CARBONDALE–Anthony Beane scored 27 points as Southern Illinois beat Bradley 75-64 on Tuesday night to end a three-game skid to the Braves.Southern Illinois trailed by two points at halftime, but opened up the second half by outscoring Bradley 18-8. Bradley went scoreless for over four minutes, but Bell’s 3-pointer pulled the Braves within 51-46 with 9 minutes left.The Salukis were eight of their first 16 attempts from the line until Bola Olaniyan made two – after missing his first four – for a 57-48 lead. Southern Illinois went to the line 14 more times and made 10 of them.Beane made 9 of 12 from the line for Southern Illinois (11-17, 7-8 Missouri Valley Conference). Desmar Jackson had 15 points and Olaniyan added 10 and 12 rebounds for the Salukis.Bradley (11-17, 6-9) was led by Walt Lemon, Jr. with 17 points and Omari Grier added 14.

NEW ORLEANS—The Eastern Conference finally stopped Kevin Durant and Blake Griffin — then stopped its losing streak at the NBA All-Star game.Kyrie Irving had 31 points and 14 assists and was voted the game’s MVP, Carmelo Anthony made a record eight 3-pointers and scored 30 points, and the East rallied for a 163-155 victory over the West on Sunday night in the highest-scoring All-Star game ever.

“It’s a great honor,” Irving said. “We had a few MVPs. Everyone out here today is an MVP.”

Durant and Griffin each finished with 38 points, four shy of Wilt Chamberlain’s All-Star game record. But the East scored the final 10 points to pull out a game it trailed by 18.

“We wanted it,” LeBron James said. “I’ve been a part of the last three and in defeat.”

Irving scored 15 points in the fourth quarter as the East ended a three-game losing streak. James had 22 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

“The superstars of our league were just telling us to compete on every play,” Irving said. “Trying to play as much defense as possible. You know, sticking to our game plan. We had a game plan going in and we executed.”

The Bulls Joakim Noah scored 8 points,and had 5 rebounds and 5 assists for the winners.The 318 points broke the record of 303 set in 1987.Griffin shot 19 of 23, while Durant finished with 10 rebounds and six assists.But the West was shut out after Durant’s 3-pointer gave it a 155-153 lead with 1:59 left. Indiana’s Paul George made three free throws, Anthony nailed his final 3-pointer, and James scored to make it 161-155. George closed it out with two more free throws and finished with 18 points.The game that usually doesn’t get tight until the final minutes was close throughout the fourth quarter, neither team leading by more than four until the final minute.Chris Paul had 11 points and 13 assists, and first-time All-Star Stephen Curry had 12 points and 11 assists for the West. But the best point guard on the floor was Irving, who shot 14 of 17 and helped the East ring up 87 points in the second half after it surrendered a record 89 in the first.In a colorful tribute to New Orleans, players wore sneakers and socks that ranged from green and blue to orange and purple, making the game look like a Mardi Gras parade.The parade was one of layups and dunks for the West, which scored 44 points in the first quarter and 45 in the second. Griffin had 18 points in the first quarter and Durant had 22 at halftime, both two shy of records set by Glen Rice in 1997.And there was plenty of music, the rosters and starting lineups introduced around a concert by Pharrell Williams, who was joined by his own All-Stars in Nelly, Busta Rhymes, Sean “Diddy” Combs and Snoop Dogg.Magic Johnson led a band, too, encouraging the All-Stars to join him in singing “Happy Birthday” after the first quarter to Hall of Famer Bill Russell, the NBA’s greatest champion who was celebrating his 80th.The All-Stars played better than they sang.The East finished with 61 percent shooting, needing all sorts of offense after it simply couldn’t defend Durant and Griffin.Durant made 6 3-pointers and easily blew past the 28.8 points he had been averaging in All-Star games, which was an NBA record.Outside of the ugly sleeved jerseys, it was a good look for the NBA’s midseason showcase, bouncing back strongly from an uneven All-Star Saturday night.The new format of the slam dunk contest Saturday wasn’t a hit, but every night is a dunk contest when Griffin is involved.The guy who once jumped over a car to win a slam dunk contest had eight slams in the first 11 minutes, the backboard often barely finished shaking from the last one when he threw down the next.The West began to open a gap in the second quarter behind a hometown star and a former one — Anthony Davis of the Pelicans and ex-New Orleans guard Paul. Durant made a 3-pointer with 26 seconds left to make it 89-76 at the break, one point better than he and the West had two years ago in Orlando.Durant and Griffin each had 30 points by the end of the third quarter, but the East trimmed what was a West 18-point lead to 126-123 after three.James Harden started for the West in place of Kobe Bryant, who was elected by the fans but was knocked out by a broken left knee. Bryant said before the game his recovery is “coming slowly” but hopes to be back in another All-Star game.With Bryant sitting out and longtime regulars Tim Duncan and Kevin Garnett not selected, it was a chance for the younger guys to make their mark. The rosters were loaded with players 25 and younger, including first-time starters George, Irving, Stephen Curry and Kevin Love.The All-Star newcomers also included official Violet Palmer, who became the first female to referee a major U.S. sports league’s All-Star game.

