ST. LOUIS—Khristian Smith tipped in a missed Justin Gant jumper with 14 seconds remaining to give No. 2 seed Indiana State a 62-59 win over sixth-seeded Southern Illinois in the semifinal round of the Missouri Valley Conference tournament Saturday.Desmar Jackson had a look at a 3-point jumper with 3 seconds left but missed as Gant had his hands in Jackson’s face.Indiana State won the right to face No. 2 Wichita State in the tournament championship game Sunday. Undefeated Wichita State, now 33-0, routed Missouri State 67-42 in the other semifinal game.Jake Odum, who made three straight free throws in the closing minutes, led Indiana State (23-9) with 20 points and Gant added 13.Jackson, who made only 1 of 10 field goal attempts, made two free throws to pull SIU within one, 60-59 with 45 seconds left.Anthony Beane had 16 points for Southern Illinois (14-19). All four MVC teams from the State of Illinois are now eliminated.

Nate Duhon scored 18 points to lead Chicago State to a 67-53 win over Seattle on Saturday.Matt Ross added 15 points and 10 rebounds and Quinton Pippen had 14 points for Chicago State (13-18, 8-8 Western Athletic Conference), which earned the third seed in the league tournament in Las Vegas next week.Jarell Flora had 22 points for Seattle (13-16, 5-11). He had 16 in the second half but he was the only effective player for the Red Hawks. Seattle shot 31.3 percent, going 9 of 22 from 3-point range (41 percent) but just 6-26 from inside the arc. The Redhawks also struggled from the foul line (14-23) and had 24 turnovers.Chicago State, which had never been as high as a three-seed in any conference it was in since joining the Mid-Continent Conference in 1994, made 12 of 16 free throws in the second half.

ST. LOUIS—Freshman Austin Ruder matched his career-high with 21 points and fourth-seeded Missouri State made just enough free throws down the stretch Thursday for a 53-48 win over fifth-seeded Illinois State in the Missouri Valley Conference tournament quarterfinals.The Bears (20-11) face top-seeded and second-ranked Wichita State in the semifinals.Ruder hit a 3-pointer with 2:05 lead to put Missouri State up 48-46. After a miss by the Redbirds (16-15), Keith Pickens had a tip-in to make it 50-46 with 42 seconds remaining. After that, the Bears made 3 of 6 free throws, two by Dorrian Williams after Zach Lofton’s jumper for Illinois State made it 50-48 with 11 seconds to play.Zach Lofton came off the bench to score a career-high 25 for Illinois State, which trailed 22-17 at the half.Neither team shot even 33 percent, combining for 14 of 46 3’s and 19 of 36 free throws.

—————————————————————–

Jake Odum scored 18 points as second-seeded Indiana State knocked off No. 10 seed Loyola 75-62 in a Missouri Valley Conference quarterfinal on Friday.Indiana State faces Southern Illinois (14-18) in the semifinals. SIU eliminated Northern Iowa 63-58 on Friday.Indiana State (21-9) shot 53 percent from the floor and made five 3-pointers. Justin Gant scored 14 points with four assists for the Sycamores and Devonte Brown added 12 points.Jeff White led Loyola (10-21) with 13 points, the only Rambler in double figures.Odum scored the last nine points of the first half for Indiana State as it took a 26-22 lead into the break.A 6-0 run at the start of the second half pushed the Sycamore lead to 10 and Loyola coach Porter Moser called timeout. The Ramblers scored the next two buckets to cut the lead to six, but that’s as close as they got as Indiana State ran its lead as high as 20 down the stretch.

—————————————————————–

Desmar Jackson had 23 points and 11 rebounds as sixth-seeded Southern Illinois squandered a 19-point second-half lead on Friday night, but held on to beat No. 3 seed Northern Iowa 63-58.Anthony Beane added 16 points for SIU (14-18) which extended a 36-18 halftime lead to 43-24 early in the second half and was still leading 52-41 on Davante Drinkard’s jumper with 6:18 left. UNI (16-15) rattled off 11 straight points over the next three minutes to tie the game at 52.But the Panthers never took the lead as Southern Illinois scored five straight to take the lead for good and UNI missed all five of its 3-point attempts in the final two minutes.Seth Tuttle had 15 points, 17 rebounds and four blocked shots for UNI.The victory advances the Salukis to the Missouri Valley Conference semifinals where they will face No. 2 seed Indiana State on Saturday.

