CHAMPAIGN—Kendrick Nunn is looking like the offensive leader Illinois has been searching for this season.The junior guard scored 18 of his career-high 28 points in the second half and Malcolm Hill finished with 20 Wednesday night to help Illinois beat Yale 69-65. ”Nunn had a great game on us,” Yale coach James Jones said. ”He was really unstoppable.” Illinois (5-5) took a 33-25 lead into the locker room, but Yale (5-4) stormed back behind a 12-0 run early in the second half to take a 37-35 lead.Makai Mason hit a jumper and made a layup to pull Yale within three with two minutes left but the Bulldogs committed four turnovers and made just 1 of 4 field goals from there. ”We were uncharacteristically poor at handling the basketball tonight,” Jones said. The Bulldogs committed 23 turnovers which Illinois converted into 25 points.Nunn hit a 3 to make it 66-60 with 1:25 remaining and his two free throws with two seconds to plays sealed it for Illinois. ”I was proud of the fact that we got punched in the mouth at the start of the second half on a 15-3 run and our guys really responded down two,” Illinois coach John Groce said. ”They just buckled down and made the plays that we needed to make.” The State Farm Center crowd urged the Illini to run away with the lead when Hill put in a contested layup to tie the game at 49-49.Nunn then sent the hometown crowd into a frenzy with his fifth 3-pointer, giving Illinois a 52-49 lead with 8:24 to go. Jaylon Tate ran back on defense with his fists in the air in celebration.Much different than the fist Groce put into the scorer’s table as Sears scored an easy lay-in to temporarily put the Bulldogs up 44-42 a few minutes prior.Illinois guard Kendrick Nunn has scored double-digits in all five games since returning to the lineup on Nov. 27 after a preseason thumb injury forced him to miss the team’s first five games. Nunn scored a career-high 28 points Wednesday night against Yale, just four days after scoring 27 against Western Carolina on Saturday.The Bulldogs outrebounded Illinois 48-25, including an 17-7 advantage on the offensive glass, but the teams each scored 11 second-chance points…..Illinois plays UIC on Saturday at the United Center.

DES MOINES—Billy Garrett Jr.scored 19 points on 7 of 8 shooting to help lead DePaul past Drake, 74-71, on Wednesday night.Eli Cain and Tommy Hamilton IV each had 13 points for the Blue Demons (5-3), who have won four straight.Reed Trimmer scored a career-high 30 points for Drake (4-5).Drake’s Graham Woodward hit a 3-pointer and Trimmer made two free throws to cut the Bulldogs deficit to 71-68 with 19 seconds left in the game.But Myke Henry hit three of his four free throws in the final 15 second for DePaul to push the lead back to 74-68 and effectively ice the game. Woodward hit a final 3-pointer as time expired.The Blue Demons led 38-37 at the break and trailed for only 18 seconds in the second half, after a layup by Drake’s Jacob Enevold Jensen briefly gave the Bulldogs a 41-40 lead.

AFC GAMES: Pit over CIN, Indy over JAX, Tenn over NYJ, S.Diego over KC, DEN over Oak NFC GAMES: N.Orl over TB, Atl over CAR INT CONF GAMES: S.Fran over CLEV, Buf over PHIL, BALT over Seat SUN NIGHT: HOU over N.Eng MON NIGHT: MIA over NY Giants NFC NORTH GAMES: ARZ over Minn(Thur Night), STL over Det, Dal over GB, BEARS over Wash Teams in all CAPS are HOME TEAMS. LAST WEEK; LES 8-8, Producers 9-7, To Date: LES 113-80, Producers 120-73 NOTE: My picks have been SO bad of late, I decided to flip a coin this week, with Heads meaning HOME TEAM and Tails the VISITORS.

