It wasn’t always pretty, but in the end, it proved effective.
After plodding through an ugly first half, the No. 12 MSU men’s basketball team (19-4 overall, 8-2 Big Ten) used an energetic second half to come from behind and defeat No. 18 Minnesota (17-6, 5-5), 61-50, on Wednesday night at Breslin Center.
It was an anemic offensive display for both teams in the opening 20 minutes, as MSU made four of its first 21 shots, while it took more than 15 minutes for Minnesota to score in double figures.
Yet a 14-7 Golden Gopher run helped Minnesota take a 20-18 lead into halftime, as no one from MSU was able to hit more than half of their shots.
Yet the shooting touch turned quickly for MSU in the second half, as the Spartans used the long ball to take a lead they would never surrender.
MSU connected on five second half 3-pointers, one from freshman guard Denzel Valentine and a pair from guards Gary Harris and Keith Appling to energize the Spartan crowd.
The shooting was part of a second half flurry that saw MSU go on an 11-0 run to move in front 41-29, capped off by a breakaway dunk from sophomore guard/forward Branden Dawson.
An 11-4 run by Minnesota cut the lead to five, 45-40, with 5:39 to go, but MSU answered with an 11-5 run of its own to regain a double-digit lead they would maintain for nearly all of the game’s final five minutes.
Six Spartans scored six points or more, led by 15 points from Harris, 14 from Appling, along with 11 second half points from center Adreian Payne.
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