In brief: Bearcats bounce back, beat W. Va.

College football: Tony Pike threw two touchdown passes in a cameo appearance Friday night, and the No. 5 Cincinnati Bearcats overcame a self-destructive first half to beat West Virginia 24-21 in Cincinnati for the best start in school history.

Cincinnati (10-0, 6-0 Big East) struggled on offense because of uncharacteristic mistakes – a fumble, a dropped touchdown pass, a missed field goal, and an interception – all in the first half.

Isaiah Pead ran for a career-high 175 yards, and sophomore Zach Collaros threw for 205 yards in his fourth start for Pike, who is recovering from an injury to his non-throwing arm.

West Virginia (7-3, 3-2) took advantage of the mistakes to keep it close.

Browns’ Mangini defends methods

NFL: Cleveland Browns coach Eric Mangini defended the length and intensity of his practices after running back Jamal Lewis had complained that Cleveland’s players are being worked too hard.

“I feel good about the way we practice, the time we practice,” said Mangini, 1-7 in his first season with Cleveland.

Mangini said he and Lewis, a team captain, had a “good conversation” Thursday and discussed their differences.

•Westbrook will play: Philadelphia Eagles running back Brian Westbrook will be back on the field Sunday against the San Diego Chargers after missing two games because of a concussion.

•Locklear returns: Sean Locklear will start at left tackle for the Seahawks in Sunday’s key divisional game at Arizona. Locklear has been out since he suffered a high right ankle sprain in Week 2.

Woods tumbles into tie Down Under

Golf: Tiger Woods has stumbled to an even-par 72 in the Australian Masters in Melbourne, leaving him in a three-way tie for the lead with Greg Chalmers and James Nitties after three rounds. The Australian duo each shot 69.

•Leonard in lead: Justin Leonard shot an 8-under 64 in the second round of the Children’s Miracle Network Classic in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., to surge to the top of the leaderboard in the final PGA Tour event of the season.

•Shin leads at Ochoa: Jiyai Shin took a step toward adding the LPGA Tour player of the year award to her top rookie trophy, shooting a 6-under 66 for a three-stroke lead in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Howard, Magic keep Nets winless

NBA: Dwight Howard had 26 points and 12 rebounds and Matt Barnes added 13 points and 13 rebounds and the Magic put away New Jersey 88-72 in Orlando, Fla. The Nets (0-9) are the NBA’s only winless team.

•Knicks off to franchise-worst start: Stephen Jackson scored 23 points, three other players had 22, and the visiting Golden State Warriors sent the New York Knicks to the worst 10-game start in franchise history with a 121-107 win. The Knicks dropped their sixth straight and fell to 1-9.

•Hornets lose Paul, game: LaMarcus Aldridge had 20 points and 13 rebounds, helping the visiting Portland Trail Blazers to an 86-78 victory over a New Orleans Hornets team that lost Chris Paul to a sprained ankle in its first game under new coach Jeff Bower. Paul left the arena on crutches, saying he would not play tonight in Atlanta.

Caps keep streaking

NHL: Brian Pothier scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period and the Washington Capitals won their fourth in a row without Alex Ovechkin, beating the visiting Minnesota Wild 3-1. Ovechkin could return tonight.

•Canes’ skid continues: Kyle Okposo scored with 14.4 second left in overtime to help the New York Islanders beat the host Hurricanes 4-3 to extend Carolina’s winless streak to 14 games.

Timmer ruptures ankle ligament

Skating: Shani Davis of the United States set a track record in the 1,500 meters at a speedskating World Cup meet Heerenveen, Netherlands, overshadowed by an injury to two-time Olympic champion Marianne Timmer.

Timmer ruptured a left ankle ligament when she fell rounding the final bend in her 500-meter race after Chinese skater Jing Yu fell in front of her. Timmer slammed into inflatable barriers and is likely to be out for four weeks.

•Lysacek cruises: World champion Evan Lysacek easily won the short program at Skate America in Lake Placid, N.Y. Earlier, China’s Zhao Hongbo and Shen Xue won the pairs short program, and Americans Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto took the dance compulsories.

Truex captures pole

Auto racing: Martin Truex Jr. earned the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR race at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz. Defending three-time series champion Jimmie Johnson qualified third. Mark Martin, who trails Johnson by 71 points in the standings with two races remaining, qualified 10th.

•Hornaday wins trucks title: Ron Hornaday has won a NASCAR-record fourth Trucks Series championship with a fourth-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway. Kevin Harvick won the race.

Nadal advances

Miscellany: Rafael Nadal set up a semifinal matchup against Novak Djokovic at the Paris Masters with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Gael Monfils reached his first Paris semifinal with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Marin Cilic of Croatia. Monfils will play Radek Stepanek, who advanced when Juan Martin del Potro retired trailing 4-0 with a groin injury from his previous match.

The third-seeded Djokovic made the semifinals of the tournament for the first time by defeating Robin Soderling 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

•Fighters make weight: Manny Pacquiao weighed in at 144 pounds, his heaviest, while Miguel Cotto came in at the contract limit of 145 pounds for their scheduled 12-round fight tonight in Las Vegas.