SPORTSWIRE: Moon-to-Carter TD pulls Vikings even with Bears

Montana plans to retire; Providence edges Brown; Columbia beaten in Bethlehem Moon's second scoring pass to Carter, 5 minutes, 46 seconds into the extra period, came two plays after Kevin Butler missed a 40-yard field goal that would have given the Bears (8-5) their second overtime win in two weeks and a two-game lead in the division. Instead, the Vikings (8-5) took control of the division, thanks to their season sweep of the Bears. After the Bears drove to the Minnesota 23, Butler was wide left on his kick. Then Moon and Carter went to work. On second down, Moon threw into the flat to Carter. He spun away from linebacker Joe Cain, straddled the sideline for a few steps and avoided a desperation tackle attempt by Shaun Gayle at the 10. He stumbled into the end zone standing. Minnesota snapped a three-game losing streak, handing Chicago its first loss in five games and its first defeat in eight games this season with Steve Walsh as the starting quarterback. · NEW YORK -- Joe Montana, one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, plans to retire at the end of the season, the Daily News reported today. The report cited unidentified league sources. There was no elaboration. A call to Chiefs spokesman Bob Moore early this morning was not immediately returned. Montana, 38, is finishing his second year with the Kansas City Chiefs after spending 14 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers and winning four Super Bowls. He was injured last week against Seattle with what the Chiefs said was a sprained left foot. Backup Steve Bono has been handling the bulk of the work in practice this week and is expected to start Sunday against Denver. Providence 68, Brown 61 PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Eric Williams tallied a game-high 29 points to lead Providence to a 68-61 victory over crosstown rival Brown yesterday. In a battle of Providence's two Division I basketball schools, the first 10 minutes was marked by the teams trading baskets. The Big East Conference Friars pulled away in the late stages of the first half led by the scoring of Jason Murdock to see the Friars take a 35-28 lead at the half. The Friars opened the second half scoring the first four points to take their largest lead of the game at 39-28. Brown came storming back in the next 12 minutes to turn a potential blowout into a late-game battle. During that time, the Bears were lead by the three-point shooting of Brian Lloyd, who hit on three straight 3-pointers to close the Providence to lead to four at 47:43. Williams took control of the game in the last 10 minutes at both ends of the court, grabbing six of his team-high eight rebounds and also scoring 10 of the Friars last 21 points to help Providence improve to 3-0. Pacing Brown, which fell to 0-3, was freshman Paul Krasinski with 19 points. Krasinski also had the game-high 12 rebounds for Brown. · Lehigh 85, Columbia 75 BETHLEHEM -- Kem Widmer scored 20 points and Lehigh broke open the game in the second half to defeat Columbia 85-75 last night. Columbia (1-2) led 39-38 at halftime, outshooting Lehigh (2-1) 64 to 38 percent, and the game was tied 50-50 with 14:48 left before the Engineers (2-1) went on a 17-7 run. The spurt was keyed by two Columbia technical fouls. Lehigh finished the game shooting 45.3 percent (29-of-64). Columbia hit 30-of-52 for 57 percent shooting. C.J. Thompkins led Columbia with 21 points and Boris Piskun added 18. Rashawne Glenn had 17 and Jason Fichter added 12 for Lehigh. Lehigh led by as many as 15 points against Penn Monday night before falling in overtime. · No. 20 Georgia Tech 89, Western Carolina 63 ATLANTA -- Drew Barry hit six of eight three-pointers and finished with a career-high 27 points last night as No. 20 Georgia Tech coasted to an 89-63 win over Western Carolina. Barry, a junior, added seven assists and seven rebounds for Tech (3-0), which trailed only once in the game, 6-5 with 17:49 remaining in the first half. Barry contributed a layup and the first of his three-pointers in a 9-0 run over the next two minutes that gave Tech the lead for good. · No. 12 Arizona St. 74, Northern Arizona 50 TEMPE, Ariz. -- Mario Bennett and Ron Riley scored 14 points each and Arizona State's defense forced 28 turnovers as the 12th-ranked Sun Devils beat Northern Arizona 74-50 last night. The Sun Devils (4-0), who also got 12 points from Isaac Burton and 10 from Quincy Brewer, are off to their best start since 1985-86. They won their eighth straight over Northern Arizona (1-2). CHICAGO -- In a bargaining session that appeared to make headway toward saving the season, NHL players yesterday gave ground on at least one issue and both sides agreed in principle on several others. The owners and union met for about eight hours and exchanged proposals in wide-ranging discussions aimed at ending the 62-day lockout. Negotiations are to resume today at 10 a.m. Neither side would characterize Thursday's talks, but one unidentified source close to the negotiations told The Canadian Press this latest session was ''good but not great.'' Among the issues on the table are the rookie salary cap, salary arbitration and free agency. · Vipers 4, Gretzky 3 AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Rick Knickle made 31 saves and Jason Woolley and Miroslav Satan scored third-period goals within a minute of each other last night, sending the Detroit Vipers past Wayne Gretzky's All-Stars 4-3 in a charity exhibition. Most of the All-Stars hadn't played since the exhibition season ended in late September, and they were also a few players short against the Vipers, a top club in the 17-team IHL. Defenseman Marty McSorley missed the game while attending the NHL labor negotiations, and Detroit Red Wings Steve Yzerman, Sergei Fedorov and Paul Coffey skipped the game because of the rivalry between Vipers owner Bill Davidson and Red Wings owner Mike Ilitch. A crowd of 16,239 paid from $10 to $39 to watch the game at the Palace, home of the Vipers and the NBA's Detroit Pistons. Proceeds from the game went to benefit the NHLPA's former players' fund.