BASKETBALL
PJ Dozier recorded 37 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds to lead the Maine Red Claws (7-14) to a 131-122 victory over the Erie Bayhawks (11-9) on Monday at the Portland Expo.
Vito Brown added 30 points for the Red Claws (7-14), with 12 coming in the fourth quarter. Brown hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions with less than 3 minutes remaining to help the Red Claws hold off a late rally by Erie (11-9).
Omari Spellman scored 28 points and grabbed 14 boards for Erie.
HOCKEY
ECHL: Cory Ward scored a tiebreaking goal 7:49 into the third period, and the Manchester Monarchs went on to a 3-2 victory over the Mariners in New Hampshire, ending Maine’s six-game winning streak.
Ward’s goal put the Monarchs up 2-1, and Manchester (14-15-1-1) added an empty-net goal with 1:18 remaining before Morgan Adams-Moisan scored his second goal of the game for the Mariners (18-12-0-1) with 38 seconds left.
COLLEGES
MEN’S BASKETBALL: Duke remains atop an AP Top 25 poll with few major changes after a light Christmas week schedule.
The Blue Devils earned 35 of 64 first-place votes to stay at No. 1 for the second straight week and fourth week this season, while the top 12 remained in unchanged in the latest poll.
Second-ranked Michigan earned nine first-place votes, while No. 3 Tennessee earned 12.
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: UConn, Notre Dame and Louisville remain the top three teams in the AP poll.
The only change in the first 10 teams was Mississippi State and Baylor exchanging places at No. 7 and 8.
TENNIS
HOPMAN CUP: Serena Williams overcame a sluggish start to power past Maria Sakkari in straight-sets in her first competitive match since melting down in the U.S. Open final.
The 37-year-old was rusty and down an early break but did enough to record a comfortable 7-6 (3), 6-2 victory in the women’s singles match.
SHENZHEN OPEN: Maria Sharapova returned to competitive tennis with a 6-2, 7-6 (3) win against Timea Bacsinszky in the first round at Shenzhen, China. Sharapova cut short her campaign in September to recover from a shoulder injury.
BRISBANE INTERNATIONAL: Grigor Dimitrov beat Yashihito Nishioka 6-3, 6-4 and Milos Roanic defeated Aljaz Bedene 6-0, 6-3 in first-round men’s action in Australia.
On the women’s side, fifth seed Karolina Pliskova rallied from a set and a break down to beat Yulia Putintseva 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
BOXING
EXHIBITION: It took less than three minutes for Floyd Mayweather to knock down his Japanese kickboxer opponent Tenshin Nasukawa three times in a one-sided bout at Saitama, Japan.
Nasukawa’s father threw in the towel after 140 seconds of the first round as his 20-year-old son bravely teetered around the ring trying to get up.
It was a definitive victory for the 41-year-old American. Mayweather was gracious, hugging the weeping Nasukawa and calling him “still a great champion.”
– Staff and news service report
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