Buccaneers, Raiders dominate in divisional round
TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Brad Johnson and Rich Gannon carried Tampa Bay and Oakland within one step of the Super Bowl Sunday.
With the list of hopefuls down to just four, it was once again demonstrated over the weekend that earning a bye past the opening round of the NFL playoffs is invaluable.
Johnson guided Tampa Bay to its most explosive playoff showing ever, a 31-6 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. Gannon threw two second-half touchdown passes in a span of just over five minutes to break open a tense battle and lift the Oakland Raiders to a 30-10 win over the New York Jets.
That set up next Sunday's conference championship games with Oakland hosting Tennessee in the AFC and Tampa Bay going to Philadelphia in the NFC. Of the last four in the race for the NFL crown, only Oakland has won a Super Bowl.
Johnson threw two touchdown passes, overcoming his first interception since Dec. 1 as well as a laceration over his right eye that briefly forced him to the locker room so doctors could close the wound.
Tampa Bay's No. 1-ranked defense, meanwhile, forced four turnovers, the last of them coming with 2:20 remaining in the third period that ended San Francisco's faint hopes of pulling off its second straight amazing comeback. The 49ers rallied from a 24-point deficit a week ago to beat the New York Giants in the wild card round.
The Buccaneers will play in their third NFC Championship when they meet the Eagles at Veterans Stadium, where Tampa Bay's last two seasons have ended with losses in the wild card round.
Tampa Bay scored just six points in its two previous trips to the conference title game, symbolic of its offensive struggles in the playoffs, and had not scored a touchdown in its last three post-season contests.
But the Buccaneers proved relentless in the first half Sunday against an injury-riddled San Francisco defense. The 31 points were 11 more than Tampa Bay had ever scored in a playoff game.
Johnson was intercepted on Tampa Bay's first possession, the first he had suffered in 88 passes dating to a loss to the New Orleans Saints in the 13th week of the regular season.
Johnson, however, led the Buccaneers to touchdowns on four of their next five possessions en route to a 28-6 halftime lead.
In Oakland, the Raiders forced New York quarterback Chad Pennington into four turnovers and snuffed out the magical run of the Jets, who recovered from a 2-5 start to become a playoff-worthy team.
The Raiders will attempt to earn their first Super Bowl trip in 19 years when they host the Titans. They met in the fourth week of the regular season with Oakland mauling Tennessee, 52-25.
New York produced a touchdown with 22 seconds left in the second quarter to bring about a 10-10 halftime tie and then had possession at its own 22-yard line midway through the third period.
But on third and eight, Pennington was intercepted by cornerback Tory James at the Jets' 45. Two plays later, Gannon hit Jerry Porter in stride down the left sideline with a 29-yard touchdown pass to put the Raiders in front for good.
That score came with 4:24 remaining in the third period and Oakland took over again in the final seconds of the quarter when the Jets tried and failed to pick up a first down on fourth and two at the Oakland 34.
It took the Raiders just four plays to go the distance with the touchdown coming on a nine-yard throw from Gannon to Jerry Rice, the 21st career playoff scoring reception for the NFL's all-time record holder in almost every receiving category. No one else has more a dozen playoff touchdown catches.
Gannon, voted the NFL's MVP this season, completed 20 of 30 passes for 283 yards with Porter catching six of those throws for 123. Rice caught four passes for 47 yards, raising his all-time career playoff records to 141 catches for 2,089 yards.
Els wins season opener
KAPALUA, Hawaii, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Ernie Els pulled away over the final seven holes Sunday to open the PGA Tour with a $1 million victory at the Mercedes Championship.
Els set a tour record for lowest score in relation to par, turning in a four-day total of 31-under 261 over the Kapalua Resort's Plantation Course. An entire week of unusually light winds created relatively easy conditions for the elite 36-man field.
Two years ago, Joe Durant played the first 72 holes of the 90-hole Bob Hope Chrysler Classic in 29-under. The lowest stroke total in PGA Tour history for 72 holes is 256, set by Mark Calcavecchia at the Phoenix Open two years ago.
