EVANSTON—Trailing by 15 points with less than 10 minutes to go, Northwestern appeared headed for a third straight loss.The players, though, weren’t ready to accept that fate.Vic Law had 25 points, A.J. Turner added a career-high 24 and the Wildcats used a run of 25 straight points to rally for a 75-68 victory over DePaul on Saturday.Dererk Pardon had 10 points and eight rebounds as the Wildcats (7-3) snapped a two-game losing streak.Turner was 8 for 13 from the field, including 6 for 10 on 3-pointers, and Law was 9 for 9 from the free-throw line as Northwestern won for the fourth straight time in the annual matchup of Chicago-area schools.Turner was voted the Waldo Fisher-Frank McGrath Award as the games MVP as voted by the Media in attendance.
“Our guys just refused to say, `It’s not our day,” Wildcats coach Chris Collins said. “They kept fighting. DePaul was playing well. We just dug down really deep to get the game.”
Femi Olujobi had 22 points and Devin Gage added 17 as DePaul (5-2) had a two-game winning streak end.The Blue Demons had a 57-42 advantage — its biggest of the game — with just under 10 minutes remaining before the game changed dramatically.
“For us, it was a little bit of an opportunity lost,” DePaul coach Dave Leitao said. “We’ve got to learn. I thought we lost our way mentally and stopped doing the things that had gotten us to the point in the game where we’re up by double figures.
“For a large part of the game we were really aggressive and then we took our foot off the gas pedal, emotionally, and a very good team took advantage of it.”
DePaul was held scoreless for 7:09 as the Wildcats turned the 15-point deficit into a 67-57 lead with three minutes to play.
“I think it was our defense,” said Turner, who had 11 points during the run. “In the first half, they were scoring pretty easily, they were getting easy transition buckets and those just kind of kill your team’s pride. I think we started locking up and that kind of led to us making the comeback.”
It was a remarkable turnaround from the first 30 minutes.DePaul’s work on the defensive end set the tone early. The Blue Demons played an aggressive man-to-man and never let Northwestern develop much rhythm offensively. They also did a nice job of surrounding Pardon whenever he touched the ball in the paint.Pardon, who entered averaging 14.4 points, was held to three first-half points on 1-of-3 shooting.DePaul closed with a 9-2 run to take a 41-29 halftime lead.The Wildcats were 10 of 29 (34.5 percent) from the field in the first half, including 4 of 17 (23.5 percent) on 3-pointers.Northwestern began the second half with six straight points to cut the deficit in half, but DePaul quickly responded and stretched its advantage before falling apart late.Ryan Taylor hit a 3-pointer with just under five minutes to play to put Northwestern on top 58-57 — its first lead of the game.The rebuilding Blue Demons are a work in progress, but there have been encouraging signs so far. Closing games, though, remains a huge problem. Earlier in the season, they blew a 68-60 advantage with two minutes left against Penn State before rallying to win in overtime.This game wrapped up a grueling stretch of seven games in 17 days. The Wildcats have a week off and certainly will enjoy it more following the late rally.Shortly after the game ended, Welsh-Ryan Arena was evacuated because of a small fire. “I apologize,” Collins said. “Our guys got so hot down the stretch, the fire alarms went off.”
Because of the evacuation, the postgame press conferences were held in Anderson Hall next door.Before Saturday, Turner was 5 for 29 (17.2 percent) on 3-pointers this season, but said he never considered taking fewer shots.
“As a shooter, you should never lose confidence,” he said. “I was always high-spirited. I knew they weren’t falling, but the law of averages came true.”
DePaul hosts Chicago State on Wednesday night.Northwestern also hosts Chicago State next Saturday.

How bad was THIS Bulls embarressing loss? Even worse than the one tney suffered against Golden State.The Boston Celtics turned in a record-setting performance in their steady climb up the Eastern Conference standings.Jaylen Brown scored 23 points off the bench, Daniel Theis added a career-high 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and the Celtics routed the Bulls 133-77 on Saturday night for their fifth straight win.

