Box Score MADISON, Wisconsin – McNeese's Sha'Markus Kennedy scored 18 of his game-high 20 points in the first half as the Cowboys battled Wisconsin toe-to-toe in the first 20 minutes, but the Badgers caught fire from 3-point range in the second half and pulled away for an 83-63 win over McNeese on Wednesday night.
 
McNeese fell to 1-3 on the season and will next play at New Mexico on Saturday at 5 p.m. (CT) while Wisconsin improved to 2-1.
 
The Cowboys opened up the game on a 6-0 run and only trailed 37-34 at the half before the Badgers, who hit just 3 of 13 from long range in the first half, sank 7 of 15 in the second 20 minutes and at one point, made 6 of their first 7 from behind the arc.
 
Four Wisconsin scored in double-figures, led by Brad Davison's 24 points behind 7 of 8 shooting, including 3 for 4 from three-point range.
 
The two teams traded baskets in the first three minutes of the second half as the three-point shot kept the Cowboys within range after a couple of treys by Dru Kuxhausen and Trey Johnson that had McNeese down just 56-49 with 14:53 to play.
 
Kuxhausen, who was coming off a 23-point outing against SUNO on Monday night, scored nine points on 3 of 6 shooting from three-point range while A.J. Lawson would be the only other McNeese player to score in double-digits with 10 points on 4 of 6 shooting.
 
But Wisconsin followed with an 8-0 run to build a 64-49 lead following a Brevin Pritzl three at the 12:22 mark.
 
McNeese's Chris Orlina snapped the run with a three of his own to pull the Cowboys to within 64-52 but Wisconsin answered with an 11-0 run to go up 75-52 with 7:11 mark while the Cowboys were held scoreless for a span of 5:15 during that run.
 
Sam Baker, who finished with three points, ended the drought with a 3 at the 6:41 mark to make it a 20-point deficit. Wisconsin led 82-57 with 3:09 to play before McNeese ended the game on a 6-1 run.
 
McNeese scored the first six points of the game and built a 10-2 lead early on before Wisconsin started hitting shots while McNeese went nearly four minutes without a point.
 
The Badgers took their first lead of the game at 21-20 following a couple of Davison free throws with 6:06 to play in the half but Kennedy gave McNeese the lead right back with two freebies at the 5:56 mark.
 
The final 5:56 of the half saw three ties and nine lead changes.
 
Kennedy had an emphatic two-handed dunk at the 2:00 mark to put McNeese up 29-28 but Davison came back with a 3 to give the Badgers a 31-29 lead with 1:39 to play.
 
Wisconsin went up 33-31 after a Tyler Wahl layup with 1:01 to play but Kuxhausen nailed a three-pointer from about 35 feet out to put McNeese up 34-33 with 46 seconds to play.
 
The Badgers scored the final four points of the half to take a 37-34 lead into the break.
 
McNeese hit 21 of 45 from the field for 46.7 percent and was 8 of 21 from 3-point range for 38.1 percent. The Cowboys also knocked down 13 of 17 from the free throw line for 76.5 percent.
 
Wisconsin shot 29 of 55 for 52.7 percent for the game and hit 17 of 28 for 60.7 percent in the second half. The Badgers hit 10 of 28 for 35.7 percent from behind the three-point line and were 15 of 18 for 83.3 percent in free throws.
 
The Badgers held a 28-24 advantage in rebounds while forcing McNeese into 18 turnovers, scoring 30 points off those turnovers.