Marcus Denmon scored 25 points, Ricardo Ratliffe added 15 points and 10 rebounds and Missouri claimed first place in the Big 12 by edging Oklahoma 71-68 on Monday night.

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“We understand that this game was just as important as the last one,” Denmon said. “Pretty much, we have a veteran group and we just wanted to make sure everybody came out and understood how important this game would be for us to play after a big win like the one at home against Kansas.”

Coach Frank Haith required his players to report to a hotel by 2 a.m. after their late-night victory against the then-No. 8 Jayhawks, trying to temper the celebration and get a head start on a road game less than 48 hours later against an opponent they had beaten by 38 points earlier this season.

Asked whether it was the right move, Denmon and Ricardo Ratliffe looked at each other and didnt say a word.

Finally, Denmon answered and got a pat on the back from his first-year coach.

“Whether I wanted to go to the hotel or not, I understood,” Denmon said. “I understood that it was a good decision by Coach and it seems like it helped us.”

The Tigers host Baylor on Saturday.

Oklahoma (13-10, 3-8) still had the ball with a chance to tie with 5 seconds left. Romero Osby was fouled with 2.5 seconds left and missed both free throws, and Steven Pledger missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer when the offensive rebound was tapped back to him.

Pledger slumped to the ground and put his hands over his face after his potential tying shot clanged off the rim to end the game. He stayed on the floor until two Missouri players and teammate Barry Honore came over to lift him up.

“It was perfect. The play was designed to miss the free throw and get the tip-out and we actually got the tip-out,” said Pledger, who led Oklahoma with 22 points.

“It was on line. It felt good when it left my hand. It didnt go in.”

Sam Grooms had a career-high 17 points and matched his career-best with 10 assists, and Andrew Fitzgerald scored 12 points for the Sooners.

Michael Dixon chipped in 13 points for Missouri.

The Tigers (22-2, 9-2) moved a half-game ahead of No. 6 Baylor and No. 7 Kansas in the standings. Those teams meet Wednesday night for a chance to pull even with Missouri, and the Tigers host the Bears on Saturday.

This one was nothing like Oklahomas previous meeting with Missouri, won 87-49 by the Tigers on their home court. Missouri held a 15-rebound advantage in that one but Oklahoma came out ahead 36-22 on the boards on Monday.

The Tigers made up for it by holding a 28-12 scoring edge the paint and getting the only 10 fast-break points of the game.

“Theres the emotional win and then you have a game at your place where you just played incredible and they didnt play their best game,” Haith said.

“So, you get a false sense. You worry about that false sense of what its going to be like when they get here.”

In Norman, they found a half-full Lloyd Noble Center and a student section with dozens of empty seats that had newspapers draped over the backs that the occupants would usually hold up during pregame introductions.

It still got loud when the Sooners pulled within 66-64 after Pledgers 3-pointer from the left side with 3:33 to play.

Denmon followed with a jumper from the right side with 2 seconds left on the shot clock before Grooms and Pledger both went 1 for 2 at the free throw line to get Oklahoma back within two.

Kim English then hit a 3-pointer from the right side off Phil Presseys seventh assist to provide what proved to be the game-winner with 53.6 seconds left.

Fitzgerald hit two free throws for Oklahoma with 41.6 seconds remaining and Dixon missed on a drive to the basket to give the Sooners their last chance with 5 seconds left.

“We never let them take the lead, and that was a sign of a good team,” Haith said. “I think once they made runs, we executed when we needed to make a shot.”

Oklahoma connected on its first six shots, and eight of 10 to get out to a 17-12 lead before Missouri surged back with seven straight points to take its first lead. The Sooners had an answer a few minutes later, getting two jumpers from Fitzgerald and a 3 by Pledger to go back up 29-23 with 5:27 left before halftime.

At that point, it didnt seem like the hotel strategy was working.

“I felt like we came with energy,” Denmon said, “but it has to be on both ends.”

As hot as Oklahoma started fro missing all seven of its free throws in the first half.

The Tigers finally took charge, scoring the final six points of the first half and the first six of the second to build a 42-33 lead after Denmons three free throws.

