Williams leads Jazz to victory over Lakers

NBA: Deron Williams scored 29 points and Andrei Kirilenko grabbed two key rebounds late as the Utah Jazz rallied from a 19-point first-half deficit for a 102-96 win in Salt Lake City over a Los Angeles Lakers team that swept them out of the playoffs last season.

Williams tied the score at 96 with 1:16 remaining on a 3-pointer, then stole the ball and passed to Raja Bell for what proved to be the winner.

Ron Artest and Paul Gasol both missed shots late for the Lakers, who saw their five-game winning streak end.

The Jazz have now won three straight.

• Roy returns but Blazers fall to Hornets: Reserve Willie Green scored 13 of his 19 points in the first half, Trevor Ariza added 18, and the New Orleans Hornets got back on track with a 97-78 victory over the Trail Blazers in Portland.

Brandon Roy scored 27 points, leading the Blazers in his return from a sore knee that kept him out three games. LaMarcus Aldridge added 14 points and nine rebounds.

• Mavs put end to Spurs’ winning streak: Dirk Nowitzki scored 26 points and the Dallas Mavericks halted San Antonio’s winning streak at 12 games with a 103-94 win at San Antonio.

No. 24 Vols win NIT Season Tip-Off

Men’s Basketball: Scotty Hopson scored 18 points to lead No. 24 Tennessee to a 78-68 victory over No. 7 Villanova in the championship game of the NIT Season Tip-Off at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Senior point guard Melvin Goins was the key late for the Volunteers (5-0), scoring seven of his nine points and coming up with two big steals.

• No. 9 Syracuse into title game: Kris Joseph scored 22 points and No. 9 Syracuse held off hard-charging Michigan 53-50 to advance to the Legends Classic championship game at Atlantic City, N.J.

The Orange (5-0) will play Georgia Tech (4-1) tonight. The Yellow Jackets beat UTEP 71-61 in the other semifinal.

• Notre Dame holds Cal to 5 points in first half in win: Carleton Scott had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Notre Dame held California to five points at halftime to move into the Old Spice Classic championship game with a 57-44 victory at Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

No. 12 Georgetown upended by Missouri

Women’s Basketball: Raeshara Brown had 17 points and 11 rebounds to help Missouri upset No. 12 Georgetown at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

Christine Flores and Jasmyn Otote both had 12 points and keyed a late run for Missouri (2-2). Sugar Rodgers scored 13 points for the Hoyas (4-1).

• No. 4 Tennessee routs Georgia Tech: Glory Johnson had 15 points and a career-high 18 rebounds to lead No. 4 Tennessee to a 66-42 victory over Georgia Tech in a game that was delayed four times because of power failures at St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.

Former University High School star Angie Bjorklund scored seven points for the Lady Vols.

Howard, Red Wings defeat Blue Jackets

NHL: Jimmy Howard stopped Jared Boll on a penalty shot and finished with 34 saves to help the Detroit Red Wings beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 in a fight for the Western Conference lead in Columbus, Ohio.

Johan Franzen and Valtteri Filppula scored for Detroit. The Red Wings killed all five Columbus power plays en route to their ninth victory in their last 12 games.

• Islanders finally win: Rick DiPietro stopped all 29 shots he faced and the New York Islanders ended a 14-game winless streak with a 2-0 victory over the New Jersey Devils at Uniondale, N.Y.

Nadal, Djokovic advance in London

Miscellany: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic completed the semifinal lineup at the ATP World Tour Finals with straight-set victories in London.

The top-ranked Nadal beat Tomas Berdych 7-6 (3), 6-1 in the early match to leave Djokovic needing only one set to finish second in Group A and the third-seeded Serb defeated a listless Andy Roddick 6-2, 6-3.

Nadal will meet Andy Murray in today’s opening semifinal as he bids for his first title at the end-of-season tournament. Djokovic plays Roger Federer.

• Fisher, Poulter atop leaderboard in Dubai: Ross Fisher led an English run up a star-studded leaderboard at the Dubai World Championship in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, matching a course record 8-under-par 64 to tie Ian Poulter at 9 under for the second-round lead.

England’s Lee Westwood tightened his grip on the No. 1 ranking by moving into third with a 5-under 69 at the European Tour’s season-ending, $7.5 million tournament in Dubai. He stood at 8 under, one shot ahead of European money leader and third-ranked Martin Kaymer, who could overtake Westwood only with a top-two finish and the Englishman falling out of the top 27.

• Soccer player’s gender investigated: African soccer’s ruling body will investigate claims that Equatorial Guinea fielded a man on the team that played in the final of the recent women’s continental championship.

The Confederation of African Football said it would look into a protest lodged by the Nigerian Football Federation over “the gender status” of a player, which it did not name.

• Japanese, Finnish skaters win short programs: Japan’s Takahiko Kozuka, coming off a Cup of China victory three weeks ago, and Finland’s Kiira Korpi won the short programs at the Trophee Bompard in Paris.

Kozuka’s energetic performance gave him 77.64 points entering the men’s free skate Saturday. Florent Amodio of France had 75.62 points and Brandon Mroz of the United States was third at 72.46.

• Hasegawa wins featherweight title: Hozumi Hasegawa of Japan beat Juan Carlos Burgos of Mexico by unanimous decision to win the vacant WBC featherweight title at Nagoya, Japan.

• Giant Oak wins: Giant Oak won the $500,000 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs after race winner Successful Dan was dropped to third by officials for bumping another horse at Louisville, Ky.