INDIANAPOLIS—Tyler Hansbrough had 29 points and 12 rebounds to help the Pacers beat the Bulls 115-108 in overtime on Friday night, snapping the Bulls’ eight-game winning streak.Despite the loss,the Bulls retained their 1/2 game edge on Boston for the best record in the Eastern Conference since the Celtics lost at Houston.Danny Granger scored 19 points and Darren Collison added 17 for the Pacers, who have won three of four.Derrick Rose tied a career high with 42 points for the Bulls. He scored 19 in the fourth quarter and made three free throws with 1.2 seconds left to force overtime. Luol Deng added 21 points for the Bulls.The Bulls entered the game with the best record in the Eastern Conference, and could have been the first team in the East to win 50 games.Carlos Boozer missed his fifth straight game with an injured left ankle.It was Hansbrough’s third game of the week with at least 29 points. He had back-to-back games of 29 and 30 points in wins over the New York Knicks on Sunday and Tuesday.The Pacers struck quickly in overtime. Hansbrough scored in close, then stole the ball from Rose, leading to a layup by Collison that put Indiana ahead 106-102. Granger made a 3-pointer to push Indiana’s lead to 109-102. Rose’s layup with 43 seconds left cut it to 111-108, but he fouled out trying to stop Josh McRoberts’ dunk attempt with 24 seconds to go. McRoberts made both free throws to give Indiana a 113-108 lead.The Bulls overcame a 20-point, second-half deficit to force overtime.Rose made the first of two free throws with 58 seconds remaining in regulation to cut Indiana’s lead to 102-99.The Bulls had a chance to tie, but Rose missed a 3-pointer with 31 seconds left. The Pacers had a chance to extend their lead, but Taj Gibson’s steal gave the Bulls another chance.Rose dribbled against Collison, and Collison fouled him on a 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left. Rose made all three free throws to tie the score, and Granger missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.

NOTES—Hansbrough had 13 points in the first quarter, and the Pacers led 31-21 at the end of the period. Indiana shot 58 percent in the first 12 minutes. … Former Pacers Rik Smits and Derrick McKey attended the game. … Earlier in the day, Pacers president Larry Bird presented Dario Franchitti a ring for winning last year’s Indianapolis 500.

GLENDALE—Carlos Quentin had four hits, including a homer, and drove in four runs Friday to power the White Sox to an 18-1 rout of the Oakland Athletics.Quentin singled and doubled twice, but he wasn’t the only White Sox hitter who had a big day. Paul Konerko homered and drove in three runs, and Gordon Beckham had three hits, three RBIs and scored four runs. Tyler Flowers added a two-run homer in the eighth.John Danks pitched six solid innings, yielding four hits and a run. He had four strikeouts and no walks – control had been a problem for him this spring.Oakland starter Bobby Cramer gave up eight runs and nine hits over three innings. Josh Willingham had an RBI single in the first for the A’s.

Notre Dame’s pace was off. The Irish were overanxious at the beginning of their NCAA opener, knowing that as a second seed they were expected to win against Akron.Leading the scrappy Zips by four at the break, the Irish scored the first nine of the second half to build a more comfortable lead and then held on for a 69-56 victory Friday in the second round of the Southwest Regional at the United Center.Ben Hansbrough, whom Brey said was playing too fast in the first 20 minutes, finished with 15 points. Tim Abromaitis added 14, Scott Martin pitched in nine of his 11 points in the second half and Carleton Scott tied his high with 14 rebounds.Next up for the Irish (27-6) is Florida State, a 57-50 winner over Texas A&M.Martin — a transfer from Purdue who sat out two seasons, one after blowing out his knee — was a key in the second half, scoring six early points and getting the Irish on track.Hansbrough, the Big East Player of the Year who shot just 3-for-16 in a loss to Louisville in the semifinals of the conference tourney, was just 4 of 11 from the field but was 6 for 6 from the line and had six assists.The 15th-seeded Zips (23-13) were appearing in just their third NCAA Division I tournament and second in three years. Entering the game, they’d won 11 of their previous 13, beating Kent State in the Mid-American Conference tournament to get into the tournament.Their defense played Notre Dame’s motion offense tough, especially with 7-footer Zeke Marshall there to block four shots and change the trajectory of numerous others.The Irish had a huge advantage at the foul line, shooting 20 for 26 to just 3 for 6 for the Zips.With Notre Dame up 34-30 at the half, Tyrone Nash’s three-point play and Martin’s jumper got the Irish off to a quick start. A middle-of-the-lane jumper by Scott and another basket by Martin put the Irish up 43-30 as Akron missed its first eight shots of the half. The Zips later ran off seven straight points to get back in it. They stayed within five when Marshall — 1 for 11 from the field at that point — dropped in a basket off an inbound pass with just more than 10 minutes to go.Abromaitis, who got off only two shots in the first half, then sank his second 3-pointer and Scott hit a jumper from the baseline, was fouled and converted a three-point play for a 55-44 lead.

