2+ min ago (386+ words) Jamal Murray scored 29 points, Peyton Watson chipped in 27 and Nikola Jokic added 17 points, 16 assists and 10 rebounds as the visiting Denver Nuggets snapped the Memphis Grizzlies' two-game winning streak with a 125-115 victory Monday night. The Nuggets made a season-high 22 3-pointers (22-of-43, 51.2%) to withstand a fourth-quarter rally by the Grizzlies. Memphis trailed 108-91 early in the quarter following a four-point play by Cam Johnson, but cut the lead to five after a 12-0 run. Denver closed strong with two 3-pointers by Murray in the final four minutes and went up 121-112 after a Jokic behind-the-back bounce pass to Watson for an uncontested layup. Murray hit six 3-pointers and Watson added a career-highfive from long range. Jock Landale paced the Grizzlies with a career-high-tying 26 points along with 10 rebounds off the bench. Jaylen Wells dropped in a season-high 22 points and Cam Spencer scored 18. Denver never trailed after…...

7+ min ago (279+ words) Shohei Ohtani, a two-time World Series champion, will attempt to add a second World Baseball Classic title to his haul when he competes for the defending champion Japanese team again next year. The 31-year-old two-way superstar made the announcement Monday on social media that he would again participate in the international tournament. Ohtani is fresh off another spectacular season with the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was the unanimous selection as the National League's Most Valuable Player after going 1-1 with a 2.87 ERA in 14 pitching starts while leading the league at the plate with a .622 slugging percentage, a 1.014 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and a career-high 146 runs scored. In 158 regular-season games this year, Ohtani batted .282 with 55 home runs and 102 RBIs en route to his fourth career MVP honor. Then Ohtani helped the Dodgers complete a run to their second straight World Series championship. He hit…...

12+ min ago (388+ words) Boopie Miller scored 25 points and dished out 10 assists as SMU defeated feisty Radford 89-72 on Monday in Dallas to remain undefeated. The Mustangs (7-0) finished off the sweep of their season-opening seven-game homestand but was not as dominating as in some of those games. SMU led by just a bucket late in the first half before forging a 20-3 run over the final minute of the first and the first four of the second half. The Mustangs eventually led by 23 points after a B.J. Edwards layup at the 12:29 mark of the second. Radford closed to within 71-60 after a free throw by Del Jones with 5:39 remaining but would never get closer. Corey Washington added a career-high 21 points and 12 rebounds and Jaron Pierre Jr. racked up 15 points and 13 boards for the Mustangs. Saget Yigitoglu added 10 rebounds for SMU. Dennis Parker Jr. led Radford with 18 points while…...

12+ min ago (324+ words) Tahaad Pettiford scored 24 points and No. 21 Auburn used a 10-0 run late in the second half to take control in an 84-73 win over Oregon on Monday in the first game of the Players Era men's championship for both teams at Las Vegas. The Tigers (5-1) took advantage of 18 Ducks turnovers and turned what was a close game into a more comfortable outing down the stretch. The game had 13 lead changes and seven ties until Auburn tool control. Keyshawn Hall, the Tigers' leading scorer, had 18 points and six rebounds in his return from a foot sprain that kept him out for one game. He played 36 minutes. Takai Simpkins led Oregon (4-1) with 22 points, making 5 of 8 3-point attempts. However, Oregon's two top scorers, Nate Bittle and Jackson Shelstad, were held to 10 and nine points, respectively. Oregon led five times in the second half, never by…...

22+ min ago (304+ words) Jerami Grant scored 35 points to lead the short-handed Portland Trail Blazers to a 115-103 victory over the Bucks in Milwaukee on Monday night. Deni Avdija added 22 for a Portland team without former Buck Jrue Holiday (calf), Scoot Henderson (hamstring) and Shaedon Sharpe (calf). Donovan Clingan added 14 points with 12 rebounds. Milwaukee lost its fifth in a row and third straight without Giannis Antetokounmpo (groin strain). Bobby Portis led the Bucks with 22 points, though all but two of them came in the first half. Cole Anthony kept the game within reach with 16 points, while Kyle Kuzma scored 15 and Myles Turner added 13 with 11 rebounds. The Blazers came out strong at the start, with Grant pouring in 13 in the opening quarter and Portland growing a 12-point lead. The second quarter largely belonged to Portis, who scored 14 in the quarter, including 4 of 5 shots from 3-point range....

