Badgers blow by UW-Milwaukee

MADISON - Ryan Evans scored a season-high 19 points, Ben Brust opened and closed a 17-1 first-half run with 3-pointers and Wisconsin routed Milwaukee 74-53 on Saturday night at the Kohl Center.
    
Traevon Jackson added a career-best 13 points and Jared Berggren had 11 as Wisconsin (8-4) beat its state rivals for the 20th consecutive season and improved to 29-1 in the teams' all-time series.
    
Milwaukee (3-10) got out to an early 10-8 lead behind Paris Gulley's seven points, but Brust gave the Badgers the lead with his first 3-pointer 6:15 in, and his second put his team up 25-11 with 9:40 left in the first half.
    
Gulley had 16 points to lead the Panthers, which have lost nine of 10 and four in a row.
    
After Jordan Aaron scored on a driving layup - the Panthers' first basket in nearly 6 minutes - Evans led the way as Wisconsin extended its lead.
    
He had six straight points and 11 overall as the Badgers closed out the first half with what proved to be a 33-8 surge. Berggren had a dunk just 9 seconds into the second half and Jackson followed with a jumper as Wisconsin pushed the advantage to 45-18.
    
Evans shot 8 for 16 from the floor, matched Berggren for the team lead with seven rebounds and made 3 of 4 free throws - an encouraging sign for the senior, who came in 14 of 44, or 31.8 percent, from the line on the season.
    
Another bright spot for the home team was the return of Mike Bruesewitz.
    
The high-energy senior missed the past two games due to a concussion suffered in practice Dec. 6, but was cleared to play and came off the bench at the first timeout. He had a quiet night with eight points and five rebounds in 26 minutes - two of his baskets came in the final 95 seconds.
    
Freshman J.J. Panoske, from nearby Brodhead, hit three 3-pointers and scored a career-high 13 points off the bench for Milwaukee, which shot a season-best 44 percent from the field. Aaron, the Panthers' leading scorer at 14.8 points per game, was held to seven on 3-for-13 shooting.
    
Milwaukee's lone win over Wisconsin came 20 years and 10 days earlier, a 77-72 victory on Dec. 12, 1992.