SOUTH BEND—Tim Abromaitis scored 30 points, Luke Harangody added 24 and Ben Hansbrough had 15 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists to pace Notre Dame to an 87-77 win over DePaul on Saturday.The Fighting Irish (15-5, 4-3 Big East), who ended a two-game losing streak, started the game with a 7-0 run, and the Blue Demons never got closer than five. DePaul used a 7-2 run to close to 77-71 with 69 seconds left on a 3-pointer by Mike Stovall.But Harangody scored on an alley-oop pass from Abromaitis with 59 seconds left, then added two free throws with 49 seconds left to put the game way.Notre Dame didn’t commit its first turnover until Hansbrough had the ball stolen with 10:32 left in the game. The Irish finished with a season-low two turnovers.Will Walker led DePaul (8-11, 1-6) with a career-high 35 points on 15-of-30 shooting.

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SYRAC– USE—Wes Johnson scored 22 points, including a momentum-bursting alley-oop, and added 15 rebounds to lead fifth-ranked Syracuse to a 76-71 win over Marquette on Saturday.Kris Joseph added 14 points for the Orange (19-1, 6-1 Big East) in picking up the slack after the Golden Eagles completely shut down Andy Rautins, who was held scoreless.The Orange’s hot start to this season marks the fifth time in program history — and fourth under coach Jim Boeheim — that Syracuse has won 19 of its first 20 games.The Orange have won six straight since an 82-72 home loss to Pittsburgh on Jan. 2.Darius Johnson-Odom scored 17 and Lazar Hayward added 16 for Marquette (11-8, 2-5), which lost its seventh straight road game. Though they’ve won two games at neutral sites this season, the Golden Eagles haven’t won a true road game since a 78-72 win at Georgetown last Feb. 21.After trailing by as many as 16 points, Marquette rallied to within 70-64 when Jimmy Butler completed a three-point play with 2:09 left, and Johnson-Odom hit a 3-pointer 18 seconds later.The Golden Eagles never got closer until Maurice Acker hit a 3-pointer with 8 seconds left.

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Gordon Hayward scored 25 points Saturday to lead Butler to an 84-55 victory over UIC.Hayward was 10-for-16 from the field and led the Bulldogs (16-4, 9-0 Horizon) with eight rebounds. Butler shot 56 percent from the field in the game and 13 players scored for the Bulldogs.Hayward scored 17 in the first half when Butler built a 37-26 lead. The Bulldogs extended the lead to 32 points with a minute to play. Butler scored 23 points off 13 UIC turnovers.Jeremy Buttell had 13 points and nine rebounds for the Flames (5-14, 1-8). Zavion Neely also had 13 points for UIC, which made 38 percent of its outside shots.

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PEORIA—Sam Maniscalco led five Bradley players in double figures with 19 points as the Braves handed Evansville its 10th consecutive loss in a 74-64 decision Saturday.Andrew Warren scored 17 points for Bradley (10-9, 5-4 Missouri Valley), which won its third in a row. Chris Roberts and Will Egolf had 11 apiece, and Taylor Brown added 10.The Braves continued a trend by raising their record to 10-1 when they outshoot opponents. Bradley hit 25 of its 48 shots (52.1 percent), including 7 of 12 from 3-point range, to Evansville’s 22 of 56 (39.3 percent).The Purple Aces (6-13, 0-9) were led by Denver Holmes’ 18 points. Colt Ryan scored 12 and Kavon Lacey 10.After going ahead 7-6, Bradley led the rest of the way. The lead crested at 59-42 on Brown’s jumper with 7:45 to play.

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CARBONDALE—Anthony Booker’s layup with a minute remaining in overtime held up as the winning basket as Southern Illinois defeated Illinois State 81-80 on Saturday.ISU led 80-77 after Osiris Eldridge’s jumper with two minutes to go in the extra period, but the Redbirds didn’t score again. Justin Bocot made a pair of free throws with 1:43 left and after Eldridge missed a jumper, Booker scored for the Salukis.Eldridge, who finished with 16 points, missed three shots in the final minute for Illinois State. The game saw 15 ties and 17 lead changes.Kevin Dillard led Southern Illinois (11-7, 4-5 Missouri Valley) with 18 points. Bocot had 14 points and eight rebounds.Dinma Odiakosa and Tony Lewis also scored 16 points for Illinois State (14-6, 5-4), which forced the overtime on Lloyd Phillips’ free throws with 30 seconds left in regulation.

