Brust, Badgers crush Cornell
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Ben Brust had 18 points and 12 rebounds as No. 22 Wisconsin took a 73-40 win over Cornell in the Las Vegas Invitational.
"I like the way he plays. He plays hard," Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan said about Brust. "He's just a gamer. He goes all out."
Jared Berggren posted 18 points and seven rebounds, while Ryan Evans had 12 points and 10 rebounds for the Badgers (2-1), who bounced back from a loss to Florida on Wednesday.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Devin Cherry scored 13 points and was the only player in double-digits for the Big Red (1-3), who have dropped three straight after opening the season with a win over Western Michigan.
"They're just a heck of a defensive ball club. They don't allow you to get anything around the basket, and obviously they moved the ball very well tonight and made 3-point shots when they needed to," Cornell coach Bill Courtney said about Wisconsin.
This game was never really close as Wisconsin scored 14 of the first 16 points and held a 14-2 advantage after Traevon Jackson made a jumper just over seven minutes in.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Badgers posted a 9-0 run a bit later and that helped the team take a 42-24 lead into the halftime break.
A Cherry 3-pointer less than five minutes into the half saw Cornell down 17 at 50-33, but the Badgers scored the next six points to spark a 12-3 run with two free throws from Evans making it a 62-36 game with nine minutes to play and Wisconsin cruised from there.
Game Notes
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Cornell fell to 5-67 all-time against ranked opponents ... Wisconsin shot 40.3 percent, while Cornell made just 26.2 percent of its shots ... Wisconsin controlled the boards, 54-31.