HOFFMAN ESTATES—The Chicago Soul (2-6) faced a devastating loss to the Rochester Lancers (4-3) in their home opener on Friday night at the Sears Centre Arena. After hanging close in the first half and dominating most of the second, the Soul were stunned by a late Lancer rally that featured a game-winner by Mauricio Salles in the final seconds, and the Soul was forced to accept a 13-11 defeat to Rochester.

The first half proved to be a back-and-forth battle as both teams took turns getting their side on the board. The Soul struck first with Carlos Muñoz finding the net early on to make it 2-0. The Lancers quickly evened the playing field on a goal by Jeremy Ortiz. Chicago answered right back when Christian Meza blasted the ball past Rochester goalkeeper Gavin McInerney, making it a 4-2 Soul advantage. The Lancers came up with an answer of their own on the other end as Salles netted one in to tie it up at 4-4. Bato Radoncic put the Soul back on top 6-4, but Rochester’s Doug Miller tied the score up once again, and both squads headed to the locker rooms at six a piece.

The Soul opened up third quarter scoring with Meza’s second goal of the night on a power play advantage, and they took an 8-6 lead. Meza then struck again, this time from the three-point range, to complete his hat trick and extend the Soul’s lead to 11-6.Ortiz managed to close the gap in the fourth quarter with a goal for the Lancers, making it an 11-8 Soul advantage. Rochester then pulled Ortiz in as a sixth attacker, and Stephen Basso was able to score to make it a one-point game. Salles put the game away with 11 seconds remaining, firing in a three-pointer to put the Lancers on top 13-11.

“We have to learn how to put the game away,” said Soul Head Coach Manny Rojas. “We had the score in our favor near the end, and we failed to maintain and capitalize. We missed a lot of opportunities on our end. I think it came down to a matter of confidence. We lost it, and now we have to find a way to get it back if we want to turn things around.”

The Soul will look to make a quick turnaround as they head back out on the road on Sunday. The squad will travel to Kansas City to take on the Missouri Comets. Kickoff is set for 3:10 p.m. CT.

CLEVELAND—The Bulls got a boost from an unexpected source Wednesday night. Marco Belinelli, starting his second successive game in place of injured shooting guard Richard Hamilton, scored a season-high 23 points and the Bulls took control early on to beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 95-85. Belinelli helped the Bulls bounce back from a four-point home loss to Indiana on Tuesday, a game in which he scored only six points in 24 minutes. He looked like a different player against the Cavaliers, going 7 for 15 from the field.

“Marco scored in different ways tonight,” Tom Thibodeau said. “He drove, he got to the line, he was able to catch-and-shoot. He’s a very good catch-and-shoot player, so we wanted to play off that. Each day, he’s playing better.”

“It was good for me to get going early, and my teammates looked to find me, which was good,” Belinelli said. “I was just going to be aggressive and keep trying my best.”

Luol Deng added 22 points for the Bulls, who went ahead for good less than two minutes in and shot 66.7 percent in the first quarter. The Cavaliers have lost 13 of 15 and are 2-7 since point guard Kyrie Irving broke his left index finger last month. Anderson Varejao recorded his 10th consecutive double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds — his 10th consecutive game with at least 15 boards. Cleveland played without Irving and Dion Waiters, its two leading scorers. Waiters missed his second successive game with a sprained left ankle. Irving, the reigning rookie of the year, averages 22.9 points and Waiters 15.2.

“We’ve got to play a damn near perfect game on both ends of the floor,” Cavaliers coach Byron Scott said. “The effort has been great. It was great tonight. We’re just going to keep working. That’s the only thing we can do.”

Donald Sloan scored a season-high 14 points to lead Cleveland. All five Bulls starters reached double figures. Joakim Noah had 13 points and 15 rebounds, Kirk Hinrich scored 11, and Carlos Boozer had 10 points and 12 boards. Cleveland has dropped 10 consecutive games against the Bulls Both teams were shorthanded in the backcourt. The Bulls again played without Hamilton, who sustained a left plantar fascia tear in Saturday’s game against Philadelphia. He missed Tuesday’s and could be sidelined for two weeks. The Bulls, who moved one game over .500, have played the entire season without Derrick Rose, who underwent reconstructive surgery on his left knee during last season’s playoffs.

