Monday, February 6, 2012 8:04

New York Giants receiver Hakeem Nicks takes starring role in his 1st Super Bowl

The player whose Hail Mary touchdown catch helped keep the New York Giants rolling in the postseason, had to watch from the sideline Sunday as New England tried its own Hail Mary - this one with the Super Bowl on the line.

And as Hakeem Nicks watched Tom Brady's wind up for his final throw, the former Independence High and North Carolina star had only one thought: Don't catch it.

"I was hoping they don't catch the ball," Nicks said.

The Patriots didn't catch it, and the Giants had their second Super Bowl win against New England in five years.

Nicks was a sophomore at North Carolina when the Giants won Super Bowl XLII. But he had a starring role in this title: Nicks caught a game-high 10 passes for 109 yards against a New England secondary that was doubling up against slot receiver Victor Cruz, giving Nicks and Mario Manningham one-on-one matchups on the perimeter.

Nicks said the Giants adjusted at halftime, and he and Manningham both came up with big catches on the winning drive. Manningham caught a 38-yard pass from Eli Manning on the first play of the drive to get the Giants to midfield.

On second-and-3 from the Patriots 11, Nicks caught a short pass and carried cornerback Devin McCourty past the first-down marker for a 4-yard gain. Though Nicks went out of bounds to stop the clock with 1 minute, 9 seconds left, he got the Giants four more downs.

That led to the Patriots letting Ahmad Bradshaw to score two plays later, rather than allowing the Giants to run the clock down and try a short field goal.

"I was just focused on getting a first down," Nicks said. "I knew once we got the first down we were going to score."

Nicks finished the postseason with four touchdowns, a Giants record. His Hail Mary touchdown late in the first half at Green Bay propelled the Giants to a win in the divisional-round game and knocked out the defending champion Packers.

Though Nicks didn't score against the Patriots, he made a leaping 19-yard grab in the first half that his high school coach thought was the best of the night.

"He just went and got it," said former Independence coach Tommy Knotts, who now coaches outside Columbia. "Just like he always did in the 10th, 11th and 12th grade at Independence."

Nicks paid for Knotts and his wife, Kesha, to fly to Indianapolis, gave them tickets to the game and took care of their hotel. Then he helped give them what they really wanted to see - a Giants win.

Asked if the Giants now have the Patriots' number in the big game, Nicks smiled and said: "I guess you could say that."

Monday, February 6, 2012 1:14

Lacking fire, Duke floored by Miami

Over the past week or two, one can tell how frustrated Mike Krzyzewski is with his team by the number of times he raps his knuckles against the table during his postgame news conference.

After Miami surprised Duke 78-74 in overtime Sunday afternoon for the Blue Devils' second straight ACC loss at home, it was suggested Duke takes winning at Cameron Indoor Stadium for granted. Krzyzewski didn't disagree with the assessment, although he wondered how that could be the case since he regularly implores his team to guard against complacency.

"I'm with them all the time," Krzyzewski said. "They should listen, and they did not. That's not good."

He then paused, forcefully tapping the table five or six times.

"It's not good."

One could say that about a lot of things the Blue Devils did or did not do against the Hurricanes.

No. 7 Duke (19-4, 6-2) yawned its way through the first half, showing little fire as Miami (14-7, 5-3) built a 14-point halftime lead.

"I don't have an explanation," forward Ryan Kelly said of the slow start. "We prepared well for them, practiced hard, but we just didn't come out -- we weren't emotional and didn't have the fire."

Miami's advantage peaked at 16 points early in the second half before the Blue Devils finally awoke, getting back into the game with a 16-2 run that included two 3-pointers by Seth Curry - Curry led Duke with 22 points, tying a career high - and one by Kelly.

Even then, Duke was unable to contain Miami big man Reggie Johnson, who bullied inside en route to a 27-point, 12-rebound effort. Toward the end of regulation, Johnson hit a tough shot over Miles Plumlee in the lane seconds after Kelly had given Duke only its second lead of the second half.

"He killed our momentum multiple times, and that's tough," said Duke freshman Austin Rivers, who finished with 20 points and nine rebounds. "Every time we took the lead or made a comeback, he kept taking the momentum from us."

Even with so many negatives, the Blue Devils still had a chance to salvage a victory and a measure of pride in overtime.

After Johnson missed two free throws with 26.5 seconds remaining, Duke had the ball down one. Instead of calling timeout, freshman point guard Quinn Cook drove into the paint and put up a shot that had little chance of going in.

