the picture he portrays is not fair to the University or me." McCant

PHILADELPHIA - Zaza Pachulia lifted his arms in celebration even before Brandon Knights 3-pointer swished through the net. Moments later, Pachulia looked just as confident as he drained a jumper himself.For the Milwaukee Bucks, it felt as if everything was going in.Brandon Knight and Khris Middleton scored 18 points apiece, and Milwaukee beat the Philadelphia 76ers 97-77 on Wednesday night.The Bucks (19-18) shot 53.9 per cent from the field in their fifth consecutive road win. Pachulia had 11 points and 12 rebounds, and reserve O.J. Mayo added 15 points.We played hard, Knight said. We stuck to our principles. We know they like to play a really fast-paced game. They still did that tonight but we wanted to make sure we played at our place and played the right way.K.J. McDaniels scored 14 points and Nerlens Noel had 13 for the Sixers (5-29), who were trying to win consecutive home games for the first time since the start of the 2013-14 season.The Sixers shot 30.1 per cent from the field. Starters Michael Carter-Williams (1 for 13), Robert Covington (1 for 11) and Henry Sims (1 for 8) had particularly bad nights.Carter-Williams, the teams second-leading scorer, finished with five points and committed four of the teams 24 turnovers.I dont really have any explanation besides I was terrible tonight, he said. I was trying to make plays and my shot wasnt falling. I tried to get my teammates involved and do other things out there but the game just wasnt going our way.After 14 straight losses at the Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia beat Cleveland 95-92 on Monday for its first home win of the season. But the Sixers got off to a slow start against Milwaukee, falling behind by 16 after the Bucks closed the first quarter on a 17-2 run, capped by a Mayo 3-pointer right before the buzzer.The Sixers opened the second quarter with an 11-2 spurt, but the Bucks used a few transition buckets to rebuild their lead. They had a comfortable 53-39 advantage at the break.Milwaukee shot 59.5 per cent from the floor in the first half, while the Sixers shot 28.3 per cent.We were lost most of the night and that resulted in the poorest game of the year, in my opinion, Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said.While the Sixers felt they were doomed by their slow start, the Bucks were encouraged that they managed to hold their wire-to-wire lead and fend off any Philadelphia rallies.The Bucks scored the first nine points of the third period, and Knight had a big transition dunk to put the Bucks up by 24 with five minutes left in the game - before skipping all the way to the Milwaukee sideline in celebration.Thats something weve tried to be better at, Knight said. Weve gotten up against other teams with big leads and given them away. So really once we got up, our focus was on continuing do the right things and continuing to make the right plays offensively and defensively.Because they held such a comfortable lead, the Bucks even managed to get some top players a little bit of rest.With Milwaukee in the middle of a four-game-in-five-day stretch and a game against the Knicks in London looming next week, coach Jason Kidd opted to hold starting forward Giannis Antetokounmpo out for the entire second half while distributing a lot of minutes to his reserves.The game, we felt, was in control. Kidd said. And that was a good time to give them a rest.TIP-INSBucks: Milwaukee got 37 points from its reserves, including 23 in the first half. .. Center Larry Sanders missed his eighth straight game due to personal reasons. . The Bucks have won four straight over the Sixers.76ers: Tony Wroten, the subject of recent trade rumours, told reporters before the game that he is auditioning for everybody. But Phillys high-scoring guard then missed his first seven shots and finished the game with 12 points on 4-for-19 shooting. ... The Sixers registered just 11 points in the first quarter, with only three players scoring — Noel, Carter-Williams and McDaniels.GOING STREAKINGThe Bucks are thrilled with their road win streak, but are equally disappointed that they have dropped four straight at home during that same stretch.Kidd has a feeling that will soon begin to change.In this league, everything tends to balance itself out, Kidd said. Wed like to keep winning on the road, but we have to start paying attention to home and protect home.UP NEXTBucks: Host the Timberwolves on Friday.76ers: Visit Brooklyn on Friday. John Carlson Jersey . Whenever United loses, its crisis. When other top teams slip up, its the quirky nature of the Premier League. The predictable reaction speaks to the sky-high expectations for a team proven perennial contender and 13 times Premier League champion. Jaromir Jagr Jersey . - Nikita Jevpalovs scored 6:22 into the second overtime as the Blainville-Boisbriand Armada edged the visiting Rimouski Oceanic 2-1 on Tuesday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoff action. http://www.officialcapitalspro.com/Customized/ . And all things considered, the first 40 games have offered a little bit of everything from a hockey club that faced many questions in its first year under new management, with a new head coach and with a number of new faces in the lineup. However, with a recent dip in scoring, it seems some of the same old questions persist and several new ones have been raised after a somewhat troubling homestand. Alex Ovechkin Jersey . Wayne and Cindy Tuck of Ilderton, Ont., closed out round-robin play earlier in the day with a 7-3 win over Finland but needed a win over Austria to reach the final eight. Washington Capitals Jerseys . Canada will host the second stop on the circuit, the 2014 Skate Canada International in Kelowna, British Columbia from October 31 - November 2, 2014 at Prospera Place.North Carolina coach Roy Williams denied allegations of academic wrongdoing Friday by former player Rashad McCants connected to the schools long-running academic scandal. In an interview with ESPNs "Outside the Lines" to air Friday, McCants -- the second-leading scorer on Williams first NCAA championship team in 2005 -- said tutors wrote papers for him and that Williams knew about no-show classes popular with athletes. "I thought it was a part of the college experience, just like watching it on a movie from He Got Game or Blue Chips," McCants said. "... When you get to college, you dont go to class, you dont do nothing, you just show up and play. Thats exactly how it was, you know, and I think that was the tradition of college basketball, or college, period, any sport. Youre not there to get an education, though they tell you that. "Youre there to make revenue for the college. Youre there to put fans in the seats. Youre there to bring prestige to the university by winning games." McCants also said Williams told him he could swap a failing grade from one class with a passing one from another to stay eligible during the 2004-05 season, according to the report. He entered the NBA draft as a junior after that season. "I strongly disagree with what Rashad has said," Williams said in a statement Friday. "In no way did I know about or do anything close to what he says and I think the players whom I have coached over the years will agree with me.dddddddddddd "I have spent 63 years on this earth trying to do things the right way and the picture he portrays is not fair to the University or me." McCants comments are the latest allegations levied against UNC in an academic fraud scandal that began as an offshoot of an NCAA investigation into the football program beginning in summer 2010. Those findings centred on the formerly named Department of African and Afro-American Studies, most notably with lecture classes featuring significant athlete enrollments that did not meet and were instead treated as independent study courses requiring only a research paper at semesters end. Former UNC learning specialist Mary Willingham, who has questioned the literacy of Tar Heel athletes, has said "paper classes" were designed to keep players eligible despite many reading at below-grade levels. The fraud findings also unauthorized grade changes and possibly forged signatures on grade rolls. By 2012, an investigation led by former Gov. Jim Martin found the problems in the AFAM department ran back at least to the late 1990s. That probe found no evidence of athletic department involvement, though another probe led by former U.S. Justice Department official Kenneth Wainstein is underway. ' ' '