NU out of Bowl chase, MSU wins Legends Division with 30-6 rout of Cats

EVANSTON—Mark Dantonio and his players wore hats commemorating their division championship. They hope bigger prizes are coming.Connor Cook threw for a career-high 293 yards, Jeremy Langford ran for 150, and No. 13 Michigan State clinched a spot in the Big Ten title game with a 30-6 victory over Northwestern on Saturday afternoon.Cook threw for two touchdowns. Langford ran for two scores, and the Spartans (10-1, 7-0) reached the conference championship game for the second time in three years.

“I’m happy to have the hat on and wear it for a couple of weeks and then turn it in,” Dantonio said after sealing the Big Ten Legends Division.

Langford ran 20 yards untouched for the game’s first touchdown in the second quarter. He sealed it with a 37-yard scoring run in the fourth after Kurtis Drummond picked off a short pass by Trevor Siemian, sending Michigan State to its seventh straight win and Northwestern (4-7, 0-7) to its seventh loss in a row which eliminated the Cats from any possible Bowl eligibility.Cook completed 16 of 24 passes on a bone-chilling and windy day, including an 87-yard TD to Bennie Fowler on a one-handed grab in the second quarter and a 15-yard scoring strike to Josiah Price in the third.Drummond had two interceptions, and the Spartans closed in on 11 wins for the third time in four seasons. They’re also eyeing their first trip to the Rose Bowl in 26 years.Before that, there’s a home game against Minnesota. Then, they head to Indianapolis for the conference championship game, against Leaders Division champion and fourth-ranked Ohio State.

“Winning this game, knowing we locked up going to Indianapolis, is a great feeling,” Darqueze Dennard said.

Safety Isaiah Lewis knocked Northwestern’s Kain Colter out of the game with a big hit as he tried to catch a pass early in the first quarter, resulting in a targeting penalty and an ejection.Things didn’t get much better for the Wildcats after that. They fell out of bowl contention after making one the previous five years and could go winless in Big Ten play if they don’t prevail at Illinois next week.

“The Year ’13 is over here in a week — and good riddance,” coach Pat Fitzgerald said. “There’s something about that number I don’t like.”

With Colter injured, Trevor Siemian carried the load at quarterback and was 25 of 43 with two interceptions.The Wildcats managed just 80 yards rushing, and their freefall continued after a 4-0 start.The tailspin began when they blew a 10-point lead in a 10-point loss to Ohio State, and they haven’t been the same since. They got blown out at Wisconsin and suffered a string of gut-wrenching losses, whether they were losing on a last-second heave in regulation to Nebraska or falling in triple overtime to Michigan last week.They’ve also lost key players to injuries, most notably top running back Venric Mark to a broken ankle. Now, they’re in a spot they never envisioned, particularly after they won the first four.

“This is as beat up of a team as I’ve ever had to coach,” Fitzgerald said.

Things took a bad turn for Northwestern in this one when Colter got drilled by Lewis, resulting in what Dantonio thought was an unwarranted ejection.

“I saw a hit on the shoulder,” Dantonio said. “That’s what I saw.”

Colter stayed down for a few moments and walked off clutching his stomach or arm. He did not return, and his status for next week is in question.Jeff Budzien kicked a 22-yard field goal on that drive to give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead, but Michigan State went ahead midway through the second when Langford ran 20 yards untouched to the end zone.Fowler added to the lead on Michigan State’s next possession when he reached back for a one-handed grab along the left sideline as Northwestern cornerback Matthew Harris slipped. The result was an 87-yard touchdown that made it 14-3 with 4:31 left in the half.NU then drove from its 28 to the 3 but was forced to settle for another field goal by Budzien, cutting the deficit to eight with just under two minutes remaining in the second quarter.MSU’s Michael Geiger kicked a 37-yard field goal on the opening drive of the second half after a wide open Tony Lippett caught a 48-yard pass from Cook on the first play.The Spartans added to their lead when Cook fired a 15-yard bullet over the middle to Price that made it 23-6 with five minutes left in the third. Chance Carter blocked the extra point and Northwestern was moving the ball on the next possession when Dennard picked off a deep pass along the left sideline.In the end, Michigan State accomplished one goal — clinching the division. Now, more are in sight.

