Thursday, March 28, 2024

FINAL: MSU 78, Indiana 71, MSU gets key road win with NCAA Tournament hopes on the line

February 20, 2021
<p>Junior forward Marcus Bingham Jr. (30) celebrates his team scoring by dancing with a towel in the second half. The Spartans came back in the second half to end the game against the Broncos 79-61 on Dec. 6, 2020.</p>

Junior forward Marcus Bingham Jr. (30) celebrates his team scoring by dancing with a towel in the second half. The Spartans came back in the second half to end the game against the Broncos 79-61 on Dec. 6, 2020.

Photo by Lauren DeMay | The State News

Down 13 with 11:15 to play in the first half, Michigan State needed to uncover something to spark a comeback.

It did – as Aaron Henry and Josh Langford played the entire second half – scoring a combined 28 points in it to key the Spartans (11-9, 5-9 Big Ten) to a 78-71 win over Indiana (12-10, 7-8 Big Ten) in Bloomington.

On the heels of the duo's big half, MSU scored 52 in the last 20 minutes, which doubled their point total from the first half.

It was a free throw from Langford, then a hook shot from Henry followed by a 3-pointer from Gabe Brown that capped a 6-0 run with 7:56 to go in the game, giving MSU a five-point lead they wouldn't lose.

Henry scored 27 in the game, tying his career-high from earlier this season. Langford, who shot 5-of-6 from the field, and Brown, both finished with 14 points on the day.

Their back-to-back shots are what kept MSU in the fight for so long. Brown was a big reason MSU was able to overcome its recent offensive struggles with a 5-of-11 shooting performance from the field.

Even with Foster Loyer on the sidelines in sweatpants with a shoulder injury, MSU's guard play was improved from the last game. Julius Marble started for the first time in his career with Loyer out.

Marble added three points, going 1-of-2 from the field. Marcus Bingham Jr. also stepped in nicely, adding eight points and five rebounds and Joey Hauser added four points.

The Spartans shot 49% from the field, 41% from 3-point land and 87% from the line.

Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis led the way for the Hoosiers, coming out with a total of 34 points and going 11-for-18 from the field, 12-for-16 from the line. MSU struggled for much of the day defending one of the best forwards in the Big Ten.

Jackson-Davis was backed up by fellow Hoosier forward Race Thompson, who laid out 15 points.

The only other Hoosier to score double figures, at 13 points, was guard Armaan Franklin.

Following a brief two-day break, the Spartans will host No. 5 Illinois on Tuesday, Feb. 23.

Tipoff against the Fighting Illini is set for 7 p.m. on Fox Sports 1.

Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.

Discussion

Share and discuss “FINAL: MSU 78, Indiana 71, MSU gets key road win with NCAA Tournament hopes on the line” on social media.