PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Joel Embiid won the battle of MVP rivals with 47 points and 18 rebounds and the Philadelphia 76ers extended their winning streak to seven games with a 126-119 victory over Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets on Saturday.

Kyrie Irving scored 21 of his 32 points in the final 9 1/2 minutes, carrying the Brooklyn Nets to their ninth straight victory over the New York Knicks, 122-115. Irving’s sixth straight game of 30 or more points gave him a new career high and the Nets a new NBA franchise record. He didn’t seem headed that way when he was only 4 for 14 with 11 points early in the fourth quarter. But he took over from there to make sure the Nets turned away every Knicks rally, including a deep 3-pointer with 50 seconds to play after New York was within five. The All-Star guard also had nine assists and six rebounds.

Damar Hamlin released a video Saturday in which he says he’s thankful for the outpouring of support and vows to pay it back, marking the first time the Buffalo Bills safety has spoken publicly since he went into cardiac arrest and needed to be resuscitated on the field in Cincinnati on Jan. 2. Hamlin said now was “the right time” to speak after the Bills’ season ended and because he needed time to recover and gather his thoughts. The 5 1/2-minute video was posted on Hamlin's social media accounts.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Chase Hunter drove the lane and drew a foul, sinking the free throw, to help No. 24 Clemson escape with an 82-81 win over Florida State on Saturday.

SEATTLE (AP) — Azuolas Tubelis had 25 points and 10 rebounds, Oumar Ballo added 21 points and 12 rebounds, and No. 6 Arizona used a big second-half run to pull away for a 95-72 win over Washington on Saturday.

STARKVILLE, Miss (AP) — Tolu Smith had 27 points, 13 rebounds and five assists to lead Mississippi State to an 81-74 overtime victory over No. 11 TCU on Saturday.

WACO, Texas (AP) — Keyonte George scored 24 points, including seven in a row down the stretch, and No. 17 Baylor beat Arkansas 67-64 on Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.

Aaron Estrada scored 25 points and Darlinstone Dubar added 18 as Hofstra ended No. 18 College of Charleston’s 20-game win streak with an 85-81 victory. The Pride lead the Colonial Athletic Association in field-goal percentage and used that in the second half to hold off the Cougars, who had won 20 in a row since their lone loss at North Carolina on Nov. 11. Charleston cut a seven-point lead to 81-79 with two minutes left. But the Cougars missed four threes down stretch to fall to Hofstra.

Former MVP Candace Parker announced on social media that she would sign with the defending champion Las Vegas Aces. Parker spent the past two seasons playing for her hometown Sky, leading Chicago to the WNBA championship in 2021. She posted on Instagram that Chicago would always be her home, but “my family’s home is on the west coast. To play for a championship close to home is the perfect situation for us. I’m looking forward to continuing the journey this summer in Las Vegas.”

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Blake Hinson tipped in a Jamarius Burton miss with 31 seconds remaining and Pittsburgh rallied past No. 20 Miami 71-68 on Saturday.

Art Collector came into the Pegasus World Cup Invitational with more winnings than any of the other 11 horses in the field. And he left with the biggest prize of all. The 6-year-old made a big move around the outside and pulled clear of the field in the stretch to pull off an upset win in the $3 million Pegasus at Gulfstream Park on Saturday. The win pushed his career earnings to about $4.1 million, and was his 11th victory in 21 career starts.

DENVER (AP) — Alex Newhook scored on his birthday for the second straight season, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the St. Louis Blues 4-2 on Saturday for their seventh win in eight games.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Joel Embiid won the battle of MVP candidates with 47 points and 18 rebounds as the Philadelphia 76ers extended their winning streak to seven games with a 126-119 win over Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets on Saturday.

A look at what’s happening in European soccer on Sunday:

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Matthew Mayer scored 18 of his career-high 26 points in the second half and Illinois defeated Wisconsin 61-51 on Saturday.

ATLANTA (AP) — Kyle Filipowski scored 18 points, Jeremy Roach scored 12 and Duke gutted Georgia Tech, beating the Yellow Jackets 86-43 on Saturday.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — The Kansas City Chiefs activated tight end Jody Fortson from injured reserve and elevated wide receivers Marcus Kemp and Ihmir Smith-Marsette from the practice squad for Sunday night's AFC title game against the Cincinnati Bengals.