EVANSTON—Andre Mathieu scored 13 of his 18 points in the second half and Minnesota came back to defeat cold-shooting Northwestern 54-48 on Sunday.Maurice Walker and Andre Hollins each had eight points for the Gophers (17-9, 6-7 Big Ten), who won for just the second time in six games. Minnesota also avenged a 55-54 loss to Northwestern at Minneapolis on Feb. 1 and ended a five-game losing streak at Evanston dating to February 2008.The Wildcats (12-14, 5-8) got the tight defensive game they wanted, but lost their third straight as they went just 7 for 28 from the floor in the second half and missed nine straight field goal attempts until Tre Demps dumped in a layup with 10 seconds left.Northwestern’s JerShon Cobb scored on 5 of 7 3-point attempts and led Northwestern with a season-high 23 points. Alex Olah added 10.Northwestern leading scorer, Drew Crawford, had 11 rebounds but was held to just two points on 1-for-15 shooting. He didn’t connect until his ninth shot at 4:54 into the second half.For the game, Northwestern shot only 30.2 percent while Minnesota shot 46.3 percent.Andre Hollins nailed a 3-pointer from the left side 2:16 into the second half to put Minnesota ahead 32-31 and set up a tight, back-and-forth period. Neither team led by more than three points through the first 16 minutes of a scrappy second frame.Minnesota pulled ahead 49-44 when Austin Hollins hit a 3-pointer with 3:09 left. Neither team scored again until a free throw by Minnesota’s Malik Smith with 27 seconds left made it 50-44.A pair of free throws by Northwestern’s Kale Abrahamson with 15 seconds left cut it to 50-46 and gave the Wildcats a glimmer of hope. But Mathieu hit two shots from the line a second later to ice it.The Wildcats scored on just two of their first 11 shots from the floor, but set the tone for most of the first half with a deliberate half-court attack and tight defensive play that led to 10 Minnesota turnovers.Northwestern used a 9-2 spurt midway through the period to take the lead and moved ahead by as many as seven, but settled for 28-25 halftime advantage when Mathieu swished in a 3-point shot with 3 seconds left.Northwestern opened its biggest lead of the half, 26-19 when Cobb connected on the third of his 3-pointers. He led the Wildcats with 13 points in the period, going 3 for 4 from beyond the arc and 4 for 6 overall from the floor.Northwestern’s Alex Olah tied it 44-all on a free throw with 7:10 left to complete a three-point play. Minnesota went ahead for good at 45-44 on Walker’s free throw less than a minute later.

