Teammates, fans honor Habs’ Beliveau

NHL: Former teammates joined hundreds of fans and Quebec’s premier at Montreal’s Bell Centre on Sunday to pay tribute to Jean Beliveau, one of the greatest Montreal Canadiens players.

Beliveau, who died Tuesday at 83 after a long illness, lay in a closed casket at center ice. Fans stopped briefly to give their sympathies to Beliveau’s wife, Elise – who shook every hand that passed – as well as his daughter and granddaughters Magalie and Mylene.

The casket lay between two giant posters of Beliveau in his prime as an imposing center on the powerhouse Canadiens teams of the 1950s and 1960s. Also on display were the Stanley Cup and three other trophies he won – Hart (MVP), Art Ross (scoring) and Conn Smythe (playoff MVP).

Fans began lining up in the early morning in frigid weather for the public viewing, the first for a Canadiens player since Maurice “Rocket” Richard died in 2000.

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard recalled getting the autographs of Beliveau and other Canadiens when he was a teenager.

“To me he summarizes elegance, confidence, and the image of what we would like ourselves to be,” Couillard said.

Beliveau won 10 Stanley Cups as a player with the Canadiens from 1950 to 1971 and another seven as an executive. In 1,125 regular-season games, he had 507 goals and 712 assists. He is best remembered as an iconic team captain, and for his grace off the ice.

• Sens clip Canucks: Erik Karlsson scored 1:21 into overtime to give the host Ottawa Senators a 4-3 victory over Vancouver Canucks.

Mike Zibanejad had two goals and two assists, David Legwand also scored and Craig Anderson stopped 30 shots for the Senators.

Ottawa rallied from three goals down to snap a five-game losing streak (0-4-1).

• Oilers snap 11-game skid: David Perron scored the game winner midway through the third period as the Edmonton Oilers beat the visiting San Jose Sharks and snapped an 11-game losing streak.

Edmonton got its first win against a Western Conference opponent – moving to 1-12-4 in the conference.

Thunder send Pistons to 12th straight loss

NBA: Kevin Durant scored 28 points, Russell Westbrook added 22 points and 11 rebounds, and the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Detroit Pistons 96-94 in Auburn Hills, Michigan.

The Pistons have lost 12 straight, two short of the franchise record. Detroit’s last win came on Nov. 14 in overtime at Oklahoma City, a game that both Durant and Westbrook missed due to injury.

• Blazers win fourth straight: LaMarcus Aldridge scored 24 points and the Portland Trail Blazers overcame blowing a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter to beat the host New York Knicks 103-99 for their fourth straight victory.

Carmelo Anthony had 23 points, but the Knicks lost their eighth straight and 12th in their last 13. J.R. Smith scored 20 points off the bench for New York, whose 4-18 start is a franchise worst.

• Leuer leads Grizzlies: Jon Leuer scored a season-high 20 points and matched his career best with 12 rebounds to lead the Memphis Grizzlies to a 103-87 victory over the visiting Miami Heat.

Dwyane Wade scored 25 points for Miami.

• Celtics beat Wizards: Jeff Green scored 25 points, reserve Marcus Thornton had 21 and the Boston Celtics nearly blew a 25-point third-quarter lead before beating the Washington Wizards 101-93 in Paul Pierce’s return to Boston.

Rajon Rondo had a triple-double with 13 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists for the Celtics, who won their third straight after a season-high five-game losing streak.

Pierce, who played for the Celtics for 15 seasons and was a member of their 2008 championship team before being traded to Brooklyn before last season, scored 16 points.

• Kings’ Cousins remains out: Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins has been diagnosed with viral meningitis and will be sidelined at least another week.

The Kings said Cousins’ symptoms are stable and a full recovery is expected. He has sat out the last five games.

Gamecocks edge Duke, stay perfect

Women’s college basketball: A’Ja Wilson’s putback with 1.8 seconds left lifted No. 1 South Carolina past No. 9 Duke 51-50 in Durham, North Carolina.

Asia Dozier scored 11 points and Wilson finished with 10 for the Gamecocks (8-0), who trailed by four with less than 20 seconds left.

Rebecca Greenwell had 12 points and foul-plagued All-American Elizabeth Williams had all five of hers in the final 41/2 minutes. Duke (5-3) had 22 turnovers and is on its first three-game losing streak since 2007-08.

• Kentucky storms back, beats Louisville: Janee Thompson scored 19 points and Jennifer O’Neill added 17 to help No. 13 Kentucky beat No. 7 Louisville 77-68 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Myisha Hines-Allen led the Cardinals (8-1) with 17 points and nine rebounds and Bria Smith added 15 points.

The Wildcats (8-1) trailed by 16 with 6:44 to play in the first half and 42-29 at the half, but stormed back to outscore the Cardinals by 22 in the second half.

Hall sparks Clemson to rally past Arkansas

Men’s college basketball: Rod Hall scored 11 of his 19 points in the final minute of regulation and overtime to rally Clemson past No. 18 Arkansas 68-65 in Clemson, South Carolina.

The Tigers (5-3) trailed 57-51 on Bobby Portis’ layup with 1:17 to go. That’s when Hall led the Clemson comeback.

Michael Qualls hit a 3-pointer to bring Arkansas within 68-65 with 1:01 to play. But that was as close as the Razorbacks (6-2) would get.

Despite broken wrist, Ligety prevails

Winter sports: Ted Ligety used a powerful second run to win a World Cup giant slalom in Beaver Creek, Colorado, despite a broken wrist.

In fourth place after the opening run, Ligety finished in a combined time of 2 minutes, 34.07 seconds. Alexis Pinturault of France was second, 0.18 seconds behind, and Austria’s Marcel Hirscher ended up third.

• Gut edges Vonn: Lara Gut of Switzerland won the women’s World Cup super-G in Lake Louise, Alberta, with Lindsey Vonn finishing second.

Gut was timed in 1 minute, 18.46 seconds. Vonn was 0.37 seconds behind and Tina Maze of Slovenia was third, 0.81 seconds behind the winner.

Vonn is returning to the circuit after missing the Sochi Olympics and undergoing a second knee operation.