TAMPA—Todd Mayo and Vander Blue both scored 13 points to help No. 24 Marquette beat South Florida 70-47 on Wednesday night.Mayo had all of his season-high 13 points in the first half as Marquette (16-5, 7-2 Big East) grabbed a 39-16 halftime lead.Junior Cadougan added 11 points for Marquette, which was coming off a 70-51 loss to then No. 12 Louisville last Sunday. South Florida (10-12, 1-9) got 14 points from Zach LeDay. The Bulls have lost five in a row.Marquette has dominated the all-time series, winning 19 of 22 games against the Bulls. The Golden Eagles won the other meeting between the teams this season, 63-50 on Jan, 28, behind 30 points by Blue.Cadougan opened the scoring with a 4-point play, part of an early 13-3 run by the Golden Eagles.Mayo had a pair of 3’s during a 15-3 surge as Marquette extended its advantage to 32-13. The Golden Eagles took their biggest lead of the opening half, 38-13, with 2:10 left on Chris Otule’s basket.South Florida made just 5 of 18 shots, and had 14 turnovers in the opening half. Marquette scored 23 points during the session off turnovers.The Golden Eagles shot 53.8 percent (14 of 26) over the opening 20 minutes.South Florida got within 20 early in the second half before Marquette again went up by 25 on Cadougan’s long-range jumper.

SAN JOSE—Patrick Kane scored two goals, including the tiebreaking goal after a fight midway through the second period, and the Blackhawks beat the San Jose Sharks 5-3 on Tuesday night in a matchup of the NHL’s top two teams.Brandon Saad, Andrew Shaw and Marcus Kruger also scored for the Blackhawks, who overcame a 2-0 deficit to remain the only team in the NHL yet to lose a game in regulation this season. Corey Crawford made 30 saves.Joe Pavelski, Tommy Wingels and Michal Handzus scored for the Sharks, who have lost three straight games following a franchise-record seven-game winning streak to open the season. Antti Niemi made 26 saves.The biggest difference for the Sharks during this recent slide has been the power play. San Jose failed to convert on all three chances against the Hawks and have one power-play goal in its last 21 opportunities after scoring 12 power-play goals in the first five games.The most painful came early in the third period with a chance to tie the game when Niemi was called for delay of game just 11 seconds after Nick Leddy was sent off for holding. Penalty killing has been a strength this season for the Blackhawks, who have allowed two goals in 39 short-handed chances.Kane added an empty-net goal for the final margin.The game changed midway through the second period after Andrew Desjardins flattened former Shark Jamal Mayers with a hard hit that drew the ire of Duncan Keith, who started a fight with Desjardins. Desjardins was given ejected for a hit to the head although replays appeared to show the contact was with the shoulder. So instead of a four-minute power play for San Jose, there were four minutes of 4-on-4 play followed by a one-minute power play for the Hawks. That proved critical when Jonathan Toews picked Douglas Murray’s pocket near the net during the 4-on-4 and fed Kane for the go-ahead goal that gave the Blackhawks a 4-3 lead heading into the third. Both teams came into the game playing tight defense and struggling to score in recent games. That all changed in a wide-open first period that featured three goals for each team, including the first of the season for four players. San Jose got out to quick a 2-0 lead on goals by Pavelski and Wingels before a dizzying 89-second stretch that featured four goals, including three by the Hawks who had scored three goals in a stretch of more than 198 minutes of game action before Saad started this goal frenzy by slamming a pass from Brent Seabrook at the side of the net 10:08 into the first for his first goal of the season. Handzus answered with his first 39 seconds later when he beat Crawford to the short side off a pass in transition from Wingels. But there was no time to celebrate that as the Blackhawks took 8 seconds off the ensuing faceoff to get the goal from Shaw off a pass from behind the net from Bryan Bickell. Kruger capped the spree at the 11:37 mark when Justin Braun’s clearing attempt hit Wingels’ skate and went right to Kruger, who knocked in his first goal of the season.

NOTES—The Sharks have killed 31 consecutive penalties over the past seven games. … San Jose F James Sheppard assisted on Wingels’ goal for his first NHL point since getting an assist March, 26, 2010, for Minnesota. … Sharks D Dan Boyle returned to the lineup after missing Monday’s game in Anaheim with an illness. …Dave Bolland returned after missing one game after being slashed in the ankle.

