NEW YORK—Xavier hadn’t been playing defense lately the way it had been early in the season. On Thursday night, the fifth-ranked Musketeers looked a lot more like themselves on that end of the court in a 90-72 victory over Marquette in the Big East Tournament quarterfinals. ”I thought our team was a little different than we’ve been the last couple of weeks defensively, and we’ve been making a big point of it in practice. The message seemed to be heeded,” Xavier coach Chris Mack said. ”I thought our guys from the very beginning of the game played really hard defensively. … I was really, really pleased with how hard we defended in the first half.” Trevon Bluiett matched his career high with 24 points and Xavier took advantage of foul trouble by Marquette star center Henry Ellenson to dominate the Golden Eagles at Madison Square Garden.Second-seeded Xavier (27-4) advanced to Friday’s semifinals to face the winner of third-seeded Seton Hall, an 81-73 winner over sixth-seeded Creighton.It will be the Musketeers second straight trip to the semifinals. They lost to Villanova in last season’s championship game. ”We know the way we’ve been defending those past three games, those won’t win us any championships,” Bluiett said. ”So we realized that and we know that every game we come out we have to play our best.” JaJuan Johnson had 19 points to lead the seventh-seeded Golden Eagles (20-13), who have reached the semifinals twice (2008, 2010) but they have never made it to the championship game. They beat St. John’s 101-93 in the opening round.This was the third time Xavier beat Marquette this season with the first two both decided by eight points.The third was nothing like the first two. Marquette finished its opening round late Wednesday night while Xavier had the day off. ”I don’t want to make excuses. We did finish after midnight last night,” Golden Eagles coach Steve Wojociechowski said. ”Our best player was in foul trouble for a lot (of the game). We could have done a better job than we did.I didn’t feel like we played as hard as we could and that’s the most disappointing thing to me in regards to our team because I feel we could have made it harder on them.” Xavier opened on an 11-2 run with Ellenson, the conference’s freshman of the year and its leading rebounder, picking up his second foul just 3 minutes into the game. He was taken out of the game but when Xavier started having its way inside and took a 15-4 lead, he was back with 14:20 left in the half. The Golden Eagles went to a 2-3 zone to try to keep him from picking up another foul but it didn’t work.Ellenson, who finished with 14 points and three rebounds, scored eight straight points for Marquette as the Golden Eagles drew within 26-21. With 2:44 left in the half Ellenson and Bluiett got tangled up near midcourt and both went down to the court. An official review found that Ellenson tripped Bluiett and he was assessed a Flagrant 1 foul – his third.Bluiett’s free throw and J.P. Macura’s 3 on the ensuing possession were part of a 13-0 run that gave the Musketeers a 43-25 lead and Macura hit a long 3 with 4 seconds left to give Xavier a 46-30 lead.Bluiett also match his career high with five 3-pointers. ”It’s satisfying. But it really doesn’t mean anything now,” he said. ”Just because we’ve got another game in 24 hours. So I mean to be able to get this win, it’s great. We’re turning the page to the next game.” Xavier shot 59.4 percent (19 of 32) in the half while the Golden Eagles were 11 of 32 (34.4 percent). ”Offensively I thought our guys really shared the ball, but that’s nothing new,” Mack said. ”We’ve been doing that all year.” The Musketeers opened the second half on a 10-3 run and the rout was on with Xavier leading by as many as 28 points. The closest Marquette got was 17 points.

CLEVELAND—Antonio Campbell scored 21 points, Kenny Kaminski made five 3-pointers and Ohio rolled into the Mid-American Conference tournament semifinals with a 79-62 win over Northern Illinois on Thursday night.The second-seeded Bobcats (21-10) opened the second half with a 14-6 run and eventually built their lead to 24 points over the Huskies (21-12), who had trouble stopping Campbell, the MAC’s player of the year.Ohio, which made 14 3-pointers, will face the Buffalo-Miami winner in Friday’s semifinals.Kaminski dropped three of Ohio’s eight 3-pointers in the first half, helping the Bobcats take a 36-27 lead at intermission.Kaminski had 17 points and Jaaron Simmons, a transfer from Houston, added 16 with 11 assists for Ohio, which went just 10-20 last season in coach Saul Phillips’ first year at the school.Marshawn Wilson paced NIU with 22 points.

