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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Lucky bounce helps Mavs beat Knicks

Dallas’ Dirk Nowitzki shoots the game-winning basket over New York’s Carmelo Anthony. The ball bounced up and then in. (Associated Press)
From Staff And Wire Reports

NBA: Dirk Nowitzki’s 19-foot jumper bounced up and then fell in as time expired, giving the visiting Dallas Mavericks a 110-108 victory over the New York Knicks on Monday night.

The Mavericks blew an eight-point lead in the final 90 seconds, then pulled out their third straight victory when Nowitzki’s jumper that seemed to have missed instead fell through.

Carmelo Anthony had 44 points and nine rebounds for the Knicks. He played strong defense on the Mavericks’ final possession, but was left standing in disbelief long after the buzzer after Nowitzki’s shot appeared to hit the backboard first, then the front rim, then bounced up before dropping.

Vince Carter scored 23 points and Monta Ellis had 22 for Dallas, which has won nine of 11 and is a season-best 12 games over .500.

New York lost for the sixth time in seven games and fell a season-worst 15 games below .500.

Clippers’ Crawford stays hot: Jamal Crawford hit seven 3s on his way to 24 points, and the visiting Los Angeles Clippers beat the New Orleans Pelicans 123-110. Crawford picked up where he left off in Oklahoma City a day earlier, when he hit five 3-pointers and finished with 36 points in a win.

Jazz get past Celtics: Alec Burks scored 21 points, Derrick Favors had 20 in his return from a hip injury and the Utah Jazz beat the Boston Celtics 110-98 in Salt Lake City. Jeff Green and Kelly Olynyk each had 21 points for Boston.

Florida takes over top spot in AP poll

Men’s basketball: Florida is the new No. 1 in the AP college poll, the Gators’ first time on top of the rankings since they repeated as national champions in 2007.

The Gators (25-2) moved up one place, replacing Syracuse (25-2), which lost twice last week and dropped to fourth.

Wichita State (29-0) and Arizona (25-2) both moved up one place to second and third.

Florida, the fifth school to hold the No. 1 spot this season, received 47 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel. Wichita State was No. 1 on 14 ballots and Arizona got the other four first-place votes.

Kansas jumped three places to fifth and was followed by Duke, Louisville, Villanova, Creighton and Saint Louis.

North Carolina, SMU and New Mexico all returned to the Top 25 this week, replacing Connecticut, UCLA and Gonzaga.

Kansas clinches share of Big 12 title: Naadir Tharpe had 19 points to lead five Kansas players in double figures, and the fifth-ranked Jayhawks held off Oklahoma 83-75 in Lawrence, Kan., to wrap up a share of their 10th consecutive Big 12 championship.

Orange end skid: No. 4 Syracuse blew most of a 12-point lead in the last 8 minutes and used one final defensive stop to squeeze past Maryland 57-55 in College Park, Md., and end a two-game losing streak.

Laudermill leads Huskers over Penn St.

Women’s basketball: Tear’a Laudermill scored 22 of her career-high 27 points and made six of her seven 3-pointers in the first half, and No. 16 Nebraska defeated eighth-ranked Penn State 94-74 in Lincoln, Neb., to stay alive in the Big Ten race.

The Cornhuskers (21-5, 11-3) extended their winning streak to a season-best eight games and pulled within a half-game of the two-time defending champion Lady Lions (21-6, 12-3). The Huskers have two games remaining in the regular season and the Lady Lions have one.

LSU gets commitment from 14-year-old QB

Miscellany: A 14-year-old quarterback from South Texas has committed to play football at LSU.

Eighth-grader Zadock Dinkelmann orally committed to the Tigers on Friday. He’s the nephew of Ty and Koy Detmer. Ty Detmer won the 1990 Heisman Trophy at BYU and Koy Detmer was an All-Big 12 player at Colorado. Both played in the NFL.

The 6-foot-4 Dinkelmann plays for a junior high in Somerset, southwest of San Antonio. He announced his choice six months before he can compete in high school.

Three elected to soccer hall: Brian McBride and Kristine Lilly have been elected to the U.S. National Soccer Hall of Fame along with former men’s national team coach Bob Bradley.

McBride is a veteran of three World Cups and scored 30 goals in 95 international appearances from 1993-06. Lilly, a two-time Women’s World Cup champion and winner of two Olympic gold medals, scored 130 goals in an international record 352 appearances from 1987-2010.

• Mayweather picks opponent: Floyd Mayweather Jr. gave himself a 37th birthday present by selecting Marcos Maidana as his May 3 opponent, thus guaranteeing the champion another multimillion-dollar payday.

Mayweather (45-0, 26 knockouts) will defend his World Boxing Council welterweight title on Showtime in a pay-per-view bout in Las Vegas.

Maidana, 30, who is known for his punching power, has a 35-3 record with 31 knockouts.