Glory be! Illini get Big Ten win for Beckman, 20-16 over hapless Purdue

WEST LAFAYETTE—Steve Hull caught a career-high 10 passes for 169 yards and two touchdowns to help Illinois defeat Purdue 20-16 on Saturday afternoon.Nathan Scheelhaase completed 24 of 30 passes for 257 yards and two touchdowns and Josh Ferguson ran for a career-high 115 yards for the Fighting Illini (4-7, 1-6 Big Ten), who snapped a six-game losing streak this season and a 20-game skid in conference play.Akeem Hunt ran for a career-high 102 yards and a touchdown and Danny Etling completed 20 of 29 passes for 163 yards for Purdue, (1-10, 0-7), which has lost nine in a row.Purdue had a chance to win late. The Boilermakers reached the Illinois 30-yard line, but Etling was pressured and threw an interception to V’Angelo Bentley to end the threat with just under a minute to play.On Purdue’s first possession of the game, Hunt took a pitch, made some nifty moves and broke loose for a 62-yard touchdown run, giving the Boilermakers a 7-0 lead just 85 seconds into the game. The Boilermakers had been shut out in the first quarter of its five previous games.Illinois responded by going 80 yards in nine plays to tie the score. Scheelhaase found Hull found for a 3-yard touchdown pass.Etling connected with Cameron Posey for an 8-yard scoring pass to give Purdue a 14-7 lead. Brandon Cottom gained three yards on a fourth-and-2 to keep the drive going. Etling connected on all five of his passes for 44 yards on the possession. Purdue led 14-7 at the end of the first quarter, but the Boilermakers maintained their advantage for just six seconds in the second quarter. Scheelhaase’s 30-yard touchdown pass to Hull tied the score.Late in the quarter, Illinois’ Spencer Harris caught a pass from Scheelhaase, but Ricardo Allen forced him to fumble and Bruce Gaston recovered at the Illinois 26-yard line. The Boilermakers failed to capitalize as Paul Griggs missed left on a 35-yard field-goal try with 2 seconds left in the first half, and the score was 14-all at the break. llinois threatened on its first possession of the third quarter, but Allen intercepted Scheelhaase near the goal line.Purdue caught another break when Illinois’ Bentley muffed a punt and Jesse Schmitt recovered at the Illinois 27. The Boilermakers came up empty after holder Cody Webster ran on a fake field goal and was stopped short of the first down.Frankie Williams of Purdue returned a punt 84 yards for a touchdown late in the third quarter, but it was called back because of an illegal block in the back.Early in the fourth quarter, Hull caught a 42-yard pass from Scheelhaase to put Illinois in scoring range. Taylor Zalewski’s 32-yard field goal gave the Fighting Illini a 17-14 with 12:28 remaining.Later, Illinois appeared to score a touchdown, but Martize Barr went out of bounds before catching the ball in the end zone, so he drew an illegal touching penalty. Zalewski made a 23-yard field goal to push Illinois’ lead to 20-14 with 7:08 to play.Purdue scored a team safety on the final play of the game as Illinois ran out the clock.

Bulls lose Rose, then to the Blazers.

