ATLANTA—Larry Drew knew why his Atlanta Hawks blew out the Bulls on Saturday, he just couldn’t explain why they looked so different one night after being beaten handily in Philadelphia.Al Horford had 20 points and 10 rebounds, and every Atlanta starter scored in double figures in a 92-75 win on Saturday. The Hawks (16-9) and Bulls (15-11) played role reversal from their performances on Friday night.Atlanta looked nothing like the squad that lost 99-80 in Philadelphia, and the Bulls didn’t resemble the team that dominated the Knicks in a 110-106 win in New York.Drew said several times that, “energy,” enabled the Hawks to break a two-game losing streak. Trying to figure out how his team had so much of it Saturday and so little Friday was perplexing.It took a while to see a difference in the teams. The Bulls led 21-17 after one quarter, and neither club scored for the first three-plus minutes.The Bulls led 31-28 before Atlanta took off on a 25-6 run over the final 6:58 of the second quarter to build a 53-37 lead by halftime. The Bulls never recovered. From the middle of the second quarter, the Bulls looked as though they were emotionally gassed by the game in New York. The Bulls and Knicks combined for nine technical fouls and four ejections in that one.Luol Deng paced his team with 11 points, and Joakim Noah — who was ejected on Friday — had 10, but they were the only Bulls to score in double figures. Atlanta starters outscored Chicago starters 72-39.The Bulls were outrebounded 45-31.

“Tough loss. The highs and lows of this thing are unbelievable,” Noah said. “One night you feel great because you won a big game, and then the next night you come out with the wrong mindset and you lose. Our energy was bad.”

In his first start for the Hawks, guard Lou Williams scored 11 of his 16 points in the second quarter, when Horford added 10. Atlanta held the Bulls without a fastbreak point in the first half.Like his coach, Horford is not sure how to predict how much energy his team will play with on a given night, but the Hawks center had a partial theory on why Atlanta was pumped up more on Saturday: The Hawks had lost two straight and three of four.Williams started at shooting guard, but began the second quarter playing point guard in place of starter Jeff Teague, and scored 11 points in the period. The Hawks outscored the Bulls 25-6 over the final 6:58 of the half.The third quarter was more of the same as Atlanta built a 72-47 lead.Bulls coach Tom Thibodeux sat his starters in the final period.”We got beat in every facet,” he said after the Bulls two game winning streak was snapped. “Our defense wasn’t any good, our rebounding was poor, and you’re on the road. You’ve got to play 48 minutes. You look at Atlanta, they played [Friday], too. They were on the road. It’s a will game.”

NOTES—Hawks guard Devin Harris missed his third straight game because of a sore left foot…..Marquis Teague entered the game in the third quarter, and was at times matched up against his brother Jeff Teague. The younger Teague scored eight points with three assists. Jeff Teague had 11 points and eight assists….   Atlanta rapper T.I. (Clifford Harris Jr.) performed at halftime…..Former heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield, and singer-songwriter Ne-Yo (Shaffer Chimere Smith) were in the crowd.

ST. LOUIS—After a long wait, Jabari Brown is finally feeling like part of the Missouri basketball program.Making his first start of the season, Brown had 18 points and seven rebounds Saturday to lead the 12th-ranked Tigers to an 82-73 win over No. 10 Illinois in the annual Braggin’ Rights game.Laurence Bowers paced Missouri (10-1) with 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Alex Oriakhi added 13 points and a game-high 14 rebounds. Phil Pressey had 12 points and 11 assists to help the Tigers win their fourth straight in the 32-year-old series.Brown, a transfer from Oregon, became eligible after the first semester and made his initial appearance Monday in a 102-51 win over South Carolina State. Brandon Paul led Illinois (12-1) with 23 points. Tyler Griffey scored 14, Joseph Bertrand had 13 and Nnanna Egwu 12 for the Illini.Missouri used a 9-0 run late in the game to take the lead for good at 70-64. The Tigers held a 58-35 edge on the boards and outscored Illinois 44-24 in the paint. Illinois, which leads the overall series 20-12, won nine meetings in a row from 2000-08 before Missouri began its winning streak.Brown triggered a key 9-0 spurt that erased a three-point deficit and put the Tigers ahead 70-64. He had four points and two rebounds during the 2:31 span.Brown scored from close range off a perfect pass from Earnest Ross to increase the lead to 68-64. Pressey added a short jumper seconds later to complete the run.Oriakhi, who had his fourth double-double of the season, was impressed with Brown’s effort.

