SEATTLE—Richard Sherman did a CenturyLink Leap.Golden Tate grabbed a 12th Man flag and circled the field with it.Even team owner Paul Allen made an appearance and gave a victory speech.The Seattle Seahawks are headed to the Big Apple for the Super Bowl.

“To see all our work that we put in — the mornings, the nights, the weights, all your life, as a young player and in the NFL,” Malcolm Smith said after his end zone interception with 22 seconds remaining clinched the 23-17 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday. “It’s amazing.”

Seattle’s top-ranked defense forced three fourth-quarter turnovers, and Russell Wilson threw a 35-yard touchdown pass on fourth down for the winning points. Seattle will meet Denver (15-3) for the NFL title in two weeks in the New Jersey Meadowlands. It’s the first trip to the big game for the Seahawks (15-3) since they lost to Pittsburgh after the 2005 season.The conference champs had the best records in the league this year, the second time the top seeds have gotten to the Super Bowl in 20 seasons. It also is a classic confrontation of Denver’s record-setting offense led by Peyton Manning against the NFL’s stingiest defense. Denver opened as a 1-point favorite over Seattle on the Glantz-Culver Line.

“It will be a great matchup,” coach Pete Carroll said. “I think it’s an extraordinary opportunity to go against a guy that set all the records in the history of the game.”

Moments after Sherman tipped Colin Kaepernick’s pass to Smith for the interception, the All-Pro cornerback jumped into the stands behind the end zone, saluting the Seahawks’ raucous fans. With 12th Man flags waving everywhere, and “New York, New York” blaring over the loudspeakers, CenturyLink Field rocked like never before.

“That’s as sweet as it gets,” said Sherman, who also went into several rants about 49ers wideout Michael Crabtree, whom he called a “sorry receiver.This is really special,” added Carroll, who has turned around the Seahawks in four seasons in charge. “It would really be a mistake to not remember the connection and the relationship between this football team and the 12th Man and these fans. It’s unbelievable.”

San Francisco (14-5) led 17-13 when Wilson, given a free play as Aldon Smith jumped offside, hurled the ball to Jermaine Kearse, who made a leaping catch in the end zone.Steven Hauschka then kicked his third field goal following Kam Chancellor’s pick, and Smith intercepted in the end zone on the 49ers’ final possession.

“This feels even sweeter, with the amazing support we have had from the 12th Man,” Allen said, comparing this Super Bowl trip to the previous one.

Until Seattle’s top-ranked defense forced a fumble and had two interceptions in the final period, the game was marked by big offensive plays in the second half. That was somewhat shocking considering the strength of both teams’ defenses.And those plays came rapidly.Marshawn Lynch, in full “Beast Mode,” ran over a teammate and then outsped the 49ers to the corner of the end zone for a 40-yard TD, making it 10-10.Kaepernick then was responsible for consecutive 22-yard gains, hitting Crabtree, then rushing to the Seattle 28. His fumble on the next play was recovered by center Jonathan Goodwin, who even lumbered for 2 yards.Anquan Boldin outleapt All-Pro safety Earl Thomas on the next play for a 26-yard touchdown.Then, Doug Baldwin, who played for 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh at Stanford, stepped up — and through San Francisco’s coverage — on a scintillating 69-yard kickoff return that made the stadium shake for the first time all day.That set up Hauschka’s 40-yard field goal. And a frantic finish.Seattle took its first lead on Wilson’s throw to Kearse with 13:44 left, and CenturyLink rocked again.The place went silent soon after when Niners All-Pro linebacker NaVorro Bowman sustained an ugly left knee injury midway and was carted off. Bowman, who was having a huge game, had forced a fumble at the San Francisco 1, but Lynch recovered.

“I never heard him yell like that, or even stay down for a moment,” teammate Patrick Willis said of Bowman.

The Seahawks had gotten their first turnover moments earlier when Cliff Avril stripped Kaepernick and Michael Bennett recovered. But Lynch and Wilson botched a handoff on fourth down on the play after Bowman’s injury.It took only two plays for Chancellor to haul in Kaepernick’s underthrow to Boldin, and Hauschka’s 47-yarder ended the scoring.But not the excitement.Kaepernick, who rushed for 130 yards, got San Francisco to the Seattle 18 with his arm. But his pass for Crabtree was brilliantly tipped by Sherman to Smith.

