The Bulls have had a difficult time putting away lesser opponents lately, and the bad habit nearly jumped up and bit them again on Saturday. Derrick Rose scored 24 points, leading the Bulls to a 92-79 victory that extended the Cleveland Cavaliers‘ losing streak to 16 games.Cleveland (8-35) has also lost 20 straight on the road, one shy of the franchise record. The Cavs last won away from Quicken Loans Arena on Nov. 9, with a 93-91 victory over New Jersey. They haven’t won anywhere since a home win over the Knicks on Dec. 18.Even though it turned out to be another Cleveland loss, coach Byron Scott was pleased by his team’s effort – to a degree.Carlos Boozer and Luol Deng scored 20 points apiece for the BullsChicago, who blew most of a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter before pulling away again. Kyle Korver, who scored 11 points.Cleveland held the Bulls to four points in the first 7:02 of the fourth quarter, closing within two on a runner by Antawn Jamison with 4:37 to play. The Bulls didn’t make a field goal in the period until Rose’s layup with 4:20 left.Rose was fouled on the play and his free throw for a 80-75 lead. One possession later, Korver hit his third 3-pointer of the game, pushing the lead to eight points.Boozer’s three-point play and Rose’s jumper pushed the run to 11-0. Cleveland got no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.The Bulls stand third in the Eastern Conference, one game behind the Miami Heat, but have lost games to the Los Angeles Clippers, New Jersey Nets, Philadelphia 76ers and two games to the Charlotte Bobcats over the last few weeks. All those teams have losing records and in each contest, the Bulls were in position to put the game away before letting their opponent back in the game.Jamison led the Cavaliers with 31 points and 11 rebounds.Cleveland lost 21 straight on the road from Jan. 13 to April 4, 2003. The Cavaliers ended up with the first pick in the draft that year after winning the NBA lottery. They used that selection to take LeBron James, the subject of so much scorn in Cleveland these days.Cleveland’s next game is Monday at New Jersey. The Cavaliers have lost 26 of their last 27 games since starting the season 7-9.The Bulls took a quick 12-2 lead before Cleveland closed within two late in the first period. Deng hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the quarter, putting his team up 22-17.That turned out to be the start of a 17-2 run for the Bulls. The punchless Cavaliers started both the second and third periods by missing their first seven shots.The winners led by as many 20 points, but the Cavaliers mounted a rally in the second half of the third quarter, closing within seven points. But Rose hit a layup and Deng made his fourth 3-pointer, putting the Bulls up 72-60.Boozer returned to the lineup after missing three games with a sprained left ankle. He was 8 for 18 from the floor and grabbed 10 rebounds.The Bulls lead the NBA in opponent field-goal percentage and the Cavaliers didn’t do any harm to the Bulls ranking in that category. Cleveland shot 27 for 84 (32.1 percent) for the game.Despite the poor shooting, the Cavaliers were able to climb back into the game thanks to their performance on the boards. Cleveland grabbed 18 offensive rebounds in the game and held a 15-5 edge in second-chance points.J.J. Hickson led the way with 20 rebounds, 11 on the offensive end.Scott shook up the Cavaliers’ starting lineup, inserting Daniel Gibson and Christian Eyenga in place of Alonzo Gee and Manny Harris.Cavaliers guard Anthony Parker stayed behind in Cleveland to receive treatment for a lower back strain and missed Saturday’s game. Parker aggravated the injury in the Cavaliers’ loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Friday.The injury-ravaged Cavaliers started the game without Parker, Anderson Varejao, Mo Williams and Leon Powe. They then lost starting point guard Ramon Sessions in the second quarter with a right abdominal strain.Despite the injuries and the weight of 15 consecutive losses weighing on them, the Cavaliers nearly knocked off one of the East’s elite clubs.

NOTES—The Cavaliers are now 0-13 when shooting under 40 percent from the floor this season. … The Bulls improved to 30-14 on the season…..The Bulls didn’t win their 30th game until Feb. 24 last season. The Bulls are a perfect 9-0 against the Central Division…..The biggest oar of the night from the home crowd at the United Center came between the third and fourth quarters, when Bears mascot “Staley Da Bear” ran onto the court to help “Bennie the Bull” throw some footballs into the stands. The Bears host the Green Bay Packers in the widely-anticipated NFC Championship at Soldier Field on Sunday……The Bulls played their 20th game since starting center Joakim Noah went down with a torn ligament in his right hand. They have gone 14-6 in his absence.