Marc Gasol had 18 points and 10 rebounds, and the Memphis Grizzlies used their stout defense to beat the Bulls 85-77 Friday night.Mike Miller made four 3-pointers and finished with 14 points as the Grizzlies closed out a three-game road trip with their third victory in four games. Zach Randolph added 10 points and 11 rebounds after missing Memphis’ previous game with the flu.The Grizzlies shut out the Bulls after Taj Gibson’s layup trimmed Memphis’ lead to 81-77 with 3:15 to go. Mike Conley made two free throws and Gasol had a layup to help Memphis secure the win.Gasol missed the Grizzlies’ 95-91 loss to the Bulls in Memphis on Dec. 30 due to a sprained left knee. But the league’s reigning Defensive Player of the Year made a difference in this one, going 8 for 16 from the field and helping hold Joakim Noah and Carlos Boozer in check on defense.Gibson had 18 points for the Bulls, who had won 10 of 12. Playing with a sprained right thumb, Noah finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and six assists, but also had six of the Bulls’ 13 turnovers.The visit by Memphis (35-26) presented a look in the mirror for the Bulls (34-28). Heading into the weekend, the Bulls were the NBA’s second-best defensive team at 92.3 points per game, followed by the Grizzlies at 95.2. Memphis was averaging 95.7 points, good for 25th in the 30-team NBA, with the Bulls last in the league at 93.3 per game.The Grizzlies and Bulls even had nearly identical records coming into the night. But due to the strength of their respective conferences, the Grizzlies were ninth in the West, one game out of a playoff spot, while the Bulls were fourth in the East.True to form, there were few open shots and the paint resembled a bumper-car ride for much of the night.Memphis led 15-12 after one, holding the Home team to 22 percent shooting, but the Bulls started to heat up in the second quarter. D.J. Augustin scored 12 in the period and Noah had a late layup to help the Bulls take a 39-35 advantage at the break.

NOTES—Asked at the morning shootaround about a report that he talked to New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony during the All-Star break about coming to Chicago, Noah responded: “You want me to address that? I don’t feel like addressing it. I really have nothing to say about it.” … There was a pregame moment of silence for David Reinsdorf, the son of Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf who died Monday at age 51. The Bulls will wear a patch on their jerseys with David Reinsdorf’s initials for the rest of the regular season.

Andrew Shaw stopped a long scoring drought. Jonathan Toews had another big game. The Blackhawks had 13 players with at least one point.Yup, those line changes worked out pretty well for the Stanley Cup champions.Shaw and Toews had two goals apiece, and the Blackhawks beat the Columbus Blue Jackets 6-1 on Thursday night to keep pace in the Western Conference playoff race.

“I think all the lines had some chemistry tonight,” Shaw said. “It was a big win for us.”

Brandon Bollig and Bryan Bickell also scored as The Hawks bounced back from a 4-2 home loss to Colorado on Tuesday night. Corey Crawford made 22 saves for his 10th consecutive victory against Columbus.With St. Louis and Colorado also winning, the Blackhawks remained two points back of the Blues for the Central Division lead and one point ahead of the Avalanche.

“We’re motivated to build ourselves into the team we want to be come playoff time, but that adds to it to keep us honest, to make sure we’re competing the right way every night,”

Toews said, highlighting the bunched standings out West.
Ryan Johansen scored his 25th goal for the Blue Jackets, who had won three in a row. Sergei Bobrovsky made 14 stops before he was pulled during the Blackhawks’ three-goal second period.The Blackhawks had managed only eight goals while dropping three of four, and five of those came against Pittsburgh at Soldier Field on Saturday. That prompted coach Joel Quenneville to shuffle his lines, putting Shaw with Toews and Brandon Saad in the top group and moving Patrick Sharp to the second line with Michal Handzus and Patrick Kane.It worked.After Johansen took advantage of a bad line change to tie it at 1 at 7:56 of the first, it was all Blackhawks. They outshot the Blue Jackets 33-23 for the game and lead the NHL with 221 goals.