“It takes time, but we’re getting there,” Deng said. “We’ve got a lot of guys who are new to the system.”

While the Bulls, who had the best regular-season record in the Eastern Conference a year ago, can withstand injuries to key players, the Cavaliers aren’t at that stage. Scott, however, won’t use injuries as an excuse.

“It’s the NBA,” he said. “We’re not the only team going through having some guys who are hurt that you wish were out there. We’ll play the guys we have available. We’re not going to cry about the guys who aren’t here.”

Cleveland was plagued by a slow start for the second straight game. The Cavaliers led 4-3, but it didn’t take long for the Bulls to seize control. The Bulls led 19-8 with just over four minutes to play in the quarter. The Bulls were 12 of 18 from the field in the period and led 27-11 going into the second quarter.Cleveland trailed 30-17 after one quarter in Tuesday’s loss to Detroit. The Bulls built a 45-27 lead, but the Cavaliers scored the last eight points of the quarter to trail by 10 at halftime. Cleveland briefly cut the lead to five and trailed 72-63 going into the fourth quarter. The Bulls maintained a double-figure lead for most of the final period.Noah was hit with a technical for arguing a foul call against teammate Taj Gibson in the fourth quarter. Cleveland guard Jeremy Pargo was also given a technical for throwing the ball off Belinelli’s face later in the quarter. Belinelli fouled Pargo going to the basket, after which Pargo tossed the ball behind him, hitting the Bulls player.

NOTES—The Bulls haven’t lost a regular-season game to the Cavaliers since March 19, 2010. Cleveland beat the Bulls in the first round of the playoffs that season….The Bulls, in a stretch of four games in five nights, plays at Detroit on Friday…..Cleveland travels to Minnesota on Friday.

Brandon Young scored 21 points, and a renewed defensive effort in the second half allowed DePaul to overcome a 14-point deficit Wednesday and beat Chicago State 74-64.On the day Chicago State announced it will join the Western Athletic Conference in 2013, the Cougars nearly delivered an upset win against their crosstown foe. Chicago State (2-8) shot 53 percent in the first half, including 4 of 8 on 3-point attempts, to help build a 44-30 halftime lead.DePaul (5-3) couldn’t have played much worse in the first half. The Blue Demons committed 12 turnovers – finishing with 21 for the game – and shot only 30 percent from the field.CSU went cold and put up an ugly shooting performance in the second half. The Cougars went 5 of 26 from the field and did not make a shot until Matt Ross’ layup with 11:39 remaining.

Hayden Humes had 21 points to lead UIC to its sixth straight victory, an 81-43 win over Roosevelt, on Wednesday night.Humes, who was 5 of 6 from 3-point range and 8 for 9 overall, also had seven rebounds for the Flames (7-1). He was joined in double-figure scoring by Daniel Barnes and Gary Talton, with 11 points apiece, and Ahman Fells who scored 10. Talton also had eight assists.Jeremiah Jackson had 11 points and 12 rebounds for the Lakers. Roosevelt, a member of the NAIA, played this game as an exhibition.UIC led 34-12 at halftime. The Flames were coming off a 50-44 win at Northwestern on Saturday.

DEKALB—Aksel Bolin scored 15 points to lead Northern Illinois to a 65-54 win over SIU-Edwardsville on Wednesday night.Bolin was 7 of 10 from the field. Sam Mader scored 11 points, and Travon Baker had 10. Keith Gray had five rebounds for the Huskies (3-5).SIU-Edwardsville had a brief lead early in the first half. Sam Nader scored on a jumper at the 12:12 mark, putting the Huskies up by one, and they would never trail again. At halftime, they were up 36-25. The Huskies made 22 points off turnovers. They shot 52 percent from the field for the game, while the Cougars shot 39.5 percent.Jerome Jones led the Cougars (2-4) with 19 points. Kris Davis added 16. Derian Shaffer had seven rebounds.The win broke a three-game losing streak for Northern Illinois.

