2), whose ticket for the title game was punched when North Carolina lost to North Carolina State on Friday. It will be Virginia Techs first appearance since 2011.Rogers long run came on a between-the-tackles play that didnt set up the way it was supposed to.Everything just got jumbled up in the middle and I just peaked outside, Rogers said. Everyone was still running right, so I ran left.The victory sent Virginia (2-10, 1-7) to its seventh consecutive loss.Jerod Evans threw for two touchdowns and ran for another for Virginia Tech, allowing the junior college transfer to set school single season records with 26 touchdown passes (Tyrod Taylor had 24 in 2010) and 3,752 total yards (Logan Thomas had 3,500 in 2012).Fuente, whose team was going through a walk-through yesterday while the North Carolina game was going on, congratulated his team on earning the trip to Orlando, Florida, next week, and even in his first year at Virginia Tech, said he knew they would remain motivated.In this scenario, I would have been worried about it, but not in this game, he said. This game means too much.Virginia went with a quarterback rotation, sometimes from play to play, and was outgained 579-247.It is a little bit of a different challenge than were obviously used to, said Kurt Benkert, the starter for most of the season who was benched last week after struggling in several games. We felt like we were able to do everything we need to, but we just didnt.dddddddddddd.He finished 9 for 26 for 122 yards with one touchdown. Matt Johns was 4 for 10 for 17 yards and threw two interceptions.I struggled a bit with that, Johns said of the rotation. It was hard to find my rhythm and really get a feel for the game.THE TAKEAWAYVirginia: The Cavaliers have a long way to go to get to the talent level and mindset Bronco Mendenhall expects. Returning Benkert to the field after a series of skittish performances behind shaky protection and benching last week was probably meant to give him something to build on, but the Cavaliers will also have to rebuild their offensive line and replace Taquan Mizzell and Keeon Johnson, two key seniors.Virginia Tech: The Hokies three most recent victories were all by three points and all on the road: at Pittsburgh, at Duke and at Notre Dame. In between, they lost a home game to Georgia Tech in there, so dominating should bolster confidence heading into next weekend.It was good to get back and have a dominant defensive performance, Hokies defensive coordinator Bud Foster said.RECORDS AND MILESTONESEvans broke Taylors TD pass record on a 39-yard throw to Cam Phillips in the second quarter. ... Evans broke Thomas total yardage record on a 14-yard pass to Isaiah Ford in the first quarter. ... Ford caught four passes and became the 17th player in ACC history with 200 career receptions. Virginias Taquan Mizzell became the 19th Virginia player to rush for 2,000 career yards on an 8-yard run late in the first quarter. ... Mizzell needed six receptions to join Ford in the 200-catch club, but caught just one.HE SAID ITI think this game was a statement game, to tell Clemson that were coming. -- Virginia Tech defense end Ken Ekanem.UP NEXTVirginia Tech will face Clemson in the ACC championship game next Saturday in Orlando, Florida.---More AP college football: http://collegefootball.ap.org---Follow Hank on Twitter: www.twitter.com/hankkurzjr Cheap Jerseys China Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys China Nike NFL Jerseys China Discount NFL Jerseys Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Wholesale China NFL Gear Stitched Jerseys Discount Jerseys Cheap NFL T-shirts Cheap Jerseys 2019 Black China NFL Jerseys Discount NFL Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys 2020 ' ' '