“Jonny’s line had the big night, with several offensive zone shifts, some real nice plays and some nice [finishes] as well,” Quenneville said.

Shaw said it was his first time playing on the same line with Toews since his first NHL game on Jan. 5, 2012, at Philadelphia. Shaw also scored in that one, with Toews picking up an assist.For all that time apart, they sure looked pretty comfortable together.Shaw sparked the runaway win when he made the most of a terrific pass by Sheldon Brookbank, beating Bobrovsky into the upper right corner with 3:16 left in the first. Brookbank’s long pass banked off the boards and sprung Shaw for a breakaway on the right side of the ice.

“It was unbelievable. I think we just made eye contact and we knew what we were going to do,” Shaw said.

The Hawks added three more in the second, highlighted by Saad’s impressive series of moves that set up Toews for an easy score.Saad skated around James Wisniewski and Nathan Horton before he was stopped by Bobrovsky. The rebound went right back to Saad, who passed to Toews on the other side of the net to make it 3-1 eight minutes into the second.Bickell had a rebound score that chased Bobrovsky and Brent Seabrook’s slap shot went off Shaw and past Curtis McElhinney with 2:16 left in the period. It was the 16th goal for Shaw, who stopped an 11-game drought.Toews added a power-play goal in the third for his 24th of the season. The captain has five goals and an assist in the last three games.It was more than enough for Crawford, who improved to 10-2-0 in his career against the Blue Jackets. He made a nice save on Matt Calvert’s backhand in the first and turned away Nick Foligno on a close opportunity in the second.

NOTES—Blackhawks C Peter Regin missed the morning skate, but Quenneville said he was resting and he had 15 shifts in the game. … Ds David Rundblad and Michal Rozsvial, plus injured F Marian Hossa, were the scratches for the Blackhawks.

ST. LOUIS—Milton Doyle’s 3-pointer with 1 second to play lifted Loyola 74-72 over Bradley Thursday night for a first-round Missouri Valley Conference tournament win.The No. 10 seeded Ramblers (10-21), an MVC newcomer, advance to play No. 2 seeded Indiana State (21-9) on Friday. The win snaps a six-game losing streak for Loyola, who led 43-35 at halftime, and went up by 11 in the second on a layup by Christian Thomas at 7:38. But No. 7 seeded Bradley rallied, and Walt Lemon cut the lead to 62-60 with a dunk, and hit two free throws with 5 seconds to play to put Bradley up 72-71. Doyle got the inbounds pass and made his game-winner with 1 second to go.Doyle finished with 19, Jeff White and Devon Turk had 14 apiece, and Thomas had 12.Tyshon Pickett had 25 for Bradley (12-20), Lemon 24 and Omari Grier 12.

EVANSTON—D.J. Newbill scored 12 points and Penn State’s zone defense stifled Northwestern in the Nittany Lions’ 59-32 Big Ten win Thursday.Penn State’s 2-3 zone defense frustrated Northwestern the entire game. The Wildcats’ 32 points were a season low and the fewest scored by any team in Big Ten play. Northwestern shot 23.3 percent from the field and went 3 of 22 behind the arc (season-low 13.6 percent).Balanced scoring helped the Nittany Lions (15-15, 6-11 Big Ten) pick apart Northwestern’s defense. Tim Frazier and Brandon Taylor, each of whom scored 11 points, were two of eight different players to score for Penn State. The Nittany Lions shot 50 percent from the field.Penn State’s five road wins are the most since 2008-09 when they won six.The Wildcats (12-18, 5-12) lost their seventh consecutive game with their last win over a month ago against Minnesota on Feb. 1.It didn’t help that the Wildcats’ two best shooters, Drew Crawford and Tre Demps, shot a combined 3 of 19 for 11 points. By halftime, Penn State built a 17-point lead, and NU never threatened during the second half. Alex Olah led the Wildcats with 14 points.Neither team shot well to open the game. Penn State and Northwestern each made 1 of 6 field goal attempts (16.7 percent) in the first five minutes. The Wildcats went on a scoring drought for over four minutes during which the Nittany Lions built an 8-2 lead.Northwestern’s struggles persisted as they scored just nine points through the first 13 and a half minutes of the game. A free throw by Crawford at the 6:26 mark of the first half finally put Northwestern in double digits and ended a 12-0 run by Penn State, with the Nittany Lions leading 22-10.Penn State built a double-digit lead midway through the first half thanks to good ball movement and timely 3-pointers. Penn State led by as many as 20 points in the first half and took a 32-15 lead into halftime.With the Wildcats trailing 39-17, Northwestern head coach Chris Collins was given a technical foul for unsportsmanlike conduct during the under-16 media timeout. Collins was berating the officials because he believed Penn State should have been called for a three-second violation the previous possession. Tim Frazier ultimately scored on that possession to put Penn State ahead by 22.Defensive breakdowns created open looks for Penn State on the perimeter throughout the game. Taylor made 3 of 5 3-point attempts while John Johnson (eight points) was 2 for 2.It was a tough final home game for Crawford, one of the best players in Northwestern’s history. Crawford, who is ranked in the top 5 in 11 different statistical career categories, scored only six points in 38 minutes of action and shot 1 for 4 from the free throw line.