Dixons jumper from the right side of the key gave Missouri a momentary 10-point lead before Pledger hit consecutive 3-pointers to get the crowd involved. Oklahoma got within 55-52 after Grooms jumper from the right wing with 12 minutes left before coming up empty on three possessions with the chance to tie it.

“You want to win at this point in time,” Grooms said. “We just have certain plays and certain mishaps on the court that dont allow us to do that right now. … When were ready to do it, well do it. Its up to us at the end of the day.”

Niklas Hagman put the puck past Miikka Kiprusoff in the eighth round of a shootout and the Anaheim Ducks beat Calgary 3-2 on Monday night for their 14th straight home victory over the Flames.

“Hes a goalie I have practiced a lot against,” said Hagman, who has six goals and seven assists in 34 games with Anaheim since he was claimed off waivers from Calgary on Jan. 14. “I dont have that many moves, and he knows my go-to moves. I tried to switch a little bit. I wanted to come with good speed and shoot it. Luckily for me, he probably thought I was going to go with my backhand.”

Bobby Ryan and Matt Beleskey scored less than 2 minutes apart in the first period for the Ducks, who won the tiebreaker by a 3-2 margin. Jonas Hiller made 24 saves, then thwarted Michael Cammalleri, Jarome Iginla, Krys Kolanos and T.J. Brodie in the tiebreaker to keep it going.

“We really needed those two points,” said Hiller, whose team is 10 points out of a playoff spot with 30 games left and has to jump over five teams to get in. “It wasnt an easy game. Both teams played really hard. It was about time we won a shootout.”

The Flames havent wo their only regulation win in their last 24 visits to Honda Center (1-13-10). Their last seven games here have resulted in one-goal defeats, five of them either in overtime or a shootout.

“We had a couple of chances to win, but its not easy with their goalie,” Kiprusoff said.

Alex Tanguay and Iginla scored in regulation for Calgary. Kiprusoff made 31 saves in the opener of a three-game road trip.

The Flames, three points out of a playoff spot with 29 games left, are trying to avoid missing the postseason for a third straight year under coach Brent Sutter. The only time theyve missed the postseason three years in a row was 1998-00 when Sutters brother, Brian, was the coach.

The Flames were trailing 2-1 in the third period when Anaheim defenseman Luca Sbisa received a 5-minute major for head-butting Tim Jackman as he crossed the Anaheim blue line with the puck and leaving him dazed for a few moments. Calgarys Tom Kostopoulos took exception and got a roughing penalty during the ensuing skirmish, leaving Calgary with a 3-minute power play.

Iginla capitalized with the man advantage, beating Hiller on a breakaway to the stick side with 13:45 left in regulation off a feed from Olli Jokinen. It was the second breakaway goal in two games for Iginla, who extended his st the longest among active players.

The Flames got a break when a goal by Ryan Getzlaf was waved off due to a goaltender interference penalty against Corey Perry at 8:23 of the first. But the Ducks opened the scoring at the 15:52 mark when Ryan got the puck in the slot from Lubomir Visnovsky and got his 20th goal on a 30-foot wrist shot while Perry was screening Kiprusoff.

Beleskey added his fourth of the season at 17:51, redirecting Sheldon Brookbanks one-timer from the right point past Kiprusoffs stick. The 2006 Vezina Trophy winner remained one victory shy of becoming the 27th goalie in NHL history with at least 300 regular-season wins.

“If we would have been sharp in the first period, we probably would have come out with a win,” center Mikael Backlund said.

Tanguay got the Flames on the board at 4:41 of the second with his sixth goal and first in four games since returning from a neck injury that sidelined him for 15 games. He converted a pass from behind the net by Blair Jones and scored from the edge of the crease just 2 seconds after Calgary killed off an elbowing penalty against Kostopoulos.

Jones received a double-minor for cutting Teemu Selanne with a high stick after Scott Hannan was sent off for interference, giving Anaheim a two-man advantage for 1:36 later in the period. Kiprusoff made three saves during the 5-on-3 power play, and Saku Koivu fired two pucks off the post.