BOSTON—The Boston Celtics didn’t get caught up in the hype surrounding their next game.They focused on the Bulls. Isaiah Thomas scored nine of his 20 points in the final three minutes to lead the Celtics to a 105-100 victory over the Bulls on Wednesday night.Boston hosts undefeated Golden State next on Friday. ”Everybody in the league is talking about Golden State,” Celtics forward Jared Sullinger said. ”A lot of times you get a Tweet: `Hey Sully, good luck on Friday.’ I was like: `We play on Wednesday.’ In this league if you overlook anybody, you’re going to come up short. I’m not talking about a four, five-point loss. I’m talking about 25-point loss if you look ahead.” But now they can. ”It’s OK to look at it now,” Boston coach Brad Stevens said. ”I thought they did a good job of looking at the task at hand.” Kelly Olynyk scored 15 points. Jae Crowder and Evan Turner each had 13, and David Lee 12 for the Celtics, who had eight players in double figures and won for the fourth time in five games.Jimmy Butler led the Bulls with a season-high 36 points, and Pau Gasol had his fifth straight double-double with 16 points and 15 rebounds. Derrick Rose added 12 points for the Bulls, who lost their third straight. ”After two tough losses, I thought we played hard,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. ”I thought our effort gave us an opportunity. We held them to 41 percent shooting; that gives you a chance to win on the road. Now it’s sticking together. We have three in a row here that we’ve lost, and we’ve got to find a way to band together.” The Bulls’ veterans are wondering what’s happened. ”This is our first time really going through it,” Rose said. ”The nucleus of this team, we’ve been together for a long time. We’re just trying to figure things out.” Trailing by eight points with 3 1/2 minutes to go, the Bulls sliced it to 91-88 on Nikola Mirotic‘s fast-break layup.But Thomas scored the next five points, the final three coming on a three-point play after he was fouled on a spinning drive down the lane with 2:23 to play.Butler’s two free throws with 32 seconds left sliced the deficit to four points, but Thomas hit four free throws and Turner one to seal it.Sparked by six points from Lee, the Celtics opened the final quarter with a 12-2 run to pull to their largest lead of the game, 87-77 with just under 7 minutes to play. Lee capped the spree with a dunk.The Bulls missed eight of their first nine shots in the fourth.The teams were tied three times and the lead traded hands four in the third quarter before Thomas’ 3-pointer with 3.7 seconds left sent the clubs into the fourth tied at 75-all.The Bulls closed the final 68 seconds of the opening half with a 6-0 run to take a 54-51 edge into intermission.Hoiberg said his team was still bothered by the last two games, especially after giving up 42 fourth-quarter points in a loss to Phoenix on Monday. ”It hurt the players and the coaches,” he said.Celtics: G Marcus Smart missed his 10th straight with lower left leg injury. G R.J. Hunter was out with a hip flexor. … The Celtics wore warmups with `Loscy’ written on the front. Former player Jim Loscutoff died on Dec. 1. He was 85.Sullinger had a simple way to look at Golden State. ”They’re in the same league as us,” he said. ”They get paid on the first and 15th just like us.” It was Gasol’s 11th double-double this season…..The Bulls host Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday.

