MILWAUKEE (NBA.com exclusive) --  Something is brewing in the beer city, and very few might have guessed that the brew master would be a 20-year-old rookie.

Then again, Brandon Jennings apparently is no ordinary 20-year-old.

Jennings scored a career-best 32 points, including six free throws in the final 21.7 seconds, as he and the Milwaukee Bucks held off the Denver Nuggets for a 108-102 victory Wednesday night.

Jennings already had opened a lot of eyes in his first five games. But Wednesday's performance against a strong Denver team with star point guard Chauncey Billups is sure to open many more.

While also chipping in nine assists, Jennings made 11-of-19 shots, including both of his 3-point attempts as Milwaukee won its third straight and improved to a surprising 4-2.

Andrew Bogut added 23 points, 10 rebounds and four blocked shots for Milwaukee, and Ersan Ilyasova added 17 points and eight rebounds off the bench, including a 3-for-3 performance from behind the arc.

The Bucks took the lead for good at 46-45 on two Bogut free throws with 2:45 left in the second quarter and then withstood every challenge presented by the 2009 Western Conference finalists.

At numerous times in the second half the Nuggets tried to impose their will. On each occasion the Bucks repelled them.

"They're on the end of a trip, they won a game [Tuesday] night on a shot that didn't count and I'm sure they wanted to put a stamp on their trip right here," Bucks coach Scott Skiles said. "So they turned it up in the third and fourth and thought it was a game they could get and we held up to that. That's a good sign."

Milwaukee held an 81-72 lead after three, and a 3-point play by Ilyasova pushed the edge to 84-72 with 11:14 left.

J.R. Smith scored six in an 8-2 run that cut it to 86-80, and the run became 14-4 when a dunk by Nene cut Milwaukee's lead to 88-86 with 7:13 left.

Jennings stemmed the tide with a jumper, but the Nuggets persisted and cut it to 91-90 on Billups' driving layup with 4:24 left.

Jennings then restored order with consecutive 3-pointers, the first over Ty Lawson and the second over Billups.

"They were doubling Boges and Ty Lawson left me open, so I had to take the shot," Jennings said. "Then the one over Chauncey, I was feeling it from the first one and I knew it was in once it left my hands. That was a great feeling."

Denver, which finished a six-game road trip with a 3-3 mark and fell to 6-3, was led by Carmelo Anthony's 32 points and 10 rebounds. Billups added 19, and Smith had 18 off the bench.

Bogut finished the quarter with 13 and Anthony had 12 as the teams played to a 27-27 draw in the first 12 minutes.

After dishing our four assists and only taking one shot in nine scoreless first-quarter minutes, Jennings put the offense on his shoulders in the second period. He scored all the points in a 6-0 spurt that gave the Bucks a 42-35 lead.

Billups scored eight on two 3-pointers and a pair of free throws in a 10-2 run that gave Denver a 45-44 lead. But Milwaukee answered.

Bogut made two free throws, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute converted a 3-point play and two free throws and Jennings sank an 18-footer with 1.3 seconds left to cap a 9-2 closing run that gave Milwaukee a 53-47 lead at the break.

Milwaukee increased its lead to 81-72 at the end of three and then stood up to the Nuggets' runs in the fourth.

"This was a big game for us," Jennings said. "That was a team that went to the Western Conference finals last year and we wanted to prove we can compete with those types of teams.

"Tonight everybody contributed. Bogut played a hell of a game. If he keeps doing that, we'll keep winning a lot of games."

The same would go for Jennings.

"He's great," Billups said of Jennings. "He's real shifty. He really had his jumper going tonight. When you get a fast guy like that who can get a pick-and-roll every time down the court and his jumper is going, that's tough to stop."

The Nuggets got within 102-100 on Smith's 3-pointer with 22.5 seconds left, but Jennings went to the line three times in the final 21.7 seconds, sinking all six free throws. And his demeanor on the pressure-packed free throws was no different than if he'd been in the practice gym.

"Before the game I try to get here early and shoot at least 100 free throws, so that's where it came from," Jennings said.

He's proving to be no ordinary rookie.