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Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Eleven shots separated Phil and Tiger Sunday at Pebble Beach as Lefty secured his 40th Tour win. Jason Sobel had hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
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AP
DETROIT - Florida Atlantic has played eight seasons of major college football and already has a winning streak in bowl games.
Howard Schnellenberger’s championship experience must be rubbing off.
Rusty Smith threw for 307 yards and two second-half touchdowns to help the Owls beat Central Michigan 24-21 on Friday night in the Motor City Bowl.
Florida Atlantic began playing in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2001 but has won both its postseason games. The Owls defeated Memphis last year in the New Orleans Bowl.
“Certainly, this is going to go down as the most meaningful game we’ve had,” said Schnellenberger, who coached Miami to the 1983 national title and was hired to start Florida Atlantic’s football program from scratch in 1998. “I can’t tell you how proud I am of our entire football team.”
The teams were tied 10-all midway through the third quarter when Smith hit Chris Bonner with a 52-yard scoring pass. Smith found Cortez Gent with an 18-yard strike early in the fourth to give the Owls (7-6) a bit of a cushion.
Making their third straight Motor City Bowl appearance, the Chippewas (8-5) cut the lead to 24-21 with 3 minutes to play when Dan LeFevour hit Antonio Brown with a touchdown pass and then Kito Poblah for a 2-point conversion. Gent recovered the ensuing onside kick, however.
Most of the 41,399 fans at Ford Field cheered the in-state Chippewas, but they were quiet as Florida Atlantic ran out the clock.
“We’ve played in a whole lot worse places than this — the Swamp, Clemson, Texas, Michigan State, Oklahoma,” Schnellenberger said.
It was the smallest turnout in the game’s 12-year history, yet Motor City Bowl chairman Ken Hoffman said the game will return to Ford Field in 2009 despite Detroit’s dismal economic forecast.
Smith, selected the game’s MVP, finished 20-for-35. Gent caught seven passes for 98 yards and Charles Pierre had 80 yards on the ground in a happy return to Michigan for Florida Atlantic, shut out at Michigan State on Sept. 13 during a game-long rainstorm.
Schnellenberger’s sport jacket was wet at the end of Friday night’s game, too, but only because his players doused him with a cooler as the final seconds ticked away.
The Owls began the season 1-5 but won five of their final six to become bowl-eligible.
“It’s a great way to go out,” linebacker Frantz Joseph said.
LeFevour was 28-for-40 for 253 yards with two touchdowns and a first-quarter interception that led to the Owls’ first touchdown. Central Michigan dropped its third straight.
Central Michigan trailed 17-13 late in the third quarter when Antonio Brown sprang loose for what would have been a 72-yard touchdown run, but Poblah’s facemask penalty negated it. The Chippewas were forced to punt a few plays later.
“I think that hurt us and took away some momentum as well,” coach Butch Jones said. “The disappointing thing is we felt like we left a lot of opportunities out there.”
The teams went to halftime tied at 10 after Florida Atlantic’s Ross Gornall kicked a 36-yard field goal in the final minute of the second quarter.
Dilvory Edgecomb scored on a 1-yard run in the first quarter for the Owls, but LeFevour answered in the second with a short touchdown pass to Poblah.
Brown caught 11 passes for 91 yards for Central Michigan, which topped Middle Tennessee in the 2006 Motor City Bowl and lost a 51-48 shootout to Purdue last season.
Chrysler LLC pulled out of its Motor City Bowl sponsorship commitment in early November, leaving Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. as the game’s major presenters. Organizers canceled the 2009 Detroit Indy Grand Prix two weeks ago because of a dearth of local sponsors.
The Motor City Bowl has a contract with ESPN through the 2013 season.
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Zambia has won the African Cup of Nations, beating pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in a dramatic final at Stade de l'Amitie.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
After leading by 18 points in the first half, the Los Angeles Lakers were staring at a four-point deficit with less than two minutes to play.