‘I think your play is embarrassing;’ the worst of the worst night in Bulls history

The Bulls entered Saturday night coming off their biggest win of the season over the Thunder. But the game against the Celtics did not end well … at all.The 56-point margin of victory was the largest in franchise history, surpassing a 51-point win (153-102) over the Philadelphia Warriors on March 7, 1962. The winning differential also tied the mark by an NBA road team, set by Seattle in a 136-80 win at Houston on Dec. 6, 1986.The 56-point loss was the worst in Bulls history, eclipsing a 53-point (127-74) defeat at Minnesota on Nov. 8, 2001.The Celtics (15-10) overmatched and sped past the woeful Bulls from the opening tip — and never let up.

“I thought our guys were really locked in,” Boston coach Brad Stevens said. “They played hard all the way through.”

And ran up some impressive numbers.

“The offense has gotten better over the last couple of weeks,” Stevens said. “We just have to keep building on it.”

Jayson Tatum had 18 points and Terry Rozier added 15 as the Celtics used a 17-0 start and a balanced attack to roll to their second straight lopsided win after beating New York 128-100 on Thursday. The Celtics have outscored opponents by an average of 126.2 to 97.6 during their five-game run.

“I think since the last five games, we’ve been moving the ball very well, probably average 30 assists in every game we won,” Theis said. “That’s the way we should play — just fast.”

It was a different story for the Bulls.

“Disappointing effort, disappointing outcome after what I thought was a really hard-fought two games and at home last night,” Bulls coach Jim Boylen said. “Got to give Boston credit — I thought they made the shots.
“They kind of punched us and we didn’t respond.”

Shaquille Harrison came off the bench to score a career-high 20 points for the Bulls, who had lost eight of nine. Zach LaVine had 11 for the Bulls (6-21), whose previous worst loss this season was by 39 points (122-83) to Toronto on Nov. 17.

“We all should be [embarrassed],” LaVine said.
The Bulls fell flat after beating Oklahoma City 114-112 on Friday night on Lauri Markkanen’s layup in the closing seconds, giving Boylen his first win as an NBA head coach.A longtime NBA assistant, Boylen took over Monday when Fred Hoiberg was fired following a 5-19 start. The Bulls lost at Indiana the following night in Boylen’s debut.The Celtics took charge early in this one, racing ahead 17-0 as they shot 8-for-11 from the floor at the start. Boston led 35-17 after one quarter as it shot 60.9 percent, and led 64-43 at the half thanks to 52.4 percent shooting.For the game, the Celtics outshot the Bulls 53.8 percent to 38.3 percent.The scoring in Boston’s first-half outburst was evenly distributed. Marcus Morris led with 12 points, while Tatum, Theis and Rozier each had 10.The Celtics’ biggest lead in the first half was 22 points and the Bulls never got closer than 13.The sleeping Home team missed their first 12 field goal attempts, prompting Boylen to pull all five starters 4:45 in. The Bulls didn’t score until Jabari Parker hit a pair of free throws 6:18 in — raising a derisive cheer from the United Center crowd. The Bulls didn’t get their first basket until Robin Lopez sank a turnaround hook 36 seconds later.The Celtics kept the pressure on, outscoring the Bulls 69-34 in the second half.Celtics: Forward/center Al Horford missed the game with a sore left knee after recording 19 points and 12 rebounds against New York on Thursday. Forward/center Aron Baynes (sprained left ankle) also sat out. He limped off the court late in the last two minutes of the first quarter versus the Knicks. … Forward Guerschon Yabusele had to be helped off the court midway through the fourth quarter after landing awkwardly. Stevens said Yabusele suffered a “bad sprain.”

Boylen still isn’t sure when guard Kris Dunn (sprained left MCL) and forward Bobby Portis (sprained right MCL) will return. “Long-term health is what we’re about,” Boylen said. “We expect them back soon, any day, but not today. We’ll re-evaluate tomorrow.” … A longtime NBA assistant, Boylen said he’s very close to Hoiberg and said feelings are still “really raw” following the firing of his former boss. Boylen shook off questions about whether Hoiberg “lost the locker room.” “I approach the locker room different than Fred,” Boylen said. “It doesn’t mean better, worse or whatever. We’re different people.”

