ROSEMONT—The way Jim Boeheim saw it, Syracuse had no business winning this one.Wes Johnson scored 16 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, and No. 4 Syracuse rallied from 18 down to beat DePaul 59-57 Saturday afternoon for its eighth straight win.The Orange scored 16 straight to cut their deficit to two late in the first half, then took the lead with a 16-2 run in the second, escaping with a win after DePaul’s Will Walker missed a 3-pointer in the closing seconds.Kris Joseph added 15 points for Syracuse (21-1, 8-1 Big East), including a 3-pointer that started the decisive rally. Rick Jackson scored 10.Walker poured in 21 for DePaul (8-13, 1-8), which has lost nine of 10 and three straight since a win over Marquette that stopped a 24-game conference regular-season losing streak.Trailing 52-43 with about seven minutes left, Joseph buried a 3-pointer to start the go-ahead run. Andy Rautins connected from the outside after DePaul’s Michael Bizoukas threw the ball away, and the Orange kept coming after the Blue Demons’ Mike Stovall hit two free throws.
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EAST LANSING—Michigan State missed enough shots in the first half to let Northwestern stick around.Then, the fifth-ranked Spartans started making shots.Durrell Summers had a season-high 24 points and 10 rebounds, leading Michigan State to a 79-70 win over Northwestern on Saturday night.Kalin Lucas scored 23 points, had four assists and no turnovers, Draymond Green had nine points, 11 rebounds and four assists, and Delvon Roe scored 13.The Spartans opened the second half with an 18-4 run that included Chris Allen’s spectacular slam dunk.Michigan State led by just two at halftime following six lead changes and four ties after shooting 38 percent and missing 10 of 11 3-pointers.The Spartans (19-3) are off to their first 9-0 start in Big Ten play, but their streak will be put to a test Tuesday night on the road against No. 16 Wisconsin.John Shurna made six 3-pointers and scored a career-high 31 points for the Wildcats (14-7, 3-6).Shurna’s teammates made that tough. He had 20 points midway through the second half; the rest of the Wildcats combined for just 19 at that point. Michael Thompson made just two shots and finished with seven points — half his average.
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CHAMPAIGN—Demetri McCamey scored 19 points, including the game-winner at the buzzer, to lead Illinois to a 72-70 comeback win over Indiana on Saturday.The victory put Illinois (14-8, 6-3) into a tie for second in the Big Ten with Wisconsin. It also kept the Illini’s NCAA tournament hopes alive.McCamey hit the winner on a running jumper at the buzzer. He took a pass from Bill Cole and drove the right side of the lane before launching the shot.Mike Tisdale added 12 points. That included four key free throws in the final two minutes.Indiana (9-11, 3-5) was led by Champaign native Verdell Jones, who scored 22. They included eight points in a late-first-half run that turned a 32-20 Illini lead into a 36-36 tie at the half.
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NORMAL—Dinma Odiakosa scored a career-high 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead Illinois State to a 66-47 victory over Bradley on Saturday.Odiakosa had eight of his rebounds on the offensive glass for the Redbirds (15-7, 6-5 Missouri Valley). Lloyd Phillips and Osiris Eldridge had 13 points each and Tony Lewis had 13 rebounds for Illinois State, which outrebounded Bradley 50-28 and held a 34-10 advantage in points in the paint.Andrew Warren was the only Bradley player in double figures with 11 points. The Braves (10-11, 5-6) shot just 29 percent from the field in their lowest-scoring game of the season.The score was tied late in the first half before Illinois State went on a 14-5 run for a 35-26 halftime lead. The Redbirds opened the second half with a 13-3 burst to take a 48-29 lead.