DETROIT—Paris Bass led five players in double figures with 16 points and Detroit got off to a fast start to defeat UIC 87-69 on Friday night.Carlton Brundidge had 15 points and Chris Jenkins 14 for the Titans (9-5, 3-0 Horizon League), who are off to their best start in league play since the 1998-99 team won its first four. They have also won 12 straight on Dick Vitale Court.Dikembe Dixson had 22 points and Najeal Young 15 for the Flames (2-11, 0-2), who lost their third straight.Jenkins, who had 12 points in the first half, had a jumper and a pair of 3-point plays as the Titans raced to a 17-2 lead with 15 straight points. UIC didn’t make its first field goal until Lance Whitaker’s jumper at 13:19 made it 17-4.Jaleel Hogan scored the last six points to give Detroit a 47-27 lead at the half.

Pau Gasol was so in tune he gave a performance even one of the greatest tenors could appreciate.Gasol had 17 points and 18 rebounds with Placido Domingo looking on, and the Bulls beat the Boston Celtics 101-92 on Thursday night for their sixth straight victory. ”When our main players play at our highest level, we’re a really good team,” Gasol said. The Bulls, who looked like they were coming apart not too long ago, certainly appear to be hitting the right notes.Gasol had his 19th double-double. And as if that wasn’t enough, he was planning to have dinner with his countryman Domingo, who was in town to perform. ”He’s a basketball fan, he’s a sports fan,” Gasol said. ”He’s here for a performance. I wish he was just here to visit me, but that doesn’t work that way. He’s a guy that I truly admire. I have a great friendship, relationship, with him.” As good as Gasol was, this was hardly a one-man show.Derrick Rose scored 18 points. Jimmy Butler added 19 points and 10 assists.The Bulls used a big third quarter to extend their longest win streak of the season and handed the Celtics their fourth loss in five games.Boston coach Brad Stevens missed this one to visit cancer-stricken former Butler center Andrew Smith, who played on the Bulldogs’ two runs to the national championship game. He has been battling non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and was scheduled to undergo a bone marrow transplant Thursday, according to The Boston Globe. ”I was obviously thinking about Brad and wanting to represent him well and our players – wanting to do right by them,” said assistant Jay Larranaga, who filled in for Stevens. ”They worked really, really hard. They’re traveling all over the place. Played last night, really, really tough game.” Boston got 17 points from Jae Crowder. Kelly Olynyk added 16 points and nine rebounds, but the Celtics shot just 35.7 percent and were 5 of 25 on 3-pointers.Isaiah Thomas scored 14 but missed all four 3s while shooting 5 of 17 overall. Jared Sullinger added 13 points and 11 rebounds for Boston. ”They played great defense,” Sullinger said. ”But we have to turn it back around and get back on our high horse and get back to running our offense the way we should.” The Celtics got outscored 26-16 and shot 7 of 32 in the third as the Bulls stretched a one-point halftime lead to 74-63.It was 61-49 with just over 8 minutes left in the quarter after Taj Gibson hit a hook shot, finishing a 15-2 run that started with a fadeaway by Rose near the end of the first half.Gasol, who scored eight in the third, had a pair of baskets during that run. Butler scored seven in the period, and the Bulls were never really threatened down the stretch. ”It feels good, but we can’t settle,” Butler said. ”We’ve got to continue to win games, try to build upon it, just keep playing basketball the right way.” Larranaga, whose father Jim coaches the University of Miami, when asked if he heard from his dad: ”Texted with my dad real quick and told me, `Don’t talk to the refs.’ That was his word of advice.” Larranaga said he found out late Thursday morning that he would be filling in. He was not sure when Stevens will rejoin the team. … G Avery Bradley missed his third straight game with a sore left hip. NOTES—The Bulls hope C Joakim Noah will return from a sprained left shoulder next week, coach Fred Hoiberg said. Noah has not taken contact in practice and likely won’t travel with the team this weekend. He has not played since Dec. 21….The Bulls visit Atlanta on Saturday.

