Willkommen » Phoenix a 48-45 lead with 3:32 left in the half. But

Madison, WI (SportsNetwork.com) - With a spot in the Big Ten Conference Championship Game on the line, the 22nd-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers and 14th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers meet in the regular season finale on Saturday afternoon. The winner of his bout will play in the leagues title tilt as the West Divisions representative. East Division champion Ohio State has already secured its place. Minnesota has quietly made a name for itself this season, as coach Jerry Kills club sprinted out to an 8-3 record, and with its 5-2 league ledger, is just a game back of the Badgers, who come in at 9-2 overall and 6-1 in conference. With wins over Michigan, Northwestern and Purdue to open conference play, the Golden Gophers were high on the fact that they could actually challenge for the division title, but losses in their next three games raised some doubt. Fortunately, UM responded by battling back to knock off nationally-ranked Nebraska, on the road no less, last Saturday, 28-24, to set up this weeks showdown with Wisconsin. The Badgers have enjoyed another stellar campaign, but they put themselves in this precarious position after suffering a 20-14 loss at Northwestern back on Oct. 4. They bounced back to post six straight victories, with the latest being a 26-24 decision at Iowa last Saturday. With a win in this contest, Wisconsin will play in the Big Ten Championship Game for the third time since its inception in 2011. The Badgers won the first two in defeating Michigan State (42-39, 2011) and Nebraska (70-31, 2012), respectively. Minnesota leads the all-time series with Wisconsin, 59-56-8, but the Badgers have closed the gap by winning the last 10 meetings, including a 20-7 decision in Minneapolis last season. This game boasts a pair of punishing rushing attacks, although Wisconsins has certainly been more productive. Still, the Gophers have a talented back on which to rely, as David Cobb has picked up 1,430 yards while scoring 12 TDs in helping the team average 228.9 ypg on the ground. With Cobb handling much of the heavy lifting, QB Mitch Leidner (1,445 yards, 10 TDs, eight INTs) hasnt had to do a whole lot, other than run the offense as efficiently as possible. Maxx Williams is the leading receiver, but with only 28 grabs for 418 yards, although he has caught seven TD passes. As for the Minnesota defense, it has performed admirably in permitting just 22.5 ppg, which ties it with Ohio State for the fifth-lowest scoring yield on average in the Big Ten. The Gophers are among the league leaders in turnover margin (+11). Damien Wilson is the teams top tackler with 103, which is 35 more than his closest teammate. Leidner simply wouldnt led the Golden Gophers quit last weekend at Nebraska. Trailing 21-7 at halftime, the visitors stormed back to earn the thrilling victory, as UMs signal caller rushed for a game-high 111 yards and two TDs. His passing exploits (8-of-17, 135 yards, two sacks) left quite a bit to be desired, but with the ground game doing its thing, he didnt need to air it out much. Cobb generated 80 yards and a score on 15 carries before exiting with a hamstring injury, while Williams and KJ Maye combined for five catches and 95 yards. The Minnesota defense did a solid job of keeping Nebraskas Ameer Abdullah from single-handedly taking control of the game as it held the talented RB to 98 yards and a TD on 20 totes. In all, the Cornhuskers finished with 397 total yards, but lost a pair of fumbles, suffered four sacks and lost the time of possession battle by nearly 10 minutes. DeVondre Campbell paced the Gophers with 11 tackles. Coach Kill praised the attitude his team displayed as last weeks game wore on, and how it was a reflection of the spirit in which the Gophers have attacked the season. They are mentally tough, we talk about mental toughness throughout the season and to be physically tough. Today our kids were mentally tough and just hung in there and played hard. The nations leading rusher wears a Wisconsin uniform, as Melvin Gordon has enjoyed a record-setting campaign. Gordon, a bona fide Heisman contender, set the new FBS single-game rushing record on Nov. 15 against Nebraska with 408 yards, but that benchmark lasted all of one week, as Oklahoma freshman Samaje Perine topped it by 19 yards last Saturday against Kansas. While Gordon is disappointed to lose the record so soon, he wont let it deter him from the task at hand. In fact, he followed his record-setting performance with another outstanding effort in last Saturdays narrow win at Iowa, as he rushed for 200 yards and a pair of TDs to become the 17th player in FBS history to reach 2,000 rushing yards in a season. He reached the mark faster than anyone in FBS history, doing so on 241 carries, and his effort also tied former UW star Ron Daynes Big Ten single-season rushing record (2,109 yards). Wisconsin almost blew a 16-point lead to the Hawkeyes, but with Gordon towing the line, it held on for the narrow win. The yardage totals in the game were almost dead even (405 for UW, 412 for UI), but of course the rushing yards were skewed heavily in favor of the visitors (266-101). Joel Stave was efficient in hitting 11-of-14 passes for 139 yards, but he is rarely asked to do more than steer the ship, so to speak. The UW passing attack is an afterthought for the most part, as it accounts for only 141.7 ypg. Stave and Tanner McEvoy have taken the majority of the snaps, combining for just over 1,500 yards, 11 TDs and 10 INTs. Alex