VANCOUVER—The Canucks’ top line of Henrik and Daniel Sedin with Alex Burrows combined for nine points, and Roberto Luongo made 43 saves.Yet, the biggest story of Vancouver’s 5-1 victory over the Blackhawks on Saturday night may have been the three unheralded defensemen pressed into action because of injuries.With defensemen Sami Salo, Willie Mitchell and Kevin Bieksa all hurt, the Canucks got key minutes out of Aaron Rome, Brad Lukowich and Nolan Baumgartner while slowing down the NHL’s third highest scoring team.Rome was a healthy scratch 22 times this season and spent two weeks in the AHL, Lukowich was in the minors until January, and Baumgartner played his first game in the NHL since the 2006-07 season. Combined, they were plus-6 against the Hawks.Vancouver was outshot 44-28, but kept most to the outside. The Canucks prevented many quality chances and odd-man rushes for the potent Blackhawks while Mikael Samuelsson, Henrik Sedin and Steve Bernier staked them to a 3-0 lead in the first period.Jonathanc Toews scored 3:30 into the third period, but Henrik Sedin added his second goal 32 seconds later. He also set up twin brother Daniel on a 2-on-1 rush with 1:26 left to round out the scoring as Vancouver won its fourth straight to move into a tie with Colorado atop the Northwest Division.Daniel Sedin also had two assists, and Burrows had three to extend his point streak to 11 games (13 goals, 5 assists). Henrik Sedin also pushed his NHL-leading point total to 74, but Canucks coach Alain Vigneault was as impressed with when his top line scored as how much it did. Antti Niemi got consecutive starts ahead of No. 1 goalie Cristobal Huet for the first time all season, but didn’t last long. Huet started the second period after Niemi gave up three goals on 12 shots.Huet stopped 14 of 16 shots as the Hawks lost in regulation for just the fourth time in 17 games and dropped to 3-2 on a season-high, eight-game road trip. Despite the depleted defense, Luongo only needed a handful of great saves. He got a glove on Patrick Kane’s shot 19 seconds in, stopped backhanders by Ben Eager in close twice on the same play midway through the second, and made a fully extended glove save off Cam Barker’s power-play drive early in the third.

NOTES—Salo (groin) and Mitchell (upper body) are day to day, but Bieksa (lacerated ankle tendon) is out indefinitely.,,,,,Canucks C Pavol Demitra’s assist on Bernier’s goal was his first point in four games since missing nine months with a shoulder injury sustained against the Blackhawks in the second round of last year’s playoffs…..Niemii, who beat the Canucks 1-0 win on Nov. 22, came in with a better goals-against (1.85 to 2.24) and save percentage (.923 to .904) than Huet….Vancouver C Rick Rypien missed a third game (flu).

HOUSTON—Brad Miller scored 25 points in place of the injured Joakim Noah, and Taj Gibson added 16 points and 14 rebounds in the Bulls’ 104-97 victory over the Rockets. Carl Landry scored 22 points, and Luis Scola and Aaron Brooks added 20 points apiece for the Rockets.Noah was listed on the starting lineup sheets handed out a few minutes before the game. But he told Miller in the locker room that he was going to sit out because of a left foot injury. Miller responded with a season-high point total, going 9 for 14 from the field. Miller sank two 3-pointers, went 5 for 5 from the free-throw line and grabbed a key offensive rebound in the final minute. He played three seasons in Sacramento for Houston coach Rick Adelman and said his familiarity with the Rockets’ system helped him have a big game.Derrick Rose scored 20 points, and Kirk Hinrich added 12 points and seven assists for the Bulls, who’ve won six of their last eight games.The Bulls led from start to finish, shooting 53 percent (39 of 73), going 7 for 12 from 3-point range and outrebounding Houston 42-32.The Bulls improved to 3-7 in the second game of back-to-back sets. They won in Phoenix on Friday night and didn’t arrive at their hotel in Houston until about 4 a.m. Saturday.The Rockets, meanwhile, lost for the first time in five home games that were the second half of back-to-back sets this season. Houston shot 55 percent in a win in San Antonio on Friday night, but only 40 percent in Saturday’s loss. The Bulls showed no signs of fatigue after their long night, shooting 63 percent in the first half to build a 12-point lead. The Rockets opened the third quarter with an 8-0 run, after the Bulls missed their first five shots after the break.Houston trailed only 80-75 after three quarters, and cut the deficit to two before Miller sank two 3-pointers to start a 9-0 run. Miller assisted on Gibson’s dunk with 5:23 left to put the Bulls up 97-86.The Rockets rallied one more time, cutting the deficit to two on Landry’s three-point play with 1:56 left and Brooks’ 3-pointer 20 seconds later. Gibson missed two free throws with 48.9 seconds to go, but Miller grabbed the rebound on the second one and Rose swished a pullup jumper with 30 seconds remaining to make it 101-97.Gibson blocked Brooks on a drive at the other end, and the Bulls won in Houston for only the third time in the last 14 trips.