BOWLING GREEN, Ky.—T.J. Price scored 17 points and Western Kentucky held on to defeat Southern Illinois 58-57 Wednesday night in a nonconference game.The Hilltoppers (7-2) never trailed and led by as many as 10 points, 36-26, after starting the second half with a jumper by Jamal Crook.Southern Illinois (4-2) cut the lead to one point four times in the final 5 minutes – twice on jumpers by Desmar Jackson – but could never quite catch up. Two free throws by Kevin Kaspar, a tip-in by O’Karo Akamune and a jumper by Crook helped keep the Salukis at bay.After free throws by Jackson and Kendal Brown-Surles cut it to a point for the final time with 48 seconds remaining, Kaspar’s missed free throw gave the Salukis the ball back, but Jackson missed with 10 seconds left and again at the buzzer.Jackson led SIU with 22 points.

CHARLESTON—Adam Link scored 15 points and Ceola Clark added 14 as Western Illinois defeated Eastern Illinois 57-45 on Wednesday night.Terrell Parks had 11 points, eight rebounds and six blocked shots for the Leathernecks (6-3).Malcolm Herron led the Panthers (3-7), with eight points, and three players added seven points each.A 20-4 run during a second-half stretch of 9:58 gave Western Illinois control.Parks had seven points and Jack Houpt keyed the rally. Eastern Illinois shot 2 for 8 from the floor and had five turnovers during the stretch, which gave the Leathernecks a 49-38 cushion with 2:30 remaining.Houpt had nine points.

After laying a goose-egg his last time out, Paul George scored 34 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Indiana Pacers to an 80-76 win over the Bulls on Tuesday night. Roy Hibbert added 10 points, 11 rebounds and a game-saving block for Indiana, which closed a four-game road trip with three victories.The Bulls, who failed to win three straight for the first time this season, were able to keep David West, Indiana’s leading scorer, in check — but George picked up the slack. George scored 10 points in the first quarter, highlighted by a thunderous dunk as George Hill’s 3-point attempt bounced up off the back of the rim. It was George’s best performance since scoring a career-high 37 points Nov. 21 against New Orleans. George went scoreless Saturday at Golden State, missing all seven of his shots.

“I’m always my worst critic,” George said. “When we got back, we had the day off and I knew that I needed to work. I headed over to the gym, put up 500 shots, mixed it up from floaters to mid-range to 3-pointers. That’s something that’s got to be a routine for me.”

Up two points in the closing seconds, Hibbert was the recipient of a controversial no-call that sent the home crowd into a frenzy. Luol Deng drove along the base line and was rejected by Hibbert, falling to the floor as West grabbed the rebound to send the Pacers back to the line to ice the game. Hibbert stayed in Indiana over the summer to work on defense with his coaches. Coach Frank Vogel was ecstatic to see it pay off.

“You’re allowed to jump straight up,” Vogel explained. “No matter where you are, you’re allowed to jump straight up and absorb contact.”

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau saw it differently.

“In my eyes, [Deng] got wiped out,” Thibodeau said. “I’m not going to put it on the officials. We’ve still got to get it done. Tough call went against us.”

Hibbert had little offensive impact in the first half, scoring two points, but used his size to take over in the third quarter when Indiana outscored the Bulls 25-18. Then he put the game away with his defense.

“I do that all the time,” Hibbert said about the play on Deng. “I jump straight up and take the contact. I play defense. That’s my staple. If my offense isn’t going, I always have to play defense. I want to make the all-defensive team this year.”

Hibbert has blocked at least two shots in 12 straight games.Nate Robinson fired up the crowd with a trio of baskets on successive possessions midway through the fourth quarter to give the Bulls their first lead since early in the third, but the Bulls could not pull it out, thanks in part to 19 turnovers. Robinson came off the bench and scored 19 points, and Carlos Boozer notched his seventh double-double in nine games with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

“Something we have to do is take care of the ball down the stretch,” Robinson said. “For this loss, I definitely take the blame. Down the stretch I have to be smarter with the ball and make the right plays and execute.”

Three of Robinson’s four turnovers came in the fourth quarter. West reached double-digits for a ninth straight game for Indiana, but his 10 points were a far cry from the 23 he had averaged over his last six games. Indiana shot 31.6 percent from the floor in the first half, including 1 of 5 from behind the arc. The Pacers continued to struggle from long range, hitting 2 of 10 attempts, but tightened up inside, shooting over 40 percent in the second half.The Bulls shot 38.4 percent from the floor.Both teams struggling from the field was little surprise, as Indiana (90.9 points allowed per game) and the Bulls (94.4) came into the contest boasting two of the top-five defenses in the NBA. Marco Belinelli scored six points with an assist and a turnover in his first start for the Bulls, playing in place of the injured Richard Hamilton. Hamilton is out indefinitely after suffering a torn plantar fascia in his left foot during Saturday’s 93-88 win over Philadelphia.Hamilton’s injury left the Bulls even thinner at the guard position, with former MVP Derrick Rose sidelined due to surgery in May to repair a torn ACL in his left knee.

