MILWAUKEE—Vander Blue is stepping up his game as No. 24 Marquette is fighting to stay on top of the Big East standings.Blue scored 18 points for the Golden Eagles in an 89-78 victory over DePaul on Saturday, the Blue Demons’ eighth straight loss.With the win, Marquette (17-5, 8-2 Big East) moved one-half game ahead of No. 9 Syracuse for the lead in the conference. Syracuse plays at home Sunday against St. Johns.Junior Cadougan had 17 points and Davante Gardner added 13 for Marquette, which won for the 22nd straight time at home, the fifth-longest streak in the nation.It was the fourth straight game Blue led Marquette in scoring, including getting 30 points in a 63-50 win over South Florida on Jan. 28.Marquette coach Buzz Williams said his team is improving and has the potential to be very successful as the season moves into March. The only hiccup was a 70-51 loss to Louisville on Feb. 3.Marquette must still play Syracuse, Notre Dame and Georgetown, all Top 25 teams.DePaul fought back midway through the second half to cut the score 64-59 when Montray Clemens grabbed a rebound and scored with 9:40 remaining. But Marquette’s Todd Mayo scored the next four points including a rebound and layin with 8:32 remaining to give Marquette a 68-59 lead.Worrel Clahar scored eight of DePaul’s next 10 points, including two long 3-pointers, to cut Marquette’s lead to 77-73 with 4:43 remaining.Marquette went inside to Gardner, who scored on a short jumper and was fouled. He hit the free throw to give Marquette an 80-73 lead with 4:28 remaining.Trent Lockett then blocked Jamee Crockett’s short jumper, Blue hit two free throws and Jamil Wilson nailed a 3-pointer with 2:31 remaining to give Marquette an 85-73 lead.Brandon Young had 21 points and six assists for DePaul (10-13, 1-9), while Clahar and Donnavan Kirk added 16 points each.DePaul coach Oliver Purnell said he was proud of his players’ effort, but not the final score.Purnell said DePaul was hurt by Marquette’s offensive rebounding. Of the 24 shots the Golden Eagles missed, he said they got the rebound on 12 of them.

SALT LAKE CITY—Carlos Boozer scored 19 points, including 11 straight in the fourth quarter, and the Bulls closed out a six-game road trip with a 93-89 victory over the Utah Jazz on Friday night.Nate Robinson added 18 points for the Bulls, who rebounded nicely from a 32-point loss in Denver 24 hours earlier.Al Jefferson had a season-high 32 points for Utah, scoring the first eight in the fourth period to give the Jazz a 77-73 lead.Boozer, plagued by foul trouble early, got rolling with about 5 minutes remaining against his former team. His layup tied it at 83 with 2:29 left and he scored the next five from the free throw line, including a pair with 27 seconds left for an 88-85 Bulls lead.Randy Foye’s layup pulled Utah to 88-87 with 22 seconds left, but the Bulls sealed it at the foul line.

DENVER—Kenneth Faried celebrated his invitation to the league’s annual slam dunk contest with a series of rim-rattling, crowd-pleasing jams Thursday night when the Denver Nuggets extended their winning streak to eight games with a 128-96 win over the Bulls.Faried finished with 21 points and 12 rebounds in 26 minutes as the Nuggets won for the 15th time in 18 games since Jan. 1.Wilson Chandler added 24 points in just 19 minutes as the Nuggets made quick work of a stingy Bulls team that came in yielding just 91 points a game but watched Denver pour in 100 by the time the third quarter was over.JaVale McGee put on his own slam-and-jam show, adding 10 points for the Nuggets, who haven’t lost since Jan. 18 and led this one by as many as 35 points.The Nuggets’ 128 points were the most allowed by the Bulls this season, surpassing the 120 that Houston had on Dec. 25 – and marks the most an opponent scored during Tom Thibodeau’s three years as the Bulls’ coach.Carlos Boozer led Bulls starters with 18 points. The Bulls were without starting guards Derrick Rose (left knee) and Kirk Hinrich (right elbow) again. Center Joakim Noah (right foot) returned to the lineup, but was held to just one bucket and five rebounds.Reserve Daequan Cook led the Bulls with 19 points.

CHAMPAIGN—Tyler Griffey made the easiest and biggest shot of his career.The senior forward took an inbounds pass and made a wide-open layup with 0.9 seconds to play to give Illinois a 74-72 victory over No. 1 Indiana on Thursday night, the fifth straight week the nation’s top-ranked team lost.Hoosiers coach Tom Crean, whose team has been No. 1 for a total of seven weeks this season, doesn’t have a reason for the recent weekly changes on top of the poll.