22+ min ago (390+ words) Tyler Herro scored 24 points in his season debut and Kel'el Ware paired 20 points with 18 rebounds as the Miami Heat defeated the visiting Dallas Mavericks 106-102 on Monday. Herro missed his first four shots in his first game back from left ankle surgery, before hitting 12 of his next 14. Ware also had three blocks, while Bam Adebayo contributed 17 points in Miami's fifth consecutive win. P.J. Washington had 27 points for Dallas. Max Christie added 15 as six Mavericks reached double figures. With the score tied at 102, Adebayo stole Washington's inbounds pass with 48 seconds left, and Herro converted the turnover with a pullup bucket. The Mavericks had another chance to steal the win when Flagg picked off an inbounds pass from Jaime Jaquez Jr. with 18.4 seconds remaining, but Washington missed a three with 5.5 seconds on the clock, before Adebayo sealed it from the stripe. It was ugly…...

32+ min ago (394+ words) Amier Ali banked in a tiebreaking 3-pointer from with 1.9 seconds remaining in overtime as Mississippi State came back for an 81-78 win over New Orleans on Monday in Starkville, Miss. Josh Hubbard scored 24 of his 28 points in the second half and overtime for the Bulldogs, who needed a 15-2 run in the final five minutes of regulation to extend the game. In the extra session, Mississippi State (3-3) led most of the way, but the Privateers (2-4) pulled even on a banked-in 3-pointer from Coleton Benson with 29 seconds left to play. Ali then answered with his long bank shot from the right wing. Hubbard rallied after a 2-for-8 first-half shooting performance to finish 9-for-21 from the floor. Ali added 16 points hit 3 of 6 attempts from 3-point range. Mississippi State's Ja'Borri McGhee also tallied 16 points and dished five assists, and Quincy Ballard added 11 points and seven…...

37+ min ago (417+ words) Karl Anthony-Towns collected 37 points and 12 rebounds as the New York Knicks pulled away in the third quarter for a 113-100 victory over the Brooklyn Nets Monday night. The Knicks improved to 2-5 on the road and bounced back from Saturday's 12-point loss in Orlando. New York also beat the Nets for the 12th straight time since Jan. 28, 2023. Towns withstood an injury scare with 7:56 left when he drove to the basket and got his legs tangled under the hoop with Brooklyn's Terance Mann while landing on his right hip. He winced, limped off the floor and completed the three-point play to give New York a 99-85 lead before hitting a 3-pointer on New York's next possession. Towns made 14 of 20 shots and did not attempt a 3-pointer until late in the third before making 3 of 4 triples. He finished two shy of his season high after missing…...

37+ min ago (442+ words) Caris LeVert had a season-high 19 points, including a pair of clutch free throws in the final seconds, as the visiting Detroit Pistons tied a franchise record with their 13th straight victory, 122-117 over the Indiana Pacers on Monday night. Detroit never trailed after the second quarter, but had to hold on in the final minutes as the Pacers cut an 11-point lead down to two with 15.4 seconds left. Cade Cunningham made one free throw, the last of his team-high 24 points, with 12.4 seconds left to give Detroit a 120-117 lead. Indiana called timeout, advanced the ball up the court and ran an inbounds play giving Bennedict Mathurin a good look at a three, but it skipped off the rim. LeVert made a pair of free throws to seal it with 7.1 remaining. Pascal Siakam had 24 to lead the Pacers, who have lost 10 of their last…...

42+ min ago (423+ words) Andrej Stojakovic scored 24 points to lead five players in double figures as No. 13 Illinois fought off gallant UT Rio Grande Valley for an 87-74 nonconference win on Monday night in Champaign, Ill. Mihailo Petrovic contributed 12 points off the bench while Zvonimir Ivisic, David Mirkovic and Tomislav Ivisic added 10 points apiece as the Illini (6-1) tuned up for a Black Friday matinee against No. 5 UConn at Madison Square Garden. Illinois made just 8 of 30 3-point attempts (26.7%). Kye Dickson paced UTRGV (2-4) with 21 points and five rebounds while Filip Brankovic added 15 points and five rebounds as the Vaqueros clung within 11 points until the final six minutes. The teams swapped the lead seven times in the first eight minutes as UTRGV started hot from 3-point range. The Vaqueros built an 18-14 margin on Marvin McGhee III's 3-pointer from the corner at the 10:40 mark, which caused the home crowd to…...