MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin placed all five starters in double figures as the Badgers posted a 78-64 victory over North Dakota Tuesday at the Kohl Center. Redshirt freshman Ethan Happ and junior Bronson Koenig each scored 17 points for Wisconsin (2-1), while UND redshirt freshman Geno Crandall led all scorers with 19 points off the bench in his collegiate debut.

Crandall did most of his scoring damage late in the second half when he buried five 3-pointers in the closing five minutes to trim what was a 26-point deficit back down to 14 before the final horn sounded. Sophomore Drick Bernstine led all players with nine rebounds and had a season-high 15 points for UND (1-1).

The late flurry didn't cost the Badgers, however, as the home team took control of this contest in the first half thanks to their work on the offensive glass and turning UND's 11 first-half turnovers into 10 points.

“We shot the ball well at times, but the things that hurt us were when we got to the rim, we did not finish,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “We need to be able to get to the rim and finish and foul shooting was something I really thought zapped our energy in the first half.

“When we would be making a run or trying to claw back in the game, I think we were 0-for-6 (from the line) at one point. Those are just like turnovers. They are empty possessions.”

Happ had 11 first-half points with three of his five field goals coming on putbacks as Wisconsin held a 10-1 advantage in offensive rebounds. The Badgers would finish with a 16-5 edge and score 18 second-chance points to just eight for UND.

The visitors missed their first six attempts before freshman Cortez Seales made two in the closing minute. UND would finish 9-for-17 from the stripe, but those early misses would prevent UND from cutting into a double-digit lead that Wisconsin gained midway through the first half and only allowed back into single digits twice the rest of the game.

The closest UND would get was a 28-20 deficit following a 7-2 spurt that Crandall sparked with the first of his six 3-pointers. Junior Quinton Hooker capped the run with two baskets and finished with 12 points of 4-of-12 shooting from the floor.

The Badgers would push the lead back to 13 at halftime though as Happ would get two putbacks in the final 1:05 to give his team nine second-chance points.

UND and Wisconsin both made 15-of-28 field goals in the second half as the squads went back-and-forth early in the stanza.

Bernstine made it a 47-34 deficit with a 3-point play, but the Badgers squashed any thoughts of a UND comeback with a 10-2 run. Wisconsin's lead would hover around 20 the rest of the way before Crandall scored 16 points in the final five minutes to make the final margin 14 points.

Wisconsin forward Nigel Hayes finished with 11 points, while Vito Brown added 12 and Zak Showalter had 10 to round out the quintet of double-figure starters for the home team.

UND would end up with a 48 percent field-goal clip, outshooting the Badgers, who shot 43.9 percent from the field. Crandall went 6-for-6 from beyond the arc, matching Wisconsin's number of makes as a team on 20 attempts.

UND heads south to the Sunshine State this weekend for the Hilton Garden Inn FGCU Classic that begins Saturday with a game against Bowling Green at 3 p.m. CT.

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