MADISON—Drew Crawford played the role of savvy senior leader to perfection.The Northwestern forward hit a tricky 3 off a curl in the second half. He jumped high and made a long bucket with Wisconsin guard Josh Gasser playing nearly flawless defense, a shot so tough that Crawford pumped his right arm and let out a yell as he jogged back up the court.Crawford, a fifth-year senior, scored a season-high 30 points, JerShon Cobb added all 10 of his points in the second half and the Wildcats upset the 14th-ranked Badgers 65-56 on Wednesday night.Northwestern first-year coach Chris Collins earned his first big win on the road, and the Wildcats got their first victory in Madison since 1996(at the old UW Field House), and first EVER at the Kohl Center.But for all of the big shots made down the stretch, Northwestern was most proud of its defense. Wisconsin shot 26 percent (15 of 57) on the night.

“Our identity is defense … there’s no question,” Collins said. “For me in basketball, defense is the time when you’re most united.”

The smooth Crawford glided around the court for tough shots — none harder than the 3 off a curl with Gasser’s hand in his face to give Northwestern (11-11, 4-5 Big Ten) a 13-point lead.Wisconsin (17-4, 4-4) turned up the pressure late to get within six with 41 seconds left. But Traevon Jackson lost the ball on a drive with 23 seconds left to seal the Badgers’ fate.Ben Brust’s 21 points led Wisconsin, which lost for the fourth time in five games.

“Once you start missing, that basket gets pretty small — and obviously it got pretty small,” coach Bo Ryan said.

After a 16-0 start to the season, defense has been a problem for the Badgers. They had their issues again, especially during an 8-0 run in the second half by Northwestern that helped break a 34-34 tie.But offense was the bigger problem for Wisconsin, which uncharacteristically settled for some bad looks at times against Northwestern’s solid defense.

“Defense is where we hang our hat, that’s what we work one very day in practice,” Crawford said.

He hit an off-balance layup with the shot clock winding down for a 54-39 lead with about 3:30 left.The Badgers used pressure to get within 62-56 after Nigel Hayes went 1 of 2 from the foul line.The Wildcats, though, held on from there and Jackson’s turnover proved costly.Crawford finished 10 of 15 from the field and added eight rebounds, while Tre Demps scored 10 points.Sam Dekker finished with 11 points and seven rebounds for Wisconsin, but was 2 of 9 from the field.

VANCOUVER—Jonathan Toews, Patrick Sharp and Brandon Saad each had a goal and an assist in the second period as the Blackhawks scored in quick succession to beat the Vancouver Canucks 5-2 on Wednesday night.Marian Hossa also scored in the second period and Saad added an empty netter late. Corey Crawford made 29 saves as the Blackhawks grabbed sole possession of first in the Central Division.The Hawks scored four times on five shots in a span of 7:31 in the second to rally from two goals down and snap a four-game winless streak (0-2-2). The Blackhawks bounced back after falling 5-4 to Calgary in overtime a night earlier and are now 10-1-3 in the second game of back to backs this season.The victory was Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville’s 693rd, moving him past Dick Irvin into sole possession of third place on the all-time NHL coaching wins list.Chris Higgins and Tom Sestito scored for Vancouver, which lost its second straight. Roberto Luongo stopped 36 shots.Trailing 2-0, the Blackhawks got on the scoreboard with a power-play goal as Hossa completed a tic-tac-toe passing sequence for his 23rd of the season at 6:30 of the second period.The Hawks tied the score 3:39 later when Saad scored his 15th of the season on a sweet deflection off a point shot from Sheldon Brookbank.Toews then swatted a losse puck in the crease past Luongo for his 18th at 10:47 to put the Blackhawks ahead, and Sharp made it 4-0 with his 27th with 5:33 remaining.Vancouver had a chance to get back in the game later in the period, but the league’s 29th-ranked power play, which entered the night on a dismal 2-for-36 run, failed to generate anything.Needing a big third period, the Canucks couldn’t get anything past Crawford on another man advantage midway through the period as Toews sprawled on the goal-line to keep Higgins’ effort out.Saad then sealed the victory with 38 seconds left into an empty net.Fans at Rogers Arena were just settling into their seats after the national anthems when Higgins opened the scoring only 16 seconds in. Canucks forward Ryan Kesler shovelled a puck towards the Hawk goal that Higgins sent between Crawford’s legs for his 15th goal of the season and third in the four games.The Blackhawks were leading 13-3 on shots before the Canucks pushed back late in the period. Kesler had three straight chances in front of Crawford, with the final one going off the goalie’s mask but staying out.Crawford then made a huge toe save on Canucks forward Brad Richardson in front to keep the score 1-0 after 20 minutes.Sestito doubled the Canucks’ lead at 2:44 of the second with his fifth of the season. Vancouver defenceman Ryan Stanton moved down low and fed Sestito in front, who got his first goal in 10 games.

