Miami opens with big win
MIAMI, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Junior reserve Jason Geathers rushed for 199 yards and two touchdowns and redshirt freshman Roscoe Parrish scooted for a pair of scores Saturday night as the No. 1 Miami Hurricanes rested their regulars in a 63-17 trouncing of the Florida A&M Rattlers.
On the first full day of college football, two members of the top 10 were defeated while Duke ended its 23-game losing streak.
Playing its season opener, Miami had a 28-0 lead after one quarter, 42-0 at halftime and 49-0 before Florida A&M finally scored in the third period. The defending national champions used four quarterbacks and substituted liberally throughout the game.
The biggest beneficiaries were Geathers and Parrish, who are buried on a talented depth chart. Geathers is stuck behind sophomore Willis McGahee and Parrish is the understudy to junior flanker Kevin Beard.
Geathers carried 22 times, including touchdown runs of 20 yards in the third quarter and 62 yards in the final period. Parrish raced 46 yards on a reverse for a score in the first quarter and hauled in a 32-yard touchdown pass late in the opening half.
The biggest surprise of the day came when sixth-ranked Colorado fell to Colorado State, 19-14. No. 9 Washington also lost to No. 10 Michigan on a last-second field goal, 31-29.
Elsewhere in the top 10, No. 2 Texas whipped North Texas, 27-0; North 4 Tennessee rolled over Wyoming, 47-7; No. 5 Florida State defeated Virginia, 40-10; No. 7 Florida blasted Alabama-Birmingham, 51-3; and No. 8 Nebraska won over Troy State, 31-6.
In Durham, N.C., Duke won for the first time since November 1999 with a 23-16 victory over East Carolina. Linebacker Brendan Dewan scored on a 28-yard interception return and Alex Wade slogged through the rain for 109 yards.
Team USA survives again
INDIANAPOLIS, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Paul Pierce and Shawn Marion helped the United States rally from an early 12-point deficit Saturday night and defeat China, 84-65, in the final game of the opening round of the World Basketball Championship.
For the second straight night, the Americans found themselves in a battle as United States teams with NBA players tried to remain unbeaten in international competition.
Having won its first three round-robin games, the United States finished on top of Group C and will take a 3-0 record into the next phase of the tournament. Team USA will join Germany and China in a six-team group and will play the other three members of that group -- Russia, New Zealand, and Argentina -- beginning Monday night.
The top four teams from that group will move on to the quarterfinals and the only way the United States could possibly not be in the top four would be to lose all three games.
China, with No. 1 NBA draft pick Yao Ming in the middle, opened its 12-point lead late in the first period, but the Americans rallied to take a one-point advantage at the break.
A 13-0 run bridging the third and fourth quarters put the game away.
Pierce scored 19 points, Marion 15 and Michael Finley 14.
The 7-5 Ming was in and out of the game due to foul trouble and he finished with 10 points and six rebounds in 26 minutes.
The first United States lead did not come until Finley made two free throws in the closing seconds of the half to make it 43-42 at intermission.
China's last lead was 55-54 with 4:27 left in the third period.
Germany, which had a lead against the United States in the third quarter Friday night, finished second in Group C thanks to a 102-70 win over Algeria.
Hewitt defeats Blake in five sets
NEW YORK, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- In a repeat of their highly charged meeting here last year, top seed and defending champion Lleyton Hewitt triumphed over James Blake, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, on an overcast, windy Saturday to reach the fourth round of the U.S. Open.
Last year, Hewitt outlasted his American challenger, 6-4, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-0, in the second round in one of the most talked-about matches of the tournament.
The fiesty Australian drew the indignation of the pro-Blake crowd with his fist-pumping and intense manner and also made comments that were construed by some to be racist.
However, Saturday's meeting was marked by great sportsmanship as both players applauded their foe's winning shots.
Hewitt will take on Jiri Novak in the fourth round. The No. 14 seed from the Czech Republic was leading Marcelo Rios, 6-3, 6-3, when the Chilean retired with a knee injury.
Also Saturday, sixth seed and two-time winner Andre Agassi of the United States routed Paraguay's Ramon Delgado, 6-2, 6-1, 6-2, in a rematch of their third-round encounter here last season. Agassi improved to 3-0 lifetime against Delgado.
On the women's side, second seed and two-time defending champion Venus Williams of the United States thrashed Germany's Martina Muller, 6-1, 6-2, in 41 minutes. Williams leads the WTA Tour with seven titles this year but lost the French Open and Wimbledon finals to younger sister Serena.