INDIANAPOLIS—It was a shot Zak Irvin was more than willing to take.The Michigan guard’s game-winning jumper from the right wing with 3.3 seconds to play capped a 19-point effort, lifting No. 8 seed Michigan to a 72-70 overtime victory against No. 9 seed Northwestern on Thursday in the Big Ten tournament.Irvin, who grew up in the Indianapolis suburb of Fishers and graduated from Hamilton Southeastern High School, added eight rebounds, two assists and two steals.The Wolverines (21-11) trailed 70-67, but Duncan Robinson‘s 3-pointer with 46.5 seconds remaining tied it. Northwestern (20-12) missed an opportunity to retake the lead, and Michigan ran the clock down from 29.3 seconds to set up Irvin’s game winner. ”I was amped up before the game,” Irvin said. ”It’s always nice coming back to your hometown so that friends and family can see you play. I was just proud of how hard we were able to fight and how tough we were throughout. Coach (John) Beilein put the ball in my hands at the end, and we were just trying to get the best shot we could.” Robinson led Michigan with 21 points and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman added 14. The Wolverines advance to play No. 1 seed Indiana in Friday’s first quarterfinal.Tre Demps led NU with 21, Alex Olah had 20 and Bryant McIntosh scored 19.Michigan shot 38 percent and Northwestern shot 37 percent.Olah’s 3-pointer with 17 seconds to play in regulation pulled Northwestern to within 59-58. Robinson made one of two free throws with 14.3 seconds left for a 60-58 lead, and Olah’s rebound basket just ahead of the final horn forced overtime, tied at 60, setting the stage for Irvin’s heroics.After a McIntosh 3-pointer gave the Wildcats a brief 55-54 lead at the 3:27 mark, Derrick Walton, Jr. made two free throws and Mark Donnal‘s layup pushed Michigan back on top, 58-55.A driving layup from Olah tied it at 52 with 5:47 remaining, capping a 7-0 Northwestern run, prompting a Wolverine timeout. ”We got down early, but we just kept playing,” Olah said. ”That is what you have to do.” Wildcats coach Chris Collins wasn’t surprised when 40 minutes was not enough to produce a winner. ”These are two very evenly matched teams,” Collins said. ”We don’t have that brand name that Michigan has, but we are a good basketball team that is getting there. I hope we have more basketball to play is season. These guys deserve that.To win 20 regular season games and eight in the Big Ten shows just how far these guys have brought the program in a short time.” An Abdur-Rahkman 3-pointer to open the second half gave Michigan a 37-25 lead, but Northwestern countered with a 9-0 run that included three consecutive Olah field goals to close to within 37-34.Ricky Doyle scored six quick points, and Abdur-Rahkman added another 3-pointer, pushing Michigan’s lead to 46-38.Fueled by a 16-0 run after Demps opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, Michigan led 34-25 at halftime, getting 14 points from Robinson, including three 3-pointers.After Michigan took a 23-11 lead on an Andrew Dakich 3-pointer, McIntosh and Demps led a Northwestern charge that sliced the Wolverines’ advantage to 23-21 with 7:36 remaining in the half.But with Robinson scoring Michigan’s next nine points, the Wolverines closed the first 20 minutes on an 11-4 run.Michigan shot 40.7 percent in the first half (11 of 27) and limited Northwestern to 25 percent (8 of 32). The Wolverines also enjoyed a 25-17 rebounding advantage. NOTES—The Wildcats entered the Big Ten tournament with a three-game winning streak … Northwestern won 20 regular-season games for the first time in school history … The Wildcats entered 1-1 all-time in Big Ten tournament games against Michigan, beating the Wolverines 58-56 in 2005 in the United Center…..The Wolverines won the first Big Ten tournament in 1998, defeating Purdue 76-67 in the UC … Michigan entered the Big Ten tournament 1-4 in its final five regular season games … The Wolverines entered averaging 74.9 points a game, the second highest in coach John Beilein’s tenure, just behind the 2012-13 team’s 75.2….The Wildcats and Wolverines attempted a combined 126 field goals, 56 of which were 3-pointers. They combined to make 23 shots from beyond the arc.

