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Monday NFL— Eagles at Redskins, 5:30 p.m., ESPN NBA— Grizzlies at Magic, 4 p.m., NBATV NBA— Pistons at Warriors, 7:30 p.m., CSNB NHL—Kings at Sharks, 7:30 p.m., CSNC NCAAB — Miami at Memphis, 9 p.m., ESPN NBAAB—St. John’s at St. Mary’s 11 p.m., ESPN Sports 1B Monday November 15, 2010 49ers rally in OT win over Rams SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — After getting back into the NFC West race with two gutsy per- formances by their new starting quarterback, the San Francisco 49ers think they’ve finally found the right Smith for the job. Joe Nedney kicked a 29-yard field goal with 9:38 left in overtime, and Troy Smith passed for 356 yards while leading two late scoring drives in the 49ers’ 23-20 victory over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday. Smith earned his sec- ond straight victory as a starter for the 49ers (3-6), throwing a go-ahead 16- yard touchdown pass to Michael Crabtree with 2:10 left in regulation before leading the win- ning drive in OT. Although he realizes he won’t remind anybody of Joe Montana or Steve Young just yet, Ohio State’s former Heisman Trophy winner is thriving in place of Alex Smith, who’s out with a separat- ed left shoulder. ‘‘When you’re part of a team that has nothing but a winning tradition, you want to keep that going as a quarterback,’’ Troy Smith said, overlooking the 49ers’ current seven- MCT photo San Francisco 49ers starting quarterback Troy Smith (1) makes a throw under pressure against St. Louis Rams Chris Long (72) in overtime Sunday at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. The Rams were called for pass interference on this play. year absence from the playoffs. ‘‘There’s too many tremendous athletes here to not share, for everybody to not have the opportunity to make a Pacquiao wins on dominating performance ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Manny Pacquiao more than made up with speed what he lacked in size. Giving away both pounds and inches, boxing’s little superstar turned Antonio Margarito into a bloody and nearly blind fighter with a dizzying array of punches Saturday night in a lopsided decision victory that wasn’t close from the open- ing rounds on. In a spectacular performance before a delighted crowd of 41,734 at Cowboys Stadium, Pacquiao cemented his claim to being the best fighter in the world by dominating the bigger but slower Mar- garito almost from the opening bell. Pacquiao won round after round, opening a cut on Margari- to’s cheek, closing his right eye, and turning his face into a bloody mess. The punches came quickly, and they came often. Margarito was plenty game as he tried to stalk Pacquiao around the ring, but every time he got close Pacquiao would land a four- or five- punch combination that snapped his head back and stopped him in his tracks. The beating was so thorough that the congress- man from the Philippines turned to referee Lau- rence Cole several times in the 11th round, imploring him to stop the fight. It went on, though, even though Margarito had no chance to win. ‘‘I can’t believe that I beat someone this big and this strong,’’ Pacquiao said. ‘‘It’s hard. I real- ly do my best to win the fight.’’ Pacquiao moved up in weight yet again to take on Margarito, a natural welterweight with a repu- tation for ruggedness in the ring. And rugged he was, though he took a beating all night long at the hands of a faster and seemingly more powerful opponent. ‘‘There was no way I was gong to quit. I’m a Mexican, we fight until the end,’’ Margarito said. Pacquiao won every round on one scorecard, 120-108, and was ahead 119-109 and 118-110 on the other two. The Associated Press had it a 120- 108 shutout. ‘‘We didn’t lose a round,’’ said Pacquiao’s trainer, Freddie Roach. ‘‘I wish they would have stopped the fight.’’ That almost happened, but Cole allowed it to go on even as Margarito kept taking such a beat- ing that he went directly to a hospital afterward for treatment of his cuts. There wasn’t any way Margarito was going to win the fight, but he could still see out of one eye and wanted to continue. ‘‘I told the referee, ‘Look at his eyes, look at his cuts,’’’ Pacquiao said. ‘‘I did not want to dam- age him permanently. That’s not what boxing is about.’’ Ringside punch stats reflected Pacquiao’s dom- inance, showing him landing 474 punches to 229 for Margarito. But it wasn’t just the sheer volume of punches, but the power in which they came at almost every angle. Roach predicted before the fight that Pacquiao would carve Margarito apart because he was sim- ply much too quick for his opponent. He did just that, starting from the first round when he landed an early flurry up the middle that seemed to set See PACQUIAO, page 2B play. It’s on me for distri- bution.’’ With agility, mental resilience and a knack for making on-the-move throws into St. Louis’ porous secondary, Smith started slowly but went 17 for 28. He also outplayed Rams rookie Sam Brad- ford in the first NFL See 49ERS, page 2B Pistons beat Kings 100-94 SACRAMENTO (AP) — An experienced lineup of veterans didn’t panic after opening the season with five straight losses. Nearly two weeks after that awful start, the Detroit Pistons are on the mend. Rodney Stuckey scored 17 points and Ben Gordon hit a late 3 that sent the Pistons over Sacramento 100-94 Sun- day, the Kings’ fifth straight loss. The Pistons have won four of five since their early slump. ‘‘We thought we could have won all five of those games,’’ said Gordon, who had eight points in the fourth quarter. ‘‘Now we’re finishing games out like we know we can.’’ Gordon did his part with his typical clutch shooting in the fourth. His 3-pointer from the corner put the Pistons ahead 99-94 with 23.9 seconds left. He finished with 16 points despite only shooting six times. Gordon made a pair of 3-pointers and all six free throws for Detroit, which outscored the struggling Kings 25-22 in the fourth quarter. ‘‘That’s where I’ve made my money — in the fourth quarter,’’ Gordon said. ‘‘On the 3-pointer, Tayshuan (Prince) posted up and my man went to help and turned his head. That left me open for a split second and I hit the shot.’’ Prince had 12 of his 14 points in the second half for the Pistons. Richard Hamilton scored 13 points and Charlie Vil- lanueva added 11. Ben Wallace added 10 rebounds and a big block on Tyreke Evans’ runner in the lane with 16.6 sec- onds left. ‘‘We did a great job of coming up with big plays at the end,’’ MCT photo Tyreke Evans of the Sacramento Kings passes off while being defended by Detroit Pistons' Ben Wallace in the 3rd quarter Sunday at Arco Arena in Sacramento. Detroit coach John Kuester said. ‘‘We valued the basket- ball in the second half and we ended up with four turnovers (eight in the first half). That was important, especially down the stretch. We did- n’t give away opportuni- ties. We did some great things down the stretch.’’ Great things have def- initely not been happen- ing of late for the youth- ful Kings. After opening the season with a surpris- ing 3-1 start, they haven’t won. That includes four straight losses at home, where they are 1-4 this season. They are in the midst of playing eight of nine games at home, a stretch that extends to Nov. 21. Making 2 of 18 3- point attempts against Detroit was a key part of their latest loss for Sacra- mento. The Kings have been held under 100 points in the last four games after scoring 100 or more in the opening five games. ‘‘We had open 3s for really good shots and went 2 of 18. Sometimes that is the difference in the game in the NBA,’’ Kings coach Paul West- phal said. ‘‘You like to think the difference is always how well you take care of the ball, how well you rebound, getting to the line more than the other team, and all that stuff. We didn’t make shots. It was discourag- ing.’’ See KINGS, page 2B Tuesday’s volleyball #7 Etna at #2 Los Molinos Division V Quarterfinal Tuesday, 7 p.m. Etna Lions: 15-9-3, 5-5, tied for third in Shasta Cascade (Beat Pierce 25-20, 25-22, 29- 27 in first round) Los Molinos Bulldogs: 33-7-7, 7-3, second in Moun- tain Valley—North (first round bye) Tickets $6 adults, $5 students w/ASB card, $4 seniors, K-8 Previous meeting The schools did not meet this year, but met last season at the Red Bluff Invitational. Etna won 25-23, 25-20 behind 14 kills from Claire Pynes. Kiersten Seaman led Los Molinos with five kills. Players to watch Etna — #3 Katie Eiler, #15 Tandy Thackeray, #0 Tessa Burrone Los Molinos — #11 Kiersten Seaman, #5 Callie Car- ruth, #3 Nikki Quirke Notes: Etna fell to Mercy in the first round last sea- son...the Lady Lions last section title was in 2002...Carruth averages 8 assists per game...five Bulldogs average at least a kill per game.