Michigan State University
Seton Hall
Spartans Hold Off Seton Hall, 68-64
12/22/2001 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec 22, 2001
By LARRY LAGE
AP Sports Writer
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan State saw how good and how vulnerable it can be, all in one game.
The 17th-ranked Spartans built a few double-digit leads Saturday only to see them dwindle each time in a 68-64 win over Seton Hall, which extended the nation's longest home winning streak to 53 games. Michigan State's Marcus Taylor had 18 points and five assists.
"I can see why they took Duke to the wire," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said of Seton Hall's 80-79 loss to the top-ranked Blue Devils. "They are a very difficult team to guard."
The Spartans (9-3) led 62-49 with 4:31 to go and appeared to be set to cruise to another easy win at home until Seton Hall (6-4) scored 11 straight points and pulled within two with 39 seconds left on Andre Barrett's first of three layups in the final seconds.
Michigan State's Adam Wolfe, who scored 11 points, said he hasn't seen a player run that fast since UCLA's Tyus Edney drove the length of the court and scored in 4.8 seconds to knock off Missouri in a 1995 NCAA tournament.
Michigan State was 6-of-6 at the free-throw line over the final 18 seconds to seal the win.
The Pirates are just the eighth team to lose by less than 10 points in the Breslin Center since the current streak started in 1998.
"If we play hard for 40 minutes, we're tough to beat," Taylor said. "We're not good enough to play without a lot of intensity."
Michigan State reserve Chris Hill, who had 11 points and seven rebounds, caused a delay that lasted a few minutes when he threw up under Seton Hall's basket early in the second half. Aloysius Anagonye added 10 points and six rebounds for the Spartans.
Barrett scored 24 points, had seven rebounds and five assists. He started the final comeback with a 3-pointer and mid-range jumper before his three consecutive layups.
"Andre did pretty much carry us on his back," said Seton Hall's Darius Lane, who scored 11.
After Seton Hall took its only lead four minutes into the game, Michigan State scored 12 straight points to lead 17-6.
Michigan State later built a 15-point lead, but the Pirates closed the half with a 10-2 run to pull within 31-24. They pulled within one early in the second half with an 8-2 run.
Michigan State then outscored the Pirates 17-6 to take a 62-49 lead with 4:41 left, but again, that was not a comfortable margin.
"We gave ourselves a chance to win," Seton Hall coach Louis Orr said. "I always tell our guys that when you play a team like Michigan State, it's not going to be pretty. You have to scrap and claw."
The Spartans outrebounded Seton Hall 44-34 and limited it to 33.8 percent shooting. No team has shot better than 40 percent against Michigan State in a month.
It has been over a year since a team came as close as the Pirates did to stopping the Spartans' streak. Michigan State beat Kentucky 46-45 on Dec. 16, 2000.
The Spartans will be without junior forward Adam Ballinger, who is averaging 10.6 points and 7.4 rebounds, for at least two weeks after he sprained his right ankle.
"There's no way he'll be back for the Stanford game," Izzo said of the game against No. 13 Stanford on Dec. 29, in Oakland, Calif. "It's a bad sprain. We don't expect him back until after the Big Ten season starts."
