Junior guard Travis Trice applies pressure to Northwestern guard Tre Demps on Feb. 13, 2014, at Breslin Center. The Spartans lead at half, 39-30. Julia Nagy/The State News
MSU was hot from the field and six Spartans got on the scoresheet as the No. 9 MSU men’s basketball team leads Northwestern 39-30 at the half.
Senior forward Adreian Payne got things going early when he gabbed three offensive rebounds on the same possession than ended in his first points of the half.
MSU finished the half with nine second chance points and 10-1 in points off turnovers.
After finishing 3-20 in the loss to Wisconsin last Sunday, sophomore Gary Harris found his shot once again.
He hit his first three shots from the floor and finished the half 3-7 with seven points.
As a team, MSU made 50 percent of their attempts from the floor on 11-22 shooting.
Northwestern stuck right with MSU for most of the period behind # points from JerShon Cobb, who normally averages just over 11 a game.
But the Spartans went on n 8-0 run highlighted by a signature dunk from Payne.
After being on triple-double watch for most of the game against Penn State on Feb. 6, sophomore guard Denzel Valentine got off to another of his typical games, scoring 11 points with 5 assists and 5 rebounds.
He and junior guard Travis Trice connected on back-to-back three pointers with to give the Spartans their biggest lead of the half with just over a minute left.
After scoring 12 points in the first ten minutes, Cobb was held scoreless for the rest of the half, but he still led the Wildcats in scoring.
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