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Men's basketball wins against Wildcats, 54-40

Zach Smith
January 16, 2014

Gary Harris and Keith Appling combined to score 25 points to lead the No. 4 MSU men’s basketball team to a 54-40 win against Northwestern Wednesday night in Evanston, Ill. Appling contributed four assists, while junior forward Branden Dawson grabbed 10 rebounds, the most of any player. The Spartans came out with their ninth different starting lineup in the last 12 games after being without senior forward Adreian Payne and limited availability from Dawson. Harris showed his strength early, scoring four points, grabbing a rebound and getting one steal in the first minute and a half of the game. Despite being sick with a viral illness, Dawson saw time early getting a block and tip-in after coming off the bench. He also saved a MSU possession and found junior guard Travis Trice wide open to tie the game at 10 early on. The Spartans have the best 3-point field goal percentage in the Big Ten, but missed their first eight shots from behind the arc. They finished the game 2-16 from long range. MSU went into the locker room leading 26-22. The tides turned early in the second half when sophomore guard Denzel Valentine failed to draw a foul on a hard drive to the hoop. The Wildcats ran back down the floor and hit a three-pointer to close the gap to just three points. Sophomore forward Matt Costello scored a nice up and under layup to give the Spartans their biggest lead of the game. On the next trip down the floor, MSU took more than a minute off the clock by grabbing three offensive rebounds, but scored only two points. Northwestern won the rebounding battle in the first half, but MSU came back to win the overall stat line, 39-35. Tre Demps led the Wildcats with 12 points, and JerShon Cobb added eight of his own. Northwestern’s leading scorer, Drew Crawford, was held to just six points. Crawford was averaging?double-digits going into the game. The win was the 214th for head coach Tom Izzo, tying him for fourth in all-time in the ?Big Ten with Lou Henson. The Spartans will return to action Saturday at 8 p.m.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

MSU slugs out win over Northwestern

Zach Smith
January 15, 2014

Gary Harris and Keith Appling combined to score 25 points to lead the No. 4 MSU men’s basketball team to a 54-40 win against Northwestern Wednesday night in Evanston, Ill. Appling also contributed four assists, while junior forward Branden Dawson grabbed 11 rebounds to lead MSU.

MEN'S BASKETBALL

Minnesota leading MSU by 5 at halftime

Matt Sheehan
January 11, 2014

Minnesota walked into Breslin Center as one of the nation’s worse shooting teams, hitting 43.5 percent of its shots from the field. That has been anything but the case so far for the Gophers, as they are lighting up MSU’s defense from behind the arc, shooting 7-of-12 on 3-pointers to give them a 41-36 halftime lead. Gopher forward Malik Smith is doing most of the damage on the court with 11 points, nine of which came from 3-pointers.

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Despite injuries, Appling, Payne carry Spartans

Matt Sheehan
January 8, 2014

Tuesday night was senior night at Breslin Center. No, not the annual celebration of seniors playing their last game in front of a home crowd – this senior night was much more painful. “My two seniors are both hurt,” head coach Tom Izzo said after his team’s “72-68 victory over No.

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No Payne, No Game

Zach Smith
January 7, 2014

Every kid dreams about hitting the game winning shot to win a big game, but for Keith Appling, his dream has become a reality. The senior guard’s three-pointer with under 30 seconds left in overtime gave the No.