VALPARAISO—Sultan Muhammad hit a 3-pointer with 1.7 seconds remaining as Wisconsin-Green Bay defeated UIC 64-63 in the quarterfinals of the Horizon League tournament on Friday night.Two free throws from Gary Talton capped an 11-3 run that gave UIC a 63-61 lead with 7 seconds left. But Keifer Sykes took the ball across the mid-court line and kicked it to Muhammad on the right wing, where he nailed a 24-footer for the game-winner.Alec Brown scored 17 points for the fourth-seeded Phoenix (18-14), who will face top-seeded Valparaiso Saturday in the semifinals. Sykes added 12 points and Muhammad had 10.The fifth-seeded Flames (17-15) got 23 points from Hayden Humes and 12 apiece from Josh Crittle and Talton.Humes scored seven straight points to erase a six-point Phoenix lead and put UIC ahead 59-58 with 3:05 remaining. Brown hit 1 of 2 free throws to tie it up and the teams then traded baskets, setting up the last-second heroics.

STOCKTON—The Chicago Rush played to a 28-28 tie in their preseason contest versus the San Jose Sabercats at the Stockton Arena in Stockton, CA.  The two-teams played to the preseason rules of “quick whistles”, including no kickoff returns, plays ruled dead upon touching the quarterback… and no overtime.Carson Coffman (12/16, 167 yds, 2 TD, 1 rush TD) got the nod at starting quarterback – was without WR Reggie Gray, due to coaches decision – connected with WR Nate Forse (6 rec, 81 yds, 2 TD) early in the second-quarter to tie the game 7-7.The running-clock played for a first half that lasted just over an hour, and a 14-7 Sabercats lead.Both offenses began to find their rhythm in the second half, Rush QB Luke Collis (4/5, 74 yds, 1 TD) connected with Forse on a 2-yard TD pass to bring the game to a 14-14 3rd quarter tie.The Rush defense was dominant throughout, racking-up five sacks – two a piece by Brian McNally and Jacob Hardwick, and another by Gabe Knapton – Jorrick Calvin sealed the game intercepting the Sabercats’ Hail Mary pass as time expired to seal the tie, 28-28.

“Of course, you’d always like to get a win, but tonight was more about getting a good evaluation of our players,”  Head Coach Bob McMillen said.  “There are going to be some tough decisions when we make cuts this weekend.”

The Rush open the 2013 season at Allstate Arena on Saturday, March 23 versus the Iowa Barnstormers.  Single game tickets go on sale for the Rush today.  Call (855) RUSH-WIN for tickets. All Rush Regular Season and Playoff games will be carried live on arenarush.com with Les Grobstein back for his fourth season in a row on the Play by Play.

EVANSTON—Jermaine Marshall and D.J. Newbill each scored 18 points to lead Penn State to a 66-59 victory over Northwestern on Thursday night.Penn State (10-19, 2-15 Big Ten), last in the 12-team conference, scored the game’s first 12 points, withstood a Northwestern surge, then pulled away in the second half. The Nittany Lions’ only other conference win was at home against No. 7 Michigan on Feb. 27.Northwestern (13-17, 4-13) has lost seven in a row.NU’s Alex Marcotullio, who scored a career-high 22 points, put the Wildcats ahead 54-53 with a 3-pointer with 6:13 to play. But Penn State scored the next six points, beginning with Sasa Borovnjak’s short jumper, and scored 13 of the game’s last 18 points. Borovnjak had 15 points and 10 rebounds.Reggie Hearn, who scored 11 points before fouling out with 3:07 to play, was the only other Northwestern player in double figures.

ST. LOUIS—Chris Hines scored 16 points and Drake defeated Bradley 81-66 Thursday in the opener of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.The ninth-seeded Bulldogs (15-16) earned a quarterfinal game against regular-season champion Creighton on Friday.Joey King scored 15 and Gary Ricks added 14 points for Drake. The Bulldogs led by as many as 17 points in the first half, though the Braves scored the last eight of the half to cut Drake’s lead at the break to 41-32.Bradley (16-16) got within three with 6 1/2 minutes left, but Drake went on a 13-0 run to put it out of reach.Jake Eastman had 15 points and eight rebounds for the eighth-seeded Braves. Will Egolf also scored 15 points, Walt Lemon Jr. scored 14 and Tyshon Pickett added 11 for Bradley, which improved nine games from last season’s 7-25 finish.
—————————————————————————————–
Marcus Marshall scored 18 points and Anthony Downing had 16 as Missouri State defeated Southern Illinois 61-53 Thursday night in the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament.Christian Kirk added 10 points and eight rebounds for the seventh-seeded Bears (11-21), who will face No. 2 seed Wichita State on Friday.Desmar Jackson and Anthony Beane Jr. scored 12 points apiece for 10th-seeded Southern Illinois (14-17). The Salukis had won six of their last eight games after starting the conference season 1-10.Missouri State used an early 15-2 run to go on top 23-15, and led 32-22 at halftime. After the Salukis pulled within five points midway through the second half, the Bears scored eight straight to go ahead 47-34 and led by double digits the rest of the way.Missouri State hit 16 of 22 free throws to just 6 of 10 for Southern Illinois.