Venus Williams has lost just six games in her first three matches. She next takes on No. 14 Chanda Rubin, who posted a 7-6 (7-2), 6-4 victory over fellow American No. 21 Lisa Raymond.
Sparks claim second straight title
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Nikki Teasley hit a three-point shot with 2.1 seconds remainnig Saturday that gave the Los Angeles Sparks their second straight WNBA championship with a 69-66 victory over the New York Liberty.
Last year, Los Angeles dethroned the four-time defending champion Houston Comets. This year, the Sparks sailed through the postseason unbeaten and dealt the Liberty yet another loss in the final round.
For the second straight year, center Lisa Leslie was named Most Valuable Player of the WNBA Finals. As she has done many times over the last two years, she asserted herself as the game's best player.
Los Angeles appeared headed to an easy win, holding a 66-57 lead after a basket by Latasha Byears with less than three minutes to go. But the Sparks relaxed and the Liberty rallied.
Vickie Johnson made a three-pointer, Becky Hammon added a basket and Teresa Weatherspoon sank two free throws to cut the deficit to 66-64 with 1:13 left. Tari Phillips hit the tying jumper with 18 seconds to go and the Sparks called a timeout.
The Liberty collapsed on Leslie and the play broke down. Open on the right wing, Teasley launched the three-pointer that delivered the final points of the season.
New York inbounded to Weatherspoon, whose long, desperation three-pointer in a similar setting three years ago stunned Houston and evened the series. But this time, her shot was blocked.
Oakland wins 17th straight
OAKLAND, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Eric Chavez had an RBI double, a solo home run and a two-run single in the eighth inning that snapped a tie Saturday night as the Oakland Athletics won their 17th consecutive game, a 6-3 triumph over the Minnesota Twins.
The win tied Oakland with the 1931 Philadelphia A's, who won 17 in a row from May 5-25. The streak is the longest in the major leagues since 1953, when the New York Yankees captured 18 straight from May 27-June 14.
After being staked to a 2-0 lead in the first inning, Oakland starter Cory Lidle allowed back-to-back doubles in the sixth to end his streak of consecutive innings without allowing an earned run at 43 2/3.
Oakland manager Art Howe lifted Lidle with one out in the sixth only to watch Ricardo Rincon and Jim Mecir surrender the lead and allow Minnesota to even the score, 3-3.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Chavez smacked lefthander J.C. Romero's first pitch into center field, breaking his bat and plating two to give Oakland a 5-3 bulge.
Other American League results: Toronto 5, New York 1; Cleveland 8, Boston 7; Chicago 9, Detroit 4; Tampa Bay 7, Texas 5.
Smoltz earns 48th save
MONTREAL, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Andruw Jones snapped a tie with a leadoff home run in the seventh inning and John Smoltz notched his major league-leading 48th save Saturday night to lift the Atlanta Braves to a 5-3 victory over the Montreal Expos.
Mired in a three-for-39 slump, Jones launched an 0-2 offering from Javier Vazquez to right field, just clearing the fence for his first homer in two weeks and a 4-3 Atlanta lead.
The solo blast made a winner of lefthander Chris Hammond (7-2), who allowed two hits in two scoreless innings. Atlanta starter Jason Marquis remains in search of his first win since Aug. 3 after yielding three runs and nine hits in five innings.
Smoltz retired the side in order in the ninth to move within nine saves of the major league record of 57, which was set in 1990 by Bobby Thigpen of the Chicago White Sox.
Other National League results: Philadelphia 1, New York 0; San Francisco 5, Arizona 0; Florida 3, Pittsburgh 2; Milwaukee 11, Cincinnati 2; Los Angeles 4, Houston 0. St. Louis swept a double header from Chicago, 8-1 and 10-4.
Sauers leads on PGA Tour
SURREY, British Columbia, Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Gene Sauers, who won a pair of PGA Tour events in the 1980s but has been relegated to a life on the Buy.com Tour the past five seasons, became the surprise leader Saturday after three rounds of the Air Canada Championship.
Sauers carded a 5-under-par 66 at Northview Golf and Country Club to reach 13-under 200, a stroke better than surging Australians Robert Allenby and Peter Lonard.
Steve Lowery, among the hottest players on tour, was fourth at 11-under 202, with second-round leader Craig Barlow and Kevin Sutherland at 203.
The 40-year-old Sauers began the day two strokes behind Barlow but jumped to the top of the leaderboard with a round that included six birdies and a bogey. He closed with six consecutive pars.
Sauers is an unexpected front runner considering he is appearing in just his fourth PGA Tour event of the year and 20th since the start of the 1999 season. He is coming off a pair of top-10 finishes on the Buy.com Tour.