"They were denying Austin and Seth, and I didn't want to turn the ball over," Cook said. "So I just saw an angle, and I took a bad shot. I know we had two timeouts - I should've called a timeout. I just didn't want to turn the ball over, and I just wanted to make a play. I made a bad play and we lost the game.

"It was a terrible shot."

Duke had one final opportunity, getting the ball with 12.9 seconds remaining with Miami leading by three. Rivers missed a contested 3-point attempt from the wing, and, after getting the offensive rebound, Kelly missed a desperate attempt at the buzzer.

"I was trying to call a timeout," Krzyzewski said about Kelly's sequence. "... I was trying to get a timeout with a couple seconds to go. Obviously, the referees didn't hear me. But I was pretty demonstrative."

After the loss, Duke rued the fact it missed all six of its free-throw attempts in overtime.

"If we hit our free throws, we win the game," Rivers said.

That might be so, but it seems unlikely Krzyzewski will focus on missed free throws when the team meets.

Instead, he'll try to find a way to get his team to listen.

"A Duke team should play with energy for 40 minutes - or 45," Krzyzewski said. "Go outside and look at the banners. They're quite a few of them up there. They were not won without energy, without hunger, with ... complacency, with(out) people really wanting it."

OBSERVATIONS

Duke's defense had some of its best moments when the decision was made to pressure and double-team on the perimeter. But in doing so, the Blue Devils often got pulled away from the lane, which allowed Miami to get many of its 20 offensive rebounds. "We forced some turnovers, but your rebounding responsibilities can get skewed," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "To do what we did, you have to give something else up."

Miami left with a signature win for its NCAA resume. The game also extended the Hurricanes' win streak to four, including three straight on the road - at Georgia Tech and Boston College in addition to Sunday. But still ahead are two games against Florida State, a second regular-season meeting against North Carolina (Feb. 15 at Coral Gables, Fla.) and trips to Maryland and N.C. State. In other words, the Canes' 5-3 record at the turn quickly could get reversed.

Former Apex Middle Creek High star Garrius Adams still is a while away from returning for Miami. The 6-foot-6 junior guard had knee surgery Jan. 19 and might not be back until the final week of regular season, if then.

- Caulton Tudor

Monday, February 6, 2012 1:11

Hornets to sign former Duke player Thomas to 10-day deal

New Orleans general manager Dell Demps said the Hornets plan to sign forward Lance Thomas to a 10-day contract today.

The move comes as forward Carl Landry recovers from a left knee injury that occurred in Saturday night's loss at Detroit.

Landry posted on his Twitter account Sunday that he has a sprained MCL. The club has yet to announce how long Landry is expected to be out.

Thomas, 6-foot-8, a second-year pro out of Duke, was in training camp with New Orleans and saw brief playing time in two of the first three regular-season games before being waived Dec. 31.

Thomas spent his first pro season in the NBA Development League. Associated Press

Around the league

Boston: Coach Doc Rivers said forward Brandon Bass didn't play Sunday against Memphis because of "swelling of the knee." Rivers didn't make it sound like it was serious. "I think it's an accumulation of a lot of games," he said.

Denver: Guard Rudy Fernandez was booed each time he touched the ball Saturday night in the loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. He played for Portland in 2008-11 but fell out of favor with fans when he asked to be released from his contract before last season.

Detroit: Trying to win back-to-back games for the second time this season, and minus Ben Gordon (shoulder), Will Bynum (left foot) and Charlie Villanueva, the Pistons continued to suffer from the injury bug when rookie point guard Brandon Knight went down in the first quarter after receiving a blow to the face and suffered a broken nose in the team's 89-87 victory over New Orleans (4-20) Saturday night at the Palace.

"He has a broken nose. They'll have to reset it, get him fit for a mask and hopefully by Tuesday we'll have him back at practice," said coach Lawrence Frank.

"To give him unbelievable credit, he has a broken nose and he's begging those guys to get back in the game, but couldn't do it. Unfortunate hit, but thankfully he'll be OK."

Seattle's NBA bid: The city of Seattle has been working behind the scenes the past eight months with a hedge-fund manager to bring an NBA team back to town - possibly as early as next fall if the Sacramento Kings fail to get a satisfactory deal for an arena, newly released documents show.

The city turned over the documents to The Seattle Times on Friday under a public records request. The documents included the agenda for a meeting between the parties Dec. 13, with topics including "Review of Basic Deal Structure,""City Debt Capacity" and "Financing Issues."

