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• "They shoot the ball really well, and it's tough," St. John's coach Steve Lavin said. "They put you in a pick-your-poison situation. If you stretch out behind the 3-point line they pound you inside."
• Wisconsin shot better from 3-point range (11 of 23) than it did from inside the arc (14 of 32).
• Returning starting guards Ben Brust and Traevon Jackson finished with 15 and 13 points, respectively. Forward Sam Dekker, a member of the Big Ten all-freshman team last season, had 16 points and seven rebounds.
• However, the most significant offensive contributions came from two guys that weren't in the mix last season. Junior reserve Duje Dukan put up 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting and had five rebounds in 21 minutes. He totaled 11 points in his first two seasons.
• Gasser, a junior, was 4 of 7 from the field with three 3-pointers and went 8 of 8 from the free throw line for 19 points and he grabbed eight rebounds.
• He was a starter in 2011-12 and missed all of last season due to a knee injury.
• "Just gusty, tough -- that's Josh," Badgers coach Bo Ryan said. "Thirty-some games last year where he wasn't on the floor where we could have used that, that energy, that moxie. He might not do that every night, but he certainly showed why he works so hard in the offseason and is just so anxious to get back on the court and be himself."
• The game was played in Sioux Falls as a favor from Ryan to Sanford Health CEO Kelby Krabbenhoft, whose son Joe played for the Badgers from 2005-09.
• The five-sided, $19-million Pentagon opened in September and last month hosted an NBA exhibition game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Milwaukee Bucks. The primary court -- called Heritage Court -- is an homage to the game, lined with images of great players and coaches and modeled after Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
• "Wherever there's a court and hoops you've got to get a win," Dekker said.
• "We wanted to do that tonight and it feels good."
•

• PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- President Barack Obama has signed a disaster declaration allowing 14 South Dakota counties and two American Indian reservations to get federal financial help to recover from the early October blizzard that closed roads, downed power lines and killed thousands of livestock, Gov. Dennis Daugaard said Friday.
• Preliminary estimates showed nearly $38 million in damages to public and pri

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