Morning Box Score

By Matt Motyka in News on Mar 15, 2009 4:00PM

Bulls Thrash Hornets
Back in familiar environs, the Chicago Bulls palindromed the New Orleans Hornets, 97-79, on Saturday. Chicago led by as many as 32 and did not trail after the first quarter in a thorough beating of the Louisiana squad. The Bulls shot a steady 47 percent and held a 10-0 advantage over the Hornets in three-pointers made. Ben Gordon was red hot, going 11 for 17 and scoring 27 while John Salmons contributed 24 more for Chicago. The Bulls will hope to parlay their home-court advantage into a victory over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday.

College Basketball
No. 25 Illinois had been victorious in their previous two meetings with no. 24 Purdue, but the third time was the charm for the Boilermakers, who defeated the Illini 66-56 in the Big Ten semifinals. Purdue used a 14-0 run to close out the first half and to stretch a six-point lead to 20. That was all for the Illini, who cut the deficit by 10 but couldn't claw back into contention. Dominique Keller posted 16 points off the bench and Calvin Brock also crack double figures with a dozen. The Illini, who are in the neighborhood of a six seed, will discover their NCAA tourney draw when the brackets are announced at 5pm this evening.

AP Photo