DEKALB—Marin Maric scored 12 points, and posted career-highs with 14 rebounds and five blocks, and Northern Illinois rolled to an 80-54 victory over Chicago State on Wednesday night.Aaric Armstead had 14 points to lead Northern Illinois (7-0), which is off to its best start since going 9-0 in the 1994-95 season. Travon Baker had 11 points and Marshawn Wilson chipped in 10 for the Huskies. It was Maric’s second straight double-double.Elliot Cole scored 17 points on 6-of-12 shooting with three 3-pointers to lead Chicago State (3-5). Trayvon Palmer added 10 points.NIU had a 10-point lead midway through the first half and built a 39-24 halftime advantage. Armstead scored 10 points as part of a 12-4 spurt to open the second half, and the Huskies led 51-28 early in the second half and cruised from there.

Home Sweet Home? Not on this night. Ryan Suter drove to the net and poked in a rebound with 7:56 left in the third period, lifting the Minnesota Wild to a 2-1 victory over the Blackhawks on Tuesday night.After Corey Crawford made an acrobatic right pad save on Mikael Granlund on a breakaway, Granlund missed on a rebound attempt. Suter then cruised to the net and buried a loose puck that was dangling near the goal line.Patrick Kane scored a power-play goal at 5:21 of the second period to extend his point streak to 20 games. Kane has 12 goals and 20 assists during the longest such run for a U.S.-born player.The dynamic winger can match Hall of Famer Bobby Hull’s franchise record from the 1971-72 season with a goal or an assist Thursday night at Ottawa.Jason Pominville also scored for Minnesota, which snapped a three-game losing streak and won for just the second time in its last seven games.Minnesota’s Devan Dubnyk made 30 saves in his 14th start in 15 games. Crawford finished with 34 stops.Dubnyk returned to the net after Darcy Kuemper made 40 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss to Dallas on Saturday when the Stars rallied from a 3-0 deficit.Kane broke the record for a U.S. player when he got to 19 games with a goal in the Hawks 3-2 overtime loss at Los Angeles on Saturday. He has at least one point in 23 of the Blackhawks’ 25 games this season.The Wild dominated the first period, outshooting the Hawks 14-8 and taking a 1-0 lead on Pominville’s wraparound goal 4:09 in.After Crawford stopped Jared Spurgeon’s shot from the slot, Granlund fired the rebound to the left of a wide-open net. But Pominville picked up the puck behind the goal line and curled it in around the post before Crawford could react.Dubnyk robbed Jonathan Toews twice on prime chances in the first. He made a point-blank pad save on rookie Marko Dano’s rebound attempt just 15 seconds into the second.But Kane’s 15th goal of the season tied it at 1 five minutes later.Duncan Keith stripped the puck from Mikko Koivu along the boards just inside the Minnesota zone and whipped the puck down low to a wide-open Kane at the inside edge of the circle.The sellout crowd of 21,580 suddenly went silent for a moment as Kane held the puck and looked to the left to fake Dubnyk. Kane then fired a shot that ticked off the inside of Dubnyk’s left pad and continued in.With Crawford pulled for an extra attacker – and Kane on the ice- the Blackhawks had several chances in the closing two minutes but failed to connect.

NOTES—Kane was named one of the NHL’s three stars for November earlier in the day. … The Blackhawks played their first home game since Nov. 15. They went 3-1-2 on a Western road swing while the circus took over the United Center. … Minnesota D Marco Scandella returned after missing five games with a lower-body injury. That allowed coach Mike Yeo, who has been scolding his team for poor play over the past week, to switch up his defense pairings. Suter skated with Jonas Brodin and Scandella skated with Spurgeon.

BLACKSBURG—Minutes after registering a road win over an ACC opponent, Northwestern’s players could be heard yelling and clapping inside the locker room, and then they cranked up the music in a rather boisterous postgame celebration.Wildcats coach Chris Collins didn’t mind.

”If you don’t enjoy wins like this, then why are you doing it?” Collins asked. ”To be able to walk into a locker room where guys are jumping around and dancing and feeling good about themselves makes me feel good as a coach.”

Bryant McIntosh scored 19 points to lead the Wildcats to an 81-79 overtime victory over Virginia Tech on Tuesday in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.McIntosh hit 8 of 15 for the Wildcats (6-1), who shot 47.8 percent (32 of 67) from the floor. He also grabbed five rebounds and handed out four assists.McIntosh’s layup with 27 seconds left in overtime gave the Wildcats an 81-79 lead and turned out to be the game winner.

”The left side kind of cleared out for me,” McIntosh said. ”I was able to get my shoulder by (the defender’s) hip and just went strong to the basket, and I was able to finish it.It’s a big win for us. It’s been a while since we won in the Challenge. It’s a big win for our program.”

Virginia Tech (4-3) then called a timeout after McIntosh’s basket. Seth Allen dribbled the ball around, but lost control. Devin Wilson corralled it and pitched it to Chris Clarke, who missed a baseline jumper at the buzzer that would have tied the game.