Jarace Walker had a career-high 25 points and seven rebounds and No. 3 Houston rallied from an 11-point second-half deficit to defeat Cincinnati 75-69. Walker scored 13 points in the second half and went 10 of 14 from the field. J’Wan Roberts added 14 points and six rebounds, and Jamal Shead scored 13 points for Houston. The Cougars have won at least 20 games in eight straight seasons under coach Kelvin Sampson. Landers Nolley II had 24 points for Cincinnati, including six 3s.

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Kevin Obanor scored 22 points, Kerwin Walton added 17 points, De’Vion Harmon had 14 points with eight assists, and Texas Tech defeated LSU 76-68 as the 10-year Big 12/SEC challenge wound down on Saturday.

Madison Chock and Evan Bates have successfully defended their ice dancing title at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, scoring 137.85 in the free dance for a top-place total score of 229.75. Caroline Green and Michael Parsons earned the silver medal with a free dance score of 126.06. Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko scored 121.08 and moved up from fourth to take the bronze. And Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik continued a strong debut season as partners to finish fourth.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Twins were smitten after one season of Carlos Correa's hitting, defense, intelligence, experience and leadership. The belief in those traits was strong enough to commit a franchise-record amount of guaranteed money for at least the next six years.

Grant Sherfield scored a season-high 30 points, and Oklahoma beat No. 2 Alabama 93-69 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. Jalen Hill added a career-high 26 points on 9-for-11 shooting, helping second-year Oklahoma coach Porter Moser to his biggest win with the program. Tanner Groves had 14 points and 12 rebounds. The Sooners had lost three straight. Rylan Griffen led Alabama with 15 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Brandon Miller finished with 11 on 4-for-14 shooting.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — Kobe Brown scored 20 points, and D’Moi Hodge scored 17 points to help Missouri beat No. 12 Iowa State 78-61 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday.

CHICAGO (AP) — David Joplin went 8 for 11 from 3-point range for a career-high 28 points, Tyler Kolek had a double-double and No. 16 Marquette defeated DePaul 89-69 on Saturday.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembélé will be sidelined for an undetermined time after he injured a muscle in his left leg on Saturday in the 1-0 win at Girona in the Spanish league.

Aryna Sabalenka’s Australian Open championship is about persistence. It’s about the value of confronting problems instead of ignoring them. It’s about putting in the effort required to get better. Sabalenka and her team says it's much about the way she reconfigured her self-belief as it is about the way she configured her serving technique. Sabalenka is now a Grand Slam champion after coming back to beat Elena Rybakina 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the final Saturday night. Sabalenka is 11-0 in 2023 and will move up to No. 2 in the WTA rankings behind Iga Swiatek on Monday.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — D.J. Burns Jr. scored a career-high 31 points and Jarkel Joiner scored 17 and North Carolina State rallied down the stretch for an exciting 79-77 win against Wake Forest on Saturday.

The Bus Bros. of IndyCar were quickly knocked out of contention in their debut Rolex 24 at Daytona because of a very early issue with the Tower Motorsports entry. Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin, teammates for Team Penske in IndyCar and close friends, were hired by John Farano of Tower Motorsports for their first Rolex. But the car stalled about five minutes into the 24-hour race and dropped to last in the 61-car field. Tower Motorsports thought it could win both its LMP2 class and perhaps the overall race win.

The National Women’s Soccer League is close to expanding by three teams in Boston, Utah and the San Francisco area. That's according to a Friday report in the Wall Street Journal. The women’s pro league previously indicated it would expand by at least two teams by 2024. The WSJ says that the franchises in northern California and Utah are set to start play next year, with Boston to join at a later date. The NWSL says it will share news about any expansion teams when there is something to note.

Moises Caicedo looks set to dominate the final days of the English transfer window amid links with moves to Arsenal and Chelsea.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Caitlin Clark had 33 points and 12 rebounds, and No. 10 Iowa held off Nebraska for an 80-76 win on Saturday.

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Caitlin Clark had 33 points and 12 rebounds, and No. 10 Iowa held off Nebraska for an 80-76 win on Saturday.

Erik Stevenson scored a career-high 31 points and West Virginia withstood a furious late rally from No. 15 Auburn to beat the Tigers 80-77 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge on Saturday. The Mountaineers have won two straight for the first time in a month and now head into the teeth of the Big 12 schedule that will determine an NCAA Tournament berth. Auburn couldn’t overcome another slow start and has lost two straight, something it hasn’t done in two years. After Stevenson staked the Mountaineers to a 45-29 halftime lead, Auburn cut the deficit to a point late but never took the lead. Jaylin Williams led Auburn with 18 points.