ROSEMONT—Gilbert Brown scored 17 points and Ashton Gibbs added 13 to lead No. 5 Pittsburgh to an 80-50 victory over DePaul on Saturday. With the exception of a brief lapse early in the second half, the Panthers (19-1, 7-0 Big East) cruised to their ninth straight win.The troubles continued for DePaul (6-13, 0-7 Big East). The Blue Demons dropped their 20th straight game in the conference and have lost 43 of its last 44 Big East regular season games. Freshman Cleveland Melvin led DePaul with 11 points.After blowing out No. 3 Syracuse and a game looming with No. 16 Notre Dame on Monday, the Panthers did not get caught looking past DePaul.Pittsburgh briefly trailed 14-12 midway through the first half, but Gibbs made a jumper and capped off a 7-0 run with a 3. The Panthers outscored the Blue Demons 9-2 in the final 2:32 of the first half to pull away.Brown cleaned up a miss with a dunk. Later he made a 3 and Gary McGhee had a free throw to give Pittsburgh a 38-23 lead at the half. Brown started the second half with a 3 to give the Panthers a 41-23, their largest lead, but DePaul used a 12-1 run to get back in the game.DePaul got back-to-back 3-pointers from Jeremiah Kelly and Mike Stovall and Mike Bizoukas forced Travon Woodall into a turnover to set up Stovall for a layup to get the Blue Demons within 42-35.The Panthers took control for good behind its 3-point shooting. Lamar Patterson buried a 3 to increase the lead to 52-38 and Gibbs made back-to-back 3’s to give Pittsburgh a 61-50 lead with 7:11 left, capping off an 18-3 run.Its been a tough run for first-year DePaul coach Oliver Purnell, he watched his team get beat by 20 against Connecticut last week and then suffered a 30-point loss to Marquette on Tuesday.Pittsburgh shot 53.8 percent in the first half. Brown led Pittsburgh with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting. Melvin scored seven points for DePaul.Brad Wanamaker added nine points and nine assists for the Panthers.

DETROIT — Tomas Kopecky scored twice and Corey Crawford made 36 saves, lifting the Blackhawks to a 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday.Cory Emmerton scored in his NHL debut to give Detroit the lead midway through the first. Dave Bolland tied the game later in the period and Kopecky scored two times in the second against his former team to make it 3-1.Detroit’s Jimmy Howard started strong before struggling a little and finishing with 29 saves.Troy Brouwer also scored for the defending champions, who are on a 5-0-1 streak. The banged-up Red Wings have won two of their last six. Detroit found out before the game that the New York Islanders claimed goaltender Evgeni Nabokov off waivers after he signed a one-year contract with the Red Wings.Nabokov couldn’t pick the place to resume his NHL career after starting the season playing in Russia.The Central Division-leading Red Wings were hoping to add the 35-year-old Nabokov to help out while backup Chris Osgood recovers from hernia surgery and perhaps to push Howard, but lost him to a team that ranks among the league’s worst this season.

“I haven’t put much thought into it, but the Islanders are terrible so I’m not sure why they did that,” Osgood, a former New York goalie, said before Detroit played Chicago.

The Blackhawks, who couldn’t keep several players who helped them hoist the Stanley Cup, are 6-2-1 in January after barely being over .500 in each of the first three months.The Red Wings, meanwhile, are reeling without injured players such as Pavel Datsyuk, Dan Cleary and Brad Stuart. They’re 5-4-1 this month after being 15 games over .500 from October through December.Emmerton, one of many Detroit prospects getting a chance to play this season, scored on a wrist shot that deflected in off Crawford.That was about the only break the Red Wings got. The Blackhawks, the NHL’s best team on the power play, tied it with an extra skater when Bolland scored late in the first period.Kopecky, one of the contributors the Red Wings haven’t been able to keep because of the salary cap, scored his ninth and 10th goals this season to put the Blackhawks ahead and to pad its lead.Brouwer sealed the victory with a goal midway through the third period.

NOTES—The Blackhawks return to the United Center to host Philadelphia Sunday morning at 11:30am in the only regular season meeting between the tao Stanley Cup Finals opponents from last Spring…….Crawford is 16-8-2 in 26 games while Marty Turco is 10-10-2 in 25 games for the Blackhawks. … Datsyuk (right wrist), Cleary (left ankle), Stuart (jaw), Osgood (hernia), Mike Modano (right wrist) and Tomas Holmstrom (right hand) did not play and have combined to miss 72 games this season. … Bolland has a five-game points streak.