Els began the day with a two-shot lead over K.J. Choi and that lead was only one going to the 12th hole. But Els hit his tee shot on the par-4 12th to within nine yards of the green and made a birdie to regain a two-shot advantage. Choi then bogeyed the next two holes to end his challenge.
Choi wound up tied for second with Rocco Mediate, a distant eight shots behind at 23-under 269. Mediate shot a 10-under 63 Sunday and Choi had to settle for an even-par 73.
Retief Goosen and Vijay Singh shared fourth place at 270 while Bob Estes, Jim Furyk, Jonathan Byrd and Chris Riley were all at 271. Defending champion Sergio Garcia tied for 25th at 281.
The tournament was open only to players who won on the PGA Tour during the 2002 season. But the top two players in the world did not play in the opening event of the year. Tiger Woods missed out as he recovers from arthroscopic knee surgery and Phil Mickelson skipped it for the second straight year to go on an extended holiday trip with his family.
The first full-field event of the season will be played next week in Honolulu with Els scheduled to take part.
Duke remains unbeaten
DURHAM, N.C., Jan. 13 (UPI) -- The Duke Blue Devils emerged as the only unbeaten team in Division I Sunday night.
Chris Duhon hit consecutive three-pointers during a pivotal stretch late in the first half Sunday night and Dahntay Jones had 15 of his 16 points after the break as top-ranked Duke knocked off Atlantic Coast Conference rival and 18th-ranked Wake Forest, 74-55.
With their 14th straight win against Wake Forest, Duke (11-0, 2-0 ACC) knocked the Demon Deacons from the ranks of the unbeaten, leaving the Blue Devils alone at the top.
Wake Forest (10-1, 0-1) had outshot and outrebounded and its opponents in all 10 of its games this season. But the Demon Deacons were blitzed by a late first-half run and never recovered.
Wake Forest took a 10-5 lead, but Duke drew even, 14-14, on two free throws by Daniel Ewing with 12:25 left in the half.
The game was tiedat 27-27 with 3:55 left when Duhon buried a three-pointer to put Duke ahead for good. He added another basket from beyond the arc 30 seconds later, and Casey Sanders and Shavlik Randolph followed with dunks to give the Blue Devils a 37-27 edge at the break.
Also in the top 10 Sunday, No. 5 Pittsburgh fought off Rutgers, 70-63; and No. 6 Notre Dame was a 74-64 winner over Seton Hall.
Mavericks prepare for big game
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Dirk Nowitzki scored 10 of his 23 points in the final seven minutes Sunday to power Dallas past the Los Angeles Clippers, 96-90.
It was the Mavericks' sixth straight victory.
This season, the 7-foot Nowitzki has been the best player on the NBA's best team. Down the stretch, he took control of the game and refused to allow the Mavericks to lose after they had blown a 13-point lead.
Nowitzki made a jumper and beautiful driving reverse layup to keep things close. His three-pointer gave Dallas the lead for good at 87-84 with 3:23 to play and he added three free throws in the final 99 seconds.
Steve Nash scored 24 points and Michael Finley added 21 for the Mavericks, who have won five straight road games. On Wednesday, they visit Sacramento in a matchup of the best teams in the league.
Elton Brand had 19 points and 12 rebounds and Corey Maggette added 18 and nine for the Clippers, who fell to 0-3 against the Mavericks this season. They have lost 17 of the last 19 meetings.
Other NBA results: Toronto 105, Minnesota 91; Orlando 107, Philadelphia 105; San Antonio 81, Boston 80; Sacramento 106, Memphis 98; Cleveland 87, Seattle 79; Los Angeles Lakers 106, Miami 81.
Avalanche ends losing streak
DENVER, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Milan Hejduk's second goal came 2:04 into overtime Sunday to give Colorado a 3-2 win over the Carolina Hurricanes.
The Avalanche ended a three-game losing streak and extended their unbeaten run over the Hurricanes to 12 games.
