National Digest
NFC rallies
HONOLULU (AP) — Terrell Owens caught two touchdowns passes, including a 6-yarder from Tampa Bay’s Jeff Garcia for the winning points in the NFC’s comeback 42-30 victory over the AFC in the Pro Bowl.
Owens was aided by Offensive Rookie of the Year Adrian Peterson, whose 129 yards rushing was the first performance of more than 100 yards since Marshall Faulk had 180 and Chris Warren added 127 in 1995. The Minnesota running back scored twice as the NFC rallied from a 24-7 deficit, earning himself MVP honors.
Johnson on pole
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — The Hendrick Motorsports juggernaut just keeps on rolling.
Reigning NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson won his second Daytona 500 pole less than 24 hours after new Hendrick teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the checkered flag in the non-points Budweiser Shootout.
Michael Waltrip, embarrassed last year at Daytona when his then-new team was caught in the post-qualifying inspection using an illegal fuel additive in his Toyota, also had a great run Sunday, taking the outside pole.
Only the top two qualifiers locked in starting positions for next week’s 50th running of the Daytona 500.
Playoff
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. (AP) — Steve Lowery beat Vijay Singh in the first playoff hole to win the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, ending a string of more than seven years and 199 tournaments without a victory.
Three shots behind when he stood on the 15th tee, Lowery made up quick ground when Singh made three straight bogeys to set up the playoff. At 47, Lowery became the oldest winner in the 71-year history of tournament. He closed with a 4-under 68 and won for the third time in his career, all of them in playoffs. Singh finished with a 71 to match Lowery at 10 under.
New Gator
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Florida added former Iowa State coach Dan McCarney to its defensive coaching staff Friday.
The 54-year-old was at the helm at Iowa State for 12 seasons before spending 2007 at South Florida as an assistant head coach. He now takes that position in Gainesville.
Florida coach Urban Meyer called McCarney a “great addition.”
“His experience as a head coach will be invaluable. He has a proven record as a recruiter and a development of talent and I have a tremendous amount of respect for him as a coach and a person,” Meyer said in a statement Friday.
The 30-year collegiate coaching veteran led Iowa State to five bowl games and was the Big 12 coach of the year in 2004.
The Iowa native is the winningest coach in Iowa State history. At USF, McCarney mentored defensive end George Selvie, who was an All-American as a sophomore and a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski and Ted Hendricks Awards. During his tenure in Wisconsin, the school claimed its first Big 10 title in 31 years.
Overtime
AMES (AP) — Iowa State found out on Saturday what the rest of the Big 12 already knows: You can only keep D.J. Augustin down for so long.
A.J. Abrams led all scorers with 25 points, Augustin added 17 — including a key jumper with 38 seconds left in overtime — and Texas rallied from a 13-point deficit to beat Iowa State 71-65 for its sixth win in seven games.
Gary Johnson tied a career high with 15 points for the Longhorns, who held Iowa State to three points in overtime. Texas continues to show a knack for digging out of its own holes, rallying from double-digit deficits to win its last three games.
The Longhorns (19-4, 6-2 Big 12) pulled this one off despite an off night from Augustin, who was 5-of-22 from the floor. But his overtime jumper gave the Longhorns a 66-62 lead that they expanded at the free throw line, and Justin Mason’s layup sealed the win.
“He stayed with it, and I told him in the locker room, ’You missed a bunch but you made the big one,”’ Texas coach Rick Barnes said of Augustin.
Jiri Hubalek had 24 points to lead Iowa State (13-11, 3-6), which lost its ninth straight against ranked opponents.
Hawks lose
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Al Nolen insists it wasn’t a leg injury that was holding him back for the last four games. It was the freshman wall.
After scoring just three points in his previous four games combined, Nolen drove through that wall in a big way on Saturday, just in the nick of time.
Nolen gave Minnesota a lift in the second half and finished with 11 points, eight assists and three steals to lead the Gophers to a 63-50 victory over Iowa.
“They say you hit the freshman wall midway through the season and I think I kind of hit that wall a little bit,” Nolen said. “But I’m bouncing back pretty well.”
Damien Johnson had nine points and seven rebounds and Spencer Tollackson scored 11 for Minnesota (15-7, 5-5 Big Ten), which has now won two in a row to rebound from a skid of four losses in five games.
Justin Johnson scored 15 points and Tony Freeman had 12, five assists and five rebounds for the Hawkeyes (11-14, 4-8).
Cox leads Drake
DES MOINES (AP) — Adam Emmenecker found himself in an unusual spot at the end of Drake’s latest victory.
For once, he got to sit on the bench and enjoy the finish.
