EAST LANSING, Mich. _ With its struggles on the road, Michigan State knew it needed to at least take care of its home court.
That notion went up in smoke Tuesday night as No. 22 Penn State came to the Breslin Center and beat No. 16 Michigan State, 75-70, just the second time the Nittany Lions have won at Michigan State in 26 tries.
Cassius Winston scored 25 for Michigan State (16-7, 8-4 Big Ten) but missed a potential game-tying free throw with 11.1 seconds to play and later missed a 3-pointer that would have tied the game.
Lamar Stevens scored 24 for Penn State (17-5, 7-4) while Myreon Jones added 20 points for the Nittany Lions and Mike Watkins chipped in 10.
After a quick start, Michigan State soon found itself in a first-half hole as Penn State controlled the offensive glass and went 7 for 14 from 3-point range. The Nittany Lions scored 15 second-chance points and pushed the lead to 41-30 on a bank shot in the paint from Watkins with 1:33 to play for their largest lead.
Michigan State got a 3-pointer from Gabe Brown, a driving jumper from Winston and a pair of late technical free throws from Winston to cut the Penn State lead to 43-37 at halftime.
Michigan State turned up the heat early in the second half, using a 12-2 run to tie the game at 51 with 13:46 to play after Marcus Bingham scored on a dish from Winston. It was back and forth from there before Penn State started to pull away, scoring eight in a row to turn a two-point deficit into a 61-55 lead with 8:30 left in the game.
The Spartans answered with their own eight-point run, getting back-to-back 3-pointers from Winston and Kyle Ahrens to take a 63-61 lead. After a Winston 3 gave Michigan State a 66-63 lead, Jamari Wheeler scored on a running layup to pull the Nittany Lions within one, 66-65.
Penn State took the lead, 67-66, on a Stevens jump hook and extended it by a point when Stevens split two free throws. It was pushed to 69-66 with a free throw from John Harrar with 50 seconds to play after a Michigan State turnover.
A jumper from Aaron Henry got Michigan State within a point with 27 seconds to play, but Steven nailed a pair of free throws to make it 71-68 with 16 seconds left in the game. Winston then scored on a drive and was fouled, but his free throw bounced off the back of the rim.
After Penn State pushed the lead to 73-70 on two more free throws, Winston had one more shot to tie the game but his contested 3-pointer misfired.
