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Hawkeyes fall short against Badgers

On3 imageby:Tom Kakert•about 13 hours•

HawkeyeReport

Seydou Traore(3)
Seydou Traore and Iowa fall to Wisconsin. (Photo: Dennis Scheidt)

The second meeting between the Hawkeyes and the Badgers was much more compelling then the first one, but the result was just as painful for Iowa. The Hawkeyes battled hard, but Wisconsin finished strong and led by John Tonje, they pulled away late for a 74-63 win at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

Tonje led all scorers with 22 points and John Blackwell was right behind with 19. Iowa had three players in double figures, led by Pryce Sandfort with 14, Josh Dix with 13, and Drew Thelwell with 11. Iowa falls to 13-10 on the season and 4-8 in Big Ten Conference play. The Hawkeyes will hit the road on Wednesday and travel to Rutgers for a 5:30 central tip time.

Unlike the first meeting, Iowa didn’t let Wisconsin get away from them in the final five minutes of the first half. The Hawkeyes started strong with Josh Dix knocking down two three pointers. The second one gave Iowa an 11-5 lead. But, the Badgers battled back before the first media timeout of the game with back to back triples from Max Klesmit and Carter Gilmore to knot the contest at 11.

Iowa then went on an 8-2 run with Thelwell, Payton and Pryce Sandfort, and Dix contributing to a 19-13 lead for the home team. But the Badgers battled back after a break in the action with a 9-0 run finishing with an old fashion three point play by John Blackwell to give the road foe at 22-19 lead.

The Hawkeyes battled back with Ladji Dembele tying things up at 22 with a three point and then giving Iowa a lead with a layup. Pryce Sandfort was the story in the later stages of the first half. He scored five straight and that led to the game being tied at 31. He then drove to the bucket and put Iowa up 35-32. A Carter Kingsbury putback had Iowa up 37-35 before Xavier Amos, who just entered the game, hammered home a putback dunk and then Pryce Sandfort hit a fade away jumper to give Iowa a two point edge at the break.

The early stages of the second half was quite a bit like the first. Both teams going back and forth and trading the lead in the game. Traore hit a three to give Iowa a three point lead. He also hit a drive and the Hawkeyes went up 46-43, but Max Klesmit hit a three to tie the game at 46.

From there, Wisconsin went on an 8-0 run to build a 57-51 lead after Blackwell hit a triple. But, Dix and Payton Sandfort fought back with three’s of their own and then a Thelwell bucket on a drive gave Iowa a 59-58 lead with 7:35 left in the game.

Then this game turned into the John Tonje Show. The transfer hit from the foul line and beyond the arch to go on his own 7-0. Then he and Backwell continued the parade to the foul line while Iowa was unable to match them on their way to the comfortable victory.

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