EAST LANSING—Bryn Forbes has been a good player for No. 5 Michigan State.Tom Izzo, though, is not satisfied with that.Forbes scored 17 points to help the Spartans rout Illinois 79-54 on Thursday night for their second straight victory without Denzel Valentine. ”He’s got to become a great player,” Izzo said. Forbes made more than half of his 13 shots, connected on three 3-pointers, and had three assists, one rebound, one steal and one turnover. ”I didn’t think Bryn had his best game,” Izzo lamented. ”He has been playing a lot better defensively.” The Spartans (15-1, 2-1 Big Ten) missed Valentine for a fourth straight game. The senior guard participated in pregame warmups and might play at Penn State on Sunday, nearly three weeks after having surgery on his left knee. ”Could’ve played, wanted to play, but he wasn’t quite there yet,” Izzo said. Valentine practiced Wednesday night, moving closer to playing in a game. ”I don’t want to get out there until I’m completely 100 percent,” he said. ”I’m about 90, 95 (percent healthy). I may play Sunday. I may play next week, but it’s getting close.” The Illini (8-8, 0-3) didn’t have scoring leader Kendrick Nunn. He stayed in Illinois for the birth of his child, a boy, who was born at about the same time as the game began. ”As the father of three kids, I felt like he needed to be there,” Illinois coach John Groce said. Maverick Morgan had 15 points and Malcolm Hill scored 10 for Illinois. The Illini made barely more than one-fourth of their shots in the first half and allowed the Spartans to connect on 61 percent of their shots before halftime. ”Illinois was missing a good player,” Izzo said. ”Of course, so were we.” Eron Harris scored 13 points for the Spartans, who led by as much as 31 points. ”Eron Harris might’ve had his best half of basketball in the first half,” Izzo said. The short-handed Illini called timeouts, trying to slow down Michigan State, and one of their banged-up players had a lot to say to his teammates in the huddle during one of the second-half breaks. Tracy Abrams, who is out for the season with a torn Achilles tendon, shouted at his teammates to keep playing hard even though they trailed by 30 points. ”Mentally, we just weren’t very good,” Groce said. ”I thought they tried to play hard and they were physical. But when you play Michigan State, especially here, effort is not enough. I didn’t think we played very smart.” NOTES—Izzo has been encouraging freshman guard Matt McQuaid to be more aggressive offensively. He made two 3-pointers and a driving, layup in the first half and scored eight points in seven minutes before halftime. ”He had his best game in a while,” Izzo said. ”Still not looking for his shot enough.” Nine Spartans scored in the first 20 minutes, helping them lead 47-22….The Spartans played on their home court for the first time since Dec. 12, ending their longest stretch between home games within a season since the 1986-87 season……Izzo wore a purple ribbon on his left lapel, honoring his father, Carl Izzo, who died last week. He was 90…..Illinois hosts No. 20 Purdue on Sunday.