“The game was a little bit of a rollercoaster,” said associate coach Craig Hartsburg, the Ducks head coach for two-plus seasons. “I thought we had a good first 10 minutes, but the last 10 minutes of the first werent very good at all. We had to kill some key penalties in the second and battle back.”

Notes

Koivu has gone 11 games without a goal since his hat trick Jan. 10 against Dallas. Eleven of the last 14 meetings between the teams have been decided by one goal. The season-low turnout of 12,096 represented the Ducks fifth crowd this season under 13,000. Hiller stopped Jokinen on a breakaway about 11 minutes into the first period, but Jokinen got the puck past him in the first round of the shootout.

That is about to change.

The Clippers overcame a 15-point first-half deficit and got 29 points and eight assists from Chris Paul to outlast the Orlando Magic 107-102 in overtime Monday night. But they may have lost one of the veteran cogs for the foreseeable future after guard Chauncey Billups left in the fourth quarter with a possible left Achilles injury.

“Its bittersweet,” Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. “Well have to see what happens. Everybody stepped up, but its been that kind of season and with Chaunceys situation, weve definitely got to have everybody playing well.

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“Im sick about it. Im sick for him, Im sick for us, but mostly for him and how much he means to us. Hopefully, well get some good news tomorrow.”

Billups was having a huge night, scoring 11 of his 18 points in fourth quarter when he turned to run up the court and buckled to the ground with 5:48 left in the game. He was surrounded by trainers and teammates, but needed assistance on both sides to make it off the court.

Blake Griffin also added 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Clippers, who have won six of their last seven and snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Magic.

Paul said he likes how the team stepped up in Billups absence, and thinks the Clippers will continue to do so if Billups gets bad news after further evaluation Tuesday.

“Weve got guys who are battle tested,” Paul said. “This shows how much grit and fight we have. We realize if we stick together in a tough environment like this, we are capable of winning games like this.”

Dwight Howard had 33 points and 14 rebounds, and Jason Richardson 20 points for the Magic.

Orlandos loss ended a three-game win streak. It came as point guard Jameer Nelson returned to the lineup and had 15 points and 12 assists after missing five consecutive games with concussion symptoms.

Nelson didnt show any noticeable effects from his layoff, dishing to Howard for an easy dunk on the Magics first possession of the night.

He also didnt shy from contact, throwing his body in front of Griffin early in the second quarter as he attempted to catch a lob from Paul on a fast break.

“Our guys played hard.” Magic coach Stan Van Gundy said. “The only thing I fault our guys for was the start of the third quarter. The first six minutes, we came with no energy whatsoever. The rest, its on me.”

The Magic were outscored 23-15, before responding with a 32-point fourth quarter to send it to the extra frame.

Back-to-back 3-pointers by Nelson and J.J. Redick put the Magic up 100-96 with 2:49 remaining in overtime.

Caron Butler used a 3 of his own a few possessions later to nudge the Clippers back ahead 101-100 and then Paul floated a jumper over the outstretched hand of Howard to make it 103-100.

Jason Richardson cut it to a basket with a dunk on the other end, but the Magic couldnt grab a missed jumper by Paul.

Mo Williams made a pair of free throws with 12.6 seconds left, but left the Magic a chance to tie. Richardsons 3-pointer from the wing rattled out and Paul was able to close the game out at the line.

“Its part its a part of basketball,” Richardson said of his final shot attempt. “Like I said, sometimes it goes in, sometimes it dont. Ill take the blame. … I like the pressure. But I tell you what, I dont miss too many of those.”

The Clippers led by as many as nine in the fourth quarter before Billups went down.

Nelson would score six straight Magic points, followed by Ryan Andersons 3-pointer to tie it at 89 with 2:45 left.

A driving layup by Paul put the Clippers back in front 93-91 before Richardson completed a three-point play to put the Magic back up a point.

A turnover by the Clippers gave the Magic the ball back, but Richardson was then stripped near midcourt by Butler. The ball went ahead to Paul on the fast break and eventually ended up in the hands of Griffin, who was fouled and hit 1 of 2 at the line.

The Magic milked the clock for a final shot, but Nelson missed a fade away jumper. The Clippers rebounded and wound up with five-tenths of a second, but after a timeout, Williams 18-foot jumper at the horn missed off the front of the rim.