INDIANAPOLIS—Jalen Coleman-Lands scored 17 points and Malcolm Hill broke a tie with a 16-foot jumper with 1:14 to go Thursday, helping Illinois fend off No. 20 Iowa’s frantic comeback for a stunning 68-66 upset in the Big Ten tournament.The Fighting Illini (15-18) won for only the second time in six games – this one after allowing the Hawkeyes (21-10) to score 11 straight points in 98 seconds to tie the score at 66 with 1:40 to play.Hill gave Illinois the lead with his mid-range jumper and the struggling Hawkeyes didn’t score again. Illinois faces No. 13 Purdue in Friday’s quarterfinals.Iowa (21-10) was led by Peter Jock, who tied his career high with 29 points before fouling out. Jarrod Uhthoff scored 21 points as the Hawkeyes lost five of their last six.Kendrick Nunn had 16 points for Illinois.It was an implausible finish to a wild game.Nunn’s 3 with 10:49 to go gave Illinois a seemingly comfortable 61-50 lead. But the Illini managed only three more baskets including Coleman-Lands’ 3 with 3:30 to go, which made it 66-55.But two fouls and a turnover gave Iowa a second chance. Uthoff completed a 3-point play, an offensive rebound led to dunk by Nicholas Baer, Dom Uhl knocked down a 3-pointer and Baer tied with another 3-point play. NOTES—Iowa must wait to see how much its late-season swoon will hurt it in the eyes of the NCAA Tournament selection committee. Just a couple of weeks ago, Iowa was in position to win the Big Ten’s regular-season title. While the Hawkeyes are still expected to make the 68-team field, their seeding could take a significant hit after they went 2-6 in their last 8 games….Illinois Improved to 2-6 this season against Top 25 teams. … Nunn became the 48th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point mark, finishing the game with 1,005. … Hill had six points, leaving him two short of becoming the first Illinois player to record 600 points, 200 rebounds and 100 assists in one season. … Coleman-Lands was 5 of 10 on 3s, giving him the school’s freshman record with 87 – two more than Corey Bradford had in 1999….The Hawkeyes had beaten Illinois six of the previous seven games in this series. … Iowa shot 40.3 percent from the field but had a 40-30 rebounding edge including a 16-8 advantage in offensive rebounds. … Baer finished with eight points and was the only player other than Jok or Uthoff to finish with more than three. … Jok fouled out with 4:02 to go after the officials called a double technical foul following a replay review. Jok and Nunn were involved in a shoving match under the Hawkeyes’ basket. The Illini face No. 13 Purdue in the second Big Ten quarterfinal game Friday.

ST. LOUIS—After getting the winning goal in the shootout for the St. Louis Blues, Kevin Shattenkirk praised goalie Jake Allen.Shattenkirk scored the decisive goal in the sixth round of the shootout to lift the Blues to a 3-2 victory over the Blackhawks on Wednesday night for their fourth straight win.Patrik Berglund scored first in the shootout before Artemi Panarin tied it for the Blackhawks in the third round. Former Hawk Troy Brouwer and Artem Anisimov each scored in the fifth round before Shattenkirk beat Corey Crawford and Allen denied Teuvo Tervainen in the sixth.

”Jake made some big saves for us there,” said Shattenkirk. ”They are a team that they are deadly in the shootout. They seem to have a lot of weapons, obviously, a lot of guys who can chip in.”

David Backes and Brouwer scored in the third period for the Blues and Allen stopped 33 shots through overtime to earn his 22nd win of the season.Andrew Ladd scored in the second period and Panarin tied it late in the third for the Blackhawks, who fell to 32-0-3 win leading after two periods. Crawford had 28 saves.Wth the point, the Hawks pulled into a tie with Dallas for first place in the Central Division, though the Blackhawks have the tiebreaker with 40 regulation and overtime wins. The Blues are a point behind. Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said it’s hard to complain about the end result in this game.”We’re disappointed we gave up the lead,” he said.”And then you score with the goalie out you’ve got to be pretty happy on the road”

The Blackhawks dominated play in the first period, outshooting St. Louis 15-5. The Blackhawks were helped by three St. Louis penalties in the period – the last a 5-minute major for charging on Ryan Reaves who was also assessed a game misconduct for his hit on Christian Ehrhoff with 2:17 remaining.This was only Reaves’ third game back in the Blues’ lineup after serving a three game suspension for a check from behind on San Jose Sharks defenseman Matt Tennyson on Feb. 22.Allen stopped the Hawks first seven shots with the man advantage but Ladd scored his 19th goal of the season and second in five games with the Blackhawks.

”Our penalty killers did a heck of a job,” Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. ”That’s a power play that’s what, in the last 10 games, is 50 percent almost? Their numbers are incredible. The whole penalty kills, the two 2-minute penalties and the 5-minute penalty, I thought we did a great job.”

St. Louis tied it at 8:46 of the third period as Backes deflected Shattenkirk’s shot into the net for his 17th goal. The goal gave Backes points in four straight games and tied him with Hall of Fame defenseman Al MacInnis with 452 points with the Blues, good for 6th place on the franchise list.Brouwer put the Blues ahead with 6:40 left in regulation on his 13th of the season, on the power play. He said converting with the man advantage was all about getting into his favorite spot in front of the net.

