CARBONDALE—Leo Vincent scored a career-high 24 points, including the winning 3-pointer with 24 seconds left, to help Southern Illinois rally from a 12-point, second-half deficit and beat Illinois State 81-78 Tuesday night.Illinois State (9-9, 3-2 Missouri Valley Conference) led 56-44 with 15 minutes to play.An 11-2 run pulled Southern Illinois (15-3, 4-1) within three about 2 1/2 minutes later.ISU’s Deontae Hawkins made a layup to make it 72-68 with 4:15 left, but Mike Rodriguez had five points as the Salukis scored eight in a row to take a four-point lead with 1:29 left.DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell converted a 3-point play and, after Vincent made two free throws, Hawkins hit a 3 to tie it at 78 with 55 seconds remaining – setting up Vincent’s winner.Paris Lee missed a potential tying 3 on the other end.Vincent hit a career-high six of his seven 3-point shots.MiKyle McIntosh, who scored a career-high 20 in Illinois State’s loss to Indiana State on Saturday, scored 25.

TOLEDO—Chuks Iroegbu’s layup with a minute to go gave Northern Illinois the lead and started a run of eight straight points by the Huskies in a 71-66 victory over Toledo on Tuesday night.After Iroegbu’s basket, Marshawn Wilson scored on a breakaway dunk off an inbounds play and Travon Baker and Laytwan Porter added two free throws each. The last six points came during a span when Toledo’s Jonathan Williams was charged with three turnovers.Baker finished with 23 points and Wilson had 10. Marin Maric added 16 points and 12 rebounds for his seventh double-double this season as the Huskies (14-2, 3-0 Mid-American) won their seventh straight game.Nathan Boothe scored a career-high 30 points with Williams adding 21 for the Rockets (10-6, 1-2).Toledo came in ranked second in the MAC in 3-point shooting percentage at 42.3, but made only 5 of 18 for 27.8 percent against the Huskies.

The Washington Wizards used balance and ball movement to make up for another injury to a key performer.John Wall had 17 points and 10 assists, and the banged-up Wizards pulled away from the Bulls for a 114-100 victory on Monday night. ”I believe in these guys,” Wall said. ”I see these guys put in work every day, and I put in the work every day also, and if these guys get open, I believe they’re going to make shots.” Washington had seven players score in double figures in its second straight win after a stretch of five losses in six games. Ramon Sessions had 16 points, and Garrett Temple, Otto Porter Jr. and Nene scored 14 apiece.The Wizards led by as many as 18 points while playing without Marcin Gortat, Kris Humphries and Bradley Beal. Gortat was scratched with a sore left knee, Humphries missed his fourth straight game with a sore right knee and Beal remains out due to a stress reaction in his lower right leg.Derrick Rose scored 23 points in the first of four games in five nights for the Bulls. Jimmy Butler had 19 points and seven assists, and Pau Gasol added 15 points and 10 rebounds. ”Defensively, things are not the way things need to be,” Gasol said. ”We need to be better. More physicality on the defensive end. Work as a unit.” Bulls center Joakim Noah had no points and nine rebounds in a little under 19 minutes in his return from a left shoulder sprain. It was Noah’s first game since he got hurt in the third quarter of a 105-102 loss to Brooklyn on Dec. 21.Noah was blocked from behind by Wall with 2:19 left in the third quarter, and then grabbed his shoulder after he hit the ground. But he stayed in the game.Doug McDermott‘s four-point play got the Bulls within four with 9:34 left, but Washington responded with a 13-2 run to put it away. Sessions capped the surge with a layup that made it 102-87 with 5:56 to go.Gary Neal added 11 points for Washington, and Drew Gooden finished with 10 points and 12 rebounds.

NOTES—The Bulls have scored 100 or more points for 11 consecutive games for the first time since Dec. 2-23, 1995. But they allowed at least 100 points in seven of those games…..It was the first of three meetings between the teams. The Wizards and Bulls split four games last season……Rose scored 13 in the first half to pass Ben Gordon (7,372 points) for 10th on the franchise’s career scoring list. Reggie Theus is ninth with 8,279 points. … Chicago had won five straight at home….The Bulls play 12 of their next 15 games on the road, beginning Tuesday night at Milwaukee.