ROSEMONT—Ryan Arcidiacono scored 23 points and Villanova put together an impressive shooting display to pull away for a 94-71 victory at DePaul on Tuesday night.Darrun Hilliard had 17 points and James Bell finished with 16 for the Wildcats (14-9, 5-5 Big East), who bounced back from a pair of disappointing losses to Notre Dame and Providence. Villanova made 22 of 32 shots in the second half and shot 60 percent from the field for the game.Arcidiacono helped the Wildcats grab control after the teams were tied at 40 at the break. The freshman guard scored five points in an 11-3 run that opened a 51-43 lead for Villanova. Cleveland Melvin scored 19 points and Jamee Crockett had 16 for DePaul (10-12, 1-8), which has dropped seven straight games. The Blue Demons were coming off a pair of overtime losses against St. John’s and Notre Dame.

VALPARAISO—Ryan Broekhoff scored 22 points, including six 3-pointers, to lead Valparaiso to an 86-61 victory over conference foe UIC on Tuesday night.Broekhoff was 8 of 13 from the floor and 6 of 9 from beyond the arc. LaVonte Dority added 13 points off the bench for the Crusaders (18-6, 8-2), who maintained their lead over Detroit in the Horizon League standings. Eric Buggs and Bobby Capobianco chipped in 10 points apiece. Valpo shot 60 percent from the floor, including 65 percent in the first half.Josh Crittle and Daniel Barnes had 12 points each for the Flames (14-10, 5-6), who hit just 36 percent of their shots.UIC led by five in the opening minutes, but Valparaiso scored the next 15 points, capped by a Capobianco layup, and never looked back. The Crusaders led 44-27 at halftime and by as many as 35 points in the second half.

CARBONDALE—Jalen Pendleton hit a short jumper with 2 seconds left, helping Southern Illinois snap a six-game losing streak with a 64-62 victory Tuesday night over reeling Wichita State.Pendleton scored the final six points for the Salukis (9-13, 2-10 Missouri Valley). His free throws with 1:45 left tied the game at 60, and after Wichita State’s Carl Hall tipped in a Cleanthony Early miss with 1:07 left, Pendleton tied it again on a layup with 48 seconds to play before hitting the game-winner.T.J. Lindsay led the Salukis with 14 points off the bench. Jeff Early and Desmar Jackson added 11 apiece.Demetric Williams scored 15 points for the Shockers (19-5, 8-4), who kept skidding after last week’s two losses knocked them out of the AP Top 25.SIU trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half before rallying to lead by nine after halftime.

PEORIA—Dyricus Simms-Edwards scored 21 points, Walt Lemon Jr. and Tyshon Pickett added 18 apiece, and Bradley scored the game’s final six points Tuesday night to beat Evansville 76-70.The Braves (14-10, 6-6) led 61-51 after Jordan Prosser’s jumper with 8:18 to play, but Evansville rallied, ultimately tying the game at 70 on Colt Ryan’s 3-pointer with 1:33 left. The Purple Aces (13-11, 6-6) went cold after that, going 0 of 5 from the floor the rest of the game while Lemon, Simms-Edwards and Pickett hit two free throws apiece to seal the victory.Ryan led Evansville with 27 points, and D.J. Balentine added 13.Bradley, which improved to 11-2 at home, has doubled the win total of the 2011-12 squad, which finished 7-25. The Braves also avenged a 66-56 loss at Evansville on Jan. 23. The Purple Aces had won the last three meetings between the schools.

INDIANAPOLIS—Indiana suddenly has a shooting touch to go with its tough defense.The combination is just too much.David West scored 29 points Monday night and All-Star Paul George finished with 21 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, leading the Pacers past the Bulls 111-101 for a 14th consecutive home win and into a tie with the Bulls for the Central Division lead. Three nights after shooting a season-high 55.7 percent in a relatively easy win over defending NBA champion Miami, Indiana shot 52.7 percent against a Bulls defense that is ranked No. 2 in the NBA in defensive field goal percentage. The only team ahead of the Bulls is the Pacers, and Indiana never trailed in the second half Monday.Indiana has topped the 100-point mark four times in the last five games after doing that only seven times in the first 43. It was the Pacers’ highest point total in a non-overtime game all season, and the timing couldn’t have been better as they head into a three games-in-three night swing. They are the only NBA team to deal with that this season.Now the Pacers will take a three-game winning streak into Tuesday night’s home game against Atlanta as they try to win a 15th consecutive home game for the first time since 1999-2000 when they won 25 in a row. On Wednesday, they visit Philadelphia.Indiana’s recent surge has it tied for the division lead with the Bulls (29-19) and behind only Miami (30-14) and New York (31-15) in the Eastern Conference playoff chase.Over the past month, the Pacers have beaten Miami twice and New York and the Bulls once each, going 4-0 mark against the East’s three other top teams since Jan. 8 and they now have a 2-0 series lead over the Bulls, the league’s best road team.

