Wisconsin Roars Back To Beat Illinois

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Published on February 22 2016 7:19 am
Last Updated on February 22 2016 8:26 am

MADISON, Wis. (AP) -- For nearly 28 minutes on Sunday night, Illinois kept hitting tough shots and Wisconsin kept missing them from all over the floor.

It added up to 13-point deficit with about 12 minutes to go, the type of adversity that might have tripped up the Badgers a few months ago. But things have changed at Wisconsin.

Ethan Happ had 20 points and 12 rebounds, and helped spark a 17-0 run that allowed Wisconsin to roar back from its double-digit deficit in the second half of a 69-60 win on Sunday night over Illinois.

''It wasn't exactly pretty,'' interim coach Greg Gard said, ''but that resolve, that fight, that grit ... shows that they're maturing.''

Happ, an athletic 6-foot-9 freshman, had three steals during the decisive run for the Badgers (17-10, 9-5 Big Ten), who avoided a potentially damaging loss to their NCAA tournament resume. The Badgers lost to lowly Western Illinois and Milwaukee at home in nonconference play. They also have victories over ranked conference opponents Michigan State, Maryland and Indiana.

Now they can also take heart with the team's best comeback win since overcoming a 15-point deficit in the second half at home to unbeaten and No. 1 Ohio State on Feb. 12, 2011.

Nigel Hayes scored 13 of his 17 points in the second half after being held without a field goal in the first half. The Badgers go-to forward bounced back after shooting 1 of 13 for five points in a 69-57 loss last week to No. 8 Michigan State.

There was a ''little bit of a hangover'' from the Spartans game, said Bronson Koenig, who finished with 14 points.

''It happens to everyone ... I'm glad we're resilient and matured a little bit tonight,'' he added.

Malcolm Hill scored 20 points and Kendrick Nunn added 15 for Illinois (12-15, 4-10). The high-scoring duo hit all the tough shots until the Illini became unglued in the second half.
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Second-half surge propels Wisconsin past Illinois  …
Illinois' Kendrick Nunn, center, shoots between Wisconsin's Nigel Hayes (10) and Alex Illika …

Illinois went more than seven minutes of the half without a field goal, and coach John Groce appeared unhappy at times with the officials with a foul disparity favoring Wisconsin.

The Illini were whistled for 19 fouls in the second half to seven for Wisconsin.

''Fouling is a mistake. We don't want to do that. We take a lot of pride in defending without fouling,'' Groce said.

 

EIU 71, Southeast Missouri 68

Eastern Illinois led by sixteen points with 7:18 remaining but the Panthers had to hold on in the final seconds as EIU held off Southeast Missouri for a 71-68 win on Saturday afternoon.

Casey Teson sparked a 13-2 run early in the second half as the Panthers opened the second half extending a 30-29 halftime advantage to double figures.  Cornell Johnston started the EIU run at the 15:49 mark with a free throw.  Teson scored eight of his 14 points during the run that covered three minutes, four seconds.  Marshawn Blackmon added four points in the run.

Teson’s 3-pointer with 7:18 to play gave the Panthers their biggest lead of the second half with a 64-48 advantage.
The Panthers then went cold over the final portion of the game.  EIU hit two of its last ten shots as SEMO was able to slowly climb back into the game.  Johnston ended EIU’s drought with 38 seconds remaining with a 3-pointer that gave EIU a 69-61 lead.  Johnston finished with nine points, seven assists.

Isiah Jones closed the lead to 69-64 with a 3-pointer with 29.6 remaining.  Jones had 11 points, one of four SEMO players in double figures.

The Panthers missed the front end of two one-and-ones allowing SEMO to stay alive.  Joel Angus III closed the EIU margin to 69-66 with 18 seconds to play.  Angus had a double-double with 13 points, 13 rebounds.

Demetrius McReynolds missed a chance to ice the game with 7.8 seconds but could not convert at the foul line.  Following a missed 3-pointer by SEMO to tie the game, McReynolds pulled down the rebound and made both free throws to give EIU a five point lead.  McReynolds had his second straight double-double for EIU with 19 points, 12 rebounds.

SEMO made a basket as time expired for the final three point difference.  Antonius Cleveland had ten of his 14 points for SEMO in the first half.  Trey Kellum added 11 points.  SEMO fell to 5-23, 2-13 in the OVC.

Trae Anderson had 12 points for EIU.  The Panthers shot 55 percent from the floor in the second half as they improved to 12-16 overall, 8-7 in the OVC.

EIU closes out the regular season on Thursday night hosting Murray State at 8:30 p.m. in Lantz Arena.  The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.

 

UT Martin 68, SIUE 51

Myles Taylor turned in a double-double of 22 points and 13 rebounds Saturday to lead UT Martin to a come-from-behind 68-51 win over SIUE in Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball at the Elam Center.

The loss snapped a two-game win streak for the Cougars, who fell to 6-21 overall and 3-12 in OVC play. The loss officially ended SIUE's chances at a third consecutive OVC Tournament bid. UT Martin improved to 17-12 overall and 9-5 in the OVC. The Skyhawks have won seven straight games and are tied atop the OVC West standings with Murray State.

"We didn't get enough stops," SIUE Head Coach Jon Harris said. "That's the bottom line. I give UT Martin a great deal of credit. That's a tremendous basketball team."

Despite shooting just 37.3 percent (22-59) for the game and 36.4 percent (12-33) for the first half, SIUE took a 29-27 lead into halftime. The Cougars forced eight first-half turnovers by UT Martin and converted those turnovers into nine points.