Daniel Carcillo scored the tiebreaking goal with 49.3 seconds left in regulation and the  Blackhawks won their 11th consecutive game, beating the Colorado Avalanche 3-2 on Wednesday night to extend the best start in NHL history.Jonathan Toews and Andrew Shaw also scored for the Hawks (21-0-3), who reached the halfway point of a lockout-shortened season without losing in regulation. The remarkable Blackhawks have earned at least one point in their first 24 games, stretching their NHL record. Dating back to last year’s regular season, the streak is 30 games.The Blackhawks broke the previous team record for consecutive wins with their 10th in a row Tuesday night, 5-3 over Minnesota.The Blackhawk’s overall points streak is the second-longest during one season in NHL history. The 1979-80 Philadelphia Flyers set the league record at 35 games with a 25-0-10 run.Carcillo knocked in a rebound with a backhand shot, his first goal of the season, after Semyon Varlamov made two in-close stops on Viktor Stalberg during a scrum in the crease.Toews scored a highlight-reel, short-handed goal early in the third period, beating two Avalanche players to tie the score at 2. The Hawks trailed after two periods for only the fourth time this season.John Mitchell and Matt Duchene scored for Colorado, which has lost six of seven.Ray Emery made 20 saves for the Blackhawks to improve to 10-0. Varlamov finished with 29 stops.Blackhawks forward Marian Hossa sat out with an upper-body injury. Shaw left the game late in the second period and teammate Patrick Sharp left midway through the third.Shaw’s power-play goal on a deflection opened the scoring midway through the first. Shaw was parked in front of the crease, and Brent Seabrook’s drive from the right point ticked in off the shaft of Shaw’s stick.Mitchell tied it with 1:40 left in the first, exploiting a rare Hawk coverage mix-up. Mitchell skated alone to the right side of the net, took a quick pass across the crease from Chuck Kobasew and lifted a backhand past Emery.Varlamov stopped Patrick Kane on a 2-on-1 break and Carcillo on a point-blank chance early in the second.Kobasew missed on a breakaway at 6:11 of the second moments after he jumped back on the ice from the penalty box.Duchene put Colorado ahead 2-1 with 6:43 left in the second, moments after Varlamov made a point-blank pad save on Sharp.Duchene streaked down the left side, slipped past Seabrook and took a pass from P.A. Parenteau. Duchene fired from a sharp angle near the goal line, but the puck struck Emery and slipped in under his right arm.Toews scored at 2:19 of the third to tie it 2-all. He moved down the right wing, then cut to the net around Ryan O’Reilly. Toews skated across the crease — behind both O’Reilly and Jamie McGinn — and banked in a shot off the left post.O’Reilly and McGinn are forwards who got caught as the two men back during the Colorado power play.Carcillo’s game-winner was his first goal since returning from a knee injury on Feb. 22.

NOTES—The Blackhawks finished the 2011-12 regular season with a 3-0-3 spurt before losing to Phoenix in the first playoff round. … The Blackhawks assigned LW Brandon Bollig to the Rockford IceHogs of the AHL. Bollig had played in only two of seven games since Carcillo returned from his knee injury. … RW Michael Frolik missed his second game with an illness. … Colorado played its second game without injured RW Milan Hejduk (torso). D Erik Johnson (head) missed his 11th game and D Ryan Wilson (ankle) his 14th.

SAN ANTONIO (AP) – Tim Duncan had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Bulls 101-83 on Wednesday night in a matchup of teams missing their starting All-Star point guards.Manu Ginobili added 18 points and nine assists, Tiago Splitter had 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Kawhi Leonard scored 14 points for San Antonio (48-14), which was playing its second game without Tony Parker.Patty Mills provided a needed punch off the Spurs’ bench, scoring 10 of his 13 points in the second half.Parker is expected to miss about four weeks with an ankle sprain and Derrick Rose has yet to play this season after undergoing major knee surgery.Marco Belinelli had 21 points, Luol Deng added 19, Marquis Teague had 11 and Carlos Boozer 10 for the Bulls (34-27).