CHAMPAIGN—Jared Sullinger had 27 points and 16 rebounds, and top-ranked Ohio State scored 14 straight points in the second half to rally past No. 23 Illinois 73-68 on Saturday.Aaron Craft made two free throws with 15 seconds left and Jon Diebler forced an Illinois turnover with four seconds on the clock to help the unbeaten Buckeyes (20-0, 7-0 Big Ten) hold on.The Illini (14-6, 4-3) made it close, though. Mike Tisdale’s 3-pointer brought Illinois within 69-68 with 16 seconds left. But Craft’s free throws and Diebler’s strip preserved the win.Talk in Illinois for much of the week centered on the last time the two teams met with one undefeated, in March 2005. Ohio State ended Illinois’ unbeaten run that season, though Illinois went on to play in the NCAA title game, losing to North Carolina.Sullinger’s brother, J.J., was part of that Buckeyes team.Jared Sullinger scored 11 points early in the second half Saturday to keep the Buckeyes in the game, and told his teammates not to worry as they walked to the bench down 50-42 with just under 13 minutes to play.He lived up to his billing, often dealing with two Illinois defenders.Thirteen of his points came from the free throw line, where he missed only twice.With 12:52 left and the Buckeyes down 50-42 after Mike Davis’ layup, Sullinger walked to the bench telling teammates “Don’t worry, don’t worry,” as he waved his hands back and forth.Diebler and Deshaun Thomas must have listened.Diebler started the key run with two free throws with 11:39 to go and he and Thomas hit 3-pointers on three straight possessions to cap it. The first one by Thomas tied the game at 50 and the last, also by Thomas, gave Ohio State a 56-50 lead it didn’t relinquish.In a rough, physical first half, Sullinger led the Buckeyes with 11 points and eight rebounds, playing much of the first 20 minutes with gauze in his nose to stop a nose bleed.But Illinois’ Jereme Richmond, another highly recruited freshman, traded shots and boards with the big Buckeye.After trailing 20-12 with just under 10 minutes left in the half, Richmond scored on three straight possessions, all in heavy traffic under the basket, to cut Ohio State’s lead to 20-18.Sullinger, though, answered with 8:12 to play with a strong, two-handed dunk.Illinois closed the first half with an 8-0 run, the last points coming from Brandon Paul’s jumper on the break that gave the Illini a 34-33 edge at the break.Much of the run, though, was a direct result of work by Richmond.He started it with a short basket after grabbing the rebound off Tisdale’s miss with 2:24 to play, cutting the Buckeyes’ lead 33-28.On Illinois’ next possession, Richmond fed Mike Davis for a dunk that cut the deficit to three.With 54 seconds to play, Richmond buried a short basket over Sullinger, forcing the Buckeyes’ freshman to the floor in the process.Richmond had 18 points and 10 rebounds for Illinois, and Tisdale added 15 points.

Derrick Rose scored 26 points as the Bulls beat the Dallas Mavericks 82-77 on Thursday night.Rose shot 9 for 28 from the field, shouldering a larger-than-usual share of the offensive load in the absence of injured forward Carlos Boozer.Dirk Nowitzki scored 19 points to lead Dallas, while Jason Terry, former Bull Tyson Chandler and DeShawn Stevenson added 12 points apiece. Stevenson took all 10 of his shots from 3-point range, hitting four.After Rose’s pull-up jumper gave the Bulls an 80-77 lead with 55 seconds to go, Terry missed a tying 3-pointer with 15 seconds to play. Kyle Korver then made two free throws to seal the win. The Mavericks were coming off a win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night that snapped a six-game skid. The Bulls tied the score at 66-all in the fourth quarter as Rose penetrated the lane in transition and hit a twisting, reverse layup.After a timeout, Nowitzki missed a jumper for Dallas and C.J. Watson hit a 3-pointer from the corner, to put the Bulls ahead. Watson added another 3-pointer a couple of possessions later, pushing the Bulls’ advantage to four points.Dallas stayed close, but never led again.The Mavericks shot just 29.7 percent in the opening half were 4 for 19 from the field in the second quarter. Dallas opened the second half with a 20-8 run and held the Bulls to 12 points in the third quarter, seizing a 60-56 advantage heading into the fourth.Foul trouble plagued the Bulls in the third quarter, with starting big men Taj Gibson and Kurt Thomas both picking up their fourth foul and finishing the period on the bench.The Bulls played their third straight game without Boozer, who sprained his ankle in a win over Miami last Saturday.Gibson started again in Boozer’s place and struggled, scoring four points on 2-for-7 shooting.However, the Bulls still dominated the Mavericks in the paint, outscoring Dallas 28-16 in the lane and holding a 51-41 rebounding advantage.Thomas, one of the league’s oldest players, played 29 minutes and had nine points and 11 rebounds, Korver also scored nine points as Rose was the only Bull to reach double figures in scoring.Luol Deng had seven points on 3-for-13 shooting, but led the Bulls with 12 rebounds.