Chicago Bulls Logo - Red bull with script above head

PORTLAND—Derrick Rose injured his right knee Friday night and the Bulls star, who sat out last season following surgery on his other knee, did not return during a 98-95 loss to the streaking Portland Trail Blazers.Wesley Matthews had a season-high 28 points and Damian Lillard added 20 to help the Trail Blazers run their winning streak to nine games.Rose led the Bulls with 20 points, five rebounds and three assists but was assisted to the locker room with 3:20 remaining in the third quarter. The 2011 NBA MVP tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during the 2012 playoffs and missed last season while recovering from surgery.The top pick in the 2008 draft and a three-time All-Star, Rose was averaging 15.4 points this season.Carlos Boozer had 16 points and Luol Deng added 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Bulls.Nicolas Batum scored 17 points for Portland, on its longest winning streak since the 2007-08 season. Robin Lopez had 13 points and 16 rebounds. LaMarcus Aldridge added 13 points on 4-of-20 shooting.The game was tied at 88 before Kirk Hinrich made two baskets to give the Bulls a 95-91 lead with 3 minutes left. But then Batum knocked down a 3-pointer, Matthews hit a jumper and Aldridge made two free throws to pull it out for the Blazers.The Bulls led by 20 in the second quarter but were outscored 34-9 in the third as Portland stormed back and took the lead.Portland was coming off a 4-0 road trip that included a 97-87 win over Milwaukee on Wednesday, but the Blazers looked as though they were going to get blown out in the first half. The Bulls jumped out to an early lead and was up 51-31 late in the second quarter before taking a 59-44 advantage into the break. Aldridge was barely a factor, missing nine of his 10 field goal attempts in the first half.Portland came out strong in the third, erasing the deficit and taking the lead when Mo Williams hit a 3-pointer. The Blazers entered the final quarter with a 78-71 advantage. Portland shot 51 percent in the quarter while the Bulls were 4 for 12.The Bulls had won five straight before losing to Denver 97-87 on Thursday night in the opener of a six-game road trip.

NOTES—Jimmy Butler sat out a second game with turf toe and will miss the entire road trip. Butler and Matthews were teammates at Marquette. … Portland has won 10 of the last 12 matchups with the Bulls at home. … Aldridge was drafted No. 2 overall by the Bulls in 2006 but got traded on draft day to Portland for Victor Khryapa and the draft rights to Tyrus Thomas.

Toews 4 points leads Hawks past Jets 6-3

WINNIPEG—Jonathan Toews especially enjoyed this trip home.Toews had a goal and three assists, leading the Blackhawks to a 6-3 victory against the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night.

“It felt good, I’m not going to lie,” the Blackhawks captain said. “It means a little bit more to have a chance to get on the scoresheet here in Winnipeg, in front of dozens of family and friends that are here at the game. There’s a little bit of added effort there.”

Toews linemate Marian Hossa put the Hawks ahead for good in the third period with a goal in his return to the lineup after missing three games with a lower-body injury.Patrick Kane, Brandon Saad and Ben Smith also scored for the Blackhawks (15-4-4), and Patrick Sharp capped it with an empty-netter. The Blackhawks have won all three of their meetings with the Jets this season.

“It was a more consistent, more complete effort,” Toews said.

Added coach Joel Quenneville: “I thought we answered the bell at the start of the game and answered the bell when they had their run there in the second. Excellent first and third periods.”

Andrew Ladd, Keaton Ellerby and Dustin Byfuglien scored for the Jets (10-11-3), who scored three goals in the second period.

“I thought their skill was evident in the game,” Winnipeg coach Claude Noel said of the Blackhawks, who have two Stanley Cups in the past three seasons. “We didn’t have enough good players, we didn’t have enough good players or strong players. I thought they won a lot of battles in the hard areas. When you win Cups in the years that they’ve won them, you can see why.”

Goalie Ondrej Pavelec, who kept the Jets in the game in the first period, said they got what they deserved.

“You play in your zone like we did tonight, you can’t expect to get a point,”  he said.The first period was all Blackhawks, who controlled possession of the puck and outshot Winnipeg 12-2.

“For sure it was a concern,” Noel said of the failure to get up for the game, although he didn’t have any answers.”It’s something I’ve got to figure out, it’s part of the job. Having said all that, we walk into the third period, we’re tied 3-3, we’re still in the game, we just need to muster up 20 minutes, but they stepped it up and played and we couldn’t handle it.”