BOSTON—Notre Dame’s players showed their usual efficient offense. Coach Mike Brey was most impressed by their defense.Demetrius Jackson scored eight of his 17 points during a 21-4 key run in the first half that carried Notre Dame to an 82-54 win over Boston College on Thursday night.Entering the game with all five starters averaging in double figures, Brey had a new goal for the group. ”Our challenge the last couple of days was improving defensively,” he said. ”My challenge was: `you play so good offensively. Why can’t you have each other’s back more on the defensive end?”’ They responded, holding BC to 33.3 percent from the floor.Bonzie Colson added 16 points, Zach Auguste had 15 and Steve Vasturia added 13 for the Fighting Irish (10-4, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference). Notre Dame shot 62.3 percent in the game, hitting 11 of 17 on 3-point attempts. ”I think offensively we’re in tune,” Auguste said. ”I think we’re playing great basketball, great passing and great shooters. We were in a great offensive flow and it’s fun to play with each other.” Eli Carter and Dennis Clifford led the Eagles (7-8, 0-2) with 13 points apiece.Boston College coach Jim Christian was very upset by his team’s effort. ”It pains me to apologize to BC people because that shouldn’t happen,” he said. ”I’m going to do everything I can to make sure it won’t happen. Tonight we have to take the lump and move on.” It’s BC’s third-most lopsided loss ever at home since joining the ACC in 2005-06. The most was a 106-74 loss to North Carolina on Feb. 1, 2011.Coming off an 11-point loss at then-No. 5 Virginia in its ACC opener on Saturday, Notre Dame took charge early and turned it into an easy night by halftime.The Fighting Irish trailed 3 1/2 minutes into the game before Matt Ryan‘s 3-pointer from the left corner sparked the big run over the ensuing 9:07.Notre Dame has won 10 of its last 11 against Boston College.Jackson’s 3 from the top of the key capped the first portion of the spree – a 12-0 spurt – before BC had a pair of baskets. Jackson’s basket then triggered a 9-0 run that made it 25-13.The Eagles sliced it to 27-22 on A.J. Turner‘s 3-pointer from the top before Notre Dame closed the half with a 10-2 run that was capped by V.J. Beachem‘s 3 from the corner directly in front of BC’s bench in the closing seconds.Notre Dame led 37-24 at halftime.The Fighting Irish started the second half by scoring 15 of the initial 20 points to break the game open.Notre Dame: The Irish shot 62.5 percent in the first half (15 of 24) and nailed 5 of 9 from beyond the arc. … They host BC on Jan. 23, one of the two ACC teams (Georgia Tech, the other) that they play twice. … Brey improved to 8-1 all-time vs. BC.Boston College: The Eagles entered the game last in the conference, averaging just 67.2 points per game and they were held to 32.5 percent shooting in the opening half (8 of 26).Brey talked about how he was committed to playing the starting five together since the preseason. ”That group has really learned to play together well,” he said. ”It’s a group – starting in June – that we let play a lot together. Our theme was: play those five guys together. No one else has started a game. They are really good offensively. They know each other.” How bad was it going for BC? In the first half, guard Jerome Robinson threw a pass to Carter after he turned his head as the pair were coming up the court. The ball bounced off Carter’s shoulder for a turnover.Notre Dame: Hosts No. 24 Pittsburgh on Saturday

Rookie Artemi Panarin scored two goals for the second straight night, and the Blackhawks beat Pittsburgh 3-1 on Wednesday for their second win against the Penguins in two days.Panarin broke a 1-1 tie when he jumped on a loose puck after a faceoff and whipped it over the glove of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury at 8:56 of the third. Teuvo Teravainen added an empty-net goal as the Hawks earned their season-high fifth straight win in the opener of a four-game homestand.Panarin also had two goals in the 3-2 victory at Pittsburgh on Tuesday night, including the winner in overtime. The Russian winger leads all NHL rookies with 15 goals and 38 points.Scott Darling, filling in for starter Corey Crawford, made 17 saves as the Blackhawks swept the season series against the Penguins for the second straight year.Evgeni Malkin scored for Pittsburgh, and Fleury finished with 34 stops. The Penguins had won two in a row and four of six before the two losses against the Blackhawks.

EVANSTON—Kam Williams scored 21 points, and Ohio State beat Northwestern 65-56 for its seventh straight win on Wednesday night.Williams finished one point shy of his season high and hit five 3-pointers.He was about the only one connecting for either team, helping the Buckeyes (11-5, 3-0 Big Ten) extend their best streak since a 15-0 start in 2013-14. They pulled away down the stretch to beat Northwestern (13-3, 1-2) for the 28th time in 29 games.Trevor Thompson had 12 points and 10 rebounds for Ohio State. And the Buckeyes prevailed despite shooting 10 of 22 from the foul line and 5 of 18 on 3-pointers.Northwestern struggled in a big way from the field, shooting 31 percent overall and 6 of 25 on 3-pointers after hitting just 2 of 20 in Saturday’s loss to then-No. 4 Maryland.Northwestern got 15 points and six assists from Bryant McIntosh. Dererk Pardon grabbed 14 rebounds, but the Wildcats dropped their second straight after winning 10 in a row – the program’s second-longest run.Northwestern’s Aaron Falzon had just cut it to 51-50 with a long 3 from up top with about six minutes left when the Buckeyes went on a 14-3 run to seal the win.A fastbreak layup by Jae’Sean Tate off a turnover by McIntosh and two free throws by JaQuan Lyle after he blocked McIntosh and got fouled by the point guard boosted the lead to 64-53 with 2:17 remaining.Ohio State looked like it was starting to take control late in the first half, up 26-17 after scoring nine in a row. But Northwestern closed it out on a 10-0 run, hitting two 3s after missing its first 11, to take a one-point lead to the locker room.Tre Demps ended the long-range drought when he connected with 1:45 remaining and Nathan Taphorn nailed one from the corner to put the Wildcats ahead 27-26 with 19 seconds left.Lyle then stepped on the baseline near the Buckeyes’ basket with a second remaining.