A Seattle native who now lives in San Francisco, 44-year-old hedge-fund manager Christopher Hansen, approached the city about his desire to buy an NBA team and build an arena south of Safeco Field, the documents show. Hansen told city officials an arena could be built with minimal impact on taxpayers.

Seattle hasn't had an NBA team since 2008, when owner Clay Bennett moved the Sonics to Oklahoma City and renamed them the Thunder.

Sunday, February 5, 2012 23:34

Home not so sweet to Pack

Ataira Franklin scored 20 points and Ariana Moorer had 11 points and 10 rebounds as Virginia defeated N.C. State 55-47 Sunday in the ACC.

Virginia (17-8, 5-6) scored eight unanswered points to open the game and held N.C. State scoreless until 11 minutes, 28 seconds of the first half.

Marissa Kastanek led N.C. State (14-10, 4-7) with 12 points, all on 3-pointers. Bonae Holston had 10 points and 16 rebounds.

Wake Forest 73, Boston College 60: Four Deacons scored in double figures, led by junior Lakevia Boykin's 21, as Wake Forest stopped a three-game skid with a road win.

Secily Ray had 10 points and 12 rebounds for the Deacons (13-10, 3-7), as well as three blocks and three steals. Sandra Garcia had 14 points and Chelsea Douglas 11.

Katie Zenevitch led Boston College (5-18, 0-10) with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Joy Caracciolo scored 11 and Tessah Holt 10.

Florida State 78, Virginia Tech 60: Natasha Howard 16 points and 14 rebounds - 10 on offense - and the Seminoles (13-11, 5-5 ACC) won at home. Cierra Bravard and Chelsea Davis also scored 16 each as the Seminoles outscored Virginia Tech 40-14 in the paint.

Porschia Hadley scored 18, Monet Tellier of Charlotte had 17 and Aerial Wilson 16 for the Hokies (7-17, 3-8).

No. 7 Miami 68, Clemson 47: Shenise Johnson scored 19 to lead Miami (20-3, 9-1 ACC). Riquna Williams finished with 15 points for the Hurricanes, who won their 37th straight home game.

Nikki Dixon scored 16 to lead Clemson (6-15, 2-8), which has lost five of six.

Southern Mississippi 67, East Carolina 57: Shala Hodges scored 16 for the Pirates (6-16, 0-9 Conference USA), but they couldn't overtake host Southern Miss (8-15, 2-8).

Top 25

Louisiana State 61, No. 6 Kentucky 51: Adrienne Webb scored 16 of her 19 points in the second half and LSU snapped visiting Kentucky's 10-game winning streak. LaSondra Barrett scored all of her 12 points in the second half for the Tigers (15-8, 5-5 SEC), who had lost five of six.

A'dia Mathies scored all of her 12 points in the second half and Keyla Snowden added 11 for Kentucky (21-3, 10-1), which had won 13 straight SEC games dating to last season.

No. 2 Notre Dame 90, DePaul 70: Natalie Novosel scored 17 of her 21 points in the first half to help Notre Dame (23-1, 10-0 Big East) coast at home. Jasmine Penny scored 24 and Katherine Harry 20 for DePaul (17-7, 5-5), a team that has been beset by a season-long injury bug and is down to seven players.

No. 8 Tennessee 82, Auburn 61: Glory Johnson had 14 points and 11 rebounds to help Tennessee (17-6, 8-2 SEC) at home. Camille Glymph led Auburn (11-13, 3-8) with 13 points.

No. 12 Delaware 68, Virginia Commonwealth 49: Elena Delle Donne had 22 points and 12 rebounds to lead Delaware (20-1, 11-0 Colonial) at home against VCU (13-9, 6-5).

No. 15 Purdue 77, Illinois 66: Sam Ostarello had 21 points and 13 rebounds to help Purdue (19-5, 9-2 Big Ten) remain on top of the Big Ten with a home victory against Illinois.

Adrienne Godbold scored 25 for Illinois (8-16, 2-9).

No. 19 Penn State 68, Minnesota 65: Mia Nickson scored 20 and Alex Bentley added 16, including the go-ahead 3-pointer with 38.9 seconds to play, to help Penn State (18-5, 8-3 Big Ten) rally at Minnesota (12-13, 4-7).

No. 21 Georgia 81, Alabama 66: Jasmine James and Krista Donald each scored 18 for Georgia (18-6, 7-4 SEC) at Alabama (10-14, 0-10).

No. 25 Texas Tech 76, Missouri 49: Casey Morris scored 15 to lead four in double figures for Texas Tech (16-6, 4-6) at home against Missouri (10-11, 0-10).