The Celtics have scored at least 115 points in every game during their five-game winning streak, their longest such run since doing it six consecutive times in March 1988.
Boylen said he celebrated his first victory as an NBA head coach on Friday night at home with his family. “We had a bowl of cereal with my kids and watched the ‘Family Feud,'” he said.

After going scoreless in the previous game, Keyshawn Woods was determined to make a positive impact Wednesday night.He stepped up precisely when Ohio State needed it.Woods scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half, Kaleb Wesson added 13 and the 19th-ranked Buckeyes rallied in the second half for a 77-67 victory over Illinois.Musa Jallow had 11 points and nine rebounds as the Buckeyes (8-1) improved to 2-0 in the Big Ten.

”I know I struggled in the last game, but the season’s long,” Woods said. ”You’re going to have those up and downs, but you try not to have two in a row. That was my mentality coming into this game.”

Trent Frazier and Kipper Nichols scored 18 apiece as Illinois (2-7, 0-2) dropped its third straight.The Illini have lost 12 in a row to ranked teams. The school’s last victory against a Top 25 opponent was 68-66 over No. 20 Iowa in the second round of the 2016 Big Ten Tournament.

”I was really pleased with our first half,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. ”I thought, probably for a six-, seven- or eight-minute stretch, that was as good as we’ve looked, and the way I envision us.We were flying around, we took them out of what they wanted to do and the ball moved and we got some easy baskets.”

The second half was a different story, though. The Buckeyes shot 12 of 21 (57.1 percent) in the final 20 minutes to flip the game. The Illini went 9 for 33 (27.3 percent) after halftime.

”We did not play with great poise in the first half, and we didn’t coach with great poise in the first half,” Ohio State coach Chris Holtmann said. ”But I’m proud of our guys for responding.”

Ohio State had a 30-22 lead with just under six minutes remaining in the first half before the Illini closed with a 16-4 run for a 38-34 halftime lead.The frustration for Holtmann boiled over midway through the spurt when he picked up a technical foul for protesting a no-call at the Ohio State basket.

EVANSTON—Jordan Poole and Michigan finally faced some adversity Tuesday night.Pushed right to the very end, they delivered.Poole made two big plays in the last 2 1/2 minutes and Ignas Brazdeikis scored 13 of his 23 points in the second half to help the fifth-ranked Wolverines hold off Northwestern for a 62-60 victory.
”I feel like a game like this brings us even more together, more chemistry, more everything,” Brazdeikis said. ”So this was really important for us.”
Michigan opened with eight straight wins by at least 17 points, including blowouts against Villanova, North Carolina and Purdue. Poole and company appeared headed for another runaway before the Wildcats challenged the Wolverines in the second half.
”I knew we were going to have to go through games like this if we were going to be good,” coach John Beilein said. ”We survived it – I don’t know how – but we made just enough good plays down the stretch.”
Poole finished with 15 points as Michigan (9-0, 2-0 Big Ten) added to its best start since it opened the 2012-13 season with 16 straight victories. Zavier Simpson scored 10 points, and Jon Teske had eight points and 10 rebounds.The game was tied at 58 when Poole fed Teske for a dunk with 2:30 left. After Ryan Taylor made a jumper for Northwestern, Poole drove inside for another dunk that made it 62-60 with 1:53 remaining.Michigan had a shot-clock violation with 14 seconds to go, giving Northwestern one last chance. Taylor was long on a desperation 3-pointer as time expired.
”We probably could’ve got a better shot,” Northwestern center Dererk Pardon said. ”It was contested. We could’ve gotten a better one, but we’re still learning and moving forward.”
Pardon led the Wildcats (6-3, 0-2) with 20 points on 9-for-10 shooting. Vic Law shook off a slow start and finished with 19.
It was Northwestern’s second straight tough loss, including 68-66 at Indiana on Saturday.

