Sports Briefs January 3, 2011
Football
Hall of Famer John Elway is expected to rejoin the Denver Broncos as their chief football executive by midweek, a person with knowledge of the negotiations said Sunday.
The Broncos have won just one playoff game since Elway retired in 1999 following his second straight Super Bowl title and haven't reached the postseason in five years.
Elway's first order of business will be to search for a coach. The Broncos (4-12) fired Josh McDaniels last month in the midst of their worst skid in four decades and in the wake of the Spygate II videotaping scandal.
•Randy Edsall has been hired away from Connecticut to coach Maryland.
Edsall led the Huskies to eight or more wins in each of the last four seasons. He finished with a 74-70 record at UConn.
Celtics 93, Raptors 79: Paul Pierce scored 30 points to help visiting Boston beat Toronto.
Hawks 107, Clippers 98: Joe Johnson scored 29 points and visiting Atlanta beat Los Angeles.
Knicks 98, Pacers 92: Amare Stoudemire scored 26 points to lead New York over Indiana.
Mavericks 104, Cavaliers 95: Shawn Marion scored 22 points to help visiting Dallas past Cleveland.
Grizzlies 104, Lakers 85: Rudy Gay scored 27 points and visiting Memphis beat Los Angeles.
Trail Blazers 100, Rockets 85: LaMarcus Aldridge had 25 points and 11 rebounds to help host Portland past Houston.
Kings 94, Suns 89: DeMarcus Cousins had 28 points to lift host Sacramento over Phoenix.
Flyers 3, Red Wings 2: James van Riemsdyk scored to help visiting Philadelphia over Detroit.
Panthers 3, Rangers 0: At Sunrise, Fla., Tomas Vokoun made 32 saves to lift Florida past New York.
Wild 6, Coyotes 5. OT: At St. Paul, Minn., Cam Barker scored in overtime in Minnesota's win over Phoenix.
Thrashers 4, Canadiens 3, OT: Dustin Byfuglien scored in overtime and visiting Atlanta beat Montreal.
Predators 4, Blue Jackets 1: Shea Weber had a goal and two assists in host Nashville's win over Columbus.
Stars 4, Blues 2: Brad Richards scored in third to lift visiting Dallas past St. Louis.
Ducks 2, Blackhawks 1: Jonas Hiller had 21 saves and host Anaheim beat Chicago.
Canucks 2, Avalanche 1: At Denver, Roberto Luongo made 31 saves to help Vancouver beat Colorado.
College basketball
• TOP 25 Men
No. 1 Duke 74, Miami 63: At Durham, N.C., Nolan Smith scored a season-high 28 points to help Duke (13-0, 1-0 ACC) beat Miami (11-4, 0-1).
No. 3 Kansas 83, Miami, Ohio 56: At Lawrence, Kan., Markieff Morris had 20 points to lead Kansas (13-0) past Miami of Ohio (5-9).
No. 8 Villanova 81, Rutgers 65: Corey Stokes scored 23 points and host Villanova (12-1, 1-0, Big East) beat Rutgers (9-4, 0-1).
No. 21 Memphis 91, Tennessee St. 86: Antonio Barton scored 24 points to help host Memphis (11-2) past Tennessee St. (6-8).
No. 23 Illinois 69, Wisconsin 61: At Champaign, Ill., Demetri McCamey scored 21 points to help Illinois (12-3, 2-0 Big Ten) past Wisconsin (11-3, 1-1).
No. 24 Vanderbilt 80, Davidson 52: At Nashville, Tenn., Jeffery Taylor scored 22 points to lead Vanderbilt (11-2) over Davidson (7-6).
• PAC-10
Stanford 82, California 68: Dwight Powell scored 20 points to lead Stanford 8-4, 1-0 Pac-10) past visiting Cal (7-6, 0-1).
Oregon St. 76, Arizona 75: Joe Burton's basket with 28 seconds remaining gave the host Beavers (7-6, 2-0) the victory over Arizona (12-3, 1-1).
Pepperdine 84, Seattle 64: Mychel Thompson scored 23 points in the Waves' (6-11) win over the Redhawks (5-11) in Malibu, Calif.
Skiing
Ivica Kostelic of Croatia and Maria Pietilae-Holmner of Sweden won the first parallel slaloms in the World Cup in Munich.
- The Associated Press