Marian Hossa‘s 492nd goal was a relief. His second one of the night was business as usual.Hossa snapped a career-long 14-game scoring drought with two goals and the Blackhawks rolled to a 6-3 victory over the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday night that extended their season-high win streak to seven. ”When I was younger, I tried to do a little too much,” said Hossa, who turns 37 on Tuesday. ”I’ve learned over those years, if the puck doesn’t go in, try to use your instincts, stay positive. Eventually it’s going to go in. And I know it’s been such a long time. It feels good.” Patrick Kane also scored two goals and the Hawks chased Semyon Varlamov while improving to 18-5-1 at home. Jonathan Toews had a goal and two assists, Brandon Mashinter scored his second career goal and Corey Crawford had 34 saves.The Blackhawks (58 points) moved within four points of idle Dallas for the top spot in the Western Conference. ”It seems like we’re trending in the right direction,” Kane said. ”Keep building off this level we’re at right now.” Varlamov was pulled after Kane’s NHL-best 13th power-play goal made it 4-2 at 12:25 of the second. The 27-year-old Varlamov went 11-3 with a 1.80 goals-against average in his first 15 appearances against the Hawks but has dropped each of his last two starts against the Blackhawks, allowing four goals in each one. ”I mean, we’re in the battle for a playoff spot, but when we’re going to have nights like this and we’re just going to rest him, that’s all,” Avalanche coach Patrick Roy said. ”I’ll put him back in the next game. We’re going to play him a lot, that’s all.” Matt Duchene had two goals and an assist for Colorado, which had won three in a row and four of six. Nathan MacKinnon also scored and Calvin Pickard finished with 13 stops in relief of Varlamov, who had 16 saves.Duchene got his fourth goal in four games and 21st this season to trim the lead to 3-2 at 9:18 of the second. But the reigning Stanley Cup champions responded with an impressive offensive flurry over the final part of the period. ”Defensively I don’t think we were where we needed to be tonight,” Duchene said. ”We gave up some pretty good chances and kind of hung our goalies out to dry a couple of times.” After Kane picked up his 25th goal, Toews drove a slap shot over Pickard’s glove for his 16th of the season. Hossa then finished off a pretty passing sequence for the top line, making it 6-2 at 18:42.Hossa also scored off a nice pass by defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson just 1:39 into the second. He raised his arms into the air after his first goal since Dec. 6. ”It’s something new in my career to learn to think positive this long, to not get too frustrated,” Hossa said. ”Just keep working hard. I was getting chances. The puck just doesn’t go in.”

NOTES—Colorado had won five in a row at the United Center. … Duchene has scored at least 20 goals in each of the last three seasons. …Duncan Keith played in his 800th career game. …Bryan Bickell was a healthy scratch. Bickell has no goals and two assists in 23 games this season. …Joel Quenneville is hopeful F Richard Panik will be able to join the team on Monday. Panik was acquired in a trade with Toronto last weekend, but has been dealing with a visa issue.

