Northwestern
Michigan St
Men's Basketball Beaten By Michigan State, 84-53
1/11/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 10, 2001
EVANSTON, Ill. - The Northwestern University men's basketball team stuck with third-ranked Michigan State through most of the first half Wednesday night at the Spartans' Breslin Center, but ultimately MSU proved to big and too strong in downing the Wildcats, 84-53. It marked the most points allowed by NU this season.
The Wildcats have now lost three in a row and are 7-8 overall (0-3 Big Ten). Michigan State, which was ranked No. 1 nationally until it was upset Sunday at Indiana, improved to 13-1 (2-1 Big Ten).
Using the deliberate offense that has keyed some success during the early season, Northwestern managed to hang around with the athletic Spartans through much of the first half. Winston Blake got NU on the board first, nailing a 3-pointer just 31 seconds into the contest. MSU scored the next eight points, but Northwestern kept things interesting for quite awhile.
The key came at the end of the half. After Ben Johnson drained another trey to make the score 25-21 with seven minutes left before halftime, MSU took over. Using a 25-8 rebound advantage in the opening stanza, the Spartans scored 16 of the last 19 points before the break, and took a 41-24 lead into the locker room.
That lead quickly swelled to 20 in the second half and reached its biggest margin at the very end of the game.
Blake led the way for NU, scoring 13 points and knocking down four more treys on the night. He was the only Wildcat in double figures. Aaron Jennings had nine coming off the bench, while Tavaras Hardy scored eight.
For MSU, Andre Hutson hit 8-of-9 shots from the field and scored 19 points to go with nine rebounds. Jason Richardson added 13 points and nine boards, while Charlie Bell (14) and Zach Randolph (11) were also in double figures.
Northwestern is on the road again this weekend, playing at Penn State Saturday night. Tipoff time for that game is 8 p.m. Eastern in State College, Pa.