2014 Sochi Olympics

SOCHI—Phil Kessel scored three goals and Ryan Miller shut out Slovenia for 59 minutes on Sunday to lead the USA to a 5-1 win over Slovenia to wrap up round-robin play.Kessel got going right away as the Americans showed little early sign of a hangover after the big win over Russia on Saturday. On his first shift, Kessel made a brilliant move to open the scoring just 1:04 into the game. He would add a second goal a couple of minutes later when he batted a Joe Pavelski pass out of the air for a quick 2-0 lead.The score would stay that way as Slovenia carried play for most of the remainder of the first period and into the early second. But then the USA had a monster offensive shift that resulted in a third goal for Kessel, the first hat trick by an American at the Olympics since 2002.It wasn’t long after Kessel’s third goal that defenseman Ryan McDonagh made the score 4-0 when he finished a tremendous pass from Blake Wheeler and at that point, the rout was on.David Backes made the score 5-0 early in the third period when a pass from Ryan Callahan deflected off a defenseman’s skate then Backes’ skate before he was able to tap the puck in with his stick for the 5-0 lead. The USA remained in control from the remainder of the third period.Miller got the start in place of Jonathan Quick on Sunday, who got the day off completely as he was scratched to rest, and was solid for the US. With Slovenia playing well in the first part of the game, Miller was tasked with making some good saves and he did. He was just 18 seconds away from recording the shutout when Marcel Rodman was able to sneak a bullet of a shot past Miller to break up the blanking bid.Now the United States finishes the round-robin play with a 2-1-0-0 mark for eight points and the top spot. The USA moves on to the quarterfinals with a bye as the group winner. They are the second seed.
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In a game where goals were hard to come by, defenseman Drew Doughty found the back of the net twice for Canada, including the overtime game-winner. The Canadians clinched the top spot in Group B and earned the No. 3 overall seed with a 2-1 win over Finland in what was a tight-checking, slow-paced game.Finland was content to sit back and do all they could to slow down Canada’s attack that includes many of the game’s best forwards. The strategy was a success as the defense and netminder Tuukka Rask held Canada at bay for much of the contest.Doughty struck midway through the first period with a power-play marker. The LA Kings rearguard set himself up in the left faceoff circle and wired a perfect wrist shot over Rask’s right shoulder and just underneath the bar.From then on, the game was a bit sluggish with Finland collapsing to the middle in their own end, forcing Canada to work for every inch they got in the Finnish zone.A late second-period goal off a between-the-legs tip by Tuomo Ruutu past Carey Price tied up the game and that’s the way it stayed through a slightly more open third period.In overtime Finland’s best chance came off a point shot from Sami Salo that Price just got with his blocker. Shortly after, Canada rushed up the ice with Jeff Carter finding Kings teammate Doughty on the left side.Doughty’s shot just snuck under Rask, between his legs and over the line to give Canada the win.This now sets up Canada to play the winner of the qualification round game between Latvia and Switzerland. Meanwhile, the Finns will take on the winners of Russia-Norway.With Canada and Finland finishing in overtime and only earning two points, Sweden was the only team to finish with a perfect record, with all three wins coming in regulation. The Swedes have the top spot, while the U.S. is second overall.

2014 Sochi Olympics

SOCHI—The United States got four goals from T.J. Oshie in an eight-round shootout to defeat Russia by a final score of 3-2 on Saturday to move atop Group A in the Olympic hockey tournament.In a game that will rival any of the best hockey games you’ve ever seen, the United States prevailed in a shootout that was as good as the game that preceded it. Because of IIHF rules, after the first three shooters a player can take another turn so after the third round, USA coach Dan Bylsma just kept going back to Oshie and time and time again he delivered. Finally in the eighth round after Jonathan Quick stopped Ilya Kovalchuk, Oshie beat Sergei Bobrovsky for a fourth time to seal the USA win.After the first period the game was scoreless but Russia drew first blood in the second period when Pavel Datsyuk split the American defense and beat Quick from the slot on the rush. At that point, Russia was pretty well in control of the game.Penalties against Russia allowed the US to get back into the game as the power play was strong for the Americans. The USA got the equalizer later in the second period when James van Riemsdyk found a chraging Cam Fowler and his pass went off Fowler’s skate and into the net.In the third period the United States struck again on the power play when Patrick Kane found Joe Pavelski on the back door for a one-timer to give the US a 2-1 lead. That lead didn’t last long though as a Dustin Brown penalty put Russia on the power play again for the fifth time in the game and that’s when Datsyuk scored his second of the game to tie it up.Minutes later it looked like Russia took the lead on a goal from Fedor Tyutin but after review the goal was waved off. The net came off its moorings a few seconds earlier ever so slightly when Quick made a sliding save attempt and in the international game, if the net is off its position at all, goals are no good. It was a huge break for the Americans but in the international game it was the right call.The United States had one last power play to end regulation but couldn’t convert, carrying it over into the five-minute overtime session. Patrick Kane had the best chance of the OT when he sprung free on a breakaway attempt but was unable to beat Bobrovsky five hole. The game would go to the shootout where it was the Oshie show for the USA against Ilya Kovalchuk and Pavel Datsyuk for Russia.Quick recevied the start for the USA in the second straight game and was phenomenal. He stopped 29 of 31 shots against Russia on the day and came up big in the shootout as well. Certainly he cemented himself as the USA’s goalie in this tournament.The fact that this game did go to a shootout will have a big impact on the standings. The USA is now a win over Slovakia away from clinching the group and earning a bye into the quarterfinal. But they only received two points instead of three, putting them behind Canada/Finland in Group B and Sweden in Group C, who all have six points. Assuming the Canada/Finland winner wins in overtime and Sweden does the same over Latvia, they will be the top two seeds. The one point in the loss does help Russia because if that Canada/Finland game ends in regulation and Russia beats Slovakia, they will earn the fourth quarterfinal spot and a bye.