Emmenecker contributed nine assists and Jonathan Cox scored 10 of his season-high 21 points during a decisive second-half run that carried No. 15 Drake to its 21st straight victory, 73-65 over Evansville on Saturday.
“It was good to be able to sit out those last 40 seconds,” Emmenecker said. “Our bench guys stepped in and played some solid minutes for us tonight. That really helped at the end of the game.”
It was a rare comfortable victory for the Bulldogs (22-1, 13-0 Missouri Valley), who’ve had to sweat out several close calls.
FOOTBALL
ASHBURN, Va. (AP) — Always the energetic left-hander, Jim Zorn had an upbeat but nervous start to his coming-out event with the Washington Redskins.
The new coach got the team colors wrong. He paid tribute to an assistant the team recently fired. He lacked the polish of his predecessor, Joe Gibbs, who sat watching from the second row during the news conference in the Redskins Park auditorium.
The 54-year-old Zorn signed a five-year contract Saturday, with club options for the fourth and fifth years, ending a monthlong coaching search in which he was lured away from the Seattle Seahawks two weeks to be the Redskins’ offensive coordinator.
BASEBALL
NEW YORK (AP) — One of Brian McNamee’s lawyers said he believed the Justice Department will open a criminal investigation into Roger Clemens’ denials of doping.
Meantime, the chairman of a congressional committee said comments attributed to one of the pitcher’s lawyers could be interpreted as trying to intimidate a federal law enforcement official.
McNamee says he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone at least 16 times in 1998, 2000 and 2001, accusations Clemens has repeatedly denied. Both are set to testify Wednesday on Capitol Hill in what figures to be a day of high drama.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A lawyer for Roger Clemens said Saturday the pitcher can prove he didn’t attend a June 1998 party at Jose Canseco’s home described by Brian McNamee in the Mitchell Report.
According to McNamee, Clemens first raised the subject of steroids not long after McNamee saw Canseco and Clemens meeting during the party. Clemens’ side has turned over evidence to congressional investigators, including an affidavit from Canseco, to support that the pitcher wasn’t present at Canseco’s home that day.
GOLF
BOCA RATON, Fla. (AP) — Scott Hoch won his second Champions Tour title, birdieing five of the final eight holes for a 4-under 68 and a one-stroke victory over Brad Bryant and Bruce Lietzke in the Allianz Championship.
Hoch, finished at 14-under 202 on The Old Course at Broken Sound. Bryant shot a 66, and Lietzke had a 68. Second-round leader Jerry Pate had a 73 to drop into a tie for ninth at 10 under.
NEW DELHI (AP) — Shiv Chowrasia, the 29-year-old son of a Royal Calcutta Golf Club greenskeeper, won the Indian Masters for his first European tour title, closing with a 5-under-67 for a two-stroke victory over Ireland’s Damien McGrane.
Chowrasia had a 9-under 279 total on the Delhi Golf Club course. McGrane finished with a 70. Ernie Els shot a 71 to tie for sixth at 3 under.
GOLD COAST, Australia (AP) — England’s Lisa Hall won the ANZ Australian Ladies Masters when South Korea’s Shin Hyun-ju missed a 3-foot par putt on the final hole.
Hall closed with a 6-under 66 for a 13-under 203 total in the rain-shortened tournament at Royal Pines. Shin had a 68, and England’s Felicity Johnson (65) and Sweden’s Louise Stahle (67) tied for third, two strokes back. Six-time winner Karrie Webb (70) was another shot behind.
TENNIS
PARIS (AP) — Anna Chakvetadze overcame a bothersome shoulder to beat Agnes Szavay 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 and win the Open Gaz de France for her seventh title.
After losing the second set, Chakvetadze left the court for a few minutes to have medical treatment on her left shoulder. Szavay later double-faulted to give the top-seeded Russian two match points. Chakvetadze won when the Hungarian hit a backhand long.
VIENNA, Austria (AP) — The United States started the defense of its Davis Cup title with a 4-1 first-round win over Austria.
The teams split the reverse singles after the United States had already secured its quarterfinal spot by winning Saturday’s doubles. American team captain Patrick McEnroe rested Andy Roddick and James Blake and let doubles pair Bob and Mike Bryan play the meaningless reverse singles matches.
The Americans will host France, which beat Romania in the first round, on April 11-13 for a place in the semifinals.
PATTAYA, Thailand (AP) — Polish teen Agnieszka Radwanska claimed her second career title after saving a match point that led to a 6-2, 1-6, 7-6 (4) victory over U.S. veteran Jill Craybas in the Pattaya Women’s Open final.
Craybas saved two match points as she rallied from a big deficit in the third set, and then set up a match point, but netted a forehand to squander her chance. The top-seeded Radwanska took control in the tiebreaker, winning the match on a favorable netcord.
