Another must-win situation turned into a Spartan victory.
The Spartans recovered from a sloppy first half and a lousy start to the second half to defeat the Purdue 69-61 Saturday afternoon at Breslin Center.
"It was a strange game - game where there wasn't a lot of flow to it," MSU head coach Tom Izzo said. "But we found a way to win and this time of the year, we did what we had to do.
"It was an ugly win, but an ugly win is better than a pretty loss."
MSU improved to 13-2 at home this season including an unblemished 7-0 mark in Big Ten play. The Spartans also improved their record to 15-1 when they are either tied or leading at the half.
Four Spartans scored in double figures, led by sophomore guard Kelvin Torbert's 13 points. Sophomore forward/guard Alan Anderson chipped in with 12 points, while senior forward Aloysius Anagonye and sophomore guard Chris Hill added 11 and 10, respectively. Hill's 10 points were remarkable seeing as he didn't score a basket until 9:52 left in the game.
Freshman center Paul Davis didn't crack the double-digit barrier, but he did net eight points while grabbing a game-high eight rebounds.
MSU committed 15 turnovers, but countered that with great free throw shooting. MSU finished 26-for-29 from the foul line.
Purdue guard Willie Deane had 19 points on 5-of-15 shooting from the field to lead the Boilermakers.
"One of the biggest keys was our team defense," Hill said. "We just stayed together and we locked in on Deane. There always seemed to be two guys on him and we did a great job at stopping his penetration."
Trailing 31-22 with just under five minutes left in the first half, the Spartans broke through the chain-like Boilermaker defense for the first time all game.
Torbert lit up the crowd with a dunk off an inbound pass to pull the Spartans to cut the lead to seven. The hoop would snowball into a 10-1 Spartan run to end the first half, sending the teams into the locker room knotted at 32.
However, the fiery ending to the first half didn't rollover into the second frame. MSU was held without a basket for over seven minutes before Anagonye went drained a tough layup in traffic.
Before Anagonye's hoop, Purdue had scored the first eight points of the half to take a 40-32 lead.
"Our defense just stayed strong and Erazem (Lorbek) hit some tough shots and Rashi (Johnson) gave us a lot of energy and when you have different guys step up, that helps," Hill said. "We were just able to build on that."
During the run, Purdue head coach Gene Keady's late second half outburst put the icing was arguably put on the cake.
With 4:40 remaining and MSU leading 59-51, Keady slammed his fist into the scorer's table earning him a technical foul. With two free throws for the technical and Anagonye adding one more to complete a three point play, the Spartans took an 11-point lead at 62-51.
"I'm trying to have a civil discussion and the ref tells me he had a bad breakfast," Keady said. "What the hell is that suppose to mean? So I got upset.
"Then Michigan State got hot and we let it slip away. We weren't tough enough and we hit the wall."
Despite the win, MSU's chance of a fifth Big Ten Championship in six seasons was dashed before tip-off. With Illinois' 82-79 victory over Michigan at Crisler Arena, the Spartans are officially eliminated and, at best, can finish in a tie for second.