”We’ve just got to close games out down the stretch,” Law said. ”I don’t think it’s our offense that’s messing up late in games. We just have to lock in and be really sharp.”
Michigan appeared to be in control after opening the second half with a 9-0 run to make it 45-30 with 17:19 left. But Northwestern came roaring back.Pardon’s driving layup sparked a 15-2 spurt for the Wildcats. A.J. Turner’s three-point play sliced Michigan’s lead to 47-45 with 13:16 remaining, sending a charge through the crowd at Welsh-Ryan Arena and prompting the Wolverines to take a timeout.Brazdeikis helped Michigan settle down, converting a layup to make it 51-45 with 11:30 left. The freshman, who exited for a brief moment in the first half after he was elbowed in the back, went 9 for 18 from the field.It was Michigan’s first win at Northwestern since a 94-66 victory on Jan. 3, 2013. The Wolverines lead the overall series 113-59.The Wolverines had some defensive issues in the second half but helped themselves with a 33-26 rebounding advantage for the game.Northwestern: Law sparked the Wildcats in the second half, scoring 11 points.Michigan stays home for the next month, beginning Saturday against South Carolina. The Wolverines’ next road game is Jan. 10 at Illinois.NU hosts DePaul on Saturday and doesn’t play another Big Ten game until Jan. 2 at Michigan State.

Fred Hoiberg didn’t see this coming. He arrived at the Advocate Center on Monday morning expecting to run a practice at 11 a.m. The Bulls have lost six straight games and 10 of their last 11, but Lauri Markkanen — arguably their most important player — hadn’t played a minute this season until Saturday’s 121-105 loss in Houston. Kris Dunn, their starting point guard, has appeared in one game. Bobby Portis, who looked outstanding in preseason, has been out since Oct. 24. Hoiberg expected he’d have a chance to coach a healthy roster before being sent packing. It is easy to reflexively defend coaches who lose their jobs, and I am not here to say the Bulls have made a mistake. Maybe Jim Boylen is exactly the coach they need as they try to climb up the standings over the next few years; maybe they will hire someone else who will fit better than Hoiberg. The timing, however, is confusing. Why even have Hoiberg run training camp if you don’t have the patience to let him see the frontcourt of the future — Markkanen and remarkable rookie Wendell Carter — share the floor for more than 15 minutes? Hoiberg’s exit is an unfortunate microcosm of his entire perplexing tenure, in which the Bulls never gave him the proper pieces to succeed. He arrived in 2015-16 on a five-year contract worth $25 million, and management sold him as the guy who would modernize the team after five seasons of the old-school Tom Thibodeau. In his first year, he had to deal with a dysfunctional locker room used to a completely different personality. Derrick Rose, trying to recapture his stardom, had a higher usage rate than Jimmy Butler. Management smartly moved Rose the following summer and promised fans that the Bulls would be younger and more athletic … and then signed Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade, contradicting all of that and preventing Hoiberg from running an offense based on spacing and ball movement. The ill-fated “three alphas” experiment gave way to a full-fledged rebuild, and the Bulls are still in the early stages of the post-Butler era. Hoiberg hasn’t definitively proven that he’s a high-caliber NBA coach, but I wouldn’t be shocked if he succeeded elsewhere. No reasonable person would call him the primary reason for the team’s 115-155 record since he was hired. That, obviously, is the front office. Late Sunday, the Sun-Times reported that Hoiberg would be coaching for his job. This didn’t necessarily mean the Bulls had to turn their 5-19 season around, but their young players had to show significant development. Regardless of what you think about the cards Hoiberg was dealt and the job he has done, this sounds more or less fair: If this year is about playing the young guys and building for the future, then Hoiberg’s coaching staff should be expected to make them better players by the end than they were at the beginning. It is strange to pivot like this in the middle. The weirdest part of this is that the Bulls season has actually been sort of encouraging when viewed through the lens of player development. Zach LaVine is still putting up monster numbers as he adjusts to being at the top of every opponent’s scouting report. Carter has been nothing short of a revelation. Ryan Arcidiacono and Chandler Hutchison have been bright spots, too. When the Bulls are healthy, they might actually have a pretty decent bench, as far as rebuilding teams go. Considering how badly the organization bungled the end of the Thibodeau era and how widely it was panned for the Butler trade, the Bulls, back in action on Tuesday against Indiana (6 p.m), is not in that bad a place. There are several young players with potential on the roster, and the team hasn’t traded away any future first-round picks. Even its most divisive move, signing Jabari Parker, came with no long-term risk: his salary next season is not guaranteed. It is precisely this state of affairs, however, that makes this firing feel a bit unsavory. Hoiberg inherited a talented, but flawed and divided group. He tried to manage an untenable situation involving two guards everyone ignored on the perimeter. He tolerated a tanking season, watched two power forwards fight in practice and tried to steer this year’s team as it endured endless injuries. Now, less than 48 hours after Markannen’s return showed some light at the end of the tunnel, he is out. Tough business.

