poor run support that has plagued him this season, and fell to 0-4 in his past seven starts. "I felt good," Eovaldi said. "Fastball

PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas -- Baylor couldnt get Johnathan Motley going early, Manu Lecomte was fighting his shot and the 20th-ranked Bears found themselves trailing for one of the few times this season.Their response? Cut down on turnovers, frustrate VCU defensively and grind out the tough baskets, a formula that helped Baylor hold off the Rams 71-63 on Wednesday in the opening round of the Battle 4 Atlantis.When youre shooting well and the games coming easy on the offensive end, its easy to have that carry over on the defensive end, Baylor coach Scott Drew said. It takes the mentally tough players when theyre not making shots they normally make to make sure it doesnt carry over and affect that on the defensive end.Motley scored 14 of his 19 points after halftime. Al Freeman scored 15 points, hitting three baskets during a critical second-half sequence for the Bears (4-0).In addition, Lecomte shook off a rough shooting game to finish with 16 points, including a hanging layup while being knocked to the ground for a three-point play to go with several key free throws in the final minute.You needed toughness to play in this type of game, Freeman said.JeQuan Lewis had 21 points for the Rams (3-1). They went without a basket for roughly 6 1/2 minutes during the second half.VCU used a late-half burst to lead 36-28 at the break and shot 58 percent in the opening half, but it cooled in the second half as the Bears defense tightened. VCU shot just 35 percent after halftime.I think we played really well for about 25 minutes, VCU coach Will Wade said. It got away from us the last 15 minutes.BIG PICTUREVCU: The Rams just couldnt find someone to step up and make a big basket as the empty possessions mounted during the critical second-half stretch. That included a run of six straight misses with a few turnovers during that field-goal drought.We have to play a full, complete game to be beat the best teams on our schedule, Wade said. We werent able to do that today.Baylor: Drew could at least feel good about his teams response after falling behind late in the opening half and then trailing through the first 9 minutes of the second half, especially with how it had just five second-half turnovers after committing 11 in the first 20 minutes. Baylor had led for 94 percent of game time through its first three games.I liked the way we fought back, Motley said.POLL IMPLICATIONSThe Bears entered the AP Top 25 this week after upsetting Oregon at home last week. Baylor could only help its standing in the three-games-in-three-days event, especially with No. 10 Louisville and No. 24 Michigan State lurking in the bracket.LECOMTES DAYLecomte had made just 2 of 11 shots before that three-point play with 51.1 seconds left. He also went 10 of 11 from the line, including a 7-for-7 effort in the final minute.I was struggling shooting so my job was just to find the hot man ... and they did a great job finishing, he said.FREEMANS FINISHESFreeman, a 6-foot-3 junior from Charlotte, North Carolina, hit a driving shot then followed with a big 3-pointer off a crosscourt feed. His third big basket came when he drove by Jordan Burgess for a score to push the lead to 60-53 with 3:07 left.UP NEXTVCU: The Rams will play St. Johns, which lost to Michigan State, on Thursday on Day 2 of the three-day tournament.Baylor: The Bears will play No. 24 Michigan State in the semifinals on Thursday.---This story has been corrected to show the first name of Motley is Johnathan, not Jonathan.---Follow Aaron Beard on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/aaronbeardap---More AP college basketball at http://collegebasketball.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-Top25Discount NHL Jerseys .Y. - General manager Billy King says the Brooklyn Nets are looking to add a big man and confirmed the team worked out centre Jason Collins, who would become the first openly gay active NBA player if signed. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys . After a replay, the winner will meet Sunderland in the quarterfinals. Sagbo did well to control Sone Alukos right cross and fire past Brighton goalkeeper Peter Brezovan. Aluko was making his first start in four months after recovering from an Achilles injury. https://www.chinanhljerseys.us/ . Miller reached right to deflect Mikhail Grabovskis attempt with just over 2 minutes remaining in regulation, and then made two more saves in the shootout Sunday to give the Sabres a 2-1 win over the Washington Capitals. Wholesale NHL Jerseys . They had already blown a double-digit lead, fans were hitting the exits, and a long seven-game road trip waited at the end. Clearance NHL Jerseys .com) - The Edmonton Oilers and Vancouver Canucks both take aim at their first wins of the season on Saturday, as the Canucks open their home slate at Rogers Arena.MIAMI -- Zack Greinke said he was merely trying to beat the Miami Marlins and not competing with teammate Clayton Kershaw. Greinke allowed one run in eight innings and won his fourth start in a row Wednesday by pitching the Los Angeles Dodgers past Miami 4-1. The right-hander improved to 12-3 and tied major-league ERA leader Kershaw and Hyun-Jin Ryu for the team lead in victories. Greinke said theres no rivalry among the Dodgers pitchers, not even a friendly one. "Kersh is on such another level that if you try to do better than him, youre going to get your feelings hurt," Greinke said. Actually, Greinke has been tough to top lately, with an ERA of 0.41 over his past three starts. With LeBron James watching from behind home plate, Greinke allowed Miami six hits, walked none and lowered his ERA to 2.91. The Marlins lone run came on a first-inning homer by Giancarlo Stanton. They had only one base runner against Greinke over his final 4 1-3 innings. "They actually hit him a little bit early, and you saw him make a quick adjustment and start using a lot more curveballs," manager Don Mattingly said. "It was kind of cool to watch him turn the page and throw more breaking balls and change speeds a lot more. All of a sudden he was getting quick innings." Kershaw is scheduled to pitch the final game of the series Thursday. Dodgers pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said he believes the teams starters do compete with each other, which makes them all better. "They wouldnt be where theyre at without a competitive nature," Honeycutt said. "Theres a sense of pride. When Kersh goes out and sets the tone, Zack wants to go deeper in games." While Greinke gave the Marlins fits, sloppy defence doomed them for the second night in a row. They committed a season-high three errors, including two in the Dodgers three-run fourth inning. Two Marlins errors led to two unearned runs in their 6-4 loss Tuesday. "Weve got to pick it up defensively. Were making way too many mistakes," manager Mike Redmond said. "We cant make a lot of mistakes, especially against such a good team." Yasiel Puig was back in the Dodgers starting lineup. He appeared to tweak his lower left leg in the early going and limped slightly at times but stayed in the game. Puig went 0 for 5 and is batting .167 (7 for 42) over his past 11 gamess.dddddddddddd The rookie sensation was back in right field after being held out of the starting lineup for one game because of his slump. "He has some good swings, I thought," Mattingly said. The announced crowd of 24,996 included Puigs friend, James, making his first visit to Marlins Park. James sat next to one of the aquariums along the backstop and drew the nights biggest cheer when he was shown on the video scoreboard as Puig stepped to the plate. "I think Puig thought it was for him," Redmond said. "That was kind of funny." The Dodgers improved to 27-5 since the All-Star break, and theyve won 21 of their past 24 road games. Theyre unbeaten in their past 18 series since mid-June. Los Angeles had only seven hits and went 2 for 13 with runners in scoring position. Much of the Dodgers offence came from Hanley Ramirez, who had two hits, scored twice and drove in a run against his former team. Aside from Stantons homer, only two Marlins reached second base against Greinke, and one was picked off. Kenley Jansen completed the six-hitter by pitching the ninth for his 21st save in 24 chances. He gave up a walk before centre fielder Andre Ethier made a long run and caught Adeiny Hechavarrias drive at the base of the wall to end the game. That left the Marlins (48-77) back on pace to lose 100 games. Ex-Dodger Nathan Eovaldi (2-4) hit 100 mph on the radar gun and allowed only two earned runs in seven innings. But he was again hurt by the poor run support that has plagued him this season, and fell to 0-4 in his past seven starts. "I felt good," Eovaldi said. "Fastball command was there, off-speed stuff was there. I just had that bump in the road in the fourth inning." Puig reached on a wild throw by third baseman Ed Lucas to start the fourth, and Los Angeles took advantage of the mistake. Ramirez doubled home a run, Ethier put the Dodgers ahead with an RBI single, and Ramirez came home on a wild pickoff throw to first by Eovaldi to make the score 3-1. Stantons 16th homer in the first put the Marlins ahead 1-0. Their first two batters singled in the second, but Greinke pitched out of the jam. Notes: Ethier had two hits to improve his career average against Miami to .395. ... Stanton had two hits and is 7 for 13 in the series. ... Greinke improved to 3-0 in five starts against the Marlins. ' ' '