Wisconsin basketball blasts Montana in March Madness, advances to NCAA tournament second round
DENVER – Getting out of the first round of the NCAA tournament was a total team effort for Wisconsin.
Five Badgers scored in double figures to help the No. 3 seed in the East Region score an 85-66 victory over No. 14 Montana on Thursday afternoon at Ball Arena.
With the victory UW (27-9) will face the winner of the BYU-VCU first-round game Saturday. That contest will be played Thursday afternoon.
Montana, the Big Sky champion, finished 25-10.
John Blackwell, Steven Crowl lead Wisconsin
Sophomore guard John Blackwell finished with 19 points on 7-for-12 shooting. Graduate center Steven Crowl hit eight of 10 shots and finished with 18 points. Graduate guard John Tonje added 15 points and was 9 for 9 from the free throw line.
Junior forward Xavier Amos also came off the bench for 11 points and four boards, while sophomore forward Nolan Winter finished with 10 points.
Wisconsin led by as many as 11 in the first half and after holding an eight-point advantage at halftime couldn’t shake the Grizzlies early in the second half.
Getting stops was the challenge for the Badgers.
Defense tightens up in the second half, helps UW pull away
Wisconsin came out of the gates hitting five of its first seven shots of the second half, but Montana wasn’t too far behind. The Grizzlies were shooting 62.5% (5 for 8) during the first 5 ½ minutes of the second half.
Eventually the Badgers started to break the ice on that end of the floor.
A string of three straight stops helped turn a 51-47 lead into a 59-47 advantage with 12:41 to play.
Carter Gilmore started the run with a three-pointer he followed by taking a charge against Grizzlies standout Joe Pridgen. That led to a bucket in the paint by Gilmore, who finished with eight points.
Montana didn’t get a shot the next possession as guard Malik Moore stepped out of bound while catching a pass. That led to a three-pointer by Winter that gave UW a12-point lead at the 13:13 mark. That was the Badgers’ largest of the day to that point.
Wisconsin began to extended the lead from there. After Montana's hot start to begin the second half, it still shot 38.7% in the second half that included 2 for 13 from three-point range.
Blackwell's jumper in the lane after missing the front end of a bonus pushed the Badgers’ lead to 63-50 at the 11:35 mark and Crowl followed with a runner that made it a 15-point game.
Pridgen came back with a dunk for Montana, but Amos' three gave Wisconsin a 68-52 lead with about 10 minutes to go.
Wisconsin was on its way to the seventh NCAA tournament win of coach Greg Gard's career.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin vs. Montana in March Madness: Badgers win, 85-66
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