Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Michigan State
Wildcats Drop 77-66 Decision to No. 12 Michigan State
2/4/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 4, 2006
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EVANSTON, Ill. (AP) - Northwestern and No. 12 Michigan State played evenly for the first 20 minutes before an 17-3 run by the Spartans to open the second half proved too much for the Wildcats to overcome in the 77-66 loss. The 'Cats are back in action this Wednesday at home vs. No. 23 Iowa.
Northwestern, who trailed by just four at half, cut MSU's lead to eight twice, but came no closer.
Shannon Brown scored 22 points, including his 1,000th, and Maurice Ager added 21.
Brown scored his 1,000th and 1,001st points when he hit two free throws with a minute left in the game to become the 36th Spartan to reach that milestone. He hit nine of 14 shots and grabbed eight rebounds.
Ager grabbed 11 boards and was 7-for-9 from the free throw line. Paul Davis contributed 16 points and seven rebounds after missing a game with a head injury to help the Spartans win for the fourth time in five games.
Northwestern's Vedran Vukusic and Michigan State's Travis Walton exchanged words and shoves late in the first half. The Spartans (17-5, 5-3 Big Ten) got the final word in the second, blowing the game open with a 17-3 run early in the half that made it 50-35 and then hanging on.
Northwestern's lone basket during that stretch was a 3-pointer by Vukusic, who led the Wildcats with 23 points. The Big Ten's leading scorer hit 7 of 12 shots, but had little help as Northwestern (10-10, 3-6) lost for the sixth time in seven games.
Northwestern trailed by 19 with 8:18 left before a 13-3 run by the 'Cats cut the lead to 64-55 with just under 4 minutes left. The run was sparked by a Mohamed Hachad dunk and capped off by two Hachad free throw's as NU hit 7-of-8 from the line during that stretch.
Davis, Ager and Brown each had five points, with Ager's 3-pointer capping the run.
Davis committed two fouls within the game's first 10 minutes, but seemed fine. He missed the Spartans' victory over Penn State a week earlier after taking an elbow to the head from by teammate Idong Ibok at practice the previous day - an injury that required 10 stitches.
His alley-oop dunk gave the Spartans their largest lead of the game - 61-42 with 8:18 left. But they went nearly six minutes without a basket.
Northwestern's Craig Moore hit a 3 that made it 68-60 with 2:33 remaining and another that made it 72-64 with 1:43 left.
Things got heated with 2:25 left in the first half, when Northwestern's Michael Jenkins committed a non-shooting foul against a driving Ager. Vukusic and Walton, meanwhile, went for the ball along the baseline, and wound up exchanging words and shoving each other.
All that led to unsportsmanlike technical fouls against Vukusic and the Spartans' Marquise Gray, and a technical against the Michigan State bench.
Vukusic hit two technical free throws that capped an 11-0 run and momentarily tied the game at 28. Michigan State maintained possession and took the lead on Ager's jumper.
After Northwestern's Michael Jenkins hit 1 of 2 free throws, the Wildcats Bernard Cote fouled Drew Neitzel hard on a 3-point attempt with 1:01 left. Neitzel then hit three foul shots to make it 33-29 - the halftime score.
Michigan State hit 14 of 24 shots in the first half, compared to Northwestern's 6 for 18. Vukusic had 16 points on 4-of-6 shooting.