NOTES—The Canucks head on a five-game road trip that will take them to Winnipeg, Detroit, Boston, Montreal and Toronto. Vancouver’s next home game is after the Olympics, on Feb. 26 against St. Louis Blues. … The Blackhawks continue their six-game pre-Olympic road trip on Saturday at San Jose.

SAN ANTONIO—Jimmy Butler had 19 points and Carlos Boozer added 16 points and 12 rebounds and the Bulls handed the injury-riddled San Antonio Spurs their third straight loss, 96-86 on Wednesday night.D.J. Augustin and Taj Gibson added 15 points each and Joakim Noah had 10 points and 10 rebounds.Tony Parker had 20 points and Tim Duncan had 17 points and 12 rebounds for San Antonio, which hadn’t lost back-to-back games until this current skid.The Spurs were without Manu Ginobili, Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green and Tiago Splitter.It led to a disjointed and inconsistent offense for San Antonio.With four players missing from their main rotation, the Spurs started Nando De Colo and newly signed Othyus Jeffers, who have both played in the D League.Jeffers brought hustle and De Colo another distributor, but neither brought much offense.San Antonio went scoreless for nearly five minutes as part ofthe Bulls 12-5 run to close the first quarter. It could have been
worse, but Patty Mills made a 3-pointer with 2.8 seconds remaining to keep the Spurs within 21-15.San Antonio responded with a 17-3 run to take a 27-24 lead. The Bulls scored just seven points in 10 minutes bridging the first and second quarters, turning a 21-12 lead into a 36-28 deficit.But the second half belonged to the Bulls and Butler.Butler was 7 for 11 from the field as the Spurs had no answer for the athletic forward.

NOTES—Green, Leonard and Splitter all sat behind the bench during the game, all wearing sport coats with no ties. Ginobili was not with the team. … Noah (illness) and Kirk Hinrich (right hamstring) both played after being game-time decisions due to injury. … Jeffers endeared himself to the fans and Spurs quickly, diving onto court twice on the same possession for a loose ball, earning a jump ball. … Noah was given a technical foul with 5:02 remaining in the third by official Josh Tiven. As he ran back defensively, Noah punched the air in disgust after missing a layup he thought was caused by a foul on Duncan. … When asked how the Spurs will handle the rash of recent injuries, coach Gregg Popovich said he didn’t want to be a smart-(aleck) but … ”You play the guys on the bench. We can’t play the guys on the other team. I know that.”

DETROIT—Juwan Howard, Jr., scored 25 points and Detroit beat UIC 74-68 on Wednesday night.Trailing 54-52, Howard scored eight points during a 9-1 run by Detroit (10-13, 3-5 Horizon League), which took a 61-54 lead with 8:20 to play. The Flames immediately answered with a 9-3 spurt of its own, pulling within one with 4:11 left. Marc Brown scored UIC’s final seven points during that stretch.Anton Wilson’s 3-pointer with 3:25 remaining extended Detroit’s lead, which it would not relinquish, to 67-63. Wilson scored nine of his 16 points in the final 4:31.Evan Bruinsma added 15 points and nine rebounds for the Titans, who shot 49.1 percent (28 of 57) from the floor.Brown paced the Flames (5-17, 0-8) with 24 points – just one off his career-high. Kelsey Barlow added 18 points and seven boards while Jake Wiegand finished with 13 points and eight rebounds.UIC has lost 11 games in a row.

PEORIA—Walt Lemon, Jr. hit his first field goal with less than 10 minutes to play and scored 16 of his 20 points down the stretch as Bradley broke away late in the game to defeat Illinois State 64-45 on Wednesday night.Lemon was 0-for-5 from the field when his 3-pointer with 9:36 remaining broke open a one-point game for the Braves (9-13, 4-5 Missouri Valley Conference). Bradley launched a 12-0 run to make what had been a close game (six ties, five lead changes) look lopsided by the end.Illinois State (11-10, 4-5) was harried by 19 turnovers, including 11 Bradley steals – Lemon had four. The Redbirds also shot a cold 32 percent from the field with Daishon Knight and Paris Lee each scoring eight points.Tyshon Pickett scored 12 points for Bradley with Ka’Darryl Bell adding 11 and Auston Barnes 11 points with 10 rebounds.

