EVANSTON—Myke Henry made one of two free throws with 6 seconds left and Meyers Leonard blocked a shot just before the buzzer as Illinois pulled out a 57-56 victory over Northwestern on Wednesday night.Leonard hit a free throw with 29 seconds left to put the Illini up 56-54, but Northwestern’s Drew Crawford tied it on a tip with 17 seconds remaining.After Brandon Paul drove but couldn’t connect, Henry was fouled on a rebound follow-up. He made one free throw but missed the second.Crawford rebounded and tried to drive the length of the floor, but the 7-foot-1 Leonard swatted the shot away.Leonard led the Illini (13-3, 2-1 Big Ten) with 12 points. Paul and Joseph Bertrand added 10 each.Shurna, the Big Ten’s leading scorer at 18.6 for Northwestern (11-4, 1-2), had 17 first-half points but just the three in the second under tough defense from Paul.

LAKE FOREST—A couple of shoes dropped at Halas Hall Tuesday morning. After the Bears saw a one time 7-3 record turn into a five game losing streak and an 8-8 finish which kept them out of the Playoffs for the fourth time in five seasons, Team President Ted Phillips fired General Manager Jerry Angelo after 11 seasons,which included four Division Titles,one NFC Title(and a trip to Super Bowl XVLI)and one other NFC Title game appearance last year. But the lack of solid results in the first two rounds of the Draft helped do in Angelo. Smith is safe for now.

Add to that the dismissal by Coach Lovie Smith of Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz,who’s wierd play calling included preventing Quarterbacks like Jay Cutler from calling audibles, and the de-emphasizing of using Tight Ends to catch passes.

Chairman of the Board George McCaskey said he signed off on the dismissal of Angelo and expressed his continued support for Phillips.

LES

Luol Deng’s layup with 3.7 seconds to play lifted the Bulls to a 76-74 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday night.Derrick Rose scored 17 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter to rally the Bulls from a 19-point deficit. Coming out of a timeout with the score tied in the final seconds, Deng cut along the baseline and took a feed from Joakim Noah to put the Bulls ahead.Atlanta’s Joe Johnson shot an airball at the buzzer, giving the Bulls the win.Deng finished with 19 points for the Bulls.Rose missed a runner with 21 seconds left, but Atlanta’s Jeff Teague missed two free throws. Rose then drove past Teague and scored over the Hawks’ Josh Smith with 9.9 seconds left to put the Bulls up 74-73.Al Horford, who led the Hawks with 16 points, was fouled and split two free throws with 7.7 seconds remaining.Marvin Williams added 14 points and Josh Smith had 13 for Atlanta, which shot just 35 percent from the floor but held the Bulls to 34 percent.The Bulls have won four straight and their 5-1 start is their best since opening 12-0 in 1996-97.Horford scored eight points as Atlanta extended its lead to 19 late in the third before the Bulls scored the last five points in the quarter. The Hawks led 56-42 entering the final period.Rose, last season’s MVP, scored 11 points early in the fourth, including three 3-pointers. His pullup 3 cut Atlanta’s lead to two with 8:15 to play and capped the Bulls’ 20-3 run.Two minutes later, Rose passed to Deng for a 3 in the corner, evening the score at 62 for the game’s first tie.Johnson answered with a 3 of his own to spark a six-point Atlanta run. The Bulls closed the gap to one on a series of free throws by Deng, setting up the stretch run.The Bulls led the NBA in defensive efficiency last season and are in the top 10 again so far this year, but Atlanta began the day leading the league in fewest points allowed. During several stretches of the game, it looked like neither team could score.The Bulls had won three straight coming in and were coming off a 40-point rout of Memphis on Sunday but didn’t lead until Rose’s spectacular crossover move and layup to put the Bulls up 72-71 with 57.9 seconds to play.The Hawks played in a back-to-back game for the third time in the first 10 days of the season and for the fourth time in five nights, all games in different cities.Despite the brutal schedule, the Hawks started fast and led by nine points in the first quarter. Both teams struggled in the second quarter.The Bulls shot 2 for 21 in the period and went more than eight minutes without a field goal during one stretch, missing 14 straight shots.Atlanta led 38-26 at the break as the Bulls scored just three points more than its franchise record for fewest points in a half, set on April 10, 1999, against Miami.