E’Twaun Moore scored 19 points and JuJuan Johnson added 16 with 16 rebounds Friday night as third-seeded Purdue routed St. Peter’s 65-43 in the second round of the NCAA’s Southwest Region.The Boilermakers (26-7), who made the round of 16 the previous two seasons, will face the Georgetown-Virginia Commonwealth winner Sunday at the United Center for a return trip.Winning their first game in the NCAA tournament is commonplace for the Boilermakers. They’ve now captured their opener in their last 13 appearances.Purdue led 33-17 at the half and then broke away in the second after scoring the first seven points. The Peacocks (20-14) were led by Jeron Belin’s 12 points but shot only 29 percent.An early 9-0 spurt featured the 6-foot-10 Johnson’s highlight-reel dunk as he soared to grab an alley-oop inbound pass from Terone Johnson. D.J. Byrd’s 3-pointer capped the run and put the Boilermakers in control early at 15-4.Purdue, playing without suspended backup guard Kelsey Barlow, got a lift from Terone Johnson, a freshman. He had five first-half points, four assists and a late 3-pointer that lifted Purdue to a 33-17 halftime lead.St. Peter’s, in the tournament for the first time since 1995, got in by winning three straight games to capture the MAAC tournament. The Peacocks beat Alabama at an early-season tournament, showing they could play with any team.But the one-two punch of Johnson and Moore, who combined for 53 percent of the Boilermakers’ points this season, was too much. The two stars exited the game with just a little more than four minutes remaining.Starting the second half, Johnson grabbed an offensive rebound and hooked in a shot, Byrd found the range again on a 3-pointer and Lewis Jackson’s driving basket highlighted a 7-0 spurt that put the Boilermakers up 40-17. Purdue increased the lead to 27 before the Peacocks used a 14-3 run to show some life, but by then it was way too late.

CLEVELAND—Marquette shut down Tu Holloway and shot down Xavier’s hope for another deep tournament run.Darius Johnson-Odom scored 19 points, Jimmy Butler had 15 and Marquette squashed Xavier’s bid for a fourth straight round of 16 appearance with a 66-55 win Friday night.The 11th-seeded Golden Eagles (21-14) will play Indiana State or Syracuse on Sunday in the East Regional.The sixth-seeded Musketeers (24-8) and Michigan State were the only two programs to reach the round of 16 each of the last three tournaments.Holloway, the Atlantic 10 player of the year, missed his first seven shots and scored only five points.Marquette led by 13 in the first half and pushed back a small Xavier spurt that sliced the lead to single digits. Holloway, Xavier’s leading scorer at 20.1 points, was compared a day earlier to Connecticut’s Kemba Walker and BYU’s Jimmer Fredette. He played not at all like his usual self, much less like two of college’s greatest scoring stars.He was 0 for 7 until he swished a 3-pointer at the 12:08 mark in the second half that, briefly, made it feel as though Xavier was coming back to life.Instead, it was merely a blip in what turned into a relatively easy win for the Golden Eagles. And it was Holloway’s only bucket of the game.The game ended with “We Are [clap, clap] Marquette!” booming through the arena. The Golden Eagles, one of 11 Big East teams to make the field, emptied their bench and Johnson-Odom walked off the court smiling and pointing at all the Marquette fans who made the trip.

