John Tonje poured 32 points when No. 18 Wisconsin snapped No. 7 Michigan State Eight game winning line with a 77-74 Big Ten tournament semi-final victory Saturday afternoon in Indianapolis.
Tonje delivered 11 points in five minutes during a defining second half for Badgers (26-8), which advanced to the title as No. 5 seed for the second year in a row. They are waiting for the winner of No. 11 Maryland and No. 22 Michigan.
John Blackwell added 14 points. Carter Gilmore contributed 10, five assists and three blocks, including a decisive rejection during the last seconds from the bench for Wisconsin.
Freshman Jase Richardson pacade top-seeded Michigan State (27-6) with 21 points and seven returns. Jeremy Fears Jr. added 14 points and six assists and three Holloman made 10.
Michigan State went to 13-4 lead in the first four minutes when Richardson and Jaden Akins drilled back-to-back 3 points. The Spartans met their first three 3 points, while Badgers missed four of their first five. The tide, however, gradually turned when the first half of the year was wearing.
Michigan State went 1-for-7 from long reach for the rest of the half as the Spartans scored only nine points in the last 10 minutes. Badgers finally took its first lead, 35-33, when Steven Crowl swung a 3-pointer with 1:12 left. Tonge, who led all scores with 13 during the first half, added two free throw to give Wisconsin a 37-33 half-time edge.
The Spartans pressed the pace early in the second half and went on a 12-2-spree-covered by Coen Carr’s sludge of a Fear Lob who gave them a lead of 45-41 with 15:55 to play.
Tonje stopped Michigan State driving with a Fadeaway. Then, when the team went to their benches for a time limit, Holloman stayed at Wisconsin’s Huddle to Key. He got a technical that led to an 11-0 badger driving.
Tonje fell both technical free throw and then preserved a 3-pointer. Gilmore drove from the top of the key for a violent two-handed sludge, then plowed Tonje in traffic for an arrangement that moved his lead to 52-45 with 12:51 to go.
Then both sides began to hit big shots. The Spartans forged a 60-60-tie on Richardson’s three free throw with 6:18 to go, but Blackwell responded with a physical run for a 3-point game and Michigan State never caught up again.
The Spartans came as close as 75-74 on Fears’ pair of free throw with 14.9 seconds left, but Tonje swung two free throw. Holloman tried to tie it with a 3-pointer at the top of the key, but Gilmore flew out to tip the shot.
Tonje missed his first two freeasts at night and fear steamed up on the floor, but Tonje handed in and stripped the ball when fear tried a 35-foot runner just before the horn.
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