EAST RUTHERFORD—The New York Giants finally have a signature win to carry them through the rest of the season and maybe beyond.While beating the NFC North-leading Bears wasn’t pretty and involved blowing up a 10-point lead in the final 1:13, the Giants showed character in a wild game in the rain highlighted by trick plays – and a reminder of William ”The Fridge” Perry.The Giants (4-8) won for seventh time in 28 games over the past two seasons as Aldrick Rosas kicked a 44-yard field goal in overtime in a 30-27 win Sunday, snapping the Bears’ five-game winning streak.

”The takeaway is, and I told the team this, some people are fond of talented people, some people are fond of smart people. I’m fond of tough, resilient people,” Giants coach Pat Shurmur said. ”When you are trying to flip culture and when you are trying to build something, you have to dig in on that. There was some toughness and resiliency when they came back to tie things up.”

Rosas’ third field goal of the game came on the opening series of overtime. It was set up by a 29-yard run by rookie Saquon Barkley, who finished with 125 yards on 24 carries.The Giants didn’t nail down the win until Janoris Jenkins knocked away a deep fourth-down pass to Taylor Gabriel after quarterback Chase Daniel fumbled on consecutive plays on the rainy afternoon to set up a fourth-and-8.The Bears (8-4) forced overtime by getting a 21-yard field goal by Cody Parkey and a 1-yard touchdown pass from halfback Tarik Cohen to Anthony Miller as time expired in the fourth quarter. The trick-play touchdown was set up by a recovered onside kick by Daniel Brown on a play Giants star receiver Odell Beckham Jr. did not dive for the loose ball. Then came a questionable pass interference call in the end zone against cornerback B.W. Webb with :03 to go.

”I’m proud of them for fighting to the end. Not every team will do that,” Bears coach Matt Nagy said. ”We’ve got a bunch of high-character guys that will fight till the end and that’s a credit to them. We’ve got to figure out how to learn from this. This is part of that callus that goes on.”

Besides the Cohen pass on what appeared to be a sweep, the Giants saw Beckham throw and catch touchdowns, and Chicago nose tackle Akiem Hicks dive over on fourth down from 1 yard on a play made famous by Perry in the Bears glory days in the mid-1980s.The Giants seemed to have it wrapped up when Rosas kicked a 37-yard field goal for a 27-17 lead with 1:49 to play. But the Bears rallied behind Daniel (26 of 39 for 285 yards, a TD and two interceptions) and several mistakes by the Giants, who were called for 12 penalties for 107 yards.New York had two penalties on the tying drive, which featured a 23-yard, fourth-down pass from Daniel to Cohen to the Giants 9 with 11 seconds left in regulation.Cohen finished with 12 catches for 156 yards.Linebacker Alex Ogletree intercepted two passes, scoring on an 8-yard return on the second play from scrimmage. The Giants forced three turnovers and had a season-high five sacks against Daniel, who was starting his second game for the injured Mitchell Trubisky (shoulder).The Giants made many big plays in the second half. Beckham threw a 49-yard TD pass to Russell Shepard and caught a 1-yard, fourth-down TD from Eli Manning (19 of 35 for 170 yards and an interception) as New York opened a 24-14 lead in the third quarter.

