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Berggren leads Badgers in Milwaukee

Dec 14, 2011 - 8:39 AM Milwaukee, WI (Sports Network) - Jared Berggren netted 17 points and pulled down nine rebounds, leading No, 14 Wisconsin to a 60-54 victory over Milwaukee on Tuesday night.

Ryan Evans dropped 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Jordan Taylor added 14 points for the Badgers (9-2), who have won three consecutive contests.

Tony Meier led Milwaukee (8-3) with 15 points to go with six rebounds, while James Haarsma scored 11 points. Ryan Allen donated seven points and pulled down eight rebounds for the Panthers, losers of two straight.

"Obviously with an in-state rival, we wanted to come out there and play hard," said Haarsma. "We wanted to go out there and make sure that they respected us."

Trailing by 17 (44-27) with 15:17 to play, Milwaukee began its comeback effort, using a 16-1 run over the next four-plus minutes of action to make it a one-possession game, 45-43, before a layup by Josh Gasser finally stopped the run and made it 47-43 with 8:27 remaining.

A jumper by Meier with 5:22 to go knotted the game at 48, but Wisconsin responded and pushed out to a five-point lead, 55-50, with 3:26 left.

A layup by Kaylon Williams with just over a minute to go pulled the Panthers to within three, but Taylor answered with a three-pointer following a Milwaukee timeout, and the Badgers held on for the win.

Wisconsin jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead just over three minutes in, before Milwaukee answered with two consecutive buckets to make it 8-6 less than five minutes into the game.

Berggren and Ben Brust hit back-to-back three-pointers to push the Badgers' lead to 14-6, before free throws by Paris Gulley and Allen made it 14-8 with just over 13 minutes to play in the opening half.

Wisconsin then used an 8-0 burst over the next five-plus minutes of action to push out to a 22-8 margin.

The Badgers closed out the first half holding a 31-20 advantage. They shot 44 percent from the floor in the opening 20 minutes, and 3-of-7 from three-point range, while Milwaukee struggled, shooting only 30 percent from the floor and 2-of-9 from beyond the arc.

Game Notes

The all-time series between these two has been dominated by the Badgers. Wisconsin has won 28 of the 29 meetings between the teams...Wisconsin finished shooting 41 percent from the floor and 43 percent from three-point range, while Milwaukee shot 38 percent from the floor and 23 percent from beyond the arc...Dating back to last season, the Badgers have won 15 straight regular- season games against unranked teams...The Badgers have held 15 consecutive opponents below 65 points, the nation?s longest active streak.