Nov. 23, 2002

Box Score

MADISON, Wis. - Guard Devin Harris scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, leading Wisconsin to an 83-72 victory over UWM Saturday night at the Kohl Center.

The Badgers (3-0) held off a late rally by the Panthers (0-1), who trailed by 20 points with 10:14 remaining but went on a 25-10 run to get within five points with just over three minutes remaining.

Clay Tucker led the Panthers with 18 points, while Nate Mielke added a career-high 14 points, Dylan Page pitched in with 12 and Ronnie Jones had 11.

The Badgers also got 17 points from Freddie Owens, 15 from Kirk Penney, 13 from Alando Tucker and 10 from Mike Wilkinson.

Wisconsin opened the second half with a 15-6 run, using 3-pointers by Tucker and Penney and three free throws by Harris to take a 52-32 lead with 15:45 remaining.

Two turnovers in seven seconds by Wilkinson led to four quick points for the Panthers, making it 68-53 with 5:30 left.

A 3-pointer by Ronnie Jones at the 4:25 mark cut the lead to 70-58, and senior Clay Tucker hit two consecutive 3-pointers for the Panthers before the Badgers regained control.

"We learned a great deal," UWM head coach Bruce Pearl said. "It took us a while to get going, but we certainly showed some character in the second half."

The Badgers shot 50 percent from the floor in the first half, led by 12 points by Owens. Harris gave Wisconsin an early 12-6 advantage with 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions.

Owens then scored seven of Wisconsin's next nine points, giving the Badgers a 23-12 lead with 7:52 left in the half.

The Panthers fired back with eight consecutive points from senior guard Jason Frederick to cut the lead to 23-20.

Kirk Penney scored seven points in the final 5:30 of the first half to give the Badgers a 37-26 advantage at the break.

"We just couldn't get them to speed up," Pearl said. "They had those Big 10 bodies and they were just more physical."

Tucker led the Panthers in scoring but made just 7-of-20 shots from the field, including 2-of-10 from three-point range.

"Clay forced it a little bit, but he's entitled to do that because he's our best player," Pearl said. "Clay's an excellent three-point shooter and when he got going he was awfully dangerous out there."

The Panthers return to action Tuesday at 7 p.m., playing their home opener against Mississippi Valley State.