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Wisconsin Tops Northwestern To Clinch Big Ten Title

Saturday, March 8, 2008

(Sports Network) - Brian Butch compiled a double-double with 20 points and 14 rebounds, as Wisconsin clinched the regular-season Big Ten championship with a 65-52 victory over Northwestern at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Jason Bohannon added 15 points and Marcus Landry donated 12 for the Badgers (26-4, 16-2 Big Ten), who claimed the top seed for next week's Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis. Wisconsin heads into the postseason with seven straight victories.

"To win it outright is nice because then it eliminates some of the conversation from this part of the season," said Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan. "You always talk about how now it goes into the second season, which is the post-season tournament. But the first season's over, and there's one team that stands alone and it's the team in that locker room. That feels pretty good."

Kevin Coble led Northwestern (8-21, 1-17) with 17 points and Michael Thompson scored 13 points. Craig Moore added 11 for the Wildcats, who have now lost three straight and 10 of 11 overall.

"Mike (Thompson) is a freshman; he's had some good games, he's had some in- between games, and some games where he wasn't really a factor," said Northwestern head coach Bill Carmody. "He had three or four turnovers out there tonight that surprised me a little bit. But he's a good player and he'll run the team for us. I think he has progressed, his shooing is much better now."

The Badgers clinched the regular-season title with a workmanlike, methodical effort on both ends of the floor. Wisconsin took a 29-20 edge into the locker room, but a 10-0 stretch early in the second half put the game out of reach.

After a pair of free throws by Northwestern's Nikola Baran cut the deficit to 37-29, Landry drained a three-pointer and finished off a fastbreak with a layup off a Michael Flowers steal. He buried another three and Flowers' two free throws capped the stretch with 10:43 on the clock.

Flowers drained a three moments later for a 50-31 advantage, and the lead was again 19 points at 63-44 on Bohannon's two from the charity stripe with 3:40 to go.

Coupled with Bohannon's other two free throws with 11 seconds left, Wisconsin scored just four points and made no field goals over the final four minutes. The Wildcats, however, were too far behind to make the Badgers pay.

Game Notes

Wisconsin leads the all-time series 106-60...The Wildcats shot 40.8 percent from the floor and 6-of-17 from beyond the arc...The Badgers owned the backboards to the tune of 38-21 and shot 48.9 percent from the floor.

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