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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois needed a career-high performance from Malcolm Hill to outlast Northern Kentucky 79-64 on Sunday night.The senior scored a career-high 40 points and brought down 12 rebounds to help Illinois (2-0) fight through a first half where the Illini trailed 33-31 at halftime and struggled to hold off the Norse off until the end.It was something I was working on over the summer, Hill said. This is just one of the games that showed a lot of the hard work and dedication that Ive put into my 3-point shot.The Illini shot 44 percent from the field but were 20-30 from the free-throw line.Michael Finke also scored in double figures, adding 10 points and 11 rebounds for the Illini.Illinois coach John Groce credited his veteran team for the polite conversation at halftime to change the teams energy and focus.Our seniors responded big time in the second half, he said. I thought we came out with a lot more aggressiveness, a lot more attacking mentality.Lavone Holland II led Northern Kentucky (1-1) with 13 points, which kept the Norse in the game until the final eight minutes.The Norse held a 43-32 rebound advantage despite Northern Kentuckys tallest players being 6-foot-7.Northern Kentucky was sloppy with the ball for most of the game, committing 18 turnovers that led to 21 Illinois points.Our youth showed when things went bad and I thought their veteran leadership showed with their run, Northern Kentucky coach John Brannen said.BIG PICTUREIllinois: The Illini will have a lot to work on despite the win. They will have a few games to work out the kinks before tougher opponents appear on the schedule.Northern Kentucky: The Norse can hold their heads up despite the loss. Northern Kentucky competed well throughout the game against a Big Ten opponent.TURNING POINTIllinois and Northern Kentucky exchanged baskets and the lead for much of the start of the second half until Hill took over. He scored 29 points in the half and helped put the game away.HIGHLIGHT REELTracy Abrams got the State Farm Center crowd excited when he came from behind to block a Drew McDonald fast break layup.UP NEXTIllinois will play its third game in five nights when the Illini host McKendree on Tuesday night.Northern Kentucky will try to rebound after its first loss of the season on Friday when the Norse play Austin Peay in the Tarkett Sports Classic in Oxford, Ohio.---More AP college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org Cheap Jerseys From China . Ronaldo produced a spectacular individual performance on Tuesday, scoring all three goals and guiding Portugal into the next years World Cup in Brazil with a 3-2 victory in Sweden. The Real Madrid forward has scored 66 goals in 2013, but the last three may be the boost he needs to upstage Messi after FIFA unexpectedly extended the voting period for the Ballon dOr to Nov. Wholesale NCAA Jerseys . Defencemen Drew Doughty, Shea Weber and forward Ryan Getzlaf also scored for the Canadians, who started their gold-medal defence 2-0. Goalie Roberto Luongo, getting the call in place of Game 1 starter Carey Price, was solid when needed in making 23 saves for the shutout. http://www.cheapcollegejerseys.net/ . MLS Commissioner Don Garber and Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez also will attend the session, which was announced Monday. The league has discussed placing its next two expansion teams in Miami and Atlanta. College Jerseys Outlet . White came in fourth place in the event. He was the two-time defending gold medallist. The gold medal went to Swiss snowboarder Iouri Podladtchikov. Authentic College Football Jerseys . It was the kind of score that might make everyone else wonder which course he was playing. Except that Graeme McDowell saw the whole thing. Crouched behind the 10th green at Sheshan International, McDowell looked over at the powerful American and said, "Ive probably seen 18 of the best drives Ive seen all year in the last two days. Daniel Ricciardo was left lamenting the timing of the Virtual Safety Car during Sundays United States Grand Prix, which he says ruined the closing stages of the race.Ricciardo jumped Nico Rosberg on the opening lap but ultimately had to settle for third place at the Circuit of the Americas after the Red Bull driver lost out when the VSC was deployed around half-distance following Max Verstappens retirement. The Australian believes he lost around 10 seconds to Rosberg, who took advantage of making what was effectively a free pitstop under the VSC.[Under the] Virtual Safety Car we lost I think 10 seconds it worked out to be with Nico, Ricciardo said. I believe after the pit stops we would have had about five seconds on him and after the Virtual Safety Car he had closed to five seconds on me. So that was frustrating.It just would have been interesting, even if he caught me at the end, just to at least have a fight. I think the race after the Virtual Safety Car became a bit not that exciting. I guess without it would have made it a bit more spicy at the end. So that was that.When asked if it made it worse that the VSC was triggered by his own teammate, Riccciardo, in a mock Texan accent, replied: Absolutely, Sir.dddddddddddd When I saw Max out there I thought Ah hell, my boys done it again!Anyways, that was a devestational moment, but well keep soldiering on and we still got some points over Ferrari today so Im pretty pleased with that.Despite passing Rosberg around the outside of Turn 2, Ricciardo admitted he had hoped to utilise starting on the faster super-soft tyre -- with both Mercedes drivers beginning on the soft compound -- to possibly challenge Lewis Hamilton for the lead into Turn 1.I think the actual launch itself didnt seem that much stronger than the Mercedes on the soft tyre. I was hoping it would go a bit better, but then Nico opted to go to the outside so I had some room on the inside there. I got one at least, I was hoping to get two but that was better than nothing.I think the first part of the race everyone seemed to have a pretty similar pace, I guess Lewis was probably controlling it at the front but we seemed at the stage to be able to hold onto second. ' ' '