CALGARY—T.J. Brodie scored at 2:26 of overtime, lifting the Calgary Flames to a 5-4 win over the slumping Blackhawks on Tuesday night.Mikael Backlund scored twice for the Flames (19-27-7), who won three straight games for the first time this season. Matt Stajan had a goal and an assist, Lance Bouma also scored and Lee Stempniak set up three goals.Marian Hossa scored twice for the Blackhawks (32-10-13), who were 0-2-2 in their previous four games. Patrick Kane and Ben Smith also scored for the slumping Hawks.Neither of the starting goalies played particularly well and both were replaced in net.Reto Berra stopped 20 of 24 shots he faced through two periods before Karri Ramo took over in the Calgary net for the third. Ramo made nine saves to pick up the win.Antti Raanta drew the start in net, but was bad, and pulled after he stopped just 11 of 15 shots he faced through 1 1/2 periods. Corey Crawford entered and stopped 13 consecutive shots before giving up Brodie’s OT goal.The Flames held a pair of one-goal leads in the first period before the Blackhawks responded both times to tie up the game 2 after 20 minutes.Calgary jumped out to a quick start as captain Mark Giordano rang a shot off the post 37 seconds into the game. Backlund then scored his 10th goal of the season at 1:13 of the first.Backlund took a pass from linemate Lee Stempniak and shook off a check from Niklas Hjalmarsson before backhanding a shot that sneaked through Raanta’s legs.The Blackhawks evened the score at 5:53 when Kane converted a nice backhand pass from Kris Versteeg from behind the Calgary net.The Flames regained their one-goal lead at 11:34 when Bouma’s weak wrist shot hit Raanta in the shoulder before bouncing up and over the goalie and into the net.Once again, the Hawks drew even on a goal by Hossa with 3:25 remaining in the opening period. Patrick Sharp appeared to score the goal, but his stick hit Hossa’s, which directed the puck into the net behind Berra, who made a great pad save to stop the initial shot taken by Jonathan Toews.David Jones made a nice play to set up Stajan for his ninth goal of the season at 3:21 of the second before Backlund converted a feed from Stempniak for a short-handed marker at 10:25 to put the Flames up 4-2.The Hawks pulled within one when Smith’s long wrist shot bounced off of Berra’s catching glove and into the net. Hossa then tied the game at 4 when he swatted a rebound past Berrra at 17:33 of the second while the Hawks were was killing off a penalty.In overtime, Crawford stopped a shot from the slot by Calgary forward Sean Monahan. Brodie then picked up the rebound and scored a wrap-around goal.

NOTES—The Flames are in the middle of a five-game homestand, which equals their season high. They also played five straight games at home from Dec. 23 to Jan. 3 when they went 1-4. … The Flames will also host the San Jose Sharks on Thursday and the Minnesota Wild on Saturday. … It was Backlund’s first multi-goal game since Oct. 21, 2010, when he scored both times for Calgary during a 4-2 loss to the Red Wings in Detroit. … With an assist on Backlund’s second goal, Giordano extended his point-scoring streak to seven games, a career high.

WICHITA—Wichita State coach Gregg Marshall had a schedule planned for this week.In a subdued locker room following the fourth-ranked Shockers’ 57-45 victory over Loyola on Tuesday night, Marshall did not need to inform his players that the schedule would be altered.After scoring just 21 points in the second half and allowing a 22-point lead to dwindle to single digits, they knew.

“That was a painful second half,” Marshall said. “[Wednesday] was going to be a light day. It won’t be now. We’re going to get after it. That was an endless string of gaffes.”

Cleanthony Early scored 12 of his 23 points in the second half to lead Wichita State (22-0, 9-0 Missouri Valley Conference). No other Shocker scored more than seven points, and the rest of the team was a combined 3 of 19 (15.7 percent) from the field in the second half.Freshman Milton Doyle scored 14 of his 16 points in the second half for Loyola (8-13, 3-6).The Ramblers trailed 22-16 with 5:35 to play in the first half before Wichita State went on a 14-0 run.

“We got it down to six, and they sped us up,” Loyola coach Porter Moser said. “We had six or seven bad possessions in a row, and they push the lead to 20. And that was it. I have seen them do it so many times this season.”

Wichita State’s lead grew to 42-20 with 17:05 remaining after consecutive 3-pointers from Ron Baker and Early.

“When you get up that big, in any sport, you tend to relax,” Baker admitted.

Loyola took advantage.Doyle, who entered the game averaging 16 points, finally found scoring opportunities after a two-point first half.His 3-pointer pulled Loyola within 43-29 with 13:31 left, but Early quickly countered with a 3-pointer to stem the tide.Doyle scored four points in a six-point run that trimmed Wichita State’s lead to 48-35 with 6:03 remaining.