For the second straight game, Patrick Kane waited until the very end to keep his point streak alive.Kane reached 23 games with an empty-net goal with 1:36 left, and the Blackhawks beat the Nashville Predators 4-1 on Tuesday night.Nashville had pulled Pekka Rinne when Kane fired the puck into the Predators’ net from just short of the red line. He broke Bobby Hull’s franchise record when he reached 22 with an assist on Artemi Panarin‘s empty-netter with 46 seconds left in Sunday’s 3-1 win over Winnipeg. ”I wasn’t thinking about it too much until the end, and you go out there and you hear the crowd cheering, and they’re looking for something,” Kane said after the Hawks second straight win. ”That’s when you kind of want to get something at the end.” Kane’s 17th goal of the season was his 600th NHL point. The winger, who entered as the NHL’s leading scorer, has 14 goals and 23 assists during his streak. ”Nice to see him extend it,” coach Joel Quenneville said. ”This is like all the other games he’s played.The other night was noticeable. Tonight was business as usual.” Teuvo Teravainen and Andrew Shaw each had a goal and an assist, and Corey Crawford made 36 saves. Dennis Rasmussen scored in his NHL debut.Eric Nystrom scored for Nashville in its first meeting with the Blackhawks since the first-round playoff series which the Hawks won in six games last spring. Rinne blocked 20 shots.The Predators were coming off a 3-2 victory at Boston on Monday night.Rasmussen opened the scoring with a deflection at 10:45 of the first. At the edge of the crease, he tipped in Shaw’s shot from the slot after Shaw picked off a weak Nashville clearing pass.Shaw’s power-play goal on a screened one-timer from the left circle with 5:45 left in the second gave the Blackhawks a 2-0 lead. Shaw was set up by Teravainen’s slick cross-ice touch pass.Crawford was especially sharp in the second to keep the Hawks ahead as the Predators outshot the Blackhawks 14-6.Crawford slid quickly to rob Calle Jarnkrok with a right pad save at 6:52. He stopped Viktor Arvidsson, and then popped up off the ice to make a glove save on Barret Jackman‘s rebound with three minutes left. ”One of the key points in the game,” Crawford said. ”That was a big win for us against another team in our division. It was a back-and-forth kind of game.” The Predators cut it to 2-1 with 45.3 seconds remaining in the period when Nystrom drove to the net, slipped past two defenders and Roman Josi‘s centering pass deflected in off Nystrom’s skate. The goal withstood a video review because Nystrom did not kick at the puck.Teravainen made it 3-1 just 14 seconds into the third on a rising shot from the top of the right circle. He hesitated a split second before firing and beat Rinne high on the stick side. NOTES—Trevor Daley is day to day with an upper-body injury that Quenneville said is not serious. Daley, who was helped off the ice in the second period Sunday after a collision, was replaced in the lineup by David Rundblad. … The Blackhawks recalled Rasmussen from Rockford of the AHL on Monday. … Nashville C Colin Wilson missed the game with a lower-body injury.

After dropping the previous four games by a total of 13 points, Brandon Knight felt it was time for the Phoenix Suns to stop waiting for the breaks to go their way.Mirza Teletovic scored 20 points, including a follow basket with 0.3 seconds left, to cap the Suns’ furious fourth-quarter rally from 16 down in a 103-101 victory over the Bulls on Monday night.Knight had 17 of his 21 points in the fourth as the Suns snapped a four-game skid. Phoenix outscored the Bulls 42-24 in the final period. ”I know we put ourselves in position to win, but nothing’s given in this league,” Knight said. ”You have to go out and take it. After losing three or four games like that, I think we realize that.That’s what we did tonight.” The Suns, who lost on an alley-oop with 0.5 seconds left on Sunday in Memphis, finished 2-4 on a six-game road trip. ”This has been a crazy trip for us,” coach Jeff Hornacek said. ”Start in Toronto, have a great win there, then we have four games in a row that we have leads in the fourth. Then, we come out and be down 16 on the last game of six games in nine nights.The guys could have easily quit and they didn’t. They kept playing and they made some plays and pulled out what’s a big win for us.” Pau Gasol scored 22 points to lead the Bulls, Jimmy Butler added 19 and Derrick Rose 14.The Bulls led most of the way and its advantage grew to 77-61 entering the fourth quarter as Phoenix was held to 10 points on 4-of-20 shooting in the third. ”We got a 16-point lead, play our best defensive quarter of the year, outscore them 26-10 in the third and follow that up with our worst defensive quarter of the year,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. ”And just couldn’t find a way to get a rebound. They score 28 second-chance points, a lot of those came at key times.” Trailing 86-75 with just under 8 minutes to go, Phoenix went on an 11-2 run to pull within 88-86 with just under 5 minutes remaining.Following a basket by Rose, Knight converted a three-point play to make it 90-89.The Bulls seemingly created a little breathing room when Butler hit a 3-pointer for a 101-96 edge with just under two left. But rookie Devin Booker hit a 3-pointer and Eric Bledsoe came up with a steal and fast break layup to tie the game with 1:17 left.That’s where it stayed until Teletovic rebounded a miss by Jon Leuer and put up a fadaway jumper from about 10 feet. NOTES—Former Bull Tyson Chandler missed his sixth straight game with a right hamstring strain. ”We’ve got to get him 100 percent,” Phoenix coach Jeff Hornacek said. ”If we get him out there too early and he strains it again and is out another two or three weeks, that’s not gonna help us out.”….Cameron Bairstow was recalled from the Austin Spurs of the NBDL before the game. Bairstow played five games in the NBDL, averaging 14 points and eight rebounds. … Entering Monday, they were second in the NBA in opponent field-goal percentage with a mark of .409….Before the game, Hoiberg recalled that he was a ballboy at Iowa State the first time he met Hornacek. ”He was such a fun player to watch,” Hoiberg said. ”Just his story of going to Iowa State as a walk-on and arguably be the best player to ever to graduate from Iowa State University. He was a guy I absolutely looked up to when I was a kid.”….The Bulls are at Boston on Wednesday.

