ST. PAUL—The last time Minnesota had an NHL team, The Blackhawks topped the list of opponents fans wanted to watch – and cheer against. The Wild have long replaced the North Stars, but now that the Blackhawks will join them in a new eight-team conference next season, a ferocious rivalry could be revived. Their tense meeting on Wednesday night was quite the warmup. Patrick Kane’s goal in the second round of a shootout clinched a fifth straight victory on the road, 4-3 over Minnesota in a matchup of the top two teams in the Western Conference.The Wild lead the NHL with 44 points. The Blackhawks, who are 7-1-1 in their last nine games, have 42.Marian Hossa and Michael Frolik gave the Blackhawks a 2-0 edge with second-period goals 89 seconds apart, but Kyle Brodziak and Matt Cullen answered for the Wild a few minutes later to tie the game. After a frenetic overtime period, with plenty of prime opportunities for each side during the 4-on-4 portion of the game, the stage was set for the shootout. Blackhawks goalie Ray Emery denied Cullen’s snap shot, and Dany Heatley lost the puck on his try for the Wild. With the score by Jonathan Toews already on the board, Kane raced toward goalie Niklas Backstrom, slowed to almost a dead stop and made a slick right-left move to get Backstrom to commit to his backhand. Kane then slammed the puck into the open net with a wrist shot.Emery laughed and shook his head.”He went four or five different directions. It was a pretty spectacular ending,” the goalie said. Toews made a slick move of his own to skate out from behind the net past defenseman Mike Lundin, put a move on his partner, Nick Schultz, to square himself with the net and zip a shot past Backstrom’s stick to give the Blackhawks the lead back with 13:06 left. Koivu’s shot from the slot slipped past Emery, though, to make it 3-all with 5:04 remaining.

DeKALB—Cleveland Melvin led a balanced attack with 19 points as DePaul used a dominating second-half performance to top Northern Illinois 75-52 on Wednesday night.The Blue Demons (7-3) won their third straight as Brandon Young scored 16, while Jeremiah Kelly added 15 and Moses Morgan 11.Tim Toler led the Huskies (0-9) with 18 points and 13 rebounds.The Blue Demons led only 28-25 at intermission but then launched a decisive run in the second half. Five players scored as DePaul turned a 33-32 deficit into a 49-33 lead by the 13:49 mark.The Blue Demons closed the game with a 14-4 run, including six straight points from Melvin.

WICHITA—Ben Smith scored 22 points as Wichita State rolled to a 94-44 victory over Chicago State Wednesday night.Joe Ragland had 12 points and David Kyles added 10 for the Shockers (8-2), winners of six straight. They had no problem with Chicago State (0-10), shooting 50 percent in the first half on the way to a 53-24 lead.Wichita State outrebounded the Cougars 53-34 and limited them to 27 percent shooting. Twelve players scored for the Shockers, who finished with 44 percent accuracy from the field.Jeremy Robinson had 13 points and Lee Fisher scored 10 for Chicago State.

DENVER—The Bears playoff chances took a huge hit here in Rocky Mountain Country. Matt Prater kicked a 59 yard field goal with :03 left in the fourth quarter to force overtime,and then he drilled a 51 yard game winner with 7:26 gone in extra time to give the Denver Broncos a come from behind 13-10 win over the suddenly reeling Bears. Marion Barbermwho had an otherwise nice game, was a double goat.First,he did not stay in bounds in the final minute when the Bears were trying to run out the clock,and while Denver had no timeouts left. That saved the Broncos a good 35 seconds,and remember the tying field goal came with just three ticks on the clock. Do the math! OK,the game went into overtime and the Bears won the toss and were moving the ball,and in fact got into Robbie Gould’s range,especially here in the thin air of Colorado. Barber looked like he gained even more yardage when the ball was stripped from him and Elvis Dumervil recovered at Denver’s 34. A couple of first downs later, Prater kicked his game winner.

It was 47* at kickoff and this was a taffy pull for the first quarter.The Bears got to Tim Tebow twice and on an incompleted pass,Lance Briggs was called for a very questionable(in fact,lousy)late hit by Referee Carl Cheffers,and Briggs didn’t even know the QB down. Charles Tillman ended that drive however by picking off a pass at the Bears 24.Cheffers called another personal foul for an alleged hit to Tebow’s knee. Again,awful call. The Broncos ran the ball down to the Bears 11,but that was it and Matt Prater tried a 28 yard field goal that Julius Peppers blocked. This half ended,fittingly with John Blutarsky numbers of ZERO point ZERO!! That’s four straight quarters that the Bears have been blanked and over their last six periods,they are averaging 0.5 points per!

