Sports Briefs March 8, 2011
College basketball
Texas Tech fired Pat Knight on Monday, ending a disappointing three-year run for a coach who failed to lead the Red Raiders to the NCAA tournament after taking over for his famous father.
Knight will coach the Red Raiders at this week's Big 12 tournament and then step down, school spokesman Blayne Beal said.
Knight is 50-60 in his first Division I coaching job and his third full year as head coach. He had only one winning season (19-16 in 2009-10) at Texas Tech after taking over for Bob Knight at midseason in February 2008.
• Ohio State and Kansas are 1-2 in The Associated Press college basketball poll for a second straight week.
The Big Ten champion Buckeyes are No. 1 for a fifth week overall and haven't been ranked lower than second since December. They received 52 first-place votes from the 65-member national media panel Monday.
Kansas was No. 1 on the other ballots.
Pittsburgh moved up one spot to third and was followed by Notre Dame, Duke, North Carolina, San Diego State, BYU, Purdue and Texas.
Knicks 131, Jazz 109: Carmelo Anthony scored 34 points and host New York beat Utah.
Trail Blazers 89, Magic 85: LaMarcus Aldridge scored 24 points and visiting Portland edged Orlando.
Clippers 92, Bobcats 87: Blake Griffin had 17 points and 15 rebounds to help visiting Los Angeles over Charlotte.
Grizzlies 107, Thunder 101: Mike Conley scored 20 points as host Memphis beat Oklahoma City.
Bulls 85, Hornets 77: Derrick Rose scored 24 points and host Chicago beat New Orleans.
Mavericks 108, Timberwolves 105: At Minneapolis, Dirk Nowitzki overcame foul trouble to score 25 points in 27 minutes to help Dallas outlast Minnesota.
Rockets 123, Kings 101: Chad Budinger scored 20 points to help lift visiting Houston past Sacramento.
Capitals 2, Lightning 1, SO: At Tampa, Fla., Alex Ovechkin assisted on Washington's only goal in regulation, then scored in the shootout to beat Tampa Bay.
Blues 5, Blue Jackets 4, SO: Andy McDonald scored two goals and added another in a shootout and host St. Louis beat Columbus.
Stars 4, Kings 3, OT: Brenden Morrow scored 38 seconds into overtime, and visiting Dallas rallied to beat Los Angeles.
Baseball
Felix Hernandez, the 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner, shook off a line drive by Oakland leadoff hitter David DeJesus that just missed hitting him in the head. He stayed in the game and struck out three in 2 2/3 innings of his spring debut and the Seattle Mariners defeated the Athletics 6-3.
Hernandez allowed a run and five hits with three strikeouts and a walk. He threw 53 pitches and had a quick chat with DeJesus while walking back to the dugout after the first inning.
• No timetable on Mariners catcher Miguel Olivo: An MRI has revealed Olivo has suffered a strained adductor muscle and the team has no timetable for his return.
Sled dog racing
Four-time defending champion Lance Mackey took the lead in the 2011 Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
Mackey was the first musher to reach the Rainy Pass checkpoint, about 190 miles into the 1,100-mile race. Sebastian Schnuelle, Paul Gebhardt and Nicolas Petit were close behind.
- The Associated Press