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Illinois Rallies Past Wisconsin

Ayo Dosunmu scored a team-high 18 points — including a 3-pointer with 46 seconds left — to rally Illinois to a 71-70 Big Ten Conference victory over Wisconsin.

 

The victory not only gave the Illini (11-5, 3-2) their first league road win of the season, it also snapped a 15-game winning streak against the Badgers that dated to 2011.

 

Freshman 7-footer Kofi Cockburn scored 15 points and reserve guard Alan Griffin added 12, including 4-of-5 shooting from 3-point range.

 

Dosunmu also had six assists.

 

Kobe King scored a game-high 21 points for Wisconsin (9-6, 2-3), which had its four-game winning streak snapped.

 

King drained a 3 with 22 seconds left to pull Wisconsin to 71-70, but when the Badgers got the ball back after a missed free throw by Illinois forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili, D’Mitrik Trice missed a go-ahead bucket with three seconds left.

 

Micah Potter scored 13 points with nine rebounds and two blocks for Wisconsin. Potter, an Ohio State transfer playing in his fourth game since his eligibility began in late December, made all eight of his foul shots.

 

The teams traded the lead 10 times in the first half, until Potter and King collaborated during a 9-1 Wisconsin run — capped by a King 3-pointer — that extended the Badgers’ lead to 28-21 with 3:57 before halftime.

 

King, who was 8-of-11 shooting, delivered eight of the Badgers’ first nine points to open the second half.

 

Illinois pulled within 54-52 with 9:50 left on a dunk by Cockburn, who picked up his fourth foul 17 seconds later.

 

The Badgers maintained a slim lead late in the second half, but didn’t score a basket for nearly two minutes. The Illini tied the game at 63 on back-to-back 3s by Griffin with 3:22 left.

 

The victory marked the first against Wisconsin during Underwood’s five-year tenure, but the head coach said that he was more concerned with attaining a Big Ten road win.

 

Illinois plays Rutgers at home Saturday. The Illini have won three consecutive in the series, including a six-point overtime victory in Champaign last season.

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