Michigan State 66, Iowa 61
INDIANAPOLIS (WWJ/AP) - Michigan State beats the Hawkeyes 66-61 in the first round of the Big Ten tournament play on Thursday.
Draymond Green had 21 points and 14 rebounds to help Michigan State beat and keep its NCAA tournament hopes alive.
Iowa's Matt Gatens missed a 3-pointer that could have tied the game with 6 seconds remaining.
Kalin Lucas scored 11 points and Keith Appling added 10 for Michigan State, which advanced to play No. 9 Purdue (25-6) in the quarterfinals.
When these two teams met last- MSU trounced the Hawkeyes 85-66 at the Breslin. Iowa never had a scoring spurt that was not matched by the Spartans.
Thursday's game was more competitive, with the outcome never really in the bag for the Spartans until the final second.
Michigan State (18-13) has played in the last two Final Fours and hasn't missed the NCAA tournament since the 1996-97 season, but the seventh-seeded Spartans felt they needed to beat 10th-seeded Iowa to boost their chances of continuing that streak.
Zach McCabe's 3-pointer cut Michigan State's lead to 62-61 with 1:33 to play.
Appling missed a layup, and Iowa's Jarryd Cole rebounded. McCabe missed a 3-pointer, but Iowa's Eric May rebounded. Cole then threw the ball right to Michigan State's Durrell Summers. The Spartans worked some time off the clock, and then Summers made two free throws with 14.5 seconds remaining.
Iowa had a chance to tie, but Gatens' contested 3-pointer was off, and Summers made two more free throws with 1.9 seconds left to seal the win for the Spartans.
Michigan State led 33-31 at halftime behind 15 points by Green. Cartwright had 10 points for Iowa at the break.
Iowa took the lead on a three-point play by Cole, but Appling made a 3-pointer seconds later, and Michigan State took a 45-44 lead with 14 minutes remaining.
Iowa responded with an 8-0 run. Eric May dunked and was fouled, and the free throw gave the Hawkeyes a 52-45 lead. The Spartans went scoreless for more than 3 minutes until Appling made a pair of free throws.
Michigan State cut Iowa's lead to a point on a basket by Derrick Nix. Then Mike Kebler got a steal, and Appling made a layup to give the Spartans a 55-54 lead. The game was close the rest of the way.
(Copyright 2011 by WWJ Newsradio 950. All Rights Reserved.) (Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
