In brief: Ligety wins third straight giant slalom

Skiing: Ted Ligety extended his domination in World Cup giant slaloms Sunday in Alta Badia, Italy, winning his third straight race to take the lead in the overall standings.

The American was second after the opening run behind Cyprien Richard, but the Frenchman lost time on the lower part of his afternoon run down the steep and icy Gran Risa course.

Ligety finished in a combined time of 2 minutes, 31.99 seconds. Richard was 0.14 seconds back and countryman Thomas Fanara was 0.55 behind in third, with both Frenchman posting career-best finishes.

Ligety leads the overall World Cup standings with 321 points.

• Vonn wins World Cup super-combi: Lindsey Vonn has captured her second straight World Cup race, taking the overall standings lead with a victory in the super-combined in Val d’Isere, France.

The American put together a dominant performance in the super-G and an assured slalom run to win, a day after she won the downhill at Val d’Isere, France.

The defending three-time overall World Cup champion seized the overall lead from Maria Riesch of Germany, who finished fifth.

Banged-up Pistons edge Hornets in OT

NBA: Will Bynum’s driving layup with 7.4 seconds left in overtime helped the Detroit Pistons to a 111-108 victory over the visiting New Orleans Hornets.

Detroit trailed by one after a pair of free throws by David West with 15.0 seconds remaining. After a brief scramble, Bynum picked up the ball in the backcourt and went straight to the basket, getting a hard pick from Jason Maxiell along the way and scoring while drawing a foul.

Bynum missed the free throw, and New Orleans called a timeout, but Maxiell tipped away the inbound pass, outfought West for the ball and dunked with 0.5 seconds remaining.

The Pistons were without Richard Hamilton, who sat out with an upset stomach.

• Short-handed Suns edge Thunder: Grant Hill scored a season-high 30 points and had 11 rebounds, Steve Nash added 20 points and 10 assists and the short-handed Phoenix Suns snapped Oklahoma City’s five-game winning streak by beating the Thunder 113-110 in Oklahoma City.

Phoenix played while still waiting for trade acquisitions Vince Carter, Marcin Gortat and Mickael Pietrus to join the team.

The Suns let a 13-point lead slip away but were able to recover and take the lead for good on Robin Lopez’s right-handed dunk with 6:45 left. Oklahoma City got within a point in the final 7 seconds, but never got the chance to take the lead as the teams traded foul shots.

Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 28 points, and Russell Westbrook and Jeff Green scored 19 apiece.

Eriksson scores in OT; Stars beat Red Wings

NHL: Loui Eriksson scored at 4:18 of overtime to give the visiting Dallas Stars a 4-3 comeback victory over the Detroit Red Wings in a game between the top two teams in the Western Conference standings.

Eriksson also had two assists, Brenden Morrow scored twice, Brad Richards added a goal and Andrew Raycroft stopped 28 shots to help Dallas pull within a point of conference-leading Detroit.

Pavel Datsyuk and Johan Franzen each had a goal and an assist and Patrick Eaves also scored for Detroit. Chris Osgood made 28 saves.

• Blackhawks beat Kings: Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith and Fernando Pisani scored, rookie Corey Crawford made 26 saves and the disciplined Chicago Blackhawks beat the visiting Los Angeles Kings 3-2.

The Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks won their second straight game.

Kyle Clifford and Wayne Simmonds scored for the Kings. They lost in regulation for only the second time in their last eight games (5-2-1).

Els beats Goosen by one to win SA Open

Miscellany: Ernie Els won the South African Open for the fifth time, shooting a 6-under 66 to beat Retief Goosen by one shot in Durban, South Africa, in a tournament shortened to 17 holes for each of the final two rounds.

The third and fourth rounds were played without the par-3 fourth, where the green was water-logged and all players were given a par score.

Els had five birdies, an eagle and a bogey in the final round to finish at 25-under 257 in the 100th edition of the rain-delayed tournament, where South Africans took the top four spots.

• Lembo to coach Ball State: Pete Lembo has left Elon to take over the Ball State football program.

Lembo went 35-22 in five seasons with the Phoenix, including a 24-14 Southern Conference mark. His teams won seven games against top-25 foes in the Football Championship Subdivision during his stay. In 2009, Elon posted a 9-3 overall record and earned the school’s first FCS playoff berth.

Ball State fired Stan Parrish after the Cardinals finished 4-8.

• Holcomb wins WC four-man at Lake Placid: Steve Holcomb of the United States won the World Cup four-man bobsled race at Lake Placid, N.Y.

Holcomb and his crew of Justin Olsen, Steven Langton and Curt Tomasevicz finished the two-heat race in 1 minute, 48.01 seconds to beat Maximilian Arndt of Germany. Lyndon Rush of Canada won the bronze.

• Lochte, Cielo add to hauls at short-course worlds: Ryan Lochte added three more victories at the short-course world championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Cesar Cielo completed a sweep of the sprint events.

Lochte won gold in the 200-meter backstroke, 100 individual medley and 400 medley relay Sunday to bring his tally to six golds and one silver.

Cielo, of Brazil, won the 100 freestyle in a championship-record 45.74 seconds, adding to his 50 free title Friday.

• Official: Interest in Rhode Island for America’s Cup: Rhode Island’s top economic development official said that representatives of BMW Oracle Racing and Golden Gate Yacht Club have expressed an interest in holding the next America’s Cup in Newport but haven’t made a final decision.

Newport is vying with San Francisco for the right to host the world’s most prestigious sailing competition in 2013.