“I thought Milton settled down in the second half,” Moser said.

A 3 by Devon Turk off a Wichita State turnover and Doyle’s slashing layup 31 seconds later brought the Ramblers within 50-40.

At that point, Wichita State had made just two of its previous 18 shots, and point guard Fred VanVleet said the Shockers were “fighting ourselves, and it kept escalating.”

The crowd was nervous and then restless after Doyle’s three-point play with 2:27 left shaved the lead to single digits, 52-43.But four free throws by Anthony and a dunk by Darius Carter sealed the victory for the Shockers, who outrebounded Loyola 44-28.The Shockers tied the 1985-86 Bradley team with Hersey Hawkins for the third-longest winning streak by a Missouri Valley team.The top two MVC winning streaks are Cincinnati, 37 from 1961 to 1963, and Indiana State, 33 in 1978-79.

EVANSTON—Kain Colter and a group of Northwestern players are beginning the process of forming a labor union to represent college athletes.According to ESPN’s Outside the Lines, Ramogi Huma, president of the National College Players Association, filed a petition in Chicago on behalf of the players with the National Labor Relations Board.If the group is certified by the NLRB, it will be called the College Athletes Players Association (CAPA). Huma, Colter and former UMass basketball player Luke Bonner created the group with support from the United Steelworkers.

More details, via OTL:

“This is about finally giving college athletes a seat at the table,” said Huma, a former UCLA linebacker, who created the NCPA as an advocacy group in 2001. “Athletes deserve an equal voice when it comes to their physical, academic and financial protections.”

Huma said that the move to unionize players at Northwestern started with quarterback Kain Colter, who reached out to him last spring and asked for help in giving athletes representation in their effort to improve the conditions under which they play NCAA sports. Colter became a leading voice in regular NCPA-organized conference calls among players from around the country.Huma, Colter and the NCPA organized the “All Players United” movement in the 2013 season that resulted in several players from Northwestern, Georgia and Georgia Tech displaying #APU on their uniforms.Huma told OTL that the goals of CAPA will be the same as the NCPA; looking for representation in the decision-making process of college athletics to improve conditions for student-athletes. The group has advocated for multi-year scholarships and has called for guaranteed scholarships for players who can no longer compete due to injury or medical issues.

“A lot of people will think this is all about money; it’s not,” Colter told the Chicago Tribune on Tuesday morning. “We’re asking for a seat at the table to get our voice heard.”

Both the Bulls and the Minnesota Timberwolves were missing their starting centers.The Timberwolves were able to overcome the adversity.Kevin Love scored 31 points to lead the Timberwolves over the Bulls 95-86 Monday night. Ronny Turiaf added 14 points for the Timberwolves, who snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Bulls and won for the fourth time in five games overall.Timberwolves center Nikola Pekovic exited with a sore right Achilles tendon midway through the first quarter. Turiaf, who was averaging 2.3 points, scored a season high in his absence.The Bulls were also without their starting center. Joakim Noah was sent home before the game due to an illness. Kirk Hinrich (strained right hamstring) missed his fourth straight game.

”They had some people out too, but we knew it was going to be a physical game,” Timberwolves coach and one time Bull(in 1973-74) Rick Adelman said. ”We knew how they were going to play, and I thought we responded pretty well.”

Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 14 rebounds, and D.J. Augustin added 19 points for the Bulls.Pekovic, who was averaging 18.4 points and 9.3 rebounds, said he hopes his injury is not serious. The injury has been bothering Pekovic during the team’s road trip, Adelman said. Pekovic had one point and one rebound in six minutes.In Pekovic’s absence, Turiaf grabbed seven rebounds and had his highest-scoring game since he scored 19 points on Jan. 11, 2011, for the New York Knicks against the Portland Trailblazers.The Bulls pulled within five with 1:29 left on Augustin’s 3-pointer but got no closer. Love answered with a layup with 1:10 remaining, and Corey Brewer’s dunk gave the Timberwolves an 88-79 lead with 57.4 seconds left.The Timberwolves improved to 2-11 on the road when scoring fewer than 109 points. Minnesota shot 46.6 percent compared to the Bulls’ 37.6 percent.The Bulls had won four of five and is 10-4 in January.Chase Budinger added 12 points off the bench for Minnesota, and Brewer had 11.Jimmy Butler scored 16 points, and Mike Dunleavy and Taj Gibson each had 10 for the Bulls.Gibson started at center in place of Noah and had eight points and seven rebounds at halftime before running into foul trouble in the second half.