Every NBA team wants to enter the All-Star break on a positive note and get some rest.The Bulls were able to do just that by winning their third straight.Taj Gibson scored 16 points and Carlos Boozer returned from an injury to add 15 in the Bulls 92-76 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night. The Bulls (27-25) moved two games above .500 for the first time since they were 6-4 on Nov. 21. They have won four of five.

“We’re happy, but we’re not satisfied. We’re hungry,” said Joakim Noah, who had 14 points and 13 rebounds for his fifth straight double-double.

Paul Pierce led Brooklyn with 15 points. The Nets are 24-27, going 14-6 since Jan. 1.

“I think everybody needs a break right now,” Pierce said. “Everybody’s played a lot of games. Every team in the league has played over 50 games. I wish the break was a little bit longer, especially for us older guys.But it is what it is and guys can go home or do whatever they’re going do over the weekend and recharge their bodies and get ready for a second-half run.”

The Nets pulled within three on Andrei Kirilenko’s 3-pointer with 6:29 left. D.J. Augustin answered with a 3-pointer to start a 9-0 run.

“We’ve got to get to the point where we’re playing better defense, especially when Kevin [Garnett] comes out the game,” Pierce said. “That’s seems to be one of our glaring weaknesses right now. We can sustain an acceptable level of defense when he’s in the game, but he’s not going to be able to play 48 minutes a night, so we have to have guys ready to come in and sustain the type of intensity he brings to help this team win.”

The Bulls shot 50 percent to the Nets’ 38.8 percent. Mike Dunleavy and Jimmy Butler each had 14 points for the Bulls, who are 15-7 since Jan. 1.

“We’re playing very well,” said Boozer, who missed the last three games because of a strained left calf. “It’s good to have a chance to have a break and get away and come back ready for the finish.”

Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said Boozer was better than expected in his return.

“A little winded,” Thibodeau said. “Once he got a second wind he was very, very good.”

The Nets’ Joe Johnson and Butler were called for technical fouls and Johnson for an offensive foul after they exchanged words and had to be separated by their teammates with 5:57 left in the third quarter.Johnson elbowed Butler on the play, and Butler was restrained by his teammates before Johnson poked Butler’s face.

“I don’t say too much, so if I’m mad, you must have really done something to get underneath my skin,” Butler said. “He poked me in the head then backed backwards. I don’t think he wanted any of that. I don’t play to fight, but come on, man, just play basketball.”

Deron Williams added 13 points for the Nets, Johnson had 11, and Shaun Livingston 10.Brooklyn cut the lead to 56-53 on Pierce’s free throws with 7:59 left in the third quarter. The Bulls extended the lead to 62-53 after baskets by Noah and Boozer and two free throws by Kirk Hinrich.The Bulls are 2-0 against the Nets this season. The Bulls won 95-78 on the road on Christmas Day.The Bulls have won four straight against the Nets, who have dropped 13 of their last 16 regular-season games at the United Center.