After both teams punted twice to start the third quarter, Devin Hester had a 26 yard punt return to the Denver 42. Six plays later with the help of the running of Barber and Kahil Bell,they got to the nine,and Barber broke around the left side to break the ice. 7-0 Bears with 5:19 left in the third.First Bears TD in two weeks,since Oakland.The Bears held Denver to a three and out,and Hester returned the punt 10 yards to the Bears 37.After a nice third down catch for 18 yards by Roy Williams got the Bears in Denver territory again,Henie hit Hester for 7 yards,but he got called for a face mask moving the ball back to the Bears 48. The running of Barber got the Bears in position for Robbie Gould to try a career high 57 yard field goal which he converted in this light air with plenty to spare and the Bears led 10-0 just five seconds into the fourth quarter.Tebow hit on three straight passes,but was then sacked by Craig Steltz,fumbled and Israel Idonoje recovered at the Bears 45. The Bears now led the takeaway stat 2-0,but of course that changed in overtime.Denver finally got a successful drive going when they took over at their 47 and drove 63 yards in seven plays with Tebow finding a wide open Demaryius Thomas in the end zone-no doubt a blown coverage.The Broncos tried an on-side kick but Nick Roach grabbed it at his own 49. Now it was Barber’s turn and he was first stuffed for no gain as the two minute warning came up.Then he went around left end and did not stay in bounds,going out after only five seconds ran off the clock. On third down he picked up a yard and the Bears ran the clock down to 1:06 before taking a delay of game. Adam Podlesh’s punt was returned to the twenty,and the Bears,despite Lovie Smith’s denying that they were in a prevent,they totally were and Denver got to the Bears 41 with :08 left.Had Barber not gone out of bounds,the Broncos may never of had enough time for a legit field goal try.

Any way you look at this, the Bears,with three straight losses,and with wins by Detroit and Atlanta,are in trouble if they hope to make the playoffs.

NOTES—Hanie was 12-19 for 115 yards and was sacked 4 times for 29 yards. Tebow was 21-40 for 236 yards,1 TD and 1 interception.He was sacked five times for 15 yards.

LES

ROSEMONT—Cleveland Melvin scored a career-high 30 points while Brandon Young added 21, including 20 in the second half, as DePaul broke an 11-game Allstate Arena losing streak with a 102-95 victory over winless Chicago State on Saturday.The Blue Demons (6-3) never trailed and led by 17 points early in the contest. But they struggled against the Cougars’ zone and were outrebounded 49-38. Chicago State had 21 turnovers, which DePaul converted into 26 points.The Cougars (0-9) had five players in double figures, led by guard Matt Samuels’ 20 points. Lee Fisher scored 19, Jeremy Robinson 17, Aaron Williams 15 and Clarke Rosenberg 14.DePaul’s Jeremiah Kelly scored 19, including five 3-pointers, while Jamee Crockett added 11 points.The Blue Demons, who have a 10-0 series lead, were 14-for-31 on 3-pointers.

Marc Brown scored 15 points Saturday to lead UIC to a 62-55 victory over winless Northern Illinois.Daniel Barnes added 12 points and Gary Talton 11 for the Flames (3-5), whose three-game losing streak ended. Hayden Humes grabbed 10 rebounds.Antone Christian and Keith Gray scored 11 apiece for the Huskies (0-8), who had been idle all week for finals.The Flames shot just 38.8 percent (19 of 49), though they did make 8 of 18 from 3-point range, led by four from Barnes.NIU shot 36.4 percent (20 of 55) and was outrebounded 42-34.The Flames led 42-40 when Brown scored five points in a 7-0 run for a 49-40 edge with 7:01 left. The Huskies responded with a 9-1 surge to trail 50-49 with 2:02 to go, but the Flames’ Paris Carter hit consecutive baskets to seal it.NIU is 0-10 on trips to UIC since 1993.

TOLEDO—Ben Averkamp scored a career-high 31 points and hit the game-winning 15-footer at the buzzer to lift Loyola past Toledo 57-55 Saturday.The Ramblers (2-7) ended a three-game skid while the Rockets (6-3) have lost two straight after a six-game winning streak.Loyola led 17-9 when Toledo reeled off 17 straight points, capped by a 3-pointer by Rian Pearson, who finished with 20 points.The Rockets led 33-25 at the break and stretched their advantage to 13 early in the second half.The Ramblers regained the lead at 54-53 with 58 seconds left on a three-point play by Christian Thomas, who had nine points and 13 rebounds. Denzel Brito added a free throw for Loyola, then Julius Brown hit two foul shots with 36 seconds left to tie it. After Reese Holliday blocked Averkamp’s attempt with 3 seconds to go, each team had a turnover before Averkamp’s game-winner.