”He’s an All-Star. You’re going to feel it,” Gibson said about the Bulls missing Noah. ”He was playing real phenomenal. He’s one of the vocal leaders, rebounding, playing defense, controlling the offensive end and making plays for guys.We got to keep pushing forward.”

The Timberwolves went cold in the third quarter as the Bulls outscored them 19-18 and pulled within five.Minnesota had one field goal in the final 7:38 of the period – Budinger’s dunk with 34.9 seconds left. The Wolves led 72-65 heading into the fourth.The Bulls had won by an average of 13.3 points during their seven-game winning streak against the Timberwolves. Minnesota last won in Chicago on Jan. 3, 2009.

”When you lose a guy like Jo your margin for error is smaller,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said about Noah.”We can get it done. You’ve got to give Minnesota credit. They’re playing real well right now. We can never lose sight of how hard we have to play. We can’t play hard for 32 minutes. We have to play hard the whole game.”

NOTES—The Timberwolves ranked second in the NBA in scoring at 106.8 points per game coming in. The Bulls were holding opponents to 92.9 points per game, second in the league. … It was the first of two meetings between the teams this season. The Bulls lead the all-time series 28-18.

Al Montoya’s sweet homecoming was one sour night for Jonathan Toews and Co.Montoya made 34 saves in his first win in his hometown and former Hawk Andrew Ladd scored his 150th goal, leading the Winnipeg Jets to a 3-1 victory against the slumping Blackhawks on Sunday.

“This is very special. I’ve been waiting for this one since I was a kid,” said Montoya, who dropped his first two career starts at Chicago. “I can’t even describe it, all my friends, all my family in the stands. I’ve had some close ones, some good games in here, but this one takes it.”

Blake Wheeler had two third-period goals as Winnipeg (25-24-5) won for the second successive day, improving to 6-1 under new coach Paul Maurice. It also averted a season sweep by the Blackhawks, who won each of the first three games between the teams.The Blackhawks (32-10-12) controlled the first two periods of its final home game before the Olympic break, but still went on to its third three-game slide of the season. The Stanley Cup champions open a seven-game trip Tuesday night in Calgary, and will not play again in Chicago until they take on Pittsburgh at Soldier Field on March 1.Brandon Bollig scored in the first for the Blackhawks, and Corey Crawford had 18 saves.

“We just threw away another two points,” Toews said. “I don’t really have an explanation without seeming negative.”

The Blackhawks got Duncan Keith back after the defensemen missed Thursday night’s 2-1 loss at Minnesota due to an illness. But coach Joel Quenneville scratched forward Bryan Bickell, who has struggled since returning from a lower-body injury.

“Coach’s decision. We need a lot more,” Quenneville said. “We’re looking for more.”

Chicago led 1-0 before Wheeler sent a rebound over Crawford’s right glove at 8:16 of the third for his 20th goal. Marian Hossa then had a turnover deep in the Blackhawks’ end, and Ladd buried the open look against his former team for the tiebreaking goal at 12:53, drawing groans from the sellout crowd at the United Center.Wheeler added an empty-netter for his fourth goal in the last four games.

“We know they have a lot of talent there and they like to control the puck,” Ladd said. “But at the same time, you do get some chances against them. So we figured heading into the third with that one-goal lead we could turn it up a little bit and get some chances and get ourselves back in the game.”

Montoya was terrific while subbing for Ondrej Pavelec, who had started the previous eight games for Winnipeg. The 28-year-old goaltender shut down the Blackhawks after an early gaffe put the Jets into a 1-0 hole.Bollig got a slick pass from Ben Smith a little more than a minute into the game and skated behind the net for a wraparound as he fell to the ice. The shot went off Montoya’s stick and right pad for Bollig’s sixth goal at 1:21.The Blackhawks had several opportunities to add to the lead in the first, but Montoya was there each time. They outshot the Jets 18-2 in the period.Montoya used his right pad to stop Hossa on a breakaway with 12:05 left in the first, and then stayed in after he was shaken up on the resulting collision with the streaking forward. He also made a sprawling stop on Bollig at the end of the period.It was more of the same in the second, with Montoya stopping Patrick Kane on the right side of the net.The Jets had a chance to tie it with 6½ minutes left in the second, but Crawford used his right foot to kick away a shot by Bryan Little and Ladd’s rebound attempt went off Sheldon Brookbank’s left skate.

NOTES—Kane played in his 500th NHL game…. Jets F Michael Frolik, a key contributor on the Hawks title-winning team last season, was greeted with a round of applause when he was introduced with Winnipeg’s starting lineup. … The Blackhawks have only three victories in their past 10 games.