NEU » inished even on the boards (36-3

INDIANAPOLIS -- Isaiah Thomas fought through an off-shooting night, then came through for the Boston Celtics when it matter most.Thomas scored 23 points, including Bostons final eight, to lead the visiting Celtics past the Indiana Pacers 105-99 on Saturday night.Isaiah did a lot for our team tonight even though he wasnt shooting well, Avery Bradley said of his teammates 12-point fourth quarter. Thats what the game is all about, the fourth quarter.Thomas had just four points through 34 minutes before scoring 19 over the final 14 minutes. He hit several clutch shots to keep Indiana at bay and sealed the win at the foul line in the final 30 seconds.With all-star Paul George sitting out the game with a sprained left ankle, the Pacers needed the help Thomas was affording them. After starting hot, the Pacers looked as if they wouldnt miss their leading scorer.In the first half, Indiana was crisp on offense, moving the ball, spacing the floor and getting the shots they wanted. But after halftime, they cooled off from the field and looked scattered at times on both ends of the floor.Boston lingered, and all they needed was Thomas to get involved.With his team struggling to seize control of a tight contest, Thomas surged in the fourth quarter. Nursing a 91-89 lead with 4:04 left, Thomas calmly hit a floater in the lane. After Monta Ellis hit a free throw to pull Indiana within 97-94 with 1:31 left, Thomas hit a pair of free throws, scored on a fastbreak layup with a minute left, and then added four free throws to seal Bostons second road win of the year.Pacers coach Nate McMillan said his team didnt challenge Boston in the final minutes to play to Indianas strengths.We want to make teams defend, get to our second, third, fourth option, McMillen said. You dont win games when you dont make plays down the stretch.Kelly Olynyk scored 16 for the Celtics, who were playing the first of two straight road games. Amir Johnson scored 14 and grabbed nine rebounds, while Bradley had 13 points and five assists.Jeff Teague led Indiana with 20 points and 4 assists. Myles Turner scored 17 and had 8 rebounds. Ellis notched 15 points in the Pacers first home loss of the season.TIP-INSBoston: Al Horford sat out for the fifth straight game due to NBA concussion protocol but did travel with the team on its two-game road trip ... Saturdays win was Bostons second in a row after losing three straight. ... Terry Rozier had a career-high 11 points. ... Isaiah Thomas went 14-for-15 from the foul line.Indiana: Rodney Stuckey sat out for the ninth time in 10 games with a strained right hamstring. ... The Pacers honored their teams of the 1960s during halftime. This season marks the 50th anniversary of the Pacers franchise. ... After hitting 13 of their first 23 shots in the first quarter, the Pacers shot just 36.5 percent over the final three quarters. ... Indiana was held to less than 100 points for just the second time this season.PG SITS BUT SPEAKSGeorge offered his assessment of the teams disappointing loss at home. It was really frustrating, especially at home against a good team, he said of sitting out the game Saturday. I thought our problems were much of the same thing. We were real stagnant on offense once again.YOUNG SPARKJames Young got hot at different junctures of Saturdays game and proved to be a key in Bostons win. He scored 12 points in 16 minutes off the bench on 5-of-6 shooting. In his five appearances before Saturday, Young hadnt scored in the 18 minutes of action hed seen. His dunk and 3-pointer in the final 30 seconds of the third quarter helped Boston take a 79-76 lead into the final period.UP NEXT:Boston: visits New Orleans on Monday to complete a 2-game road trip.Indiana: is home against Orlando on Monday in the second of four straight home games. Nike Sb Cheap Wholesale . Its sharpness matched my mind. This was no night to go to sleep. Cheap Authentic Nike Foamposite . -- Team after team passed on Andre Ellington in the draft. http://www.cheapwholesalenikesb.com/ . Booth picked up 65 caps after making her national team debut in 2002 at the age of 17. She most recently played for Sky Blue FC of the National Womens Soccer League. "It just felt like it was my time to move on," she said in a phone interview from her hometown of Burlington, Ont. Cheap Nike Dunk Low . The news was first reported on Gonzalezs Twitter account and confirmed by the Rockies. Gonzalez has a six-week window before position players have their first workout at spring training in Arizona. Nike Air Foamposite Sale Cheap . 4 Villanova with a 96-68 drubbing on Monday. Wragge hit 9-of-14 from behind the arc, matching Kyle Korvers school record for 3-pointers in a game set in 2003, as Creighton (16-3, 6-1 Big East broke a conference record with 21 treys in the rout. LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Jeff Walzs belief his team can always play better didnt stop the Louisville coach from finding positives in a victory that welcomed another player into an exclusive club.Mariya Moore scored nine points to surpass 1,000 career and No. 4 Louisville held Chattanooga to 30 percent shooting for a 63-47 victory on Monday night to wrap up site play in the Hall of Fame Challenge.Playing their third game in as many days, the Cardinals (6-0) were never threatened in their tuneup ahead of Sundays Challenge matchup against third-ranked South Carolina. They controlled the pace, spread the ball around and held Chattanooga (3-3) to 17 of 57 shooting from the field in ending its two-game winning streak.I thought we did a lot of really good things in that first part of the game, said Walz, whose team shot 44 percent and made 18 assists on its 25 baskets. We got the pace going that we wanted, we executed well, and we passed the ball, a lot of good things.When we subbed, we kind of took a step back and thats something I talked to our bench players about. ... We should go forward. That part was a little bit of a concern for me, but overall our effort was good.Besides becoming Louisvilles 27th player to break 1,000 points, Moore had seven assists and four rebounds. Myisha Hines-Allen had 10 boards along with seven points.Moore was presented with a specially-designed ball after the game and said of her milestone, Its a blessing. It just shows hard work, I guess, but Im more happy that were 6-0.Queen Alford scored 20 points and Jasmine Joyner had 15 rebounds and seven blocks for Chattanooga. The Mocs committed 19 turnovers in its third game of the Challenge, an eight-team, round-robin competition being played at several sites. The event continues Sunday in Sprinngfield, Massachusetts.ddddddddddddPOLL IMPLICATIONSLouisville followed up its one-spot rise in the poll with an easy win ahead of Sundays showdown against third-ranked South Carolina that will affect its ranking.THE BIG PICTUREChattanooga: The Mocs 1-of-8 start from the field helped dig 25-12 first-quarter hole that they spent the rest of the game trying to climb out of. We came out tentative in a way that surprised me, coach Jim Foster said. We played with effort, but we needed 40 minutes of effort and just got 30. For the first 10 minutes, it wasnt where it needed to be.The Mocs finished even on the boards (36-36) and blocked three more shots than Louisville (8-5) thanks to Joyner, who has 29 rebounds and 16 rejections the past two games.Louisville: The Cardinals shot 50 percent in the first half before cooling off to 44 percent for the game. While their scoring total was the lowest this season, 11 of 13 players scored while playing for the third straight day. Louisville also made all 10 free throws, its best single-game percentage with double-digit attempts going back to 2000. The Cardinals entered the game averaging 65 percent from the line.UP NEXTChattanooga: The Mocs return home from their weekend in Louisville to host Wisconsin-Green Bay on Friday.Louisville: The Cardinals face their first major test this season against No. 3 South Carolina on Sunday when the Hall of Fame Challenge moves to Springfield, Massachusetts. It will mark the first game between the schools since the Cardinals won 74-47 Nov. 29, 1991, one of just four wins over the Gamecocks in 20 meetings.---More AP College Basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org ' ' '