inning records ended with a 41-41 mark last season. Ellis was 11

DALLAS -- Monta Ellis scored 26 points, Dirk Nowitzki added 21 and the Dallas Mavericks pulled away from the Denver Nuggets in the fourth quarter of a 122-106 victory Friday night. The Mavericks avoided a season sweep by the Nuggets, who ran away with a win in Denver two weeks ago to hand Dallas its longest losing streak at three games. Dallas (42-28) got a boost in the playoff race when Miami rallied from seven down in the last 3 1/2 minutes to beat Memphis 91-86 Friday night. The Mavericks and Grizzlies (40-28) started the day in a virtual tie for the final post-season spot in the Western Conference. Vince Carter shook off a dislocated pinkie on his left hand in the first quarter to finish with 13. J.J. Hickson led Denver with 18 points and eight rebounds before leaving with an apparent injury in the fourth quarter. Ty Lawson had 17 points and nine assists after missing a game with a sinus infection, and Randy Foye scored 15, all on 3-pointers. The Mavericks led by 15 early in the fourth quarter but couldnt put the Nuggets away until late. Denver was within 99-96 after a 3-pointer and dunk from Dallas native Darrell Arthur, who had nine of his 11 points in the second half. But Nowitzki hit back-to-back fadeaway jumpers and Brandan Wright and Shawn Marion took turns feeding each other for baskets, the last one Marions dunk for a 109-99 lead with 4 minutes to go. Wright, a 6-foot-10 centre, had all three of his assists in a 4-minute stretch of the fourth quarter and finished with 13 points. Marion scored 14 as the Mavericks had seven players in double figures. Ellis, who scored 12 straight Dallas points to force overtime in a loss to Minnesota on Wednesday, ran off eight straight to put the Nuggets away and clinch a winning season after a 12-year run of winning records ended with a 41-41 mark last season. Ellis was 11-of-14 shooting and had seven assists. Hickson helped keep Denver close with 10 second-half points and was four shy of his season high against the Mavericks in November before going out. The Mavericks avoided the slow starts that plagued them the last time they played Denver and in an overtime loss to Minnesota, another West also-ran, in their last game. Jae Crowder really got Dallas going in the second quarter, going 4 of 4 from 3-point range, including three straight Dallas baskets that put the Mavericks up 50-36. Averaging 4.7 points per game coming in, Crowder led Dallas in the first half with 12 points but didnt attempt another shot. NOTES: The teams combined to go 25 of 52 from 3-point range. The Nuggets had 13 from long range and the Mavericks had 12. The season high is 12 for both teams. ... Nuggets C Kenneth Faried got a technical in the third quarter after colliding with Jose Calderon and knocking the Dallas guard to the floor. ... The Nuggets swept the season series with Dallas in 2008-09 and won four straight over the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons. ... The Mavericks recalled G Gal Mekel from the Texas Legends of the D-League. Hes played 31 games for Dallas and four games for the affiliate. The 26-year-old rookie from Israel missed nearly two months with a knee injury. Jamel Dean Youth Jersey . The Blue Jackets got goals from Cam Atkinson, Nick Foligno, Boone Jenner and R.J. Umberger and Curtis McElhinney posted his first shutout since 2011 in a 4-0 victory on Friday night. John Lynch Buccaneers Jersey . - All-Pro quarterback Aaron Rodgers looked spry enough in pregame warmups Sunday for Green Bays divisional playoff game against Dallas. http://www.authenticbuccaneerspro.com/Mi...caneers-jersey/. But that changed when he committed a five-minute major penalty and helped pave the way for a comeback by the Philadelphia Flyers. Vincent Lecavalier scored at 2:45 of overtime and the Flyers rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 5-4 victory on Sunday. Mike Edwards Youth Jersey . Carcillo was a little of both for New York in Game 3. Derek Stepan, Martin St. Louis, Dan Girardi and Carcillo scored goals, leading the Rangers to a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday night. Custom Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jerseys . Bjoerndalen, who had failed to win any major race for two years before Sochi, writes in a Facebook entry that he is "full of energy and inspiration" after winning the 10-kilometre sprint and mixed relay at last months Olympics.Waco, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - A pair of Big 12 Conference teams hoping to stay in contention get together on Saturday, as No. 19 Texas tangles with No. 20 Baylor at the Ferrell Center. Since beating TCU on Jan. 19, Texas has lost two in a row, falling to a pair of nationally-ranked rivals in Kansas (75-62) and Iowa State (89-86). As a result, the Longhorns are 14-6 on the season, but just 3-4 in conference. They are hoping to get back in the win column today, and climb a game over .500 in true road games as they enter this fray at 3-3 in such affairs. Baylor is coming off a loss of its own, as it dropped a 64-53 decision at Oklahoma State this past Tuesday. The Bears currently sit at 15-5 overall and 3-4 in the Big 12 as well. They hope a little home cooking will do the trick, as they are 11-1 in Waco this season, having won their last four at the Ferrell Center. Texas owns a commanding 160-83 lead in the all-time series with Baylor, but the Bears put an end to a three-game losing streak to the Horns with an 86-69 triumph in last years Big 12 Tournament. Javan Felix poured in 20 points and dished out eight assists, while Isaiah Taylor and Jonathan Holmes scored 17 points apiece, Taylor also handing out eight helpers while Holmes notched a double-double by grabbing 10 rebounds, and Myles Turner tacked on 16 points, but even those outstanding efforts werent enough to propel the Longhorns to victory as they dropped a tight decision at Iowa State earlier in the week. A 25-10 deficit in points at the foul line hurt UTs cause, as did the faact that the Cyclones drained 54.dddddddddddd.7 percent of their field goal attempts. Taylor heads a list of four players currently averaging double figures for Texas in the scoring column, as he nets 13.1 ppg to go with 3.7 apg, Holmes and Turner account for 11.9 ppg apiece, while also serving as the teams top rebounders with a combined 13.5 rpg. As a collective unit, the Horns put up 70.4 ppg while allowing just 58.9 ppg, and they are one of the top rebounding clubs in the nation, laying claim to a +11.4 differential heading into the weekend. Poor shooting proved to be the culprit in Baylors recent loss to Oklahoma State, as the team made good on only 34.5 percent of its field goal attempts, finishing with a meager total of 19 made baskets. Lester Medford knocked down three 3-pointers on his way to a team-high 13 points, while Taurean Prince chipped in with 12 and Rico Gathers produced a double-double with 11 points and as many rebounds. The Cowboys nailed nine treys in the game, and shot 44.4 percent from the field overall. Prince is one of three double-digit scorers for Baylor at the moment, as he nets 12.2 ppg thanks to his near-40 percent shooting effort from beyond the arc. Kenny Chery adds 11.0 ppg to the mix, while Gathers is one of a handful of players nationally averaging a double-double with his 10.7 points and 11.9 caroms per contest. As a team, the Bears are generating 68.4 ppg while yielding only 58.2 ppg, and like Texas, they too dom