Well, kiss the already slim Playoff hopes for the Bears goodbye!! Blaine Gabbert threw a 71-yard touchdown pass to Torrey Smith in overtime after running for the tying TD late in regulation, lifting the struggling 49ers to a 26-20 victory over the Bears on Sunday.Tomsula’s pep talk came right after Ka’Deem Carey ran for a touchdown in the closing minutes of regulation.Gabbert answered with a big TD run and then won it with that long pass in OT after the Bears’ Robbie Gould missed a field goal at the end of regulation.The Bears (5-7) had just gone three-and-out after forcing a punt by San Francisco to start the extra period.On the first play of the 49ers’ second possession, Gabbert found a wide-open Smith along the left sideline, giving San Francisco (4-8) a surprising win over a team that had jumped into playoff contention.

”It was set up by all the throws we had underneath early on in the game, all the runs we ran out of that formation,” Gabbert said. ”It worked perfectly. Torrey did a great job tracking the ball in the air and using his speed to outrun everybody.”

All that happened after a wild finish in regulation.The Bears took a 20-13 lead on Carey’s 4-yard run with 3:32 left, only to let it disappear and then blow a chance to win the game as time expired.Gabbert scrambled 44 yards untouched through the middle for his first career touchdown run with 1:42 left, after some encouragement from Tomsula.If that wasn’t bad enough for the Bears, they wasted a huge opportunity after Deonte Thompson returned the kickoff 74 yards to the 28. The Bears had the ball at the 17 when they called on the usually reliable Gould, and at that point, linebacker NaVorro Bowman could sense the dread on the sideline.

”We had this feeling a few games (where) we played well and fell a little short,” he said. ”That same kind of emotion and feeling came back. We’re right there. And I think today showed what we’ve been trying to get to all the players – just keep fighting no matter what’s happening in the game.”

Gould, who missed a 40-yard attempt in the third quarter, booted a 36-yarder wide left as time expired.

”I just got quick on both of them and rushed them, and hurried them,” said Gould, who turned 34 Sunday. ”They were both probably the worst kicks I’ve had all year.” At the worst time.

Gabbert, who took over for Colin Kaepernick last month, completed 18 of 32 passes for 196 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for 75 yards and his score.Smith had two catches for 76 yards, and Jimmie Ward returned his first career interception for a touchdown, helping the 49ers snap a two-game losing streak and secure their first road win. They were 0-5 away from home.Jay Cutler was 18 of 31 for 202 yards with that interception. Alshon Jeffery had 85 yards receiving and Matt Forte ran for 84 and a touchdown, but for the second time in three games, the Bears missed a chance to reach .500. They also fell to 1-5 at home.The Bears followed up a rare win at Green Bay on Thanksgiving with a pitiful loss against a team both coordinators probably would have loved to beat.Defensive coordinator Vic Fangio and offensive coordinator Adam Gase interviewed for the 49ers’ head coaching job that went to Tomsula following Jim Harbaugh’s departure after last season. Gase wound up following Fox from Denver, and Fangio moved to Chicago after overseeing one of the league’s top defenses the past four years in San Francisco.

”Offensively we didn’t play that great in Green Bay either,” Cutler said. ”That’s kind of the facts. Today we didn’t play exceptionally well either. Offensively we’ve got a lot of work to do.

NOTES—49ers LB Aaron Lynch left the game with a concussion in the third quarter. … This was San Francisco’s first regular-season win at Soldier Field since 1974. The 49ers did beat the Bears here in the conference championship game at the end of the 1988 season. … The 49ers were 7 of 16 on third downs after going 0 for 9 against Arizona.