Griffin said avoiding early game mishaps will be of even great importance if Billups is out for the foreseeable future.

“We havent had that kind of response on the road much,” he said. “We get down early and then fight our way back multiple times so thats a good sign, but we need to not get down in the first place.”

Notes

Van Gundy said he and big man Glen Davis talked Monday morning and are on the same page following his two-game suspension for a verbal run-in with Van Gundy. “Hes [had] some frustration with his role and being with a new team,” Van Gundy said. “But Ive never thought for a second that he was a bad guy.” Though he wasnt available Monday night, Clippers free agent signee F Kenyon Martin did shoot at the teams morning walkthrough. Del Negro said that one of the benefits of signing the 6-foot-9 Martin is hell bring even more flexibility to an already deep roster. He said that could even mean Griffin getting minutes at small forward.

To evaluate the early betting odds, players have to just know who is currently on the radar and who is getting action for what seems like little reason because those are the runners that could shock come the spring.

Let’s look at a couple of the prominent runners taking action on betting websites.

According to Wynn, Algorithms chimes in an 8-1 on the Kentucky Derby Future Book line and even though this horse is a monster and going great guns, there is a long way to go to hit pay dirt but the fact he is tabbed at single digits is significant.

The son of Bernardini has been brilliant since Day One. He was bet like a good thing in his debut and drew off for fun. Given time to recoup, the Todd Pletcher student was professional winning his final start of 2011 and he improved again on the Beyer scale winning the Holy Bull at Gulfstream the end of January by 5 facile lengths with a 105 Beyer.

The figure was slop aided, but the blood sure is there for this guy to shine. He is bred to go long on both sides of the pedigree and if a surface comes up off, this runner is bred to adore the off going.

Three of his siblings won at least $298,000, two carried speed successfully routing and the Graded winner that did not was beaten a neck routing.
The next likely spot for Algorithms is either the Fountain of Youth the end of this month, or the Florida Derby on March 31.  If this one stays healthy and that’s a big if, he will be a handful.

Liaison was tabbed at 12-1 before his debacle when the rider was lost in the Robert Lewis at Anita on Saturday. Already a proven router and Grade 1 winner, he will live to fight another day.

Union Rags, second in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, proved his class taking the Grade 1 Champagne, was flying in the Cup and is in the right hands of Michael Matz, who had the late great Barbaro.

Rags has trained well of late posting a 1:00 4/5 drill on Jan. 24 and he will be carefully spotted.

Out of Bounds has to be considered as he was tabbed at 25-1. This guy was educated in his sprint debut, graduated despite going wide and opened up 2012 on the right note cashing in the Grade 3 Sham in game style with a 99 Beyer.

Connections have every right to be high on this guy as he is kin to Etched, who won a couple of Grade 2s, carried his speed going 9 furlongs, handled any kind of going and had the tactical speed to give him a puncher’s chance more often than not.

Remember, don’t take these future book odds as the end all, but try to utilize them to find value when it comes time to take a swing at some online sports book cash in May.

If Beal continues to do what he’s been doing, the answer is definitely yes. Beal is shouldering more than 30 minutes of work on a regular basis, and he’s not breaking down at all – his 6-of-9 shooting performance against Mississippi State on Jan. 28 was his best of the season with that many attempts. Florida has to play a complete game to stand up to Kentucky’s quality, but if Beal is up to the challenge as a freshman, the rest of the Gators will take the cue and follow their youngest starter. Beal is the catalyst who could transform this game into a Gator party.

Why Kentucky Will Win
The college basketball betting experts who follow the Southeastern Conference for a living know that Kentucky is the king, and the king doesn’t get dethroned at home. Kentucky hasn’t lost in Rupp Arena this season, and ever since coach John Calipari came to Lexington from his previous stop at the University of Memphis, the Wildcats have been perfect at home. Not just in the SEC, but in every game they’ve played in their stronghold. This game is being played at Rupp, “The Big Barn in the Bluegrass,” and that’s reason number one why Big Blue is expected to beat Florida. There are other reasons, however.

