Michigan State University
Minnesota
Spartans Downed By Minnesota, 77-69
1/18/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan 18, 2003
By DAVE CAMPBELL
AP Sports Writer
MINNEAPOLIS - Michael Bauer scored a season-high 21 points and Rick Rickert also had 21 Saturday afternoon for Minnesota in a 77-69 victory over struggling Michigan State.
Bauer made five 3-pointers for the Golden Gophers (9-5, 1-2 Big Ten), who scored their last 15 points at the free-throw line.
Kelvin Torbert had 12 points and Chris Hill and Aloysuis Anagonye each had 11 for the Spartans (9-7, 1-3), who lost for the fifth time in six games. Michigan State, finishing its first week this season in which it wasn't ranked in the Top 25, made 17 turnovers.
After four straight Big Ten titles, the Spartans are off to their second consecutive slow start in conference play. They went 0-3 last year before finishing 10-6 in fifth place.
The Spartans stayed within striking distance in the second half, but they couldn't come any closer after Maurice Ager whittled Minnesota's lead to 69-65 on a 3-pointer and then a free throw on the next possession with 1:48 left.
The Gophers, ranked as high as 20th earlier this year, struggled with their defense and rebounding during the nonconference season and then broke down on offense in a 66-50 loss at Wisconsin on Wednesday.
On Saturday, they made strides in each of those areas in avoiding their first 0-3 start in the Big Ten since 1998.
Bauer, the Gophers' most energetic player as well as their most eager shooter, got his fourth start this season because forward Steve Esselink broke his left pinky finger this week. Esselink will miss at least Minnesota's next game Wednesday at Michigan.
Bauer had a wide-open fastbreak dunk following a Michigan State turnover to begin the game and later hit a 3-pointer to put Minnesota ahead 31-13 with 6:07 left in the first half, before jogging back on defense while pumping both fists.
The officials kept a tight grip on the game, calling dozens of touch fouls and traveling violations, and Michigan State coach Tom Izzo began growling on the sideline late in the first half.
His team missed 17 of its first 20 shots and endured a span of nearly eight minutes without a field goal until a 3-pointer by Tolbert cut the Gophers' lead to 31-16 and stirred up the few hundred Michigan State students who stood among the season-high Williams Arena crowd of 14,617.
That spurred the Spartans on a 17-6 run to end the half, capped by a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from the baseline by Tim Bograkos to pull Michigan State within 37-30.