CHAMPAIGN—Ever since Illinois fell apart in a 25-point loss Thursday at No. 5 Michigan State, Illini practices have been ”hell,” according to Malcolm Hill. ”Bodies flying and colliding and words that not everybody can hear, from the coaching staff and the players as well,” the quiet junior forward said. Leading scorer Kendrick Nunn missed that game for the birth of his son, and the Illini, by their own admission, were embarrassed on the court.Nunn was back on Sunday, and he and Hill combined for 52 points in an 84-70 win over No. 20 Purdue.Hill scored 30 and Nunn finished with 22 for Illinois (9-8, 1-3 Big Ten), going a combined 17 for 27 from the field. With both hitting shots, Purdue coach Matt Painter said the Boilermakers (14-3, 2-2) didn’t have much of a chance. ”If you can slow one of them down, I thought we would be in pretty good shape,” Painter said. ”We just got beat tonight.” Nunn started slowly but scored 18 points in the second half. That included a nine-point run to open the half that turned a 37-all tie into a 46-37 Illinois lead.Purdue was led by Caleb Swanigan and P.J. Thompson with 12 points each.Illinois big men Michael Finke and Maverick Morgan helped hold Purdue’s two 7-footers, A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas, to a combined 16 points.Boilermakers forward Raphael Davis fouled out with 1:49 to play. He didn’t score.Nunn said he hadn’t gotten quite as much sleep as he would like since the birth of his son, Kason Lee. The understated junior called it ”a long week.” It took him a half to shake off the rust. He scored four points in the first 20 minutes, but started the second half with the nine-point run, which included a pair of 3-pointers. The first opened the half and gave the Illini a lead they never relinquished.Nunn nailed the second 3 even as he was being knocked to the floor by Dakota Mathias. Nunn hit the free throw that followed, too. ”I had complete confidence in him that he was going to explode in the second half,” Hill said. ”We just feed off each other.” Nunn appeared to foul out with 3:36 left, only to have the officials review the play and call D.J. Williams for the foul on Vince Edwards instead.The crowd let out a relieved cheer.After Morgan sank a short jump shot with 7:24 to play to give Illinois a 65-53 edge, the Illini nursed a double-digit lead until the final buzzer.

ROCHESTER—Kahlil Felder scored 18 of his 26 points in the first half and Oakland beat UIC 86-61 on Sunday.Felder was 11 of 17 from the field as Oakland made 48 percent and hit 32 of 41 from the stripe compared to 14 of 22 for UIC.Jalen Hayes and Brad Brechting added 10 points apiece for Oakland (10-7, 2-2 Horizon), which snapped a two-game losing streak at the end a four-game homestand.Oakland had a 35-21 lead at halftime despite going 0 for 8 from 3-point range. UIC was just 8 of 26 from the field and turned it over 10 times.Freshman Dikembe Dixson tied a season-high with 28 points to finish with 20-plus for the fifth time this season for UIC (2-12, 0-3). The Flames knocked Oakland out of the league tournament last season for its first win in the series in nine meetings.

ATLANTA—Al Horford thinks the Atlanta Hawks are finally showing how good they can be.Horford scored a season-high 33 points and had 10 rebounds, Paul Millsap added 18 points and the Atlanta Hawks beat the Bulls 120-105 on Saturday night.Jimmy Butler scored 14 of his 27 points in the third quarter and Nikola Mirotic had 24 points for the Bulls who ended a six-game win streak.Mike Scott had 14 points and Dennis Schroder and Kyle Korver each scored 13 to help the Hawks lead throughout. Atlanta has won two straight after dropping three of four. ”We kind of get it going and then we lose a couple, that type of thing,” Horford said. ”I think we need to just focus on the next game. We can’t look too far ahead. I feel like when we start having success then maybe we do that a little bit and then we get in trouble and lose a couple in a row.” For the first time since beating Oklahoma City on Nov. 30, Atlanta finally got a signature win entering a three-day break.The Hawks improved to 23-15 and are tied for the second-most victories in the Eastern Conference, but they haven’t been able to play consistently at the high level that pushed them to a No. 1 seed last season.At least for one night, they did.Atlanta led by 19 points in the second quarter on Scott’s 3-pointer and stayed up by 13 early in the third on Kent Bazemore‘s free throws. ”We got up and down, guys were running the floor, we rolled to the basket, got easy lobs and things like that,” Jeff Teague said after finishing with 12 points and six assists. ”That’s how we have to play for us to be a good team.” Thanks in part to Butler’s prolific third quarter, the Bulls went on a 22-11 run to pull within two on a pair of free throws by Derrick Rose at the 3:38 mark of the period, but the Hawks went back up by 17 on Schroder’s jumper with 9:20 left and the game essentially decided. ”For whatever reason, right now we’re coming out with more energy in the third quarter than we are in the first,” Bulls coach Fred Hoiberg said. ”That’s got to change. We’re giving up 30 regularly now in the first quarter. We have to find a way to stop that.” The Bulls dropped to 22-13.Joakim Noah didn’t make the trip, missing his ninth straight game with a left shoulder sprain, but the team hopes to get him back by Monday. ”We’ll get him doing some live stuff tomorrow,” Hoiberg said. ”Hopefully he’ll get through a full practice.” … The Bulls dropped to 6-8 on the road. Horford added six assists and four blocked shots. … Former Bull Thabo Sefolosha couldn’t play after falling during a win Thursday at Philadelphia and hurting his right wrist. Coach Mike Budenholzer described the injury as ”a little bit of a problem” and hopes he won’t miss much time. … The Hawks improved to 13-7 at home.Atlanta was called for 22 fouls. The Bulls were whistled just 10 times before Mirotic fouled Millsap on a three-point play to make 111-96 with 4:35 to go. The Bulls outscored the Hawks 26-12 at the free-throw line.TheBulls host Washington on Monday night.

