Bluefield Daily Telegraph, Bluefield, WV

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November 29, 2012

Virginia traps Badgers behind Harris’ 22

Staff Writer Associated Press

MADISON, Wis. — Joe Harris scored 22 points Wednesday night to lead Virginia in a 60-54 win over Wisconsin the Big Ten-ACC Challenge.

Darion Atkins added 14 for the Cavaliers (5-2), while Akil Mitchell added 11.

Ben Brust led Wisconsin (4-3) with 15 points, while Jared Berggren added 12.

For the most part, Virginia took Wisconsin out of its normal game, with a tempo that resembled more of the grind-it-out style that Virginia coach Tony Bennett’s father Dick employed while coaching the Badgers more than a decade ago.

The Badgers averaged 19 free throws a game coming into Wednesday, but didn’t take their first attempt until less than 6 minutes to go. Virginia also outrebounded the Badgers 36-25 and held them to 38 percent shooting from the field as Wisconsin scored almost 22 points below its season average.

Wisconsin also struggled from 3-point range, hitting 8 of 22.

Virginia only trailed for 3 minutes over the second half and led by as many as eight points.

As Wisconsin made a final push at the Cavaliers, Harris was intentionally fouled with just less than a minute left. He converted both free throws to put Virginia up 57-50.

Berggren then slammed home a miss, and Virginia committed a turnover as the Badgers went to a full-court press. Berggren hit a pair of free throws to pull Wisconsin within 57-54 with 34.4 seconds left, and the Badgers fouled Mitchell in the full-court press.

He converted the first, but missed the second.

Wisconsin struggled to get a shot off with Brust finally creating contact on a 3-point attempt with 5 seconds left, but no foul was called. Mitchell then converted two free throws to ice the game.

Wednesday was a homecoming of sorts for Bennett, who starred at Wisconsin-Green Bay in college and served as an assistant for the Badgers, including a stint with coach Bo Ryan.

The game was a rare home nonconference loss for Wisconsin, which dropped to 85-7 in those games under Ryan.

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