NOTES—The Buckeyes have not lost since Connecticut beat them on Dec. 12…..NU was 2 of 13 on 3-pointers in the first half….The Wildcats visit Minnesota on Saturday.

NORMAL—Deontae Hawkins scored 13 points and grabbed five rebounds as Illinois State won its fourth-straight, beating Loyola 54-52 on Wednesday night.DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell added 14 points and four rebounds for the Redbirds (9-7, 3-0 Missouri Valley Conference). Nick Banyard had 10 points and five rebounds. The team averaged 35.3 percent shooting from the field and 57.9 percent from the line.The Redbirds didn’t score a bucket till Banyard sank a layup nearly eight minutes into the first half. They went on to take a 26-21 lead at the break.Hawkins hit a 3-pointer early in the second half and Banyard hit two more midway to help keep the Redbirds out front throughout the period. With three seconds to go, Banyard blocked a shot by Illinois State’s Montel James that would have tied the game.James led the Ramblers (7-8, 0-3) with 14 points and 14 rebounds.ola 54-52 on Wednesday night.DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell added 14 points and four rebounds for the Redbirds (9-7, 3-0 Missouri Valley Conference). Nick Banyard had 10 points and five rebounds. The team averaged 35.3 percent shooting from the field and 57.9 percent from the line.The Redbirds didn’t score a bucket till Banyard sank a layup nearly eight minutes into the first half. They went on to take a 26-21 lead at the break.Hawkins hit a 3-pointer early in the second half and Banyard hit two more midway to help keep the Redbirds out front throughout the period. With three seconds to go, Banyard blocked a shot by Illinois State’s Montel James that would have tied the game.James led the Ramblers (7-8, 0-3) with 14 points and 14 rebounds.

PEORIA—Anthony Beane scored 11 points and Bola Olaniyan gathered 10 rebounds as Southern Illinois dominated Bradley 65-44 on Wednesday night.Southern Illinois (14-2, 3-0 Missouri Valley) won for the first time in Peoria since 2012 and improved to 6-0 on the road, its best start in school history.Beane scored seven straight points with five free throws and a jumper to give SIU a 23-13 lead and the Salukis extended it to 41-23 at the break.Beane’s dunk at the 16:19 mark gave the Salukis a 24-point lead.Ronnie Suggs was the only player in double figures with 12 points for Bradley (2-14, 0-3). The Braves are the youngest team in Division I, with a rotation of nine freshmen and a sophomore. Ka’Darryl Bell and Scottie James were out with injuries.The Braves’ active roster has scored 1,367 career points, 269 fewer than Beane.

DEKALB—Travon Baker and Marin Maric combined to score 47 points to lead Northern Illinois to an 80-69 win over Ohio in a Mid-American Conference opener Wednesday night.Laytwan Porter converted two free throws and Maric hit the second of two to send the Huskies into intermission with a 37-35 advantage. Maric scored six straight with under eight minutes left in the game to put NIU up 61-54 and Baker scored 13 straight points, including 8 of 9 from the free throw line, in the final 2:13 to seal the victory.Baker finished with 25 points and Maric added 22 and grabbed 14 rebounds, five off the offensive glass, for Northern Illinois (12-2, 1-0). Aaric Armstead added 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds.Jaaron Simmons scored 19 points and Kenny Kaminski and Treg Setty each added 15 to lead Ohio (9-4, 0-1).

