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Monday MLB - Red Sox at Phillies, ESPN, 10 a.m. NBA - Warriors at Mavericks, CSNBA, 5:30 p.m. NCAA - Women’s Division 1, ESPN2, 4 p.m., 6 p.m. NHL - Pittsburgh at Detroit, VERSUS, 4:30 p.m. Sports 1B Monday March 21, 2011 off Fernando Cabrera, who relieved McCarthy. McCarthy gave up five hits and had good control. He struck out five without walking a batter. It was the longest outing of the spring for an Oakland pitcher, sur- passing Trevor Cahill’s 6 1-3 innings Saturday. Chris Carter hit a two-run triple in the eighth for Oakland. Woodland comes up clutch to win at Innisbrook MCT photo Duke's Mason Plumlee (5) blocks the shot of Michigan's Evan Smotrycz (23) during first-half action in the third round of the men's NCAA basketball tournament in Charlotte, NC. CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Duke is no stranger to this situation: Facing an underdog with uncanny touch from 3-point range, one that’s racing downcourt in the closing seconds, scrambling for one last shot at some NCAA tournament magic. This time, it was Michigan’s turn to miss. Nolan Smith scored 24 points and the top-seeded Blue Devils held their breath as the Wolverines’ last shot clanged off the iron, sealing a 73-71 win Sunday that marked the 900th victory of coach Mike Krzyzewski’s Hall of Fame career. ‘‘The 900, it means that we’re advancing,’’ Krzyzewski said. ‘‘That’s the main thing.’’ Kyle Singler added 13 points for the Blue Devils (32-4), who shot 51 percent, never trailed in the second half and advanced to the round of 16 for the 12th time in 14 years. Next stop: Anaheim, Calif., for the West regional semifinals Thursday night. Parts of this game felt awfully familiar for Duke, which capped its run to the national championship last year with a dramatic two-point victory over Butler that wasn’t set- tled until Gordon Hayward’s half- court heave ricocheted off the glass and the iron at the buzzer. ‘‘We told our kids it would be like playing Butler in the national championship — a very similar, tough-minded, really, really good basketball team,’’ Krzyzewski said. ‘‘I’m proud of our effort and obvi- ous ecstatic that we’re moving on.’’ One key difference: The eighth- seeded Wolverines (21-14) gave themselves a much cleaner look on their final shot. Michigan, which trailed by 15 with 10:51 to play, clawed within one point twice in the final 90 sec- onds before Smith missed a free throw with 8.7 seconds left to give the Wolverines one last chance. Darius Morris zipped downcourt and put up a runner in the lane with 2 seconds left, but the shot bounced Kurt Busch takes points lead but wanted a win BRISTOL, Tenn. (AP) — Listening to Kurt Busch on his team radio Sunday gave the impression of a mis- erable driver running at the back of the pack. In reality, he finished seventh at Bristol Motor Speedway, took over sole possession of the Sprint Cup Series points standings, and became the only driver to score top-10 finishes in all four of this season’s races. ‘‘We’ll take that,’’ he said after. So why was he so frustrated during the race? ‘‘We just want to get up there and try to win one of these things,’’ he said. ‘‘We’ll keep pushing hard.’’ Busch again played second fiddle to younger broth- er, Kyle, who won both the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races this weekend. Kyle Busch has now won the last five NASCAR races at Bristol dating back to last August, and has five Cup wins at Bristol. The five Bristol victories ties Kyle with Kurt, who won five of 10 races between 2002 and 2006 but hasn’t been back to Bristol’s Victory Lane since. It’s hard to swallow for Busch, who doesn’t want to settle for good finishes. When his Penske Racing team doesn’t make the adjustments to get his car caught up with the leaders, he doesn’t react well over the radio. At one point, he complained that through six seasons at Penske, he’s never been able to compete once the tires lay rubber on the track and blamed it on a mechanical flaw with Penske’s cars. ‘‘We were in good position early on, riding around in third and could see the leaders,’’ he explained after the race. ‘‘We pushed our car hard on some of the restarts trying to get up there and lead a lap. It just did- n’t seem we had the mojo to compete.’’ But in big picture terms, Busch stamped the race ‘‘a point-leader type effort.’’ ——— MENARD ON THE MOVE: With a fifth-place fin- ish at Bristol, Paul Menard continued as the most con- sistent Richard Childress Racing driver. Menard has been the highest-finishing RCR driver in three of the first four races this season, and he’s fifth in points. He credited crew chief Slugger Labbe, who came with him when he left Richard Petty Motorsports at the end of last season to drive for RCR. ‘‘What’s cool is we’ve been to four different race tracks and we’ve had strong runs at all four,’’ Menard said. ‘‘A testament to Slugger and everyone at RCR. There is a lot of talent up there. Slugger built a hell of a race team and just having a lot of fun right now.’’ RCR teammate Kevin Harvick was decent Sunday, leading once for 37 laps, and he was running third when See BUSCH, page 2B off the back iron and the rebound went to Smith at the buzzer. Morris finished with 16 points to lead Michigan, which made seven 3-pointers — the most allowed by Duke in a month. Kyrie Irving and Ryan Kelly scored 11 points apiece for the Blue Devils, who won their eighth straight game in the NCAA tourna- ment. ‘‘I don’t want to take this Duke jersey off. As simple as that,’’ Smith said. ‘‘Every game could be my last.’’ Krzyzewski improved to 900- 283 in his 36th season and can catch his mentor and college coach for first on the career list next week- end. He would match Bob Knight with a victory in the regional final, and would pass him with one win in Houston that also would put the reigning national champions back in the title game. ‘‘There will be a lot of guys who See DUKE, page 2B Arizona 70, Texas 69 TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Derrick Williams’ three- point play with 9.6 sec- onds remaining lifted Ari- zona to a 70-69 win ove r Texas in the third round of the NCAA tournament Sunday night. The Wildcats (29-7) led by as many as 13 points in the first half and were up for most of the game before J’Covan Brown’s jumper put the Longhorns ahead 69-67. Williams misfired on a game-tying attempt with 14.5 seconds remaining, but Texas (28-8) was called for a five-second violation on the inbound pass to give Arizona one more chance. Williams took advan- tage, slipping to the base- line on a pick-and-roll and taking the pass from Kyle Fogg. His shot fell through to tie the game, and his free throw put the Wildcats into the regional semifinals. Ohio State 98, George Mason 66 CLEVELAND (AP) — Once Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger declared it was over, it was over. David Lighty made all seven of his 3-pointers and scored 25 points, Sullinger added 18 after informing one of George Mason’s players ‘‘it’s over’’ and top-seeded Ohio State made 16 3s to PALM HARBOR, Fla. (AP) — Gary Woodland made only one par on the back nine Sunday at the Tran- sitions Championship, and it gave him his first PGA Tour victory and a trip to the Masters. Woodland surged into the lead with three straight birdies, and fell out of it with back-to-back bogeys. Tied for the lead on the final hole at Innisbrook, the big-hitter from Kansas holed a 10-foot par putt to fin- ish off a 4-under 67. That proved to be the difference moments later when Webb Simpson also went long on the 18th and his chip down the slope went 20 feet by the hole. Simpson missed the putt to shoot 69 and finished one shot behind. Woodland, who played college basketball at Wash- burn until decided to transfer to Kansas to play golf, became the first player to earn his inaugural PGA Tour title at Innisbrook. It couldn’t have come at a better time. The win gives Woodland an invitation to Augusta National, where is awesome power and soft putting touch could make for an interesting marriage at the Masters. A late-bloomer, Woodland missed the second half of his rookie season two years ago with shoulder surgery, but began to show his potential when he lost in a playoff at the Bob Hope Classic. Woodland finished at 15-under 269 and earned $990,000, moving up to No. 3 in the FedEx Cup stand- ings. ‘‘One thing that helped me was putting, and today it saved me,’’ said Woodland, who took only 10 putts on the back nine and 23 for the final round. ‘‘Luckily, it won me a golf tournament.’’ Scott Stallings, a PGA Tour rookie who missed every cut on the West Coast Swing to fall to the bottom of the status ladder, kept his poise and stayed in the game until the 16th, the toughest driving hole on the Copperhead course with trees to the left and water to the right. Stallings went right into the lake and made double bogey. Even so, he shot a 70 and finished alone in third, which gets him in the Houston Open in two weeks. Sunday’s third round capsules MCT photo Ohio State Buckeyes forward Jared Sullinger (0) dunks on the George Mason Patriots during the third round of the men's NCAA basketball tournament in Cleveland Sunday. advance in the NCAA tournament with a jaw- dropping 98-66 win Sun- day. With thousands of fans chanting ‘‘O-H-I-O’’ at every opportunity, the Buckeyes (34-2) took apart the Patriots (27-7), who created some March mayhem a few years ago and hoped to follow But- ler’s lead by taking out a No. 1 seed in this tourney. Ohio State destroyed any upset plans and moved closer to its first national title since 1960. The Buckeyes will meet Kentucky (27-8) in the East regional semifinals Friday in Newark, N.J. Ohio State is 5-0 in NCAA tournament matchups with the Wild- cats. North Carolina 86, Washington 83 CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Back in the NCAA tournament spot- light after a one-year absence, North Carolina has returned to a more familiar spot: the round of 16. It sure wasn’t easy. Tyler Zeller scored 23 points, Harrison Barnes added 22 and North Car- olina survived a frantic fin- ish to beat Washington 86- 83 on Sunday in the East region to advance to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament for a record 24th time. Rallying from deficits of 11 points in the first half and five in the second, the second-seeded Tar Heels (28-7) went ahead for good on Barnes’ 3-pointer with 4:06 left. But they needed two free throws from Dex- ter Strickland and a defen- sive stop in the closing sec- onds to advance. Virginia Common- wealth 94, Purdue 76 CHICAGO (AP) — Bradford Burgess scored 23 points and 11th-seeded Vir- ginia Commonwealth made it three victories in five days Sunday night, routing third- seeded Purdue 94-76 to earn a trip to the Southwest regional semifinals. VCU’s remarkable run sends the Rams to the round of 16 for the first time in school history. With their fans chanting ‘‘VCU, VCU’’ as the final seconds ticked off the clock, the question is no longer whether the Rams belong. Instead, it’s: Who can stop them? They’ve ousted Southern Cal, Georgetown and now Purdue since Wednesday night. Deep, fast and talented, VCU (26-11) will now play the winner of Notre Dame- Florida State on Friday in San Antonio. Duke holds off Michigan impressive into eighth A’s McCarthy SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Brandon McCarthy made a pitch for a spot in Oakland’s rotation, taking a shutout into the eighth inning and leading the Athletics over the San Francisco Giants 6-4 in a split-squad game Sunday. McCarthy was lifted after giving up hits to Brandon Belt and Ryan Rohlinger to open the eighth. Aubrey Huff hit a three-run homer