“He’s unbelievable. He did a little bit of everything tonight,” Oriakhi said. “I can’t believe he’s fit in so fast. He’s one of us now.”

Brown played in two games at Oregon last season before deciding to transfer. He watched last season’s Braggin’ Rights game from his home in Oakland and was intrigued by the atmosphere, which annually features a sellout crowd with the fans divided equally between the schools.

“I had visited (Missouri) and really hadn’t made a decision, but I thought, if I choose (Missouri), that’s going to be a fun game to play in,” Brown said.

Missouri coach Frank Haith was more than pleased with the performance of his new addition. He immediately moved Brown into the starting lineup after a 12-point performance against South Carolina State, in which Brown excelled defensively.

“It was all about our balance,” Haith said. “And he can do a lot of things.”

The physical game against Illinois featured 19 lead changes, 35 fouls and 43 free throws.

“They’ve got a lot of depth and they’ve got size,” Illinois first-year coach John Groce said. “They’re good now. They’ve got a chance to get even better moving forward.”

The Tigers scored 12 of the final 16 points in the first half to take a 41-35 lead into the break. Illinois reeled off eight unanswered points midway through the second half to go up 51-50 on a driving layup by Tracy Abrams. The Illini took their biggest lead of the second half, 64-61, on a baseline jumper by Egwu with 6:43 remaining.But the Missouri defense took over from there, forcing seven successive Illinois misses. Brown, Ross, Tony Criswell and Pressey chipped in with key baskets. Illinois managed only three field goals in the final 3:29.

NORMAL—Jackie Carmichael had 18 points and 12 rebounds as Illinois State concluded nonconference play with an 83-57 victory over Austin Peay on Saturday.Camichael’s double-double was his fourth of the season and 25th of his career. Tyler Brown added 16 points, John Wilkins had 14 and Jon Ekey 11 for the Redbirds (9-3), who shot 50 percent from the floor. Brown also had a career-best six steals, while Johnny Hill and Kaza Keane each had six assists. Anthony Campbell had 20 points for Austin Peay (4-8), which hit 12 of 24 3-pointers but also turned the ball over 25 times.The game was tied at 23-all when ISU closed the first half on a 21-5 run. Three straight dunks by Brown, Wilkins and Carmichael highlighted the surge, and Austin Peay was scoreless for 3:59 during that stretch.The Governors never got closer than 13 points in the second half.

OXFORD—Will Sullivan scored a career-high 16 points and Miami (Ohio) snapped a four-game losing streak to beat UIC 82-70 on Saturday.Will Felder and Jon Harris each finished with 14 points for the RedHawks (4-6), who sent UIC to its second straight lost after winning eight consecutive. Reggie Johnson had 12 points and Quinten Rollins had five steals.Miami used a 9-0 run early in the first half, capped by Geovonie McKnight’s jumper to give it a 20-9 lead. The RedHawks controlled the rest of the contest, and never trailed in the second half.Felder’s slam dunk gave Miami a 79-65 advantage with 1:40 remaining in the game. The Flames pulled no closer than nine points the rest of the way.Gary Talton scored 15 points for the Flames (9-3). Daniel Barnes finished with 14 points, Joey Miller had 11 points, and Hayden Humes and Josh Crittled added 10 points apiece.

ROSEMONT—Cleveland Melvin scored 24 points and DePaul defeated Maryland-Baltimore County 69-61 Saturday to extend its winning streak to seven games.
Melvin, a Baltimore native, reached double digits in scoring for the 26th consecutive game. He added eight rebounds.The winning streak marks the longest for DePaul (9-3) since the Blue Demons won nine straight during the 1993-94 season.For much of the second half, DePaul held a double-digit lead until six straight points by the Retrievers (2-10) cut the lead to four with 11 minutes to play. DePaul’s Moses Morgan then hit a jumper in the lane and added a free throw for a three-point play.Jamee Crockett stole the ball and Brandon Young made two free throws, and Young found Melvin for an alley-oop to stretch the lead back to 11.Aaron Morgan led UMBC with 15 points.