Notes—Thibodeau said Gibson’s minutes will remain similar to how much he was playing in Boozer’s absence. Gibson has averaged 19.2 points and 9.8 rebounds in eight starts. “For us to achieve what we want to achieve, Carlos has to play,” Thibodeau said. “He has a big role on this team.” … Nets guard Marquis Teague was acquired from the Bulls on Jan. 21. “He’s been great,” Nets coach Jason Kidd said. “He’s done everything that we’ve asked him to do. He’s only 20, so (we’re looking) for him to continue working and when he’s out there on the floor to get better.”

EAST LANSING—Adreian Payne is surprising even his coach with his recovery from a foot injury.

“It’s amazing,” Michigan State’s Tom Izzo said of his senior star. “Here’s a kid that two or three years ago couldn’t get up and down the floor more than 15-18 minutes a game. Now he’s carrying our team. I’m proud of him.”

Payne had 20 points and 14 rebounds, and No. 9 Michigan State cruised past Northwestern 85-70 on Thursday night to stay tied atop the Big Ten. Izzo can only hope his other injured players come back as well as Payne has. Keith Appling was out again with a wrist problem, and Branden Dawson has an injured hand.The Spartans (21-4, 10-2) are even in the standings with rival Michigan — and those two teams meet in Ann Arbor on Feb. 23.Payne missed about a month with his injury, and in three games since returning, he’s scored 56 points. After Thursday’s win, he was looking forward to seeing 8-year-old Lacey Holsworth, a young girl fighting cancer whom Payne has become close with. She was seated near the court at the game.

“I haven’t seen her yet, but she’ll be out there in a few minutes,” Payne said. “It’s always good to see her smile that way.”

Payne played one of his better games of the season Thursday, and Gary Harris added 14 points for Michigan State, rebounding a bit from a poor shooting performance in a loss to Wisconsin last weekend. The Spartans shot 53 percent from the field against a Northwestern team that came in with a sterling defensive reputation.

The Wildcats (12-13, 5-7) had not allowed 80 points in a game in over a month.

“We definitely had more breakdowns tonight defensively than I thought we’ve had in the last month,” Northwestern coach Chris Collins said. “Part of that is them running a really good offense, and part of that were some breakdowns we had that we just haven’t had.”

JerShon Cobb had 22 points and seven rebounds for Northwestern.The Wildcats have won road games at Indiana, Wisconsin and Minnesota this season, and their tough defense has given a number of Big Ten teams problems. But this game started with both teams scoring efficiently through much of the first half.Michigan State led 39-30 at halftime, then scored the first seven points of the second half. Payne had a dunk and a 3-pointer in that stretch, and although the Wildcats prevented the game from getting totally out of hand, they weren’t able to cut their deficit back into single digits.

“When healthy, I truly believe they’re the best team in the country,” Collins said. “They’re loaded. I hope they can get healthy.”

Izzo said he’s hoping Appling can come back within a week — and Dawson not long after that.

“I’m hoping sometime in the mid-20s or early-20s of this month, we’ll get Branden back,” Izzo said.

Michigan State led by 11 when Denzel Valentine and Harris made back-to-back 3-pointers to make it 77-60. Valentine finished with a career-high 16 points, along with six assists and five rebounds.Travis Trice had 11 points and six assists, helping the Spartans withstand Appling’s absence.Harris went 3 of 20 in the loss to Wisconsin, but he scored seven points in the first half of this game and had plenty of help. Michigan State had nine offensive rebounds in the first half and shot 62 percent from the field in the second to pull away.Michigan State beat Northwestern 54-40 on Jan. 15, but this was a much higher-scoring game. Cobb made five 3-pointers, and Drew Crawford and Tre Demps scored 18 points each for the Wildcats.But only two other Northwestern players scored.The Spartans shot 11 of 21 from 3-point range, with Trice and Valentine making three each from beyond the arc. Michigan State turned the ball over only seven times.