NOTES—Rose was seen shooting around at the United Center earlier Tuesday, but Thibodeau remained stalwart in his preseason resolution to avoid talking about Rose’s rehab at length. `’Derrick’s focused on his rehab, we’re focused on our improvement and our opponent. So he’s doing fine,” Thibodeau said….Vogel acknowledged F/C Tyler Hansbrough’s struggle to adjust to decreased minutes. Hansbrough came in averaging just 6.5 points per game and went scoreless on Saturday against Golden State, missing all five field goal attempts. `’He’s got to figure it out,” Vogel said.

WACO—Reggie Hearn had 17 points with 10 rebounds and Northwestern snapped a two-game losing streak with a 74-70 win Tuesday night at Baylor, which was coming off a win at Kentucky.Hearn made two layups for the Wildcats when they opened the second half with an 11-1 run. Northwestern (7-2) barely hung on after building an 18-point lead.Baylor (5-3) was within 70-67 when Pierre Jackson made two free throws with 23 seconds left after a midcourt turnover by Northwestern on an inbound pass. Dave Sobolewski made a free throw with 17 seconds left after Northwestern had missed six free throws in a row.Jackson had 18 points to lead Baylor, which lost its second home game in a row.Drew Crawford had 19 points for NU.

CHAMPAIGN—No. 13 Illinois survived a scare from Western Carolina on Tuesday.The Illini broke a late tie and pulled away for a 72-64 victory against Western Carolina.The Catamounts forced a 54-54 tie with 5:53 left. Guard D.J. Richardson hit 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions for a 62-56 lead for the Illini. After a Western Carolina turnover, Illini guard Tracy Abrams made two free throws and added a basket on the following possession for a 66-56 lead.

“One area where we did get it done is we were able to win the game because we were able to make big plays,” Illinois coach John Groce said.

Guard Brandon Paul led Illinois with 14 points, but was 5 for 15 from the field. Richardson scored 13 points with all of his three baskets coming from behind the 3-point line. Abrams finished with 10 points and three assists. The Illini (9-0) play at No. 10 Gonzaga on Saturday. It’s the Illini’s first meeting against a ranked opponent.

“I’ve been told (Gonzaga coach Mark Few) thinks it’s his best team,” Groce said. “That’s a great environment. It’s an exciting challenge, a national TV game against a top 10 team.”

The Illini played for the first time in six days after logging eight games early, including a four-game swing through Hawaii.But the Illini’s biggest game to date came against Butler. Illinois beat the unranked Bulldogs for the Maui Invitational title. Guard Preston Ross led Western Carolina with 17 points. Guard Brandon Boggs added 16 points off the bench. Guard James Sinclair had 13 points and eight rebounds. Western Carolina (3-6) managed 27 percent shooting while losing 14 turnovers in the first half. The Catamounts kept the game close despite 22 turnovers with 6-of-10 shooting from the 3-point line in the second half.

“I like Illinois’ team,” Western Carolina coach Larry Hunter said. “They’ve got a lot of good pieces to the puzzle.”

Illinois was 3 of 14 from the field to start the game before the Illini stretched the advantage to 32-22 at halftime on a 15-8 run to end the half.

“You have to have a better start, a better first half,” Richardson said. “We always play half a game and have spurts where we play good and spurts where we play bad. We have to be tough. They out-toughed us.”

Western Carolina fell to 1-14 all time against teams from the Big Ten Conference after finishing a seven-game road trip.

“I like my basketball team, too,” Hunter said. “We’re very tired. We played seven straight games all over the place. I’ve got guys with a lot of heart. They displayed that a year ago.”

The game between Illinois and Western Carolina also served as a reunion for Hunter and Illini assistant Dustin Ford, who played for Hunter at Ohio and coached under him at Western Carolina. Ford worked at Western Carolina for three seasons, concluding in 2008. He then returned to Ohio, where he joined Groce’s staff before moving with Groce to Illinois before this season.