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Minnesota upends No. 11 Michigan State, gains Big Ten semis

Fri 12th, March 2010

Indianapolis, IN (Sports Network) - Devoe Joseph scored 17 points and grabbed six rebounds, as Minnesota upended 11th-ranked Michigan State, 72-67 in overtime in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Conference Tournament.

Blake Hoffarber made four three-pointers to finish with 14 points for the sixth-seeded Golden Gophers (20-12), who will face Purdue in the semifinals on Saturday.

"We're just really pleased to get the win," said Minnesota head coach Tubby Smith. "That was a very hard fought, physical game. But you expect that in tournament play. We haven't had much luck against them, but we were finally able to pull out a win, and we made some great plays down the stretch to get the win."

Raymar Morgan poured in 23 points to pace the third-seeded Spartans (24-8), who had won eight consecutive games against Minnesota.

Michigan State's shoddy performance at the foul line played a big part in the loss. The Spartans converted just 18-of-34 free throws.

In what felt like an unending journey, MSU finally regained the lead when Morgan, whose layup tied the game at 55 with 1:31 left in regulation, completed a three-point play at the foul line to begin overtime. The Spartans last led 12-11 in the early stages of the contest.

Joseph, though, responded with a three, and a Lawrence Westbrook free throw put Minnesota back on top. The Gophers stretched the lead to four at 62-58 and seven at 65-58 on a three-point play by Westbrook with 1:38 remaining.

Moments later, Westbrook made a poor decision in attempting to dribble through the Michigan State pressure, losing the ball to Draymond Green, whose dunk whittled the deficit to 65-62 with 59.1 seconds showing on the clock.

Minnesota sealed the win at the foul line, shooting 7-of-8 down the stretch.

"We just didn't play very well," said Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo. "We didn't shoot the ball very well, and we really struggled to defend the first half."

A Delvon Roe free throw gave the Spartans an early 12-8 lead. Hoffarber knocked down a trey to ignite a 12-0 run.

MSU pulled to within 28-26 at the break, but found itself down 10 at 50-40 with 8:20 to play before battling back to force overtime.

Game Notes

Iverson had 12 points and Westbrook added 11 with five rebounds...Kalin Lucas scored 18 points on 6-of-17 shooting and registered five steals for Michigan State, while Green finished with 10 points and 11 boards...The Spartans shot 41.5 percent from the field...Minnesota made 39 percent of its shots.