Ravens seek playoff berth
BALTIMORE, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- The Baltimore Ravens will help put the final piece of the playoff puzzle in place tonight and the defending Super Bowl champions hope they are a part of that puzzle.
Almost all of the post-season picture was made final Sunday with the New York Jets earning a playoff spot in dramatic fashion, Chicago claiming a division title and the New England Patriots grabbing not only a division crown but a first-round bye as well.
One berth in the 12-team field is still open, however, and the Ravens will grab it if they defeat the Minnesota Vikings tonight in the final regular-season game of the NFL schedule. If the Ravens lose, the playoff spot will go to the Seattle Seahawks.
The schedule for next weekend's opening round of the playoffs was also established Sunday. Next Saturday, the Philadelphia Eagles will host the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Oakland will be at home against either the Jets or Seahawks. On Sunday, Green Bay will await San Francisco while Miami will entertain either the Ravens or Jets.
If Baltimore loses to the Vikings tonight, the Ravens will become the 10th team to win a Super Bowl one season and miss the playoffs the next. The last team to do so was Denver, which missed out in 1999 after winning the Super Bowl at the end of the 1998 season.
St. Louis and Chicago finished as the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds in the NFC Sunday.
The Rams, seeking their second Super Bowl title in three seasons, downed the Atlanta Falcons, 31-13. Marshall Faulk became the first player in NFL history to surpass 2,000 total yards in four straight seasons.
Chicago needed to beat Jacksonville to win the NFC Central and earn a bye and the Bears did so, 33-13. The game was highlighted by a 67-yard interception return by 304-pound defensive tackle Keith Traylor.
Green Bay was prevented from winning the Central, but the Packers finished the season with a 34-25 win over the New York Giants. Packers quarterback Brett Favre gifted New York's Michael Strahan a sack late in the fourth quarter, giving him an NFL single-season record 22 1/2.
San Francisco gained momentum going into the playoffs with a 38-0 win over New Orleans. Philadelphia and Tampa Bay, which will face each other next weekend, did so Sunday night with the Eagles rallying for a 17-13 win.
In the AFC, Pittsburgh had already wrapped up the No. 1 seed and the Steelers went into the playoffs a winner with a 28-7 decision over Cleveland in the snow.
Oakland had a chance to earn a first-round bye, but lost for the third straight time when the Jets' John Hall kicked a 53-yard field goal with 59 seconds left for a 24-22 win. That victory put the Jets in the playoffs and vaulted New England past Oakland in the overall standings.
New England thus earned the first-round bye along with the AFC East title with a 38-6 win over Carolina.
Carolina coach George Seifert reportedly will be fired today.
Miami had to settle for the runner-up spot in the AFC East and a home game next week. The Dolphins downed Buffalo Sunday, 34-7. Seattle kept its hopes alive for a wild-card berth by downing Kansas City, 21-18.
In another highlight, Emmitt Smith reached the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the 11th straight season, establishing an NFL record. But his Dallas Cowboys lost to the Detroit Lions, 15-10.
Elsewhere Sunday, Washington downed Arizona, 20-17; Cincinnati beat Tennessee, 23-21 and Indianapolis rolled past Denver, 29-10.
Duke suffers first loss
TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Top-ranked Duke became the final team to fall from the ranks of the unbeaten Sunday as Monte Cummings made a layup with 7.4 seconds left to give Florida State a stunning 77-76 Atlantic Coast Conference victory.
The Seminoles (8-5, 1-1 ACC) had never beaten a No. 1 team in 11 tries, but they ended Duke's 22-game winning streak and became the first unranked ACC team to defeat the Blue Devils since North Carolina State in 1997.
One day after the other three unbeaten Division I teams suffered their first loss, Duke showed an uncommon lack of poise by missing nine of 11 free throws in the second half. The main culprit was player of the year favorite Jason Williams, who was none of six from the line.
Duke (12-1, 1-1) trailed most of the way, but had a 76-75 lead when Williams missed two free throws with 20.5 seconds left.
Florida State moved into the frontcourt and Cummings drove around 280-pound center Carlos Boozer along the baseline, drew contact with Mike Dunleavy and made the go-ahead layup.
After a timeout, Duke put the ball back in the hands of Williams, who drove the length of the court but had his jumper blocked by 6-10 junior Mike Mathews. Dunleavy missed a follow shot from the lane as time expired and fans poured onto the court at the Leon County Civic Center.
Oklahoma State, Virginia and Miami all suffered their first losses on Saturday and other top 10 teams Illinois, Kentucky and Iowa lost as well.
Garcia wins in playoff
KAPALUA, Hawaii, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Sergio Garcia, with an avowed goal of leading both the American and European tours in money earnings this year, sank a 10-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole Sunday to defeat David Toms and claim the season-opening Mercedes Championships.
Garcia, who turns 21 Wednesday, started the day four shots off the pace, but fired a 9-under-par 64 that included a birdie on the final hole to match Toms at 18-under 274. Toms left a 12-foot birdie putt an inch short on the final hole of regulation to miss out on the victory.
