The North Platte Knights and Lady Knights finished off weekend road sweeps with victories at Central Community College in Columbus yesterday. The Lady Knights scored the game’s first 15 points, built a 24-point first half lead, and withstood a late charge from the Lady Raiders in a 75-64 win. Da’Vontaye Merritt led four Lady Knights in double figures with 19 points. The Lady Knights are now 8-5. The Knights men got 19 points from Ethan Montalvo in a 75-74 victory. In a game that saw 11 ties and nine lead changes, North Platte got big late hoops from Montalvo and Jake Maslo and made their free throws down the stretch to hold on for the win. The Knights move to 9-2 with the win. The Knights and Lady Knights wrap up the 2012 portion of their schedule with home games against Northwest Kansas Tech on Saturday.

The Denver Broncos got a little bit of help from their old friend Mike Shanahan and the Washington Redskins yesterday, but the stakes of their game next Sunday remain the same as it pertains to the AFC playoff hunt. The Redskins beat the Baltimore Ravens, dropping the Ravens to 9-4 on the season. That means the 10-3 Broncos have a one-game advantage on the Ravens for a first-round playoff bye. But that could change next week with the Broncos playing in Baltimore. If the Broncos lose, they’ll fall behind the Ravens in the standings due to the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Broncos will also be watching tonight’s Monday night game with interest, as the New England Patriots go into the game with a 9-3 record. A win would put the Patriots ahead of the Broncos, again due to the head-to-head tiebreaker. Houston sits atop the AFC at 11-1. They’re at New England tonight.

Carmelo Anthony buried his former team last night at Madison Square Garden, scoring a game-high 34 points as the New York Knicks defeated the Denver Nuggets 112-106. After missing two games with a finger injury, Anthony returned to face the team that drafted him and scored two big baskets in the final two minutes to hold off Denver’s late rally. Ty Lawson scored 23 points and Danilo Gallinari added 21 points in the losing effort for the Nuggets, who are 1-2 on their season-long five game road trip. The Nuggets play at Detroit Tuesday night.

The ninth-ranked Nebraska wrestling team suffered a dual defeat to Wisconsin at the NU Coliseum on Sunday. An injury-riddled Husker lineup fell just short, 19-17. The Huskers got wins from Josh Ihnen at 184 pounds, Jake Sueflohn at 149 pounds, Austin Wilson at 165 pounds and Robert Kokesh at 174 pounds. Ihnen and Kokesh won via technical fall. The Huskers compete in the Grapple at the Garden at Madison Square Garden this weekend.

 

COLLEGE FOOTBALL-COACHING NEWS

CINCINNATI (AP) — A whirlwind week has ended with the University of Cincinnati looking for Butch Jones’ replacement as football coach.

Jones resigned today to take the job at Tennessee. It comes one day before the 9-3 Bearcats were scheduled to begin practice to play Duke in the Belk Bowl on Dec. 27. Cincinnati shared the Big East title for the fourth time in the past five years.

The last three Bearcats coaches used the job as a stepping stone to bigger things, leaving after three seasons. Mark Dantonio went to Michigan State, Brian Kelly led Cincinnati to back-to-back titles before heading to Notre Dame and Jones went 23-14 before heading to Tennessee.

He had a $1.4 million buyout in his contract. Jones interviewed with Purdue and Colorado before going to the Vols.

Also:

— Charlie Strong is staying at Louisville. The football coach says he has turned down an offer from Tennessee and will stay with the Cardinals. Strong is 24-14 in three seasons at Louisville. The Cardinals play Florida in the Sugar Bowl.

— Mike Gundy says he intends remain at Oklahoma State amid a report that he was offered the Tennessee job. The Cowboys finished 7-5 and are playing in the Heart of Dallas Bowl on New Year’s Day.

__ Barry Alvarez is headed back to the Wisconsin sidelines. For one game, at least. He says he’ll coach the Badgers in next month’s Rose Bowl, where they’ll play No. 8 Stanford. Alvarez coached Wisconsin for 16 seasons. The move comes a day after former coach Bret Bielema took the job at Arkansas.

— Arkansas State says defensive coordinator John Thompson will serve as interim coach for the Red Wolves as they prepare to play No. 25 Kent State in the GoDaddy.com bowl next month. Thompson takes over for Gus Malzahn, who’s leaving Arkansas State for Auburn after one season.

