CHAMPAIGN—llinois just couldn’t shake Wofford until Demetri McCamey took over.McCamey scored 21 points, including three 3s, and No. 20 Illinois used a second-half run to beat Wofford 78-64 in the Las Vegas Invitational on Tuesday night.With the game tied at 50, the Illini (4-0) used an 8-0 run to put the game away. Bill Cole hit an easy layup, Dominique Keller and McCamey each hit free throws, and McCamey scored on a reverse layup to make it 58-50.After trailing for most of the first half, a 17-7 run in the final 4:09 capped off by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by McCamey gave Illinois the 42-39 halftime lead. He scored seven in that spurt, including a four-point play.The Illini trailed the Terriers until D.J. Richardson’s 3-pointer gave them a 33-32 lead with 2:01 left in the first half. Richardson finished with 15 points, hitting five 3-pointers.The Terriers have played well against big-time conference teams, beating Georgia on the road and losing a close game at Pittsburgh.
————————————————————————–
EVANSTON—Freshman Drew Crawford scored 22 points, nearly double his output from the first three games combined, to lead Northwestern to a 69-53 victory over Liberty on Tuesday night.John Shurna added 14 points for Northwestern (3-1), which needed only five points from top scorer Michael Thompson. Thompson entered the game averaging 19.7 points and scored 31 in Sunday’s narrow victory over Tennessee State.Kyle Ohman scored 15 points for Liberty (1-5), which has lost its last four games by an average of 26.8 points.The game was part of the 4th annual Chicago Invitational Challenge. Play shifts to the neutral-site UIC Pavilion on Friday, when Northwestern plays Notre Dame and Liberty meets Mississippi Valley State.
—————————————————————————
SOUTH BEND—Notre Dame coach Mike Brey wasn’t asked about the play of Luke Harangody until his postgame news conference was almost over.Harangody had 29 points and 15 rebounds to help No. 23 Notre Dame beat Kennesaw State 80-62 in the Chicago Invitational Challenge on Tuesday night. He had a double-double in the first half with 16 points and 11 rebounds and picked up his 1,000th career rebound in the second half, becoming only the fifth Irish player to pass that mark.The Irish (5-0), have scored at least 80 points in each game in getting off to their best start since going 7-0 to open the 2001-02 season.It took Notre Dame a while to pull away especially after making only 8 of 15 free throws in the first half, finishing 20 of 33 for the game. Kennesaw State (2-2) was 5 of 8.
—————————————————————————-
Jeremy Granger scored a career-high 24 points and Eastern Illinois improved to 3-1 for the first time in 11 years by whipping Chicago State 82-68 Tuesday night.
Granger, a Chicago native, was 7 of 12 from the floor and a perfect 9 of 9 from the foul line. Tyler Laser added 17 and Shaun Pratl 12 for the Panthers.
Eastern Illinois outshot Chicago State 54 percent to 33 percent, but the Cougars (3-2) got part of that back by going 27 of 38 from the free-throw line.
Carl Montgomery led Chicago State with 21 points and a game-high 10 rebounds. Antonio Lofton chipped in with 13 points.The Panthers led 47-28 at halftime.
The loss was Chicago State’s first at home after three victories.
—————————————————————————-
MILWAUKEE—Lazar Hayward had 20 points and eight rebounds to lead Marquette to a 93-68 victory on Tuesday night over South Dakota for its 25th straight non-conference home win.Darius Johnson-Odom added 18 points and Jimmy Butler 13 for the Golden Eagles (4-0), who improved to 4-0 against the Coyotes in the first game between the two schools since the 1967-68 season.Tyler Cain, the Great West Conference’s preseason player of the year, scored 19 points for South Dakota (2-3), which is in its second year playing in Division I.The Coyotes will become a full-fledged member of The Summit League beginning in 2011.While the Golden Eagles cruised on Tuesday, their schedule gets much tougher.Marquette travels to Orlando, Fla., for the Old Spice Classic and will play Xavier on Thursday afternoon. The Golden Eagles will then play either Michigan or Creighton on Friday and a third game on Sunday before returning to Milwaukee to face North Carolina State on Dec. 5.The Golden Eagles led 48-35 at halftime and pulled away in the second half, taking a 72-49 lead with 11:31 remaining after Maurice Acker ran off five straight points. Marquette led by as many as 29 from there.Acker finished with 11 points.
—————————————————————————–
PEORIA—Taylor Brown scored 13 of his team-high 19 points in the second half to help Bradley defeat Presbyterian 71-58 on Tuesday night.Brown scored eight of the Braves’ first 11 points of the second half, helping Bradley (3-1) build a lead of as many as 19 points. The Blue Hose (0-4) closed within eight with 1:32 remaining, but Sam Maniscalco put the game out of reach with a 3-pointer.Brown, a sophomore, added 10 rebounds for his first career double-double. Andrew Warren had 16 points and Milos Knezevic 11 for the Braves.Jake Troyli led Presbyterian with 19 points, and Zach Faircloth had 14.The game was part of the Las Vegas Invitational. Play moves to Las Vegas on Friday, with Bradley playing Oklahoma State and Presbyterian meeting Seattle.