The Herald-Palladium from Benton Harbor, Michigan • C2

2C MONDAY, December 12, 2005 The Herald-Palladium Benton Harbor-St. Joseph, Mich. SPORTS Hockey Pro basketball Shaq is back just in time for Heat Atkins reached season highs in scoring off the bench for Washington. Butler had 28 points and Atkins 26. Teammate Gilbert Arenas added 24 but missed 19 of 24 shots.

Miami's Gary Payton had 21 points and seven rebounds, both season highs. Kings 110, Hornets 100 SACRAMENTO, Calif. Bonzi Wells scored 1 4 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter, Peja Stojakovic hit six 3-pointers and also finished with 23 points to help Sacramento snap a four-game home losing streak. Shareef Abdur-Rahim added 23 points and 11 rebounds on his 29th birthday. Rookie Chris Paul had 18 points, 12 assists and five rebounds for New Orleans.

The Hornets have lost five straight overall and nine in a row at Arco Arena. Rockets 100, Trail Blazers 86 PORTLAND, Ore. Tracy McGrady matched his season high with 35 points and added seven rebounds to lead Houston to its eighth straight victory over Portland. Since McGrady returned from a strained back, the Rockets have won three straight and four of their last five. Without McGrady, Houston is 0-8.

Zach Randolph had 15 points and 13 rebounds for Portland. By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MIAMI Shaq is back, helping the Miami Heat shake their slump. Playing for the first time since the second game of the season, O'Neal sank one of two free throws with a second left in regulation to force an overtime, and Miami ended a four-game losing streak by beating Washington 104-101 Sunday night. Dwyane Wade scored a season-high 41 points, including the final six for the Heat, and added 10 rebounds and eight assists. O'Neal finished 6-for-16 at the line, not including two misses negated by lane violations.

Coming off the bench in his first action since a sprained right ankle sidelined him Nov. 3, O'Neal finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds, four in overtime. He fouled out with 1:33 left after playing 23 minutes. "I felt pretty good," O'Neal said. "I just wanted to get my guys going bring some energy and spirit to the lineup." The Heat went 9-9 during the five weeks O'Neal was sidelined.

They're 2-1 with him. Caron Butler and Chucky Gregory Smith AP CHICAGO LEFT WING Michael Holmqvist celebrates with teammates after scoring the winning goal against Atlantaduring a shootout on Sunday. He got the call Golf lead before Savard knocked in a rebound to Khabibulin's glove side at 17:05 of the first. Kovalchuk's 1 1th power-play goal, which tied Jaromir Jagr of the New York Rangers for the goal and two assists for the Thrashers. Tyler Arnason had three assists, and Patrick Sharp two for Chicago.

Playing in his 500th NHL game, Blackhawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin stopped 33 shots Holmqvist scores shootout goal to lift Blackhawks By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ATLANTA After going 65 league lead, scored with 23 sec- and improved to 7-5 in his last onds remaining in the period 12 starts. "When they scored their first Coyotes 2, Bruins 1 minutes without recording any of Chicago's 32 shots, rookie soal. we nanicked a little bit." BOSTON Mike Johnson center Michael Holmqvist was Khabibulin said. "Then they fcored "i.30"' goal in regu lation his fifth in three qames surprised to hear his name scored again and got back the called for the shootout game. The guys kept us in the th of the ice for the winner in "I didn't think about the game possibly being on my stick," Holmqvist said.

"I just saw my Hossa scored in the first two opportunity when my teammates missed and I took it." Holmqvist beat Atlanta goal-tender Michael Garnett in the fifth round of the shootout, and the Blackhawks earned a 5-4 victory over the Thrashers. rounds of the shootout, Khabibulin stopped Greg de Vries, Savard and Slava Kozlov. "We played well for 50 minutes of the game," Savard said. "At least we got a point tonight, but we need two every night." Garnett, who made 28 saves. Reed Saxon AP LUKE DONALD watches his drive on the 18th hole in the final round of the Target World Challenge on Sunday.

Donald's 64 lifts him to Target championship In brief No. 21 Maryland beats No. 6 Boston College COLLEGE PARK, Md. (AP) Maryland welcomed No. 6 Boston College to the Atlantic Coast Conference with a slap in the face.

Ekene Ibekwe scored 21 points, Chris McCray had 16, and the 21st-ranked Terrapins ruined the Eagles' ACC debut with a 73-71 victory Sunday night. Craig Smith had 23 points and 12 rebounds, and Sean Marshall scored 15 for the Eagles (6-2). Boston College went 5 -for-15 at the line, compared to a 19-for-29 performance by the Terrapins (7-2, 1-0). The Eagles trailed 73-68 before Tyrese Rice hit a 3 -pointer with 2.2 seconds left. After Maryland threw the inbounds pass away, Boston College did the same thing.

