Pacquiao earns unanimous decision over Rios

Boxing: Manny Pacquiao defeated Brandon Rios by unanimous decision on Saturday, returning to his winning ways after consecutive losses.

Back in the ring for the first time in almost a year, Pacquiao wore Rios down with his trademark combination punching and won 120-108, 119-109 and 118-110 on the scorecards at The Venetian casino in Macau.

Pacquiao, who grabbed the WBO international welterweight title with the victory, got the better of the opening two rounds, sending Rios to the canvas in the opening frame, although the referee contentiously ruled it as a slip rather than a knockdown.

Blazers beat Warriors to continue hot start

NBA: LaMarcus Aldridge had 30 points and 21 rebounds and the Portland Trail Blazers erased a double-digit deficit to beat Golden State 113-101 in Oakland, Calif., for their 10th straight win.

Klay Thompson scored 30 points for Golden State.

• James caps Heat comeback: LeBron James’ jumper with 15.1 seconds left put Miami ahead for good, and the Heat rallied from 16 points down in the second half to beat the visiting Orlando Magic 101-99.

Dwyane Wade scored 27 points in his return after missing two games to rest his knees.

• Clippers edge Kings: Chris Paul scored 22 points, hitting a go-ahead free throw with 2.5 seconds left, to help the Clippers beat visiting Sacramento after Los Angeles blew a 20-point lead in the first half.

Paul’s NBA-record streak of 13 straight games with at least 10 points and 10 assists to start a season ended when he finished with nine assists.

• Celtics down Hawks to snap skid: Brandon Bass had 17 points, seven rebounds and two key blocks and the Boston Celtics surged past the Hawks 94-87 in Atlanta to snap a six-game losing streak.

Krejci lifts Bruins over Canes in overtime

NHL: David Krejci scored 1:28 into overtime to lift the surging Bruins to a 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes in Boston.

Bruins backup Chad Johnson, playing just his fourth game of the season, made 22 saves in place of resting Tuukka Rask.

• Maple Leafs win shootout over Capitals: Joffrey Lupul scored the shootout winner, and James Reimer made 49 saves to lift the Maple Leafs over the Washington Capitals, 2-1, in Toronto.

• Wild slip past Jets in shootout: Charlie Coyle scored in the fourth round of the shootout to give the Minnesota Wild a 3-2 victory over the Jets in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

• Ducks hand Coyotes rare home loss: Dustin Penner scored two goals, and the Anaheim Ducks handed Phoenix its first regulation home loss of the season, dropping the Coyotes to 9-1-2 at home.

• Avs roll past Kings in OT: Jamie McGinn scored 2:32 into overtime and Semyon Varlamov won his third straight start with 19 saves, leading the Colorado Avalanche to a 1-0 victory over the Kings in Los Angeles.

Spartans struggle to beat Sooners

Men’s basketball: Keith Appling scored 27 points and No. 1 Michigan State (6-0) had all it could handle from Oklahoma (4-1) before pulling away in the final minutes for an 87-76 win in the championship game of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic in New York.

Appling, who was 8 of 12 from the field, scored eight points in the final 3:04 after the Sooners got within 75-71.

Ogwumike, Stanford hang on to beat Texas

Women’s basketball: Chiney Ogwumike shook off a poor first half to score 18 points, rallying No. 6 Stanford to a 63-54 victory over Texas in Austin, Texas.

Ogwumike scored just four points in the first half, but had 10 in a decisive run in the second. The Cardinal (4-1) held Texas (3-1) to five baskets and 17 points after halftime.

Day makes Australia winners at World Cup

Golf: Jason Day made a 7-foot par-saving putt on the 16th hole, Thomas Bjorn bogeyed and the Australian won his first tournament in nearly three years at the World Cup at Royal Melbourne (Australia).

Day’s closing 70 left him with a 10-under 274, two strokes ahead of Bjorn with a 71.

Day won $1.2 million and Australia won the team portion of the World Cup as Day and Adam Scott, who finished three strokes behind after a 66, shared the $600,000 first-place prize.

• Kisner tops leaderboard at Pebble Beach: Kevin Kisner shot a bogey-free 64 at Spyglass Hill and rallied for a two-shot lead over Jason Kokrak after three rounds of the Pebble Beach (Calif.) Invitational.

Kisner had eight birdies, en route to a 13-under 201.

• Gulbis tied for LPGA Titleholders lead: Natalie Gulbis hooked a 5-iron into the water and bogied the par-5 opening hole before bouncing back for a 7-under 65 to share the lead after three rounds at the LPGA Titleholders in Naples, Fla. Gerina Piller and Pornanong Phatlum each had a 67 to share the lead at 11-under 205.

Sporting KC advances to MLS Cup final

Miscellany: Dom Dwyer scored in the 63rd minute, and Sporting Kansas City advanced to its first MLS Cup final since 2004 with a 2-1 victory over the Houston Dynamo in Kansas City, Kan., in the second leg of the Eastern Conference final.

C.J. Sapong also scored for Kansas City, which will play host to either Portland or Real Salt Lake on Dec. 7. Sporting and the Dynamo played to a scoreless draw two weeks ago in the first leg of the conference final.

• Machida, Lipnitskaia win at Rostelecom Cup: Japan’s Tatsuki Machida and Russia’s Julia Lipnitskaia won gold in the Rostelecom Cup in Moscow, the last of the season’s six preliminary Grand Prix events.

Machida landed a clean quad-double combination and followed with a triple axel-triple toe loop to race past early leader Maxim Kovtun.

In the women’s event, Lipnitskaia fell on her opening jump but the 15-year-old prodigy still edged Carolina Kostner.

Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy of Germany won gold in pairs and the Russian team of Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev held on for the ice dance gold.

• Rise Up secures Delta Downs Jackpot: Gerard Melancon won the Delta Downs Jackpot in Vinton, La., for the second time in three years, guiding Rise Up to a six-length victory in the $1 million race.

Rise Up, trained by Tom Amoss, ran 1 1/16 miles in a stakes record 1:44.71 and paid $6.20, $4 and $2.80.

• Vettel claims pole for Brazilian GP: Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel ran a lap of 1 minute, 26.479 seconds to edge Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg by more than half a second and take the pole position for Formula One’s season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix on a wet track in Sao Paulo.