Erickson leads the receivers with 39 catches for 491 yards, and he has three TD receptions. With pass plays being few and far between, its no wonder Wisconsin leads the league in fewest sacks allowed (eight). The Badgers rank second nationally in scoring defense (16.1 ppg) and third in total defense (259.3 ypg). Their effort against the run yields fewer than 100 yards per contest, while they lead the Big Ten in pass defense (162.2 ypg). Michael Caputo heads the team in tackles with 81, and he recorded 11 stops, both forced and recovered a fumble, and broke up a pass against Iowa. Like Kill for Minnesota, Wisconsin head coach Gary Andersen heaped praise on his team for standing tall in the face of some adversity last weekend. Im so proud of these kids and the way they kept fighting. All three phases contributed which was great to see, but just the fight when things dont go your way you have a lead that you feel pretty good about and all of a sudden its right back in. Air Jordan 4 Cheap Sale . Alen, 28, hit .315 with five home runs, 59 RBI and a career-high nine stolen bases for the Goldeyes last season. He is the longest serving catcher in Goldeyes history, having already spent five seasons with the organization. Cheap Air Jordan 4 . That assertion is getting harder and harder to make, especially given the way 23-year-old Danilo Gallinari has been playing this season. http://www.airjordan4uk.com/ . Gonzalez participated in his final game on Sunday, Atlantas 21-20 defeat at the hands of the NFC South champion Carolina Panthers, having posted four catches for 46 yards. Air Jordan 4 Wholesale . Jeter doubled high off the left-field wall and scored on Jacoby Ellsburys first hit in pinstripes in the fifth. Hiroki Kuroda (1-1) pitched 6 1-3 sharp innings in the Yankees 112th opener in New York. In what manager Joe Girardi said would be a season-long lovefest for Jeter, the shortstop was cheered every step of the way by an adoring crowd of 48, 142 -- even when his double-play grounder back to Orioles starter Ubaldo Jimenez (0-2) scored Solarte in the third inning for the first run. Air Jordan 4 Uk Online . Catch all the action on TSN2 and TSN GO at 9pm et/6pm pt. San Antonio took the series lead Monday night with a 122-105 home victory in Game 1. The Spurs used a balanced scoring attack and clamped down defensively late in the third quarter to claim the win.PHOENIX - Patrick Beverley sank the go-ahead 3-pointer with 34.3 seconds to play and the Houston Rockets escaped with 115-112 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night. Dwight Howard scored 25, James Harden 23 and Beverley 20 for the Rockets, who trailed by 10 entering the fourth quarter. Goran Dragic scored a career-high 35 for the Suns, but missed what would have been the game-tying 3 at the buzzer. Gerald Green added 23, 18 in the third quarter, and Markieff Morris 21 for Phoenix. Beverley, who scored 12 in the fourth, made two free throws that boosted Houstons lead to 113-110 with 20 seconds to go before Dragic scored on a layup to cut it to 113-112 with 14.7 seconds to play. Donatas Motiejunas sank two free throws with 14.1 seconds left to put Houston up 115-112. Phoenixs last lead was 110-108 on Morris driving layup with 47.3 seconds remaining. The Rockets scored four points in one possession when Marcus Morris was called for a questionable clear-path foul against Chandler Parsons with 6:16 to play. Parsons made both free throws, then Harden sank a 19-footer to cut the Suns lead to 98-96 with 5:54 to play. Houston tied the game three times before Beverleys big shot put Houston up for good. The Rockets dominated inside with a 64-42 advantage in points in the paint. Dragic made 10 shots in a row, half of them 3s, from the first quarter until he missed a long 3 midway through the third. He had 19 points on 7-for-7 shooting in the second quarter to help Phoenix erase Houstons 17-point lead, but Howard returned to the game and the Rockets were up 60-56 at the breeak.dddddddddddd Phoenix used a 12-1 run to go up 77-70 on P.J. Tuckers steal and breakaway dunk with 5:16 left in the third quarter. Chandler Parsons rebound basket cut it to 88-83 with 35 seconds left in the quarter, but Miles Plumlee scored on a rebound, then Green banked in a 28-footer just before the buzzer to put the Suns up 93-83 entering the fourth. Early on, it was all Rockets. Omer Asiks three-point play gave Houston its biggest lead 37-19 with 9:55 left in the half. The Suns outscored the Rockets 26-8 over the next six minutes, consecutive 3s by Dragic giving Phoenix a 48-45 lead with 3:32 left in the half. But Howard came back from a brief rest and scored the first five in an 11-0 spurt that put the Rockets up 56-48 with 1:57 to play in the half. Dragic, though, sank two more 3s to help cut the lead to six at halftime. Dragic scored 25 in the first half on 10-of-12 shooting. He missed his first 3-pointer, then made the other five in the first half. Howard had 18 points and seven rebounds in the half. NOTES: Dragic has seven games of at least 30 points this season. ... Howard had 34 points and 14 rebounds in the Rockets 122-108 win over Phoenix on Feb. 5. ... Phoenixs 40 points was the most for a Rockets opponent in the second quarter this season and matched the most by the Suns. ... Houston won the season series 2-1. ... The Suns were without Leandro Barbosa for the second game in a row with a sprained toe. ... Ex-Sun and current Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson appeared at halftime to commemorate his baseline dunk over Houstons Hakeem Olajuwon 20 years ago. ' ' '