Wisconsin Holds Off Northern Iowa 57-52

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Posted 10:30PM on Friday, March 18, 2005

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- What started as a superb 3-point shooting exhibition for Wisconsin ended with the Badgers just looking for a basket. Luckily, Kammron Taylor found his range before Northern Iowa did. Taylor scored 16 points in a reserve role, including a jumper and four free throws in the final minute, to help the Badgers hold off Northern Iowa for a 57-52 win Friday night. The Panthers, who had a chance to tie eventual Final Four participant Georgia Tech on their final possession in the first round of last year's tournament, rallied from an early 16-point deficit before having another upset bid fall short. Sharif Chambliss hit a season-high five 3-pointers and had 15 points for Wisconsin (23-8), which didn't get its usual output from leading scorers Alando Tucker and Mike Wilkinson. Tucker, who'd been averaging 14.9 points, scored only six and Wilkinson, who'd been averaging 14.3 points, had seven. The Panthers (21-11) cut into Wisconsin's 12-point lead with a run of eight straight points midway through the second half. Ben Jacobson hit a jumper from the left baseline, another from beyond the free throw line and added a free throw before Erik Crawford completed a three-point play with 9:39 left to cut the lead to 40-36. Taylor hit a 3-pointer and Chambliss hit two to keep the Badgers out front, but Jacobson responded with a falling right-handed jumper and a 3-pointer coming off a screen at the top of the key. Chris Foster cut the lead to 51-48 with a 3-pointer from the left wing that rolled all the way around the rim before falling in, but the Panthers failed to score with a chance to tie on any of their next three possessions and Taylor stretched the lead with a jumper. The Badgers had two chances to distance themselves further from the Panthers, but Taylor and Wilkinson both missed the front end of one-and-one situations while Northern Iowa missed five shots in a row. Northern Iowa's Eric Coleman scored on an offensive rebound with 4.4 seconds left to make it 53-50, but Taylor hit four free throws in a row. Jacobson, who led Northern Iowa with 20 points, hit a runner at the final buzzer. Wisconsin scored its first 15 points on 3-pointers and started pulling away with a 14-2 run sparked by Taylor's flurry of seven straight points. Taylor hit a 3-pointer from the left side, a driving layup and a jumper before missing a fast-break layup and falling hard to the floor while going for the rebound. He came out, but the Badgers kept rolling. Chambliss hit his third 3-pointer of the game, Tucker put back his own miss and Andreas Helmigk dropped in a right-handed layup for a 26-10 Wisconsin lead. Jacobson, the Panthers' leading scorer with a 17.8-point average, hit his first basket with 4:21 left in the half and sparked a 12-4 run to pull the Panthers to 30-22 at halftime. Wisconsin, which was 11-for-26 from 3-point range, eclipsed the school's season record for 3-pointers with 228. The previous record was 225 in the 1993-94 season. Crawford finished with 13 points for the Panthers.