NOTES—The 6-11 Noah had started all of the Bullss first 41 games. He scored 19 points in 25 minutes Friday in a win in Phoenix….The Rockets faced a double-digit deficit for the fourth straight game….Gibson has five double-doubles this season…..The Rockets finished with 18 assists, snapping a streak of 11 consecutive games with at least 20.

PHOENIX—Until a little over a month ago, Derrick Rose had yet to score 30 points in an NBA game.Now he’s done it four times. Rose scored 32 points and the Bulls, usually one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA, shot 51 percent to win just their fifth road game of the season, handing the Phoenix only their fifth home loss with a 115-104 victory on Friday night.Rose made 15 of 21 shots, including a 3-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer and an emphatic, two-handed fast-break dunk that put the Bulls ahead 99-91 with 6:12 to play. His off-balance 20-footer sealed the victory with 1:13 to play.The second-year guard is one of 10 NBA players who pledged $1,000 for every point he scored Friday night to the Bush Clinton fund for Haitian relief.Luol Deng added 23 points, Joakim Noah had 15 and John Salmons and Kirk Hinrich 14 apiece for the Bulls, 5-15 on the road this season and losers in their first two stops on a season-long seven-game road trip.Amare Stoudemire scored 23 points and Grant Hill 17 in the Suns’ fifth loss in the last six games. Channing Frye scored 16, including 4 of 7 on 3-pointers. Steve Nash had a tough night, making 4 of 12 shots for eight points with seven assists and five turnovers.The Bulls topped 50 percent (43 of 85) for only the sixth time this season. Phoenix shot 38.5 percent.Rose said he was just taking what Phoenix was giving him.Down by 10 at halftime, the Suns rallied in the third quarter and were up 82-81 after Stoudemire’s tip-in with 51 seconds to go. But Salmons made a 3-pointer, then Nash missed a driving layup in traffic.That gave the Bulls the final shot of the quarter. Rose took his only 3-point attempt of the night — and made it — at the buzzer to give the Bulls an 88-83 lead entering the fourth.The teams went 3:15 without a field goal before Salmons made a 9-footer. He followed with 3-pointer that put the Bulls up 97-91, then Rose added his spectacular dunk and the Bulls led 99-91 with 6:12 left.Frye made consecutive 3s to cut the lead to 100-96 with 3:37 left. But Salmons responded with a 3-pointer, and Rose made one of two free throws to put the Bulls ahead 103-96 3:08 from the finish.Stoudemire’s dunk narrowed the lead to 103-99 with 2:45 left, but Noah made two free throws, Deng sank a 19-footer, and Rose’s 20-footer finished it off.

NOTES—Six players combined for 11 blocked shots for the Bulls…..The Suns have two All-Star starters (Stoudemire and Nash) for the second time in franchise history. Dan Majerle and Charles Barkley made it in 1995. … The Bulls 64 points were three shy of its highest-scoring first half of the season. … The Bulls entered the game averaging 94.5 points per game, fourth-lowest in the league. Phoenix led the NBA at 107.7 points per game. … Del Negro — a former Phoenix player, broadcaster and team executive — is 3-0 against the Suns as the Bulls’ coach.

***We are not normally on the Score on Friday evenings,but tonight is an exception. We’ll do a special SCORE OVERNIGHT(LATE NIGHT)from 10pm to Midnight this evening. We’ll chat with callers about the Sunday AFC and NFC Championship games which the Score will carry live, about SoxFest which starts late this afternoon, and also preview Saturday night’s Illinois at Northwestern game in Evanston which is big for both teams.The Illini rallied to get past the Cats on December 30 in Champaign. ALSO, on Sunday night we’ll be on the Score from Midnight to 5am as is normal.

