Howard plays big as Magic thump Wizards
Dwight Howard had 26 points and 14 rebounds, and Hedo Turkoglu added 20 points and a season-high 10 rebounds to help the Orlando Magic beat the Washington Wizards 105-90 on Thursday night at Washington.
Orlando has won eight of its last nine games and six in a row on the road.
Caron Butler had 25 points for Washington, 19 of them in the first half.
•Posey beats former team: James Posey made a 3-pointer with 19.1 seconds left to lift the New Orleans Hornets to their fourth straight victory, 105-101 over the Denver Nuggets, one of his former teams.
Chris Paul led the Hornets with 22 points and 10 assists, but came up six rebounds short of his third straight triple-double.
He hit a 3-pointer to tie it at 92 and the Hornets took a four-point lead on Peja Stojakovic’s 3 and a subsequent free throw after Kenyon Martin got a technical.
Men’s basketball
ASU rolls over 49ers
Jeff Pendergraph had 23 points and 10 rebounds to help No. 14 Arizona State beat Charlotte 84-56 in the first round of the 76 Classic at Anaheim, Calif.
James Harden made all 11 of his free throws and scored 15 points for the Sun Devils (4-0).
Women’s basketball
Toliver leads Terps
Kristi Toliver scored 13 points to help No. 10 Maryland beat Montana 71-58 on Thursday night in the Caribbean Challenge at Cancun, Mexico.
Marissa Coleman added 11 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Terrapins (5-1).
Mandy Morales scored 15 points to lead Montana (3-1).
GOLF
Clark, Hend lead
South Africa’s Tim Clark waited out a three-hour suspension because of a severe thunderstorm to shoot a 5-under 67 for a share of the first-round lead in the Australian Masters at Melbourne, Australia.
Australian Scott Hend was in the clubhouse at 67 when a hail-laced storm hit Huntingdale, forcing nearly 80 players off the course. When they returned, Clark, 3 under when play was suspended, birdied 15 and 16.
Chris Downes of Australia, who played the final five holes of his first round this morning, was third at 68, followed by Australians Anthony Brown and Michael Wright and England’s Daniel Wardrop at 69.
American John Daly shot 76.
•German team leads: Martin Kaymer and Alex Cejka combined for a 10-under 62, giving Germany a one-stroke lead over Australia’s Richard Green and Brendan Jones after the first round of the World Cup of Golf at Shenzhen, China.
Three teams – Spain, Canada and the United States – were two shots behind.
NHL
Sens beat Leafs in SO
Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson scored in a shootout to give the Ottawa Senators a 2-1 victory over the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs.
Spezza beat Vesa Toskala with a shot on Ottawa’s first attempt. Alfredsson also shot and scored on the Senators’ third attempt to give Ottawa its second straight win.
•Cammalleri sparks Flames: Michael Cammalleri scored three times, and Curtis Glencross added the winner on a breakaway with 6:31 left in the visiting Calgary Flames’ 4-3 victory over the Vancouver Canucks.
•Burke, Leafs have deal: Brian Burke and the Toronto Maple Leafs have agreed to terms on a deal for the former Anaheim general manager to take over as president and GM, the Globe and Mail and The Canadian Press reported.
The Globe and Mail, citing a source familiar with the negotiations, said Burke only needs to sign the deal to make it official, and that an announcement could come today.
•Jokinen out two weeks: Phoenix Coyotes center Olli Jokinen will be sidelined for at least two weeks by a shoulder injury, ending his consecutive games streak at 397.
Jokinen is the team’s second-leading scorer with seven goals and 18 points.