Following Saturday's 6-3 loss at Dallas, defenseman Rob Blake said the Avalanche had reached a low point after allowing three goals in the second period. Blake's comments came two days after a team meeting was held following a 5-3 loss to Anaheim.
In this one, the Avalanche appeared headed to another frustrating loss, especially after Jeff O'Neill scored on a breakaway just one minute into the third period.
But after being denied on several chances, Colorado finally cashed in when Blake fought through a scramble down low and netted a power-play goal with two minutes remaining in regulation.
Hejduk almost didn't get a chance to score his 14th goal in his last 18 games as Carolina captain Ron Francis missed two chances for the game-winner. But after getting a pass from Alex Tanguay and fanning on the initial shot, Hejduk backhanded the puck past Kevin Weekes for his team-leading 24th goal.
Defenseman Sean Hill also tallied for Carolina, which fell to 3-6-1-1 in its last 11 games and has never defeated Colorado since moving from Hartford in 1997.
Other NHL results: Anaheim 2, St. Louis 1; Chicago 2, Nashville 0.
Capriati goes after third Australian title
MELBOURNE, Australia, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Jennifer Capriati opens her drive for a third straight Australian Open title Monday.
Capriati will get her tournament underway when she takes on Germany's Marlene Weingartner in an evening match at Rod Laver Arena.
Capriati overcame both excessive heat and Martina Hingis to defend her title last year and win her third Grand Slam crown. She became the first woman to save four match points to win a Grand Slam singles final.
As in the previous two years, the third-seeded American enters the season's first major after losing in the second round of the warm-up event in Sydney. She has not won a title since her triumph here last year.
Earlier, second seed Venus Williams of the United States faces 17-year-old Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. Williams fell in the quarterfinals here last year and lost the finals at the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open to younger sister Serena.
The 22-year-old American, who won seven titles last season, makes her 2003 season debut Monday. She has not lost before the quarterfinals in her four previous visits to Melbourne.
In other matches involving top women's seeds, No. 5 Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium takes on Myriam Casanova of Switzerland; No. 7 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia battles Fabiola Zuluaga of Colombia; and No. 9 Lindsay Davenport of the United States plays Camille Pin of France.
Davenport, the 2000 champion, missed last year's edition due to right knee surgery. She reached the final last week at Sydney but has not won a title since her comeback in July.
On the men's side, second seed Andre Agassi takes on fellow American Brian Vahaly. Agassi is bidding to become only the fourth player to capture four men's singles titles in the history of this event. He has won his last 14 matches here, taking home two titles, but was forced to pull out on the eve of last year's event with a wrist injury.
The 32-year-old American, making his 50th Grand Slam appearance, did not play an official warm-up tournament but won the exhibition event last week at Kooyong. He did the same before his last two title runs.
The only other former men's champion in action Monday will be No. 22 Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia, who meets American Jeff Morrison. Kafelnikov won his second career major crown here in 1999 and returned to the final a year later.
Miller regains World Cup lead
BORMIO, Italy, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Defending World Cup slalom champion Ivica Kostelic won his third consecutive race Sunday.
American Bode Miller, however, finished runner-up to once again reclaim the overall lead from reigning champion Stephan Eberharter.
Kostelic, sitting third heading into the final run, pulled out all the stops his second trip down the Stelvio course to win with a two-run combined time of 1 minute, 49.03 second, a convincing .43 ahead of Miller.
Miller had an impressive journey to the podium, making up a 1.05 deficit from the opening leg to finish second in 1:49.43 and collect his first points in the discipline this season.
A combination of bad luck and bad tactics had prevented Miller from finishing any of the previous slaloms this season.
The American lost a ski in the slalom in Park City when his binding came loose, then took a much too aggressive line and failed to qualify for the knock-out slalom in Sestrieres. Last week, he also went out in Kranjska Gora.
Miller, who is racing in all four disciplines this season, said he had no intention of skipping any races in order to rest.
With the result, Miller once again replaced Eberharter atop the overall standings. Miller leads with 690 points, with Eberharter slipping to second with 655.
