Illinois shocks Indiana with buzzer-beater
Men’s College Basketball: Tyler Griffey made an uncontested layup at the buzzer off a baseline inbounds pass and Illinois beat No. 1 Indiana 74-72 on Thursday night in Champaign, Ill., the fifth straight week the nation’s top-ranked team has lost.
The Illini trailed 41-29 at halftime and by double digits for most of the second half before closing the game on a 13-2 run over the final 3:36.
Griffey, who was open after setting a screen, took the inbounds pass from Brandon Paul with .9 seconds left and gently laid the ball into the basket.
• No. 4 Duke cruises: Mason Plumlee scored 30 points and No. 4 Duke held on to beat North Carolina State 98-85 in Durham, N.C.
Seth Curry added 26 points and Quinn Cook had 21 for the Blue Devils.
The Blue Devils never trailed, shot 53.8 percent from the field, led by 21 points and held off a Wolfpack rally to claim their fourth straight win.
• Notre Dame to play in Big East one more season: Notre Dame will be in the Big East at least one more season.
Athletic director Jack Swarbrick said the university has said all along it would like to leave the Big East for the Atlantic Coast Conference before the required 27 months’ notice for departing members, but was unable to reach an agreement to do so before next season.
Celtics rout Lakers for sixth straight win
NBA: Paul Pierce scored 24 points and led a third-quarter surge as the Boston Celtics routed the visiting Los Angeles Lakers 116-95, improving to 6-0 since losing point guard Rajon Rondo for the season with a torn knee ligament.
Kobe Bryant scored 27 to lead the Lakers, who suffered their worst loss of the season despite the return of Dwight Howard after he missed three games with a sore right shoulder. Howard had nine points and nine rebounds.
Boston’s Kevin Garnett became the 16th player of all time to surpass 25,000 career points.
• Faried leads Nuggets: Kenneth Faried and the Denver Nuggets extended their winning streak to eight games with a 128-96 win over the Chicago Bulls.
Faried finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds in 26 minutes as the Nuggets won for the 15th time in 18 games since Jan. 1.
Carlos Boozer led Chicago’s starters with 18 points and Daequan Cook had 19 points.
Penguins overwhelm struggling Capitals
NHL: Sidney Crosby extended his points streak to six games with a goal and two assists and the Pittsburgh Penguins pounded the visiting Washington Capitals 5-2.
Evgeni Malkin also added a goal and two assists while Pascal Dupuis, James Neal and Matt Cooke scored for the Penguins. Pittsburgh’s revamped power play produced three goals.
• Rangers beat Isles: Teenage rookie J.T. Miller scored his first two NHL goals in his second career game to lift host New York Rangers to a 4-1 victory over the New York Islanders.
Miller gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead just 1:29 in and then pushed their advantage to 3-1 in the second period.
• Devils get past Lightning: Ilya Kovalchuk broke a tie with a short-handed goal late in the second period and the New Jersey Devils won their third straight game with a 4-2 victory over Tampa Bay Lightning in Newark, N.J.
Mahan shares the lead at Pebble Beach
Micsellany: Hunter Mahan Mahan took advantage of gorgeous conditions for a 6-under 66 that gave him a share of the lead to par with Russell Knox in the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am golf tournament.
• Nadal reaches doubles semifinals: Rafael Nadal and Juan Monaco reached the doubles semifinals at the VTR Open tennis tournament with a 6-2, 7-6 (4) win over Guillaume Ruffin and Filippo Volandri in Vina Del Mar, Chile.
• Michigan leads nation in football attendance: Michigan was the national leader in college football attendance for the 15th straight year with 112,252 fans per game, and the Southeastern Conference went over 7 million in total attendance for the first time after expanding to 14 teams..
• Raines, Bell lead Canadian Hall class: Former Montreal Expos outfielder Tim Raines was selected for induction into the Canadian Baseball of Fame. Also included in the class of 2013 are former outfielders George Bell and Rob Ducey as well as ex-announcer Tom Cheek and longtime minor league owner Nat Bailey.