STATE COLLEGE, Pa. _ It took a remarkable comeback, but Michigan State is headed into the final game of the regular season with a shot at grabbing a piece of the Big Ten championship.
No. 16 Michigan State, down 16 at halftime against No. 20 Penn State, came storming back to pull out a 79-71 victory Tuesday at the Bryce Jordan Center behind a career-high 23 points and 15 rebounds from Xavier Tillman and 18 points from Rocket Watts. Couple with Maryland's loss at Rutgers, the Spartans are tied for first in the conference heading into Sunday's finale at home against Ohio State.
Tillman has now had five double-doubles in the last six games for the Spartans (21-9, 13-6 Big Ten). Cassius Winston added 14 points while Aaron Henry chipped in 12.
Myreon Jones scored 16 to lead Penn State (21-9, 11-8) while Lamar Stevens scored 15 and Mike Watkins chipped in 12. Stevens was held to 3-for-19 shooting.
It was all Penn State in the first half as the Nittany Lions buried 10 3-pointers on 17 attempts. Jones made all four of his attempts and Myles Dread was perfect on three attempts as Penn State was running away with the game in the first 20 minutes.
The scoring came quickly, but Michigan State actually chipped away at an early Penn State lead and had the ball while trailing, 12-11. But the Spartans turned the ball over and the Nittany Lions responded with a 13-2 run that included three 3-pointers. The lead continued to swell from there as Dread hit back-to-back triples to give Penn State a 39-20 lead.
Michigan State got within 11 with a minute left in the half after a dunk from Malik Hall but surrendered another Jones 3 and then a lob to Watkins as the buzzer sounded to enter the locker room trailing, 46-31.
The second half was all Michigan State as the Spartans outscored the Nittany Lions, 24-3, over the first 6:30 of the half, turning a 15-point deficit into a 55-49 lead. Henry hit an early 3-pointer and Watts got rolling, scoring six straight at one point and eight during the run as Henry hit another triple and Winston capped it with a running jumper in the lane.
The Spartans made 11 of their first 13 shots in the second half while Penn State started 1-for-13, including 0-for-9 on 3-pointers.
Michigan State extended the lead to 65-55 before Penn State scored seven in a row. Tillman then hit a jumper in the lane to give the Spartans a 67-62 lead with just more than seven minutes left in the game. Penn State got it back to within 70-67 headed into the final media timeout and Tillman scored on a layup before Stevens split a pair of free throws to make it 72-68.
Henry then scored in the lane before Stevens hit a pair of free throws and Winston converted a three-point play to help the Spartans put the game away.