“I can’t answer that. I’m not sure,” Crean said. “I just know that these games are 40-minute games. We played at a high level for most of the game.”

The Hoosiers were in charge until the final 3½ minutes when the Illini (16-8, 3-7 Big Ten) finally put together a run to take and then retake the lead.

“I know this, when we turn the ball over we’re not very good,” Crean said. “And the biggest difference tonight was 28 points off turnovers to our 16.”

And nothing could have been worse for the Hoosiers (20-3, 8-2) than the way the game ended.With 0.9 seconds left Griffey left defenders Cody Zeller and Christian Watford behind on an inbounds play from the baseline, took the pass from Brandon Paul and delivered the uncontested buzzer-beater for the Illini.The shot sent hundreds of students onto the court — holding their collective breath as officials checked the replay to make sure the clock hadn’t beaten Griffey — and Paul and fellow guard D.J. Richardson hugged and teared up with relief.Illinois had lost eight of 11 since starting the season 12-0. The Illini had been ranked as high as No. 10 and were now falling to the bottom of the Big Ten.Griffey, accustomed to struggling in recent weeks, seemed surprised with the ease he was able to make the game-winner.

“I just made a simple curl cut and left two guys behind me, and Brandon got off a heck of a pass,” he said. “Zeller and Watford were both right in front of me and just kind of stayed there.”

Crean, whose team just moved into the No. 1 spot after knocking off then-No. 1 Michigan on Saturday, said the play was a lot like the other breakdowns in the Hoosiers’ game that let Illinois climb back from a 12-point halftime deficit.

“We didn’t communicate,” Crean said. “They’re very deserving of the win, they never gave in,” he added, but he qualified that with, “We didn’t put them away when we had the opportunities.”

Indiana’s loss drops them into a three-way tie for first in the Big Ten with Michigan and Michigan State. For the Illini, the win means a move out of 10th in the 12-team conference up into a ninth-place tie with Iowa.More importantly, it’s a potential lifeline for an Illini team that still has to face No. 18 Minnesota on the road Sunday and had been watching its season slip away.

“It was good to get back to having that toughness and togetherness and trust that we needed,” Illinois coach John Groce said.

Illinois hadn’t beaten a No. 1 team since a 2004 win over Wake Forest. But the Illini had won nine of the last 10 against the Hoosiers in Champaign. And this season, whatever else has gone wrong, Illinois has delivered against the big boys. Coming into Thursday night the Illini had already beaten three teams now in the top 15: No. 6 Gonzaga, No. 10 Ohio State and No. 14 Butler.Richardson had 23 points for Illinois, Paul had 21 and Griffey finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.Zeller led Indiana with 14 points, while Will Sheehey had 13, Watford 12 and Jordan Hulls 11.Indiana shot 50 percent from the field (25 of 50), 52.9 percent from 3-point range (9 of 17) and 93 percent from the free throw line (13 of 14). The Hoosiers led by an 8- to 10-point margin for most of the second half.And when 6-foot-11 Nnanna Egwu fouled out with just under 5 minutes to play, Indiana looked in control. Egwu is the only Illini player with the size to realistically match up with the 7-0 Zeller.Watford made two free throws after Egwu’s fifth foul and, at 69-59, the Illini looked done.But with the clock under 3 minutes, Richardson went on a run of his own, first burying consecutive 3-pointers and then hitting a midrange jumper on the run to tie the game at 70 with 1:17 to play.Oladipo’s layup put the Hoosiers back on top with 50 seconds left, but Paul answered with two free throws, the first banked in, to tie the score again at 72.With the clock under 30 seconds, Indiana had the ball for what would have been a last shot but Oladipo fumbled the ball. Richardson picked it up and sprinted down court. Oladipo slapped Richardson’s layup out of bounds to set up the final play. Groce credited Richardson for sparking the comeback.

“I thought he was absolutely terrific on both ends of the floor,” Groce said. “He battled, he fought.”

Griffey was benched several weeks ago after a blowout loss at Wisconsin. On a team that had lost its shooting touch, the senior forward had grown especially cold. And, though one of Illinois’ bigger players at 6-9, he wasn’t adding much to the inside presence the Illini desperately needed.The play that brought him to life Thursday, though, had nothing to do with Illinois’ late surge. Griffey hit a 3-pointer less than 4 minutes into the second half. He had missed 20 straight 3-point attempts, dating to the start of the Big Ten season.

