Davidson’s Curry drops 44 in win over N.C. State

Stephen Curry scored 44 points in a dazzling performance that couldn’t keep his buddy LeBron James in his seat, leading No. 22 Davidson to a 72-67 victory over North Carolina State on Saturday in Charlotte, N.C.

With James cheering on from the front row, the nation’s leading scorer drilled a 30-footer with just over a minute left, then hit two clinching free throws with 4.1 seconds remaining to match his career high.

Curry’s deep 3-pointer, which came after Davidson’s second straight offensive rebound, put Davidson ahead 70-66. It led a stunned James to leap from his seat, take several steps and put his arms up in the air as if he was surrendering to the nation’s top scorer.

Andrew Lovedale added 12 points and nine rebounds as Davidson (6-1) beat its ACC neighbors for only the second time in the past 38 meetings.

Brandon Costner had 18 points and 11 rebounds for the Wolfpack (4-1).

•Buckeyes down Irish: Evan Turner scored a career-high 28 points and Ohio State (5-0) registered its second straight upset of a ranked opponent, beating No. 7 Notre Dame 67-62 in Indianapolis.

Luke Harangody led Notre Dame (6-2) with 25 points and 16 rebounds.

NBA

Wade punishes Thunder

NBA scoring leader Dwyane Wade scored 25 of his 38 points in the first half and the Miami Heat won their third straight, beating the reeling Oklahoma City Thunder 105-99 in Miami.

Russell Westbrook scored 30 points for Oklahoma City (2-19), which matched the fifth-worst 21-game start in league history.

•Suns edge Jazz: Amare Stoudemire had 22 points and 20 rebounds, Leandro Barbosa scored 25 points and the Phoenix Suns ended a four-game losing streak with a 106-104 win over the Utah Jazz in Phoenix.

Golf

Wie in final group

Michelle Wie is in the final group at a golf tournament for the first time in more than two years, this time without the pressure of trying to win her first tournament as a pro.

Wie saved par on three of her last four holes for a 4-under 68 that left her one shot behind former NCAA champion Stacy Lewis at the LPGA Tour qualifying tournament at Daytona Beach, Fla., where the only goal is to leave LPGA headquarters with a full-time job. Wie was nine shots clear of the cutoff for the top 20 players to earn their cards.

•Stenson’s lead increases: Henrik Stenson of Sweden shot a 7-under 65 to extend his lead to eight shots after the third round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge in Sun City, South Africa.

Stenson’s nearest competitor Robert Karlsson of Sweden shot 67.

•Nelsons tied for lead at father-son event: Larry Nelson brought a different son and wound up in a familiar spot as he and Drew Nelson put together an 11-under 61 to share the lead with Tom and David Kite in the Del Webb Father-Son Championship at Orlando, Fla.

Hockey

Red Wings prevail

Pavel Datsyuk scored in a shootout to complete a comeback from a two-goal deficit and lift the Detroit Red Wings to a 5-4 win over the Chicago Blackhawks in Detroit.

Valtteri Filppula had a goal and an assist and Henrik Zetterberg and Marian Hossa also scored for Detroit.

•Flyers win in OT: Jeff Carter’s NHL-leading 19th goal 3:34 into overtime lifted the Philadelphia Flyers to a 2-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes in Raleigh, N.C.

Winter Sports

Svindal wins again

Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal captured his second straight event on the Birds of Prey course, winning a World Cup super-G at Beaver Creek, Colo., in which Ted Ligety of the United States tied for seventh and Bode Miller was 14th.

Miller made an impressive showing considering he went down on his side early in the run before righting himself.

•Americans second in bobsled race: Two-time world and Olympic champion Andre Lange of Germany won his 40th World Cup bobsled race, a two-man competition in Altenberg, Germany.

Lange and partner Kevin Kuske edged Americans Steven Holcomb and Justin Olsen by 0.25 seconds.

•Women’s World Cup downhill cancelled: The women’s World Cup downhill was canceled because of heavy snow and shifting winds that caused poor visibility at Lake Louise, Alberta.

•Austrian wins ski jump: Gregor Schlierenzauer broke the Granasen hill record with a jump of 140 meters in the first round and held on to win the World Cup ski jumping meet in Trondheim, Norway.

•Koreans dominate speed skating: Lee Ho-suk won the men’s 1,000 meters as South Korean skaters dominated the opening day at a World Cup short track meet with three victories in Nagano, Japan.

•Italians win luge: Italians Christian Oberstolz and Patrick Gruber won the men’s doubles and Tatjana Hufner of Germany took the women’s singles at a World Cup luge meet in Sigulda, Latvia.

Tennis

Sampras falls in semifinal

The memories all came flooding back to Pete Sampras, even if a title didn’t come with the nostalgia.

The seven-time Wimbledon champion, playing in a seniors tournament at Royal Albert Hall in London, lost to Cedric Pioline 7-6 (7), 7-6 (5).

“This place brings back memories … just being here and seeing the British people,” said the 37-year-old Sampras, who beat Pioline in the 1993 U.S. Open final and the ’97 Wimbledon final. “It was good to be back.”

On Wednesday, Sampras had 19 aces and defeated John McEnroe 6-3, 6-4 in the opening match.