BASKETBALL

Johnson helps Red Claws pull away for victory over host Westchester

Omari Johnson scored 11 of his 30 points during the third quarter, including three of his six 3-pointers to help the Maine Red Claws defeat the Westchester Knicks 99-81 in an NBA Development League game at White Plains, New York on Saturday night.

Maine outscored Westchester 33-18 in the third quarter for a 77-55 lead.

Christian Watford added 13 points for the Atlantic Division-leading Red Claws. Chris Babb had 12 and Romero Osby 10.

HOCKEY

AHL: Darian Dziurzynski’s second goal of the game broke a tie midway through the third period, sending the Portland Pirates to a 3-2 win over the Springfield Falcons at Springfield, Massachusetts.

Dziurzynski converted a feed from Eric Selleck at 9:48 for his 13th goal.

Dziurzynski got Portland’s first goal at 4:51 of the second, 11 seconds after Michael Chaput scored for the Falcons.

Corey Cowick put Springfield ahead 2-1 at 12:37. Jordan Szwarz answered for the Pirates with 1:36 left in the period.

TENNIS

RIO OPEN: Rafael Nadal was beaten in the semifinals at Rio de Janeiro, losing 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 to Italian Fabio Fognini, who will meet David Ferrer in the final.

Nadal surely was tired. He played until 3:18 on Saturday morning in beating Pablo Cuevas. He was back on court just 17 hours later.

Ferrer progressed to Sunday’s final by defeating Andreas Haider-Maurer of Austria 7-5, 6-1. Ferrer has played Fognini seven times, and won them all.

• The women’s final will be between top-seeded Sara Errani and No. 6 Anna Schmiedlova of Slovakia. Schmiedlova defeated No. 2 Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Errani beat No. 5 Johanna Larsson of Sweden 7-5, 6-3.

DUBAI CHAMPIONSHIPS: Top-seeded Simona Halep scored her second title of the season with a 6-4, 7-6 (4) win over Karolina Pliskova.

Pliskova surrendered her serve in the seventh game of the first set at love to give Halep the needed advantage.

OPEN 13: Local favorite Gael Monfils maintained his perfect record against fourth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut to reach the final at Marseille, France with an easy 6-4, 6-2 win.

DELRAY BEACH OPEN: Donald Young moved a step closer to his first ATP Tour title, beating Australia’s Bernard Tomic 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the semifinals.

GOLF

PGA: Retief Goosen made only two pars on the back nine and survived a day of wild shots at Riviera in Los Angeles to take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Northern Trust Open.

Right when he looked to be struggling, Goosen chipped in for birdie on the 16th and two-putted the par-5 17th for birdie.

He was at 8-under 205 and had a two-shot lead over Graham DeLaet.

LGPA: World No. 1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand and Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn both shot 1-under 72 to share the lead at 7-under 212 after three rounds of the Women’s Australian Open at Melbourne.

EUROPEAN TOUR: India’s Shiv Chowrasia shot a 2-under 69 to take a two-stroke lead into the final round at New Delhi.

SKIING

WORLD CUP: World champion Anna Fenninger of Austria held on to her first-run lead to win a women’s giant slalom at Maribor, Slovenia.

American Lindsey Vonn failed to finish the opening run when she crashed into the safety netting, but escaped injuries.

– From news service reports