Miller, Americans rule World Cup ski event

With Bode Miller leading the way, U.S. skiers dominated a World Cup race like never before. Miller now wonders if his decision to race independently quickened the development of some of his former teammates.

Miller finished second to Austria’s Michael Walchhofer on Saturday in the classic Saslong downhill at Val Gardena, Italy. The New Hampshire skier was 0.38 seconds behind the winning time of 1 minute, 50.57 seconds.

Miller led a record contingent of five Americans in the top 10. He also revived the defense of his overall World Cup title, moving up to ninth in the standings from 13th.

“A lot of the things I was bringing up over the last 10 years have been changed and improved, and have allowed the guys to have the program that they have now,” Miller said.

Marco Sullivan of Tahoe City, Calif., took fourth for the U.S.; Erik Fisher of Middleton, Idaho, was a career-best seventh; 2006 winner Steven Nyman of Provo, Utah, finished ninth; and TJ Lanning of Park City, Utah, placed 10th.

Miller split from the U.S. team before last season and trains and races on his own, although he still wears the team uniform to conform with International Ski Federation rules.

Scott Macartney of Kirkland, Wash., finished 15th for his best result since a crash that left him unconscious in Kitzbuehel, Austria, last season.

Manuel Osborne-Paradis finished third, 0.54 behind, and Canadian teammate Erik Guay was fifth in a banner day for North Americans.

•Winter Dew Tour begins: Local freeskier Bobby Brown won the slopestyle finals, and veteran freeskier Tanner Hall took the superpipe finals in the first stop on the inaugural Winter Dew Tour at Breckenridge, Colo.

In the freeski superpipe event, Hall landed a 1,080 at the bottom of the superpipe for the first time in his competitive career.

•Ohno crashes in speedskating final: A late crash by Apolo Anton Ohno allowed Travis Jayner to win the 500-meter final at the U.S Short Track Speedskating Championship at Chesterfield, Mo.

Kimberly Derrick captured a smoothly run women’s final.

College basketball

Spartans down Texas

Durrell Summers hit a 3-pointer with 18.6 seconds left to lift the 19th-ranked Michigan State Spartans to a 67-63 win over the fifth-ranked Texas Longhorns in Houston.

Summers finished with 14 points and Goran Suton had 18 for the Spartans (8-2), who went 8 for 17 from the free-throw line and were outrebounded 37-34.

Gary Johnson scored a career-high 20 for Texas (9-2).

No. 6 Duke slams No. 7 Xavier: Jon Scheyer matched his season high with 23 points and the Blue Devils (10-1) took a 31-point halftime lead on their way to an easy 82-64 victory over the Musketeers (9-1) at East Rutherford, N.J.

•Minnesota stuns No. 9 Louisville: Al Nolen scored 18 points, 13 from the free-throw line, and the Golden Gophers (10-0) improved on their best start in more than three decades with a 70-64 win over the Cardinals (7-2) at Glendale, Ariz.

•No. 11 Syracuse upends No. 23 Memphis: Jonny Flynn had 24 points and six assists, Paul Harris added 15 points and eight rebounds and the Orange (11-1) defeated the Tigers (6-3) 72-65 at Memphis, Tenn.

•No. 13 Boilermakers stifle Curry, No. 22 Davidson: Robbie Hummel had 18 points and 14 rebounds and Purdue (9-2) rolled to a 21-0 lead before hanging on to beat the Wildcats (8-2) 76-58 in Indianapolis.

Davidson star Stephen Curry, who entered the game averaging 31.9 points, scored 13 and made just 5 of 26 field-goal attempts.

No. 20 Arizona St. survives BYU: Referees overturned a basket by BYU’s Charles Abouo at the buzzer to preserve the victory, as the Sun Devils (9-1) held off the Cougars (10-1) 76-75 at Glendale, Ariz.

NBA

Magic outlast Lakers

Jameer Nelson had 27 points and Orlando overcame Kobe Bryant’s season-high 41 points in the Magic’s 106-103 victory over the Western Conference-leading Los Angeles Lakers in Orlando, Fla.

Orlando held a lead late in the fourth quarter, and foul-plagued Dwight Howard hit a pair of free throws with just more than a minute left. Rashard Lewis hit 1 of 2 free throws in the final minute to put the Magic up to stay.

Bryant missed a 3 at the buzzer that would have sent the game to overtime.

•Paul lifts Hornets to victory: Chris Paul had 34 points, nine assists and a season-high eight steals, and the Hornets won for the 11th time in 13 games, 99-90 over the Sacramento Kings in New Orleans.

NHL

Canadiens prevail

Alex Kovalev scored with 24.3 seconds left in overtime to give the Montreal Canadiens a 4-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres in Montreal.

Kovalev converted Montreal’s second straight overtime power-play opportunity when he scored for the third game in a row following a 19-game drought. He beat Ryan Miller with a wrist shot from the right side.

•Bruins win at home again: David Krejci and Shawn Thornton scored third-period goals to lift the Boston Bruins to their 13th straight home victory, a 4-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes at Boston.

Golf

Kim in front

Anthony Kim matched the best score of the week with a 5-under-par 67, taking a one-shot lead when Jim Furyk found the water for double bogey on the 18th hole at the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

Kim was worried about rust coming off a five-week break, but his putter worked just fine in making six birdies. He was at 8-under 208.

Vijay Singh added a pair of birdies late for a 67 that put him in the group at 6-under 210 with Steve Stricker (68) and Camilo Villegas (69).