State Basketball Roundup: Badger men beat Penn St. in conference opener

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MADISON - The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team overcame a poor shooting night to beat Penn State, 60-51, in their Big Ten Conference opener in Madison.

The Badgers shot just 38-point-six percent from the floor. They only hit 3-of-17 from three-point range, and they made just half of their 26 free throw attempts. But the Nittany Lions couldn’t buy a free throw. They only made it to the line twice the whole game, and missed both their attempts. Wisconsin led by 11 at the break. Penn State got to within one with 2:33 left, when the Badgers closed the game with a 10-to-2 run. Wisconsin’s front-court scored the team’s final 17 points. Ryan Evans, Jared Berggren, and Ben Brust each had 13 to lead the Badgers, and Mike Bruesewitz had 12. Jermaine Marshall led Penn State with 19.

The Nittany Lions shot 46-percent, and they out-rebounded the Badgers 31-28. But Penn State committed 15 turnovers to just four for Wisconsin. The Nittany Lions fell to 8-5 overall. The Badgers improved to 10-4, and will play at Nebraska on Sunday.

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The UW-Milwaukee men lost their Horizon League opener at Detroit last night, 74-59. The game was tied at 40 with 15:48 left, when Detroit pulled away with a pair of 13-to-2 runs. The Titans shot 47-percent, and made all but one of their 15 free throw attempts. Ray McCallum and Jason Calliste each scored 13 for Detroit, which won its 16th straight home game dating back to last season. The Titans are now 9-5 overall. Paris Gulley scored a game-high 22 points for UW-Milwaukee, which dropped to 4-11 overall. The Panthers are now 0-7 on their opponents’ floors – and they’ll try again for their first true road victory tomorrow when they play at Wright State.

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The UW-Green Bay men fell to 0-6 at their opponents’ gyms, after losing their Horizon League opener at Wright State last night 64-53. The Phoenix trailed by nine at the break, and Wright State scored the first eight points of the second half to pull away. The Raiders scored 30 points in the paint, and they out-shot Green Bay 44-to-36 percent. Reggie Arceneaux scored 15 points, and he went 8-for-8 from the free throw line as Wright State won its fifth game in its last six. They’re now 10-4 overall. Brennen Cougill led Green Bay with 17 points off the bench. The Phoenix are now 6-8 overall. They’ll play at Detroit tomorrow.

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The Milwaukee Bucks will try to break a two-game losing streak tonight when they host the Houston Rockets. The Bucks are just 2-and-7 against teams from the NBA’s Western Conference – and the Rockets come in with a two-game winning streak, after beating New Orleans 104-to-92 on Wednesday night. James Harden scored 31 in that game. The Rockets also have former Bucks’ forward Carlos Delfino coming off their bench. He missed two games with food poisoning before he scored a season-high 22 points on Monday night in a win over Atlanta. The Rockets are 18-and-14. Former Bucks’ assistant Kelvin Sampson coached the team for 13 games, while head coach Kevin McHale was tending to his family after his 23-year-old daughter Sasha died in November from lupus. The Bucks are 16-and-14, two games behind first-place Indiana in the Central Division.

Tags: wisconsin sports, basketball, proam, badgers