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Brust's seven 3s boost Wisconsin over UNLV

Dec 10, 2011 - 11:40 PM Madison, WI (Sports Network) - Ben Brust scored a game-high 25 points and was a perfect 7-for-7 from downtown, leading No. 14 Wisconsin to a 62-51 win over UNLV on Saturday.

Jared Berggren finished with nine points, while Mike Bruesewitz had six points to go with 10 rebounds for the Badgers (8-2).

Ryan Evans donated seven points and nine rebounds, while Josh Gasser finished with six points and eight boards in the victory. Wisconsin was won two straight after dropping its previous two games.

"Well, sometimes you've got to be aware of when your teammates are driving," Brust said of his ability to find open spots to shoot. "Sometimes they see inside-help, sometimes they don't. You just kind of have to feel it out and find open spots. You've got to get in the vision of your teammates so they can find you. You just kind of have to be out there moving and trying to see what's out there."

Chace Stanback paced the Rebels (9-2) with 16 points and Carlos Lopez finished with nine points.

Oscar Bellfield had seven points, while Mike Moser pulled down 11 rebounds to go with four points for UNLV, which failed to carry momentum from a 94-50 thumping of Cal State San Marcos on Wednesday.

Wisconsin jumped out to a seven point lead, 16-9, halfway through the opening 20 minutes, but a three-pointer by Stanback pulled the Rebels within four, 16-12 with 10:04 remaining in the first half.

Holding a slim three-point lead, 18-15, with nine minutes to go in the first half, Wisconsin broke the game open with a 13-0 run over the next five-plus minutes of action to take a comfortable 31-15 lead.

The Badgers took a 36-23 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

In the second half, Wisconsin kept the pressure up, leading by double digits throughout the stanza and as many as 15, 57-42, with 6:27 to play in regulation.

Trailing by 12, 52-40 with under nine minutes to play, the Rebels began to get within striking distace, outscoring the Badgers 9-5 over the next five minutes of action to cut the lead down to eight, 57-49.

But Brust responded with a trey to put the Badgers up 60-49 with 2:28 to go and Wisconsin held on for the victory.

"I'm really disappointed with the way that we started the game," UNLV head coach Dave Rice said. "I'm not pleased at all with our execution on either end of the floor. We regrouped at the half; we came out and looked like we were supposed to look in terms of our aggressiveness. There's no excuses, we've just got to play better and execute better; we've got to get tougher."

Game Notes

UNLV leads the all-time series between the teams, 4-2...Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan earned his 250th career win...Wisconsin shot 37 percent from the floor and 38 percent from three-point land, while the Rebels shot 39 percent from the floor and 41 percent from downtown...The Badgers outrebounded UNLV, 34-32...The Badgers got 30 points from their bench, to only 17 points off the UNLV bench...Wisconsin turned 15 UNLV turnovers into 19 points.