“I said to myself, `Finally,”‘ said Griffey, who said he has been doing so much extra shooting that he’s had to have regular ice treatments on his wrist.

Groce said that, even after he benched Griffey, he never gave up on him.

“I just have told him numerous times here I believe in him,” the first-year Illinois coach said. “I do.”

GLENDALE—Patrick Kane had two goals and an assist, and the Blackhawks remained the only NHL team without a loss in regulation this season by routing the Phoenix Coyotes 6-2 Thursday night.Viktor Stalberg, Jonathan Toews and Bryan Bickell each had a goal and an assist as the Blackhawks improved to 9-0-2. Dave Bolland also scored.Martin Hanzal and Raffi Torres scored for the Coyotes. Phoenix pulled goalie Mike Smith after Bickell scored the Hawks sixth goal with 4:52 left in the second period.Kane’s goals both came with a 5-on-3 advantage in the Blackhawks’ four-goal first period. Kane has eight goals and 10 assists on the season.It was also the first time Raffi Torres faced the Hawks since his vicious hit on Marion Hossa in game three of last Spring’s Playoffs in the United Center. Jamal Mayers and Torres engaged in a quick fight a couple of minutes into the game.

MACOMB—Terell Parks had 12 points and 16 rebounds and Western Illinois scored the first 20 points of the game en route to a 68-50 victory over Nebraska-Omaha on Thursday night.The Leathernecks (18-5, 10-2 Summit) hit 9 of 15 shots during the game-opening run and finished the half shooting 59 percent from the floor while taking a 35-15 lead into the break.Omaha missed its first 14 shots and needed CJ Carter’s half-court 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer just to pull within 20 points.Adam Link added 12 points and Don McAvoy had 11 for Western Illinois, which increased its lead to as many as 33 points in the second half.Justin Simmons and Tyler Egli led Nebraska-Omaha (8-18, 5-8) with 10 points each. The Mavericks shot just 33 percent from the field, their second-lowest performance of the season.

YOUNGSTOWN—Blake Allen’s 3-pointer with 12 seconds remaining lifted Youngstown State to a 60-59 Horizon League victory over Loyola on Thursday night.Kendrick Perry scored 18 points for the Penguins (14-10, 6-5), who led 34-20 at halftime but saw Loyola surge back in the second half.Devon Turk scored 11 points in the first 9 minutes of the second half as the Ramblers (13-11, 3-8) got back to within two points, 41-39.They grabbed a 50-48 lead with 6:21 remaining on consecutive jumpers by Turk, Matt O’Leary and Jeff White and didn’t trail again until Allen’s late shot.White missed a final jumper for Loyola at the buzzer.Kamren Belin finished with 11 points and Allen 10 for Youngstown State.Christian Thomas scored 19 points to pace the Ramblers, and Turk finished with 17, including 4 of 8 from 3-point range.

DES MOINES—Tyler Brown had 25 points, nine assists and four steals as Illinois State rallied late to defeat Drake 94-86 Wednesday night.Jackie Carmichael added 23 points and John Wilkins had 18 for the Redbirds (14-10, 5-7 Missouri Valley), who have won five of their last six games after starting out 0-6 in conference play.Richard Carter had 17 points and six assists, and Chris Hines scored 16 for Drake (11-12, 5-7), which had defeated the Redbirds 82-77 earlier this year.ISU trailed by 17 points in the first half and didn’t take its first lead until Jon Ekey hit a 3-pointer with 1:44 remaining to put the Redbirds ahead 85-84. That shot came amid 13 straight points by Illinois State that turned an 84-78 deficit into a 91-84 lead with 22 seconds left.Drake led 51-40 at halftime after hitting 9 of 20 3-pointers in the opening period. The Bulldogs finished 12 of 28 beyond the arc.

DEKALB—A’uston Calhoun had 15 points and 12 rebounds and Bowling Green got its first road win of the season, defeating Northern Illinois 57-41 Wednesday night.The Falcons (9-13, 4-5 Mid-American), who had been 0-8 away from home, never trailed against the Huskies (5-16, 3-6). They opened the game with 3-pointers from Luke Kraus and Calhoun while scoring the first eight points of the game and built a 30-10 lead after Chauncey Orr’s basket just two minutes before halftime.NIU scored the final five points of the half and the first basket after the break to pull within 13 points, but Bowling Green followed with a 16-2 run to take a 46-19 lead on Calhoun’s dunk with 14:59 remaining.Richaun Holmes added 11 points for Bowling Green, which has beaten Northern Illinois seven straight times.Abdel Nader had 12 points and eight rebounds for the Huskies.