First off, Kentucky has the best player on the floor, freshman Anthony Davis, a dynamic two-way player who rebounds and blocks shots as regularly as he scores. Davis is very likely going to be a one-and-done player; he will enter the NBA after just one season, and he’ll be the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. Florida has not been a particularly good rebounding team this season, so Davis should go wild on the glass, as should his teammate, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. Davis and Kidd-Gilchrist have durable motors, and they pursue plays harder than any other frontline combo in the country. Florida will not have the answer for them in this game.
Who Will Win
It’s hard enough for Florida to beat Kentucky. Doing it on the road will be especially difficult. The Gators might very well win at home, but until Kentucky loses at home, one shouldn’t pick against the Wildcats.

College Basketball Betting Pick: Kentucky

Johnson added a season-high 12 rebounds and was a handful all game for the Blue Devils to deal with. Miami outrebounded them 48-43 and outscored them 38-26 in the paint.

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“I feel I had the hot hand the whole game,” Johnson said, adding that first-year coach Jim Larranaga “was trying to ride me a w catch and score.”

Kenny Kadji added 15 points for the Hurricanes (14-7, 5-3 Atlantic Coast Conference), who blew a 16-point lead in the second half, then regrouped to claim their first big victory for their new coach.

“To come in here and play with the kind was something that we can be very, very proud of,” Larranaga said.

That poise gave Miami its first victory at Cameron Indoor Stadium and only its second against Duke since joining the ACC. The Hurricanes are on their first four-game winning streak since 2008 and have won three consecutive ACC road games for the first time.

Seth Curry scored 22 points and freshman Austin Rivers added 20 for the Blue Devils (19-4, 6-2), who appeared listless while falling into that deep deficit before waking up with about 16 minutes left.

Then, they missed all six of their free throws in overtime and wound up being beaten at home by a Florida-based conference rival for the second time this season.

“A Duke team should play with energy for 40 minutes, or 45,” coach Mike Krzyzewski said. there are quite a few of them up there. They were not won without energy, without hunger, with no complacency, with people really wanting it.

“And weve wanted it a lot, and weve won a lot. Were supposed to play hard and with energy all the time. Those are givens. Those should be givens.”

Mason Plumlee added 13 rebounds for Duke, which had its 45-game home winning streak snapped two weeks ago by No. 21 Florida State. The Blue Devils have lost two of three at Cameron and have dropped multiple home games for the first time since going 15-4 there in 2006-07.

“The biggest emphasis for us was to protect our home court,” guard Quinn Cook said. “Weve got to get better.”

Still, the Blue Devils had plenty of chances in the extra session. They trailed 75-74 with Cook on the line, but he missed two free throws with 27.2 seconds left.

After Johnson missed two foul shots with 26.2 seconds left to give Duke another shot, Cook missed badly on a running jumper with about 15 seconds left. DeQuan Jones extended Miamis lead to 77-74 with two foul shots with 12.9 seconds left.

Rivers and Ryan Kelly missed 3s in the final seconds and Johnson added a free throw with one-tenth of a second remaining to silence the subdued arena.

Johnson, a native of Winston-Salem, surpassed the 25 points he scored la my friends, my family were here,” Johnson said. “Growing up here, I know about Duke. I know about North Carolina. I know about N.C. State. So to come in here and get a win against Duke is real big-time.”

He scored the Hurricanes first four points in overtime before Malcolm Grants open-court layup put Miami up 75-69 with 2:10 left.

Durand Scott added 11 points on 3-of-12 shooting for the Hurricanes, who had a chance to win it in regulation.

Rivers tied it at 69 with one of two free throws with 21.5 seconds left. Miami had the ball last, but Johnson passed out of a double-team in the post to Scott, who couldnt get a shot off before the buzzer.

Miami forced 14 turnovers and was cruising before going cold midway through the second half, managing only one field goal during the critical stretch that coincided with Dukes rally.

Miami went up by 16 points three times, the last on Kadjis open 3-pointer from the key that made it 53-37 with 14½ minutes left. But a putback by Johnson was the Hurricanes only field goal for quite over the next 8½ minutes.