Kane’s power-play goal late in the first got things started and Saad snapped one in from the slot to make it 2-0 just over three minutes into the second.The Jets then scored two goals in 29 seconds to tie it.Bryan Little fed Ladd and Ellerby used Winnipeg’s first power play of the game to score his first with the Jets from the point at 3:51.Toews put the Blackhawks back in the lead with a 4-on-4 goal just past the 11-minute mark, beating out defenseman Toby Enstrom and slipping the puck past Pavelec from the side of the crease.But Winnipeg came right back on a 5-on-3 opportunity that Byfuglien cashed in at 13:30, with Winnipeg’s third shot within seconds on Crawford to even it up a 3.The Jets bounced back in the second period with a 14-8 advantage in shots.Hossa put the Blackhawks ahead at 3:11 of the third when he outplayed Ellerby while swinging past the Jets net. He slipped the puck through a very small hole left by Pavelec.Smith raced in to bang in a rebound for some insurance at 5:22 to make it 5-3.A Winnipeg radio station urged fans to wear helmets to the game in response to the Hawk fan who stole Adam Pardy’s helmet after the Jets defenseman was checked through the glass at the United Center on Nov. 6. But the team told fans they wouldn’t be allowed in if they showed up with helmets on Thursday night.There was a heavy police presence at the game but it wasn’t because of the rivalry between the two Central Division teams. Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in attendance.

NOTES—The Jets and Blackhawks play once more, Jan. 26 in the United Center. … Ladd and Byfuglien played for the Blackhawks and Jets general manager Kevin Cheveldayoff was assistant GM when the Hawks won a Stanley Cup in 2010. Michael Frolik was with the Blackhawks when they won the Cup last season.

Bulls continue woes in Denver,fall to Nuggets 97-87

Chicago Bulls Logo - Red bull with script above head

DENVER—Once Nate Robinson stopped worrying about missing shots, he started making them, and the timing couldn’t have been better.Robinson and Jordan Hamilton each hit back-to-back 3-pointers to start the fourth quarter, helping the Denver Nuggets pull away for a 97-87 victory against the Bulls on Thursday night.

“I’ve been battling little injuries, and been in a little slump, not wanting to take the shots I usually take just because I didn’t want to miss them and hurt my team,” said Robinson, who scored 10 of his 11 points in the fourth quarter.”But I got to the stage where I’m like, ‘Forget it. Just play and be you,’ ” he said. “I’m no longer going to worry about missing shots. I’m just going to shoot when I’m open and play aggressive, get my teammates involved and play as hard as I can for as long as I can and enjoy the minutes that I get.”

Hamilton finished with 17 points to lead the Nuggets, who won their seventh straight against the Bulls at the Pepsi Center. J.J. Hickson had 14 points, Kenneth Faried had 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Randy Foye also scored 12 points.Derrick Rose had 19 points for the Bulls, who snapped a five-game winning streak.Robinson, who spent last season with the Bulls, started a 12-0 burst when he hit successive 3s opening the final period. Hamilton matched him by making 3s on back-to-back possessions, and the Nuggets’ lead ballooned to 82-62 with 9:40 left.

“He’s a sparkplug, man,” teammate Ty Lawson said. “Nate is never down and out, so if he misses through three quarters, he’s going to come through in the fourth quarter. That’s what he did for us.”

The Bulls managed to pull to 94-83, but Robinson responded by hitting a 12-foot bank shot to help quash the late momentum.

“You can’t let your guard down against them,” Tom Thibodeau said. “I thought their bench hurt us. Hamilton had a big game for them, Nate had the two big shots to start the fourth, [Timofey] Mozgov hurt us in the paint. Lawson puts a lot of pressure on you, and [Wilson] Chandler puts a lot of pressure on you. You’ve got to use your team to slow them down.

“Our turnovers hurt us,” Thibodeau added, “but the big thing is we gave them easy scoring opportunities. We should have been able to count on our defense. Ninety-seven points, 46 percent [shooting], it’s too much.”

