ROSEMONT—Worrel Clahar scored 19 points to lead DePaul to a 75-69 victory over Rutgers on Saturday, snapping the Blue Demons’ nine-game losing streak. Brandon Young added 16 points and Cleveland Melvin had 15 for the Blue Demons (11-14, 2-10 Big East).The Blue Demons’ last win was at Providence on Jan. 5. They’re 1-5 at home in the Big East.Myles Mack led the Scarlet Knights (13-11, 4-9) with 28 points.Young’s layup gave the Blue Demons their largest lead, 58-48, with 9:08 left. Mack scored Rutgers’ next 16 points and the Scarlet Knights led 66-64 with 2:42 left. Clahar made a layup, Charles McKinney hit a free throw and Clahar completed a three-point play to give DePaul a 70-66 lead with 1:37 remaining.Jerome Seagears’ 3-pointer cut DePaul’s lead to 72-69 with 20 seconds left. Clahar made a free throw and Melvin sealed the win with a dunk.

Jonathan Toews felt he had to stand up for himself, so he skated up to Joe Thornton, jabbed him with his stick and then dropped his gloves.The Blackhawks responded to the rare fight for their captain. The sliding San Jose Sharks just went down again.Marcus Kruger and Andrew Shaw scored during A  strong second period, and the NHL-leading Blackhawks beat the Sharks 4-1 on Friday night for their fifth win in six games. Dave Bolland and Niklas Hjalmarsson also scored for the Blackhawks, who remain the league’s only team without a regulation loss. Jamal Mayers had two assists and backup Ray Emery made 27 saves for his fourth win in four starts this season.
“Everything was good tonight,” Toews said. “The penalty kill was huge in the first period, with the big 4-minute penalty kill we had to kill. Big goal by Bolly after that, and I think that just set the tone for the night with that penalty kill.”
The Blackhawks were forced to play a man short after Toews and Thornton got into it with about 4 1/2 minutes left in the first. The star centers locked up for a minute before Thornton dragged Toews to the ice and the linesmen skated in.
“He asked me to fight and I was kind of shocked,” said Thornton, who became San Jose’s captain in 2010. “I said, `Sure.’ That’s how it went. He’d hit me from behind, but it wasn’t anything serious. Then he just asked me to fight, so I obliged.
“Hopefully the guys could rally after it. They didn’t, but we’ll be back. What do you do? They want to fight, so sure, I’ll fight.”
Toews received 2 minutes for boarding, 2 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct and a 5-minute fighting major. Thornton got 5 minutes for fighting. But the Sharks were unable to take advantage of the resulting power play.
“There’s always little things, players that are going to be chipping at you and trying to get under your skin,” Toews said. “I think the rest is history right now. Like I said, I felt it was something I needed to do, stand up for myself, and I did it and glad I did it. I think it helped our team.”
San Jose has dropped seven in a row after getting off to a 7-0 start. Three of the losses have come in a shootout or overtime.Tim Kennedy scored his first goal of the season for the Sharks (7-4-3), and Antti Niemi had 33 saves against his former team.
“Tonight, let’s face it: One team was fast, moved pucks, attacked,” San Jose coach Todd McLellan said. “Another team bobbled pucks and misplayed them and was slow. Simple as that. We haven’t been that way all seven games.”
Each of the Blackhawks’ first three goals came on rebounds, including an ugly gaffe by Niemi in the second period.Bolland skated toward the goal in the final minute of the first and let loose with a low shot that Niemi stopped with his right leg. But the deflection trickled off Niemi’s left arm and Bolland tucked it into the open net while the veteran goalie frantically tried to find the puck.The Blackhawks increased the lead to 2-0 at 3:05 in the second, taking advantage when Niemi whiffed on Kruger’s bouncing shot from just inside center ice. The puck bounced off the inside of the right post and slid across to the left side, where Kruger shot it into the open net as Niemi turned around in a full circle.After Kennedy got the Sharks within one, Jason Demers was sent off for roughing against Patrick Sharp and the Blackhawks made the most of the power-play opportunity. Shaw’s first rebound try was stopped by Niemi, but his second attempt popped up and went in off the goalie’s back to make it 3-1 with 5:20 left in the period.The Blackhawks (11-0-3) outshot the Sharks 17-8 in the second.
“That gritty attitude is contagious,” said Emery, pointing to Toews’ fight in the first. “We have a very skilled team and guys who can put the puck in the net, but when guys are willing to fight for it, it adds to that other element.”
The lone bright spot for San Jose was Kennedy’s first goal since Oct. 22, 2011, against the New York Islanders. The 26-year-old forward took a pass from Logan Couture on the left side, skated in on Emery and went to his backhand for the pretty score 5 minutes into the second.

