Enquirer staff and wire reports

Tiger Woods shot his best back-to-back rounds in four years Saturday. The result was a share of the 54-hole lead with Jay Haas.

Playing his best golf of the year in the season-ending Tour Championship, Woods ran off four straight birdies at East Lake in Atlanta for a 5-under-par 65.

Haas recovered from two early bogeys and shot 68, making a 6-foot par putt on the final hole to join Woods at 9-under 201. They will be paired today, two guys born 22 years apart with nothing in common but a strong friendship.

Haas, 50, has gone 11 years since his ninth career win, the 1993 Texas Open.

Vijay Singh, who last week became the first golfer to win more than $10 million in a season, is 11 shots behind the leaders in a tie for 16th place. He shot even-par 70 to fall out of contention for his 10th victory of the year.

LPGA TOUR: Annika Sorenstam moved into position for her record-tying fourth consecutive Mizuno Classic title in Japan, shooting a 6-under 66 to take a four-stroke lead into the final round.

The Swedish star, trying to match the LPGA Tour record of four straight victories in a tournament set by Laura Davies in the 1994-97 Standard Register Ping, birdied the two par-5 closing holes for the second straight day for a 15-under 129 total.

Tennis

PARIS MASTERS: Marat Safin overcame a twisted right ankle to reach the final for the fourth time in six years by beating 13th-seeded Guillermo Canas 6-2, 7-6 (5). Safin, the Paris champion in 2000 and 2002, will meet qualifier Radek Stepanek for the title. Stepanek beat Max Mirnyi 3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 to get to his first ATP Tour final.

ADVANTA: Top-seeded Amelie Mauresmo advanced to the final in Villanova, Pa., after Wimbledon champ Maria Sharapova withdrew from their semifinal match with a strained right shoulder. Mauresmo plays sixth-seeded Vera Zvonareva, who defeated seventh-seeded Nadia Petrova 6-3, 7-6 (2).

• Serena Williams and Zvonareva earned the final two berths for next week's WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles.

NBA

KNICKS: The New York Knicks were so bad in their home opener, even Howard Stern was offended.

The shock jock and his girlfriend walked out of Madison Square Garden in disgust midway through the third quarter Saturday night, long after fans began booing the Knicks in a 107-73 loss to the Boston Celtics.

Paul Pierce scored 28 points, Ricky Davis added 20, and the Celtics shot 56 percent to win for the first time this season after opening with two losses at home.

NUGGETS: Denver forward Nene missed his second straight game because of a strained hamstring.

College hockey

NHL LOCKOUT: MVP Martin St. Louis signed with Lausanne of the Swiss league, a day after teammate Vincent Lecavalier of Stanley Cup champ Tampa Bay joined a Russian team. Since the lockout began, 250 NHL players have joined European teams, a third of the league.

AHL MIGHTY DUCKS: Cincinnati lost 3-1 Friday to the Buffalo Sabres' Rochester affiliate in HSBC Arena in Buffalo. That marked a Cincinnati hockey team's first trip to Bufflao since the Ducks' AHL predecessors, the Cincinnati Swords, won the Calder Cup in 1973 as the Sabres' farm club. The Swords clinched the title with a win over Halifax in the old Aud.

MICHIGAN BEATS MU: No. 2 Michigan (7-2-1, 5-1-0 CCHA) defeated Miami 5-3 to extend the RedHawks' losing skid to six games in Ann Arbor. The Wolverines beat the RedHawks (4-6-0, 2-4-0) for the 19th straight time at Yost Arena.

Soccer

MLS PLAYOFFS: Nick Rimando stopped Clint Dempsey's shootout kick, and D.C. United rode Brian Carroll's successful boot moments earlier to a 4-3 victory over the New England Revolution and advanced to the MLS Cup. It was the first Major League Soccer game ever decided by penalty kicks.

Eastern Conference champion United will play Western Conference winner Kansas City for the title Nov. 14 in Carson, Calif.

Elsewhere

BOXING: IBF junior welterweight champion Kostya Tszyu retained his title, demolishing Sharmba Mitchell in less than three rounds of the rematch between the former titleholders at Glendale, Ariz. Tszyu (31-1) knocked down Mitchell four times - three in the third round.

HORSE RACING: Straight Line took the lead at the top of the stretch and beat Social Probation by five lengths in the Grade III Iroquois Stakes for 2-year-olds at Churchill Downs. Trained by Harvey Vanier, 80, the colt recorded his second stakes win and third victory in six starts.

Local colleges

Football

Anderson	7	7	0	7	- 21
Mount St. Joseph	14	0	3	14	- 31
A-Hatchett 25 blocked punt return (Schnebelt kick) MSJ-Lovell 7 run (Riga kick) MSJ-Story 3 run (Riga kick) A-Smith 10 pass from McKee (Schnebelt kick) MSJ-Kock 32 FG MSJ-Haggard 19 pass from Hamrock (Riga kick) A-McKee 1 run (Schnebelt kick) MSJ-Story 17 run (Riga kick) Records: AU 4-5 (2-3), MSJ 9-0 (6-0).

