ecame a blowout. It took over four minutes for Nicholls to get i

Frisco, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - A pair of Western Conference contenders collide at Toyota Stadium on Sunday as FC Dallas looks to secure a playoff berth with a win over the Los Angeles Galaxy. Dallas spurned a chance to punch its postseason ticket last weekend as the club lost 2-0 at Vancouver Whitecaps FC, while the Galaxy has already clinched a playoff berth but is firmly in the mix for the Supporters Shield with three games to play. Fortunately for FCD, Sundays match will be taking place on home soil, as the club has lost its last four games away from Toyota Stadium. In the loss to the Whitecaps, Dallas yielded both goals in the opening 18 minutes to Sebastian Fernandez, leaving the club with too much work to do over the remainder of the contest. We came out soft and slow, gave up two goals, and we never really recovered. I think we definitely started to play better as the game went on, but by that point, youre 2-0 down, and they can control the match by sitting there and doing whatever they want. Its disappointing, said Dallas defender Matt Hedges. A win on Sunday would erase some of that disappointment, and Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja has not allowed himself to look beyond the Galaxy match. We need to clinch first, and now we are thinking about LA. My mind doesnt let me go that far, especially when I have such a big responsibility to play the next game and try to take care of our business, which is to get ourselves into the playoffs. After that, well see, said Pareja. Los Angeles has its sights set on the Supporters Shield with the club in a battle against Seattle for the regular-seasons top prize. The two outfits enter the weekend level on 60 points, but the Galaxy is in the midst of a great run of form, having claimed a 3-0 win over Toronto FC last weekend for their third straight win to extend their unbeaten streak to 10 games. Galaxy star Landon Donovan has been pleased with his teams form in recent months, and acknowledged that the Supporters Shield has become a real goal for his team in the past few weeks. We havent necessarily been paying attention [to the standings] until the last few weeks, but now its very realistic to win the Supporters Shield and thats absolutely our goal. The Sounders own the first tiebreaker for wins against the Galaxy, so Los Angeles will need to close the season strong in order to claim the honor. And that starts with Sundays fixture, which could be difficult against a good Dallas side. Making matters tougher for the Galaxy is the fact that three key players, Donovan, Robbie Keane and Omar Gonzalez, are away on international duty. 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Im going to work hard, thats all you can do with this last part of the season so important.Madison, WI (SportsNetwork.com) - Sam Dekker scored 17 points and grabbed five rebounds in No. 5 Wisconsins 86-43 win over Nicholls. Dekker scored 13 of those points in the first half for the Badgers (10-1), who led by as much as 45. Josh Gasser added 14 points for Wisconsin, and Nigel Hayes chipped in 12 points and eight boards. Amin Torres scored 14 points off the bench to lead the Colonels (1-5), and Sam McBeath netted nine points on 4-of-6 shooting. Wisconsin owned a 41-26 edge on the boards and outscored Nicholls 36-26 in the paint. The Badgers also scored 19 points off 21 Colonels turnovers. The Colonels never led in what quickly became a blowout. It took over four minutes for Nicholls to get its second basket and then six minutes to get its third. Nicholls started the game 4-of-21 as the Badgers ran out to a 39-8 lead, and it finished the half with an abysmal 24.1 field goal ppercentage.dddddddddddd Meanwhile the Badgers, particularly Dekker and Hayes, could not be stopped. They took a 47-15 lead into the locker room with those two combining for 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting. Wisconsin combined to shoot 70.4 percent as a team. The Colonels managed to shoot 47.8 percent in the second half, but they fell behind even more. Wisconsins shooting went cold from the field and had to make up for it at the line. The Badgers hit 20-of-26 from the charity stripe to make up for their 33.3 percent second-half performance from the floor. Game Notes This was the first meeting between these teams ... The Badgers held a lead for all but 1:10 in the game ... After a nine-day break for finals, Wisconsin travels to Cal to take on the Golden Bears ... Nicholls next game is against Arkansas-Monitcello on Dec. 16. ' ' '