Green Bay tops Wisconsin in overtime, 88-84

ASSOCIATED PRESS

GREEN BAY, Wis. — After bringing home perhaps his biggest win since taking over at Wisconsin-Green Bay, coach Tod Kowalczyk settled in for his postgame news conference with a wry smile.

“First thing’s first,” he said. “Does that mean we’re better than Duke?”

Well, maybe not — but at least for a night, the Phoenix can make the case that they’re Wisconsin state champions.

Bryquis Perine scored 22 points, and Troy Cotton hit a key 3-pointer to help Wisconsin-Green Bay beat No. 20 Wisconsin 88-84 in overtime on Wednesday night.

It was a surprising setback for the Badgers, who had just jumped into the rankings with a victory over the Blue Devils last week and hadn’t lost in 15 previous meetings with the in-state rival Phoenix.

“It’s a basketball game,” Badgers coach Bo Ryan said. “You play it, try to learn from it.”

Rahmon Fletcher added 18 points for the Phoenix (9-2), who held off second-half surges by the Badgers and took control in overtime. But Fletcher hurt his knee near the end of regulation and wasn’t able to play the rest of the way.

“I was upset I couldn’t play, but I wasn’t worried we were going to lose,” Fletcher said.

Trevon Hughes scored a career-high 27 points for the Badgers (6-2) but fouled out in overtime.

Wisconsin-Green Bay students swarmed in the middle of the court to celebrate — but left their seats a little too early, as referees were putting a second back on the clock. After returning to their seats in surprisingly orderly fashion, students retook the court to celebrate after the final horn.

No. 5 Purdue 86, Valparaiso 62

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — JaJuan Johnson and E’Twaun Moore each scored 19 points for Purdue.

Moore tied a career high with five 3-pointers for the Boilermakers (8-0), who are off to their best start since the 1993-94 season.

Brandon Wood had 21 points and nine rebounds, and Cory Johnson had 11 points for Valparaiso (3-6).

Purdue shot 53 percent overall and made 10 of 22 3-point attempts. The Boilermakers had 20 assists on 29 field goals.

No. 6 West Virginia 68, Duquesne 39.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Kevin Jones scored 16 points and West Virginia built a big lead early and manhandled Duquesne 68-39 on Wednesday night.

Wellington Smith added 11 points and Da’Sean Butler scored 10 for the Mountaineers (6-0).

No. 1 Kansas 99, Radford 64

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Cole Aldrich had 15 points and nine rebounds for Kansas.

Kansas (8-0) negated burly Radford center Art Parakhouski with double teams in the first half and hounded the rest of the Highlanders into poor shooting for its sixth win of at least 30 points this season.

Sherron Collins had 15 points and eight assists, and Xavier Henry added 13 points to help the Jayhawks extend the nation’s longest home winning streak to 47 games.