Wisconsin pulls out an overtime win in a barnburner with state rival Marquette

The Marquette-Wisconsin men’s basketball rivalry always delivers high drama.

It happened again on Saturday at Fiserv Forum.

In a tension-packed and physical game in front of a sellout crowd of 17,760 fans, the Badgers survived with an 80-77 victory in overtime.

Chucky Hepburn scored 19 points and had the assist to Max Klesmit on the winning basket late in overtime for UW (6-2).

Kam Jones had 23 points to lead the Golden Eagles (6-3), who were coming off a rout of No. 6 Baylor on Tuesday.

Box score: Wisconsin 80, Marquette 77 (overtime)

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Chucky Hepburn gets Wisconsin off to a scorching start

UW started hot, shooting 8 for 11, including 3 of 5 on three-pointers, to grab a 19-13 lead. Hepburn made all three of his attempts for seven points in the first seven minutes.

MU closed the gap to 23-20 after Chase Ross turned a turnover into a three-pointer and Oso Ighodaro found Stevie Mitchell on a nice pass for a layup.

A few minutes later, Jones tied the game on a deep triple.

UW’s Steven Crowl ended the 8-0 run with a three-point play after dunking on Ighodaro.

Hepburn came back in the game firing and his third three-pointer of the half gave the Badgers a 35-28 lead. Tyler Wahl added another triple on the Badgers’ next possession to make it 38-30.

Hepburn then made a deep three in the waning seconds of the first half to put UW up, 41-30, at the break

Hepburn had 11 points on 6-for-6 shooting in the first half. Wahl was also perfect on his three shots and had 11 points as well.

But Hepburn went out of the game on UW’s first possession of the second half. The Badgers still went up, 46-30, but MU started chipping away. Hepburn returned with just under seven minutes left in game.

Marquette chips away at lead in the second half

The Golden Eagles got within 53-48 when Jones hit a layup with just over 12 minutes remaining. Then it was 58-55 when Olivier-Maxence Prosper powered home a layup.

MU finally closed the gap to 63-61 when David Joplin hit a layup, but UW answered with two free throws by Klesmit and a layup from Wahl.

After Prosper hit two free throws to get MU within 67-66 with 4:54 left, the Badgers had four offensive rebounds but couldn’t convert and MU’s Jones tied up with ball to gain possession.

But MU couldn’t go ahead. First Ighodaro missed two free throws and then Prosper missed a three in the corner.

The Golden Eagles finally regained the lead when Tyler Kolek got a steal and fed Mitchell for a fast-break layup.

UW called timeout with just over one minute remaining, and then Hepburn hit a deep three-pointer over the outstretched arm of Ighodaro for a 70-68 advantage.

It was MU’s turn to call timeout with 46.8 seconds on the clock. Ighodaro tied the game with a monster slam.

Hepburn missed a three-pointer at the end of regulation.

Jordan Davis, Tyler Wahl give Wisconsin early advantage in OT before Max Klesmit has game-winner

Jordan Davis gave UW a 75-72 lead on a three-pointer with just over two minutes left in the extra period and, after a miss by MU’s Kolek, Wahl dropped in a layup.

But Prosper sank two free throws and then MU had a strong defensive stand, then Jones knocked in a step-back three-pointer to tie the game up at 77-77.

With 3.5 seconds left, Hepburn looked bottled up but then hit Klesmit in the paint for a short jumper.

A wayward inbound pass from Kolek gave the ball back to UW and Wahl was fouled. He hit 1 of 2 free throws.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin beats Marquette in overtime 80-77 at Fiserv Forum