SYRAC– USE—Brandon Triche and James Southerland combined for 37 points in the final home game of their careers, and No. 17 Syracuse beat DePaul 78-57 on Wednesday night to snap a three-game losing streak.Syracuse (23-7, 11-6 Big East) broke a rare two-game losing streak in the Carrier Dome. No. 5 Georgetown started it 11 days ago with a 57-46 win that stopped the Orange’s 38-game winning streak, the longest in the nation at the time.Cleveland Melvin had 15 points and eight rebounds for DePaul (11-19, 2-15), which lost its fifth straight and moved into a tie for last in the conference with South Florida.The Orange’s three-game slide came in a span of a week against Georgetown, No. 8 Louisville and No. 15 Marquette. The setbacks sent Syracuse plummeting out of the top 10 and out of contention for its second straight Big East regular season title. The Orange’s only remaining regular season game is at Georgetown on Saturday.It was Senior Night for Triche and Southerland, who struggled, going 5 of 19 from the field and 1 of 9 on 3-pointers. but he made all 11 of his free throws for 22 points in his first start of the season and just the third of his career.Triche finished with 15 points and five rebounds, and C.J. Fair had 16 points, his 20th game in double figures this season. Michael Carter-Williams had 10 points, five assists and four steals.Brandon Young had 12 points for the Blue Demons, Moses Morgan added nine, and Jamee Crockett eight on 2-of-10 shooting.Syracuse outscored DePaul 40-26 in the paint, 17-6 off turnovers, and went 24 of 31 on free throws.The Orange took control with a 20-3 first-half spurt, led 35-26 at halftime, and never let the Blue Demons get closer than six points in the second half.Fair converted a lob from Carter-Williams and Triche fed Southerland and Rakeem Christmas for two more dunks – all in a span of less than a minute – to boost the lead to 59-42 with 6:56 to play.DePaul entered the game shooting 30.1 percent from 3-point range and Syracuse was tied with Providence for the stingiest defense against the long-range game in the Big East, allowing 28.9 percent.That didn’t deter the Blue Demons, who gained an early lead by victimizing the Orange’s perimeter defense three times in a span of just over 2 minutes. Crockett started the long-range surge with a 3 and finished it with another after Morgan had hit from behind the arc. Young’s layup gave DePaul a 21-15 lead at 12:26 and then the Orange stormed back with their big run that included three three-point plays.Fair’s two-handed slam dunk tied it at 24-all, and Southerland and Triche followed with three-point plays. Fair’s 3 from the left corner ended the run and gave Syracuse an 11-point lead.The Blue Demons missed seven shots, committed four turnovers that included a shot-clock violation, committed two fouls and had two shots blocked during the Syracuse rally as the Orange built their nine-point halftime lead.Syracuse senior walk-ons Griffin Hoffmann and Matt Lyde-Cajuste were also honored in a pregame ceremony.

NOTES—DePaul is now 7-81 in Big East Regular Season play during the past five years.

