Led by another 20-point and 10-rebound performance by senior forward Draymond Green, the No. 7 MSU men’s basketball team beat Purdue 76-62 Sunday in West Lafayette, Ind. The win puts the Spartans (22-5 overall, 11-3 Big Ten) at the top of the conference and one game ahead of Ohio State and Michigan in the Big Ten standings.
After Purdue (17-10, 7-7) jumped out to a 7-2 advantage, the Spartans went on a 10-0 run, capped Green 3-pointer the 15:04 mark. The senior forward hit two shots from long range on the run, helping MSU to an early 12-7 lead.
Junior center Derrick Nix stepped up next for the Spartans, scoring the next six MSU points. However, Purdue forward Robbie Hummel also got hot, which kept the Boilermakers in the game. And eventually, with about nine minutes left in the half, Purdue reclaimed the lead at 19-18 with a layup from guard Lewis Jackson.
With the Spartans leading 27-21 a little more than three minutes later following a putback dunk by freshman guard Branden Dawson, the Boilermakers again responded. This time, it was a 9-0 run for Purdue, and guard Ryne Smith’s 3-pointer with 4:15 left in the half put the Boilermakers ahead 30-27.
The two teams went back and forth the rest of the half, as Purdue took the three-point advantage into the break.
Hummel led the Boilermakers with 18 first-half points. Nix led the Spartans with 10 points, senior guard Austin Thornton scored nine and Dawson chipped in eight points and eight rebounds.
After the Spartans struggled in the first half defensively, leading to the deficit, the second half belonged to the Green and White on both ends of the floor.
MSU scored the first eight points of the half and never looked back. Purdue, meanwhile didn’t score in the second half until Hummel hit two free throws with 13:54 to play. Smith hit a 3-pointer less than a minute later after the Boilermakers missed their first 12 shots.
With 10:41 left, Green hit a 3-pointer to put the Spartans up 53-43, their first double-digit lead of the day.
MSU seemed poised to run away with the game. But after falling behind 16, Purdue made one more final push when guard Anthony Johnson scored eight straight point for the Boilermakers to make it 62-44 in favor of the Spartans with more than five minutes to play.
But two Thornton free throws pushed the lead back to 10, where it stayed most of the final minutes.
Green and Dawson were the catalysts to MSU’s second half dominance. Scoring 14 points after the break, Green was three assists away from the third triple-double of his career.
Dawson, playing back in his home state of Indiana, scored seven points and grabbed three rebounds in the final minutes. He finished with 15 and 11, while Thornton scored a career-high 17 points.
Next up for the Spartans is a trip to Minnesota on Wednesday. MSU beat the Golden Gophers 68-52 in in January in East Lansing.
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