ROSEMONT—Alex Barlow scored a career-high 19 points to lead Butler to a 79-46 victory over DePaul on Thursday night.Khyle Marshall added 18 points for Butler (13-16, 3-14 Big East) as the Bulldogs put an end to a season-high seven-game losing streak.Brandon Young led DePaul (11-20, 3-15) with 24 points. The Blue Demons will end the Big East regular season with at least a share of last place for the sixth straight season.DePaul finished 1 of 18 from 3-point range. Despite a game featuring the conference’s bottom two teams, Butler dominated DePaul in every aspect. The Bulldogs opened the game with an 18-4 lead. Barlow scored eight points in the span and Marshall drove the lane for two uncontested dunks.Butler outrebounded DePaul 46-29 for the game.DePaul was held to a season-low scoring output in losing by its largest margin this season.Butler ended the first half with Nolan Berry’s dunk with 3 seconds left followed by Barlow stealing the inbounds pass and scoring on a 3-pointer as time expired to take a 38-18 lead.Barlow, who came in the game averaging 6.2 points, eclipsed his career high in the opening minutes of the second half with a 3-pointer and a jumper to give him 16 points for his career-high. Kellen Dunham made a 3 and Marshall’s basket gave Butler a 53-20 lead with 15:31 left.Butler rebounded from a season-low shooting performance in a road loss to Villanova on Feb. 26.DePaul was outrebounded 26-12 in the first half and shot just 28 percent.Barlow scored 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting in the half for Butler and Marshall added nine.DePaul had its lowest scoring output in the first half this season with 18 points, Young scoring 10 of those.Before the game, Young was honored along with Sandi Marcius and Edwind McGhee. The three seniors played in their last home game.DePaul has lost 12 of its last 13 games.

Connor Hill paced Idaho with 27 points and hit two key free throws with seconds remaining in helping Idaho edge Chicago State 79-76 on Thursday night.Idaho (13-17, 6-9 Western Athletic Conference) broke out to a 44-30 halftime lead over the Cougars after landing seven 3-pointers in the half.The Vandal long-range effort cooled in the second period and costly turnovers allowed Chicago State (12-18, 7-8) to narrow the Idaho lead to 68-63. Later, Chicago State’s Quinton Pippen hit a trey at 2:13 and the Cougars trailed Idaho by one, 72-71.Idaho failed to score a field goal in the final 9:45 of the game but Sekou Wiggs and Stephen Madison hit 9-of-13 free throws down the stretch to help preserve the 3-point win.Madison scored 17 along with 9 rebounds, while Wiggs recorded 16 points for the Vandals.Matt Ross led Chicago State with 25 points and eight rebounds.

Devin Hester said that he will not be returning kicks for the Bears next season.

“From my knowledge, I know Chicago wants to go a different route with me,” Hester said.

Hester also thanked Bears fans for their support and indicated he would like to retire as a Bear.Hester, 31, has played with the Bears since being picked in the second round of the 2006 NFL Draft and has made the Pro Bowl three times. He is tied for first in NFL history with Deion Sanders for special teams return touchdowns with 19.