No. 1 Kentucky goes overtime to edge Rebels
College men: Aaron Harrison scored 26 points, including two big free throws with 1:29 remaining in overtime to put Kentucky ahead to stay, and the top-ranked Wildcats withstood three final Mississippi attempts to rally before escaping with an 89-86 victory Tuesday night at Lexington, Kentucky.
Overwhelming favorites against a Mississippi squad they had beaten 102 times in 115 previous meetings, the Wildcats (14-0) instead survived a back-and-forth battle with the determined Rebels (9-5) in their Southeastern Conference opener.
• Villanova dumps St. John’s: Darrun Hilliard scored 21 points and No. 8 Villanova (14-1, 2-1 Big East) rebounded nicely from its first defeat of the season, pulling away from No. 24 St. John’s (11-4, 0-3) in the second half for a 90-72 victory at New York.
• No. 17 Iowa State blocks upset attempt: Dustin Hogue blocked a 3-point try with under a second left to help 17th-ranked Iowa State (11-2) hold off Oklahoma State (11-3) 63-61 in the Big 12 opener at Ames, Iowa.
• Razorbacks hold off Bulldogs: Bobby Portis scored 21 points, Michael Qualls added 15 and No. 23 Arkansas rallied from a first-half deficit of 13 points to beat Georgia (9-4) 79-75 in an SEC opener at Athens, Georgia.
• Buckeyes beat Gophers in OT: Marc Loving’s jump shot from the lane with 5.6 seconds left in overtime lifted No. 22 Ohio State (13-3, 2-1 Big Ten) to a 74-72 victory over Minnesota (11-5, 0-3), helping the Buckeyes escape with the win after blowing a 12-point second-half lead at Minneapolis.
• Charlotte coach takes medical leave: The Charlotte 49ers said men’s basketball coach Alan Major will take an indefinite medical leave of absence.
The 46-year-old Major requested the leave because of a return of health conditions. He had two eye surgeries and a heart procedure over the summer.
• N.C. State player arrested: North Carolina State basketball player Terry Henderson was arrested in connection with a pellet gun incident.
Henderson and Shawn Jerome Dunn were firing an air-powered gun at a vehicle in north Raleigh shortly after midnight early Monday morning, according to the report from the Raleigh Police Department.
Pistons rally late to defeat Spurs
NBA: Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe each had a double-double and visiting Detroit scored four points in the final 11 seconds, rallying for a 105-104 win over San Antonio.
With just eight seconds left, Brandon Jennings collected an errant inbounds pass and drove the length of the court for the game-winning basket with 0.1 seconds remaining.
• Morris leads Suns: Markieff Morris scored 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead visiting Phoenix to a 102-92 victory over Milwaukee.
• Pacers guard fined: Indiana guard C.J. Watson has been fined $5,000 by the NBA for violating the league’s anti-flopping rules for the second time this season.
Johnson’s two goals push Tampa to top
NHL: Tyler Johnson scored twice in Tampa Bay’s four-goal second period, and the Lightning won the matchup for the top spot in the Eastern Conference with a 4-2 win over host Montreal.
Johnson, the former Spokane Chiefs center and Central Valley High graduate, has 11 points in his last seven games.
• Elias hits milestone: Patrik Elias had a goal and two assists to reach 1,000, NHL points, and New Jersey beat struggling Buffalo 4-1 at Newark, New Jersey. Buffalo is 1-8-1 in its last 10 games.
• Vlasic hits game-winner again: Marc-Edouard Vlasic scored his second winning goal in two nights 3:09 into overtime, and San Jose completed a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Minnesota at St. Paul, Minnesota.
• Varlamov turns away 54 shots in win: Nathan MacKinnon scored and set up a goal by Maxime Talbot in the opening 1:17, Semyon Varlamov made 54 saves for his third shutout of the season and Colorado blanked Chicago 2-0.
• Toronto fires Carlyle: Randy Carlyle was fired as coach of Toronto following a road trip in which the team lost five of seven games.
• Red Wings send Oilers to another loss: Pavel Datsyuk scored the tiebreaking goal with 34 seconds left, and visiting Detroit beat Edmonton 4-2 for its fourth win in six games.
The Oilers have lost 23 of 26.
• Backes scores four goals: David Backes scored four goals to lead St. Louis to a 6-0 win over Arizona at Glendale, Arizona.
• Canucks stay hot: Nick Bonino and Linden Vey scored in the second period to snap long goal droughts, and host Vancouver beat the New York Islanders 3-2.
Ryan Stanton added his first goal in more than a year as Vancouver (23-12-3) improved to 5-1-1 in its last seven games. Eddie Lack made 21 saves for the Canucks in his first start since Dec. 17.
Nadal loses in return following surgery
Miscellany: Rafael Nadal’s first tournament match since surgery last November ended in a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat to German qualifier Michael Berrer in the first round of the Qatar Open at Doha, Qatar.
• Herscher wins slalom: Marcel Hirscher held on to his commanding first-run lead to win a men’s World Cup night slalom at Zagreb, Croatia.
American skier David Chodounsky, who was third after the opening leg, straddled a gate and failed to finish his second run.
• Austrian jumps to tour victory: Ski jumper Stefan Kraft became the seventh straight Austrian winner of the prestigious Four Hills Tour at Bischofshofen, Austria.