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No. 6 Michigan State Tops Iowa To Stay Perfect In Big Ten
East Lansing, MI (Sports Network) - Raymar Morgan scored 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting, and the sixth-ranked Michigan State Spartans held off the Iowa Hawkeyes, 70-63, to remain perfect in Big Ten play.
Durrell Summers added 12 points for the Spartans (16-3, 6-0 Big Ten), who have won their first six conference games for the first time in head coach Tom Izzo's 15-season tenure with the school. Kalin Lucas provided 11 points and six assists, while Draymond Green had nine points and 11 rebounds in the win.
Matt Gatens led the Hawkeyes (7-12, 1-5) with 17 points, while Aaron Fuller added 13 points and nine rebounds in the loss. Cully Payne contributed 12 points, while Jarryd Cole had 10 points and seven rebounds, as Iowa lost for the fifth time in seven games.
After leading by 12 at halftime, Michigan State pushed its lead up to 19, 55-36, just prior to the 11-minute mark of the second half before Iowa went on a 19-7 surge to cut its deficit to seven.
Payne had seven of the 19 points, and Fuller's free throw with 4:18 left had the Hawkeyes down only 62-55. Eric May and Gatens later hit consecutive three- pointers, the second with 2:05 left, to pull Iowa within 64-61.
Korie Lucious responded with a layup for Michigan State, and Payne hoisted up an attempt from well beyond the arc that hit only rim with a minute to play.
The Spartans hit 4-of-4 free throw attempts down the stretch to seal the win.
Michigan State got off to a slow start, and Iowa was able to take advantage, as Cole’s layup with 10:39 on the clock put the visitors ahead by five, 19-14.
The Spartans, though, came to life after that, scoring the next 15 points to move in front for good.
Morgan had five of the 15 points, starting the burst with a free throw and a layup, and his dunk finished the stretch with 6:29 remaining to make it 29-19.
Cole temporarily stopped the bleeding with a layup a minute later for the Hawkeyes, but the Spartans scored the next six points to move in front, 35-21, on a Summers jumper.
Gatens’ uncontested dunk inside 10 seconds left pulled Iowa to within 35-23 at halftime, although the Hawkeyes had just four points in the final 10-plus minutes.
Iowa is 0-4 on the road, while Michigan State is 12-0 at home...Izzo is 13-0 all-time against Iowa at the Breslin Center...Michigan State has won seven straight overall...The Spartans took both regular season meetings from Iowa and leads the all-time series, 62-52...May finished with eight points and six boards for the Hawkeyes.
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