Pro hockey

BLACKHAWKS EDGE CANUCKS: Bryan Bickell scored his first goal of the season 1:12 into the third period, and Antii Niemi made 30 saves to lead the Blackhawks to a 1-0 victory over the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday night.

After Niemi made several great saves to keep it scoreless through two periods, defenseman Brian Campbell helped set up the only goal early in the third, skating in from the point, eluding a check on the boards, and cutting into the crease. He lost the puck in a crowd in front but it squirted right to Bickell at the far side for a tap-in goal behind sprawled goalie Roberto Luongo.

Pro basketball

PACERS FALL TO BOBCATS: Nazr Mohammed scored 18 points, Boris Diaw added 17 and the Charlotte Bobcats beat the Pacers 104-88 on Sunday to snap a seven-game losing streak.

It spoiled Tyler Hansbrough's first professional game in North Carolina. With college coach Roy Williams sitting courtside, Hansbrough didn't get his first field goal until midway through the fourth quarter, when the Pacers were behind by 20 points.

Dahntay Jones scored 19 points and Danny Granger had 18 for Indiana, which has lost three straight following a five-game winning streak.

Pro golf

MCPHERSON LEADS: Lorena Ochoa and Jiyai Shin will settle their duel for LPGA Tour player of the year on the final, frantic day of the season.

Kristy McPherson finished off a 5-under 67 in fading sunlight Sunday to move to 8 under and take the lead in the LPGA Tour Championship before the second round was suspended because of darkness.

Shin was one stroke back with two holes to play in her second round; Ochoa was two back with one hole left. Players will resume the second round this morning.

Men's basketball

HOOSIERS LOSE IN NAIL-BITER: Cam Long scored 18 points and hit a 3-pointer with 6 seconds left to lift George Mason to a 69-66 victory over Indiana on Sunday in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.

Mike Morrison added 17 points and 13 rebounds for the Patriots (3-2), who trailed 31-30 after a first half in which neither team led by more than five points.

Maurice Creek scored 15 points and Verdell Jones III added 13 for the Hoosiers (2-3), who took the biggest lead of the game at 36-30 just 55 seconds into the second half.

BOILERMAKERS ROLL: No. 7 Purdue defeated St. Joseph's 85-60 Sunday night in the U.S. Virgin Islands Paradise Jam. JaJuan Johnson led Purdue with 18 points and 12 rebounds. Valparaiso High School grad Robbie Hummel had nine points and 10 rebounds, and E.C. Central grad E'Twaun Moore added 11 points.

The Boilermakers (3-0) will play No. 10 Tennessee tonight in the tournament's championship game.

College football

WEIS WOULD UNDERSTAND IF HE'S FIRED: Charlie Weis wouldn't blame Notre Dame for firing him.

"If they decide to make a change, I'd have to say I'd have a tough time arguing with that. If they decide to make a change, I'd have a tough time arguing that because 6-5 is not good enough," the Fighting Irish coach said Sunday. "Especially when you've lost five games by a touchdown or less and several three-point games that went right down to the wire.

"My intent is to be here. But if that were the rationale, I mean it would be tough for me to argue with that point," he said.

Notre Dame lost its third consecutive game and fell to 6-5 on Saturday with a 33-30 loss in double overtime to Connecticut on senior day in South Bend.

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said again Sunday, after Weis spoke, that he will decide on Weis' future after Saturday's game at Stanford, saying nothing Weis said had changed that.

BCS AT-LARGE BID UP FOR GRABS: Iowa and Penn State ended their seasons eligible for an at-large BCS bid, and Oklahoma State and Virginia Tech are also in position to be eligible for invites to the four big-money bowl games even though they have no shot to win their conferences.

The top seven teams in the Bowl Championship Series standings released Sunday were unchanged from last week, with Florida, Alabama and Texas still in control of the national championship race.

The winner of the Florida-Alabama Southeastern Conference title game is expected to face Texas in the BCS title game on Jan. 7 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

Women's volleyball

VU'S ROOT HONORED: Valparaiso University freshman libero Taylor Root was selected to the 2009 Horizon League Championship All-Tournament Team, league officials announced Sunday.

The Horizon League Newcomer of the Year, Root earned the All-Tournament accolade after registering a match-high 22 digs in three sets in the Crusaders' semifinal loss to eventual champion Milwaukee. Root, who earned her third All-Tournament honor of the season, now has 564 digs, most by a freshman in program history and fifth-most in a single season all-time at VU.

 Around the horn

Roger Federer overcame an erratic forehand and Fernando Verdasco on Sunday, rallying to beat the Spanish opponent 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the round-robin stage of the ATP World Tour Finals. In Group B, Rafael Nadal will play Robin Soderling today in the first singles match of the day. Novak Djokovic then faces Nikolay Davydenko. ... John Crews became the first U.S.-born man to win the Philadelphia Marathon since 2000. The 25-year-old Crews completed the 26.2-mile course in 2 hours, 17 minutes, 15 seconds to win by more than six minutes on Sunday. Jutta Merilainen won the women's event in 2:46:44. The native of Finland living in Canada beat Doreen McCoubrie of Malvern, Pa., who finished in 2:49.09.