JERSEY CITY—Ben Averkamp scored 17 points, 13 from the foul line, to lead Loyola to a 54-49 victory over St. Peter’s Saturday.The Ramblers (8-3) won it at the foul line, where they had a huge advantage. Averkamp was a perfect 13 for 13 as St. Peter’s sank 23 of 31 foul shots. St. Peter’s (5-6) went 6 for 19 at the stripe.Both teams started sluggishly, with the Peacocks leading 17-16 at the break despite shooting 29.6 percent (8 for 27, 0 for 4 on treys). Loyola was even worse, making just 5 of 20 from the field and missing 5 of 6 3-pointers.Each team warmed up in the second half, but Loyola rode Averkamp and its foul shooting to the win.Joe Crisman led Loyola with 12 points on 5 for 5 shooting. Yvon Raymond was the lone Peacock in double figures with 17 points.

NEW YORK—Bottled up by the Bulls and baffled by the officials, Carmelo Anthony expected to spend the final minutes of the Knicks’ loss alone in the locker room.Turns out the early exodus of Knicks was just beginning.Coach Mike Woodson and center Tyson Chandler were also ejected from the foul-filled game, and the Bulls beat New York for the second time this season, 110-106 on Friday night.Chandler and Bulls counterpart Joakim Noah were tossed after a fourth-quarter altercation, shortly after Woodson had been ejected following his second technical. He drew a loud ovation during his walk to the back from Knicks fans who angrily booed the officiating for much of the second half.

“I was actually in here, and then I just heard the crowd screaming and yelling, and I walked to the hallway, and Woody was walking back. Then I was actually in the shower, came back and Tyson was sitting right next to me,” Anthony said. “So once I saw that, that’s how the night was going.”

Luol Deng had season highs of 29 points and 13 rebounds for the Bulls despite briefly leaving the game with an injured left shoulder. Marco Belinelli added 22 points as the Bulls won for the fourth time in five games.Anthony finished with 29 points on 10-of-25 shooting, ending his streak of four straight 30-point games. The Knicks lost for the second time in three home games after winning their first 10.Noah finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in completely outplaying Chandler, who took only one shot and was limited to five points and eight boards.Chandler insisted he and Noah didn’t fight and shouldn’t have been ejected from the game that featured nine technicals.

“It was just an ugly game in general and then things contributed from there,” Chandler said.

Kirk Hinrich had 16 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Bulls, who were totally shutting the Knicks down until allowing 45 mostly meaningless points in the fourth quarter after they had led by 25 in the third.

“You get a 25-point lead on the road against a team like this, you’re doing a lot of good things,” Tom Thibodeau said. “I’m disappointed with our approach and discipline in the fourth quarter, starting with my fourth-quarter technical. So we gave up 45 points and that’s not good. That’s not the way we want to close a game.”

The Knicks were held to season lows of 85 points and 32.1 percent shooting in an eight-point loss in Chicago on Dec. 8, when Anthony was sidelined by a cut on his finger that required stitches. Woodson said before the game he thought the Knicks got good shots that night and just missed them, expecting his team would deliver a better performance at home with Anthony in the lineup.Instead, the Knicks were never really in the game on a rare off night from Anthony, the NBA’s second-leading scorer. The score got close in the final minutes, but the outcome had long been decided.Anthony was called for his second technical, earning an automatic ejection, with 6:45 left after he was whistled for a foul on Noah’s offensive rebound and apparently said something to referee Olandis Poole.Once the game got away from the Knicks, so did their emotions, questioning calls that were made or arguing for ones that weren’t. Chandler and Noah were battling for a rebound when they got tangled up and began jawing, and may have even made contact with their heads before they were separated.

“[Things] were definitely escalating, but I don’t think they’re used to being down that much, too,” Noah said. “If they were up 20 points, I don’t think they would have been that frustrated.”

The fans weren’t happy, either. Spike Lee stood a couple of feet behind referee Zach Zarba from his courtside seat in the fourth quarter, staring a hole through Zarba after one call went against the Knicks.The Knicks had much bigger problems than the officiating.They missed 10 of their first 11 shots as the Bulls raced to a 14-2 lead. The advantage grew to 30-17 when Deng made a 3-pointer, and Belinelli followed with a free throw after Anthony was called for a technical foul after arguing a no-call on the other end. New York got it down to 30-23 when J.R. Smith made a 3-pointer at the first-quarter buzzer.

“I think from the jump they were the more physical team from the beginning of the game and it carried out throughout the whole game. It kind of got to us a little bit,” Anthony said. “We reacted rather than coming out from the jump being the more aggressive team and we found ourselves in a hole, and by the time we tried to be aggressive it was a little bit too late at that point in time.”

