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MADISON, Wis. Steve Young 49ers Jersey . -- Eastern Kentucky thrives off creating havoc for others. Colonels coach Jeff Neubauer acknowledged thats not the best plan of attack against No. 4 Wisconsin. Ben Brust scored 20 points and Wisconsin shot a season-best 60 per cent from the field in beating the Colonels 86-61 on Saturday. The Colonels force 18 turnovers a game, including an average of 11 steals. While Wisconsin committed 11 turnovers, two more than its season average, it wasnt nearly enough to offset the Badgers shooting performance, particularly from the free throw line. "Weve been very effective at creating bad decisions by other teams, and today we werent able to do it," Neubauer said. The Badgers (12-0) are off to their best start to a season since 1915-16, when they started 12-0 and finished 20-1. They are in The Associated Press top 5 for only the second time in school history. They now get two weeks off for finals and the holidays before one last tuneup heading into Big Ten play. Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan isnt ready to talk about this seasons team being special but he couldnt help but be impressed at least a little with what the Badgers did by holding Eastern Kentucky to 33 per cent shooting in the first half. "Im telling you, weve got this team on tape, on DVD, and theyre a much better shooting team than this. So youve got to give our guys credit for what they did defensively," Ryan said. Brust said a preseason trip to play in Canada combined with the two extra weeks of practice this year helped the Badgers mould a roster that include contributors across all four classes. "Weve got a lot of pieces, and its coming together nicely. But weve got a lot of work to do," Brust said. The Badgers made a living on free throws and 3-pointers in a game that wasnt close after the opening minutes. Averaging 21 free throws a game coming in, they went 25 of 33 from the free throw line -- led by freshman Nigel Hayes going 13 of 17 -- as the undersized Colonels (7-4) committed 26 fouls. The Badgers finished 9 of 15 from beyond the 3-point line with Brust making five, two short of his school record. Wisconsin used a 10-0 run in the first half featuring two 3-pointers by Brust to take control early and then continued to gradually pull away. The Badgers first got the lead to 20 points with just over 2 minutes left in the first half and to 30 just past midway through the second half on a layup by Hayes. Wisconsin shot a season-best 60 per cent from the field. "At the offensive end, it felt like they made every shot," Neubauer said. Hayes scored a career-high 17 points for the Badgers, while Sam Dekker added 16 and Frank Kaminsky shrugged off a right foot injury that hampered him this week to add 13. Glenn Cosey scored 21 points to lead the Colonels, while Orlando Williams added 13. The Colonels, who start four guards and a forward, started the game at a physical disadvantage that was exacerbated by their early foul trouble. Starting forward Eric Stutz was whistled for his second foul less than 8 minutes into the game. But Neubauer brought him back in after a brief rest only to see him whistled for his third a few minutes later. In all, Eastern Kentucky committed 16 fouls in the first half with three starters whistled for at least two, while reserves Timmy Knipp and Jef Johnson both committed three. Things got marginally better in the second half. But the Colonels were still whistled for 26 fouls overall, though no player ended up fouling out. Brust said the break is coming at a good time for the Badgers, and they can take the next two weeks to take care of school and nagging injuries before facing Prairie View A&M on Dec. 28. They open Big Ten play at Northwestern Jan. 2. "Its good to get time off," he said. Ahmad Brooks . But the left-hander knows that getting to this point -- nearly two years removed from shoulder surgery -- was anything but easy. Ronnie Lott . You watch the game live on TSN at 7pm et/4pm pt or listen live on TSN Radio 690 Montreal. The Canadiens have won three straight and six of their past seven games, pushing them two points ahead of Tampa Bay for second place in the Atlantic Division.DAVOS, Switzerland -- If Canada wants to repeat as Spengler Cup champion, its going to happen the hard way. Andres Ambuhl scored the winning goal late in the third period as host HC Davos beat Canada 3-2 Saturday. Canada falls to 1-1 and must now play the Rochester Americans in a quarter-final on Sunday. If they win that, theyll play a semifinal Monday night for a chance to advance to Tuesdays final, which takes place at noon local time. "It looks like Mount Everest, but you just take it a game at a time and inch your way forward," Canada coach Doug Shedden said. Marcus Paulsson and Peter Guggisberg also scored for Davos, while Mika Noronen made 24 saves. Darren Haydar and Byron Ritchie had Canadas goals. Allen York stopped 20 of 23 shots. It looked like it was going to be a relatively easy win for Davos when Ambuhls goal gave the hosts a 3-1 lead with less than three minutes to go in regulation. But Canada kept up the pressure, and Ritchie made it a one-goal game with less than two minutes to go. Canada pressed for the tying goal but was unable to beat Noronen. Ritchie had a chance at the tying goal with just over a minute left, but he was unable to contain the puck with an open net to shoot at. "Davos is a speedy team. Theyve got all kinds of skiill level," Shedden said. Patrick Willis. "Youre not going to beat them in their rink unless you play 60 minutes and we were a little disappointed in our first half of the game. "We were playing the neutral zone game a bit too much maybe because they are so fast and we were trying to respect their speed, then in the third period we said lets go for it and put the pressure on them and it seemed to pay dividends for us. But a little bit too late." After a scoreless period, Davos used their speed to assert themselves with two goals in the second. Paulsson opened the scoring at 7:19 of the second period, then Guggisberg put Davos up 2-0 at 11:43. Canada made a game of it, with Haydar narrowing the lead to 2-1 4:45 into the third. But after Ambuhl restored Davoss two-goal lead at 17:01, Canada was unable to bridge the gap. Shedden expects a different challenge Sunday from the Americans, who are the Buffalo Sabres American Hockey League affiliate. "Its going to be a more North American style of game," Shedden said. "Youre going to see a lot more of a physical game tomorrow night. Obviously we have a much older team and theyre young up-and-coming stars in the NHL. "The bottom line is weve got to find a way to win." ' ' ' |
