Pistons rally vs. Rockets, snap six-game skid with OT win

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03/07/2010 - Auburn Hills, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tayshaun Price provided a season-high 29 points and 10 rebounds and spearheaded a late comeback in regulation, and the Detroit Pistons edged the Houston Rockets in overtime, 110-107, at the Palace at Auburn Hills.

Price made 13-of-22 from the field and scored six points during a late 10-2 run in the fourth quarter that tied the game for Detroit, which badly needed the win after losing its previous six. Richard Hamilton provided the other four during the late surge and totaled 22 with eight assists, while Jonas Jerebko had 16 points and eight boards in the win.

Will Bynum, replacing Rodney Stuckey in the lineup at point guard, finished with 12 points and 11 assists. Stuckey collapsed in the team's previous game at Cleveland and was held overnight at the Cleveland Clinic; he is expected to recover from what was an undisclosed ailment that kept him out of Sunday's contest.

Kevin Martin led the Rockets with 27 points but missed a potential game-tying three-pointer at the end of overtime, as Houston lost for the ninth time in 13 games. Aaron Brooks added 25 points and seven assists, while Luis Scola had 20 points and 15 boards in the hard-luck defeat.

Trailing by eight with 3 1/2 minutes to go in the fourth, the Pistons pulled even with Houston behind Hamilton and Prince.

Prince finished two dunks off assists from Hamilton on consecutive possessions to pull within four, and, after a Brooks layup pushed Houston's lead back to six, Hamilton's two free throws and layup made it a 102-100 game with 1:08 remaining.

After Martin missed a shot on the ensuing Rockets touch, Prince took a deep rebound for a breakaway dunk to tie the game with 45.8 ticks on the clock.

Shane Battier and Hamilton each missed deep jumpers in the final moments to usher the game into overtime.

Jordan Hill's three point play 80 seconds into the extra session provided the visitors with a 105-104 edge, but Hamilton responded with a jumper, and a Jason Maxiell layup with 2:15 to go gave Detroit a 109-105 advantage.

Martin drew a foul with just under a minute left and sank both free throw attempts to halve the deficit, and Price missed two free throws with a chance to push the lead back to four with 11.7 seconds to play.

Brooks tried a go-ahead three-pointer with 5.9 seconds to go but missed, and Jerebko went only 1-for-2 from the line to keep Houston's hopes alive. Martin received the inbounds pass but only grazed the rim with his shot to end the game in Detroit's favor.

The Pistons grabbed a 29-20 lead after one quarter, but the Rockets climbed back and cut their deficit to 57-55 at halftime.

A 6-0 run early in the third provided Houston with a 69-63 edge after a Brooks three, and the visitors were ahead by a score of 86-82 heading to the fourth.

The Rockets maintained the lead throughout the fourth until Detroit's late surge.

Game Notes

Maxiell complemented his six points with a career-high 16 rebounds...Ben Wallace (knee) did not play for Detroit...The Pistons will finish their three- game homestand against Utah and Washington...Houston fell to 14-17 on the road, while Detroit improved to 15-17 at home...The season series was split, 1-1, as Houston's three-game win streak in the series came to an end...Hill finished with 12 points and eight boards for Houston, which got 10 points and seven rebounds from Battier...Charlie Villanueva had 15 points for Detroit.

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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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