“We knew it would come down to us in the back end to win this thing,” Sherman said.

The final play was similar to last year’s Super Bowl ending, when Kaepernick missed Crabtree in the end zone from the 5 and Baltimore survived.

“It’s tough. Any time you get this close to the Super Bowl and lose, it’s pretty upsetting,” tight end Vernon Davis said. “We just didn’t get it. We’ve been down this road before in the same kind of situation. It’s hard.”

Whether it was nerves or just a great play by Aldon Smith, Wilson fumbled on Seattle’s first snap. Smith got credit for a sack and a recovery, too — a defender’s dream — at the Seahawks 15.More staunch defense followed, this time by Seattle, which held and only gave up Phil Dawson’s 25-yard field goal.Seattle simply had no answers for Kaepernick’s runs, looking either flat-footed or plain-out lost when he took off. He gained 98 yards on the ground in the first half, including a 58-yard second-quarter run, the longest of his three-year career and the longest Seattle’s defense allowed all season.But he was less effective in the second half and was plagued by turnovers.Wilson came up with a huge improvisation of his own moments after Kaepernick’s long jaunt. Wilson avoided the rush with some nifty scrambling before spotting Baldwin behind the defense for a 51-yard pickup.All it resulted in was Hauschka’s 32-yard field goal, making it 10-3.Baldwin finished with six receptions for 106 yards.And now it’s on to New Jersey, where Carroll once coached the Jets for a season. That didn’t end well — he was fired so the team could hire Rich Kotite. He heads back with a chance to add a Super Bowl crown to two national titles as coach at Southern California.

“It’s quite a magical moment,” Carroll said. “You can’t really grasp the moment. Did we really do this?”

Yep — the Seahawks and their 12th Man.

DENVER—Peyton Manning had an answer for everyone. What’s new? For Tom Brady. For the New England Patriots defense. For anyone who thought he couldn’t win the big one.Manning is taking the Denver Broncos on a trip to New York for the Super Bowl after another of his impeccably crafted victories — this time, a 26-16 win over the Patriots on Sunday in the AFC title game.Less than three years after being unable to throw a football because of his surgically ravaged neck and nerve endings, Manning will get a chance for his second ring. He’ll try to become the first quarterback to win one with two different teams, at the Meadowlands on Feb. 2 against the NFC champion Seattle Seahawks.

“It’s very rewarding when you put a lot of hard work into the offseason and the regular season and it pays dividends with a huge win,” Manning said.

After taking the final knee, Manning stuffed the football in his helmet and ran to the 30-yard line to shake hands with Brady. The Indy-turned-Denver quarterback improved to 5-10 lifetime against New England’s QB but 2-1 in AFC title games.

“Great team, great coach, great quarterback, great players,” Manning said of the Patriots, who fell a win short of the Super Bowl for the second straight year. “It feels great to get this win.”

Though Manning threw for 400 yards, it was far from a fireworks show in this, the 15th installment of the NFL’s two best quarterbacks of their generation. Manning set up four field goals by Matt Prater and put his stamp on this one with a pair of long, meticulous and mistake-free touchdown drives in which nothing came cheap.He geared down the no-huddle, hurry-up offense that helped him set records for touchdown passes and yardage this season and made the Broncos the highest-scoring team in history. The result: A pair of scoring drives that lasted a few seconds over seven minutes; they were the two longest, time-wise, of the season for the Broncos (15-3).Manning capped the second with a 3-yard pass to Demaryius Thomas — who got inside the overmatched Alfonzo Dennard and left his feet to make the catch — for a 20-3 lead midway through the third quarter.From there, it was catchup time for Brady and the Pats, and they are not built for that.A team that averaged more than 200 yards on the ground the past three weeks didn’t have much quick-strike capability. Brady, who threw for most of his 277 yards in comeback mode, actually led the Patriots to a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns. But they were a pair of time-consuming, 80-yard drives. The second cut the deficit to 26-16 with 3:07 left, but the Broncos stopped Shane Vereen on the 2-point conversion and the celebration was on in Denver.The trip to New York, where it figures to be at least a tad cooler than Sunday’s 63-degree reading at kickoff, will come 15 years after John Elway rode off into the sunset with his second straight Super Bowl victory.The Broncos have had one close call since — when they lost at home to Pittsburgh in the 2005 title game — but what it really took was Elway’s return to the franchise in 2011. He slammed the door on the Tim Tebow experiment and signed Manning to a contract, knowing there were risks involved in bringing to town a thirtysomething quarterback coming off multiple operations to resurrect his career.Even without Von Miller on the field, Elway put enough pieces in place around Manning to contend for a championship.

