December 12 – Madison, WI (Sports Network) – Jon Leuer posted 24 points and 12 rebounds, as 20th-ranked Wisconsin held off Marquette, 72-63, at Kohl Center.
No. 20 Wisconsin 72, Marquette 63: Jon Leuer Leads Badgers To Big In-State Win
Jordan Taylor and Trevon Hughes each contributed 13 points for the Badgers (7-2), who rebounded nicely from an overtime loss to Wisconsin-Green Bay on Wednesday.
Lazar Hayward’s 21 points weren’t enough for the Golden Eagles (7-3), who have dropped three of four since beginning the year with six straight wins. Darius Johnson-Odom posted 13 points in a losing cause.
Rob Wilson’s three put Wisconsin up 52-40 almost five minutes into the second half, but Marquette roared back with nine in a row and finished an 11-2 run after Maurice Acker’s layup with 9:09 to play brought the visitors within 54-51.
The Badgers countered with an 11-3 burst, going ahead 65-54 with 4:50 remaining. Leuer posted the final four points of the string on two free throws and a jumper.
After several misses on both sides over the next minute-plus, Marquette got scored seven in a row. Hayward posted four points and Acker finished the spurt with a long three and it was 65-61 with 2:12 to go.
However, the visitors were forced to foul and Wisconsin drained 7-of-10 attempts from the charity stripe to ice the game.
Wisconsin came out firing, opening up a 13-3 edge five minutes in thanks to seven points from Leuer. Ryan Evans’ jumper inside eight minutes left in first half made it 29-14, and two Tim Jarmusz free throws extended the edge to 31-14 before Marquette clawed back.
Johnson-Odom hit three treys during the run and Jeronne Maymon hit a jumper but missed the free throw and the Eagles were within 36-31. The Badgers hit two buckets late to take a nine-point edge to the break.
Wisconsin committed just seven turnovers and shot 58.3 percent in the first half en route to victory, while Marquette turned the ball over 13 times and shot 41.2 percent for the contest…Marquette had won the previous two meetings but Wisconsin leads the all-time series 63-53.
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