As the final buzzer sounded, several hundred fans stormed the court to celebrate. A 5-0 spurt put Maryland up 65-62 with 3:56 left. After Rice made a layup for Boston College, Ibekwe missed two free throws with 2:21 to go. Red Sox owner: Lucchino not on outs BOSTON (AP) Boston Red Sox owner John Henry again stood by Larry Lucchino on Sunday, saying the embattled team president would not be stripped of some power in order to lure former general manager Theo Epstein back. "People currently speculating about a reduced role for Larry Lucchino don't know what they are talking about," Henry said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

"It's completely absurd." Epstein walked away from the team Halloween, turning down a three-year, $4.5 million contract extension because of what has been reported to be a falling out with Lucchino, his longtime mentor. The Red Sox have yet to replace Epstein, the GM of the team when it ended an 86-year World Series championship drought. The lack of a replacement has done nothing to quell speculation that Epstein will return, either in his old job or as a consultant to former assistants Jed Hoyer and Ben Cherington, who would serve as co-GMs. Reports this weekend said that Lucchino would have to cede power to make the job palatable for Epstein. Alabama's Ryans wins Lott Trophy NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.

(AP) Alabama linebacker DeMeco Ryans received the Lott Trophy on Sunday night as the nation's outstanding defensive player. Ryans, a 6-foot-2, 235-pound senior, led Alabama in tackles this season and was the Southeastern Conference defensive player of the year. He graduated from school in seven semesters with a 3.7 grade- point average. The Lott Trophy, based on personal character as well as performance, is named after Ronnie Lott, a Hall of Fame defensive back who starred at Southern California and was an All-Pro in the NFL. Lott presented the trophy to Ryans at The Pacific Club, sponsor of the award.

Finalists A.J. Hawk of Ohio State and Darryl Tapp of Virginia Tech also were in attendance. Last year's winner was David Pollack, the All-America defensive end from Georgia who was a first -round pick of the Cincinnati Bengals. Afleet Alex will stand at Gainesway Farm LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) Afleet Alex, winner of the Preak-ness and Belmont, will stand as a stallion at Gainesway Farm in Lexington in the heart of Blue-grass country.

"Having Afleet Alex stand at Gainesway is one of the most exciting moments in our 1 8 years of owning Gainesway," farm president Antony Beck said Sunday. "There's already a huge buzz at the farm." Beck said Afleet Alex's 2006 stud fee will be $40,000 per live foal. Afleet Alex was retired this month because of an ankle injury. The horse finished with eight wins in 12 starts and earnings of more than $2.7 million for the Cash Is King Stable, and nearly became the sport's 12th Triple Crown winner. Pavel Vorobiev had two goals overtime for the Coyotes.

The Coyotes have won three consecutive games, with Johnson scoring two goals in each of the previous two. Nagy won it 30 seconds into overtime. Curtis Joseph stopped 18 shots for the Coyotes, who hadn't won in Boston since 1996. Hannu Toivonen made 30 saves for the Bruins, who lost their third consecutive game. Blue Jackets 3, Devils 2 COLUMBUS, Ohio- Bryan Berard scored off a pass from Sergei Fedorov with 13.6 seconds left in overtime for Columbus.

It was the Blue Jackets' only shot in the extra period. Nikolai Zherdev scored twice in regulation for Columbus, giving him four goals in three games after opening the season with four in 25 contests. Sabres 3, Wild 2 ST. PAUL, Minn. Mike Grier scored two goals and Martin Biron won his 10th straight start for Buffalo.

Grier netted the winner with 3:32 By THE ASSOCIATES PRESS in regulation and one of three dropped to 4-8-1 this season. He Chicago scored in the shootout, stopped Rene Bourque before The Blackhawks improved to 3- Vorobiev and Jaroslav Spacek 0 in the NHL's new tiebreaker. beat him in the shootout. Sharp Chicago coach Trent Yawney missed his attempt before had forward Martin Lapointe to Holmqvist ended the game by thank for recognizing one of firing past Garnett's stick. Holmqvist's strengths.

"I feel like I am improving "He does score more often every game," said Garnett, who than not on breakaways," Yawney said, "Marty deserves credit there." Ilya Kovalchuk scored his has made nine straight starts. "I'm really trying to work on things in practice so that when I get out there, I'm confident that I can ston everv shot. I'm trying 18th and 19th goals in regula- tion for Atlanta, which has lost to make them beat me instead of remaining when he tipped Chris hole of a playoff in the Australian Masters. The 34-year-old Allenby, 10-0 in playoffs in his pro career, closed with a 4-under 68 to match Watson (67) at 17-under 271 on the Huntingdale course. The Australian, also the 2004 winner at Huntingdale, began the historic run two weeks ago in the Australian Open, overcoming a finger injury for a one-stroke victory at Moonah Links.