MINNEAPOLIS—Aaron Falzon made sure that a bump in the road didn’t turn into a disaster.Falzon tied his career-high with 20 points and Tre Demps added 13 as Northwestern defeated Minnesota 77-52 on Saturday afternoon.Joey van Zegeren added 11 points and Bryant McIntosh had 10 assists for the Wildcats (14-3, 2-2 in the Big Ten), who had lost two straight games after opening the season 13-1. After their past two seasons were derailed by extended losing streaks, the Wildcats knew they had to nip this one in the bud. ”My first year were 5-5 and we lost seven in a row,” NU coach Chris Collins said. ”Last year we win our first game and then we lose 10 in a row. We had a tough week last week against two really good teams, Maryland and Ohio State. This was a big game for us today to kind of test where we were at as a team.” The result was Northwestern’s biggest victory ever at Minnesota’s Williams Arena – and the Gophers’ fifth biggest loss ever at home.Nate Mason scored 13 points and Bakary Konate added 12 for the Gophers (6-10, 0-4), who have lost eight of their last nine games overall. ”Until I think that our identity becomes defense and rebounds, we’ve got no shot because we’re not a great offensive team,” said Minnesota coach Richard Pitino, whose team shot 39 percent from the floor and was outrebounded 33-17. ”I thought we actually were doing some good things, but until there’s a personal individual commitment and team commitment to it, it’s going to be really, really hard.” Falzon, a freshman forward, was 6 for 9 from the 3-point line. He hit two of them early in the second half as Northwestern quickly expanded a six-point halftime cushion and blew the game open.The Gophers have been plagued by poor 3-point defense, and it came back to bite them again early. Falzon knocked down four 3-pointers in the game’s first 11 minutes, keying a 15-2 run that put Northwestern on top 20-11. ”Everybody’s more comfortable when there’s no one in your face,” Falzon said of his hot start. ”When they leave you open and you hit one or two, it kind of gets you going. From there you’re just playing basketball.” Minnesota entered the game ranked 296th in the nation in 3-point defense, allowing opponents to make 37.3 percent from beyond the arc. Northwestern made 11 of 25 3-point attempts (44 percent) and shot 56 percent overall from the floor.Joey King, the Gophers’ leading scorer, was held to three shots and three points on the day. ”Obviously we have to go back to the drawing board again,” King said. ”It’s definitely frustrating. I’m just disappointed in myself. I’m disappointed with how things are going. We’re just going to have to keep fighting.” Konate kept Minnesota in the game in the first half. The 6-foot-11 sophomore scored eight points on three dunks and a pair of free throws as the Gophers trailed just 32-26 at the break.The Gophers have started consecutive seasons 0-4 in Big Ten play for the first time since 1929-30. Last year they lost their first five conference games and finished 6-12 in the Big Ten.The Wildcats scored nine-straight points on dunks by van Zegeren. He closed the first half with back-to-back slams and drew a foul on one. He hit the free throw, then opened the second half with dunks on consecutive possessions.NU’s largest margin of victory at Minnesota had been 22 points, in a 45-23 win in 1931. Collins said that he empathizes with Pitino, whose Big Ten record dropped to 14-26 in his third year at Minnesota. ”He’s got a lot of young guys and I kind of know the feeling,” Collins said. ”You’re trying to play a lot of young guys and get them to realize what it takes to play in this league.There’s no exact science in getting through it. I will tell you, this is a program on the right track, even though they’re struggling right now. In the next couple of years this is going to be a tough team to play.” After the game, a party of roughly 70 people gathered behind the Northwestern bench for a group photo. Front and center was Jim Petersen, who starred for the Gophers in the early 1980s before playing eight years in the NBA. But Petersen was wearing Northwestern purple. That’s because the group was there to cheer for Petersen’s stepson, Wildcats forward Sanjay Lumpkin, who grew up in suburban Minneapolis. Northwestern hosts Wisconsin on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON—D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera and L.J. Peak scored 17 points apiece and Georgetown hit 11 3-pointers to beat DePaul for the second time in 10 days, 74-63 on Saturday.Peak hit all three of his 3-pointers, which included a 4-point play, and had 11 points in the first half. Smith-Rivera was 9 of 14 from the foul line as the Hoyas (10-6, 3-1 Big East), who won the game in Rosemont 70-58, went 20 of 25 from the stripe in the second half.Billy Garrett Jr. went 12 of 12 from the foul line and scored 16 points for the Blue Demons (6-10, 0-4), who were 20 of 23 from the line but had just three 3s.DePaul’s last surge cut it to 53-50 with 7:43 to play but then the free-throw parade began. The Hoyas hit nine straight, the last seven by Smith-Rivera, and Reggie Cameron‘s 3 made it 67-54 with 2:36 left.

