Wisconsin comebacks to beat State in the championship

Bronson Koenig and the Wisconsin Badgers thought their victory over Michigan State was exactly what they needed to clinch a No .1 seed in the Big Dance.  The game began to begin slipping away and then BANG!  The Badgers came into business.  Nigel Hayes had a huge game scoring 25 points, Frank Kaminsky scored 19 points, and the Badgers beat Michigan State, shutting  them out in overtime 11-0. Bronson Koenig scored 18 points as the Badgers rallied back from an 11-point deficit with only 7 minutes left.  “ I  thought it really good for us to have a game where we were down with seven minutes left,”  Koenig stated to a USA Today reporter.  “ They kind of thought they had us when they were up by 11 but I kept on telling the guys not to give up and fortunate for us, we came out with a win.”

The Badgers will try to keep their good spirits running to lead them to another Final Four appearance.   Wisconsin was rewarded a No. 1 seed, and they will play Coastal Carolina on Friday.

Branden Dawson and Denzel Valentine each scored 16 points for the Spartans.  “ I thought we played one of the greatest  games we’ve played through 32, 35, 36 minutes.   And then we made a couple mistakes and they made a couple of great shots.   That’s the way the game goes,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said. In the final 11 minutes, Wisconsin outscored State 31-10 and the Spartans came up short after winning the tourney last year.   Michigan State plays the Georgia Bulldogs on Friday.

In the last minutes, Wisconsin came back against Michigan State, who was riding a 17-5 run at at the time.  In two minutes the Badgers scored 11 straight points, and they snatched the lead when Koenig sunk a three.

Soon after, the Spartans were up by 2 when Kaminsky put in a three with 1:44 left in regulation.  Then Michigan State’s Valentine quieted  the Badger Faithful tying the ballgame, and then Travis Trice took the lead with 45  seconds left.

After a timeout, Koenig missed a three pointer and then Josh Gasser, who was trying to make a save in the corner, threw the ball to Valentine. Then Sam Dekker stole a bad pass from Valentine, and Koenig made two free throws to tie the game at 69.

In overtime, which was the first one in Big Ten title game history, Koenig and Hayes each scored a three pointer in the first minutes.  State missed the rest of their shots and the rest is history!

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