NEW YORK -- Dwayne Bacon scored 17 points to lead No. 25 Florida State to a 72-61 win over Illinois in the consolation game of the NIT Season Tip-Off on Friday.Jonathan Isaac had 15 points and seven rebound for Florida State (5-1), which bounced back from its first loss of the season Thursday in Brooklyn.CJ Walker finished with 13 and Xavier Rathan-Mayes had 10 for Florida State.Despite getting a game-high 18 points from Malcolm Hill, Illinois (4-3) lost its third straight. Leron Black chipped in with 15 points, and TeJon Lucas had 10.The first meeting between the ACC and Big 10 programs was a taut affair for 30 minutes before Florida State seized control.Tied 44-all with less than 10 minutes to play, the Seminoles outscored the Illini 7-0 in a 56 second span. The run was sparked by Trent Forrest, who had two steals and drew a shooting foul.Illinois had cut the deficit to 55-50, but as soon as it looked as if the Illini were about to make a game of it, the Seminoles went on an 11-1 run to extend their lead to 66-51.BIG PICTUREIllinois: The Illini came into the tournament having won four of five. The Illini leave Brooklyn having been swept by nationally ranked West Virginia and Florida State. While Illinois was more competitive against Florida State than it was against West Virginia, the Illini were outclassed in the final 10 minutes of the consolation game.Florida State: The Seminoles had not played a game in which they scored fewer than 86 points this season until this win.POLL IMPLICATIONSFlorida State: Despite the win over Illinois, Florida State may drop out of the Top 25 due to its loss to unranked Temple on Thursday.NOTABLEIllinois: Senior guard Tracy Abrams was examined by a trainer during a second half stoppage in play after being inadvertently elbowed in the mouth by Florida State center Michael Ojo, fighting for position in the low blocks.Florida State: Finished the game with seven blocked shots and five steals.UP NEXTIllinois: Will face the North Carolina State Wolfpack Tuesday in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge in Champaign, Illinois.Florida State: Will face the Minnesota Golden Gophers Monday in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge in Tallahassee, Florida. . Klitschkos management company says the bout will be the Ukrainian fighters 25th world championship fight. The 1.83-meter (6-foot) Leapai defeated the previously unbeaten Denis Boytsov in November to become the WBOs mandatory challenger. . The home side created most of the chances but struggled to break down Braunschweigs resilient defence, resulting in the Bundesligas 1,000th scoreless draw. . Oaklands loss to Seattle clinched the ALs best record for the Red Sox with one day to spare in the regular season. "I think everybody was kind of watching," catcher David Ross said. "Demp (Ryan Dempster) came out before he went to the bullpen and was just yelling that they lost. . - Oakland Raiders running back Rashad Jennings was speaking to a group of local high school students earlier this week when the conversation turned to the importance of being prepared when opportunities in life arise. . - Connor McDavid scored 53 seconds into overtime as the Erie Otters came from behind to defeat the visiting Guelph Storm 4-3 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. PHOENIX -- There are teachers, doctors, nurses and lawyers.They are a diverse bunch, these Tillman scholars. Their common denominator is a life dedicated to service to their communities and society at large.About 60 scholarships are awarded each year -- out of about 2,000 applications -- by the Pat Tillman Foundation, the organization founded following the combat death of the man who abandoned an NFL career to join the military.Given to veterans or their spouses, the scholarships average about $15,000. Some $12 million has been awarded over the years. Much of the money comes from the NFL through its Salute to Service program.Through the Tillman Scholars program, were able to see Salute to Service come to life and witness the many ways this work impacts the military community, said Anna Isaacson, the NFLs senior vice president of social responsibility.Marie Tillman, the foundations president, believes her late husband would approve of the scholarship effort.Id hope that he would be happy about the fact that his life continues to inspire people, she said, and continues to give so many people opportunities to go on in the world and do great things.A dozen years after his death, Tillman is a name thats become synonymous with sacrifice and service. After a standout career at Arizona State, he played four seasons for the Arizona Cardinals.Then came Sept. 11, 2001, which led Tillman to abandon his athletic career to join the Army Rangers. He already had been to Iraq and was on tour in Afghanistan when he was killed.Family and friends created the Tillman Foundation in 2004, pledging $1.25 million to create the ASU Leadership Through Action program, a scholarship offered through the universitys business school.In 2009, the Tillman Scholars program was launched.One requirement is past service to the community, through the military or some other avenue.Were also looking at what it is that they want to do with their experience and the education that theyre looking to get, Marie Tillman said. What is the impact that theyre hoping to have as they move forward with that education.Joseph Wheaton was an Army Ranger in the same battalion as Tillman, though they never met.Wheaton was deployed four times to Afghanistan and twice to Iraq. In his later tours, he oversaw a team of snipers.After leaving the military, Wheaton graduated summa cum laude from Arizona State before attending law school.He went to work in the gang unit of the Maricopa County prosecutors office but said he found that all he was doing was sending people to prison who deserved to be there.Wheaton wanted to reach youngsters before they got into trouble. So he decided to switch to teaching.His benefits exhausted, he couldnt afford to go back to school on his own, so he applied for and received a Tillman scholarship.Wheaton wants to someday affect national edducation policy but felt he needed some grass-roots experience.ddddddddddddThis year, he received his masters degree in secondary education from Arizona State. He teaches at a high school outside Phoenix, where many of his students come from low-income households.Only experience at the ground level will help highlight the problem and therefore better direct the path toward effective solutions, he said.Blake Schroeder was 20 when he first arrived in Iraq.Our unit took a pretty heavy toll, he said. There were about 160 of us, all National Guardsmen from Illinois, young. All of us had initially joined to go to college. We had about 35 wounded and five killed, the first being within 16 hours arriving in Iraq.When he came back, he couldnt adjust. Visits with a Veterans Affairs counselor did no good. The only thing that worked, he said, was re-enlisting. It was a much less intense trip to Iraq this time. When he returned, recalling his troubled first time back from the war, Schroeder chose to become a clinical psychologist.They covered a pretty significant portion of my education, he said, that allowed me to keep going.Now, with a doctorate from The Adler School of Professional Psychology, he treats people with post-combat conditions.Each year, new scholarship recipients as well as many of the earlier ones gather for the Tilllman Summit.It kind of blows your mind when youre surrounded by all these like-minded individuals, Schroeder said.Emily Thompson-Schelberg enlisted in the Marines in 2005 and deployed to Iraq with an artillery unit. She was a turret gunner on a 7-ton vehicle moving supplies and people.During down time, she helped with humanitarian aid missions, an experience that solidified her decision to follow in her mothers footsteps and become a nurse.She graduated from Penn State with a degree in sports medicine, worked for a year doing concussion research there, then attended Johns Hopkins, something she said she never could have done without the Tillman aid.Now she works as a nurse practitioner in Annapolis, Maryland, where many of her patients are retired Navy personnel. On the side she is a CrossFit coach and nutrition counselor at a gym.And she is training with the U.S. developmental skeleton team, an event in which she lies facedown and careens down a mountain on a sled. Her target is the 2022 Olympics.The scholarship opened doors that I would never have had access to, she said.Veterans get a lot of media attention for the troubles they have, Thompson-Schelberg said.The Tillman Foundation, she said, is showing that veterans have something to offer ... we can do a lot for our communities.---For more NFL coverage:
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