Duke, which missed 15 of 18 shots during the stretch that put it in such a huge hole, got equally hot during the 16-2 run led by Curry that put the Blue Devils right back in it.

“For 24 minutes, I just think we were not very good at all,” Krzyzewski said. “We had no energy and they did. … Then in the last 16 minutes of regulation, I thought we played extremely well and gave ourselves an opportunity to win.”

Artem Anisimov broke a 17-game pointless streak and Henrik Lundqvist made 21 saves to stymie the Flyers as the Rangers beat Philadelphia 5-2 in a fight-filled contest which concluded three hours before the Super Bowl kickoff between the Giants and New England Patriots.

The Rangers beat the Flyers for the fourth consecutive time this season and sixth straight overall. Marian Gaborik, Michael Del Zotto, Brandon Dubinsky and Ruslan Fedotenko also scored for Eastern Conference-leading New York.

“I think we know how important these games are,” said Gaborik, who scored his team-leading 26th goal of the season with five seconds left in the second period. “We have played very well against them this year and this game was one of them.”

Brayden Schenn and Wayne Simmonds scored for the Flyers, who lost for the third time in four games. It was their first game against the Rangers since the Winter Classic in Philadelphia on Jan. 2.

“Our team could play better than we did,” Flyers coach Peter Laviolette said. “Its just frustrating. We had an opportunity to win a game and we didnt.”

Lundqvists career-best shutout streak ended at 182 minutes, 37 seconds when Schenn scored in the second period, but the All-Star goaltender still improved to 24-14-4 on the season as fans at the Garden serenaded the Flyers with chants of “You cant beat us” as time elapsed.

Untitled

“Any time you can beat such a skilled team, its a great feeling,” Lundqvist said. “The fans were ready to go and everybody was excited to play Philly.”

Philadelphia was playing its fourth game in six days and the final of a weekend back-to-back. The Flyers lost 6-4 at home against New Jersey on Saturday.

“We just have to keep working, be more lucky and win the next game,” Flyers goaltender Ilya Bryzgalov said. “We didnt deliver today.”

Anisimov opened the scoring at 1:04 of the first period. He also assisted on Gaboriks second-period goal and Del Zottos go-ahead score at 1:33 of the third, which came 36 seconds after Simmonds tied it at 2. Dubinsky added an insurance goal at 12:15 and Fedotenko had an empty-netter at 18:44.

The Rangers are 16-4-1 in their past 21 games. Physical play, dynamic penalty killing and strong goaltending have led their surge. Theyve allowed a league-best 102 goals through 50 games.

“We are a sum of parts, thats how we play and thats the only way we can win,” Rangers coach John Tortorella said. “Thats the way we have to play and when another t moments after he lay stunned on the put the Rangers ahead 2-1. Gaborik got up and slipped a backhand past Bryzgalov after defenseman Andrej Meszaros had leveled him with the hit.

Anisimovs goal was his eighth of the season and came on a tip in of Dan Girardis slap shot. Anisimovs previous point had been an assist Dec. 22 against the New York Islanders.

“I enjoy every shift on the ice,” the soft-spoken Anisimov said. “It was a huge game for us. Every game is important.”

Schenn tied it on a picture-perfect breakaway goal at 12:02 of the second. Just out of the penalty box, the 20-year-old center took a pass from Jakub Voracek and beat Lundqvist by lifting a backhand over his glove hand.

The game was feisty as usual between the two rivals, who had the weeks leading up the Winter Classic chronicled by the cable network HBO.

Rangers defenseman Stu Bickel fought Simmonds in the first period and Tim Sestito in the second. Sestito also fought Dubinsky in the first and Brandon Prust in the third. Sestito was given an automatic game misconduct after his third fight.

“We were ready to play right from the start,” Bickel said.

The teams meet in Philadelphia on Feb. 11 and April 3.

Lundqvists shutout streak went back to the 19:11 mark of the second period Jan. 21 at Boston. The Swedish goaltender recorded consecutive shutouts for first time in his career with victories against Winnipeg on Jan. 24 and Buffalo last Wednesday.

As far as Super Bowl plans, Lundqvists were aligned with most of the football-frenzied New York population.