NOTES—The NHL record for a season-opening point streak by one team is 16 games by Anaheim in 2006-07…..It was believed to be the first fight for Toews since December 2011, and the first skirmish for Thornton in about a year…..Corey Crawford is day to day with an undisclosed upper-body injury, so the Blackhawks promoted Henrik Karlsson from Rockford of the American Hockey League to serve as the backup to Emery….Niemi helped the Blackhawks win the Stanley Cup in 2010.

COLUMBUS—Usually, the two certainties at Ohio State each winter are snow and a win whenever Northwestern comes to town.For 37 minutes that certainly wasn’t the case Thursday night.Deshaun Thomas scored 11 of his 22 points in the last 7 minutes and the 13th-ranked Buckeyes used a late 12-0 run to hold off the short-handed Wildcats 69-59.It was their 32nd consecutive home win against the Wildcats, dating o Feb. 24, 1977 — when another big underdog, “Rocky,” would win the Oscar for Best Picture and Jimmy Carter was in the White House.But it certainly didn’t come easy.

“I’m not one for big meetings and speeches,” Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said. “I just said, `You guys have been in a lot of situations where you’re underdogs and no one thought you had a chance. Go out there and play your tails off and if you do that, you get people’s respect. I thought they did that.”

They certainly did.The Wildcats (13-12, 4-8 Big Ten), with just seven healthy scholarship players, led by six points in the first half, by four with under 7 minutes left and were dead even with a ranked opponent on its own court with just over 3 minutes remaining.

“We got down five there at 48-43, but I told the players, `You can’t panic,”‘ Ohio State (18-6, 8-4) coach Thad Matta said.. “It was all going to come down to our defense.”

The defense did its job, limiting the Wildcats — who were 11 of 26 on 3-pointers — to no long-distance shots in the waning moments.Thomas did the rest.Ohio State rallied by scratching and clawing inside and on the boards for points, finally grabbing a lead.Tre Demps, who was 4 of 6 behind the arc in scoring 16 points for Northwestern, drilled one from the right wing to tie it again with 3:24 remaining as an uneasy crowd of 15,842 at Value City Arena held its collective breath.But then Thomas scored in traffic and drew the fifth foul on Kale Abrahamson with 3:03 left.Reggie Hearn, who added 12 points for the Wildcats, drove from the left side and his shot, which could have tied it, instead sat tantalizingly on the back of the iron for a full 2 seconds before finally falling off.At the other end, Aaron Craft, who had seven points, three rebounds and six assists, then drove through the heart of the Northwestern defense and, shifting hands in midair, flipped in a left-handed layup to push the lead to 61-57 with 1:52 remaining.

“I found a lane and I was able to get it up on the backboard and usually that’s very friendly,” Craft said. “I beat the shot clock and fortunately it went in. We were doing a great job of rebounding. Even if I would have missed it we had guys in position to rebound the ball anyway.”

Now the Wildcats, who had frustrated Ohio State’s defense all game by making from the perimeter, could not find the range. After another miss, Thomas was fouled — Mike Turner’s fifth — and he banged in both free throws. Sam Thompson then added two baskets in the final minute before Thomas made two more foul shots to complete the 12-point assault.

FARGO—Terell Parks scored 13 points and pulled down 15 rebounds Thursday night, helping Western Illinois dominate the second half of a 49-36 victory over North Dakota State and hold onto first place in the Summit League.Adam Link had 14 points for the Leathernecks (19-5, 11-2), who stayed a half-game ahead of South Dakota State and moved 1 1/2 games ahead of the Bison (19-7, 10-4). Western Illinois plays at SDSU on Saturday.Lawrence Alexander and TrayVonn Wright scored 10 apiece for the Bison, whose point total was their lowest ever at Bison Sports Arena, which opened in 1970.NDSU closed the first half on a 10-0 run to lead 22-17 at halftime, but WIU scored 13 straight points just after halftime to go ahead for good. The Bison pulled within 35-31 on Alexander’s free throws with 4:14 left, but the Leathernecks scored the next eight points to seal the victory.

BOSTON—Boston Celtics coach Doc Rivers offered Kevin Garnett the night off to get him the rest he’s losing by playing in this weekend’s All-Star Game. Good thing for the Celtics and bad for the slumping Bulls that Garnett turned it down. The All-Star center scored eight of his 12 points in the fourth quarter and added 11 rebounds to help the Celtics overcome historically poor shooting and beat the Bulls 71-69 on Wednesday night.

