The high school player voted “Mr. Basketball” has chosen Illinois. Marc Jones of Edwardsville announced his decision to join the Illini yesterday in front of a big crowd in his high school gym. Jones had been recruited by several big programs. He becomes the first big recruit for new Illini coach Brad Underwood.

The fourth-leading scorer in Illinois State basketball history has died. Ron Jones died of an apparent heart attack on Tuesday. Jones recorded 1,839 points from 1976 to 1980.

In high school softball, U-High edged Pontiac 1-0 in 14 innings.

In high school baseball, Pontiac beat U-High 9-6. El Paso-Gridley topped Fieldcrest 10-0.

The Cardinals and Blue Jays were rained out and will try to make it up as a day-night doubleheader today at Busch Stadium.

The Cubs lost 6-5 at Pittsburgh. All of the Pirates runs came off of Cubs starter Jon Lester. Anthony Rizzo homered and drove in four runs for the Cubs. The Cubs take today off.

The White Sox beat the Royals 5-2 to complete a three-game sweep. Avisail Garcia and Leury Garcia homered to back the first win of the season for starter Jose Quintana. The Sox are off today.

The Bulls now trail their first round NBA playoff series 3-2 as the Celtics earned a 108-97 victory in Game 5. Game 6 is Friday night in Chicago.

The Blues lost the opener of their Western Conference semifinal series as Nashville scored the game-winner with five minutes left in regulation for a 4-3 win. Game 2 is tomorrow night.

The NFL draft begins tonight. The Bears have the third pick but have not ruled out trading it.