Te’o adds to postseason haul

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Manti Te’o rides into Saturday’s Heisman Trophy ceremony on a wave of postseason recognition. Notre Dame’s star linebacker has been named the Walter Camp national player of the year and the winner of the Maxwell Award presented to the nation’s most outstanding player. He also won the Chuck Bednarik Award for outstanding defensive player.

Te’o is one of three finalists for the Heisman, along with Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel and Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein.

Manziel, a redshirt freshman, won the Davey O’Brien Award as the nation’s best QB.

Klein won the Johnny Unitas Award, given to the best senior QB.

Heat stumble again

UNDATED (AP) — It hasn’t been the greatest week for the Miami Heat. On Tuesday, they lost to the lowly Washington Wizards. Two nights later the Heat were torched by the New York Knicks — playing without their star, Carmelo Anthony.

Raymond Felton scored a season-high 27 points, and the Knicks hit 18 3-pointers to more than offset the absence of Anthony while topping Miami for the second time this season, 112-92. Anthony sat out, one night after needing five stitches to close a cut on the middle finger of his left hand.

Steve Novak scored 18 points, J.R. Smith and Tyson Chandler each added 13 for the Knicks, who won their fifth straight and moved 1½ games clear of Miami for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

LeBron James nearly picked up his second straight triple-double — 31 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists — in Miami’s second straight loss.

In the only other NBA game last night, Dallas recovered from a lopsided loss to the L.A. Clippers Wednesday night by holding off Phoenix 97-94. O.J. Mayo led the Mavs with 23. The Suns have lost five in a row.

The weekend on the prep hardwood gets into full swing tonight. The North Platte Bulldogs and Lady Bulldogs will face stern challenges at the Dawghouse tonight, as Lincoln Southeast comes to town. The Lady Knights were the preseason number one team in Class A, while the Knights boys were ranked fifth in the preseason polls. Girls varsity action tips off at 5:45 tonight, with the boys game to follow at 7:30. ESPN Radio 1410 will have all the action, with pregame coverage starting at 5:30. Elsewhere in local prep hoops, Maxwell’s boys and girls hosts Wallace in a battle of Lincoln County squads. Hershey’s boys and girls hosts Cozad as a prelude to their big Saturday matchups against St. Patrick’s. Sutherland’s boys and girls head west to take on Ogallala, and the Brady Eagles and Lady Eagles host Paxton.

Doug McDermott and the 16th-ranked Creighton Bluejays were too much for the Huskers last night. McDermott scored 27 points as the Jays routed the Huskers 64-42 at the Devaney Center. Greg Echenique added 12 points and 12 rebounds for the Jays, who led from start to finish in picking up their first win in Lincoln since 2004. Dylan Talley scored 14 points to lead the Huskers in the loss, which snaps a two-game winning streak and drops them to 6-2 on the season. The Huskers return to action next Saturday, when they travel to the Pacific Northwest to take on the Oregon Ducks.

The Denver Broncos struck early and never looked back in defeating the Oakland Raiders 26-13 in Oakland last night for their eighth straight win. Peyton Manning hit Joel Dreessen for a touchdown on the game’s opening drive, setting the tone for the rest of the night. Manning threw for 310 yards on the night. Knowshon Moreno gained 119 yards on the ground and rushed for a score. The Broncos defense forced two turnovers, including one on the Oakland 2 yard line that set up Moreno’s TD in the third quarter. The Broncos move to 10-3 on the season. They’re in Baltimore to face the Ravens next Sunday.

The Husker volleyball team will have a raucous Omaha crowd behind them tonight as they take on Washington in the NCAA regional semifinals at CenturyLink Center. Nebraska is making their 28th apparance in the regional round, and first since 2010, when they were eliminated by Washington in the Seattle regional. The winner of tonight’s match will take on the winner between BYU and Oregon on Saturday night, with a trip to the Final Four in Louisville at stake.

The Denver Nuggets are hoping to reverse their recent road woes. They have lost four straight away from home as they take the floor tonight to face the Indiana Pacers in Indianapolis. Denver dropped the first game on their current five-game road trip in Atlanta on Thursday night. The Nuggets are now 4-9 on the road this season, playing one of the most road-heavy schedules of any team in the NBA this early on. Tipoff in Indianapolis is set for 6 PM.