Spartans Rally Past Purdue

March 1, 2003

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan State got hot when it had to Saturday against Purdue, but not in time to have a shot at its fifth league title in six seasons.

The Spartans (16-11, 8-6 Big Ten) rallied for a 69-61 win over the Boilermakers by shooting 73 percent from the field, 100 percent from 3-point range and more than 92 percent from the foul line in the final 12:54, after failing to score for the first 7:06 of the period.

Overcoming an eight-point deficit with a 37-21 surge proved easier than recovering from a 2-4 conference start for Michigan State, which was eliminated from title contention when Illinois beat Michigan earlier Saturday and moved into a first-place tie with Wisconsin.

"I guess that pressure is off, huh?" coach Tom Izzo said, who became just the third coach with 90 or more Big Ten wins in his first eight seasons. "It's like I said last year, we dug ourselves too big a hole. ... But I thought in the last 15 minutes we showed some things we haven't shown in a while. We had a little character."

Kelvin Torbert had 13 points and Alan Anderson added 12 to lead Michigan State to its sixth win in eight conference games and its 10th-straight conference victory in East Lansing, where the 82nd-straight sellout crowd included Izzo's best friend, new Detroit Lions coach Steve Mariucci.

Aloysius Anagonye added 11 points, Chris Hill had 10 - all in the last 9:53 - and Paul Davis had eight points and eight rebounds for the Spartans.

Purdue (17-9, 9-6), the Big Ten leader with a 7-1 mark halfway through the conference season, lost for the fifth time in seven games and the fourth-straight time in Breslin Center, despite 19 points and five steals from Willie Deane.

"It's the same old cliche, `When the going gets tough, the tough get going,"' Boilermakers coach Gene Keady said. "And Michigan State got going at the right time. We just let it slip away.

"When our big guys learn how to complete, we might be able to win a big road game," Keady said. "We haven't done that in three years. We just weren't tough enough and hit the wall."

Purdue used a 9-0 run early in the first half to take a 10-point lead. But the Spartans chipped away and tied it at 32 at halftime.

"It was another one of those slow starts, the kind that got us buried at Illinois," Anderson said. "But we dug ourselves out and got after it on defense."

Purdue rebuilt an eight-point advantage with help from several of Michigan State's 15 turnovers.

The Spartans responded by outscoring the Boilermakers by 16 points the rest of the way.