The Spartans would use all of a first-half 19-point lead on the Northwestern Wildcats to secure their second win of conference play, improving to 10-5 overall on the season, besting Northwestern (12-3 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) by a final score of 61-52.
In the opening minutes of the half, the Wildcats had cut MSU's lead down to as little as four points — fifth-year senior guard Sanjay Lumpkin opened the half by connecting on a 3-point field goal, in the moments to follow Lumpkin made a layup followed by a 3-point score from junior guard Bryant McIntosh.
MSU responded with a layup and a free throw made by sophomore forward Kyle Ahrens. A jumper by freshman guard Cassius Winston kept the Spartan lead at nine points.
A layup from redshirt-sophomore forward Vic Law put the Wildcats within seven points, a free throw from freshman guard Isiah Brown and another unanswered layup from Law put Northwestern within four points. MSU would momentarily take a six-point advantage from a tip in by fifth-year senior Eron Harris, but another score in the paint from Lumpkin kept the game within two scores for the Wildcats.
After a foul called on sophomore guard Matt McQuaid for MSU's sixth of the half, freshman forward Nick Ward entered the game in relief of sophomore forward Kenny Goins. With just over nine and a half minutes left in regulation an offensive gridlock continued for both teams. Going into a timeout with 7:40 left in regulation, the Spartans had not scored in the previous 4:08 minutes of the game, and the Wildcats had not scored in its previous 3:48.
Coming out of the timeout Ellis III hit a jump shot from the floor to extend MSU's lead to six points with 7:20 to play. A layup from Winston with just under five minutes left in regulation put MSU up by nine points.
With 3:35 left in regulation Northwestern had made 2-of-12 of its most recent field goal attempts, and the team would be without junior forward Gavin Skelly, as he fouled out the game. Skelly left the contest with 0 points and 2 rebounds.
A layup from McIntosh with 1:32 left cut MSU's lead to seven points. The Spartans had the ball with under a minute to play and Northwestern began to foul MSU in hopes of gaining a lead. McQuaid was the first Spartan fouled, he made his first free throw, but missed his second. Lumpkin fouled Ellis III on the next MSU possession and fouled out with 38.5 seconds to play. Ellis III missed his first shot, made the second, putting MSU on top 59-50.
Ellis III was fouled again with 25.8 to play and made both shots. He gave MSU a 61-50 lead.
Ellis III finished as the game-high scorer with 16 points, Winston had a team-high 6 assists and 15 points. Ward also finished with double-digit totals for MSU, scoring 11. As a unit, the Spartans finished shooting 42.9 percent from the field, 4-of-17 from 3-point shooting. NU, on the other hand, was held to 35.8 percent shooting and 7-for-19 from downtown.
The Spartans next contest comes as Rutgers University Scarlet Knights visit the Breslin Center on Jan. 4. Tipoff against Rutgers is set for 6:30 p.m.
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