Jefferson's free throws seal Bucks' victory

MILWAUKEE(AP) Larry Brown knew exactly why his Charlotte Bobcats lost to the Milwaukee Bucks.Richard Jefferson made two free throws with 9 seconds left to help the Bucks beat the Charlotte Bobcats 101-96 on Friday night.His
rebound of a missed free throw by Charlie Villanueva with 10.6 seconds
left was another key. On the play, Jason Richardson fouled out of the
game when he collided with Jefferson going for the rebound.Jefferson made both free throws for the final points."The
whole game was just boards and second chances,'' Brown said. "They got
22 points off second chances and they got 14 offensive rebounds. That
was the whole key to the game.''The Bobcats had eight second-chance points, but had 34 points in the paint to the Bucks' 30.Charlotte
hit a season-high 10 3-pointers in 19 attempts, shooting 52.6 percent.
That was the highest percentage from behind the arc that Milwaukee has
allowed this season. Plus, the Bobcats shot 51.4 percent from the
floor, while Milwaukee managed to shoot 48 percent.And, still they lost as Milwaukee outrebounded them 41 to 27, including an offensive rebounding edge of 14 to 7."At the end of the day, it was just the fact that we couldn't rebound the ball defensively and that killed us,'' Brown said.Michael
Redd scored 25 points in his third game back since missing 14 games
because of a sprained right ankle. Jefferson added 22, and Luke Ridnour
had 14.The Bucks, who never led by more than seven, made five free throws in the final minute.Richardson
scored 20 points, Emeka Okafor and Raymond Felton each had 19, and D.J.
Augustin, the ninth overall pick in the 2008 draft, added 13 for the
Bobcats. Charlotte won its previous two games."We played pretty good, but the rebound thing hurt us,'' Richardson said.Andrew Bogut said that the Bucks were fortunate to get the win."It's
good to get a win, but looking back, we didn't play pretty well,''
Bogut said. "You can't take a lot of positives out of it when they
shoot 52 percent from the field. We're very, very lucky to get a win.''Bogut
had 10 points and 10 rebounds and showed no ill effects from the
migraine headache he suffered after taking an inadvertent blow to the
head during the third quarter of Wednesday night's game.Ridnour's
3-pointer gave the Bucks a 92-87 lead with 4:20 left to play, but
Felton answered with a layup to pull the Bobcats back within two with
3:57 left.Jefferson then made two free throws for the Bucks just before Okafor tipped in a miss to make it 94-91 at the 1:31 mark.Redd
missed from in close, but the Bucks got a break when Richardson was
called for a charge with 21.5 seconds left when he knocked over Andrew
Bogut on a drive.Ridnour sank both free throws to make it 98-94,
but Okafor took a pass from Augustin and scored to pull the Bobcats to
98-96 with 12.1 seconds left.Gerald Wallace had to be restrained
by his Bobcats teammates after Ridnour fouled him on a baseline drive
late in the second quarter. Augustin stepped between Wallace and
Ridnour, who glared at each other. Ridnour made the technical called on
Wallace, who then sank one of two free throws.Notes: Bucks G
Charlie Bell was inactive for the second consecutive game because of a
sore right ankle. ... The University of Arizona will dedicate the
Richard Jefferson Gymnasium on Dec. 8. Jefferson, who led the Wildcats
to the 2001 national championship game, made the lead gift of $3.5
million in the Campaign Arizona Phase II athletic building plan.