MADISON, Wis. - The No. 24 Wisconsin Badgers came from behind in the second half to beat the No. 21 Maryland Terrapins 69-61 on Friday night at the Kohl Center. BadgerBlitz.com’s top three reasons for the UW win are included below.

There were a few times in the second half where it looked like the Badgers were destined to come as close as they could to beating Maryland without actually pulling it off. But the Badgers started to get some key shots to fall in the final four and a half minutes of the game - they rode a 12-1 run to take the lead for good and made four of their last five field goals in the game to keep Maryland from mounting a comeback in the game’s final minutes.

Ethan Happ did it all for the Badgers once again on Friday night, scoring 18 points against a tough Maryland frontcourt. The All-American candidate also pulled down 10 rebounds and was all over the court for UW - including a key steal on the defensive end in the final minutes of the game that helped the Badgers go on their last big run of the night. Free throw shooting has never been his calling card, but he did hold his own at the line on Friday as well, knocking down 6 of 12 shots from the free throw line in the game after drawing several key fouls on Maryland forwards Bruno Fernando and Jalen Smith.

The Badgers were much more competitive in the first half of this game than they were in their game against Maryland in College Park this year, but they still allowed the Terps to make 6 of 10 shots from the 3-point line and shoot 55.6 percent from the field in the first half to take a 36-31 lead in to the locker room. The Badgers needed their defense to step up in the second half and they rose to the occasion, holding Maryland to just 34.5 percent shooting after the break.

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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.