”That’s where I’ve made a pretty good living in Washington for quite a long time,” he said, ”and we’ve tried to create a little bit of opportunity to bring that structure of a power play here and Paul (Stastny) did a great job.”

The Hawks were on the verge of losing their first game in regulation when leading after two periods since the 2013-14 season when Panarin tied it with his 25th goal of the season with 1:17 left, capitalizing on Crawford being pulled for an extra attacker.

”Our goaltender was playing well, they played well defensively, so it was one of those games we didn’t quite get the bounces offensively and it ended up costing us,” Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews said. ”We couldn’t kill those penalties off in the third so we’ll learn from it. I think as long as we have that effort going forward, I’m sure we’ll get better results.”

In overtime, the Blackhawks had a golden chance to end the game as Tomas Fleischmann put a shot on net that Ladd appeared to stuff past Allen. However, the play was immediately ruled no goal on the ice because the puck did not cross the goal line until after Ladd made contact with Allen. Video replay confirmed the initial ruling on the ice.

NOTES—This game marked the 300th regular season meeting between the Blues and Blackhawks. … Prior to the game the NHL announced these two teams will meet in the 2017 Winter Classic at Busch Stadium on January 2, 2017. … Toews saw his points streak snapped at four games. … Shattenkirk’s shootout-deciding goal was his eighth with the Blues putting him in second place in franchise history….The Hawks signed Marcus Kruger to a contract extention….The Hawks are at Dallas Friday night, Marion Hossa may return for that game.

INDIANAPOLIS—Illinois freshman Michael Finke picked the perfect day to make a career-best five 3-pointers, scoring 17 points to lead No. 12 seed Illinois past 13th-seeded Minnesota 85-52 on Wednesday in the Big Ten tournament first round. ”I made my first, and it felt great,” said Finke, who finished 5 of 7 from beyond the arc. ”My teammates told me to keep shooting. It’s all mental, really.” Coach John Groce has confidence in Finke’s perimeter shooting skills. ”We executed well, and Michael was taking the same shots today that he takes and makes in practice,” Groce said. ”We have all the confidence in Michael. I was proud of the effort. That’s the best we have played all year. I told our guys I wanted them to play the right way offensively, and they did.” The Fighting Illini (14-18) play No. 5 seed and 20th-ranked Iowa on Thursday in second-round action.Kendrick Nunn added 15 points for Illinois while Malcolm Hill had 14 and Jalen Coleman-Lands 13. The Fighting Illini made 32 of 58 field-goal attempts (55 percent), including 14 of 26 from 3-point range (54 percent). Nunn, Hill and Coleman-Lands were a collective 15 of 26 from the field.Illinois outrebounded Minnesota 35-26 and forced 15 Golden Gopher turnovers. Minnesota shot 39.2 percent (20 of 51) in dropping a fourth consecutive game to end the season.Minnesota (8-23), which finished with a school record for single-season losses, got 12 points from Charles Buggs and 11 by Ahmad Gilbert. ”This was quite an uphill battle for us,” said Minnesota coach Richard Pitino, whose team played without three suspended guards. ”It was extremely challenging to play like that. There are so many reasons why it was difficult from an offensive standpoint.”When you see the state of our roster, the smart thing for their guards would be to take us out of what we were trying to do, and they did. We were not at full strength.” Consecutive 3-pointers from Nunn and Finke extended the Illinois lead to 46-27 with 15:07 remaining, prompting a Minnesota timeout. Finke’s 3-pointer was the Illini’s ninth in 24-plus minutes.The Golden Gophers countered with a 7-0 run to slice the deficit to 46-34, but Illinois quickly extended the advantage back to 17.Illinois made 15 of 29 opening-half shots, including 7 of 13 from beyond the arc, and led 38-22 through 20 minutes. Jaylon Tate‘s 3-pointer with two seconds to play in the half extended the Illinois lead to 16.Minnesota was 9 of 25 from the field before halftime, including 0 of 5 from 3-point range. The Golden Gophers were guilty of eight first-half turnovers, which led to 14 Illini points. Illinois also got nine first-half points from non-starters while Minnesota’s reserves went scoreless.

NOTES—The Fighting Illini have 26 Big Ten tournament victories, second most among the 14 league teams. … Illinois has advanced to the tourney title game six times, winning twice (2003 and 2005)…..Illinois on Thursday faces No. 5 seed Iowa in the second round.