NEWARK—Derrick Rose scored 21 points and the Bulls extended their longest winning streak in six years to eight games by holding the New Jersey Nets to a season-low point total in an 84-73 victory Thursday night.The Bulls, who came into the game with the NBA’s second-best defense allowing an average of 91 points, held the Nets to 35 percent shooting (29 of 83), including a 3-for-19 night from 3-point range.Rose also hounded Deron Williams on defense. Williams had been the catalyst of New Jersey’s five-game winning streak, but he only managed five points on 1-of-12 shooting to go along with 11 assists.Williams has battled a wrist injury since being traded from Utah to New Jersey before the trading deadline, and he admitted it bothered him.The Bulls (49-18) also are resilient. They blew a 14-point third-quarter lead before turning away the Nets after they tied it three times in the final 5:50.The Bulls eight-game winning streak is its longest since it won nine in a row between mid-March and early April 2005. This win gave the Bulls a half-game lead over idle Boston in the race for the best record in the Eastern Conference.Luol Deng scored 19 points, including a go-ahead jumper with 3:58 to play.Kyle Korver had seven of his 12 points in the final quarter and rookie reserve Omer Asik had 11 points and a career-high 16 rebounds.Brook Lopez scored 22 points for New Jersey, and Kris Humphries added 13 points and 16 rebounds.Lopez made two free throws with 4:06 to go to tie the game. Deng then came off a screen and hit a jumper to put the Bulls ahead for good. After the teams exchanged empty possessions, Rose stole a cross-court pass by Williams and scored on a drive to push the lead to 73-69 with 3:18 remaining.Anthony Morrow and Sasha Vujacic missed jumpers for New Jersey and the Bulls took advantage. Korver hit a free throw after the Nets were called for an illegal defense and Joakim Noah, who was returning to the lineup after missing a game with flulike symptoms, went over Humphries for a rebound and scored for a 76-69 lead.After Vujacic scored on a goaltending call against Rose, Korver, who turned 30 on Thursday, hit a 3-pointer and Kurt Thomas converted a layup to put the game away.Limited to 50 points in the first three quarters and only down by 10, the Nets made a run in the opening four minutes of the fourth, closing to 62-59 on a 3-pointer by Vujacic.The Bulls called timeout and quickly got Rose back in the lineup. The Nets kept it up but couldn’t overcome Chicago, which won the rebounding battle 50-46.

NOTES—Williams had dinner with his former Jazz teammate Korver on Wednesday….Carlos Boozer has missed four straight games with a sprained ankle…..The Bulls lead the season series 2-1….Williams hit a runner at the end of the first quarter. It was originally ruled good but overturned after a videotape review….The Bulls wore their St. Patrick’s Day green uniforms.

DALLAS—Kari Lehtonen recovered from one of his worst games with one of his best.Lehtonen made 23 saves for his 16th NHL shutout, Jamie Benn extended his point streak to nine games with a goal and an assist, and the Dallas Stars beat the Blackhawks 5-0 on Thursday night.Steve Ott, Brenden Morrow, Jason Williams and Brandon Segal added goals for Dallas, which ended a two-game skid.Mike Ribeiro and Brad Richards had two assists each in support of Lehtonen, who has two shutouts in four games.In between, however, Lehtonen allowed four goals in a 6-3 loss to the San Jose Sharks and three in an overtime defeat to the Los Angeles Kings during a critical seven-game homestand.The Hawks dropped to 9-2-2 in their last 13 games, leaving coach Joel Quenneville searching for answers to a flat performance.Lehtonen had a good night, but he also had plenty of help as the Stars blocked 14 shots and were credited with 26 hits.The teams are tied for sixth in the conference at 84 points, although the Stars own the tiebreaker based on a 3-1 record against the Blackhawks this season.Dallas is 5-2-1 against the Hawks the past two seasons.Richards connected with Ott on a long stretch pass, and Ott converted on a breakaway at 17:37 of the first period to stop a 16-game drought.Benn made it 2-0 at 1:01 of the second, scoring his 21st goal with a one-timer from the right circle off a 2-on-1 break with Ribeiro. Benn has eight goals in nine games, the NHL’s longest current point streak.Morrow extended the lead at 3:35 of the second on another one-timer from the right circle.Quenneville then pulled rookie goalie Corey Crawford in favor of former Stars netminder Marty Turco.
Williams gave his team a four-goal advantage at 2:54 of the third when he scored into an open net after intercepting Turco’s attempt at a clearing pass up the right boards. Segal then scored off a rebound with 8:08 left, completing a tough night for the Blackhawks.

NOTES—Dallas forward,and former Hawk Adam Burish (lower body) sat out his third consecutive game….Lehtonen has started 12 straight and played in his 58th game this season. Injuries limited Lehtonen to 58 games over the previous two seasons…..Lehtonen received an assist on Ott’s goal, his franchise-record sixth this season…..Brian Campbell (left leg), C Dave Bolland (concussion), LW Bryan Bickell (illness) and D Jordan Hendry (knee) were out for the Hawks.