”You have to be able to go somewhere on the bounce on that play or it doesn’t work,” Virginia Tech coach Buzz Williams said. ”It stalled out pretty quick. We probably dribbled 11 times and threw up a prayer.”

Northwestern led by as many as 11 in the first half and 45-36 at halftime. The Hokies never led in the second half, but tied the game twice, with the final time coming on two Seth Allen free throws with 55.3 seconds left that evened the game at 73.Both teams had chances to win in regulation. McIntosh missed a layup with 47 seconds to go, and the Clarke missed a layup inside for Virginia Tech with 26 seconds left. On the final possession of regulation, the Wildcats ran the clock down and Tre Demps took a short jumper in the lane that didn’t fall with 2 seconds remaining. Allen’s halfcourt heave nearly went in at the buzzer, but didn’t and the game went into overtime.

”Virginia Tech really ramped up the energy in the second half and got us on our heels a little bit,” Collins said. ”We just made enough plays to win. They scored the first two baskets in overtime and went down four. Then Sanjay Lumpkin hit a 3 to cut it to 1, which I thought was a huge bucket for us.I’m really proud of our group. Any time you get a win on the road against an ACC team, it’s huge, and it’s really a big win for us as we try to make steps with our program.”

Demps added 17 points for the Wildcats, and Lumpkin scored 12.Allen led Virginia Tech with 25 points. Justin Bibbs added 17 while Clarke had 11 points and 13 rebounds.Virginia Tech is now 3-7 in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge while NU is 7-10.

Pau Gasol punctuated his big block on LaMarcus Aldridge with a triumphant yell.The ugly final four minutes went to Gasol and the Bulls.Gasol had 18 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots, and the Bulls snapped San Antonio’s five-game winning streak with a 92-89 victory over the Spurs on Monday night.Jimmy Butler scored 14 points and reserve Doug McDermott had 12 for the Bulls, which were coming off a 104-92 loss at Indiana on Friday night. Joakim Noah contributed eight points, seven assists and 11 rebounds despite battling foul trouble in the final minutes of the opener of a four-game homestand.

”Everyone contributed tonight in a positive way,” Gasol said. ”Jo was outstanding and almost had a triple double off the bench with his energy, making plays offensively as well as defensively. Everyone really contributed and it was good to see.”

Gasol rejected Aldridge on a drive with 1:06 left, and then hit one of two foul shots on the other end for a 90-89 lead. After Manu Ginobili missed for San Antonio, Butler hit two free throws with 10.6 seconds to go.The Spurs had one last chance, but Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker each missed 3-point attempts in the final seconds. Parker’s try was partially blocked by Derrick Rose, who finished with 11 points and six assists.

”We had a play for Kawhi, and an option for Manu, it just didn’t work out,” Parker said. ”That happens sometimes. It was good defense by Chicago.”

Leonard had 25 points and eight rebounds for San Antonio, which had won nine of 10. Aldridge added 21 points and 12 rebounds, and Parker had 13 points and nine assists.

The Spurs had just one field goal in the final four minutes.

”We are not good offensively, and may not be until March,” coach Gregg Popovich said. ”Offense will take a while. We have a lot of guys getting used to each other, and how to play together.”

The Spurs led 73-70 after three quarters, but the Bull opened the fourth with an 11-2 run. Tony Snell sparked the surge with a 3-pointer and a driving layup.The Bulls played without guards Kirk Hinrich and Aaron Brooks. Brooks has a left hamstring injury, and Hinrich is recovering from a hip pointer.

”It was one of those nights where everybody that stepped out on the floor not only contributed but contributed in a big way,” coach Fred Hoiberg said.

NOTES—Bulls forward Mike Dunleavy Jr. is planning to see two specialists this week after he had a setback in his recovery from offseason back surgery.Hoiberg said Dunleavy is going to stop his on-court work and focus on rehabbing the injury for about two weeks.The 35-year-old Dunleavy had lower back surgery on Sept. 25 and was expected to be out eight to 10 weeks. He re-signed with the Bulls in July after he averaged 9.4 points and shot 40.7 percent from 3-point range in 63 games last season.Gasol said he wants retiring Lakers star Kobe Bryant to have as much fun as possible for the rest of his final season. Bryant announced Sunday that this would be his last year.Gasol played with Bryant for six-plus seasons, winning consecutive NBA titles in 2009 and 2010.

”He’s a hard-working guy that wants to be the best, he doesn’t settle for anything less and he’s going to try to be and will be exceptional,” Gasol said.

Popovich also praised Bryant’s competitiveness.

”Beyond his ability, he’s one of those guys that brought it every night,” he said. ”He wanted to destroy the opponent every night. Just a fierce competitor for all those years, night after night. Most players don’t know what that is and he did it.”

Tim Duncan had 12 rebounds, but San Antonio was hurt by a 51-47 deficit on the boards. … The Spurs went 2 for 14 from 3-point range, compared to 6 for 16 for the Bulls. … San Antonio went 13-3 in November. Noah played in his 557th game with the Bulls, passing Dave Corzine for ninth on the franchise list. … The Bulls had an 8-4 record in November.