Morning Box Score

By Matt Motyka in News on Dec 31, 2008 4:30PM

Red Wings Stop 'Hawks
The Detroit Red Wings bookended the Blackhawks nine-game winning streak Tuesday afternoon by defeating Chicago 4-0. The Wings handed the 'Hawks their last loss by way of shootout on Dec. 6. Chicago came out swinging with a 12-1 shots-on-goal advantage, but couldn't crack backup goaltender Ty Conklin. Detroit responded with a 10-4 run and found the net on Pavel Datsyuk's power-play wrister. Johan Franzen would record the next two goals for the Wings, and Tomas Kopecky made it a quartet midway through the third. “We played the way we've played the past few games, but we played a better team," explained Chicago's Jonathan Toews. The Blackhawks will have the chance to up their level of play and exact revenge on Thursday, when these two squads take the ice at Wrigley Field in the feverishly-anticipated Winter Classic.

College Basketball
Illinois upended the eleventh-ranked Purdue Boilermakers on Tuesday with a 71-67 OT win. Down one near the end of regulation, the Illini's Trent Meacham found Mike Davis in the paint for the go-ahead basket. With 6.3 still on the clock, the Boilermakers hustled down court and drew a shooting foul, but JaJuan Johnson missed the back end to force overtime. Illinois allowed only four points in the first four minutes of the bonus session while building a five-point lead. Purdue got a quick four more in the final minute to sidle back, but steady free-throw shooting staved off the Boilermakers and earned Illinois the victory. Center Mike Tisdale led all in scoring with 18 points, as the Illini improved to 13-1.

Loyola roughed up the Alcorn State Braves en route to a 88-53 victory. The Ramblers snatched 28 of 33 total rebounds on their end of the court, severely limiting the Braves second-chance opportunities. Loyola succeeded offensively as well, converting over 50 percent of their field-goal attempts. The frosh Walt Gibler had a nifty 19 points and eight boards for Loyola in the win.

UIC succumbed to the Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panthers, 71-66. In a tightly contested game the Panthers used threes and frees to keep one step ahead of the Flames, outscoring UIC 51-24 behind the respective lines. The Flames had a chance to tie it up in the final 1:30, but Josh Mayo couldn't connect on a pair of three-point attempts. Despite the late misses Mayo had a game-high 18 points, while center Scott VanderMeer collected 16 points and nine rebounds.

AP Photo/Michael Conroy