***Hopefully the two NFL Conference Championship games will be better than the Divisional Round games last weekend. Only the Jets win over the Chargers was interesting. The other three games were routs and not at all fun to watch. Jets-Colts brings back memories from Super Bowl III when Joe Namath led the Jets to an upset over the then Baltimore Colts in Miami.

***Soxfest starts today at the Palmer House which means both Ozzie Guillen and Kenny Williams should have plenty of interesting quotes as usual.

***The Blackhawks now are 3-1 on their season long eight game road trip.Remaining are games at Vancouver(Saturday evening),Edmonton,San Jose and after a coast to coast flight, Carolina.

***The Bulls started their seven game tour with bad losses to both short handed Golden State and then the Clippers. The remaining five games on the trip are much tougher.

***Northwestern and Illinois rematch their December 30 game which the Illini won in Champaign. Both teams need this one as they bid for NCAA Tournament births.A year ago,in the only meeting between the two, the Wildcats had complete conrtol of the game until the last few minutes when Assistant Illini Coach Dwayne McClain reccomemded to Head Coach Bruce Weber that they go into a full court press. The Cats couldn’t handle it and thus the Illini rallied for a big win.NU is coming off a bad loss at Ohio State the other night.

***SCORE reporter David Schuster and SRN Broadcasting’s Steven Leventhal, co-host of the Weekend
Sports Report on WKRS, have collaborated to create a new blog of movie,television, and entertainment reviews from a sports fan’s perspective.
For more information, please visit http://www.boothreviews.com

LES

CALGARY—Colin Fraser knocked a clearing pass out of the air, leading to Ben Eager’s go-ahead goal at 5:52 of the third period in the Blackhawks’ 3-1 victory over the Calgary Flames Thursday.After Fraser intercepted the puck off the stick of Flames defenseman Adam Pardy, Tomas Kopecky controlled it in the slot and had his shot deflect off Eager’s knee and past goalie Miikka Kiprusoff.Calgary, coming off a 9-1 loss in San Jose on Monday night, tied it with 1:29 left in the second on a power play, striking on what became essentially a two-man advantage when Fraser’s stick broke.Jarome Iginla threaded a pass to Dion Phaneuf, whose slap shot was partially stopped by goalie Antti Niemi. Jamie Lundmark was at the side of the net to whack in the rebound.Eager has two goals in two games against Calgary.Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith also scored for the Hawks (35-12-4), who remained two points behind San Jose for the overall NHL lead. The Blackhawks have won all three games in the season series and seven in a row at the Saddledome since Nov. 22, 2006.Calgary (26-19-6) has lost five straight in regulation, is winless in its last six, and suddenly find itself in ninth place and out of a playoff spot in the Western Conference after being passed by both Detroit and Los Angeles.Calgary also is winless in its last five home games (0-4-1). The sellout crowd of 19,289 booed the Flames as they left the ice.After failing on a penalty shot in the first period, Patrick Kane opened the scoring on a power play at 9:14 of the second.Keith added an empty-net goal for the Hawks, 3-1 on this eight-game trip.

NOTES—The Blackhawks continue the trip Saturday night in Vancouver…..Lundmark has three goals in eight games since being called up from the minors two weeks ago. … Niemi improved to 13-3-1. … Calgary’s Fredrik Sjostrom finally played his 400th NHL game after being a healthy scratch the previous six games.

Willie Veasley’s free throw with 34 seconds left gave Butler the lead and the Bulldogs survived a last-second shot and tip attempt to beat Loyola 48-47 Thursday night.Veasley hit the second of two free throws to break a 47-47 tie. After the teams traded turnovers, Loyola had one last chance with 5.9 seconds to go. But Terrance Hill’s 3-point attempt went in and out and Jordan Hicks couldn’t convert a tip-in as the buzzer sounded.Shelvin Mack and Gordon Hayward scored 12 points each for cold-shooting Butler (15-4, 8-0 Horizon), which won its seventh straight game.Loyola (12-6, 3-5) got 14 points from Walt Gibler and 12 points from Hill, whose long 3-pointer with 48 seconds to play, after two offensive rebounds by teammate Andy Polka, tied the game at 47.