EVANSTON—Five players scored in double figures to lead Northwestern to a 98-55 victory over Southern Illinois-Edwardsville Thursday night.The Wildcats (13-5) raced to a 55-25 halftime lead, which included a 28-2 run, in the nonconference game. Northwestern led by as many as 45 points in the second half in rolling to its fourth win in their last five games.Drew Crawford led the Wildcats with 16 points. Luka Mirkovic had 15, freshman JerShon Cobb added 11, while Alex Marcotullio and Reggie Hearn each scored 10.Cornelius Chatt scored 25 points for Southern Illinois-Edwardsville (5-16). Chatt made three 3-pointers for the Cougars.NU’s John Shurna was held out of the game for precautionary reasons. The 6-foot-8 junior forward scored 24 points in Tuesday’s victory over Michigan but has been bothered by a high left ankle sprain suffered on Dec. 23 against Mount St. Mary’s.

D.J. Augustin scored 15 points, Gerald Wallace had 13 points and 16 rebounds and Charlotte held off the Bulls 83-82 on Tuesday night. Boris Diaw and Stephen Jackson added 12 points apiece to help the Bobcats snap a three-game losing streak, with their last win coming at home against the Bulls last Wednesday.Jackson scored Charlotte’s last four points on a jumper and a pair of free throws in the final minute.Derrick Rose scored 33 points, but missed a shot at the buzzer. The Bulls lost for just the second time in their last seven games.Ronnie Brewer had 12 points and Luol Deng added 10 for Bulls, who were playing without injured forward Carlos Boozer — second on the team in scoring (20.1 points per game) and rebounds (10.1) – and Joakim Noah.The Bulls got a chance for the win after an official’s review gave them ball at their own end. Initially, a deflected ball had been awarded to Charlotte, but the review showed that the ball went off Augustin’s fingertips.After Kyle Korver’s driving shot was blocked out of bounds with 3.1 seconds left, he inbounded the ball to Rose, who drove the middle of the floor and shot a fadeaway over Charlotte’s Gerald Henderson Jr., but missed off the front of the rim.Boozer sprained his left ankle in the win over Miami on Saturday and is listed as day-to-day. The Bobcats took advantage of his absence, outscoring the Bulls 46-28 in the paint.Wallace was called for a technical foul for tripping Brewer and Kyle Korver made the subsequent free throw to give the Bulls a 74-72 lead with three minutes to play. Wallace apparently hurt his ankle on the play, limping around and grimacing as Korver shot his free throw.However, Wallace looked fine on a putback dunk that tied the score at 74.Rose answered with a double-pump drive and layup, putting the Bulls back up by two.Wallace hit two free throws, but Rose answered again, hitting a pull-up jumper with 1:44 to play. Two possessions later, Wallace hit a driving layup in transition and was fouled. His free throw put the Bobcats up 79-78 with 1:13 to play.After a timeout, Rose scored on a putback to put his team up by a point. Jackson answered with a jumper, giving the Bobcats an 81-80 lead with 47.5 seconds to play.Deng missed a jumper and Jackson was fouled. His two free throws put Charlotte ahead by three.Rose drove and scored on a short runner, cutting the Bulls’ deficit to one with 25.2 seconds left.Rose’s 12 points sparked a third-quarter surge, with his 3-pointer highlighting a 10-2 run that put the Bulls up 57-51.At the time of Rose’s 3, the Bulls were 4 for 4 from 3-point range. They finished 6 for 12 from beyond the arc, while Charlotte missed all 13 of its attempts.The Bobcats were able to hang close well into the fourth quarter thanks to a disparity in turnovers. Charlotte forced 14 Chicago turnovers while committing just nine, and enjoyed a 25-8 edge in points off miscues.Charlotte shot 60 percent from the floor in the opening quarter and 50 percent for the first half, leading 47-44 at the break.Augustin scored nine points to lead Charlotte in the opening half. Thomas returned to action for Charlotte and had eight points and four rebounds against his former team. Thomas, who played his first 3½ seasons with the Bulls before being traded to Charlotte last season, was suspended for the Bobcats’ game in Philadelphia on Monday for elbowing New Orleans’ Emeka Okafor in the head.

