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In brief: Freshman Irving carries No. 1 Duke

Duke’s Kyrie Irving drives to the basket on his way to 31 points.
Duke’s Kyrie Irving drives to the basket on his way to 31 points.

Men’s basketball: Freshman Kyrie Irving scored a season-high 31 points and No. 1 Duke beat No. 6 Michigan State 84-79 on Wednesday night in the marquee matchup of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge at Durham, N.C.

Nolan Smith added 17 points and Kyle Singler scored 15 for the Blue Devils (7-0). They used a 12-2 spurt midway through the second half to take a double-figure lead and held off the Spartans down the stretch by hitting 9 of 12 free throws in the final 1:15.

Korie Lucious scored 20 points and Draymond Green added 10 of his 16 in the final minute for Michigan State (5-2).

Duke won its 17th consecutive game, dating to last season’s national title run.

• Memphis survives upset bid: Will Barton scored 20 points and No. 14 Memphis (6-0) survived a scare with a 78-71 overtime victory over Arkansas State (1-6) at Memphis, Tenn.

• CFU knocks off Gators: Marcus Jordan scored 18 points, Keith Clanton hit two free throws in the final seconds and Central Florida (6-0) upset No. 18 Florida (5-2) 57-54 at Orlando, Fla.

Westbrook stars in 3-overtime win

NBA: Russell Westbrook capped a 38-point, 15-rebound, nine-assist performance by scoring all of Oklahoma City’s 13 points in the third overtime, and the Thunder overcame the absence of an injured Kevin Durant with a 123-120 victory over the New Jersey Nets at Newark, N.J.

Jeff Green added a career-high 37 points for the Thunder, who outlasted New Jersey in a game in which the Nets tied the game at the end of regulation on a running 26-foot 3-pointer by Anthony Morrow.

• Celts trip Blazers: Ray Allen missed his first five 3-point attempts before hitting one with 10.7 seconds left to help the Boston Celtics hold off a late charge by the Portland Trail Blazers and win 99-95 at Boston.

Bjorklund loses record, gains another

Women’s basketball: Meighan Simmons opened the game with consecutive 3-pointers. When the final buzzer sounded, the freshman had broken Tennessee’s single-game record for 3s, most recently set by teammate Angie Bjorklund (University High).

Simmons scored 28 points and sank her eighth and final 3 with 2:03 left as the No. 9 Lady Volunteers beat Lamar 99-55 at Knoxville, Tenn.

Bjorklund, who came off the bench, scored 15 points and set a record of her own. Her nine attempts from 3-point range gave her 633 career tries, breaking Shanna Zolman’s previous record of 626.

• Pope leads No. 2 Baylor: Brooklyn Pope had 20 points with 14 rebounds as second-ranked Baylor (8-1) built a big lead and held off No. 16 Notre Dame (5-3) 76-65 at Waco, Texas.

Utah accepts bid from Las Vegas Bowl

College football: No. 21 Utah (10-2) will try to extend the longest bowl winning streak in the nation to 10 at the Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 22.

Utah’s opponent in the Las Vegas bowl has yet to be announced, but Nevada is a possible candidate should it beat Louisiana Tech on Saturday.

In other bowl news, the San Diego State Aztecs (8-4) accepted an invitation to play in the hometown Poinsettia Bowl on Dec. 23 against Navy; Air Force (8-4) is headed to the Independence Bowl Dec. 27 to play an Atlantic Coast Conference team; and the BYU Cougars (6-6) accepted an invitation to play in the New Mexico Bowl on Dec. 18 in Albuquerque.

Moyer hopes to heal, pitch at age 49

Baseball: Jamie Moyer had Tommy John surgery on his pitching elbow and plans to attempt a comeback in 2012 at age 49.

The left-hander had surgery in New York to repair the ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow.

Moyer, formerly with the Seattle Mariners, is 267-204 with a 4.24 ERA during a 23-year major league career.