In brief: Thomas leads No. 2 Ohio St. to victory

Men’s basketball: Deshaun Thomas scored a career-high 30 points and No. 2 Ohio State overcame the loss of star Jared Sullinger to defeat South Carolina 74-66 in Columbia, S.C., and give Thad Matta his 200th win as Buckeyes coach.

Sullinger left in the first half after getting kicked in the left foot. X-rays showed no fracture, although it wasn’t known if Sullinger would play against Lamar on Tuesday night in Ohio State’s next game.

Thomas hit 13 of 16 shots and surpassed his previous high of 24 points. William Buford added 17 points for Ohio State.

Malik Cooke led South Carolina (4-6) with 21 points.

• Smith , Louisville top Memphis: Russ Smith set a personal best with 24 points as No. 4 Louisville survived a rough-and-tumble matchup with Memphis (5-4) to win 95-87 in Louisville, Ky., and extend its home winning streak to 18 games.

Gorgui Dieng added 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Cardinals (10-0). Will Barton set career highs with 28 points and 16 rebounds for Memphis.

• Jones leads Baylor past BYU: Perry Jones III scored 28 points, Brady Heslip hit six 3-pointers and No. 6 Baylor edged Brigham Young 86-83 in Provo, Utah.

The Bears are off to their third 9-0 start in school history and best under coach Scott Drew. The Cougars (8-3) absorbed their second loss in their last 50 nonconference home games.

• Indiana beats Notre Dame, remains unbeaten: Cody Zeller scored 21 points and had eight rebounds to help No. 18 Indiana beat rival Notre Dame 69-58 in Indianapolis.

Indiana went on a 12-2 run during an Irish scoring drought to take its first lead of the game, then pulled away in the second half.

The Hoosiers are 10-0 for the first time since 1989-90. Eric Atkins led Notre Dame (7-5) with 15 points.

• UNLV hands Illinois first defeat: Mike Moser had 17 points and 11 rebounds, UNLV went on a 14-2 run to close the first half and the Runnin’ Rebels handed No. 19 Illinois its first loss of the season with a convincing 64-48 victory in Chicago.

UNLV (11-2) won despite getting only two points from leading scorer Chace Stanback. The cold-shooting Illini (10-1) were led by 19 points from D.J. Richardson.

Bruins ride fast start, hammer rival Flyers

NHL: The Boston Bruins scored four first-period goals and beat host Philadelphia 6-0 to snap the Flyers’ seven-game winning streak.

Benoit Pouliot, Daniel Paille, Zdeno Chara and Milan Lucic got the Bruins off to a fast start that ran their winning streak to four games.

The Bruins tied Philadelphia atop the NHL’s Eastern Conference with 43 points apiece. Boston leads the NHL with 21 victories.

• Legwand lifts Preds to shootout win over Blues: David Legwand scored the only shootout goal, Pekka Rinne finished with 39 saves and the Nashville Predators beat the St. Louis Blues 2-1 in Nashville, Tenn., for their fifth consecutive victory.

Martin Erat scored in regulation for Nashville, and T.J. Oshie had the St. Louis goal.

• Rangers’ Richards nets winner in final second: Brad Richards scored the winning goal with 0.1 seconds left as the New York Rangers beat the Phoenix Coyotes 3-2 in Glendale, Ariz.

Richards’ backhanded shot from the left circle eluded goalie Mike Smith as time ran out. The game appeared to be headed to overtime, but a video replay revealed that the puck crossed the goal line in just enough time.

• Isles top Wild for first win in extra time: Frans Nielsen scored the only goal in the shootout while Al Montoya had his glove in good form, giving the New York Islanders their first extra-time victory of the season, 2-1 over the Minnesota Wild in St. Paul, Minn.

Ward wins unanimous decision over Froch

Boxing: Andre Ward staked his claim as the top 168-pound division fighter, using his speed and a combination of lefts to defeat Carl Froch in a unanimous decision in the Super Six super middleweight tournament final in Atlantic City, N.J.

Ward, the Olympic gold medalist from Oakland, Calif., retained his WBA championship and won the WBC super middleweight belt in the final bout of the unique tournament that stretched out over two years.

Ward (25-0, 13 KOs) dictated the pace from the opening round, connecting on a series of left hooks to rattle Froch.

Froch, out of Nottingham, England, never came close to getting knocked out. Froch (28-2, 20 KOs) did not get going until late, though, finally showing some overdue aggression in the 10th.

One judge scored it 118-110 and two others had it 115-113.

UCLA beats Illinois for volleyball title

Miscellany: Outside hitter Rachael Kidder had 20 kills and UCLA beat Illinois in four games for the NCAA women’s volleyball championship in San Antonio to give the Bruins their first title in two decades.

The Bruins won their fourth title in school history, putting them third behind Stanford (six) and Penn State (five).

Tabi Love had 14 kills for UCLA in the 25-23, 23-25, 26-24, 25-16 victory.

• M’s close to signing Sherrill: Onetime Mariners reliever George Sherrill is on the verge of reuniting with the club nearly four years after going to Baltimore in a trade for starter Erik Bedard.

The Mariners and Sherrill, who turns 35 in April, were said by a source to have reached an agreement in principle – pending a physical – on a one-year, incentive-laden $1.1 million deal.