BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- Que Johnson scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds as Western Kentucky led all the way to beat Alabama State 79-66 in a season opener on Saturday night.Johnson was 5 of 9 from the field including three from distance for the Hilltoppers. Pancake Thomas added 15 points and four assists. Justin Johnson and Junior Lomomba had nine points apiece.After a slow start for both teams, Que Johnson sank a 3-pointer to lift the Hilltoppers to a 17-4 lead with 10:09 to play in the first period. They were up 34-17 at the break.Though they trailed the entire game, the Hornets finished out the final 3:24 with a 12-2 surge that trimmed Western Kentuckys 23-point lead to 13. It was not enough, however, and the Hilltoppers held on for the win.Rodney Simeon led Alabama State with 25 points, including seven 3-pointers. Running Shoes Clearance Online . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss. Cheap Nike Running Shoes China . -- Ken Appleby made 32 saves for his first shutout of the season to lead the Oshawa Generals to a 2-0 win over the Belleville Bulls on Wednesday in Ontario Hockey League action. http://www.cheapnikerunningshoes.com/ .Y. -- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had little trouble picking up his first shutout of the season against a Buffalo Sabres team thats having trouble scoring goals. Wholesale Nike Running Shoes . A knee to the thigh might have stung him the most, but his sixth straight double-double made up for the brief burst of pain. Nike Running Shoes Clearance . It was the second consecutive win for the Pacers (2-5), who lost their first five preseason games. Jeff Teague led the Hawks (1-5) with 17 points and eight assists and Al Horford had 12 points and seven rebounds. Mike Scott scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. SOCCERZURICH -- FIFA wants to decide in January if the 2026 World Cup will expand from its current 32-team format.FIFA President Gianni Infantino says he expects a decision on expanding to 40 or 48 teams when the ruling council next meets. The January session is likely to be held in Zurich.Infantino says the feeling was rather positive toward expansion in Thursdays council meeting.The FIFA president was elected in February on a campaign pledge to add eight teams to the current tournament.In a recent speech in Colombia, Infantino suggested a 48-team tournament with an opening playoff round of 16 matches. The 16 winners would advance to join 16 seeded teams.HOCKEYDALLAS -- The Stars honored five officers slain in downtown Dallas this summer, wearing decals of their badges on their helmets during a season-opening 4-2 win.Family members of two of the slain officers, Dallas police Sgt. Michael Smith and the Dallas Area Rapid Transit officer Brent Thompson, participated in the pregame ceremonial puck drop. The captains for both teams, Jamie Benn of the Stars and Ryan Getzlaf of the visiting Anaheim Ducks, joined them at center ice.When introduced, the families got a long and loud ovation in the arena only a few blocks from where the five officers were killed by a sniper on July 7.The other officers killed were Dallas police Sr. Cpl. Lorne Ahrens and Dallas police officers Michael Krol and Patrick Zamarripa.COLLEGE SPORTSST. LOUIS -- Michigan State coach Tom Izzo, who was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame last month, has been selected to receive the Dean Smith Award, given annually to an individual in college basketball who embodies the spirit and values of the late North Carolina coaching great.The U.S. Basketball Writers Association will present Izzo with the award at a Spartans home game to be announced.Izzo is the second person to receive the Dean Smith Award. The USBWA established the award last year and selected former Georgetown coach John Thompson as the first recipient.The award recognizes coaches for more than just their success in basketball.T. Boone Pickens alma mater finally has its national football championship.It just didnt come the way the oil tycoon expected. The American Football Coaches Association has named Oklahoma State its 1945 national champion.The AFCA, whiich made the announcement Thursday, said several schools requested that it establish a group of coaches to select winners from 1922, when the association was founded, to 1949, the year before its coaches poll was first published.dddddddddddd Oklahoma State is the first school to be retroactively named national champion. Pickens, a 1951 graduate who has donated more than $500 million to the school and whose name is on the football stadium, was thrilled to hear the news.Army was The Associated Press national champion in 1945. Oklahoma A&M, as Oklahoma State was called as back then, finished No. 5 in the final AP poll that year. Coach Jim Lookabaughs Aggies won all nine of their games, by an average of 23.2 points.GOLFNAPA, Calif. -- Scott Piercy began the new PGA Tour season by pouring in putts and setting the course record at Silverado, a 10-under 62 for a two-shot lead Thursday in the Safeway Open.Conditions were practically perfect in the morning, and Piercy took advantage. He made 12 birdies , only three of them from inside 10 feet, and he even missed a pair of birdie chances from inside 8 feet.He wasnt alone in attacking Silverado.Paul Casey, coming off a pair of runner-up finishes in the FedEx Cup playoffs that signaled a return to form, birdied his last three holes for a 64. Patton Kizzire also shot a 64.INCHEON, South Korea -- Se Ri Pak ended her Hall of Fame career in tears Thursday in front of her adoring home fans in the LPGA KEB HanaBank Championship.Overcome at the end of the sunny afternoon at Sky 72, Pak cried nearly throughout a retirement ceremony on the 18th hole. The Little Angels childrens choir sang, players wore SE RI hats and farewell messages were played in a video montage.A lot of emotion going on through my mind, Pak said.It mattered little to the fans and players, many of them drawn to golf by Pak, that she shot an 8-over 80 and was tied for last -- 15 strokes behind leader Alison Lee -- before withdrawing.It wasnt easy out there today, Pak said.Hampered by left shoulder problems, the 39-year-old Pak said in Phoenix in March that this season would be her last and she stepped away as planned after the first round of the tours lone South Korean event. ' ' '