PITTSBURGH—The Blackhawks earned the extra point. The Pittsburgh Penguins earned the needed confidence boost.And for nearly four glorious minutes on Tuesday night, the rest of the NHL earned a glimpse of the way the new 3-on-3 overtime format is meant to be played: fearlessly.Artemi Panarin ended the chaos with a wrist shot over Marc-Andre Fleury 3:47 into the extra session to lift the Blackhawks to a 3-2 victory on Tuesday night as the Hawks survived a late Pittsburgh rally to win their fourth straight.

”I thought the overtime was great for the sport,” Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. ”Both teams had A++ chances and the right guys were getting them and the goaltending display was fun to watch.”

Panarin finished with two goals, including the winner off a feed from Patrick Kane as the Hawks fended off the resilient Penguins, who erased a 2-0 deficit in the third period behind goals from Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang.It set the stage for a dazzling back-and-forth overtime, with two of the league’s most skilled teams taking advantage of the wide swathes of open ice available when there are six skaters on the surface instead of 10. They traded opportunities – with Fleury making a doorstep stop on Marian Hossa on one end and Corey Crawford denying Phil Kessel twice at the other – before Kane set up Panarin for his 13th of the year.Jonathan Toews got his 14th goal of the season. Kane finished with two assists to boost his point total to an NHL-best 59. Crawford made 34 saves for the Blackhawks and was helped by a handful of Pittsburgh shots that clanged off the posts and out of harm’s way. Crosby scored his 12th of the season and sixth in his last six games to start Pittsburgh’s comeback. Letang added his fourth with a shot from the point with 2:50 to play to force overtime. Fleury stopped 27 shots in the first game of a home-and-home with the defending Stanley Cup champions.

”What I loved about our group was the resilience,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. ”We just keep playing. We raised our intensity level when we had to. That’s a great sign for this team.”

The Hawks appeared to be firmly in control going into the third and managed to improve to 17-0-1 when leading after two, but this one was harder than most.Crosby gave Pittsburgh life when he ripped a wrist shot by Crawford’s blocker 5:54 into the third. He nearly added another after the ensuing faceoff only to have his backhand beat Crawford but hit the post. Letang finally tied it with less than 3 minutes remaining when his blind shot from the point emerged from a sea of jerseys to slip by Crawford’s glove.The Penguins earned at least one point for the sixth time in their last seven games and appear to be figuring things out under Sullivan, their once-sleepy offense getting a need jolt from its stars and a rejuvenated power play that was converting nearly 40 percent of its opportunities since Dec. 19.

”Stay with it, don’t get frustrated and trust the puck would go in,” Crosby said. ”That was really important. That’s a point we’re looking at down the line looks like a big one.”

Pittsburgh came in on the outside of the playoffs looking, not exactly the place the Penguins and their cap-strapped roster built to win now – right now – want to be nearing the season’s midway point.There are no such concerns with the Blackhawks, who seems to have avoided any sort of letdown following a third Stanley Cup in five years last spring. The Blackhawks are the dynasty Pittsburgh envisioned it would become when Crosby and Malkin raised the Cup in 2009. Six-plus years later the Penguins are still waiting to bookend that brilliant run while Chicago chugs right along behind Kane, Toews and a style of play that seems to translate regardless of the opponent.Sullivan has spent his first few weeks on the job repeatedly telling his players to get themselves and the puck to the net, preferably in that order. The evidence his message is starting to seep in came during wins over Detroit and the New York Islanders last week, which included a stretch in which the Penguins scored 10 straight goals.Pittsburgh’s best sustained pressure came midway through the second but couldn’t sneak anything by Crawford and the Hawks countered with a 2-on-1 between Kane and Panarin that ended with Panarin burying a one-timer off a feed from Kane to put the Blackhawks up 8:47 into the second.The Blackhawks doubled the lead late in the second when Brent Seabrook banged a shot from the right circle off of Toews in front of the net with 1:14 to go only to see the advantage disappear during arguably Pittsburgh’s best period of the season.

NOTES—The Blackhawks are 9-4 in overtime this season. The Penguins are 4-5. …The Hawks scratched D Michal Rozsival and F Brandon Mashinter. … The Penguins scratched D Adam Clendening, D David Warsofsky and F Scott Wilson. … Pittsburgh has killed off 19 straight penalties.