John Blackwell leads No. 12 Wisconsin past Minnesota

John Blackwell scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and No. 12 Wisconsin held on for a 74-67 victory over Minnesota in a Big Ten Conference battle Wednesday night in Minneapolis.John Tonje add

John Blackwell leads No. 12 Wisconsin past Minnesota

John Blackwell scored 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and No. 12 Wisconsin held on for a 74-67 victory over Minnesota in a Big Ten Conference battle Wednesday night in Minneapolis.

John Tonje added 18 points and pulled down seven rebounds for Wisconsin (23-7, 13-6 Big Ten), which bounced back from a loss against No. 8 Michigan State in its previous game. Steven Crowl added 10 points on 4-for-6 shooting.

Brennan Rigsby scored 18 points on 6-for-10 shooting to lead Minnesota (15-15, 7-12). Lu’Cye Patterson scored 15 points, and Dawson Garcia finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.

Wisconsin won the rebound battle 41-34. The Badgers made 21 of 24 free-throw attempts, and Minnesota made only eight of 15 from the line.

Minnesota trimmed its deficit to 57-56 with six minutes to go after Rigsby made one of two free throws.

Wisconsin finished with a 17-11 run to seize the victory. Carter Gilmore made two free throws to start the late-game surge, and Jack Janicki made a pair of baskets in the final five minutes.

Crowl’s dunk put Wisconsin on top 46-35 with 13 minutes to go.

The Golden Gophers stormed back with an 11-0 run to even the score at 46 with 11:04 left. Rigsby and Garcia opened the run with back-to-back 3-pointers.

Wisconsin led 33-27 at the half.

The Badgers relied on an early 12-0 run to pull ahead by nine points in the first five minutes. Blackwell made a 3-pointer and a jump shot to finish off the run.

Minnesota responded with a 9-0 run to even the score at 12 with 11:03 to go. Femi Odukale punctuated the run when he grabbed a rebound on the defensive end and knocked down a jump shot on the offensive end.

Wisconsin inched ahead 31-25 on a layup by Tonje with 2:03 remaining.

Rigsby and Crowl traded baskets in the final minute before the break.