The Blackhawks set a franchise record with their 10th consecutive victory and extended their points streak to 29 games with a 5-3 win against the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night.Bryan Bickell scored twice in the first period and Patrick Kane added a big goal in the third as the Hawks (20-0-3) remained the only team in the NHL without a regulation loss. It also snapped a tie with the 1977-78 Montreal Canadiens for the second-longest points streak in league history.Ryan Suter scored his first goal with Minnesota, sending a power-play slap shot past a screened Corey Crawford in the third period. Kyle Brodziak then poked his own rebound to get the Wild within one at 10:32.But Kane beat Darcy Kuemper just 61 seconds later, sending a rebound into the upper right corner for his team-best 12th goal.Brandon Saad had a goal and two assists for the Blackhawks, who host the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night. Marian Hossa scored after he was honored in a pregame ceremony and Crawford finished with 20 saves.Kuemper, who replaced Niklas Backstrom at the start of the second period, finished with 14 stops for the Wild (11-9-2), who had won five of seven.Matt Cullen helped Minnesota grab the lead in the first, poking the puck away from Andrew Shaw for a turnover in the Blackhawks’ end. Cullen then got it back and was stopped by Crawford, but Devin Setoguchi poked in the rebound to make it 1-0 at 8:22.The Blackhawks responded with four consecutive goals in a span of 5:43, showing off the depth and tenacity at the center of its long points streak. Coming against the talented Wild, one of three teams with a victory over the Blackhawks this season, it was quite the statement.Saad kicked off the dizzying display when he followed his own backhand attempt with another one that found the back of the net at 13:02. Bickell then swept in another rebound 44 seconds later, and scored again at 17:12 when Saad got the puck away from the boards and found him for a wrister that went in off Backstom’s left arm.The Blackhawks tacked on another one when Jonathan Toews forced a turnover in the Minnesota end, and Saad made a nifty pass to Hossa for his 10th goal of the season. Chants of “Hossa! Hossa!” cascaded down from the rafters as the right wing celebrated his first goal since he beat Edmonton in overtime on Feb. 25.There were more cheers from the sellout crowd of 21,836 as the final seconds of the first ticked off, with the Blackhawks outshooting the Wild 17-6 in the opening 20 minutes. The four goals matched their season high for a period set Feb. 7 at Phoenix, also in the first. Minnesota had a chance to rally when the Hawks let up at the start of the second, but Crawford stuffed Heatley right in front of the goal and stopped Jared Spurgeon’s long slap shot.The night began with each of the Blackhawks wearing a No. 81 jersey during pregame warmups as the franchise honored Hossa for playing in his 1,000th NHL game Sunday at Detroit. The 34-year-old forward was joined by his wife, Jana, and daughter Mia for the pregame ceremony, when he was presented a silver stick and a painting of when he hoisted the Stanley Cup for the first time in 2010.
“To play 1,000 games in the National Hockey league is an awe-inspiring accomplishment,” Blackhawks president John McDonough said. “It speaks to endurance and an unwavering commitment to winning.”
Hossa, who signed a free-agent deal with the Hawks in 2009, held Mia in his arms for much of the ceremony and maintained a stoic look as the crowd chanted his name in tribute.

NOTES—Dave Bolland returned to the lineup after missing five consecutive games with an “upper-body injury”. … Blackhawks Michael Frolik was scratched due to an illness….The Hawks host Colorado Wednesday night.

IOWA CITY—Devyn Marble scored 21 points and Iowa beat Illinois 63-55 on Tuesday night for its fifth win in seven games.Josh Oglesby added 10 for the surging Hawkeyes (19-11, 8-9 Big Ten). They tied a school record with 12 blocked shots, including six from Gabe Olaseni off the bench.Oglesby buried back-to-back 3-pointers to turn a two-point lead into a 54-46 cushion with 3:19 left. D.J. Richardson then missed a dunk and Marble followed with a three-point play that put Iowa ahead by 11 with 1:39 to go.Brandon Paul had 18 points to lead Illinois (21-10, 8-9), which lost for just the second time in eight games. The Illini shot just 28.6 percent from the field.

YOUNGSTOWN—D.J. Cole banked in a driving bucket with 2.5 seconds left to lift Youngstown State to a 62-60 win over Loyola in the first round of the Horizon League tournament Tuesday night.The teams’ regular-season meetings also were decided in the final seconds, with the Penguins winning 68-66 on Jan. 5 and 60-59 on Feb. 7.This time, Youngstown State (17-14) led by eight with 6:01 left but couldn’t maintain its advantage. After Loyola’s Devon Turk tied it with two free throws with 13 seconds left, Cole hit his game-winner. Joe Crisman’s desperation heave from beyond half court was wide.The sixth-seeded Penguins will play No. 3 Wright State on Friday.Blake Allen and Kamren Belin scored 15 apiece for Youngstown State, Cole added 13 and Damian Eargle had 10 points and a Horizon League tournament-record seven blocks.Christian Thomas’ 16 points led the seventh-seeded Ramblers (15-16).

==================================================================

Josh Crittle scored 20 points, Daniel Barnes added 16 and UIC beat Cleveland State 82-59 on Tuesday night in the first round of the Horizon League tournament.Gary Talton added 11 points for the fifth-seeded Flames (17-14), and Hayden Humes and Marc Brown chipped in 10 apiece. UIC shot 49 percent from the floor and was 8 of 17 from 3-point range.Charlie Lee led the eighth-seeded Vikings (14-18) with 17 points, and Bryn Forbes had 16. Cleveland State shot 32 percent and was outrebounded 45-32.The Flames opened the game on a 30-6 run, capped by an Ahman Fells tip-in with 7:10 left in the first half, and the Vikings never got within single digits again.UIC moved on to face No. 4 seed Green Bay, which beat Milwaukee 62-46, on Friday in Valparaiso, Ind. The game will be the Flames’ first in the quarterfinals since the 2008-09 season.