Edmonton coach Tom Renney hopes the NHL will take a close look at Daniel Carcillo’s nasty boarding penalty. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville made it sound like an accident. Everyone agreed it was a crucial play.Ryan Smyth and Taylor Hall scored power-play goals after Carcillo was ejected in the second period, and the Oilers held on for a 4-3 victory on Monday night.Jordan Eberle had two assists for the Oilers, including a perfect backhand pass to Andy Sutton for the tiebreaking score in the second. Former Blackhawks forward Ben Eager added an insurance goal in the third as Edmonton snapped a three-game slide.The Oilers trailed 1-0 when Carcillo launched Tom Gilbert into the boards 7:23 into the second, resulting in a major boarding penalty and a game misconduct.

“I think the hit speaks for itself and the penalty does as well,” Renney said. “At least to this point it’s been addressed and I hope it will be looked into even further.”

Gilbert had a step on Carcillo when the well-known agitator pushed the defenseman, sending him into the air and into the boards behind the Edmonton goal. Both went down after the vicious hit and had to be helped off the ice.

“I can hear the ref screaming from the other corner to be careful, to lay up on him, and he comes in contact and throws him off balance 5 feet from the boards,” Oilers goalie Devan Dubnyk said. “I mean, that’s got to be one of the most dangerous plays in hockey for sure, and both guys end up injured out of it.”

Gilbert left with a lower-body injury. The Oilers also lost prized rookie Ryan Nugent-Hopkins to an upper-body injury earlier in the game, and Renney said he wasn’t sure when either player would return to the ice.Carcillo appeared to be favoring his left leg when he was helped off.Jonathan Toews, Andrew Brunette and Jimmy Hayes scored for Chicago, which had won three of four and 10 of 13. The Blackhawks were looking to avenge a 9-2 loss at Edmonton in their previous meeting Nov. 19, but were hurt by Carcillo’s costly penalty in the second.

“Not happy, that’s for sure,” Patrick Kane said. “It’s a team we should beat. Giving up two on the 5-minute penalty kill changed the momentum of the game. But we still shouldn’t [have] lost to a team like that.”

Hayes’ first career goal in his second game trimmed Edmonton’s lead to 4-3 with 3:49 left. The Blackhawks then got a power-play opportunity when Ryan Jones was sent off for goalie interference, but Dubnyk made a couple of big stops to preserve the victory. Dubnyk finished with 39 saves. Corey Crawford had 26 stops.Smyth tied it at 1 just 16 seconds into the 5-minute power play, whacking the puck in from the right post for his 15th goal.Edmonton then caught a break when Hall appeared to knock down Blackhawks defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson with a stick to the face minutes later. Hjalmarsson appeared to be disoriented while he scrambled to find his stick, and Hall skated to his side and beat Crawford to give the Oilers a 2-1 lead with nine minutes left in the period.Hjalmarsson got a measure of revenge when his slap shot from just inside the blue line was tipped in by Brunette at 12:39, but the Oilers went in front again four minutes later. Eberle made a nice move to find a wide-open Sutton, whose shot from right in front of the goal went into the upper left corner for his second goal.The Hawks dropped to 14-1-1 when scoring first. It also was the fourth regulation home loss for the Blackhawks this season.The Blackhawks struck first during an evenly played first period. Carcillo stole an Edmonton pass just outside the blue line in the Oilers’ end and fed Toews, who slid the puck past a screened Dubnyk for his team-leading 22nd goal at 12:54.Jones had a breakaway opportunity late in the period, but Crawford made a pad save to keep the Hawks in front.

NOTES—Nugent-Hopkins, the top overall pick in last year’s draft, began the day leading NHL rookies with 35 points (13 goals, 22 assists)…..The Blackhawks signed first-round draft picks Mark McNeil and Phillip Danault, announcing the three-year deals with the 18-year-old centers before the game…..McNeil was the 18th selection in last year’s NHL entry draft, and Danault was the No. 26 pick……Steve Montador was scratched with an upper-body injury. He had played in every game this season.

