Sat, Apr 01, 2006 - Page 20 News List

South Carolina repeats as NIT champ

AMERICAN BASKETBALL The Gamecocks outfoxed the Wolverines in the National Invitation Tournament final to win their second consecutive NIT championship

NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE , NEW YORK

Michigan (22-11) started five seniors, and they ended their college careers with more disappointment.

Daniel Horton led the Wolverines with 18 points.

Shawn Marion scored 29 points, Steve Nash nearly had a triple-double, and the Phoenix Suns beat the Indiana Pacers 114-104 in the NBA on Thursday to snap a two-game losing streak.

Nash finished with 15 points, 13 assists and eight rebounds.

Peja Stojakovic scored 25 points and reserve Danny Granger added 16 for the Pacers, who were again without Jermaine O'Neal to start the game and watched their injury woes grow during it.

The Pacers played uninspired basketball despite watching Reggie Miller's jersey retirement ceremony at halftime. Indiana (35-36) has lost six of its last eight games.

O'Neal was inactive after aggravating his groin injury this week. Stephen Jackson sprained his ankle in the second quarter and did not return, and center Scot Pollard missed the second half with a sore foot.

Spurs 96, Lakers 85

At Los Angeles, Tim Duncan had 20 points and 13 rebounds, Tony Parker added 19 points and six assists, and San Antonio took command in the third quarter to beat Los Angeles.

Nazr Mohammed and Robert Horry each added 12 points, Manu Ginobili had 11 and Bruce Bowen scored 10 for the Spurs, who outscored Los Angeles 33-9 to finish the third quarter for an 18-point lead. The Lakers committed eight of their 18 turnovers in the period.

The win was the eighth in 10 games for the defending NBA champion Spurs (56-16), who lead the Western Conference by two games over the Dallas Mavericks with 10 remaining in the regular season.

Kobe Bryant led the Lakers with 23 points and seven rebounds, but he shot just 9-of-26 and scored only seven points after halftime.

The NBA pulled out of negotiations on Thursday between the Portland Trail Blazers and Rose Garden owners intended to help sell the team and its home arena.

Last month, Blazers owner Paul Allen said the team was hemorrhaging money and appealed for a public partnership to keep it afloat. Allen suggested he may have to sell the team if a solution could not be found.

Representatives for Allen met with city and state officials, but the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft had expressed frustration with the owners of the Rose Garden.

The arena was originally financed by Allen without public money. But the team's sister company, Oregon Arena Corp, declared bankruptcy in 2004 and Allen chose to give up ownership rather than continue to pay interest on construction debt.

As a result, team revenue has declined sharply, along with ticket sales, down by a third from five years ago.

Reggie Miller

The chant of "Reg-gie! Reg-gie!" rang out one last time as Reggie Miller pulled a rope that raised a No. 31 banner into the rafters of Conseco Fieldhouse as the Indiana Pacers retired his jersey number on Thursday.

"I never imagined that I would earn my way to anyone's rafters," he said.

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