Trail Blazers beat short-handed Magic

Tue., March 8, 2011

Portland’s LaMarcus Aldridge works his way past Orlando’s Ryan Anderson, left, and Earl Clark for two of his 24 points. (Associated Press)

NBA: LaMarcus Aldridge scored 24 points, Andre Miller added 15 and the Portland Trail Blazers held on to beat the Orlando Magic, who were without the suspended Dwight Howard, 89-85 on Monday night in Orlando, Fla.

Marcus Camby was held scoreless, but had 10 rebounds to help the Blazers fend off a late rally by the Magic.

Orlando lost its second consecutive game and dropped to 1-2 this season without Howard, who sat out while serving a one-game suspension after picking up his 16th technical foul Friday.

• Anthony, Stoudemire lead Knicks’ burst over Jazz: Carmelo Anthony scored 34 points, Amare Stoudemire added 31, and the Knicks showed how dangerous they can be when their superstars are rolling, beating the Utah Jazz 131-109 in New York.

Anthony and Stoudemire combined to make 24 of 31 shots before watching from the bench for the entire final period.

Peacocks end 16-year tournament drought

Men’s basketball: Jeron Belin scored 17 points and St. Peter’s (20-13) beat Iona (22-11) 62-57 in Bridgeport, Conn., to secure the school’s first NCAA tournament berth in 16 years and win the MAAC championship.

Nick Leon added 15 points for the fourth-seeded Peacocks, who upset top-seed Fairfield 62-48 on Sunday.

• Old Dominion secures berth: Frank Hassell scored 22 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Old Dominion (27-6) withstood a furious second-half rally by Virginia Commonwealth (23-11) to secure an automatic berth into the NCAA tournament by defending its Colonial Athletic Association tournament title with a 70-65 victory in Richmond, Va.

• Wofford grabs automatic bid: Cameron Rundles scored 21 points, sending Wofford (21-12) to a second straight NCAA tournament berth with a 77-67 victory over College of Charleston (24-10) in the Southern Conference tournament championship in Chattanooga, Tenn.

Notre Dame rallies to hold off DePaul

Women’s basketball: Skylar Diggins scored 19 points to help No. 10 Notre Dame (26-6) beat No. 9 DePaul (27-6) 71-67 in the semifinals of the Big East tournament at Hartford, Conn.

The Irish will face top-seeded Connecticut tonight for the championship.

Capitals power past Lightning in shootout

NHL: Alex Ovechkin assisted on Washington’s only goal in regulation, then scored in the opening round of the shootout to give the first-place Capitals a 2-1 victory over the Lightning in Tampa, Fla.

Alexander Semin came up big for the Caps, tying the game 1-1 with 5:32 remaining in the third period.

Report claims Tressel knew of wrongdoing

College Football: Yahoo! Sports is reporting Ohio State coach Jim Tressel was informed that some of his players had sold memorabilia to the owner of a tattoo parlor more than eight months before the school said it was made aware of improper transactions.

The website, citing an unidentified source, reports Tressel received information as early as April 2010 that players were selling items to Edward Rife, who owns Fine Line Ink Tattoos in Columbus, Ohio.

• Thomas, Frazier make HOF ballot: The late Derrick Thomas of Alabama, quarterback Tommie Frazier of Nebraska and tailback Lorenzo White of Michigan State are among the former college stars making their first appearance on the College Football Hall of Fame ballot this season.

The National Football Foundation announced the names of 79 players and nine coaches on this year’s ballot.

The latest Hall of Fame class will be announced in May.

Morgan leads U.S. over Finland

Miscellany: Alex Morgan scored two goals, Shannon Boxx and Carli Lloyd had one apiece and the United States beat Finland 4-0 in women’s soccer in Quarteira, Portugal.

After winning their first three games at the Algarve Cup, the United States will play Iceland in Wednesday’s final.

• Four-time defender leads Iditarod: Four-time defending Iditarod champion Lance Mackey was the first musher to reach the Rainy Pass checkpoint in Willow, Alaska, about 190 miles into the 1,100-mile race. Mackey arrived with 16 dogs at 8:08 a.m. Alaska time, followed by Ray Redington Jr. at 8:32 a.m.

• No foal play as Rachel Alexander expecting: Rachel Alexander, the 2009 Horse of the Year, is in foal with an expected due date of Feb. 1, 2012.

Stonestreet Farm in Lexington, Ky., announced the pregnancy two weeks after the 2009 Preakness winner was bred to two-time Horse of the Year winner and stablemate Curlin.