Carlos Boozer scored 17 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and the Bulls easily won their home opener, pounding the Memphis Grizzlies 104-64.Derrick Rose finished with 16 points after a slow start. Ronnie Brewer scored 17 with Richard Hamilton a late scratch because of a groin injury. But with Boozer dominating, the Bulls simply put this one away early.This game was so lopsided that fans started calling for backup Brian Scalabrine in the third quarter, with the outcome clearly in hand. It was, easily, the most dominant performance of the young season for a team with soaring expectations.With their eyes on a championship, Bulls took three of four out West, beating Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers in the opener and capping the trip with a victory over the Clippers.Boozer led the way with 15 points and 11 rebounds as the Bulls built a 54-28 halftime lead, scoring down low and hitting mid-range jumpers as if they were breakaway layups. He had 11 points during a 13-3 second-quarter run that bumped the lead to 48-27.At 4-1, the Bulls are off to their best start since the 1996-97 team won its first 12, and they won this one easily even though Rose shot just 4 of 10 and Luol Deng finished with 11 points.The only downer was Hamilton getting scratched from the lineup and C.J. Watson leaving with a left elbow injury in the fourth quarter after a scramble for a loose ball with Josh Selby near midcourt. They outrebounded the Grizzlies 55-40 and outshot them 46.4 percent to 31 percent.It was simply a brutal night for Memphis, which got just five points from Rudy Gay. Zach Randolph bruised his right knee and scored only two points in 11 minutes. Josh Davis and Sam Young were the only Grizzlies to score in double figures, with 10 points apiece. Jeremy Pargo, who grew up near Rose, hit just 2 of 13 shots and finished with four points filling in for Mike Conley.

NOTES—Conley participated in the morning shootaround and did some pregame work. He said the ankle is improving, but he remains day to day. “I’m going to try to get some more rest for it and get it stronger with a couple of extra days of rehab before I get back on the court.” … Pargo, who is two years older than Rose, deflected questions about their matchup before the game, saying, “I’m excited to play with my teammates and do our best to get a win.” … The Bulls honored the late Maggie Daley with a moment of silence and video tribute before the game. The wife of former mayor Richard M. Daley, she died in November after a lengthy fight with breast cancer.

ROSEMONT—Like an orange swarm, No. 1 Syracuse seemed to be everywhere Sunday.Coach Jim Boeheim’s long-armed and deep team used its lockdown defense and balanced scoring to rout DePaul 87-68 for a 15-0 start.With 7-foot Fab Melo altering numerous shots and blocking six others, the Orange took control in the first half, built a 19-point lead and then coasted.Kris Joseph, scoreless in his previous game, a victory over Seton Hall to open Big East play, had 22 points Sunday night as the Orange (15-0, 2-0 Big East) got their fast break going and consistently drove for layups.C.J. Fair added 16 points, Dion Waiters had 13 and Melo scored 12.Syracuse opened 18-0 last season and the Orange’s best start under Boeheim was 19 straight wins to kick off 1999-2000.But no matter the opponent, they will have to contend with a team that loses little when it substitutes, one that shares the ball and plays a confining 2-3 defense.DePaul (9-4, 0-1) had its five-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 3-18 all-time facing No. 1-ranked teams. Cleveland Melvin led the Blue Demons with 23 points.Syracuse held DePaul to 30.8 shooting in the first half — 0 for 8 on 3-pointers — and blocked five shots, three by Melo. The Orange shot 65.5 percent and had a 19-9 rebounding edge in opening a 45-26 lead.Playing its first game since Dec. 21, DePaul chopped the lead to 16 midway through the second half but could never make a serious run. When Melo’s block led a runout and Syracuse pushed the lead to 85-57 with about 4 minutes left, some of the crowd at the Allstate Arena started to head for the exits.

EVANSTON—Drew Crawford scored 21 points Sunday night, reaching the 1,000-point milestone for his Northwestern career, and the Wildcats snapped a two-game losing streak with a 68-56 victory over Penn State.Crawford, a junior forward, is the 31st Northwestern player to top 1,000 career points and is the 17th to reach the mark in just three seasons.Dave Sobolewski scored a career-high 20 points while John Shurna added 17 for the Wildcats (11-3, 1-1 Big Ten).Tim Frazier led Penn State (8-7, 0-2) with 16 points. Jermaine Marshall had 14 and Cammeron Woodyard added 11 for the Nittany Lions.Crawford, who has 1,002 career points, hit the milestone with a 3-pointer with 10:07 remaining.Both teams resume Big Ten play later this week. Northwestern is home on Wednesday against Illinois.

