Badgers Pilfer Panthers' Pocket
December 27, 2001 | Men's Basketball
Freshman Devin Harris intercepted a pass with less than ten seconds remaining and scored the winning layup, giving the Wisconsin men's basketball team a 81-79 victory over the UW-Milwaukee Panthers Thursday night at the Klotsche Center in Milwaukee. The Badgers scored the final seven points of the game to win their third straight and improve to 6-6 on the year.
The Badgers survived a Panther comeback, a physical game, UWM 's full-court press and a last-second shot to come away victorious in coach Bo Ryan's return to UW-Milwaukee.
Wisconsin held a double-digit lead throughout most of the game, but when UWM sophomore James Wright went down with a leg injury with ten minutes to play in the game, UW's ten-point lead, 61-51, quickly dissolved. UWM's Clay Tucker exploded in the final ten minutes of play and two straight old-fashioned three-point plays from Tucker pulled UWM within two points. UW sophomore Freddie Owens answered Tucker in the second half, scoring 16 of his 18 total points in the final 20 minutes.
With less than three minutes to play, UWM took its first lead of the game at 76-74 on a three-pointer by Dan Weisse. Seconds later, Weisse increased the Panther lead with another bucket from beyond the arc, but the Badgers battled back and junior Kirk Penney tied the game at 79-79 with a trey of his own with 1:11 remaining. After a Panther timeout with 14 seconds remaining, Weisse brought the ball down for a final shot, but Harris anticipated his pass.
The Badgers held large leads throughout the game, but the Panthers had scoring spurts to keep it close, which made for the dramatic finish. The Badgers built a 13-point lead in the first half, but eight minutes into the game, UWM put together a 10-2 run to pull within four at 21-16. While the Panthers found their shot, the Badgers lost theirs, as UW did not make a field goal during a five-minute time span.
Later in the first half, Penney led an 11-0 run to give the Badgers another large lead at 34-19 and UW took its largest lead of the game at 37-21. The Panthers entered halftime down by twelve, 39-27, and kicked off the second half with a five-point run to pull within seven. But the play and inside penetration of Owens helped the Badgers to a 55-41 lead. UW-Milwaukee did not back down and pulled within eight on a Weisse three-pointer before Wright went down in the paint and the Panther surge began.
The Badgers took advantage of free throws to capture the win over UWM, hitting 24 of 27 shots from the charity stripe. The Panthers tallied 10 of 15 from the line. Penney sank 11 free throws, a career high, and registered a double-double with 29 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Senior Travon Davis tied his career-high with 14 points and added six assists and five rebounds.
Wisconsin concludes its non-conference season Saturday, Dec. 29 at the Kohl Center when it faces Tennessee at 1 p.m.
