EAST LANSING, Mich. - Adreian Payne had 20 points and 14 rebounds, and No. 9 Michigan State cruised past Northwestern 85-70 on Thursday night to stay tied atop the Big Ten.
The Spartans (21-4, 10-2 Big 10) are even in the standings with rival Michigan - and those two teams meet in Ann Arbor on Feb. 23.
Gary Harris added 14 points for Michigan State, rebounding a bit from a poor shooting performance in a loss to Wisconsin last weekend. The Spartans shot 53 percent from the field against a Northwestern team that came in with a sterling defensive reputation.
The Wildcats (12-13, 5-7) had not allowed 80 points in a game in over a month.
Michigan State was without point guard Keith Appling, who has been bothered by a wrist injury.
JerShon Cobb had 22 points and seven rebounds for Northwestern.
Michigan State led 39-30 at halftime, then scored the first seven points of the second half. Payne had a dunk and a three-pointer in that stretch, and although the Wildcats prevented the game from getting totally out of hand, they weren’t able to cut their deficit below 10 points.
It was an 11-point game when Denzel Valentine and Harris made back-to-back three-pointers to give Michigan State a 77-60 lead. Valentine finished with a career-high 16 points, along with six assists and five rebounds.
Travis Trice had 11 points and six assists, helping the Spartans withstand Appling’s absence.
Harris went 3 of 20 in the loss to Wisconsin, but he scored seven points in the first half of this game and had plenty of help. Michigan State had nine offensive rebounds in the first half and shot 62 percent from the field in the second to pull away.
Cobb made five three-pointers, and Drew Crawford and Tre Demps scored 18 points each for the Wildcats. Crawford also had seven assists.
But only two other Northwestern players scored.
The Spartans shot 11 of 21 from three-point range, with Trice and Valentine making three each from beyond the arc. Michigan State turned the ball over only seven times.
NO. 18 CREIGHTON 68, BUTLER 63
INDIANAPOLIS - Doug McDermott scored 26 points and made the go-ahead three-pointer with 47.8 seconds left to give No. 18 Creighton a victory over Butler.
The Bluejays (20-4, 10-2 Big East) have won five of six and 15 of 17, and are now within a half game of No. 6 Villanova in the conference standings.
Kellen Dunham had 16 points and Alex Barlow added 13 for Butler (12-13, 2-11), which has lost four consecutive games.
After leading most of the first half, Creighton found itself in a back-and-forth struggle most of the second half and couldn’t fend off Butler’s charges until McDermott hit a three-pointer to make it 64-63.
Andrew Chrabascz had two chances to give Butler a late lead but twice lost the ball and a three-pointer from Dunham that might have forced overtime was short.
Butler hasn’t won at home since Jan. 18, but this was a stark contrast from Tuesday night’s blowout loss to Xavier.
The Bulldogs repeatedly fought back and made things tough on McDermott, who passed Allan Houston and Kevin Bradshaw to move into 15th place on the NCAA’s career scoring list. He now has 2,824 points.
The Bluejays led most of the first half. Butler tied the score on Barlow’s first shot of the second half, a three-pointer, and took the lead when Barlow hit a short runner on Butler’s next possession.
The teams traded leads on each of the next five baskets and were playing dead even - until Creighton’s three-point shooters warmed up. Austin Chatman and Jahenns Manigat hit back-to-back three-pointers and after Will Martino made 1 of 2 free throws, Manigat closed out the 10-3 spurt with another three-pointer. That made it 54-47 with 12:30 to play.
NO. 21 WISCONSIN 78, MINNESOTA 70
MADISON, Wis. - Frank Kaminsky scored 17 points, and No. 21 Wisconsin regained some of its frontcourt swagger in a victory over Minnesota.
Fellow forward Nigel Hayes added 15 for the Badgers, who kept Minnesota in the game following late free-throw woes.
Wisconsin (20-5, 7-5 Big Ten) benefited from a hot start up front. The Badgers are at their best active in the lane, and that was the case on both ends of the floor in building a 13-point lead against sloppy Minnesota (16-9, 5-7).
Outside shooting helped the Gophers hang around after Austin Hollins and Malik Smith hit threes on back-to-back possessions to get to 73-68 with 55.2 seconds left.
TOP 25/SEC WOMEN NO. 14 TEXAS A&M 78, GEORGIA 73
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - Courtney Walker scored 25 points as No. 14 Texas A&M came back to beat Georgia in overtime.
Texas A&M (19-6, 9-2) trailed 62-56 with just more than a minute left in regulation, but scored six consecutive points - including a layup by Jordan Jones with 25 seconds left - to force overtime.
In the extra period, Courtney Williams hit a jumper with 35 seconds remaining to give Texas A&M a 74-72 lead. The Aggies then hit four free throws down the stretch to seal their 12th victory in 14 games.
Williams finished with 13 points while Merritt Hempe had 19 for Georgia (16-8, 4-7).
AUBURN 68, NO. 16 VANDERBILT 62
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Tyrese Tanner scored on a jumper with 24 seconds left to give Auburn the lead, and Peyton Davis and Kiani Parker both added a pair of free throws as Auburn won at Nashville for the first time since 1999, upsetting No. 16 Vanderbilt.
Tanner scored 18 points to lead Auburn (14-10, 5-6 SEC), which took a 29-21 lead at intermission. Brandy Montgomery and Davis added 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Christina Foggie, who tied the game with two free throws with 39 seconds left, tossed in 24 points to lead Vanderbilt (17-7, 6-5), hitting 2 of 8 from long range to tie the record for most career three-pointers in program history. Marqu’es Webb pulled down nine rebounds for the Commodores.
NO. 18 KENTUCKY 108, MISSISSIPPI 78
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Jennifer O’Neill scored 27 points as No. 18 Kentucky trounced Mississippi.
Kentucky (18-6, 6-5 SEC) bounced back from its upset loss to Florida last Sunday in a big way by shooting 47 percent, including 8 of 16 from beyond the arc. DeNesha Stallworth scored 19 points and gathered 11 rebounds, Bria Goss added 15 points and Linnae Harper had 10 for the Wildcats.
Tia Faleru led Ole Miss (10-16, 1-11) with career highs in points (31) and rebounds (16), while Valencia McFarland added 21 points.
Sports, Pages 22 on 02/14/2014