They opened the playoff at the 663-yard, par-5 18th, where Toms caught the rough with his second shot and left his third 30 feet right of the pin.
Garcia sent sent a 50-yard chip shot 10 feet past the hole and, after Toms two-putted for par, converted the birdie opportunity into his third career PGA Tour title. Garcia won $720,000 while Toms, the 2001 PGA Championship winner, earned $432,000.
Toms shot a 66 under calm but damp conditions at the Kapalua Bay Plantation Course and fell just shy of his fourth title since May.
Kenny Perry finished alone in third at 275 following a 3-under 69 while defending champion Jim Furyk shot a 65 to claim fourth place at 277.
Scott McCarron, Mark Calcavecchia and Chris DiMarco were all at 278 and Scott Verplank was at 279 and Brad Faxon at 280.
Tiger Woods, who had back-to-back over-par rounds for the first time in a regular tour event in almost three years, bounced back with a 65 to share 10th place at 281 with Bob Estes.
Webber keeps Kings rolling
SACRAMENTO, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Chris Webber had 28 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists for his first triple-double of the season Sunday night as the Sacramento Kings extended their season-high winning streak to seven games with a 115-101 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks.
Webber missed the first 20 games of the season with a severely sprained ankle and three more in mid-December. But the Kings improved to 9-2 when he is in the lineup and the All-Star power forward has dominated the last two games.
After scoring 16 points in the fourth quarter of Friday's triumph at Phoenix, Webber came back with his 15th career triple-double and seventh with the Kings.
Sacramento had a 70-64 lead midway through third quarter before Webber scored six points during a 14-2 run. Bobby Jackson's layup capped the burst to make it 84-66 with 47 seconds left and Milwaukee got no closer than nine thereafter.
Other NBA results: Seattle 89, Memphis 77; Los Angeles Lakers 109, Toronto 89; Miami 92, Golden State 84.
Khabibulin beats former team
PHOENIX, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Nikolai Khabibulin made 33 saves and set the single-season franchise record for shutouts Sunday night and lead the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 3-0 blanking of the Phoenix Coyotes.
A restricted free agent at the end of 1998-99, Khabibulin sat out nearly two years due to a contract squabble before the Coyotes traded his rights to Tampa Bay a week before last season's trade deadline.
Khabibulin turned away eight shots in the first period, 14 in the second and 11 in the third to earn his 27th career shutout. He is one behind Colorado's Patrick Roy for the league lead this season.
After being shut out in their previous two games, the Lightning ended their scoring drought at 131 minutes, 30 seconds. Zdeno Ciger sparked the Tampa Bay offense 3:58 into the first period by firing a wrist shot from the right point between goaltender Sean Burke's pads.
Other NHL results: Columbus 4, Nashville 3; Philadelphia 4, Carolina 3; Buffalo 4, Minnesota 1; New York Islanders 3, Atlanta 2; Chicago 2, Pittsburgh 0; Edmonton 7, Montreal 6.
Hall of Fame coach dies
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Fred Taylor, who coached Ohio State to its lone NCAA basketball championship during a Hall of Fame career, died Sunday after a long illness. He was 77.
Taylor guided the Buckeyes to the 1960 NCAA title with a team that included John Havlicek, Jerry Lucas, Larry Siegfried and reserve Bobby Knight. Ohio State lost to Cincinnati in the championship game in 1961 and 1962 and made it back to the Final Four in 1968.
Under Taylor, the Buckeyes won a record five consecutive Big Ten Conference crowns and he remains the only coach in school history to record six 20-win seasons.
"He set the standards which every basketball coach since him has aspired to achieve," said current Ohio State coach Jim O'Brien. "The thing that impresses me the most about coach Taylor is that all his former players held him in such high regard.
American wins World Cup slalom
ADELBODEN, Switzerland, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- American Bode Miller added a victory in a men's World Cup slalom Sunday to his win in a night race last month.
Miller, who captured a night slalom in Madonna di Campiglio in mid-December, repeated his success on the tough, icy Kuonigsbergli course, winning with a two-run aggregate time of 1 minute, 33.24 seconds. His time was almost two seconds ahead of runnerup Ivica Kostelic of Croatia.
Kostelic, the winner of the season-opening slalom in Aspen and third-place finisher in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, crossed in 1:35.16. World championship bronze medalist Mitja Kunc of Slovenia placed third in 1:35.35.
Henman wins in Adelaide
ADELAIDE, Australia, Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Tim Henman showed himself to be in good form for the Australian Open with a victory in Sunday's final of the AAPT Championships.
Henman, the top seed from Britain, held off unseeded Australian Mark Philippoussis, 6-4, 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, in the rain-delayed championship match.
The 27-year-old Henman squandered a 3-1 lead in the second set but claimed his ninth career title and $45,500. He will take this next week off to prepare for the season's first Grand Slam event, which begins in Melbourne on Jan. 14.
