Cavs win division, continue home dominance of Pacers

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03/17/2010 - Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James nearly had his second straight triple-double, finishing with 32 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, and the Cleveland Cavaliers captured their second straight Central Division title with a 99-94 win over the Indiana Pacers.

James, who is now three points shy of 15,000 for his career, added three steals and two blocks for the Cavs, who have won five straight to capture back-to-back division titles for the first time in franchise history.

Antawn Jamison added 17 points and nine rebounds, while J.J. Hickson and Anderson Varejao each had 13 in the victory, Cleveland's 24th in 28 games.

Roy Hibbert had 20 points lead the Pacers, who lost their 10th straight game in Cleveland and ninth straight on the road overall. Troy Murphy provided 19 points and 15 rebounds, and A.J. Price had 14 points in defeat.

Indiana played without Danny Granger, who suffered an upper cheek injury after being elbowed in a game on Tuesday. T.J. Ford (groin) also sat out.

Indiana trailed by 16 heading to the fourth but made a furious rally.

Brandon Rush capped a quick 8-0 burst in the opening moments with a short jumper to trim the deficit to 83-73, and a Murphy triple with 7:13 to go had the visitors within 87-82.

The Pacers got as close as one on an Earl Watson jumper with just under five minutes to go before James took over.

Rush went up for a go-ahead layup, but the reigning NBA MVP swatted the ball away against the backboard, which led to a Varejao layup. Varejao then stole the ball away and lofted up an alley-oop pass for James, who pulled off a reverse dunk amid three defenders.

A James fadeaway jumper pushed the Cavs' lead to 95-87 with 2 1/2 minutes left, and the Pacers never got within one possession down the stretch.

The Cavaliers grabbed a 30-25 lead after one quarter, but the Pacers clawed back to trail only by two, 50-48, at halftime.

James and the Cavs got hot early in the third quarter, helping the home team create some separation. Cleveland scored the first nine points of the frame, and James capped the spurt with a layup and two free throws for a 59-48 advantage.

James later hit consecutive jumpers -- one from three-point range -- for a 66-50 lead 4 1/2 minutes into the quarter, and he drilled another three moments later for a 17-point cushion.

Cleveland carried an 81-65 edge into the fourth.

Game Notes

The Pacers are 7-30 on the road this year, while the Cavs are a league-best 30-4 at home...Cleveland has won the last four meetings with Indiana and 13 of the last 14...James has four triple-doubles this season, while no other player in the league has more than one...Rush finished with 13 points, and Dahntay Jones had 10 for Indiana.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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