CLEVELAND—Trey Lewis scored 18 points and Jon Harris added 15 with nine rebounds to help Cleveland State roll to a 73-53 win Thursday night over UIC.Lewis hit four 3-pointers and finished 7 of 9 from the field. Bryn Forbes scored 15 points and Anton Grady added 12 for Cleveland State (18-9, 9-3 Horizon League), which is one game back of Green Bay for the top spot in the standings.Jake Wiegand and Marc Brown each scored to open the second half and pull UIC within one, 30-29. Grady answered, scoring six points during a 13-3 run to stretch Cleveland State’s lead to 43-32 with 14: 59 to play, and the Vikings led by double digits the rest of the way.Hayden Humes scored 13 points, and Kelsey Barlow added 12 to lead UIC (5-20, 0-11).

EDINBURG, Texas—Shaquille Boga scored 16 points Thursday night and hit a 3-pointer with 20 seconds left in overtime for Texas-Pan American to defeat Chicago State 71-68.UTPA (7-19, 3-8 Western Athletic Conference) worked the ball around the perimeter to create an open look for Boga’s game-winning 3.Chicago State then ran the clock down for a final shot. Quinton Pippen bobbled the ball, but gathered it back only to miss a 3-point attempt from the top of the key.CSU had pulled even for the third time in overtime at 68-68 on Clarke Rosenberg’s layup with 42 seconds left. The Cougars had a 61-56 lead with 2:23 left in regulation before UTPA scored the final five points to force overtime.Javorn Farrell added 16 points, Josh Cleveland had 13 points, Alex Majewski scored 11.Pippen had 19 points, Rahjan Muhammad scored 15 and Nate Duhon added 10 for CSU (10-13, 5-4).

ROSEMONT—Villanova worked the ball around until it found an open shot, all night long. Darrun Hilliard and Ryan Arcidiacono led the charge from outside, while JayVaughn Pinkston cleaned up the interior.It was all business for the sixth-ranked Wildcats. Now they can move on to their Big East showdown with Creighton.Hilliard scored 22 points, Pinkston had 14 points and 11 rebounds and Villanova beat DePaul 87-62 on Wednesday for its sixth straight win.The Wildcats made a season-high 15 3-pointers and had five players score in double figures in an efficient tuneup for Sunday’s game against the 18th-ranked Bluejays. James Bell had 16 points and Arcidiacono finished with 14, including four 3s.Villanova (22-2, 10-1) opened a three-game trip with its eighth consecutive victory against DePaul. The Wildcats, who lost 96-68 to Creighton on Jan. 20, lead the Big East by one game over the idle Bluejays.Hilliard said his team was focused on lowly DePaul, even with the big game coming up this weekend, and coach Jay Wright had faith that the Wildcats would bring the right approach to the matchup with the Blue Demons.Brandon Young had a season-high 27 points for DePaul (10-15, 2-10), which has lost seven in a row. Sandi Marcius added 10 points and seven rebounds.

”I didn’t think that we played real well tonight but Villanova had everything to do with it,” Blue Demons coach Oliver Purnell said. ”They’re playing at a high level. They shot the ball extremely well. ”

Villanova led 48-31 at halftime and then put it away with a 13-3 run to begin the second half. Daniel Ochefu found Bell for a strong alley-oop dunk and Hilliard made a 3-pointer to make it 61-34 with 16:14 to go, leading to a timeout for DePaul.The Wildcats had impressive ball movement while shooting 55 percent from the field, including a 15-of-26 performance on 3-point attempts. Hilliard was 5 for 7 from long range and Arcidiacono made each of his four 3-point attempts.It was DePaul’s first game since the school announced Monday that senior Cleveland Melvin was no longer enrolled at the university. Melvin, who ranks among DePaul’s career leaders in several categories, including scoring and rebounding, was suspended last month for violating team rules.The Blue Demons are winless in five games since Melvin had 25 points in an 84-74 loss to Xavier on Jan. 20 in his final game with DePaul. The 6-foot-8 forward averaged 16.7 points and 6.4 rebounds in 20 games this season.