Morning Box Score

By Matt Motyka in News on Mar 4, 2009 4:00PM

Blackhawks Bag Ducks
The Chicago Blackhawks skated away with two points Tuesday night, defeating the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 in OT. The 'Hawks got off to a quick start, when Troy Brouwer scored the game's first goal at the 18:57 mark of the opening period. Andrew Ladd added to the lead later in the first, after Duncan Keith stole the puck to set up an odd-man rush for Chicago. Anaheim then got a break early in the second, when the Ducks' Corey Perry caught goalie Cristobal Huet out of the net trying to retrieve the puck and flipped it to teammate Drew Miller for the score. Two minutes later Bobby Ryan would get Anaheim's second goal, and a scoreless third period would lead to overtime. Chicago struck swiftly in the bonus period, as Martin Havlat charged down the ice on a breakaway and fired the thrilling game-winner as he fell to a knee. The 'Hawks next play the Bruins in Boston on Saturday.

Bobcats Beat Bulls
The Bulls playoff plans suffered a slight setback on Tuesday, as they lost to the Charlotte Bobcats 96-80. Chicago fell behind in the latter half of the first quarter, finding themselves on the wrong end of an 11-2 run. The Bobcats' lead would never dip below six, and eventually grew as large as 19 while the Bulls faded from the picture. Tyrus Thomas and Ben Gordon each scored 14, with Thomas adding 12 rebounds for Chicago. Luol Deng and Tim Thomas sat this one out due to injuries. With both teams competing for the eighth spot in the East, Charlotte can now claim the potential head-to-head tiebreaker. The Bulls will try again tonight, this time at home versus Golden State.

College Basketball
UIC avenged their previous losses to the Youngstown State Penguins, winning in the opening round of the Horizon League tournament, 73-68. The Flames led by 10 at the half, but the Penguins climbed back into contention and claimed a four-point lead with four minutes to play. UIC responded by mounting an 8-0 charge, and preserved their advantage through the final minutes. The Flames made their three-pointers count, sinking nearly 54 percent of their attempts from behind the arc, and were solid from the charity stripe. UIC will face Cleveland State in the second round on Friday.

Loyola couldn't quite pull even in their 77-68 loss to the Milwaukee Panthers, and are now eliminated from the Horizon League tournament. The Ramblers trailed by 25 early in the second half, but rallied to within seven points by the 2:30 mark. The Panthers would not yield any further, however, converting eight of eight free-throw attempts down the stretch to hold on for the win. J.R. Blount and Jordan Hicks scored 20 apiece, and Walt Gibler chipped in 14 more for the Ramblers.