“I’m seeing everybody in here playing through everything. I’m no different from that,” said Garnett, who played 26 minutes. “Everybody’s tired. I felt like that was unfair. If he wasn’t going to give everybody the night off, then that wasn’t an option. I just came out and gave what I could.”

Paul Pierce went only 2 for 12 from the floor, but he hit a 3-pointer that bounced around the rim and in to give Boston a five-point lead with 3 minutes to play. The Celtics shot just 36.8 percent but still had the advantage over the Bulls, who made just 36.5 percent of their shots.

“I told them before the game I wasn’t going to play Kevin much and there was a chance I may not play him,” said Rivers, who had wanted to leave Garnett home for Monday’s game in Charlotte but got talked into playing him there. “I told them it’s going to be an ugly game. … And this is before the game.

Joakim Noah had 10 points and 16 rebounds, and Carlos Boozer had 11 and 11 for Chicago. Reserve Marco Belinelli added 12 points in under 20 minutes for the Bulls.The Celtics scored 19 points in the second and third quarters combined, tying for third-lowest in NBA history and setting a franchise record for the fewest points in consecutive quarters since the shot clock era began. Their 71 points was the third-least in a win since the 24-second clock was added in 1954-55. The teams now break for All-Star weekend, then the Celtics begin a five-game road trip and do not return to TD Garden until March 1. The Bulls resume their season Tuesday night at New Orleans.

“The last game before the All-Star break is a strange game,” Rivers said. “You’ve got half the guys who are tired, you’ve got a group of guys who are already in the Dominican Republic. And then you have banged-up guys. So you have a lot of things going on in that game, and you could see it.”

Garnett made a turnaround bank shot to give Boston a 67-62 lead, then he went to the floor for a steal as both teams got sloppy. Three misses later, Luol Deng scored from the lane with 49 seconds left then the Bulls forced a five-second call on Boston’s attempt to inbound from a timeout. Belinelli came off a screen for a layup that made it a one-point game, and the Bulls defense almost forced a shot-clock violation but Brandon Bass dished to Garnett in the final seconds and he quickly put up a jumper that made it 69-66.Boozer tipped in Nate Robinson’s missed 3-pointer, then Pierce hit a pair of free throws to again make it a three-point game.Robinson went to the foul line with 6.2 seconds to play, making the first and missing the second on purpose. Belinelli got the rebound and put up a 3-point attempt that was blocked by Jason Terry. Taj Gibson grabbed it and fired up another 3 that fell short as the buzzer sounded.

“We definitely need a break right now,” Noah said. “It’s been a long first half of the season, and we just need to regroup because we’re not playing very well right now.”

The Celtics opened a 20-9 lead in the first quarter but gave up 10 of the first 13 points in the second to cut a nine-point lead to a basket. The Bulls went ahead midway through the second and had a 36-35 lead at the half.Boston scored just eight points in the third quarter while hitting four of 21 shots, staying close because the Bulls had only six baskets and 13 points in the period. That gave the Visitors a 49-43 lead after three.After Noah’s tip-in put the Bulls up 54-47, Boston responded with 12 straight points while holding the Bulls scoreless from 10:35 left to play until Jimmy Butler converted a three-point play with 4:50 to get Chicago back within 59-57.

NOTES—The Celtics were 4 for 18 from the floor in the second quarter, making 33 percent of their shots in the first half. They were 4 for 21 in the third…..The Celtics’ eight points in the third quarter were the team’s fewest in a period this season, two less than they managed in the fourth quarter of a 106-77 loss at the Los Angeles Clippers on Dec. 27….Former Celtic and Chicago native Antoine Walker was in the crowd…..The Bulls had a season-high 22 turnovers.

SOUTH BEND—Notre Dame was still recovering from its marathon victory four days after beating Louisville. The Fighting Irish had just enough to edge DePaul in overtime for the second time in 11 days. The 21st-ranked Irish looked to be cruising to victory Wednesday night when DePaul used an 11-1 run to take the lead. The Blue Demons led by as many as three points, but couldn’t hold on as Notre Dame rallied to beat DePaul 82-78.Unlike Saturday when the Irish needed five overtimes to finally top Louisville, they only needed one against DePaul.

“That’s really as big a win as Saturday, when you turn around and dig one out when it doesn’t look good at times,” Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said.

Jerian Grant scored 21 points, including a big three-point play in overtime, to lift the Irish (20-5, 8-4 Big East). Grant, who scored 12 points in the final minute of regulation against Louisville, came up big in overtime this time. Pat Connaughton hit a 3-pointer to give the Irish a 74-70 lead. After Brandon Young hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to one-point, Grant got the rebound of a miss by Atkins and scored, then made free throw and the Irish made 5-of-6 free throws in the final 21 second to hang on.