SCOTTSDALE—Lastings Milledge Milledge hit a pair of home runs and drove in three runs, helping a White Sox split-squad beat the Colorado Rockies 12-6. Milledge led off the game with a sharp single against Ubaldo Jimenez, one of the toughest pitchers in the National League last year. He later scored the first run Jimenez allowed in nine innings. Then he hit the first home run Jimenez has allowed this spring.Paul Konerko had three hits, including a double, and drove in a run for the White Sox, who had lost four of their last five. Ramon Castro and Jordan Danks each had two RBIs.Jimenez allowed seven runs on eight hits in 4 1-3 innings. He also walked four and struck out two.Tony Pena made his sixth appearance and his first start for the White Sox, giving up a run on three hits in two innings. He walked one and struck out one.Mike McKenry hit a three-run homer and Todd Helton, Jonathan Herrera and Cole Garner each drove in a run for the Rockies.Jimenez was particularly upset about issuing a two-out walk to pitcher Jeff Marquez just ahead of Milledge’s two-run shot in the fourth that broke a 3-all tie.

PHOENIX—Shawn Marcum Marcum pitched three solid innings in a 4-0 Brewers victory over a White Sox split-squad before departing because his shoulder just didn’t feel right.Marcum threw two perfect innings and allowed only Alexei Ramirez’s leadoff single in the third. He said his shoulder started to tighten up between the second and third innings, akin to tightening he has felt both earlier this spring and in the past.Milwaukee already is without right-hander Zack Greinke, who fractured a rib playing pickup basketball, and Manny Parra, who has been slowed by muscle tightness in his back.Other ailing Brewers include Rickie Weeks (hamstring), Ryan Braun (strained rib cage muscle) and Corey Hart (left oblique).Milwaukee did get Carlos Gomez back on Thursday. The speedy center fielder, who had been out with a sore back, went 2 for 2 with a double and scored a run.White Sox starter Edwin Jackson allowed four runs in the first, then pitched shutout ball for the next four innings. He gave up nine hits, struck out seven and walked none.

NOTES—Braun, who ran into a wall during batting practice on Saturday, got the day off after returning to the lineup Wednesday night. … Brewers OF Chris Dickerson also got the day off after colliding with San Francisco’s Pedro Alvarez on Monday. … Brewers closer John Axford pitched a scoreless fifth inning. “He said he was going to try and come out with a different attitude than he thinks he had,” Roenicke said. … Jackson singled in the fifth, one of the Sox five hits, and said manager Ozzie Guillen told him he was happy he survived injury-free. … Guillen’s lineup featured every regular except Paul Konerko.

PHOENIX—Conor Jackson doubled in the game-winning run with one out to give the Oakland Athletics a 6-5 victory against the Cubs on Thursday.Jackson’s game-ending hit came after Andy LaRoche singled in pinch-runner Jemile Weeks.Jackson, batting .114 this spring, figures to be a backup on the final roster while LaRoche continues to push for a utility job.The A’s used their projected starting lineup for just the second time this spring training. Kurt Suzuki hit a two-run home run off Cubs starter Ryan Dempster in the second inning.Otherwise it was a good outing for Dempster. He allowed two runs on four hits over six innings.Geovany Soto led off the seventh inning with a solo homer, ending Oakland starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez’s shutout. After a walk, Gonzalez was lifted, and Alfonso Soriano belted reliever Brad Ziegler’s first pitch over the center-field wall for a two-run home run.Reed Johnson’s two-run home run in the eighth was his fifth hit in 30 spring training at-bats.Gonzalez, making his fourth spring training start, gave up five hits and struck out six against what figures to be the Cubs’ everyday lineup. He also walked two and threw 78 pitches.The A’s pushed across a run in the bottom of the eighth on three singles, including a Matt Carson’s RBI hit off Cubs reliever Kerry Wood.

NOTES—The Cubs’ John Grabow, who is coming back from a left knee injury, pitched a scoreless inning in his first outing since Feb. 27 The A’s will donate $1 for every ticket sold to their April 3 game against the Seattle Mariners to the Red Cross for relief efforts in Japan, the club announced.

EVANSTON—Northwestern has a Post Season win for the first time in seventeen years(1994)and just their third ever.John Shurna scored 25 points and NU beat Wisconsin-Milwaukee 70-61 Wednesday in the first round of the National Invitation Tournament.The Wildcats (19-13) took command with an 18-0 first half run and opened a 38-26 lead by halftime.The Wildcats cruised through much of the second half before the Panthers hit three straight 3-pointers to make it 62-56 with 5:06 to play. Northwestern replied with two of its own to make it 68-56.Juice Thompson scored 20 points and Alex Marcotullio had 13 for the Cats who will play at Boston College in the second round Saturday afternoon.Meier led the Panthers (19-14) with 19 points. Anthony Hill and Kaylon Williams each had 11.

NOTES—The only previus Post Season wins,all in the NIT for the Cats were the 1994 win in Evanston against DePaul and on March 17,1983 in Rosemont against John Paxson and Notre Dame…..NU is the only Big Ten team in this year’s NIT.

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