In brief: Cornhuskers upset reeling Indiana, 70-69

MEN’S COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Jorge Brian Diaz made two free throws with 11 seconds left to give Nebraska the lead, Indiana couldn’t score on its last possession, and the struggling Cornhuskers upset No. 11 Indiana 70-69 on Wednesday night for the Hoosiers’ third straight loss.

Visiting Indiana (15-3, 3-4) squandered a 13-point, second-half lead as Nebraska (10-8, 2-5) posted its biggest victory as a new member of the Big Ten.

Jordan Hulls missed on a driving layup, then recovered the loose ball and missed a desperation shot from in front of his bench as time ran out. The ball bounced back toward Hulls, and he kicked it in defeat as Nebraska’s student section emptied and rushed the court.

Bo Spencer led the Huskers with 23 points, Toney McCray had 11 and Diaz and Dylan Talley 10 apiece. Cody Zeller led the Hoosiers with 18 points, and Hulls added 12.

• Bearcats bring down Connecticut: Sean Kilpatrick hit a 3-pointer with 2.7 seconds left and visiting Cincinnati beat No. 13 Connecticut 70-67 for its seventh straight road victory in the Big East.

Kilpatrick scored 16 points to lead five Bearcats in double figures as Cincinnati (15-4, 5-1 Big East) withstood two big UConn second-half runs and a half-court shot by Niels Giffey at the buzzer that rimmed out.

Connecticut (14-4, 4-3) lost for the first time at home this season.

• Murray State stays unbeaten: Isaiah Canaan scored 20 points and No. 12 Murray State rallied to beat Morehead State at Morehead, Ky.

The Racers (19-0, 7-0) trailed by nine with just less than 13 minutes to play before rallying behind Canaan and Donte Poole, who added 15 points, to remain one of two unbeaten teams in men’s Division I basketball along with No. 1 Syracuse.

The Eagles led 46-37 after a basket by Milton Chavis, but the Racers rallied, using a 10-0 run to take the lead against the defending OVC tournament champions.

• Ex-Coug leads Aztecs: Former Washington State guard Xavier Thames scored 22 points and No. 16 San Diego State overcame a sluggish start to beat host New Mexico 75-70 for its ninth straight victory.

The Aztecs (16-2, 2-0 Mountain West) also ended New Mexico’s winning streak at 13 games.

Rangers land Japanese ace

Baseball: Yu Darvish is coming to America to pitch.

Japan’s best pitcher and the Texas Rangers agreed before Wednesday’s deadline to a $60 million, six-year contract. In addition to the salary, the Rangers will pay a posting fee of about $51.7 million to the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of Japan’s Pacific League.

Darvish, 25, had a 93-38 record with a 1.99 ERA over the past seven seasons in Japan. The 6-foot-5 right-hander was a two-time Pacific League MVP and a five-time All-Star. He led the league in strikeouts three times, in ERA twice and won two Gold Gloves.

• In other baseball signings: The Seattle Mariners signed left-handed pitcher Oliver Perez to a minor league contract with an invite to major league spring training. The nine-year veteran spent all of the 2011 season pitching for Double-A Harrisburg in the Washington Nationals organization … Outfielder Jack Cust agreed to a $600,000, one-year contract with the Houston Astros after getting released by Seattle and Philadelphia last year. The 33-year-old hit .213 with three homers and 23 RBIs in 67 games for the Mariners, who released him on Aug. 4 … Former Mariners pitcher Jamie Moyer, 49, has agreed to terms on a minor league contract with an invite to the Colorado Rockies’ spring training, pending a physical.

Wizards top Thunder with just second win

NBA: John Wall scored 25 points, Nick Young had 24 and Jordan Crawford added 18 to lead Washington to a 105-102 victory over visiting Oklahoma City, snapping the Thunder’s seven-game winning streak and giving the Wizards just their second win of the season.

The Wizards said center Ronny Turiaf, who hasn’t played since breaking his left hand on Jan. 1, was in New York to have sutures removed.

• Hawks hold off Blazers: Joe Johnson scored 24 points and came up with a key defensive play down the stretch, leading the Atlanta Hawks to their fourth straight victory since losing All-Star center Al Horford, 92-89 over the visiting Portland Trail Blazers.

The Hawks closed the third period on a 14-0 run, but the Trail Blazers responded with a 13-0 spurt starting the fourth to tie it up.

Atlanta was up 84-80 when a wild sequence went the home team’s way. Jamal Crawford missed on a drive, but Wesley Matthews picked off an outlet pass to apparently give the Blazers another chance. Not so fast. Johnson hustled up behind Matthews to steal it back, then lobbed to Jeff Teague for a dunk.

Griner leads Baylor to 18th straight win

Women’s college basketball: Brittney Griner scored 21 points to lead No. 1 Baylor (18-0, 5-0) over host Texas Tech (14-3, 2-3) 72-64.

Texas Tech cut the lead to 69-63 when Monique Smalls stole the ball from Odyssey Sims in the backcourt and made a layup with 1:12 remaining.

But 6-foot-9 Griner, who finished 7 of 16 from the field with eight blocks, hit a short jumper from the left side to put the Lady Bears back up by eight 71-63 and seal the win.

Williams, Sharapova advance in Australia

TENNIS: After taking a tumble on the next-to-last point of the match, Serena Williams got up and whipped a backhand winner down the line to finish off her second-round match at the Australian Open and her 500th career win.

With the 6-0, 6-4 victory over Barbora Zahlavova Strycova today, Williams extended her winning streak to 16 matches at Melbourne Park, where she won back-to-back titles in 2009 and ’10 but couldn’t play last year due to injury.

Maria Sharapova, one of the other two former champions in the draw, reached the third round after just two hours on court. The 2008 champion had a 6-0, 6-1 second-round win over U.S. qualifier Jamie Hampton in 64 minutes, two days after beating Argentina’s Gisela Dulko by the same margin.

Neuvith’s shutout earns Caps’ win

NHL: Michal Neuvirth made 31 saves for his second shutout of the season and Alex Ovechkin scored his 19th goal on a power play midway through the second period to lift visiting Washington to a 3-0 win over Montreal.

Mathieu Perreault and Marcus Johansson scored first-period goals for Washington.