Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Michigan State
Northwestern Falls To No. 14 Michigan State, 69-58
3/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Final Stats
March 2, 2005
EVANSTON, Ill. - Maurice Ager's shots always fall against Northwestern, and Michigan State (No. 12 ESPN/USA Today, No. 14 AP) needed his clutch three-pointers Wednesday night to hold on for a 69-58 victory.
Ager's trey with 3:33 left took the claw out of a Northwestern rally that had seen the Wildcats cut an 18-point deficit to five.
With the loss, Northwestern (14-14, 6-9) fell to .500 on the season. The Wildcats must win their season finale at Indiana Saturday to secure a winning season and keep hopes for an NIT bid alive.
Ager entered Wednesday night averaging 15.6 points on 69 percent shooting against the Wildcats in five games, and he kept it up at Welsh-Ryan Arena, going 7-of-9 from the field, including 4-of-5 on 3-pointers, to finish with 20 points. No shot was bigger than his 3-pointer from the left side of the key that gave the Spartans an eight-point lead and the breathing room they needed.
"It was an inside-outside pass and I just hit it," Ager said. "They had a lot of momentum on their side. That hurt them a little."
Alan Anderson led Michigan State (21-5, 12-3 Big Ten) with 22 points, hitting six straight free throws over the final 1:24 to seal the win.
Vedran Vukusic led Northwestern with 17 points and went over 1,000 for his career. He became the 26th player in NU history to reach the milestone, and just the 13th to do it in three seasons of play.
Northwestern coach Bill Carmody got his second technical foul with 35 seconds left in the opening half and was ejected, missing his team's rally that fell short.
"Just normal stuff that coaches do with refs. I wasn't happy with the way it was going," Carmody said. "That's all. That wasn't the difference; we just got behind by too much."
Kelvin Torbert made 1-of-2 free throws after Carmody's second technical, which was assessed for comments the coach apparently made during a timeout. The Spartans maintained possession, and Torbert got inside for a layup with five seconds remaining in the half to put State ahead 37-22.
The Wildcats scrapped on defense, though, and cut it to 57-51 on T.J. Parker's three-pointer with 6:12 left that capped a 12-1 run.
"After coach got kicked out, we were in the locker room and it was like we owe this one to him," said Mohamed Hachad, who had another spectacular performance with 10 points and five steals.
"We started to play harder," Vukusic said. "We came back, but we didn't have enough energy."
After a Northwestern turnover on a possession that could have gotten the Wildcats within four, Anderson drove for a basket and Paul Davis hit a free throw that made it 60-51 with 4:50 left.
However, Vukusic hit a basket and then got two more points on a goaltending call, and suddenly it was 60-55 with four minutes left.
Then Ager stepped up and hit a 3-pointer to make it an eight-point lead.
Northwestern's game at Indiana Saturday is scheduled to tip off at 4:30 EST (3:30 Central).
