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Men's basketball handles business in New Jersey, defeats Rutgers 71-51

January 29, 2015
<p>Senior forward Branden Dawson attempts to score two points for the Spartans during the game against Penn State on Jan. 21, 2015 at the Breslin Center. The Spartans defeated the Nittany Lions by 66-60 Wednesday night. Emily Nagle/The State News</p>

Senior forward Branden Dawson attempts to score two points for the Spartans during the game against Penn State on Jan. 21, 2015 at the Breslin Center. The Spartans defeated the Nittany Lions by 66-60 Wednesday night. Emily Nagle/The State News

Photo by Emily Nagle | The State News

The men's basketball team played to their strengths on the road Thursday, and the results are evident in the final stat sheet.

MSU (14-7 overall, 5-3 Big Ten) defeated Rutgers 71-51 behind a big night from senior forward Branden Dawson, who had with 17 points, 11 rebounds, four steals, four assists and two blocks. Dawson was active all night, using his athleticism to force stops on defense and get easy buckets on the other end.

Junior guard Bryn Forbes had 18 points, sinking four 3-pointers, and senior guard Travis Trice had 10 points and five assists.

The Spartans ran the floor hard and were able to consistently find easy scoring opportunities. As a team, MSU shot 50.9 percent and held Rutgers to under 30 percent shooting. 

Rutgers forward Kadeem Mack was the lone Scarlet Knight to reach double figures with 17 points and seven rebounds.

Forbes hit two early 3-pointers and found Dawson in transition to give Spartans 14-6 advantage to start the game.

Dawson kicked to Trice for a triple, their tenth-consecutive basket, to give the Spartans a 34-19 with 6:04 left.

MSU ran on defense as well. Junior forward Matt Costello chased down Bishop Daniels to block his dunk attempt.

A 9-2 Rutgers run was snapped by a Forbes corner 3-pointer to push MSU's lead back to double digits, 39-28

Dawson continued to roll in the second half, hitting a turnaround through contact and draining the ensuring 3-pointer to score MSU's first points of the period.

He made a pretty transition bounce pass to Costello through traffic on the next play to give MSU a 49-36 lead.

Forbes followed with his fourth 3-pointer of the night to force a Rutgers timeout with 16:31 left in the second half.

MSU continued to run, and be rewarded for doing so. Trice found Dawson for a transition alley-oop, and Dawson beat Rutgers' starting five down the court and was fouled on the following possession, though he missed both free throws.

Nairn flashed to the rim for consecutive layups to stretch MSU's run to 18-0 with 10:10 to play, giving the Spartans a 62-36 lead.

MSU maintained the lead for the rest of the game, never letting Rutgers get within 19. 

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