Darrell Arthur hit a baseline jumper to give the Nuggets a 69-60 lead with 1:09 left in the third, matching their biggest lead of the night. Denver was in front 70-62 going into the final period.The Bulls outscored the Nuggets 8-2 in the last two minutes of the second quarter, pulling to 50-48 at halftime. The Bulls hit the offensive boards in the surge, getting tip-ins from Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng and Joakim Noah during the sequence.

NOTES—Mike Dunleavy started at shooting guard in place of Jimmy Butler, who is week to week because of a toe injury. … Taj Gibson was ejected with 1:15 left after drawing his second technical foul. …The Bulls have’nt won in Denver since a 110-107 victory on Feb. 8, 2006. … Faried has 10 or more rebounds in five of his past six games.

GROBBER’S NFL WEEK 12 PICKS

Thurs Night:New Orleans over ATLANTA

Sunday:
NY GIANTS over Dallas
OAKLAND over Tennessee
Pittsburgh over CLEVELAND
HOUSTON over Jacksonville
BALTIMORE over N.Y.Jets
KANSAS CITY over San Diego
Carolina over MIAMI
ARIZONA over Indianapolis

Sun Night: NEW ENGLAND over Denver
Mon Night: San Francisco over WASHINGTON

NFC NORTH GAMES:
DETROIT over Tampa Bay
GREEN BAY over Minnesota
Bears over ST.LOUIS

Home Games in all CAPS.

Week 11    Les 11-4,  Adam 12-3
TOTAL:      Les 112-50  Adam 111-51

NU hammer’s UIC 93-58

Dave Sobolewski scored 17 of his career-high 25 points in the first half and Drew Crawford added 18 as Northwestern routed UIC 93-58 on Wednesday night.Northwestern (2-2) opened the game with a 17-4 lead on Sanjay Lumpkin’s layup and JerShon Cobb’s 3-pointer extended the lead to 20-6 as the Wildcats led wire to wire. Jordan Harks led UIC (1-3) with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Marc Brown, who averaged 21.7 points in the first three games, was held to seven points.NU tied the all-time series at 4-4, rebounding from last season’s home loss to the Flames.Sobolewski sparked the Wildcats with 13 points in the first 11:13 of the game. He also connected on back-to-back 3-pointers with Crawford to extend the lead to 39-14. The Flames trailed by as many as 29 in the first half as Northwestern was 7-for-12 from 3-point range in the half.Northwestern led 47-22 at the half. Crawford scored eight points.Sobolewski was a high school teammate of Frank Kaminsky at Benet High School in Lisle, Ill., who set a Wisconsin school record with 43 points in a win against North Dakota. He made all six 3-point attempts. Sobolewski was 4-for-6 from 3-point range in the first half.Northwestern rebounded from back-to-back losses to Stanford and a home loss to Illinois State on Sunday.Kelsey Barlow led UIC with five points in the half and finished with 10. As a team they shot 22.6 percent in the half and allowed Northwestern to shoot 57.1 percent.Lumpkin finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds and Alex Olah scored 10 points.

NIU overpower’s Toledo in second half-MAC West Champs again

TOLEDO—Northern Illinois’ Jordan Lynch ran for three touchdowns and 161 yards to lead the No. 20 Huskies over Toledo 35-17 Wednesday night.The Huskies (11-0, 7-0 Mid-American Conference) clinched a fourth consecutive trip to the MAC title game and extended their 24-game conference winning streak.Lynch had been shut down in the first half, but he took over late.His 1-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter capped a 99-yard drive that stretched the Huskies’ lead to 28-17.NIU is still in the hunt for a second straight Bowl Championship Series appearance,but they will need Fresno State to lose a game. The Huskies are 16th in this week’s BCS rankings,Fresno is 15th.Terrance Owens threw two touchdown passes for Toledo (7-4, 5-2).Lynch finished with 202 yards passing.