DePaul started fast, then survived a second-half slump on the way to a 69-58 nonconference victory over Loyola on Wednesday night at Joe Gentile Arena.Moses Morgan scored 13 points, Krys Faber had 12 and Jamee Crockett and Jeremiah Kelly had 11 apiece as the Blue Demons (5-3) ran their series winning streak to 11 over the Ramblers (1-7). DePaul opened up a 47-17 lead just before halftime and extended its lead to 33 points early in the second half. Loyola (1-7) then launched a comeback with a 17-0 run, sparked by six points from forward Walt Gibler, who scored 21 of his career-high 29 points in the second half.The Ramblers got to within nine in the final minute but no closer. Guard Joe Crisman added 14 points for Loyola and Ben Averkamp had 11 rebounds.

CHAMPAIGN—Brandon Paul scored 12 points in the final four minutes Wednesday to keep No. 24 Illinois undefeated with a sloppy 48-43 comeback win over St. Bonaventure.Paul finished off a three-point play to tied it at 41 with 2:39 left and Meyers Leonard gave the Illini (9-0) their first lead since the first half with a pair of free throws shortly afterward.Paul, a junior guard, finished with 17 points. D.J. Richardson added 11 and Leonard had nine points and eight rebounds.Andrew Nicholson led St. Bonaventure (3-4) with 17 points and eight rebounds.Both teams played sloppy on offense and struggled to get good shots for much of the night. The Illini hit just 31.9 percent of their shots and the Bonnies 35.4.St. Bonaventure went up 38-30 with 6:18 to play on a long jump shot by Nicholson.Then, after a 3-pointer by Richardson cut the lead to 39-33, Paul took over.First he hammered home a dunk with 3:58 to play that cut the Bonnies’ edge to 39-35 and revved up what had been a quiet crowd.After a bucket by Demitrius Conger, Paul turned a steal into a layup and, after he was fouled, a three-point play that made the score 41-38.His second three-point play tied the game and Leonard’s free throws gave Illinois its first lead since late in the first half.Down 48-43, St. Bonaventure’s had one last gasp. Nicholson tried a three and missed, and the rebound fell, fittingly, to Paul.Illinois came into Wednesday’s game with a brand-new ranking thanks to its 82-75 upset Sunday over Gonzaga, and nursing one of the last unbeaten records in the country.After the Gonzaga win, Illini coach Bruce Weber said, in effect, that was nice but the real test will be how Illinois responds to what came next.At halftime the Illini were down two, 26-24, and were it not for the five three-pointers they hit it would have been worse.The Bonnies, mostly playing a lineup with no one taller than the 6-foot-9 Nicholson, nullified Illinois’ biggest and, usually, best weapon, Leonard. The 7-1 center had two points in the first 20 minutes to go with two rebounds and three turnovers.Leonard’s only points over that span came on a 12-foot jump shot with 3:37 left in the half that gave Illinois a 24-22 lead, their last until his late free throws.Inside, Leonard was frustrated by Nicholson and forward Da’Quan Cook. All of the Illini, in fact, found the going tough inside.Thirteen of their 21 first-half shots and 15 of their 24 points came from behind the three-point line.St. Bonaventure, meanwhile, methodically worked the ball inside to Nicholson. He had nine points at the half and, along with a dunk by Conger, keyed a 5-0 run that gave the Bonnies a 22-20 lead with 6:18 left in the half.While Leonard struggled with the Bonnies inside, the rest of the Illini lacked an answer for a pestering, high-pressure perimeter defense that forced bad shots and turnovers. Illinois had nine of them in the first 20 minutes. The Illini were better in the second half, finishing with 13 total.

MOREHEAD—Jackie Carmichael scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Illinois State over Morehead State 78-73 on Wednesday night.Jon Ekey added 17 points, Tyler Brown 13 and Nic Moore and John Wilkins chipped in 10 each for the Redbirds (6-3).ISU shot 58.5 percent from the field (24 of 41), and didn’t fare much worse from long. The Redbirds made 54.5 percent from behind the 3-point arc (12 of 22), including 5 of 8 from Ekey.The Redbirds, who led 34-26 at halftime, have won all six of those by 60-plus, while losing the three when they have not reached the 60-piont mark.Marsell Holden scored 21 points to lead Morehead State, which snapped a six-game home winning streak. Ty Proffitt chipped in 18 points and Drew Kelly 11 for the Eagles.Morehead State (4-6) turned it over 15 times, leading to 22 points for Illinois State.