MADISON, Wis. (Nov. 4, 2007) – The University of Wisconsin men’s basketball team played a dominant first half as they cruised to a 77-48 victory over Edgewood College, Sunday night at the Kohl Center. The Eagles would keep it close in the second half as the Badgers only outscored them 35-31. Three Eagle players scored in double figures on the night. Despite their geographical proximity, it was the first time the two Madison schools have ever played each other.
Charlie Averkamp (New Berlin, Wis.) started out hot, draining a three to give the Eagles an early 3-0 advantage. The Badgers would respond however, going on a 28-2 run that included the Eagles going over ten minutes without a field goal, shooting 0 for 10 from the field. Edgewood College would finish off the first half strong, outscoring the Badgers 4-3 in the last two minutes, thanks to Brian Donais (Milwaukee, Wis.) who scored all four points after getting fouled while sinking a three point basket. The Badgers went into the locker room with a commanding 42-17 lead. The Eagles shot just 28.6% in the first half to the Badgers 56.3%.
The Badgers came out in the second half red hot going on a 14-2 run that included a stretch of 10 straight points for the Badgers to push the lead to a game high 41 points. The Eagles would respond ending the Badgers scoring run and taking their own 5-0 run to close the gap to 63-27. Donais would catch fire midway thru the second half as he lit up the Badgers scoring back-to-back-to-back three pointers, helping the Eagles go on an 11-2 run and closing the gap to 69-41, cutting the Badgers lead down to only 28. Chris DeMarco (Appleton, Wis.) would overcome a slow first half start to join Averkamp and Donais as one of the three Edgewood College players scoring over ten points in the game. Chris DeMarco scored nine second half points to lead the Eagles in scoring with 14 points. Brian Donais, who went 4 for 5 from beyond the arc, finished with 13 points. Charlie Averkamp led the team in rebounding, grabbing 7 boards on the night and contributed 10 points. Wisconsin’s Jon Leuer led both teams in scoring with 15. The Badgers finished the game with only a 36-30 rebounding edge over Edgewood College.
The game was a good barometer for the Eagles on how they stack up against a top notch Division I opponent. Todd Adrian commented after the game “I was proud of the guys; I challenged them in the locker room at halftime to come out and play Edgewood College basketball and I think we did a much better job of doing that.”
It was the second straight year that Edgewood College has opened the season with an exhibition game versus a Division I school. Last year the Eagles took on the UW-Milwaukee Panthers of the Horizon League. The Eagles trailed by only three at halftime in last year’s game, before losing 77-53 to the Panthers. The Eagles will begin the regular season on Friday November 16 against Maryville University at the Pioneer Tip-Off Classic hosted by UW-Platteville. Game-time is at 5 p.m. The game will be webcasted live on www.EdgewoodCollegeEagles.com. Webcasted games are available 30 minutes before tip-off with the Eagles pre-game show.
Summary by Mark Albanese, Sports Information