“Ill be watching with a buddy who is a huge Giants fan and Ill be eating a lot of food,” the winning goaltender said.

Notes Philadelphia Fs Danny Briere and James van Riemsdyk remained sidelined because of to concussions. The Rangers wore their Winter Classic white sweaters for the first time at home. The Rangers are a league-best 24-1-2 when scoring first. The Rangers have outscored the Flyers 24-8 in winning their past six matchups. Lundqvist has held opponents to two or few goals in 26 games this season.

Running the floor and looking strong on the glass, the 35-year-old Garnett matched his season-high with 24 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Celtics to their fourth straight win, a 98-80 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday.

“He was feeling good. Its a still a kids game. He was having fun,” Rivers said of Garnett, a 14-time All-Star. “He was having a ball playing today and you dont want to tell him you have to come in because the lights are on, so we let him play in the dark a little bit.”

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Garnett was 9 of 12 from the field, including his third 3-pointer of the season on three tries. He hit one in Fridays win over New York.

“Hes shooting it well,” Rivers said, before joking about Garnetts recent 3-point success. “Gives us another option at the end of the game – dont tell him that.”

Paul Pierce scored 21 points, moving nine behind Hall of Famer Larry Bird for second place on the clubs all-time list, and Ray Allen added 12. Rajon Rondo had 14 assists and reserve Chris Wilcox chipped in with 12 points.

Boston took charge with a 21-7 run early in the fourth quarter that turned a six-point lead to 90-70 on Garnetts jumper.

Relying on a com the Celtics controlled the glass and outran the Grizzlies for transition baskets.

“I thought we put together some really good runs and got the ball moving,” Pierce said.

Rudy Gay paced the Grizzlies with 21 points and seven rebounds, and O.J. Mayo scored 15 points for Memphis, which has lost six of eight.

The Celtics led by six points at halftime and pushed it to double digits (53-43) on Pierces two free throws midway into the third. Boston relied on some hot long-range shooting in the third quarter, hitting 5 of its first 6 from behind the 3-point line to keep Memphis from coming back until Gay scored three consecutive baskets late in the period.

“The key to the game was that we didnt get back on defense. They had 26 fast break points on us and that was huge, and they controlled the glass,” Grizzlies coach Lionel Hollins said. “We turned them over but we couldnt get the easy transition buckets. They got back on defense and forced us to play half court, and they did a good job defensively.”

Allen hit three shots from beyond the arc and was fouled on one, hitting the free throw that made it 62-51. Pierce and Garnett also hit 3s, with Garnetts bringing a loud ovation from the crowd.

“I can shoot 3s,” Garnett said. “Everyones acting like Im 50 and out here on one leg. I dont shoot 3s because we have one of the all-time greatest 3-point shooters in the history of the league [Allen], we have Paul Pierce who has won 3-point contests, we have other guys who can shoot 3. That aint my role here. My role is to get those guys open and shoot it, dunk it, pass it, whatever to get us going. But, I can shoot 3s.”

The Grizzlies knew they were in trouble.

“They got on a run right before the end of the quarter,” Memphis guard Mike Conley said. “Ray Allen hit that corner 3 and we couldnt recover.”

The Celtics held a 69-61 lead entering the final quarter.

Boston led 43-37 at halftime after the teams traded large second-quarter runs. The Grizzlies opened the period by scoring 16 of the first 19 points, taking a 32-27 lead on Dante Cunninghams jumper.

After Rivers ca highlighted by a 7-0 spurt that was capped by a 3 by Allen from the left corner and Jermaine ONeal coming down the lane for a dunk after a nice feed from Rondo, who had 10 assists in the opening half.

Notes

Garnett also had 24 points in a New Years Day win over Washington. ONeal went to the locker room briefly late in the third quarter. Memphis guard and former Celtic Tony Allen didnt play because of a sore hip and knee, but he was in uniform on the bench. Rivers said F Brandon Bass was out with “swelling of the knee.” Rivers didnt make it sound like it was serious. “I think its an accumulation of a lot of games,” he said. The game started just after noon. “I dont like em,” Rivers said of the earlier start. “I like them on the road. I think it favors the road team. You get on the bus and get ready.” Bird had 21,791 points. Hall of Famer John Havlicek tops the Celtics all-time scoring list with 26,395. Rondo played his second straight game after missing eight with a sore right wrist. He wasnt wearing a brace like he did in Fridays win over New York. Gay came down awkwardly after hitting a jumper and limped for a few seconds, but stayed in the game.