NOTES—The Bobcats are 7-5 since Paul Silas replaced Larry Brown as coach on Dec. 22…..Former Bulls forward Charles Oakley is one of Silas’ assistants. He amused himself during the first half by grabbing the shorts of Taj Gibson on an inbounds play and holding on when Gibson tried to run down the court

CHAMPAIGN—Illinois needed something to feel good about after a rough stretch this month.There were the losses, one at Wisconsin that the Illini could stomach and another at unranked Penn State that was tougher to take.Then there was the rumor — quickly denied — that freshman Jereme Richmond wanted to transfer after missing practice and heading home before Saturday’s loss to the Badgers.All of this with No. 1 Ohio State headed to town Saturday.No. 23 Illinois found the answer to many of those problems Tuesday night, getting 20 points from Brandon Paul, 14 from Richmond and several late free throws that helped hold off 17th-ranked Michigan State, 71-62.The Illini (14-5, 4-3 Big Ten) led by as many as 10, at 53-43, on a 3-pointer by Paul with 13:08 to play.But they had to hold off a late Spartans charge that made Michigan State coach Tom Izzo feel as though his team was never more than a key shot or two from a potential win.One late possession neatly summed up the misery for Michigan State (12-6, 4-2).With the Spartans down 67-62 with just more than two minutes to play, Durrell Summers missed a jump shot that was followed by three straight missed chances to tip the ball in. Finally, Mike Davis swooped in to grab a rebound for Illinois and end the suspense.Paul scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half and was the biggest reason why the Illini hit 61.5 percent of their shots during the first 20 minutes.The Illini led 41-37 at halftime and outscored Michigan State 12-6 over the first seven minutes of the second half.They closed that stretch with two inside points from Richmond on a long pass from Demetri McCamey that sliced just over the outstretched hands of two Spartans defenders and a 3-pointer from Paul after Richmond forced a Michigan State turnover.But after a dunk that had revved up the home crowd, Kalin Lucas hit a 3-pointer that quieted fans and pulled the Spartans to 59-53 with 10:28 remaining. Lucas led the Spartans with 15 points.Just 46 seconds later, Delvon Roe sank a short basket that cut the Illini lead to 59-55. With 8:55 to play, Roe tipped in a miss to cut it to 59-57.The Illini, after riding their outside shooting much of the night, spent the next three minutes methodically rebuilding their lead at the free throw line.Mike Tisdale hit one, followed by two each from McCamey, Davis and Richmond to stretch Illinois’ edge back to 65-57.Davis finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds.Paul’s first-half outburst included nine points on 3-for-3 shooting from 3-point range.The sophomore guard, coming off the bench, hit one 3 that capped a 7-0 run that gave Illinois a 28-23 lead with 8:24 to play in the first half.Just under five minutes later he nailed his last 3-pointer of the half from the baseline in front of the Michigan State bench, giving the Illini a 38-31 cushion. Less than a minute later he added a three-point play when he was fouled by Keith Appling.

EVANSTON—John Shurna scored a game-high 24 points to lead Northwestern to a 74-60 victory over Michigan on Tuesday night.Shurna also had eight rebounds. He made four 3-pointers and went 8 of 14 from the field as the Wildcats (12-5, 3-4 Big Ten) claimed their third win in four starts.Center Luka Mirkovic had 13 points and eight rebounds while guard Michael Thompson added 10 for Northwestern.Michigan (11-8, 1-5) suffered its fifth straight loss. Stu Douglass scored 17 points off the bench while Darius Morris added 16 for the Wolverines.NU, now 8-1 at home, never trailed. With the score 10-10, Shurna scored eight straight points, including back-to-back 3-pointers.

MILWAUKEE—Darius Johnson-Odom and Jimmy Butler each scored 20 points and Marquette overwhelmed DePaul 94-64 on Tuesday night, handing the Blue Demons their 19th straight Big East loss.Jae Crowder added 18 points and Marquette used a 12-0 run at the end of the first half to turn a back-and-forth beginning into a big blowout.Marquette (13-6, 4-2) squandered an 18-point lead with less than 6 minutes to go in a 71-70 loss at Louisville on Saturday, but there was no repeat performance.DePaul (6-12, 0-6) has been the Big East’s worst team in recent years, losing 42 of its last 43 conference games with the only victory a one-point win last year over Marquette. Freshman Cleveland Melvin led DePaul with 20 points.