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Illinois stuns No. 1 Indiana at the buzzer

CHAMPAIGN, Ill., Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A layup by Tyler Griffey on an inbounds play at the buzzer Thursday gave Illinois a shocking 74-72 win over top-ranked Indiana.

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The Hoosiers held a 13-point lead midway through the second half, but eventually became the latest team to be defeated soon after reaching the No. 1 spot.

D.J. Richardson scored eight straight points during an 11-1 run that brought Illinois back in the game and the Illini's Brandon Paul tied it on two free throws with 37 seconds to play.

Indiana then tried to work for the final shot, but Richardson stole the ball from Victor Oladipo and headed down the court toward a potential game-winning layup. Oladipo, however, caught up and managed to knock the ball out of bounds with nine-tenths of a seconds remaining.

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Illinois then ran a special inbounds play that fooled the Hoosiers and created the winning points.

The Illini set up three players on the right side of the basket and it appeared Brandon Paul would inbound the ball to one of them. Griffey, however, came running down the lane past Indiana's Cody Zeller, took a bounce pass from Paul and laid the ball in for the victory.

Richardson led Illinois in scoring with 23 points and Paul had 21. Griffey added 14 points and eight rebounds.

Illinois had lost its previous three games and this was only its third Big Ten Conference victory in 10 tries. The Illini are 16-8 for the season.

Indiana (20-3, 8-2) fell back into a first-place tie in the league race with Michigan and Michigan State. The Hoosiers were paced by Zeller with 14 points and nine rebounds.


Report: Hernandez close to lucrative deal

SEATTLE, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Former Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez has agreed to a seven-year, $175 million contract with the Seattle Mariners, USA Today reported Thursday.

The report said the deal should be announced prior to the start of spring training, although baseball's official website said a source within the Seattle organization indicated there were no plans to make such an announcement.

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If such a contract is signed, Hernandez would become the highest-paid pitcher in baseball history. He has two years remaining on his current contract.

Hernandez went 13-9 with a 3.06 ERA last season and struck out 223 batters. His season was capped by a perfect game against Tampa Bay.

He has spent his entire eight-year career with Seattle and has traditionally been a victim of sparse run support. Hernandez won the Cy Young Award in 2010 with only a 13-12 record. He posted a 2.27 ERA that year.

In his 238 career starts he has recorded a 98-76 record. He will turn 27 in April.


Knox, Mahan share lead at Pebble Beach

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif., Feb. 7 (UPI) -- Russell Knox, seeking a victory that would dramatically boost his career, shared the lead Thursday after one round of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Knox was tied with Hunter Mahan at 6-under par after a perfect day for golf along the Pacific Ocean.

Three courses are used during the first three rounds of the tournament, but they do not all have the same par.

Knox shot a 6-under 64 at the par-70 Monterey Peninsula course while Mahan turned in a 6-under 66 at the par-72 Pebble Beach Golf Links.

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Those tied for second at 5-under included Scott Langley, Ryuji Imada, Greg Owen, Ted Potter, Seung-Yul Noh and Matt Every.

Brandt Snedeker was among those at 4-under. Snedeker finished second in each of the last two PGA Tour events -- trailing Tiger Woods by four shots two weeks ago and Phil Mickelson by four shots last week.

Knox, 27, is a native of Scotland and a current resident of Jacksonville, Fla. He has only limited status on the tour and needs to take advantage of his few opportunities to compete. Knox missed the cut at the Sony Open in his only other appearance on the tour this year.

Mahan won twice in 2012, one of his victories coming in the Match Play Championship.

Mickelson, who shot a 60 en route to his win last week at the Phoenix Open, settled for a 1-under 69 at Monterey Peninsula on Thursday. He is also the defending champion of this event.


Penguins win fifth in a row

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 7 (UPI) -- A second-period onslaught Thursday that featured a goal and two assists each from Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin lifted Pittsburgh past Washington 5-2.

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The Penguins did all their scoring in the middle period to win their fifth straight game. Washington has dropped three in a row and remained stuck on an Eastern Conference-low two victories.

Mike Ribeiro gave Washington a first-period lead, but Pittsburgh scored on the power play three times during its big second stanza.

Malkin tied it 6:59 into the period and Pascal Dupuis put the Penguins in front with 7:11 left on a slap shot.

Pittsburgh then broke things open with two goals in a span of 11 seconds -- James Neal scoring his seventh of the season and Matt Cooke putting a slap shot past relief goaltender Braden Holtby.

Crosby finished the outburst with a power-play goal that came just 22 seconds from the end of the period.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 23 saves for Pittsburgh. Michael Neuvirth opened in goal for the Capitals and gave up two goals on 11 shots. Holtby surrendered three goals on 17 shots.

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