“It’s been a terrific group,” Elway said as he hoisted the AFC championship trophy. “They worked their tail off all year.”

Manning knows how to make the most of all those options he has been handed.This game started getting out of hand at about the same time Patriots cornerback Aqib Talib went out with a knee injury. Nobody else could cover Thomas and Manning, who finds mismatches even under the toughest of circumstances, found this one quickly.Thomas finished with seven catches for 134 yards, including receptions of 26 and 27 yards that set up a field goal for a 13-3 lead before the half. Not a bad day for a player who tweaked his knee last week and was limited in practice Friday.

“I told myself, ‘I’m going to put it all out there on the field,'” Thomas said. “It’s one more game to get to the Super Bowl. Time to do it for the older guys on team.”

Of course, that includes the 37-year-old Manning, but also 35-year-old Champ Bailey, whose injury-filled season will end with his first trip to the Super Bowl.Leading 13-3, Denver got the ball to start the third quarter — working the plan to perfection after winning the coin toss and deferring the choice — and Manning hit Thomas for 15 and 4 yards as part of the 80-yard, 7:08 touchdown drive that gave Denver the 17-point lead.The thought this week was that the Patriots were playing with house money, having well exceeded expectations for a team that lost a number of stars — Aaron Hernandez, Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski — and has been plagued by injuries all year.But a loss is a loss and facts are facts. Bill Belichick is stuck on three titles and hasn’t won one since the NFL busted him for the Spygate videotaping scandal.The Broncos, meanwhile, got over a big hump last week by beating the Chargers in the divisional round, which is where last year’s trip fizzled unexpectedly against Baltimore.Manning insisted the showdown against Brady was more Broncos vs. Patriots than Manning vs. Brady. He lets others decide who’s the greatest at this or that.But he earned a chance to improve on his already-sterling legacy, one that figures to include a fifth MVP award come Super Bowl week.A win at MetLife Stadium in two weeks would put him in the same company as his brother, Eli, along with Elway, Roger Staubach and others as a two-time Super Bowl winner.Two weeks for Manning to prepare might feel like a lifetime.At times, his long, difficult comeback has felt that way, too.
“It’s very gratifying to be part of this team,” Manning said. “We kept our nose to the grindstone, kept persevering. It feels good to get this win today.”