INDIANAPOLIS—Dwayne Haskins added five more touchdown passes to his single-season record Saturday and No. 6 Ohio State relied on its staunch defense to hold off a second-half charge from No. 21 Northwestern for a 45-24 victory to claim its second straight Big Ten championship.The Buckeyes (12-1, 9-1 Big Ten, No. 6 CFP) won their third title in five years and their fifth consecutive game – but it’s unlikely to get the Buckeyes into the four-team College Football Playoff.Haskins finished 34 of 41 with 499 yards and one interception. It’s the fifth time he topped 400 yards this season.Clayton Thorson went 27 of 44 with 267 yards, one TD and two interceptions as he helped Northwestern trim a 24-7 halftime deficit to 24-21 midway through the third quarter. The Wildcats (8-5, 8-2) couldn’t get any closer, though, as they lost only their second conference contest in their last 17 league games.It still turned out to be a more intriguing game than many expected, especially after the Buckeyes’ fast start.Haskins eluded a couple of defenders on third-and-11, buying just enough time to find Terry McLaurin for a 16-yard TD pass on the game’s opening possession.Northwestern tied the score when little-used running back John Moten IV outran Ohio State’s defense for a 77-yard scoring run. It matched Ohio State’s J.K. Dobbins for the second-longest run in title game history. Dobbins had a 77-yard run in last year’s title game.Then the Buckeyes answered with what appeared to be knockout flurry. Dobbins scored on a 2-yard run, Blake Haubeil made a 42-yard field goal and McLaurin caught a 42-yard TD pass from Haskins to make it 24-7 at the half.The Wildcats opened the second half with Thorson’s 18-yard scoring run and made it 24-21 when he found Cameron Green on a 2-yard TD pass with 8:03 left in the third quarter.After Haskins connected with Chris Olave for a 29-yard TD pass, Charlie Kuhbander made a 21-yard field goal to get the Wildcats within 31-24 with 10:34 to go.But Haskins sealed it with two more TD passes – a 9-yarder to Johnnie Dixon and a 17-yarder to Olave.The ascending Wildcats showed some grit after an abysmal start, which could have buried them. Instead, they fought their way back into contention and gave themselves a shot. Now they’ll wait to find out when and where they’ll get another chance to shine under the bright lights.The Buckeyes played like one of the nation’s top teams in a dominant first half and when they were in closeout mode late. In between, they put on a mystifying performance. Eventually, Haskins closed out the win that will likely send them to the Rose Bowl.Moten had four carries for 76 yards and Isaiah Bowser wound up with 13 carries for 60 yards. … Thorson made his 52nd career start, a Big Ten record. … Fred Wyatt blocked an Ohio State field goal.The Buckeyes forced (three) turnovers. … Dixon had seven catches for 129 yards, Parris Campbell had seven catches for 89 yards, Olave finished with five for 79 and McLaurin had three receptions for 78 yards. … Dobbins ran 17 times for 68 yards and became the first player in school history to record 1,000-yard rushing seasons as both a freshman and sophomore. He also caught four passes for 50 yards and one TD.NU, the Big Ten runner-ups will wait to find out who and where they play.Ohio State: The Buckeyes are hoping the selection committee gives them a shot in the playoff, knowing their more likely destination may be the Rose Bowl.se to hold off a second-half charge from No. 21 Northwestern for a 45-24 victory to claim its second straight Big Ten championship.The Buckeyes (12-1, 9-1 Big Ten, No. 6 CFP) won their third title in five years and their fifth consecutive game – but it’s unlikely to get the Buckeyes into the four-team College Football Playoff.Haskins finished 34 of 41 with 499 yards and one interception. It’s the fifth time he topped 400 yards this season.Clayton Thorson went 27 of 44 with 267 yards, one TD and two interceptions as he helped Northwestern trim a 24-7 halftime deficit to 24-21 midway through the third quarter. The Wildcats (8-5, 8-2) couldn’t get any closer, though, as they lost only their second conference contest in their last 17 league games.It still turned out to be a more intriguing game than many expected, especially after the Buckeyes’ fast start.Haskins eluded a couple of defenders on third-and-11, buying just enough time to find Terry McLaurin for a 16-yard TD pass on the game’s opening possession.Northwestern tied the score when little-used running back John Moten IV outran Ohio State’s defense for a 77-yard scoring run. It matched Ohio State’s J.K. Dobbins for the second-longest run in title game history. Dobbins had a 77-yard run in last year’s title game.Then the Buckeyes answered with what appeared to be knockout flurry. Dobbins scored on a 2-yard run, Blake Haubeil made a 42-yard field goal and McLaurin caught a 42-yard TD pass from Haskins to make it 24-7 at the half.The Wildcats opened the second half with Thorson’s 18-yard scoring run and made it 24-21 when he found Cameron Green on a 2-yard TD pass with 8:03 left in the third quarter.After Haskins connected with Chris Olave for a 29-yard TD pass, Charlie Kuhbander made a 21-yard field goal to get the Wildcats within 31-24 with 10:34 to go.But Haskins sealed it with two more TD passes – a 9-yarder to Johnnie Dixon and a 17-yarder to Olave.The ascending Wildcats showed some grit after an abysmal start, which could have buried them. Instead, they fought their way back into contention and gave themselves a shot. Now they’ll wait to find out when and where they’ll get another chance to shine under the bright lights.The Buckeyes played like one of the nation’s top teams in a dominant first half and when they were in closeout mode late. In between, they put on a mystifying performance. Eventually, Haskins closed out the win that will likely send them to the Rose Bowl.Moten had four carries for 76 yards and Isaiah Bowser wound up with 13 carries for 60 yards. …