Hawks start Circus Trip with 5-1 clunker vs Avs

DENVER—Semyon Varlamov stopped 36 shots, Paul Stastny had a goal and an assist, and the Colorado Avalanche beat the Blackhawks 5-1 on Tuesday night.Gabriel Landeskog and John Mitchell also scored during Colorado’s three-goal first period. P.A. Parenteau and Cody McLeod added goals in the second and third for Colorado, which snapped a three-game skid.Brandon Saad scored for the Blackhawks, who failed to get at least two goals for the first time this season. Colorado ended the Hawks NHL-record streak of 24 consecutive games with at least a point to start a season in a 6-2 victory last March.Antti Raanta made 14 saves in his NHL debut for the Stanley Cup champion Blackhawks. He played the final 46:23 in relief of Corey Crawford, who allowed three goals on seven shots.The Blackhawks had their opportunities in outshooting Colorado 37-23. They had several quality chances to get back in the game in the second period but couldn’t put one past Varlamov. Colorado stumbled after winning 14 of its first 16 games but capitalized on its chances in the first period this time. Stastny scored when Brent Seabrook’s pass off the boards ricocheted to him in the slot, and he beat Crawford with a slap shot.Landeskog gave Colorado a two-goal lead when he redirected Andre Benoit’s shot from the point past Crawford with 7:39 left in the period. Only 56 seconds later, Mitchell made it 3-0.Raanta, recalled Sunday, replaced Crawford after Mitchell’s goal. He faced only seven shots over the next 25 minutes but allowed his first goal late in the second period.After the Blackhawks had several strong chances in front of Varlamov, Parenteau skated down the left boards and beat Raanta with a shot from the circle to make it 4-0 with 1:22 left in the second.McLeod scored his first goal of the season on a rebound 1:44 into the third.

NOTES—There were only two penalties called in the game, one on each team. … Avalanche C Matt Duchene is expected to miss at least a week with an oblique injury sustained in Saturday’s loss to Florida. …Bryan Bickell left the game after crashing into the net in the first period. He didn’t return. …Marian Hossa missed his third straight game with a lower-body injury. … Colorado placed forward Alex Tanguay (knee) and defenseman Ryan Wilson (back) on injured reserve and recalled C Brad Malone and D Tyson Barrie from Lake Erie of the AHL.

Blue Demons big second half beats UWM

MILWAUKEE—Cleveland Melvin scored 20 points and Brandon Young added 19 as DePaul pulled away in the second half for an 80-71 win over Milwaukee on Tuesday.It was the first road win of the season for the Blue Demons (3-1). The Panthers (4-2), who had won four straight, lost their home opener.Both teams were looking to build early season momentum after finishing in last place last season in their respective conferences, DePaul in the Big East and Milwaukee in the Horizon.The first half was tight, with neither team building a lead of more than four points. DePaul shot just 39.4 percent and Milwaukee just 33.3 percent.The game was tied at 32 at halftime after Milwaukee forward Matt Tiby was fouled on a putback and made a free throw to convert a three-point play.But Milwaukee was forced to call a timeout barely a minute into the second half after missing two threes and DePaul jumped to a 37-32 lead on a layup by Young and a 3-pointer by Melvin. UWM, which had won four straight – including claiming the NIU Invitational over the weekend, defeating host Northern Illinois Sunday in the championship game in DeKalb – seemed to run out of gas in the second half, playing their fourth game in five days.DePaul, who beat Wright State of the Horizon League 81-72 on Saturday, gradually built a lead in the second half, going up 63-49 on a dunk by guard Charles McKinney with just over seven minutes remaining.After the cold-shooting first half, DePaul shot 60.7 percent in the second period.UWM would get to within six, at 73-67 with just over a minute left when Tiby, who led UWM with 20 points, made a layup.But DePaul made its free throws down the stretch to prevail.Melvin added nine rebounds to lead DePaul and Young had seven. Tiby paced the Panthers with 11 boards.