NEW YORK—John Thompson III sounded like a coach whose team had just ended a six-game losing streak. ”Oh, man, it feels a lot better than losing,” he said after Georgetown beat DePaul 70-53 in the first round of the Big East Tournament on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.”You go through the stretch that we’ve been through. It’s hell. It’s really, really hard. You go through a stretch where we’re not winning, but they fought. Every single game we fought. I keep saying, `OK, it’s going to turn around, it’s going to turn around, it’s going to turn around.’ Having the big fella back, being here in this city, being here in this building, this tournament, it feels good. It feels good.” The ”big fella” was center Bradley Hayes who returned after missing six games with a broken left hand. He had 10 points but his presence in the paint helped the Hoyas’ defense. ”It’s a huge difference, and it goes above and beyond what shows up on (the state sheet),” Thompson said. ”Bradley gives his teammates confidence. You know, they feel safe when he’s on the court. I said earlier it’s kind of like he’s Linus’ blanket; they feel safer when he’s out there. Glad to have him back. Very, very glad to have him back.” The Hoyas also got a big second-half boost from D’Vauntes Smith-Rivera, who scored 15 of his 20 points in the final 20 minutes as Georgetown pulled away.Smith-Rivera, a second-team All-Big East selection and the fifth-leading scorer in the conference with a 16.3 average, took over in the second half, scoring 11 points in the Hoyas’ 16-2 run that gave them their first 18-point lead of the game, 55-37 with 8:56 to play.The eighth-seeded Hoyas (15-17), who snapped a six-game losing streak, will face top-seeded and third-ranked Villanova in Thursday’s quarterfinals.L.J. Peak added 10 points for Georgetown, which shot 50 percent for the game (23 of 46) while holding the Blue Demons (9-22) to 37.9 percent (22 of 58). The Hoyas were third in the conference this season in field goal percentage defense (41.1).Eli Cain scored 14 points to lead the ninth-seeded Blue Demons, who end the season on a four-game losing streak. DePaul has lost eight of its last nine Big East Tournament games. ”When you play in a tournament situation both teams are playing for their lives,” DePaul coach Dave Leitao said. ”You pay a price for it and Georgetown did a really good job of making us pay a price for it.” Georgetown closed the first half on an 8-0 run to go up 35-24. Kaleb Johnson converted a layup as time ran out and a review by the officials ruled it came too late.Georgetown shot 50 percent (12 of 24) in the first half while the Blue Demons were 9 of 29 (31 percent). NOTES—Cain was selected for the All-Big East freshman team, the third straight year a Blue Demon was so honored. His teammates Billy Garret Jr. and Tommy Hamilton IV were named to the team after their freshman seasons. … Cain came into the game leading the conference in 3-point field goal percentage (43.7). He was 0 for 2 in the game.

NEW YORK—After building a large lead against a struggling team, Marquette narrowly avoided a short stay at the Big East Tournament.Henry Ellenson had 27 points and 14 rebounds, Jajuan Johnson scored 23 points off the bench and Marquette held off a furious rally by feisty St. John’s for a 101-93 victory in the first round Wednesday night.Freshman guard Haanif Cheatham added 19 points for the seventh-seeded Golden Eagles (20-12). They advanced to play fifth-ranked and second-seeded Xavier in the quarterfinals Thursday night. ”We’re going to pull out the AAU handbook on two games in one day, and see how the best advance in the platinum division,” Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski said. ”They know who Xavier is. Xavier is a team that is capable of winning a national championship.” Facing a last-place squad that managed only one conference victory all season, Marquette opened a 17-point bulge midway through the second half but then briefly fell behind in the final minutes. Ellenson and his teammates made just enough plays down the stretch to prevent an upset that would have all but ended their flickering hopes for an NCAA bid.Christian Jones scored a career-high 29 points for the 10th-seeded Red Storm (8-24). After overhauling the roster from last year’s NCAA Tournament team, they dropped 21 of their final 22 games in former star Chris Mullin’s first season as coach. ”Much like our whole season, I was proud of my guys’ effort. We had a tough first half. Regrouped, and just didn’t give up,” Mullin said. ”The results are frustrating. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a lot to deal with. But the future is bright. … We know we have a lot of work to do.” Hours after picking up his Big East freshman of the year trophy at Madison Square Garden, Ellenson shot 8 for 16 from the field and 9 of 10 at the foul line.Johnson hit all eight of his free throws, and Marquette was 38 for 43 (88.4 percent) at the line.