Brandon Wood scored 16 points to lead four teammates in double figures and Valparaiso defeated UIC 64-58 Thursday night.Howard Little scored 14 points, Michael Rogers 11 and Brandon McPherson 10 for the Crusaders (9-11, 4-4 Horizon). Cory Johnson had nine points and 12 rebounds for Valpo, which won despite shooting just 32 percent from the field in the game.K. C. Robbins led the Flames (5-13, 1-7) with 14 points. Jeremy Buttell scored 13 and Chris Buchanan 11 for UIC, which shot 40 percent.The Crusaders made up the difference at the free-throw line, going 26-for-34 compared to 10-of-17 for UIC.Valparaiso led 33-26 at halftime and hit just five field goals after that, but scored 20 points at the foul line in the second half.It was the first win for Valpo in the UIC Pavilion since 1993 when the Crusaders and Flames were still both in the old Mid-Continent Conference.

ROSEMONT—Mike Stovall hit a jumper with seventh-tenths of a second left Wednesday night and DePaul ended its 24-game Big East regular-season losing streak by stunning Marquette 51-50. DePaul (8-10, 1-5) got its first win in six games, three games since Tracy Webster was named interim head coach replacing the fired Jerry Wainwright.Will Walker had 17 points to lead the Blue Demons.Marquette (11-7, 2-4) got 14 points – all in the first half – from Lazar Hayward.Stovall’s 3-pointer with 9.7 seconds left after Hayward missed at the free throw line brought DePaul within 50-49.After Marquette missed two free throws with 8.4 seconds left, DePaul ‘s Stovall retrieved a loose ball and sank his jumper from the right side with seven-tenths of a second to play.It gave DePaul its only lead of the night.

LOS ANGELES—Baron Davis scored 11 of his 23 points in the final 3:52, Marcus Camby pulled down a season-high 25 rebounds and the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Bulls 104-97 on Wednesday night.Chris Kaman had 20 points and eight boards, and Al Thornton added 17 points for the Clippers, who have won eight of their last nine home games and have held opponents under 100 points in 17 of their 19 victories overall.Kaman, playing his second game after missing the previous four because of a sore lower back, has scored at least 20 points in 14 of his last 15 games. In his six previous NBA seasons, the 7-foot center had never scored 20 in three consecutive games.Camby reached the 20-rebound mark for the 37th time in his career with 5:22 left in the third quarter — tipping a missed 3-pointer by Kirk Hinrich over to Rasual Butler, who assisted on a fast-break dunk by Davis that gave the Clippers a 65-58 lead. Camby has four 20-rebound games this season, matching his total from 2008-09. His career high is 27, which he recorded against the Bulls on Dec. 17, 2008, at the United Center.Derrick Rose led the Bulls with 23 points, Luol Deng had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Tyrus Thomas scored 18 points before fouling out in the final seconds.Joakim Noah had 14 points and 15 rebounds. Noah and Camby entered Wednesday second and third in the league in rebounding behind Orlando’s Dwight Howard — averaging 12.3 and 11.6, respectively.Bulls guard John Salmons, who scored 25 points Monday in place of Hinrich during a 114-97 loss at Golden State in the opener of this seven-game road trip, caught the stomach flu that has been plaguing the team. He remained at their hotel before rejoining the Bulls for the flight to Phoenix after the game. Salmons had stayed overnight at an Oakland hospital on Tuesday.Hinrich played 36 minutes, finishing with nine points and five assists.The Clippers, who scored 39 points in the first quarter of their 106-95 victory over the New Jersey Nets on Monday, shot only 28 percent in the first 12 minutes against the Bulls and fell behind 26-19. But they bounced back in the second, shooting 59 percent to take a 50-47 lead at the break.

NOTES—The Clippers are 11-6 this season when Camby has had at least 14 rebounds, and the Bulls are 7-9 when Noah gets 14 or more. … The only player in Clippers history to win a rebounding title was Michael Cage in 1987-88, with a 13.0 average. The only Bulls player to do it was Dennis Rodman, who won it seven straight years — including all three of his seasons with with the Bulls from 1996-98. … The Clippers are in Denver Thursday night to begin an eight-game road trip, while the organizers of the Grammy Awards commandeer Staples Center. They don’t return to their home court until Feb. 6 against San Antonio. While they’re away, they’ll have a rematch with the Bulls on Feb. 2. The Clippers have won four of their last five at United Center. … Hinrich shot 3 for 14 and lowered his field goal percentage to .383, the lowest on the team among players who have taken at least 100 shots.