NFLScoRFS NBAScoRFS Pittsburgh 34, Denver 17 Denver 89, San Antonio 85 SeatLle 34, Carolina 14 Philadelphia 86, Minnesota 84 Deb'oit 99, HOWJton 97 6 The Mirror Edjtoc Nate Taylor Monday. Tau. 23. 2006 Fifth win in a row for surging Nuggets Associat ed Press Duncan effectively and pushed the good at 69·68 with 10:44 left when the perimeter, going 4·for·23 (17 get into any kind of rhythm. " ball hard against the Spurs in transi· Boykins made a short jumper after a percent) on 3-pointers. Denver also The Nuggets extended their lead TIred of getting pushed around tion. steal by Greg Buckner. It was the first ran on them effectively, scoring 32 to 79-73 before San Antonio made a by the San Antonio Spurs, the '"Ibeywere just fed up with play· of six turnovers in the period for the points on fast breaks. pair of free throws and Nick Van Denver Nuggets finally pushed back ing so many close games against Spurs, matching their number of ''You have to make shots to win Exel hit a Ooater in the lane to make S.mday. (the Spurs) and not winning" Karl field goals. basketball games and we didn't do it 79-77 with 3:37 remaining Earl Boykins scored nine of his said. "A lot of times San Antonio San Antonio committed 17 tha," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich Frandsco Elson then had a dunk 19 points in the folUth quaner, and plays with such quickness and pen· turnovers, 12 in the second half. said "You also have to get back on and BoyIdns a layup te> restore the the Nuggets held Tim Duncan to etration that you don't get a physical Duncan had a team-high six defense. so it was a double-wham- Nuggets' lead to six points. The SpUI1i onc basket in the second halfin their presence, but I thought tOnight we turnovers, five after the break, and my." got within three on a 3·pointer by 89-85 victol)'. had that physical presence." only four field goals in the game. Added Bruce Bowen: "We knew Bowen, but Carmelo Anthony made Denver coach George Karl said The Nuggets trailed by one after The Spurs had trouble gening they were going to try and go up- two free throws and Andre Miller hit the Nuggets double-learned three quarteI8, but took the lead for the ball inside and struggled from tempo in the game.. .. We couldn't a short jumper for Denver. Road woes continue REMI REVERC_ called on the Bears (26, compared SPO RTS @MIKROILU NCO.E DU to 15 for the Wolverines) com- bined with the absence of sopho- Once again, the University of more Michael Gordy, still sus- Northern Colorado men's basket- pended for disciplinary reasons, ball leam fought hard, but could cost the Bears the game. The not bring a win back home. Wolverines' Devoe scored a team- The Bcars (2-20) put .an end to high 14 points. a three-gam e road trip on The Bears cut into the UVS lead Saturday by lOSing to me Utah in the second half, and got as dose Valley State Wolvennes (8· 11 ),71· as two points, 40-38, thanks m a 65. couple of baskets by junior for- Wi th sophomore Kirk ward Dwayne Birden, who tied his Archibeque still recovering from career-high with 13 points. A hot Slrep throat. the Bears turned La streak allowed the Wolverines to sophomore guard Sean Taibi to get back up by nine at the 10- shoulder the offense. 'Ibe 6-fool-3 minute mark. guard lOok over the leadership, During the lasl five minutes, and recorded a career-high 28 despite a good defense, the Bears points. shooting 11 for 22 from the ran into some fouJ trouble. Four field. starters fmi shed with four person- Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Cedrlck Wilson pulls In a 12-yard touchdown pass In front of "I think our guys did a good job al fouls. Denver Broncos' cornerback Champ Bailey at the AFC Championship football game Sunday. keeping our poise tonight," UNe Utah Valley State did not coach Craig Rasmuson said. "We record a single field goal in the last had some defensive lapses in the four minutes of the game, and second half. Ben Devoe made scored its last 12 points from the some big shots and that, on top of free throw line. The Wolverines the free throw margin, beat us." went to the line 39 times. whereas Crushing loss The high number of fouls the Bears shot just 16 free throws. DENVER - Big Ben, The and Jerome Bettis extended his the Super Bowl since 1995. Next stop for Seattle: Motor City Bus and all those Terrible career one more game, lifting "I thought we could get Towels sure are traveling well the Stee1ers to a dominating34- there. It's come true," he said. A SS OCIA TED PRt:SS 132 yards and two touchdowns this postseason. Next SlOP, the 17 victory in the AFC title game "Detroit, watch oul. Here we Sunday, and Seattle pressured Super Bowl, the final destina- Sunday. come!" With their MVP back in busi- Carolina stars Jake Delhomme tion of a PittSburgh road trip Bettis said, "We're going Outschemed, outplayed ness, a fierce defense and all the and Steve Smith into oblivion in the Denver Broncos were pow- home!" as the game wore down and pushed around all day, the comforts of playing at home, the a34-14 rout for the NFC champi- erless to derail. and he celebrated on the side- Broncos (J4·4) shuffled off to Seattle Seahawks had everything onship. Ben Roethlisberger had a line. He is, indeed, back to his their locker room, heads down, they needed to get [0 their first' The Sea hawks picked off brilliant afternoon, throwing hometown of Detroit for Super Bowl. three passes in winning their for 275 yards and two scorcs, Pittsburgh's first appearance in See No, Page 8 And they did, easily. 12th straight home game and Shaun Alexander came back shattering the fifth -seeded Story and photos: Associated Press from last week's concussion to Panthers' stunning postseason m sh for a team playoff-record road mn. .