Teuvo Teravainen, the Blackhawks’ top young prospect, ended a monthlong goal drought. Patrick Kane, the Hawks top scorer, broke a franchise record held by one of the greatest players in team history.Teravainen scored from a sharp angle 21 seconds into the third period to snap a tie, and Marian Hossa had a goal and an assist as the Blackhawks defeated the Winnipeg Jets 3-1 on Sunday to end a three-game losing streak.Kane assisted on Artemi Panarin’s empty-net goal with 1:46 left to extend his point streak to 22 games, eclipsing Bobby Hull’s club mark. Kane has a goal or assist in 25 of the Blackhawks’ 27 games this season.Kane, who entered as the NHL’s leading scorer, has 13 goals and 23 assists during his run. The crowd of 21,749 roared when his assist was announced.

”It’s not your usual point, I guess,” Kane said. ”The exciting part is just hearing how into it the crowd was when the announcement was made, hearing how excited they were.”

Kane was along the right boards in the Blackhawks zone when he batted the puck with his left hand to Panarin. Because Panarin was still inside the Hawk blue line, the pass was legal and the rookie skated to center ice before firing into the empty net.

”I’ve got to work on my lefty throwing,” said Kane, who is right-handed. ”I was up on the glass there and lucky enough, Panarin was there to make the play and shoot it in.”

Teravainen snapped a 10-game goal drought and connected for the first time since Nov. 4 when he fooled Michael Hutchinson with a quick shot from the right circle. The puck struck Hutchinson, then slipped just inside the right post on the short side.Teravainen, who also sat out three games since his previous goal, skated on a line with Hossa and captain Jonathan Toews.

”That’s where I want to be,” Teravainen said. ”I’ve got to work hard to be on that line. It’s great that we got a couple goals tonight.”

Winnipeg’s Chris Thorburn had a goal that was awarded after a delayed video review.Corey Crawford made 30 saves. Hutchinson blocked 29 shots but lost for the first time in regulation to the Blackhawks (4-1-1).The 76-year-old Hull watched from the United Center and before the game wished Kane luck in attempting to surpass his mark – as well as Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 51 straight games with a point.

”I just hope that he breaks the record and then goes on and chases Gretzky,” Hull said before the game. ”It’s only 30, it’s not a big deal. He can get 30 more.”

That’s not on Kane’s radar yet.

”I don’t know about that,” Kane said,” but talking streaks with Eddie Olczyk, Denis Savard, the great Bobby Hull, it’s pretty special.”

Kane broke the point-streak record for a U.S. player – previously held by Olczyk and Phil Kessel – when he got to 19 games with a goal in the Hawks 3-2 overtime loss at Los Angeles on Nov. 28.The Jets played their second game in two days, after beating Washington 3-2 in overtime on Saturday at home on a goal that was upheld after video review.Blackhawks defenseman Trevor Daley had to be helped off the ice midway through the second period following a collision with Thorburn and did not return. After Daley made a clearing pass from the Hawk zone, he leaned forward and appeared to be struck in the head by Thorburn’s knee.An apparent goal by Marcus Kruger with 7:10 left in the first was disallowed after a video review INCORRECTLY determined he kicked a loose rebound into the net.However, Hossa scored with 2:04 remaining in the period to put the Hawks ahead 1-0.Brent Seabrook shot a bouncing puck from the left point that skipped in slowly on Hutchinson, who couldn’t hang onto it. Hossa outmuscled Bryan Little in the crease and swept in the rebound for his fifth goal.A video review worked in the Jets’ favor again when Thorburn scored to tie it 1-all at 5:34 of the second.After Toby Enstrom centered from the left side of the net, Thorburn roofed in a shot just under the crossbar from the front of the crease. The goal was first waved off on the ice, but counted after a review that took place 59 seconds later.

NOTES—The Blackhawks recalled veteran LW Bryan Bickell from Rockford of the AHL. Bickell was sent down Nov. 2 after clearing waivers, then had seven goals and seven assists in 12 games with the IceHogs. … To make room on their roster, the Blackhawks placed forward Viktor Tikhonov on waivers Saturday. … Trevor van Reimsdyk had to be helped off the ice at 4:39 of the first period after blocking a shot, but returned. He missed most of last season after shattering his left kneecap against Dallas on Nov. 16, 2014. .