Patrick Kane sped toward the net, and then shuffled his skates for a few precious seconds.Then came a well-placed wrist shot, and the Blackhawks had another big victory.Something about the Boston Bruins brings out the best in Kane and Co.Kane scored in a shootout to lift the Hawks to a 3-2 win over Boston on Sunday in a rematch of last season’s Stanley Cup finals, capping an impressive weekend for the Blackhawks that also included a victory over NHL-leading Anaheim.
“Two big games against two great teams,” Kane said. “I can’t say we were going as well as we wanted to before these two games.”
Jonathan Toews beat Tuukka Rask on the stick side to give the Blackhawks the lead in the tiebreaker, but Brad Marchand’s quick wrist shot got by Corey Crawford, tying it up for the Bruins.Kane, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy last year as playoff MVP, then skated toward the goal, slowed up for a second and sent a shot past Rask on the stick side to give the Hawks the win. The Blackhawks had lost their previous seven games that had gone past regulation.
”It was a great test, and nice to finally get a shootout win, too,” coach Joel Quenneville said.
Marian Hossa and Brandon Bollig had the regulation goals for Chicago, which beat Boston in six games in June for the title. Quenneville picked up win No. 692, matching Dick Irvin Sr., for third on the NHL’s career list.Marchand scored in each of the first two periods for the Bruins, who had won two of three. Rask had 35 stops.
“It’s always nice to get a couple, but I wasn’t really worried about trying to redeem myself from the finals or anything like that,” said Marchand, who was shut out in the playoff series against the Blackhawks. “It was just a big game for our team and we need these points right now.”
It was Boston’s first visit to Chicago since June 22, when the Blackhawks used two goals by Kane to win 3-1 and take a 3-2 lead in the NHL finals. The Blackhawks then had a memorable rally in Game 6 in Boston, scoring twice in 17 seconds late in the third to secure their second title in four seasons.The series included five overtime periods, including three in the Hawks 4-3 victory in Game 1.Together again for the anticipated rematch, the Bruins and Blackhawks once again were unable to decide the game in three periods. Defenseman Gregory Campbell had a chance to win it for Boston in overtime, but whiffed on a deflected puck.
“We had some chances you wish we would have buried, but it just continues to be the same as it was last year,” Bruins coach Claude Julien said. “You need overtime to resolve these games against us.”
The Hawks controlled much of the first and had a 1-0 lead before Marchand made the most of two open opportunities in a 69-second span overlapping the first two periods.First, Marchand got a slick pass from Patrice Bergeron and sent a wrist shot over Crawford’s right shoulder at 19:41 of the first. The Blackhawks lost the sneaky forward again at the start of the second, and he used a clever fake to set up a shot through Crawford’s legs for his 14th goal.It was Marchand’s second multigoal game of the season. He has four goals and an assist in his past three games.Boston’s 2-1 lead lasted about 10 minutes. The Blackhawks caught a break when Bollig’s bad-angle shot from the right side went off Rask’s left foot and into the net for his fifth goal of the season.
Asked what happened on Bollig’s score, Rask said: ”Good question. I had the post covered, my skate was there, I was ready. It just somehow went over, off of my skate or something.”
Coming off a 4-2 victory over NHL-leading Anaheim, the Blackhawks got off to a fast start in their second-to-last home game before the Olympic break.Patrick Sharp skated ahead to jump on a loose puck in the Bruins’ zone and then passed to the middle to Hossa, who pushed it by Rask to make it 1-0 at 4:13.Hossa also scored twice during Friday night’s victory over the Ducks. The 35-year-old winger has five goals and two assists during a five-game point streak.The Blackhawks almost had a 2-0 lead in the first, but Rask made an outstanding stick save on Brandon Saad on the left side of the goal. Kane started the dazzling sequence with a spinning pass to a streaking Saad in front.

NOTES—Bruins D Adam McQuaid left in the second period with an unspecified injury….Hockey Canada announced Sunday morning that Toews would serve as an alternate captain for the Sochi Olympics. Penguins C Sidney Crosby is the captain for the gold medal favorites, and Predators D Shea Weber is the other alternate captain.Toews received a 10-minute game misconduct penalty in the second period for throwing part of his broken stick over the glass.

Alec Brown and Keifer Sykes combined for 44 points and Wisconsin-Green Bay remained unbeaten in Horizon League play with a 69-64 win over UIC on Sunday.UWGB (15-3, 5-0) won its 10th consecutive game, battling back from a second-half deficit to edge UIC (5-14, 0-5).Sykes spurred a late charge for UWGB, beginning with a dunk at the 2:38 mark to tie the game at 63. Sykes then hit a 3-pointer to give the Phoenix a 66-63 lead with 1:51 left.The Flames had a chance to tie the game down 67-64 with 11 seconds remaining, but turned the ball over and Sykes finished with a fast break dunk on the other end to secure the win.Brown scored 23 for the Phoenix and Sykes had 21.Pat Birt scored 13 to lead the Flames and Jordan Harks added 11.UIC has lost 9 in a row.

