LAHAINA, Hawaii — It wasn’t the tournament victory Michigan State has been looking for in the past 12 seasons. That went away with a disappointing loss in the semifinals to Connecticut.
Beating a good team in a tight game at least took some of the sting off.
Kalin Lucas scored 29 points and keyed a second-half rally, helping the second-rankedSpartans salvage a 76-71 victory over No. 13 Washington in the third-place game of the Maui Invitational on Wednesday.
Draymond Green had 12 points and six rebounds for the Spartans.
Michigan State (4-1) trailed 44-34 after a turnover-filled first half, but charged back behind Lucas. The senior guard scored seven points during an opening 18-5 run that put the Spartans up 52-49 and hit two game-sealing free throws in the closing seconds after injuring his knee a few minutes earlier.
Lucas lingered on the floor after Washington’s Justin Holiday fell on his left knee late in the game, but returned to the game quickly and finished with a flourish, shooting 9 of 13 from the field with four three-pointers.
Matt Bryan-Amaning led Washington (3-2) with 15 points and Isaiah Thomas added 13 and six assists.
NO. 24 TENNESSEE 77, VA. COMMONWEALTH 72
NEW YORK - Scotty Hopson had 18 points and No. 24 Tennessee rallied to beat Virginia Commonwealth in the semifinals of the NIT Season Tip-Off.
Tobias Harris added 15 points for Tennessee (4-0), which was playing its first game since Coach Bruce Pearl waspunished by SEC Commissioner Mike Slive last week for violating NCAA rules and misleading investigators.
Brandon Rozzell scored 23 points to lead VCU (3-1).
The Volunteers will play No. 7 Villanova or UCLA for the championship Friday.
In another Top 25 game, Blake Hoffarber scored 24 points and No. 15 Minnesota (6-0) cruised to an 84-65 victory over North Dakota State (3-2) in Minneapolis.
In other SEC games, John Jenkins scored 22 points, Festus Ezeli had 11 points and 13 rebounds as Vanderbilt (4-1) beat Grambling State (1-5) 92-59 in Nashville, Tenn. ... Andre Stringer scored 16 points and Trent Johnson won his 200th game as LSU (3-2) beat Centenary (0-6) 78-36 in Baton Rouge.
Sports, Pages 29 on 11/25/2010