He added the PGA title last week at Coolum, also winning by a stroke. Dunhill Championship NELSPRUIT, South Africa South Africa's Ernie Els won in his second start since missing 42 months because of a knee injury, closing with a 4-under 68 for three-stroke victory in the Dunhill Championship. Els had a 1 4-under 274 total on the Leopard Creek course. South Africa's Charl Schwartzel, the 2004 winner, and Louis Oosthuizen, shot 70s to tie for second. urury snoi wnnesianainq in Tronx ot beating myself.

the nyet Vorobiev scored the first and Biron, wno made 34 saves, nasrVt third goals of the first period, lost since Nov. 12 at Ottawa. and Spacek had the second for Brian Rolston had a goal and an the Blackhawks, who led 3-0 assist for Minnesota. six of seven. The Blackhawks, winners of two straight, have played four consecutive overtime games.

Marc Savard finished with a THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. Luke Donald won the Target World Challenge, shooting an 8-under 64 on Sunday to rally from six shots behind to beat European Ryder Cup teammate Darren Clarke by two strokes. Donald, who celebrated his 28th birthday Wednesday, matched the record for best closing round by a winner in the seven-year history of the event. Clarke fell apart down the stretch with a bogey on the par-5 1 6th. Needing a birdie on the 1 8th to force a playoff, he pulled his approach, and hit his 45 -foot birdie putt so badly that he dropped his putter and put hands on hips a few moments after the ball left his blade.

He wound up with a three-putt bogey for a 72. Michael Campbell and Padraig Harrington shot 73 to tie for third at 276. Tournament host Tiger Woods had a 73 to tie for 14th at 286. Australian Masters MELBOURNE, Australia Robert Allenby became the first player to win Baseball Orioles seek to soothe disgruntled Tejada Lexus Cup and Fernando Cuza. "I've been with the Orioles "We had long conversations for two years and things haven't with Tejada and his agents," gone in the direction that we Flanagan said.

"What came out were expecting, so I think the of it was the sentiment that best thing will be a change of Miguel wants to play for a win- scenery," he said. "I've done ner. Our goal is the same. We many things with this team and I want to be a winner." haven't seen results, and the Flanagan would not comment other teams are getting stronger on rumors that the Boston Red while the Orioles have not made Sox have offered left fielder any signings to strengthen the SINGAPORE Annika Sorenstam beat Grace Park 2 and 1 and Paula Creamer routed Birdie Kim 7 and 5 to help the International team win eight of 12 singles matches for a 16-8 victory in the Lexus Cup. Natalie Gulbis, Sophie Gustafson, the Australian Open, PGA and Masters Erica Blasberg, Karen Stupples, Carin in the same season, beating American Koch and Suzann Petersen also won Bubba Watson with a par on the first matches for the International team.

By DAVID GINSBURG AP Sports Writer BALTIMORE Miguel Tejada and the Baltimore Orioles agree on this much: Both want to win. There is still some question, however, whether Tejada will be a part of the team's quest to become a contender. Frustrated over the team's failure to add quality talent during the offseason, the Orioles' shortstop said last week he would like to be traded. Baltimore has since received several trade offers, but executive vice president Mike Flanagan said Sunday the team wants to hold onto Tejada, who last year hit .305 with 26 homers and 98 RBIs for the fourth-place Orioles. Flanagan spent much of the weekend talking with Tejada and his representatives, Diego Bentz CITY-WIDE 8 Pes Good Thru 12HB The only place to go when your SPIRITS are low! LIQUORS Psig Manny Ramirez for Tejada.

"I can't say if we're involved in trade discussions involving Tejada or any other player," Flanagan said. Tejada was signed to a six-year, $72 million contract before the 2004 season. He quickly assumed the role of team leader, and although he did not appear to play with his usual enthusiasm toward the end of last season, he never spoke of his frustration until last week during a phone conversation with a reporter. Lindeman's 3825 N.Grape Rd. (574)272-2274 MALL a I CITY- I 2 I WIDE I 0 Edison LasT CHance! Kessler $13.99 Dewar's Scotch $32.99 Jack Daniels $33.99 Jim Beam $19.99 Svedka Vodka $16.99 Maker's Mark $34.99 Smirnoff Vodka $16.99 Absolut Vodka $29.99 Canadian Club $16.99 Seagram's V.O.

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