After another dominating performance, nothing could wipe the smile from Joakim Noah’s face.Noah had 21 points and 16 rebounds, Carlos Boozer added 15 points and 13 boards, and the  Bulls beat the Philadelphia 76ers 103-78 on Saturday night.
“I haven’t felt healthy like this in a long time. My feet don’t hurt, my body’s feeling good,” Noah said. “I put in a lot of work in the summertime. The third day of camp I got hurt (strained groin). It was an unfortunate setback, but now I’m feeling like it’s all coming together.”
Noah extended his streak of double-digit rebound games to 12, the longest stretch of his career.The duo’s powerful performance was awfully similar to the teams’ last meeting at the United Center, when Noah posted a triple-double and combined with Boozer for 44 points and 33 rebounds on Feb. 28, 2013.
“You can’t play any better than (Noah is) playing right now, in every aspect of the game,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. “The defense has been there all season, the rebounding off the charts, but the playmaking, the quick decisions, the multiple effort. it sets the tone for the team.”
The Bulls (19-20) have won seven of nine games in 2014. The Bulls led by as many as 36, their largest lead this season.D.J. Augustin scored nine points and dished out seven assists in the pivotal second quarter, in which the Bulls extended their lead from five to 20. He finished with 19 points and eight assists.Only three 76ers scored in double digits, Thaddeus Young leading the way with 12 points.James Anderson had 11 points and seven rebounds for Philadelphia (13-27), which has dropped six of seven.Augustin brought the fans to their feet two minutes into the second when he threaded a cross-court bounce pass to Jimmy Butler, who finished strong with a thunderous slam. Augustin later fed Noah on a two-handed dunk in transition to cap the dominating quarter.Noah and Augustin combined to make eight of 10 shots in the second period, outscoring Philadelphia 17-12.Augustin has been a spark since the Bulls signed him on Dec. 13. The 26-year-old is averaging 11.5 points with and has led the team in assists 11 times. The Bulls are 11-8 with Augustin on the roster, and 7-2 in 2014 — their only two losses coming to the Washington Wizards within the last six days.
“I’m just going out there, playing freely, doing whatever Coach needs me to do, whatever my teammates need me to do,” Augustin said. “Basically, just trying to get them the ball, trying to get them open. At the same time, Coach wanted me to look (to score) for myself.”  The 76ers missed all 11 3-point attempts in the first half and committed 17 total turnovers.Philadelphia shot 35.1 percent from the floor (10.5 percent from 3-point range) and has turned the ball over 64 times in its last three games.
“(The Bulls) play really good defense,” 76ers coach Brett Brown said. “In general we struggled finding ways to play freely, to get out in the open court, and the physicality of the game wore us down.”
The Bulls have won nine of their last 10 regular-season games against the 76ers, who rallied from 20 points down on Nov. 2 to halt a five-game skid against them in a 107-104 victory in Philadelphia.There would be no comeback this time.Spencer Hawes, who averaged 19 points and 13 rebounds in his last two games against the Bulls, was largely ineffective. The 7-foot-1 center had nine points and six rebounds.Philadelphia guard Tony Wroten sprained his right ankle in the second quarter when he stepped on Nazr Mohammed’s foot awkwardly, staying on the ground for a couple minutes. He limped off the court gingerly with the help of his teammates and did not return.Brown couldn’t give a timetable after the game, but said “it looked bad.”

NOTES—The Bulls agreed to trade point guard Marquis Teague to the Brooklyn Nets for F Tornike Shengelia, a person with knowledge of the deal said Saturday. Teague was dressed but did not play. “Marquis is a good, young player. He’s had some good moments,” Thibodeau said. “He’s had some moments that he can obviously do better, but that’s to be expected. When you come into this league as young as he is, that’s what you’re going to get. He’s much further along today than he was when he was first drafted.” .

