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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

James scores 25 as Cavs tame Grizzlies

Cleveland’s Dion Waiters shoots over Memphis’ Vince Carter in the fourth quarter. Waiters scored 21 points off the bench. (Associated Press)
From Staff And Wire Reports

NBA: LeBron James had 25 points and 11 assists, Dion Waiters scored 13 of his 21 points in the fourth quarter and the Cleveland Cavaliers handled one of the Western Conference’s best teams, beating the Memphis Grizzlies 105-91 on Sunday in Cleveland.

James scored 16 in the second half and the Cavs shot a season-best 61 percent from the field to improve to just 3-6 against West teams. Anderson Varejao scored 18 and Kyrie Irving had 17 points and 12 assists for the Cavs, who are 11-3 since their sluggish 5-7 start.

Cleveland, which has won eight of nine at home, is 9-2 when James has at least nine assists.

Marc Gasol scored 23 and added 11 rebounds for the Grizzlies, who played without forward Zach Randolph. He’s nursing a sore and swollen right knee he injured in Friday’s loss at Chicago.

Durant sits again: Oklahoma City forward Kevin Durant missed his second straight game because of a sprained right ankle Sunday night when the Thunder lost 101-99 to the visiting New Orleans Pelicans.

Durant, last season’s MVP, sprained the ankle Thursday against the Golden State Warriors and he missed the next game Friday against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Thunder coach Scott Brooks said Durant is feeling better, but he is day-to-day.

Anthony Davis scored 38 points to lead New Orleans.

Suns end Wizards’ streak: Eric Bledsoe and Markieff Morris each scored 17 points, Goran Dragic added 16 and the visiting Phoenix Suns beat Washington 104-92 to end the Wizards’ winning streak at six.

Rasual Butler led the Wizards with 17 points, and Kevin Seraphin had a season-high 16.

Big Three-free Heat beat Celtics: Luol Deng scored 23 points, James Ennis scored 10 of his 16 in the fourth quarter and the Miami Heat ended a five-game home losing streak with a 100-84 victory over the Boston Celtics.

It was the first time in 154 games that Miami didn’t have any of its former Big Three – Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh or James. Wade sat with a bruised right knee, Bosh missed his fifth straight game with a left calf strain and James now plays for Cleveland.

Sixers earn third win: Michael Carter-Williams scored 21 points and the visiting Philadelphia 76ers rallied in the second half to claim a 96-88 victory over the Orlando Magic.

Rangers beat ’Canes, push win streak to six

NHL: Ryan McDonagh’s first-period goal held up and Cam Talbot made 18 saves as the New York Rangers extended their winning streak to six with a 1-0 victory over the visiting Carolina Hurricanes.

The Rangers completed a sweep of the home-and-home weekend series against the Eastern Conference-worst Hurricanes, who lost for the eighth time in nine games.

Bruins rally past Sabres: Loui Eriksson scored 2:14 into overtime, and the host Boston Bruins rallied to beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-3.

Dougie Hamilton scored twice for Boston, including a tying goal with 1:31 left in the third after the Bruins pulled goalie Tuukka Rask.

Flyers’ Zepp wins debut: Rob Zepp made 25 saves in his NHL debut and Jakub Voracek scored 10 seconds into overtime, sending the visiting Philadelphia Flyers to a 4-3 victory over the Winnipeg Jets.

Voracek and linemate Claude Giroux forced a Dustin Byfuglien turnover behind the Winnipeg net, and Voracek slid the puck through Ondrej Pavelec’s pads for his second goal of the game.

Iowa outlasts Drake in frantic finish

Women’s college basketball: Samantha Logic scored on a contested drive with 3 seconds remaining to give No. 23 Iowa a wild 100-98 victory over Drake in Des Moines, Iowa.

The teams combined for 24 points in the last 1:05.

Melissa Dixon hit 10 3-pointers and scored 31 points for the Hawkeyes. Lizzy Wendell hit a 3-pointer with 8.6 seconds left to tie it and scored 43 points for the Bulldogs.

Longhorns outlast Aggies: Empress Davenport made a layup with 4.2 seconds and No. 3 Texas overcame an 11-point second-half deficit to beat No. 4 Texas A&M 67-65 in North Little Rock, Arkansas.

UConn women rout UCLA: Breanna Stewart scored 22 points to lead a balanced offense and No. 2 UConn beat UCLA 86-50 in the Naismith Hall of Fame women’s holiday showcase in Uncasville, Connecticut.

No. 6 Virginia shuts down Harvard

Miscellany: Mike Tobey scored 15 points in the first half and No. 6 Virginia held Harvard to one field goal before the break as the Cavaliers rolled, 76-27 in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Malcolm Brogdon also scored 15 for Virginia (11-0), which equaled its best start since the 1992-93 season with its stingiest defensive performance in a season already full of them.

Harvard (7-2), coming off a 12-day break for exams, looked rusty from the start and unprepared to have such difficulty getting inside or in finding open shots. Its only basket in the first half came on a drive by Zena Edosomwan with 16:31 left, and Harvard missed its final 15 attempts.

Corbin Miller led the Crimson with eight points. Scoring leader Wesley Saunders missed all seven shots from the field and scored four points. The Crimson finished 8 for 50 (16 percent).

Hirscher dominates giant slalom: Marcel Hirscher beat Olympic champion Ted Ligety by a large margin in Alta Badia, Italy, in an unusually bumpy World Cup giant slalom race for his third consecutive victory in technical events.

The three-time defending overall champion from Austria clocked a two-run combined time of 2 minutes, 30.17 seconds.

Ligety moved up from seventh after the opening leg to finish second, 1.45 seconds behind. Thomas Fanara of France placed third, a further three-hundredths back.

Brazil, U.S. women draw: Brazil’s women’s soccer team held on for a 0-0 draw with the United States to win the International Tournament of Brasilia.

Brazil had the tiebreaker in the final because it finished with the best result in group play at the four-team competition in the nation’s capital.

Broncos’ Ajayi going pro: Boise State tailback Jay Ajayi says he’s skipping his senior season to enter the upcoming NFL draft.

The junior ranks fourth in the nation with 1,689 rushing yards. He is second to Wisconsin’s Melvin Gordon with 25 rushing touchdowns.