In brief: Vinsanity sends Lakers’ skid to three

NBA: Vince Carter had 25 points, Dwight Howard finished with 15 points and 16 rebounds and the Orlando Magic beat the visiting Lakers 96-94 on Sunday to hand Los Angeles its first three-game losing streak of the Pau Gasol-Kobe Bryant Era.

Carter’s lone free-throw miss gave the Lakers a chance at the end, with Bryant’s 20-foot jumper falling short.

Bryant had 34 points and Gasol added 20 points for the Lakers, walking to the locker room distraught and dejected after their latest loss.

•Allen’s 3 gives Celtics comeback win: Ray Allen scored a game-high 25 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 17.1 seconds remaining, and the Boston Celtics rallied past the Washington Wizards 86-83 at home.

Boston trailed 79-66 with 6:11 remaining and responded with a 20-4 run to close out the game with eight points from Allen and six from guard Rajon Rondo.

•Blazers can’t complete the comeback: Carmelo Anthony scored 30 points – his third consecutive game with at least 30 points – and the Denver Nuggets beat the visiting Portland Trail Blazers 118-106 for their third straight victory.

Jerryd Bayless’ 24 points led the Trail Blazers, who saw their three-game winning streak snapped.

Malkin propels Pens past Bruins

NHL: Evgeni Malkin scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period after former linemate Pascal Dupuis tied it, and the Pittsburgh Penguins remained unbeaten since the Olympic break by beating the Boston Bruins 2-1 at home.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 21 shots by the NHL’s lowest-scoring team to help the Penguins end Boston’s five-game road winning streak.

•Ladd’s hat trick for naught in loss: Pavel Datsyuk capped a five-goal second period and the Detroit Red Wings rallied to beat host Chicago 5-4, spoiling a hat track by the Blackhawks’ Andrew Ladd.

Brian Rafalski, Nicklas Lidstrom, Jason Williams and Valtteri Filppula also scored in the second period for Detroit, which came back from a 2-0 deficit to win for the fourth time in five games.

•Legace records first shutout of season: Manny Legace made 27 saves for Carolina’s first shutout of the season, and Jussi Jokinen had a goal and an assist in the Hurricanes’ 4-0 victory over the host Atlanta Thrashers.

Wildcats withstand Florida comeback

College men: Darius Miller and Eric Bledsoe had 14 points apiece and No. 3 Kentucky withstood a Florida comeback with a 74-66 victory at Lexington, Ky., completing an 18-0 home season and likely cementing its hold on a top seed in the NCAA tournament.

Florida (20-11, 9-7) may need to win a few games in this week’s SEC tournament in Nashville, Tenn., to reach the NCAAs.

•Northern Iowa punches second straight ticket: Kwadzo Ahelegbe had 24 points and Northern Iowa used dominating defense to beat Wichita State 67-52 for its second straight Missouri Valley Conference tournament title.

Northern Iowa (28-4) held the Shockers without a field goal for more than 12 minutes during a 25-3 second-half run.

Ohio St. sneaks past Iowa for Big Ten title

College women: Jantel Lavender tied a Big Ten tournament record by scoring 35 points, the last two coming on free throws with 1.9 seconds left, to give No. 10 Ohio State a 66-64 victory over Iowa and the conference tournament championship at Indianapolis.

•Lady Vols looking at No. 1 seed: Shekinna Stricklen scored 20 points and No. 4 Tennessee beat No. 19 Kentucky 70-62 at Duluth, Ga. to win the SEC tournament and possibly wrap up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Tennessee completed its first sweep of the Southeastern Conference’s regular-season and tournament championships in 10 years.

Angie Bjorklund (University HS) added eight points for Tennessee.

Jaguars land free agent DE Kampman

NFL: The Jacksonville Jaguars have signed two-time Pro Bowl free agent Aaron Kampman as a step toward solving their pass-rushing problems.

He should boost a pass rush that ranked last in the NFL with a franchise-low 14 sacks. The sack total is the fifth-lowest in NFL history

The length and terms of the contract are undisclosed.

•Browns give Fujita, Pashos multiyear deals: The Cleveland Browns signed linebacker Scott Fujita and offensive lineman Tony Pashos, both unrestricted free agents, to multiyear contracts.

Terms of the contracts were not disclosed.

•Ferguson suspended by NFL: Free agent Jason Ferguson, a veteran nose tackle most recently with the Miami Dolphins, has been suspended for the first eight games of next season for violating NFL policy on performance-enhancing substances.

Ferguson was also suspended for violating NFL drug policy in 1999.

Serbia eliminates U.S. in Davis Cup

Miscellany: The Davis Cup run for the United States is over in the first round.

Novak Djokovic withstood 24 aces and outlasted John Isner 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-4 at Belgrade, Serbia, giving Serbia a clinching 3-1 lead against an American team looking for its 33rd Davis Cup title

•Vonn denied second win: Dominique Gisin of Switzerland won her first World Cup super-G race by denying Lindsey Vonn a second win in two days at Crans-Montana, Switzerland.

Vonn finished 0.15 seconds behind and U.S. teammate Julia Mancuso was 0.38 seconds back in third.

•Canada’s Guay wins World Cup super-G: Erik Guay of Canada has won a super-G race in Kvitfjell, Norway for his second career World Cup victory.

•Davis stays perfect in 1,000 meters: Olympic gold medalist Shani Davis of the United States improved to 6-0 at 1,000 meters during the World Cup season, winning in 1 minute, 9.25 seconds at Erfurt, Germany.

•Competitors begin Iditarod race: The festivities are over and the serious competition has begun in 1,100-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.

The drivers of 71 dog teams took off from frozen Willow Lake, Alaska, to begin the race to the old gold rush town of Nome on Alaska’s western coast.