MINNEAPOLIS—This was one painful win for the Bears at the end of an injury-ravaged season.Charles Tillman’s interception return in the second quarter gave the Bears the lead for good, and they finished the season by stopping their five-game losing streak with a 17-13 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday despite 3½ sacks by Jared Allen.Allen finished the season with 22 sacks, behind Michael Strahan’s mark of 22½ for the New York Giants in 2001. Joe Webb relieved Christian Ponder at quarterback for the Vikings (3-13) for the third time in the last month, but the wild-scrambling Webb wasn’t able to do enough to keep the Vikings from matching the worst record in franchise history, set first in 1984.The Vikings got the ball back with no timeouts at their own 6-yard line and 1:51 left, but D.J. Moore’s interception his own 29 sealed the game and kept the Bears (8-8) from a losing record. Brian Urlacher played hard to the end, unfortunately for him and the Bears. His left knee bent awkwardly in the end zone while trying to break up a pass with 5:15 left, causing enough pain for him to briefly cover his face with his hand. But he was able to walk off the field without assistance.Lovie Smith said after the game that it was a sprain,but more information is yet to come once the Bears return home.Fill-in quarterback Josh McCown was sacked seven times.Though the circumstances were so much different on this day, the Vikings came full circle with another loss to McCown. He filled in for the Arizona Cardinals in the 2003 season finale and knocked Minnesota out of a playoff spot with a stunning heave into the end zone on the final snap.McCown certainly wasn’t the quarterback the Bears and their fans wanted to see in Week 17. But that’s the way this frustrating season unraveled after Jay Cutler broke the thumb on his throwing hand with a 7-3 record and the postseason well within reach. Running back Matt Forte sprained his right knee two weeks later, and the Bears stumbled into this meaningless matchup.Despite having Allen in his face all day, McCown he went 15 for 25 for 160 yards and a second-quarter touchdown pass to Roy Williams. The Bears have won five straight in this series, their longest streak against the Vikings since winning six in a row from 1983-86.Ponder went 4 for 10 for 28 yards before aggravating a hip injury. Webb, who rallied the Vikings to victory last week at Washington and brought them within 1 yard of the same at Detroit on Dec. 11, went 17 for 32 for 200 yards and two interceptions. He netted only 2 yards on 4 rushes. Toby Gerhart carried 15 times for 67 yards for the Vikings before leaving with an injury to his left knee.The Vikings had their share of gaffes familiar to this at-times-woeful season. Most notable was Ponder’s 13th interception, a poorly thrown pass behind Gerhart that bounced off the running back’s hands and into the arms of Tillman for an untouched 22-yard return. That was the third pick six in the last five games against Ponder, the first-round draft pick who took over as the starter for the seventh game of the season.Jamarca Sanford dropped an interception inside Bear territory when Earl Bennett played defense by banging into him, and McCown promptly moved the Bears 90 yards in the next seven plays for their first touchdown.Webb took a 10-yard loss on one of his wild scrambles instead of throwing the ball away on third-and-4 at the 20, moving Ryan Longwell’s field goal attempt back to 48 yards. Julius Peppers blocked, it preserving a 14-10 lead. Longwell made a pair of 26-yarders in the first half, but a high snap and a dropped hold led to another botched field goal in the second half.The Bears were giving, too. E.J. Henderson forced two fumbles in the first half, setting up the Vikings for 10 points, including a 5-yard touchdown run by Harvin, who has scored 24 times over his three-year career.Sanford recovered the second fumble and celebrated like the Vikings were trying to clinch the division title, running along the sideline where the baseball diamond used to be and into the end zone to encourage the crowd. Despite a number of glaring deficiencies and a couple of embarrassingly lopsided losses down the stretch, the Vikings didn’t quit at the end of former Bear Leslie Frazier’s first full season as head coach, coming awfully close to several more victories.By losing they ensured themselves the third slot in the first round of the draft. While Smith and Bears players could care less,the Bears hurt their draft location with this meaningless win.