Men's soccer

Goals: D-Robinson, Swanson 2, Jarun, Rolfe; X-Enders. Records: D 11-6-1 (8-3-0), X 5-12-2 (3-6-2).

Men's basketball

Indiana Tech Invitational

Michigan-Dearborn (1-1) - Alexander 2-3 2-2 6, Grenan 4-10 0-0 9, Russell 1-6 0-0 2, Acho 2-4 0-0 4, Fakhouri 5-14 0-0 13, Preschel 1-2 0-0 2, Morefield 0-7 3-4 3, Buchanan 3-10 0-0 6, Sylvester 2-7 2-4 7, Harlin 2-9 2-2 8, Perryman 0-2 2-5 2. Totals: 22-74 11-17 62.

UC-Clermont (1-2) - Willis 5-14 3-7 13, Burnett 2-11 3-3 7, Dunlap 3-8 2-2 9, Lowe 0-1 0-0 0, Stamper 0-2 0-0 0, Hill 4-15 1-3 9, Cammett 1-1 0-0 2, Jennings 2-11 1-2 6, Espich 5-7 0-1 10. Totals: 22-70 10-18 56.

MD	32	30	-62
UC-C	17	39	-56

3-pointers: M-D 7-27 (Fakhouri 3, Harlan 2, Sylvester, Grenan); UC-C 2-13 (Dunlap, Jennings).

Miami-Hamilton (0-1) - Flower 3 0 3, Cass 5 1 11, Whitehead 4 0 8, Edmondson 5 4 12, Rodarmel 3 3 10, Richardson 3 1 7, Duncan 2 2 6, Cohch 9 1 16. Totals: 33 12 74.

Campbellsville (2-0) - Ross 1 0 2, Taylor 5 0 8, Robinson 9 5 20, Geter 0 2 2, Zimmerman 8 2 15, Anderson 2 4 8, Digallo 1 1 3, Bartnahart 1 2 4, Allender 7 2 16. Totals: 34 18 83.

MH	31	41	-74
C	39	44	-83

Women's cross country

(At Southern Illinois-Edwardsville)

Team standings: 1.Grand Valley State 31, 2.Northern Michigan 98, 3.Ashland 113, 4. Wisconsin-Parkside 163, 5. Ferris State 166, 6.Hillsdale 169, 7.Bellarmine 171, 8. Wayne State 187, 9. Mercyhurst 233, 10.Univ. of Indianapolis 289, 11. Lake Superior State 295, 12.Univ. of Southern Indiana 303, 13.Saginaw Valley State 347, 14.Univ. of Findlay 389, 15.Michigan Tech 419, 16.Lewis Univ. 450, 17. Northern Kentucky 268, 18.Southern Illinois Univ. Ed 495, 19.Tiffin 516, 20.Gannon 529, 21.Northwood 639.

NKU runners: 11.Carskadon 22:44, 102.Sand 25:29, 110.Hoekzema 25:44, 117.Eggleston 26:07, 128.Stoehr 26:56, 138.Johnson 27:44, 147.Geiger 31:51.

Men's cross country

(At Southern Illinois-Edwardsville)

Team standings: 1.Grand Valley State 65, 2.Hillsdale 86, 3.Wayne St 105, 4.Saginaw Valley 140, 5.Lewis 152, T6.Ashland 173, T6.Tiffin 173, 8.Univ. of Southern Indiana 198, 9.Univ. of Wisconsin-Parkside 263, 10.Lake Superior State 265, 11.Northern Kentucky 313, 12.Southern Illinois Univ. Ed 346, 13.Northwood 361, 14.Bellarmine 382, 15.Univ. of Indianapolis 387, 16.Mercyhurst College 415, 17.Michigan Tech 454, 18. Ferris State 471, 19. St. Joesph's 477.

NKU runners: 40. Niemer 33:46, 46. Northrup 33:59, 65. Kramer 34:44, 74.Bullock 35:12. 90.Stoppelworth 35:44, 92. Granacher 35:50, 122.Biedenbender 37:58.

Volleyball

Northern Kentucky (21-8) d. Charleston (27-6) 30-20, 30-18, 30-22

Cincinnati (20-8, 10-2) d. East Carolina (12-6, 4-7) 30-18, 30-17, 30-22

Xavier (16-9, 10-2) d. LaSalle (8-22, 1-10) 30-24, 30-16, 30-19

Mount St. Joseph (31-3) d. Transylvania University, 30-18, 30-13, 30-22

Mount St. Joseph (32-2) d. Anderson (22-12) 30-23, 30-18, 25-30, 30-24

Note: MSJ will play Franklin College in the championship match today at 1 p.m.