NOTES—Thorson made his 52nd career start, a Big Ten record. … Fred Wyatt blocked an Ohio State field goal.The Buckeyes forced (three) turnovers. … Dixon had seven catches for 129 yards, Parris Campbell had seven catches for 89 yards, Olave finished with five for 79 and McLaurin had three receptions for 78 yards. … Dobbins ran 17 times for 68 yards and became the first player in school history to record 1,000-yard rushing seasons as both a freshman and sophomore. He also caught four passes for 50 yards and one TD….NU, the Big Ten runner-up, will wait to find out who and where they play…The Buckeyes are hoping the selection committee gives them a shot in the playoff, knowing their more likely destination may be the Rose Bowl.

EVANSTON—Ryan Taylor had 20 points, Vic Law added 14 and nine rebounds and Northwestern survived a second-half offensive drought to hang on for a 67-61 victory over Georgia Tech Wednesday night in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.Dererk Pardon had 12 points and 10 rebounds as Northwestern (6-1) won its third straight.The Wildcats had a 28-point lead with 16 minutes remaining before the offense suddenly went cold.Jose Alvarado had 24 points for Georgia Tech (4-2).Georgia Tech won the meeting between the teams last season, 52-51, in Atlanta.Northwestern quickly established control of the game on the defensive end. Georgia Tech managed just 20 first-half points on 6-for-24 (25 percent) shooting.Law led the way for the Wildcats with 10 first-half points, while Taylor and Anthony Gaines added eight points apiece.Gaines hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to make it 40-20 at halftime, NU’s biggest lead to that point.The Wildcats were 13 of 27 (48 percent) from the field in the first half.Northwestern opened the second half with a 10-2 run for a 50-22 lead, but Georgia Tech responded with a 13-2 run to pull within 52-35.The Yellow Jackets picked up their defensive pressure and quickly got the Wildcats out of rhythm offensively.The lead was down to 57-47 with 7 1/2 minutes to play. Georgia Tech kept chipping away, but couldn’t score consistently enough to make a serious push at winning the game. The closest the Yellow Jackets got was 66-61 on an Alvarado 3-pointer with 1.4 seconds to go.Despite playing three games in four days in the Wooden Classic over the weekend in California, the Wildcats had plenty of energy, particularly on the defense end. Coach Chris Collins has said repeatedly that this team’s success will be determined on the defensive end. It certainly was Wednesday.