“We played the No. 1 team in Miami and New York and Chicago is right there, and this is a big win for us, definitely playing against a division team,” George Hill said. “So I’m happy with our ballclub, we played a great game.”

The Bulls didn’t look like themselves, though.Starting guards Derrick Rose (left knee) and Kirk Hinrich (right elbow) and starting center Joakim Noah (right foot) all sat out again with injuries, and they had another scare late in the first quarter when Marco Belinelli crashed to the floor clutching his right ankle. He returned later and finished with a season-high 24 points. Nate Robinson finished with 19 points, nine assists and five rebounds, and Carlos Boozer had 10 points and five rebounds as he returned from a right hamstring injury.All of those players, other than Belinelli and Robinson, missed Saturday’s 93-76 victory at Atlanta.

“I feel like we’re short-handed right now, but we’re competing hard and that’s all you can ask for and I feel like our best basketball is yet to come,” Noah said. “We’ve just got to keep fighting and I think we’ll be all right.”

Those expecting a defensive slugfest were in for a surprise.Indiana started the game fast, making its first six shots to take a 13-2 lead, and finished the first half nearly as fast, using a 12-6 run to break a 48-48 tie to make it 60-54 at the half. The Pacers shot 66.7 percent from the field in the half.The Bulls had seven players in double figures and continually challenged Indiana, but never had control and couldn’t even forge a tie over the final 27 1/2 minutes.Robinson opened the second half with a 3-pointer and a 20-foot jumper to close the deficit to 60-59, but a few minutes later, Indiana seized control with two quick scoring flurries.The first came when George hit a 3-foot jumper, Lance Stephenson then completed a three-point play and Hill added a four-point play to make it 73-63 with 7:35 left in the third. The Bulls answered with four straight points, and Indiana came right back with six straight to take a 79-67 lead.

“We started the game in a big hole and we had to get out of that hole,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Now you’re scrambling and trying to give yourself a chance. I thought we were in position with five minutes to go.”

The Bulls rallied again in the fourth, using an 8-0 run to close to 90-84, and it got as close as four three times.Indiana finally sealed it with a 3 from George and two free throws from West with 1:05 to play.

NOTES—It was Indiana’s first regular-season home win over the Bulls since March 18, 2011…..The Bulls are 6-20 all-time at Bankers Life Fieldhouse…..Bulls guard Marquis Teague finished with two points in his first pro appearance in his hometown…..The Bulls lost for only the third time in nine games.

DAYTON—Cole Darling scored a game-high 17 points and Wright State used a second-half rally to top Loyola 62-59 in a Horizon League matchup Monday night.Jerran Young added 11 points to help Wright State (15-8, 6-4) snap a three-game losing streak.Trailing 34-22 at halftime, Wright State started the second half on a 14-5 run and cut the deficit to three, 39-36, behind Joe Bramanti’s 3-pointer with 12:02 left to play.After Loyola (13-10, 3-7) answered with a 12-2 run to push the lead back to double figures, 51-38, with 7:54 left, Wright State responded by outscoring the Ramblers 21-8 to tie the game at 59 with 2:12 remaining. Young and Miles Dixon made back-to-back 3-pointers during the run.Darling’s jumper with 1:18 to go put the Raiders ahead 61-59 and Loyola missed four shots in the final minute.Christian Thomas led the Ramblers with 13 points.