“It is tough,” said Cleveland Melvin, who led DePaul with 23 points. “We were fighting the entire second half, but it is tough to get over the hump in overtime.”

The Irish needed to overcome 10 turnovers and 39 percent shooting in the second half as they appeared to run out of energy.

“We turned the ball over a little bit. They got some easy buckets. They just started hitting their shots,” said Notre Dame guard Eric Atkins, who had 13 points and nine assists.

The Irish weren’t helped by a lethargic crowd of 8,554, with less than half of the student section filled.

“I feel like going into the dorms and chasing some of my students down,” Brey said. “I thought we deserved a little more from our legion given the show we gave them Saturday night.”

Grant said it was a tough game coming off the game against Louisville.

“We could have been tired and just said we’ll let one get away, but for this team to come back and go into another overtime and pull it out is definitely mentally tough,” he said.

The Irish improved to 3-1 in overtime games this season and played back-to-back overtime games for the first time since 1999-2000.

“Their record won’t say it, but they’re a good team and they can score the ball,” Grant said.

Brandon Young added 20 and Donavan Kirk added 16 as DePaul lost its ninth straight. DePaul coach Oliver Purnell was encouraged the Blue Demons gave the Irish a better challenge than it did on Feb. 2, when they lost 79-71.

“I’m not happy with it. I’m encouraged our guys continue fight and continue to get ready,” he said.

Jack Cooley, who had 11 points for the Irish, said the Irish learned something with the victory.

CHAMPAIGN—D.J. Richardson scored 18 points and Illinois opened up a big first-half lead that buried Purdue 79-59 on Wednesday night.The win was the third straight for Illinois (18-8, 5-7 Big Ten), which is clawing its way back into the postseason picture. The other wins were resume-builders over No. 1 Indiana and then-No. 18 Minnesota.A dunk by Tyler Griffey with 8:46 remaining put Illinois up 64-46. The margin was too much for a Boilermakers team that had already tried to dig out of a 16-point first-half hole.Griffey scored 12 points and Joseph Bertrand had a career-high 12 rebounds.Terone Johnson led Purdue (12-13, 5-7) with 18 points. Boilermakers coach Matt Painter was ejected for arguing with officials with just over eight minutes to play.

NORMAL—Jackie Carmichael had 27 points and 13 rebounds as streaking Illinois State avenged a loss to Bradley two weeks ago with a 79-59 victory Wednesday night.Tyler Brown added 22 points, eight rebounds and five assists for the Redbirds (16-10, 7-7 Missouri Valley).After starting 0-6 in the Missouri Valley Conference, ISU has won seven of its last eight games, with the lone loss coming to Bradley 83-77 on Jan. 29. During that stretch, the Redbirds won last Saturday at then-No. 16 Creighton (their first win over a ranked team since 1985) and came back last Wednesday from a 17-point deficit to beat Drake (their biggest comeback win since 2004).Bradley (14-12, 6-8) got 15 points from Walt Lemon Jr., 11 from Jake Eastman and 10 from Tyshon Pickett.

CARBONDALE—Jeff Early scored 14 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and Southern Illinois won for only the third time since the calendar turned to 2013 with a 65-56 victory over Evansville on Wednesday night.Southern Illinois (10-15, 3-11 Missouri Valley), which is only 3-10 since the New Year, shot 46.7 percent from the floor and saw its bench outscore Evansville’s bench 26-9. Jalen Pendleton and Anthony Beane Jr. were a part of that bench, scoring 12 points apiece.The Salukis led 31-30 at halftime but used a 17-4 run to begin the second half capped off by an Early 3-pointer to make it 48-34 with 11:11 remaining in the contest.Colt Ryan scored 21 points on 7-of-15 shooting including five 3-pointers and grabbed four rebounds to lead Evansville (14-12, 7-7), which beat the Salukis 85-68 in the previous meeting Jan. 5.Troy Taylor had 10 points, five rebounds, four assists and four steals for the Purple Aces.

Viktor Fasth made two stops in the shootout to remain perfect in six starts and the Anaheim Ducks beat the Blackhawks 3-2 on Tuesday night in a matchup of the top two teams in the Western Conference. After Jonathan Toews converted the first shootout attempt, Fasth stopped Patrick Kane’s backhander and denied Brandon Saad on the right side of the goal to become the first goalie to win his first six NHL starts since Dan Ellis with Dallas and Nashville from Feb. 18, 2004 to Nov. 29, 2007.Nick Bonino and Corey Perry scored in the tiebreaker for Anaheim, which improved to 3-1 on its season-high, six-game road trip.