MSU trails Columbia 26-22 at halftime.
Senior center Adreian Payne leads the Spartans with nine points, five boards, and a pair of steals and blocks.
Upset Alert: MSU trailing Columbia at half, 26-22
After committing only seven turnovers against Kentucky on Tuesday night, MSU tallied five in the first eight minutes of the game and finished the half with eight.
Sophomore guard Gary Harris dished an assist to Payne, who was fouled on a hook shot and completed the and-one conversion for MSU’s first points of the game.
Harris knocked down a jumper on the ensuring scoring play, and junior forward Brendan Dawson hit a layup after.
Senior guard Keith Appling slashed and kicked to Payne for a dunk to give MSU a 9-0 lead. Columbia snapped the run with a pair of free-throws on the other end.
Columbia took the reigns from there. Mieko Lyles drained a three to cut the lead to four. Sophomore forward Denzel Valentine was fouled and drained two free throws on the other end.
Columbia took a 12-11 lead on a layup by Maodo Lo, and increased it to three with a layup by Alex Rosenberg.
Valentine scored on a floater to trim it to one, and Payne had a nice hook to reclaim the lead. Payne had a huge block on Rosenberg, swatting the shot at the top of the arc. The ball fell right into the hands of Columbia, who proceeded to hit a three to retake the lead, 17-15.
After a brief tie at 21-21, Columbia drained another three to continue the momentum. Appling split a pair of free throws to cut the lead to two, and that was a close as the Spartans would get from that point on.
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