Phillip Danault scored his first NHL goal, Corey Crawford made 28 saves and the Blackhawks beat the Buffalo Sabres 3-1 on Friday night for their sixth consecutive victory.Niklas Hjalmarsson and Jonathan Toews also scored, and Crawford remained perfect in seven career starts against Buffalo. The Blackhawks have won nine in a row against the Sabres.Ryan O’Reilly had Buffalo’s only goal in the Sabres’ sixth consecutive loss. Chad Johnson had 42 stops in a terrific performance.Jamie McGinn made a great pass from behind the net to set up O’Reilly’s team-best 17th goal at 11:37 of the third, tying it at 1. But Danault put the Hawks ahead to stay when he skated around Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and beat Johnson on the goaltender’s blocker side with 4:59 left.The 22-year-old Danault then skated around, jumped up briefly and yelled ”Wooo!” before looking toward the roof of the United Center. Toews added an empty-netter with 25 seconds remaining for his 15th of the season.The only goal in the first two periods was set up by a crisp passing sequence by the Blackhawks. Toews sent a cross-ice pass to rookie Erik Gustafsson, who made a nice touch pass to a streaking Hjalmarsson in the middle.Hjalmarsson skated in and beat Johnson with a rising shot over the goaltender’s glove at 18:26 of the first. It was the defenseman’s second goal of the season and No. 18 for his career.Evander Kane had two of Buffalo’s best chances in the first part of the game. He shot it off the outside of the left post with about 4 minutes to go in the first, and then was denied by Crawford on a strong glove save with 7:33 left in the second.Artem Anisimov had a breakaway chance in the first, but Johnson got over to stop his backhand try. Johnson also knocked away a prime opportunity for Toews about 30 seconds in the second. NOTES—Marian Hossa has no goals and five assists in his last 14 games, but the Hawks are 11-3 during his scoring drought. … Buffalo’s last win over the Hawks was a 2-1 victory on Dec. 11, 2009. … Duncan Keith had two assists….Former Cub Kerry Wood shot the puck between the second and third periods.