Gophers knock off No. 14 Wisconsin

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Blake Hoffarber had 16 points and nine rebounds to lead inspired Minnesota to a 68-52 victory over No. 14 Wisconsin on Thursday night, putting a big dent in the Badgers’ Big Ten title bid.

Trevon Hughes scored 19 points and Jason Bohannon added 18 for Wisconsin (19-7, 9-5), which went almost 8 minutes without scoring down the stretch and was outrebounded 41-28 for the game.

Junior forward Jon Leuer returned from a broken left wrist that kept him out of the last nine games, but he shot just 2 of 12 and finished with four points. Ralph Sampson III’s defense had a hand in that for Minnesota (15-10, 6-7), adding 10 points and eight rebounds.

The Badgers exploited the Gophers’ transparent perimeter defense as most teams in the conference have, but their usual dominant defense was missing some fire. They are still a lock for the NCAA tournament.

Hoffarber, the nation’s leading 3-point shooter, wasn’t just camping out behind the circle as he sometimes does. He ran off screens and flashed to the lane a few times, too.

Bohannon, coming off a career-high 30-point game against Indiana, knocked down two 3-pointers midway through the second half and got the Badgers within 45-42.

They didn’t score again until a 3-pointer by Hughes with less than 2 minutes left. The drought included three misses on one possession that ended with a huge rebound by the 6-foot-4 Hoffarber.

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