CHAMAPIGN—Gary Harris scored 23 points and Denzel Valentine pulled down 11 rebounds to lead No. 4 Michigan State past Illinois 78-62 on Saturday.The Spartans (17-1, 6-0 Big Ten) stayed on top of the Big Ten with their 10th straight win. With the victory, Michigan State is also off to the best start in team history. No Spartans team has ever won 17 of its first 18.After opening conference play 2-0, Illinois has now lost four in a row.Michigan State owned the boards early against the Illini (13-6, 2-4), outrebounding them 24-10 over the first 20 minutes. The Spartans used that edge to open up a 10-point lead by halftime and held the Illini at arm’s length the rest of the night.Valentine and Keith Appling each added 15 points for the Spartans. Tracy Abrams led Illinois with 15 points.The win moved Michigan State coach Tom Izzo past Illinois’ Lou Henson and into fourth on the list of career Big Ten wins with 215.Illinois closed to within six at 59-53 with 6:11 in the game on a pair of free throws by Abrams.But almost as quick as those shots sparked a little hope for Illinois, Appling snuffed it out with a long 3-pointer from the top of the arc.Michigan was up 62-53 with 5:43 to play, and with the Illini shooting a tepid 37.7 percent and unable to drum up many second chances, Michigan was comfortably out front.The Spartans played without 6-10 center Adreian Payne, out for a third consecutive game with an ankle injury. But against an Illinois team with little inside presence, they didn’t seem to need him.Michigan State outrebounded Illinois 38-25. Valentine was at times dominant, particularly in the first half. He had nine rebounds by halftime and held Rice to 12 points. Rice entered the game as the conference’s second-leading scorer, averaging 17.7 points a game.The Spartans also made the most of their shots, sinking 55.8 percent of them.Illini big men Nnanna Egwu and Maverick Morgan had a combined five rebounds and four points. Egwu hasn’t scored a point in his past two games in spite of starting both and playing 55 minutes.Illinois coach John Groce’s frustration has been growing with the losing streak. After Wednesday’s loss to Purdue he charged toward officials to complain about calls.Early in the first half Saturday night, he shouted across court at his own team after a miss, “I didn’t want that!” He then turned and slammed his fist into the scorer’s table in front of the Illinois radio crew.Late in the game, after several confrontations with officials, he threw his suit jacket and was called for a technical foul.Illinois has a tough road ahead with its next four at No. 11 Ohio State, at Indiana and then at home against No. 14 Iowa and No. 3 Wisconsin.The Spartans play their next two at home, Tuesday against Indiana and Jan. 25 against Michigan.

BLOOMINGTON—Tre Demps scored 13 of his 15 points in the second half and Northwestern defeated Indiana 54-47 on Saturday.Drew Crawford added 17 points and 11 rebounds as the Wildcats (9-10, 2-4 Big Ten) won their first Big Ten road game since Jan. 17, 2013, at Illinois. It was only the Cats third ever win in the IU Assembley Hall which opened in 1972-73. Kale Abrahamson added 9 points for Northwestern, which won despite shooting 19-of-51 (37.3 percent). Helping the Wildcats’ cause: Indiana’s own poor shooting.Noah Vonleh had 17 points and 12 rebounds for the Hoosiers (12-6, 2-3), who shot just 25 percent (15-of-60) while having its two-game winning streak snapped.Kevin ”Yogi” Ferrell, the Hoosiers’ sophomore point guard who came into Saturday leading the Big Ten in scoring at 17.9 ppg, scored 9 points while shooting just 2-of-13 from the field.Both teams struggled offensively from the start. The Hoosiers, whose 72.5 ppg in conference play was fourth in the Big Ten coming in, didn’t reach double digits in points until Noah Vonleh hit two free throws with 2:59 to play in the first half. But after hitting just three of their first 25 shots, the Hoosiers hit 3-of-4 to close within 22-19 at the break. IU finished the first half 6-of-31 from the field.Northwestern led by nine points twice in the first half, but couldn’t pull further away because of its own shooting woes. Despite several open looks on missed defensive switches, the Wildcats couldn’t get shots to fall.Northwestern shot just 8-of-29 from the field in the first half, including 3-of-12 on 3-pointers.Despite their struggles, the Hoosiers battled back in the second half, taking a 36-35 lead on Evan Gordon’s 3-pointer with 7:35 to play. Hanner Mosquera-Perea had a monstrous block on Abrahamson on the other end, leading to Will Sheehey’s attempted layup for the Hoosiers.Sheehey was fouled by Demps and hit the floor hard. He spent a few minutes lying under the basket before being helped off the court. He would return later and finished with 2 points.With Sheehey hurt, Northwestern coach Chris Collins was allowed to pick an Indiana player to shoot Sheehey’s free throws. He chose Mosquera-Perea, a 75-percent free throw shooter. Mosquera-Perea hit both to give the Hoosiers a 38-35 lead with 7:15 to play.Demps hit a 3-pointer to tie the game, and then scored on NU’s next possession to put the Wildcats up 40-38.Ferrell hit two free throws to tie the game again, but Demps hit another 3-pointer, then converted Ferrell’s missed jumper into a driving basket of his own to make it 45-40 with 2:24 to play.