MILWAUKEE—Giannis Antetokounmpo had 36 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists, and Khris Middleton made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds left to lift the Milwaukee Bucks over the Bulls 116-113 on Wednesday night.Antetokounmpo and the Bucks (15-6) won an entertaining duel with former teammate Jabari Parker, who put up 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists in his latest return to Milwaukee. Parker signed with the Bulls last offseason after spending his first four NBA seasons with the Bucks.Malcolm Brogdon smartly passed the ball back to a wide-open Middleton at the top of the 3-point arc to set up the winning shot. Justin Holiday missed a 3 that would have tied it in the final seconds.Antetokounmpo also had a crucial block of Parker’s shot with the score tied at 111 in the last minute, and the star forward then sank two free throws with 36 seconds left before the Bulls’ Zach LaVine tied the score with a reverse layup.Brogdon had 24 points, five rebounds and six assists, and Middleton added 17 points, six rebounds and four assists.Rookie guard Ryan Arcidiacano continued his stellar play in the last week with 22 points, five rebounds and four assists, but the Bulls (5-17) dropped their fourth straight game and eighth in the past nine.Antetokounmpo posted his fourth 30-point game in the last five, after scoring just 20 points in the Bucks’ loss at Charlotte on Monday.The Bulls again scored 40 points in the first quarter, equaling their total in the opening quarter on Nov. 16 in the first meeting between the teams this season.Parker had 10 points in the quarter and the Bulls shot 66.7 percent from the floor (12 of 18) to take a 40-30 lead.Antetokounmpo sparked a Bucks rally in the second and finished the half with 20 points, five rebounds and four assists. Milwaukee took its first lead at 50-48 on a layup by Ersan Ilyasova, and the teams traded the lead several times before Antetokounmpo’s drive gave the Bucks a 63-62 edge at halftime.Milwaukee outscored the Bulls 33-22 in the second period.A 3-pointer by Brook Lopez gave the Bucks a 77-72 lead with 7:40 left in the third quarter and prompted a Bulls timeout.Arcidiacono sank a pair of 3s as the Bulls regained the lead at 82-80 before the Bucks responded with dunks by Antetokounmpo and Pat Connaughton sandwiched around a free throw by Middleton.The Bucks led 92-89 entering the final quarter.

SOUTH BEND—Notre Dame guards TJ Gibbs and D.J. Harvey scored 19 points each, and Durham sparked his team with all of his 10 points and five blocked shots in the second half, as ND held off the late-charging Fighting Illini in an ACC/Big Ten Challenge matchup.Trent Frazier’s 24-foot, solid-look 3-point try for Illinois narrowly rimmed out just before time expired.Durham, who sat out last season after transferring from Connecticut, registered a career high for points. Harvey’s total was also a career high and Gibbs’ a season high.The Irish (6-1) won their fourth straight while Illinois (2-5) lost for the fifth time in six games.Durham was 3 of 4 from the field and 4 of 8 at the line.The Irish led 65-52 with 6:30 to go before the Illini mounted their rally that came up just short.Aaron Jordan led Illinois with 23 points. Freshman Giorgi Bezhanishvili added 22. Those were career highs for both players.After a tight first half that yielded nine lead changes and a 35-34 Illini lead at the break, Notre Dame appeared like it might win in a runaway when it outscored Illinois 17-2 over a span of just under eight minutes.That produced a 61-49 Irish lead with 6:48 remaining.The Illini, though, battled right back behind Bezhanishvili and Jordan, who each scored 13 second-half points.