INDIANAPOLIS—L.J. Scott’s late lunge did more than put the ball across the goal line – it all but certainly put No. 5 Michigan State into the College Football Playoff.No matter how many times he got hit, the freshman kept powering forward. And with one final stretch, he reached the ball into the end zone for a touchdown with 27 seconds left that sent the Spartans past No. 4 Iowa 16-13 Saturday night in the Big Ten championship game.

”I was just trying to make a big play for my brothers,” Scott said. ”We knew what we had at stake

Quarterback Connor Cook led the Spartans (12-1, No. 5 CFP) on a 22-play drive that set up Scott’s 1-yard run on third down. A half-dozen Iowa defenders tried to stop Scott and pushed him backward, but he wouldn’t be denied.In all, it took six seconds for the 233-pound running back to travel that final, season-saving yard.Iowa (12-1, No. 4 CFP) saw its unbeaten season end, inches short of perfection.When the Spartans’ defense closed it out, Michigan State’s players sprinted across the field and into the end zone where they celebrated with a throng of fans hoping for an even longer journey. They’ll find out their next destination Sunday afternoon.By winning his second Big Ten crown in three years – both against previously unbeaten teams — and giving the senior class a record-breaking 43rd career win, Connor Cook and his teammates can turn now their focus to their season-long goal, winning the school’s first outright national title since 1952.

”We wanted to come back and win a championship,” Cook said. ”It’s awesome, man.”

Cook, who played with a sore shoulder and appeared to get hurt a couple of times during the game, seemed a bit off until the end.He finished 16 of 32 with 191 yards, no touchdowns and one interception. He still became the first player chosen the title game MVP twice – largely because of the poise he demonstrated on a methodical 82-yard drive that consumed 9 minutes, 4 seconds and essentially sealed Iowa’s fate.With the season on the line, Cook and the offense made play after play against an Iowa defense that hadn’t given up a touchdown all night.Michigan State heads into the postseason with lots of confidence after winning four straight, with two coming against top 10 teams.

”Our football team knows how to win. We can play it out,” coach Mark Dantonio said. ”We don’t count ourselves out. When some things aren’t going so well, we keep playing as evidence by the game.”

Iowa lost for the first time with C.J. Beathard as the starting quarterback because its stingy defense couldn’t come up with one last stop.But the Spartans forced the Hawkeyes to settle for only three field goals before putting together that last-ditch drive.

”It’s tough,” Beathard said. ”You’ve gone all season long and haven’t experienced what it’s like to lose a game. Every time we’ve been in the locker room after a game it’s been exciting. It’s just tough because losing a game like that when it’s that close, it’s hard to handle.”

Especially when it appeared moments earlier that the Hawkeyes might be headed to the playoff game themselves.After taking a 6-3 halftime lead then giving it away with two field goals in the third quarter, Beathard opened the fourth with a perfect 85-yard TD pass to Tevaun Smith to make it 13-9.But for all of the talk about the league’s two best quarterbacks going head-to-head, this game ended with a decidedly old-school flavor.Scott ran 22 times for 73 yards against a stingy defense that stopped Michigan State on four consecutive snaps inside the Iowa 5 in the final two minutes.On the fifth try, Scott stood up, spun away and finally put away the Hawkeyes.

”He’s a load. I felt like if he found a crease he’d get more,” Dantonio said. ”As it got down inside the 10-yard line, pound it, take the game and the clock which I think is a big thing. We got the game and the clock. We did it slowly and methodically.”

Nicolas Batum scored 12 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, and the Charlotte Hornets beat the Bulls 102-96 on Saturday night.Cody Zeller and Kemba Walker had 17 points apiece for the Hornets, who played their first road game since Nov. 17 in New York. Spencer Hawes added 14 points and Batum also grabbed 11 rebounds.Jimmy Butler scored 25 points and Derrick Rose had 19 for the Bulls, who fell to 7-2 at the United Center.