Sports in brief: Miller leads Blazers past T-Wolves
NBA: Andre Miller scored 21 points, and LaMarcus Aldridge and Travis Outlaw each had 19 as Portland built a big first-half lead and beat Minnesota 116-93 Sunday night at home.
Miller, acquired last summer by Portland, scored 12 points during the third quarter. Aldridge, who had only 12 free throw attempts during the Trail Blazers’ first six games, was 9 for 9, and also grabbed 10 rebounds. Outlaw scored 12 of his 19 points during the second half.
•Thunder blow past Magic: Kevin Durant scored 28 points, Russell Westbrook added 17 points and 10 assists and the Oklahoma City Thunder ran away from the Orlando Magic in the second half for a 102-74 home victory.
The Magic played for the fourth time this season without Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis, and also added Ryan Anderson to their injured list. They seemed to run out of gas after a strong start.
•Lakers win fifth in a row: Kobe Bryant scored 28 points, Shannon Brown added 15 and the Los Angeles Lakers thrived again without their top two big men, beating the visiting New Orleans Hornets 104-88.
DJ Mbenga had 10 points and 12 rebounds for the defending NBA champions, who easily won their fifth straight game and their second in a row without injured center Andrew Bynum and forward Pau Gasol.
Murray wins Valencia Open in straight sets
Tennis: Andy Murray won his sixth title of the season in his first tournament back from a wrist injury, beating Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-3, 6-2 in the Valencia (Spain) Open final.
The fourth-ranked Scot hadn’t played since the U.S. Open in September. He broke twice in each set and served eight aces to improve to 2-0 against the 23rd-ranked Youzhny.
•Federer loses in Swiss Indoors final: Top-ranked Roger Federer lost his hometown tournament, falling 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to Novak Djokovic in the Swiss Indoors final in Basel, Switzerland.
Djokovic earned his fourth title of the season with a victory that ended Federer’s run of three straight titles at the tournament where he was once a ballboy.
Djokovic improved to 3-2 this year against Federer, and said the top-ranked Swiss pushed him to his limits.
•Rezai wins Tournament of Champions: Aravane Rezai has won the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Nusa Dua, Indonesia, after top-seeded Marion Bartoli retired from the final with a thigh injury after losing the first set 7-5.
Bartoli was up 4-2 and then had a set point in the ninth game before the 44th-ranked Rezai broke back to level at 5-5.
•Italy wins Fed Cup: The Williams sisters were conspicuous by their absence when Italy completed a shutout of the United States in Reggio Calabria, Italy, to win its second Fed Cup title in four years.
Yet the Americans who did play had no regrets and the victorious Italians felt there was no need to put an asterisk next to their victory.
The fourth singles rubber was canceled and Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci completed the 4-0 shutout by edging Liezel Huber and Vania King in doubles 4-6, 6-3, and 11-9 in a champions tiebreaker.
U.S. wins world junior “A” challenge
Hockey: Matt Leitner scored early in the third period to help the United States beat Canada West 2-1 in the championship game in the world junior “A” hockey challenge in Summerside, Prince Edward Island.
Eamonn McDermott also scored and Eric Mihalik made 28 saves for the United States, the winner of the 19-and-under tournament for the second straight year.
Russia beat Canada East 6-2 in the third-place game.
•Russia clinches Karjala Cup: Russia won the four-nation Karjala Cup after Alexei Morozov scored in overtime to clinch a 4-3 victory over the Czech Republic in Helsinki.
The win puts Russia out of reach of Finland, which routed Sweden 7-0 in the late game Sunday.
•Minor league defenseman released from hospital: Minor league defenseman Ben Fanelli, 16, is continuing his recovery from skull and facial fractures after being released from the hospital over the weekend. The Kitchener Rangers defenseman was injured when he was boarded by Erie Otters forward Michael Liambas during an Ontario Hockey League game Oct. 30. Fanelli’s helmet flew off and he fell unconscious to the ice after the heavy hit.
Cal’s Best released from hospital
Miscellany: California star tailback Jahvid Best has been released from the hospital and will miss at least one game after suffering a concussion on a terrifying fall in the end zone.
Best spent the night at Highland General Hospital in Oakland, Calif., for observation and tests after landing on the back of his head in the end zone and being briefly knocked unconscious in the Golden Bears’ 31-14 loss to Oregon State on Saturday night.
•Jockey Leparoux wins Shoemaker award: Julien Leparoux rode three winners during the Breeders’ Cup world championships in Arcadia, Calif., earning the Bill Shoemaker award as the outstanding jockey of the two-day event.
The 26-year-old jockey was the only one with more than one victory.
Leparoux won the Juvenile Fillies with She Be Wild and the Filly & Mare Sprint aboard Informed Decision on Friday. He added the Dirt Mile with long shot Furthest Land on Saturday, giving him five career BC wins.
•Kenyans sweep Athens Marathon: Josephat Kipkurui won the Athens (Greece) Classic Marathon, leading a Kenyan sweep in a race that traces the ancient course that gave the event its name.
Kipkurui crossed the finish line at the Panathenian stadium in 2 hours, 13 minutes, 44 seconds on Sunday. Edwin Kipchom placed second in 2:14:18 and Mutuku Pius Muasa took third in 2:14:39 in a race run in rainy conditions.
Akemi Ozaki of Japan won the women’s race in 2:39:56. Degefa Bruktayit Eshetu of Ethiopia was second in 2:40:32.
•U.S. picks up two speedskating victories: Tucker Fredricks upset the favored South Koreans in Berlin to win the 500-meter race for his sixth career speedskating World Cup victory.
Fredericks clocked 35.06 seconds to edge Lee Kang-seok and Lee Kyou-hyuk.
There was another American victory when Shani Davis set a course record in winning the 1,500 meters with a time of 1 minute, 44.47 seconds in the opening meet of the season.
•Lostroh wins first PBR world title: Kody Lostroh won a $1 million prize for his first Professional Bull Riders world championship, and JB Mauney took the last round in Las Vegas to become the only rider ever to cover all eight bulls in the world finals.
Lostroh finished the season with total earnings of $1,601,624.
Lostroh clinched the season title with a third-place ride in the seventh round. He held the top spot for the last 20 events of the regular season and eight finals rounds, finishing with 16,640 points.