SYRAC– USE—C.J. Fair had 18 points and 10 rebounds, freshman Jerami Grant scored a season-high 14 points, and No. 9 Syracuse beat No. 25 Notre Dame 63-47 on Monday night to snap a two-game losing streak that had dropped the Orange three spots in the rankings.Syracuse (19-3, 7-2 Big East) was coming off consecutive road losses against Villanova and Pittsburgh and has only three conference losses in its last 32 Big East games. The Orange have now won a school-record 36 straight games at home, the longest active streak in Division I. Notre Dame (18-5, 6-4) had won three straight.It was the first meeting between the teams since the Irish handed Syracuse its only conference loss last season, 67-58 at Purcell Pavilion last January. The Orange, unbeaten at the time and ranked No. 1, were missing shot-blocking, 7-foot center Fab Melo in that game because of an academic issue, and on Monday night senior James Southerland, the team’s most consistent outside threat and third-leading scorer, missed his sixth straight game because of an eligibility matter related to academics. Southerland had 15 points in the loss to the Irish last year. On this night, it didn’t matter as the Syracuse defense clamped down. ND finished 6 of 20 on 3-pointers and shot 34.6 percent (18 of 52) for the game as the Orange outrebounded the Irish 32-28 and blocked seven shots. It matched the season low for points for the Irish, who were held to 47 in a home loss two weeks ago to Georgetown.Rakeem Christmas had 12 points and four blocks and Michael Carter-Williams had five points, eight assists and three steals for Syracuse. Jerian Grant, Jerami’s brother, finished with 15 points and Jack Cooley had 10 points and 11 rebounds for his 15th double-double of the season for the Irish. The game was the first in college between the Grant brothers.The Irish fell behind 41-28 midway through the second half as the Orange put together a 13-4 spurt spanning halftime to assume control. Syracuse stretched its 30-24 halftime lead back to 10 in the opening minutes of the second. Christmas hit a foul-line jumper at the shot-clock buzzer after corraling the rebound of a miss by Carter-Williams and Fair followed with a dunk off a steal by Carter-Williams.Christmas then converted a follow dunk off a miss by Brandon Triche, Trevor Cooney sank a 3 from the wing, and Christmas hit again off the glass to boost the lead to 43-28 at 11:05. Cameron Biedscheid stopped the Syracuse surge with a 3 from the left corner and Jerian Grant converted a three-point play to move the Irish back within 43-34 with 10 minutes left.Syracuse stretched it back to 48-35 on a 3 by Carter-Williams with 6:02 left and the Irish were finished.Syracuse entered the game limiting opponents to 32.3 percent shooting on 3-pointers while Notre Dame was hitting 39.6 percent from behind the arc. Five Irish players – Camero Biedscheid, Scott Martin, Pat Connaughton, Eric Atkins and Jerian Grant – were real threats from long range, having combined to make all but one of the 150 3-pointers Notre Dame had in its first 22 games.The Irish found few openings in the interior of the Syracuse 2-3 zone in the opening half and the Orange struck quickly, scoring the first 10 points of the game while forcing three turnovers as the Irish missed their first four shots.Unfazed, Notre Dame responded with an 11-point spurt keyed by its long-range attack. Eric Atkins hit a pair of 3s from the wing and Jerian Grant added another from the top of the key to quickly erase the double-digit deficit and give the Irish a one-point lead midway through the first half. The Orange gained a 24-17 lead on Triche’s three-point play with 3:25 left and Syracuse led 30-24 at the half despite going 1 for 7 from behind the arc. Notre Dame committed nine turnovers and was outrebounded 15-11 in the period.

