WVU Falls to No. 10 Wisconsin 70-63 in Cancun Championship

With 10:16 left to go in the Cancun Challenge Championship, West Virginia forward Remi Dibo hit a three pointer from the left wing cutting the Wisconsin Badger lead to 50-46.

But that four point separation would be as close as WVU would get on Wednesday Night in Cancun. No. 10 Wisconsin defeated WVU 70-63 to win the tournament.

The Badgers would close out the game down the stretch and seal the Cancun Challenge Title by hitting a big shot every time the Mountaineers got within striking distance.

At the 5:20 mark, WVU guard Eron Harris got a steal, that lead to an easy Gary Browne layup. That put down 56-51, just down five points. But right after that, Wisconsin got a big three-point shot from Sam Dekker, to put Wisconsin up by eight points.

After that Harris got fouled at the four minute spot. He hit both free throws cutting the Badger lead to just four points, but following those free throws, Wisconsin got an explosive dunk Frank Kamisky on a pretty, no-look pass from Traveon Jackson. That gave Wisconsin a 61-55 lead with 3:40 to play in the game.

Dekker hit two more three-pointers down the stretch. Dekker finished with a double-double to lead Bo Ryan's Badgers. Dekker scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

His teammate, Ben Brust added 16 for Wisconsin.

Wisconsin also hit 15 of 17 free throws to win the game, as opposed to WVU's free throw shooting woes, hitting just 6 of 14 from the line.

In the first half, Wisconsin used a 16-0 lead midway through the first half to build a lead as large as fifteen. That lead just proved to be too much for WVU to overcome despite the strong comeback effort.

West Virginia would climb back into the game going on a 10-2 to run during the latter part of the first half.

Harris led the Mountaineers 27 points, hitting a career high seven-three point shots. His backcourt mate, Juwan Staten continued his hot streak shooting seven of thirteen from the field, finishing with 18 points. Staten also added 6 rebounds and 5 assists.

Also for WVU, Dibo score 9 points and Browne added 7 points.

No. 10 Wisconsin improves to 8-0 while WVU falls to 5-2. WVU will return to the court on December 2 to face Loyola at the Coliseum.