The Knicks cut it to 42-37 midway through the second quarter before their offense stalled again. The Bulls scored 12 straight points, taking its biggest lead at 54-37 on a free throw by Carlos Boozer with 10.9 seconds remaining, before Anthony stopped the Knicks’ 5-minute scoreless drought with a driving layup with 3.2 seconds to go.Smith had 26 points and 10 rebounds for the Knicks, who fell to 19-7. Their 19 wins through 25 games was bettered only twice in franchise history, when they were 23-2 in 1969-70 and 20-5 in 1972-73. They won the NBA title both times.Deng appeared to hurt his left shoulder in the third quarter when Jason Kidd reached in on him, but returned to the game after using a heating pad on the bench.

NOTES—With Amar’e Stoudemire getting close to returning from left knee surgery, Woodson said he will talk to the forward Saturday about how he is feeling. Stoudemire practiced twice this week with the Knicks’ NBA Development League team so he could scrimmage, since the Knicks weren’t holding full-court practices. Woodson said he wasn’t sure if Stoudemire would be able to play Sunday….The Bulls are 6-1 against the Atlantic Division…..Former Rutgers football player Eric LeGrand was at the game and received a long, loud ovation when a segment about his paralysis was shown on the video board.

HOFFMAN ESTATES—The Chicago Soul picked up their first Home win at Sears Centra and at the same time handed the Baltimore Blast their first defeat of the seaspn,ending their nine-game win streak Friday night 12-10. The Soul took a 10-0 lead in the first quarter, but the Blast fought their way back but were unable to equalize as time ran out.  Defender Pat Healey led the way with two goals for the visitors.

The Soul got off to a quick start, scoring early and often to take the 10-0 lead before Healey’s first goal put the Blast on the scoreboard with just a minute remaining in the first quarter.  Ephraim Beard scored the first goal of the night, putting the Soul on top 2-0 before Eric Lukin added a three-pointer three minutes later to increase the Soul lead to 5-0.  Beard scored again, making it 7-0, and Carlos Munoz scored the Soul’s fourth first-quarter goal to extend the Soul lead to 10-0 before Healey’s goal cut it to 10-2.Adriano Dos Santos and Adauto Neto scored the only goals of the second quarter, cutting the Soul lead to 10-4 and then 10-6.

After 22 scoreless minutes, the Soul converted on a power play when Lukin scored his second goal of the game to which proved to be the game winner,putting the Soul on top 12-6.  J.T. Noone ended the third quarter with a goal to put the Baltimore within four points, 12-8. Healey’s second goal put the Blast within two points with less than 90 seconds remaining but Baltimore’s sixth-attacker offense was unable to score again.

The Soul will host the Missouri Comets next Friday evening at Sears Centre.

EVANSTON—Josh Huestis tied a career-high with 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, Aaron Bright hit the go-ahead 3-pointer and Stanford came away with a wild 70-68 victory over Northwestern on Friday.The Cardinal (8-4) built an 18-point lead in the first half and took a four-point advantage to the locker room after Northwestern (8-4) pulled within one. But they prevailed down the stretch, ending a rough week on a positive note.It included a loss at North Carolina State and the news that prized prospect Jabari Parker of Simeon was headed to Duke, after tabbing Stanford as one of his five finalists.NU’s Tre Demps nailed a 3-pointer and scored in the lane to tie it at 61 with 6:34 remaining. He hit another 3 with 1:50 left to tie it at 67, but Bright immediately answered with one of his own to make it 70-67.

DAYTON—Jackie Carmichael scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as Illinois State held off Dayton 74-73 Wednesday night.The Redbirds (8-3) led 74-67 with 1:59 to go, but the Flyers scored six straight points, capped by Devin Oliver’s layup with 35 seconds left.After ISU’s Johnny Hill missed a free throw with 29 seconds remaining, Dayton (8-3) set up for the final shot. Oliver missed a 3-point attempt with 2 seconds left and teammate Khari Price rebounded, but his one-handed push shot would not fall at the buzzer.Price was in for leading scorer Kevin Dillard, who left the game with 4:19 to go due to back spasms.Tyler Brown added 16 points and Jon Ekey 13 for the Redbirds, who led by 12 points early, but fell behind by four with 9:56 to go before regaining the advantage.Dillard and Dyshawn Pierre led Dayton with 14 points apiece.