NEW ORLEANS—After Joe Flacco led the Ravens to a 31-point win against the Bengals in Week 1, Ravens coach John Harbaugh broke it down as simply as he could: “Pay the man.” Oh, Joe Flacco, whose contract is about to expire, is going to get paid, all right. And so should Jacoby Jones. Not to mention the entire Ravens defense after a 34-31 win over the game San Francisco 49ers in a power outage-delayed Super Bowl XLVII. With the 49ers at the Ravens’ 5-yard line on second down late in the fourth quarter, Baltimore kept San Francisco from scoring on three straight plays, and with a fantastic first half from Joe Flacco and two explosive plays from Jones, the Ravens held off the 49ers. It completed an immaculate postseason for Flacco, who almost surely will become one of the highest-paid players in all the NFL by the beginning of 2013.During this postseason — which included wins against a resurgent Colts squad, a tough Peyton Manning-led Broncos squad in Denver and the always-scary Patriots in New England — Flacco threw 11 touchdowns against zero interceptions. And the 49ers, who made yet another special second-half comeback couldn’t do enough to stop him. Flacco was especially potent in the first half, completing 13 of 20 passes for 192 yards in the first 30 minutes to give the Ravens a 21-3 lead with 1:45 left in the half.Then, on the second half-opening kickoff, Jones — who already had caught a ridiculous first-half 51-yard touchdown pass in which he fell down and then outran the 49ers to the end zone — caught the kick 8 yards deep in his end zone. He raced straight up the middle before cutting right and outracing the entire San Francisco squad for the Super Bowl record 108-yard kickoff return. He reportedly made the entire run in 11 seconds, and just as quickly as that, Baltimore’s chances to win this game seemed finished. They weren’t, as the 49ers scored 17 unanswered points following a 34-minute power outage and Colin Kaepernick rushed for a 15-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter to cut the lead to 31-29.

“Hey, it goes like that sometimes,” Flacco said. “We had to go out there and just continue to do our job as an offense.”

The Ravens needed a scoring drive and Flacco was good enough, converting a key third-and-1 to get Baltimore to the 49ers’ 20, where Justin Turner kicked a field goal with 4:19 left for a 34-29 lead. That’s when the Ravens’ defense, which had been chewed up by the 49ers after the power delay made one last stand, forcing Kaepernick into three straight incompletions to seal the game. Baltimore allowed a safety with 4 seconds to play to end the scoring. But it was the fourth-and-goal miss to 49ers receiver Michael Crabtree that really upset coach Jim Harbaugh.

“There’s no question in my mind that there was a pass interference and then a hold on Crabtree on the last one,” Harbaugh said.

The Ravens win also gave linebacker Ray Lewis his second Super Bowl title in the final game of his career. Though he didn’t have a major impact on the game — unless you count 49ers tight end Vernon Davis catching multiple passes on him in the first half — he finished with seven combined tackles, two off Dannell Ellerbe’s game high.

“The cool thing about Ray is that it means a lot to win it for him because … he wanted all of us to know what it is like to win this game,” Flacco said.

The close score was a far cry from the first half of the game. The 49ers certainly did not look composed early in the game with their second-year quarterback under center. On the first play of the game, they were flagged for illegal formation, and after a no gain by Frank Gore, Kaepernick and Gore got confused and busted a play. The 49ers, as usual in the playoffs, had started poorly on offense. The Ravens immediately took advantage on offense, especially after more sloppy play by the Niners. On a third-and-9 from the 18, Flacco threw incomplete in the end zone, but the 49ers had lined up in the neutral zone, giving Baltimore another chance on third down. This time, Flacco found Anquan Boldin in the middle of the end zone for the 14-yard touchdown. San Francisco calmed down on its second drive, and though Kaepernick and tight end Vernon Davis moved the ball down the field, Kaepernick missed what should have been a touchdown by throwing a bad ball to Moss. On third down, Ravens linebacker Paul Kruger sacked Kaepernick, forcing the 49ers to kick a field goal. On their next series, San Francisco began gaining chunks of yardage — Ray Lewis could do nothing while covering Davis — but backup running back LaMichael James fumbled the ball and Baltimore defensive end Arthur Jones recovered on the Ravens 25-yard line. Baltimore, again, was happy to punish San Francisco for its mistakes, as Flacco led a 10-play, 75-yard drive that finished with a 1-yard touchdown throw to Dennis Pitta. Although Kaepernick threw an interception directly to the hands of Ed Reed, Baltimore couldn’t capitalize. With Justin Tucker lined up for a 32-yard field goal on fourth and nine, the Ravens direct-snapped it to Tucker on the fake. He was tackled a yard short of the first down to give the ball to San Francisco. But the power delay clearly affected the game for both teams. With most of the Superdome’s lights out, both teams stretched and tried to stay loose. while cheerleaders tried to keep fans entertained (the fan, in turn, started a wave).

“I thought they dealt with it better, obviously,” John Harbaugh said.

Still, Baltimore, in the end, was the better squad.

“We want to handle this with class and grace,” 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said. “Had several opportunities in the game. Didn’t play our best game. Ravens made a lot of plays. Our guys battled back to get back in it. We competed and battled to win.”