Ex-MU star Berce dies at 91

Gene Berce, Marquette's first 1,000-point scorer and professional basketball draft pick, died last Saturday at 91, the university said.

Berce was a standout basketball player at Milwaukee Marquette High School. He initially headed to the University of Wisconsin in 1944, but the school did not guarantee him a scholarship. He then headed to MU.

Berce also played one season at Cornell in 1945 while he was in officer training during World War II.

After the war, Berce came back to MU and led the team in scoring in three seasons before graduating in 1948. He ended up with 1,171 points at MU.

Berce was drafted in 1948 by the New York Knicks in the Basketball Association of America, a precursor to the NBA. Berce later played for the TriCities Hawks and the National Basketball League's Oshkosh All-Stars.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Imani Lewis had 18 points as the Wisconsin women’s team beat Pittsburgh, 57-42, in the Challenge in the Music City on Friday in Nashville.

St. Mary’s (Calif.) 73, UW-Milwaukee women 71: Sydney Raggio scored on a layup with one second left and the host Gaels edged the Panthers in the Thanksgiving Classic.

VOLLEYBALL

Allie Barber rammed home 23 kills and Marquette rolled to a 16-25, 25-23, 25-20 25-19, victory over St. John’s in the semifinals of the Big East Tournament in Omaha, Neb.

The Golden Eagles (25-6) will play Creighton (27-4) in the championship match at 4 p.m. Saturday.

Wisconsin 3, Rutgers 0: Dana Rettke, Tionna Williams and Molly Haggerty had eight kills apiece and the eighth-ranked Badgers (21-6, 14-5 Big Ten) routed the host Scarlet Knights, 25-15, 2518, 25-12.

HOCKEY

Annie Pankowski scored with 1 minute 54 seconds left in overtime and the top-ranked Wisconsin women’s team downed visiting Harvard, 3-2.

Admirals 3, Griffins 2: Anthony Richard had the lone tally in a shootout and Milwaukee knocked off host Grand Rapids.

BASEBALL

Mike Matheny was hired by Kansas City as a special adviser for player development, putting the former St. Louis Cardinals manager in position as a possible successor to Royals manager Ned Yost.

The 64-year-old Yost has managed the Royals since 2010 and led the team to the 2015 World Series title, the second in franchise history after 1985. Kansas City announced on the final day of this season he had agreed to a contract for 2019.

TENNIS

Croatia is on the verge of its second Davis Cup crown after Borna Coric and Marin Cilic dispatched their France rivals in the opening singles of the final in Lille, France.

Croatia, which won its sole title in 2005, leads, 2-0, and just needs one more point to depose the defending champions.