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Of course, it helps when the Gators are making 3-pointers and forcing turnovers.

Kenny Boynton scored 18 points, Bradley Beal added 16 and No. 12 Florida beat No. 25 Vanderbilt 73-65 Saturday for its seventh consecutive victory.

The Gators (19-4, 7-1 Southeastern Conference) won for the second time in about 36 hours, improving to 5-0 on two-day turnarounds this season. They are 6-1 in Saturday games that follow Thursday night affairs in the three years the SEC has scheduled those.

The latest one had everything to do with 3-pointers and turnovers.

More on Vanderbilt-Florida Column Jeff Goodman
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Florida made 11 of 24 shots from behind the arc and forced Vanderbilt into 17 turnovers, most of them coming in the press.

“Our press was the reason we won the game because we were able to force turnovers and get them to play fast and keep them from running their sets,” Beal said. “We were really patient and then we trapped hard and we were able to rotate and force turnovers. … Its probably our best performance.”

Vanderbilt (16-7, 5-3) had been able to overcome turnovers issues in recent weeks, winning at Marquette, at South Carolina and at Alabama with at least 17 turnovers. No such luck in Gainesville.

“We didnt do a very good job of attacking [the press],” Vanderbilt coach Kevin Stallings said. “It was disruptive and we did a poor job with our spacing. We did a poor job with our ball handling. It caused problems.”

The Commodores had their hands full defending Boynton and Beal, too.

The guards came up huge in the second half. Beal scored 14 points after the break. Boynton drained a 3-pointer with 1:10 remaining after the Commodores made it a four-point game and then sank two free throws with 25.9 seconds left to seal Floridas 19th consecutive victory at home.

Erving Walked scored 11 points for Florida, and Mike Rosario had 10 off the bench.

Jeffery Taylor led the Commodores with 25 points. John Jenkins, the leagues leading scorer, added 15.

“We did a really poor job handling the pressure,” Taylor said. “We had a lot of turnovers that resulted in easy points for them.”

Vanderbilt used a 9-0 run early in the second half to take a 43-40 lead, and was up 49-46 before Florida took over.

Beal started a 10-0 run with a 3-pointer. He added a tip-in and another 3 in the spurt. Just when it looked like the Gators were going to pull away, they went four minutes without a field goal. Vandy had plenty of chances to retake the lead, but Beals driving layup with 2:04 left made it a six-point game again.

“I was really proud of Brad because he didnt shoot the ball particularly well in the first half,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said. “He didnt have a great first half; he didnt do a whole lot. But then he knocked down a big 3 that gave us the lead, had a great transition drive and he got fouled one time going to the rim. He made a lot of really, really good plays and really impacted the game the last 10 minutes and made some big plays for us.”

Boyntons shot from behind the arc was equally huge.

The Gators closed it out from the free-throw line, making 16 of 17 in the game and 14 of 14 in the second half.

“Weve got good shooters and we expect to make them,” Walker said. “When we miss them, were surprised.”

Vanderbilt lost consecutive games for the second time this season and likely will drop out of the Associated Press college basketball poll.

“We tried to come in here and get a good start, but the press hurt us a lot,” Jenkins said. “That was the main difference in the game.”

The Gators survived all sorts of early foul trouble to lead 37-34 at halftime.

Patric Young played just three minutes before picking up his second foul. Erik Murphy and Beal joined him on the bench late in the first half with two apiece.

With the three starters sidelined, the Gators turned to bench players Will Yeguete, Rosario, Scottie Wilbekin and Casey Prather. Yeguete had eight rebounds in 16 minutes, and Rosario scored 10 points in 12 minutes.

They carried Florida for that stretch.

Boynton and Beal carried the Gators down the stretch.