EVANSVILLE—D.J. Balentine had 18 points to lead Evansville to a 53-48 victory over Loyola Saturday.Blake Simmons had 11 points and Duane Gibson added 10 for Evansville (9-10, 2-4 Missouri Valley Conference).Nick Osborne made a layup to give Loyola (7-11, 2-4) a 45-44 lead with 3:40 remaining in the game. Egidjius Mockevicius followed with two free throws and Gibson made a jump shot for a 48-45 lead. Christian Thomas hit a 3-pointer to tie at 48 with 1:55 remaining. Balentine followed with a jump shot and two free throws, and Simmons added another free throw for the final score.The score was tied at 23 at the half. There were six ties and nine lead changes.Thomas led the Ramblers with 19 points and Milton Doyle added 10.

PHILADELPHIA—James Bell had 17 points and eight rebounds, Ryan Arcidiacono scored 14 points, and sixth-ranked Villanova won their fifth straight game, 88-62 over DePaul on Saturday.The Wildcats (16-1, 5-0 Big East) made a whopping 19 of 26 shots (73 percent) in the second half as they continue to steamroll through the revamped conference. Villanova tied a season low with five turnovers.Daniel Ochefu had 14 points on 6 for 6 shooting and six rebounds, and Josh Hart hit three 3-pointers and scored 13 points for the Wildcats.The Wildcats built a halftime lead without a point from their two leading scorers, JayVaughn Pinkston (16.1) and Darrun Hilliard (13.9).Pinkston’s first basket was a crowd-pleasing dunk that gave the Wildcats a 40-28 lead. That followed Ochefu’s three-point play and Arcidiacono’s pull-up jumper that helped the Wildcats start to pull away.Hilliard, in a 1-for-17 skid, hit a jumper for his first basket of the game, helping Villanova hit 7 of 8 shots to build a 13-point lead.Arcidiacono and Hart connected on consecutive 3s midway through the half and Bell and Hart did the same to pile on late in the second for a 75-52 lead.Arcidiacono tweaked his left knee in practice Thursday, then sat out the following day. He wore a protective sleeve on his left knee.About the only sore point for Villanova came late in the game when Hart was hit with a flagrant foul and a technical.The Blue Demons (10-9, 2-4) entered on a rare two-game conference winning streak, but failed to get three straight for the first time since 2006-07. Brandon Young led them with 13 points.The Wildcats had much more fun scoring on 13 of their first 18 possessions in the second than they did during a disjointed first half.Hilliard (0 for 5) and Pinkston (0 for 3) failed to score a basket in the first half and were bailed out by Arcidiacono and Ochefu’s (combined 8 for 12) sharp shooting. The Wildcats got away with Hilliard and Pinkston’s first-half ineffectiveness against DePaul. They might not be so lucky against No. 20 Creighton on Monday at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center.

Mabey Chicago State was reading too many clipping lately. They hit the wall Saturday as Shaquille Boga scored 26 points, including 15 of 18 free throws, as Texas-Pan American easily handled the Cougars 84-61 on Saturday.Texas-Pan Am (6-14, 2-3 Western Athletic Conference) got 20 points from Javorn Farrell and Shaquille Hines chipped in with 15 points and nine rebounds. UTPA went 34 of 43 from the line.Chicago State (8-10, 3-1) was led by Quinton Pippen with 23 points and Matt Ross had 11 points and 10 boards. The Cougars were hurt by 19 turnovers, compared to 10 for UTPA.The Cougars ran out to a 12-5 lead after 4:38, with Pippen making a layup and drilling a trey. But UTPA worked its way back, taking the lead with 10:35 left in the first half on a Boga layup and free throw.Texas-Pan American went on a 10-2 run en route to a 42-30 halftime lead and never trailed again.